What…it’s March already?

Hello Everyone and thanks for coming over.

Just thought I’d do a bit of an update on what’s happening in our little world down here.

I must confess, I’m addicted to “Aqua” at the moment.

I’m finding it so inspiring to work with.  So yesterday I was painting some bits and pieces up for my website (you can see details for the hp tissue box here) and while I was at it, I did a bit of a make over with our old desky thingy in our bathroom and that’s something I haven’t done for quite sometime.  I still need to replace the handle…but here it is:

 

The Mirror will be available from our Second Hand Heaven Shop if you’re interested.

We’ve also been busily working on a new affordable range of Quirky Door Hangers and Keep Sake Gift Tags,  we would love you to come over and see the full range here…great gift or alternative to a gift card for under $10.00!

Last not but least!!….

On the Home Front: 

Thanks for asking after our new Grandson Xavier, he’s such a little cutie pie, Guss & Xavier are fast becoming best Mates…of course always supervised

Until next time

~Gail~

Yet more shoes!

above

"The Shabby Chic Kitchen Dresser"

click on either Original Painting for details

As I was working away on the one above, I wasn't quite sure how it would turn out, but I must say I was pleased with the end result, click on the painting for details

I'm finding these Home Decor Whimsical Paintings a little easier with each one I finish - mind you only "a little easier" they are quite time consuming and my poor old brain is sore from all the thought that goes into them - but I'm absolutely obsessed with them at the moment!

Anyway just thought I'd do a post on this one and wish you all a Happy Weekend!!

Thanks for coming over

~Gail~

The Shabby Chic Bathroom

Thanks for coming over to see what's been painted over here
Here's a newy, another Shabby Chic Home Decor scene, I actually had some fresh roses to inspire me for this one you can click on the painting for details if you like

I should have another Whimsical Original Painting ready for tomorrow night - all going well

Hope you're all well and happy

~ Gail ~

Assorted Shoes

Tony didn't see my vision on this latest original painting. I chose a high narrow canvas (30 x 60cm) for this one, I had planned to paint the shoes at the bottom as I did, then a shelf up the top with handbags or something...after finishing the shoes, I just loved it as is - as I said though Tony was a bit hoo hum when he saw it on my easel, but once I held it up against one of our soft coloured white walls he approved!

above - my subjects scrounged from daughter Ellie's shoe hoard

and below a zoom in of the painting

below

a not so good photo colour wise - but thought I'd include it for an overall idea

I'm thinking this one would be perfect for tying in the uncluttered look with the girly shabby chic or the true shabby chic lovers could add pink ribbon, bling....whatever to the top...my mind is going overtime here...now what about a similar seperate sized painting of pretty hand bags to go above this one....hmmm, there's a thought

What do you think?

you can click on any of the photos for details on the original painting

thanks for coming over ~ Gail ~

Here's another!

Thankyou so much for your encouraging comments on my artwork - you have no idea how much each and every comment means to me ! - but on the other hand, please don't feel obliged to leave comments, you are just so very welcome to look - sometimes with a coffee or tea in one hand it's just nice to flick through the blogs as you would a magazine.

Here's another 8 x 10" canvas

"Dressing Table with Stool"

Original Painting by me to add to the series, you can click on the photo for details

~Gail ~

I've been Decorating

I've been decorating - well sort of

I've been decorating with my paint brush, I think it's easier to physically decorate rather than decorate with a paint brush, takes ages to replace a vase of roses to the right position in a painting - yes I know I should sketch and prepare my paintings before hand, I just don't though - anyway, here's my latest Original Painting available on our website - click on the painting if you're wanting details

A little collage below of some of my previous Home decor Original Paintings

Thanks so much for coming over to see what I've been up to

and Happy Decorating to you all

~ Gail ~

The Shabby Chic Beach Beauties

Hello and thanks for coming over

Once again I've been working on a few new canvas whimsical paintings, the one above is my latest and features some "Beach Beauties" in Shabby Chic themed Cozzies, Bathing Caps to match of course, I do wonder what they are looking at out there in the sea?
You can click on either of the Beauties for details



For the last goodness knows how many years I've been painting in acrylics, I do use the best quality structural grade ones, they are fantastic as they dry quickly and the colours are wonderful - but I just had this urge to get my Oil paints out of retirement - which I did today, had a very enjoyable time , only thing is the painting and hopefully future paintings will take a little longer to dry, as in about one to three weeks longer, depending on weather conditions -with a bit of juggling between painting in acrylics and oils I should keep contuining to come up with new Originals every few days - sounds good in theory!




I bought some gorgeous pink long stemmed roses from the market yesterday - here they are, I plan to paint a largish laying roses painting this week, I think these will be perfect subjects.

