Full Figure Fairies.

Here's a little project I've been working on.  My "Full Figure Fairies."

I've noticed that lately, fairies seem to be rather slender.  It wasn't always that way.  A lot of fairy paintings of the past, fairies were more curvy.  It seems that fairies' body shape follows what ever sells best to society's ideals of beauty.

However, I think that fairies seem to be either mostly imaginary or largely unseen, so we really don't know what they look like.  Being of the spirit world, I'd have thought they could look however they want.

So, I've decided they look a little healthier than the gamine things that seem to be the fashion these days.

These two aren't really finished.  They still have a little masking fluid on them and probably need a few touch ups with colour pencil.  Then I might see if we can sell them as prints or greeting cards.

See you next time.

The Colour Pencil trend.

Alright, let me make one thing perfectly clear.  I was colouring in with pencils before it was cool.

The modern pencils are so different to what most of us used in school.  They are brighter and can be manipulated in more ways.

Prismacolour is the brand I like.  They have more pigment than others and the binder used contains a lot of clay.  This means that you can blend more than one colour very beautifully and smoothly.
They are also much brighter so can build up to very vibrant colours, or used sparingly to achieve paler colours.  Colourless blenders are also available, which means that once the wanted colour is achieved, it can be blended and burnished to high shine.

The pencils can also be used like water colour pencils by painting with odourless solvent, which breaks the binder down and you can paint like water colour.

So there you go.  Have fun with your colouring books!

Here's a link to my work on Red Bubble.  Hope you like it.

Red Bubble/Sharon Dennis

The Soul of a Teddy.

I don't really design teddies.  No.  I think they design themselves.  I just put them together.

I see a piece of fur fabric that calls out to me to make it into a teddy.  I have no say in it.  Sure, I designed a pattern or two many moons ago, but that's the last of my input.  The little teddy personality just happens by itself.

I think, maybe, little teddy souls float around in the air until someone buys some fur and makes a teddy, then the soul comes to reside, offering comfort and protection to a little human soul it's matched with on earth.

Maybe teddy souls are like sparks of inspiration, it's said that they float in the air, being attracted to some people and not to others.

And I seem to be an antenna for more than my share of them!

If you would like to see some of these little souls, and maybe make one your own, you can see them at my Etsy shop by clicking on the kitten to the right.

The power of 15 minutes

Brothers and Sisters! I have discovered something wonderous!

The 15 minute rule!!! Hooray! 

The 15 min rule is this; If you have some horrid task that you really don't want to do, but it needs to be done, and you've been putting it off for ages, make the choice to do it for 15 minutes and then stop. Surely you can handle it for 15 minutes, then you can have a cup of tea.

I think you'll find what I have found. The promise of stopping after 15 minutes is often enough to get you started. And what you can do in 15 minutes! After a week of 15 minutes a day, you've spent over an hour on it and it's all but done!

Sometimes the first 15 minutes is spent on making a list of all the little tasks that will lead up to the whole thing being done. And a little task can easily be done in 15 minutes. Then, instead of having procrastinated for a fortnight, you've spent over three hours on the big task.

It's a win all round! Decluttering, Paperwork, Event planning, Housework, it works for everything.


I have never got so much done, and had so much free time in my life. Friends, I have truly discovered something wonderous. Fifteen Minutes.

Patience in an "instant," world.

Isaiah 40:31"but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."

I've found in this 'instant' society, waiting is very, very hard.  We complain when the internet is slow, forgetting that to get information in the 'old' days we were forced to take a pleasant walk to the library.

Perhaps that is why we find it so very, very hard to wait for God.  We want answers NOW!!!  Why can't God be like Google?  We take our problems to him, like he tells us to, and nothing happens for ages and ages, so we start to question whether he is there at all.

This verse just goes straight home for me.  "Hope," is future tense.  Not only does it warn us that there will be some waiting, but that God is enough in the meantime.  This is where the trust comes in, I think.  God is a patient God (leaving aside the whole creation in six days thing).  He does work things out, but in his own time.  Moses was 80 when he started working for God.  Samson had to wait for his hair to grow back before God would make his move.

Galatians tells us that one of the fruit of the Spirit is Patience.  So we were made for patience, and God wants to restore that patience.  Not a jittery, "notice I'm being patient," patience.  But a patience that doesn't mind sitting in the sunshine, because the bus is late.  This is a patience that sees the wait, not as a waste of time, but as an opportunity for something else "in the meantime."

Jesus compares us to plants so often.  Wheat, vines, fig trees, fruits, etc.  Not by accident, I think.  Plants take time to grow.  Some bear fruit every year, and take years to grow.  The "mustard seed" must take years to get to the stage when it can be any use to the birds as a home.

I've found I've been waiting a lot, lately.  Waiting for healing from my illness, waiting for my hard work in my online art business to pay off.  And I really hope, as I keep close contact with the Boss, that he will continue to show me the opportunities "in the meantime."  

I hope he shows them to you, too.

Love and blessings,

Shan.

House of Shan.

It is here!  I have opened my Etsy shop.  You can go and have a look here.

House of Shan.

I know there are only seven available prints at the moment, and I know three of them are coffee.  Someone suggested a set of three, so I've been looking at some ideas.  Next will be a coffee pot on black.

Then we might start looking at some pretty flowers.  Although there is a rather nice pic of spilled nail polish I'm dying to do.

Any ideas, especially in sets of two or three, are very welcome.  I've got my own ideas, but I really want to know what other people want to see.

Another reason I'm going with the simple still life is that they are simple.  Ha.  I mean that they are easy to get done and up on the site.  This means I've got heaps of work up and there's a lot to look at and choose from.

It also means I can practice while finding my groove.  I still don't know what I want to do with my art!  So this will do in the meantime.

Also in the meantime is doing some personal commissions, a portrait for one friend and a reproduction for another.  And some book illustrations for yet another.  And if any of them are reading this, I did some work on yours today!  Promise.  One's drawn up, one's touched up and the other has been researched.

I really am having fun with this whole small business thing.  What I've also been doing is reading up on how to run a small business.  I love libraries.  I want that on a t-shirt.  "I love Libraries!"

I've mentioned my new favourite business guru, Leonie Dawson, another Aussie chick who runs the Amazing biz, amazing life academy.  I'm going to sign up one of these days.  In the meantime I have soooooo much stuff from her website, free downloadable book, facebook page and emails to keep me going in the meantime.

All in all, it's been a couple of busy days.  Seeing the psychiatrist, scanning pics at the school library, editing said pics, updating the Etsy shop, drawing up a commission, library visit, laundry (well, it has to be done), shopping, vacuuming, research into Caravaggio's technique, photoshopping some more pics, planning a holiday, emailing some friends, visiting with Mum and planning my nieces birthday pressent.  And it's only Tuesday.

And with that, I'm off for evening prayers, piggy jim jams and sleepy bo bos.

Good night.

Potential sewing!

I have a friend who went to Bali.  She brought me back a sarong.  I'm very excited about my sarong.  It is very beautiful and so much of it! 

Isn't it lovely?  Of course this is just a little bit of it, as much as would fit in the scanner.  Now what do I do with it?









Should I just wrap it into a skirt?

Or slice it into a tier skirt?

Or is a simple sundress the answer?

Any opinions?  I can't decide.


Sharon.
XXX