Fair Trade art

I've done a lot of inspirations posts lately and this is yet another one.The reason is because I've not been creative enough with my own art. I promise the next post will be about some of my own work :) I've already got it all planned!

There is something about handmade things... Just the fact that someone has spent hours creating something rather than using machines in factories. As an artist I really admire hand crafted things such as accessories and clothing. It feels like those items have got more meaning. I really hope people will have that view on my handmade jewellery as well once I get good enough to sell them.
I recently came across traidcraftshop.co.uk which is an online shop by the leading fair trade company Traidcraft. In their cute little shop they sell all sorts of pretty items handmade by people in the third world, and with the profit they help fighting poverty.
Here are a few items from their handmade jewellery and accessories collection. 

<-- How cute are these silver elephant earrings with swirly little details?! 

I absolutely adore these little ring holders shaped as an elephant and a giraffe. -->

Beautiful amethyst earrings with silver patterns.

<-- I love jewellery made of glass, and this necklace is fantastic!

 
 


You wouldn't think this handbag was made out of a recycled car tyre, would you?-->

<-- Absolutely fantastic work; a nacklade made out of carved out wood with swirly details.


 Aren't these wooden elephant book marks just super cute?! -->

Gemstone Love

As most of you know already, I am taking a jewellery making course one evening every week. So far, I've only made a few rings (post about those are coming soon) and a few weeks back I posted an inspiration post on handmade silver rings. All gorgeous :) That post sure gave me lots of ideas for upcoming designs. I'm still on the sketching stage though, so it may take a while before you get to see any of my work...
This is another inspiration post, but of rings a bit more complicated in their designs. It's my dream to be able to create rings like these sometime in the future. A few friends of mine have said to me "If you're learning how to make jewellery, you should make my wedding ring". I'm probably lightyears away from the day when I will be able to create a gorgeous, sparkly wedding ring, but I can always dream... And practice makes perfect, so I better get started!
I've recently been looking at sapphire rings for inspiration, as I would really like to start working with gemstones. These are some really lovely designs I've found.

Blue, purple and green are my favourite colours when it comes to jewellery, so below are some great designs of amethyst and emerald rings as well. Since I'm a very arty person my motto is that the swirlier and more complex, the better ;) Which one is your favourite? My favourite of all these is the first one of the sapphire rings. I love the fact that it looks simple from a distant, but when you look at it closer you see all the little swirly patterns cut out in the silver. Absolutely amazing! And honey, I am not at all hinting :P

The missing piece for my art room

Call it art or not... but I think interior decoration is a form of art. It sure is a way of showing your creativity. Matching furniture, placing decorations, hanging up pictures... it takes an artist's eye to do it right.
Antique furniture especially just screams art. Nowadays it's all about boring flat packs...

Remember my post about my project "painting a swirly tree on the wall"? I thought I'd continue talking about that room of mine, that I now refer to as my "art room".

After having painted my swirly olive green tree I invested in an antique bureau in an off-white colour. It's all worn and battered, but it's such a beautiful piece of furniture. I got myself a matching bookcase (sure, it is new, but it looks old!) and now all that's missing is a sofa. There is a sofa bed in that room, but it's extremely ugly. It's one of those "boy-room"-sofas made out of a massive futon and a metal frame. Uuuh... (boyfriend's choice prior to meeting me)

I've been looking around and I would really want a sofa that looks like an antique one to match the rest of the room. Right now I've got my eyes on a couple of chesterfield sofas fromTheOriginalSofaCo - one of them would be a great addition to my art room. The colour theme in that room is white, olive green and purple (but more green at the moment) so this purple sofa would suit perfectly! I'll keep looking, but I'll definitely put this sofa on my list of maybes...

Pictures from Pompeii - 2000 year old art

 I just wanted to share with you these amazing photos that I took while visiting Pompeii in May this year. This trip to Italy was the best holiday I've ever been on. 

I spent most of my days in Italy walking the streets of Rome looking at all the fantastic architecture, but one day we decided to take the train down south for a daytrip to Pompeii, which is near Napoli and just by the base of the volcano Vesuvius.

Pompeii was buried in heavy ashes from the Vesuvius eruption in year 79, and the city wasn't discovered again until 1749 - almost 1700 years later! 

The city is still not completely uncovered, but archeologists are still recovering artefacts. The fact that all these items are so well preserved is such a great and interesting way of learning about history.

Walking on the ancient steets of Pompeii was such an amazing experience! It was hard to imagine that everything you saw around you was over 2000 years old. The buldings and fountains were very impressive, but what really amazed me was all the art. Have a look at my Pompeii art pictures below. There are both 2000 year old mosaic floor patterns, and even some erotic art from Pompeii's brothel.

 

 If you are going to Italy I strongly recommend that you visit Pompeii. It's actually not difficult getting there. I took a 2 hour train from Rome down to Napoli, where I changed to the local train Circumvesuviana, which goes around the volcano Vesuvius. The staff at the station were very helpful as well, and even though we were there during the tourist season, there were staff there that helped us get on the right train.

Abstract Art - Not just laziness

Many people think that abstract art is just an artist being lazy, throwing paint on a canvas. Sometimes that can be the case (I know, I have tried!), but usually there is actually a lot of thought behind the painting, even if it doesn't picture anything concrete.
The choice of colour, the movement in the picture, contrasts, shapes... a lot of different things play their part in abstract art. You might want to emphasize something in a room or simply draw attention to it, and you can help doing that by making a painting with certain shapes or colours.

Last year I lived in a big attic room with white painted walls, and I desperately needed some colour to make the room look a bit more interesting. That's when I painted this 3-piece painting above. I chose the colours cause they matched the other decorations in my room (when I hung up the painting, all my other decorations suddenly stood out a lot more), and the reason I made it on 3 canvases was to make it cover as much of the wall above my bed as possible. The bigger, the better, right?! ;) I also did it because I like the way the picture flows through the 3 canvases.

When I paint abstract art I actually prefer to divide the painting up on several canvases. It sure makes the painting look more interesting, and you get a wider variety and more options of what you can do.

Inspiration and Childhood Memories

I came across this picture of two pretty little flower fairy girls when I was browsing the website of my favourite art shop. As soon as I saw it it hit me; My sweet grandma had a big poster of this picture up in her guest room where I always stayed when I visited her. I used to love that poster. Me and my sister used to sit and stare at it and pretend that we were little fairies in a tree

The artist is Cicely Mary Barker, who was an English woman born in the late 19th century. Her illustrations focused on fairies and flowers, and she published several Flower Fairies books and cards from the late 1910's to the 1970's, but she was the most popular during the 20's and 30's.

I think my grandma had a few Flower Fairies posters and smaller images, cause when browsing through Cicely Mary Barker's work I seem to recognise quite a few of them.
I'm tempted to buy one of these books as these fairies really remind me of my childhood and my lovely grandma. Who knows... perhaps I'll get inspired by these pretty illustrations and paint something similar myself :)