The one below was a little sad looking, the stem being a bit fine and flimsy, so I cut most of the stem off and plonked it in with my fresh Parsley - lazy me couldn't be bothered looking for a little vase, but I quite like the contrast of the pretty pink with the lush green parsley

Thanks so much once again for coming over

~ Gail ~

Pink Shoes

Sold ~thankyou~

I think of these Whimsical Original Paintings I do on canvas as my rewards or treats -

I say to myself I can paint whatever and however I wish for these ones -

I never decide what I'm going to paint until I have my paints ready on my palette and my canvas in front of me...

My latest Original Painting

"Pink Shoes"

Thanks for coming over

and please click on those pink shoes if you'd like details on how to buy them

hope you have a good weekend

~Gail~

I've been neglecting my Roses

Hi and thanks so much for coming over to visit

I've been happily painting away here, in between a market on Sunday, which was a bit of a so - so one, it is winter here so never mind, then my Dad turned 82 on Monday, so out for lunch we went -
Happy Birthday once again Dad if you're reading this!!!!

I finished this latest Beach themed painting - if you're interested you can click on the painting for details.

I have been guilty of neglecting my beloved Rose Paintings lately, the thing is they seem to be more popular finished in an ornate frame - Ornate frames are not easy to find anymore, either vintage or reproduction varieties, if and when I find frames its been hard to go out and paint my frames and gesso the back board.


I should have the painting finished, framed and ready for sale on our website by tomorrow night - all going well. I must say I've enjoyed working on these roses, I think the little break away doing something else did me the world of good.





I must finish this post soon as there are deadlines on a few competitions I'm entering for a new fancy camera - my camera is, should I say both my camera's aren't wonderful to say the least, I mentioned in one of my previous posts how disappointed I was with my new camera I got for Christmas...."One more try" I said to myself today, you can have a look at the photos below to see the craziness of my camera, blurry, bad colour etc. etc., and that was after I went into Photo Shop and tried fixing all the problems - you shouldn't have to do that every time you take a photo should you? I've been painting and tidying up in our Lounge room and wanted to show you some nice photos - not to be, let's hope I win one of the competitions.


I also wanted to show you how lovely some of my Pink Rosy Paintings look in my Newly Painted Living room, did you see Sarah's A Beach Cottage's Blog Post on Saturday? - she combines the pink with her white palette so beautifully, well worth popping over to see, click here

Have a great week

~ Gail~

The Sun Worshipper

Hello there!

I'm having a bit of a fetish over Vintage Beach Girls

Here's my latest

"The Sun Worshipper"

She's wearing a fabulous Rosy Bathing Costume and Cap

Hope she's remembered her Sunscreen!

I will have her listed on my website soon

thanks for coming over

~ Gail ~

Beach Beauties

Hi there!

I've been busily finishing some orders the last few days, nearly all done.

Time for a bit of fun painting I thought, I always love working on these whimsical originals.

This one is to add to my Beach Inspired Series

Quite love the way these "Beach Beauties" have turned out ....

At some stage I aim to take some Figure Painting classes or workshops - now that will be fun!

Thanks so much for coming over

~Gail~

Pink Bags

Sold - thankyou!

Thanks for coming over

Not much news at all over here - how about you?

I've had a bit of fun painting a collection of Pink Bags which I've just listed on our website, I'm still loving painting these Original Whimsical Paintings.

This one is available from our website now, you can click on the bags for details

~ Gail ~

Simply Thongs

I'm slowly building up my Beach Inspired Originals, Prints and Gift Card section on our Website, here's my latest original I've just finished today.

A pair of thongs, not sure if the word "Thong" is just an Aussie term for these plastic/rubber things we wear on our feet over here in Australia in summer and seems the latest fashion in winter too, I trip over one of Ellie's many pairs everytime I walk out our back door, she seems to have a wide variety of colours and styles, anyway I propped one of the many pairs up today as my subject - view the photo below

Do you overseas people have something similar to thongs, what do you call them? I think a thong to you is a skimpy piece of underwear, which over here it is too, how confusing and quite funny really when when you think about it!!

here's my subjects, well worn in, that's how we like 'em (as in from worn in on feet)

I have the original painting for sale from our website now, we will be getting a series of prints together very soon for all our interested Beachy customers

thanks so much for coming over to visit

Have a wonderful weekend whatever you maybe doing

~Gail~

A Beach Cottage visit

Thanks for coming over

I've had a wonderful day today - achieved lots and then to top it off I've just read Sarah's from A Beach Cottage's, recent post - we've been working together on a bit of a beachy themed painting, I was so thrilled to see she'd added photos of some of my work on her blog post...Have you seen her blog...??? It is absolutely wonderful, please pop over and visit her by clicking here or on the photo below - Warning - Her blog is addictive!!

Thankyou Sarah

above photo from Sarah A Beach Cottage's blog

also

Another you can look at by clicking here The Inspired Room, - yes go on please do it's worth travelling across too visit, I've joined in on Melissa's "A Beautiful Life" inspirational post.

~~
I have been meaning to repaint our Dado walls for ages, years in fact - I did make a start today, they are going to look wonderful, I managed to finish two smallish walls today, in between finishing a new White Rose painting, not sure where that burst of enthusiasim came from, maybe I should be thanking Sarah! The photo below is a tiny little peak preview, you probably don't care, but it sure made me feel as if I'd achieved something arond the house today

below is my finished painting, you can click for details

Thanks once again for coming over

I hope you have a wonderful weekend whatever you maybe doing

Good luck to all you treasure hunters out there

~Gail~

Two Newies

Hello and thanks for coming over to visit, I've just finished two original paintings, one on a blue chippy board, Tony keeps telling me "This is the last of these" then appears with more he's found, I think this one he thought was too chippy for me to paint --- What, too chippy???

I had in mind to paint tea cups and star fish, but wasn't at all sure how the tea cups would be, I find if I don't think and plan, things just come to me - sometimes anyway - in this case it didn't come to me, took a few attempts and a days break away from the painting before the seaside theme painted on the tea cups came to me - here it is and is available for sale, just click on the tea cups for details




Thanks for the well wishes for our Market - all I can say is it didn't turn out to be one of our better markets, no rain thankfully, but cold, windy and muddy, never mind all part of it, you have to take the good with the bad.

One bright and sunny highlight of the day was this lovely bunch of Jonquiles given to me by Alison Gibbs, really only part of the massive bunch she gave me, I popped over to help Alison with her lovely new website she's started up - as in popped over in person, she only lives across the road and a few streets down, her website is looking good, click here to have a look

I'm adding on another recently finished painting to this blog post - lazy me, will save me doing a new blog post, this one's on a solid timber door panel - click on the photo for details if you like

Thanks also for some awards that have come my way - very much appreciated!!

Hopefully I'll get to them soon!

Thanks so much for visiting

~ Gail ~

Simply White

sold - thankyou!

Thanks for popping over.
Once again I've been working on another original painting - I'm really enjoying painting at the moment, that's not always the case! Maybe I feel this way because I've a few new themes going and have had interesting pieces of chippy timber board to work with. This latest one is a bit of a variation of my Beach themed ones, no shells or star fish this time, the lovely ornate repro frame just needed some simple white flowers and a china vase - I love the end result, you can click on the photos if you'd like details




You know when you're painting anything at all, there always seems to be a bit of left over paint on the brush - Waste not Want Not - I try and have some little thingy that needs a bit of a revamp beside me, it sometimes takes a week to paint that little something, but it's a good effect and serves the purpose of cleaning my paint brush at the same time, the Candle stick holders in the photo below were my latest brush cleaners, I will put them up for sale on the website at some stage - could have been tonight if my camera's batteries hadn't run out.

There they are again in the photo below, with my gorgeous Lilies - which have finally opened up, took a week or two, but aren't they lovely! - thanks Mal and Todd

Just a little beside the point photo below

This Laundry hamper was on special for $9.95! it's lined with a lovely unbleached linen insert. Of course I already have two, so have no idea what I will do with it - but for that price, how could I let it go...???

We have our market this Sunday at Mornington Racecourse, you can click here for details

If you're in the area we'd love you to stop and say Hello

The one below I've just finished ready for our market tomorrow - images taken from my original Sea Gull painting

Have a great weekend whatever you maybe doing

~Gail~

Swedish Bench and New Listing

I'm still enjoying painting on the Chippy Boards Tony brings home for me - they're all cleaned, sanded and cut to size - whew all I have to do is paint!!!!

This one I finished today - click on the photo if you're interested

Tony cut another chippy panel exactly the same size as this one, I intend to paint another similar painting, which I think would look lovely hung as a pair
~~~~~~~

OK onto a Swedish Find

Tony came across this wonderful Swedish Bench - really an 18th century Gustavian Sofa, anyone how has visited Tony's space at the Antique Centre will understand why the Swedish Bench needs to be hung up high out of harms way!!! - yeh Girls I know the ones who have visited are having a giggle...???

We've had a wonderful time researching this one, but if you think you have any more info it would be most welcome, please leave a comment or contact us



Here's one gorgeous blog we found along the researching way.http://www.swedishantiques.blogspot.com/ thankyou Tricia (hope you don't mind the mention)
....now you really have to use your imagination on Tony's latest - recoverd I think it would look sensational

Thanks for coming over

have a great weekend

~ Gail ~

The Love of Tea Cups

Thanks for coming over to see what I've been up to

I've just finished a new painting on a chippy blue vintage timber panel, I've done a few of these, they are wonderful and a pleasure to work on

This one is simply of Vintage Cups and Saucers. As the timber is old and chippy it's not smooth and even, which makes it a little difficult to paint in fine detail - I rather liked the fact my cups and saucers have character because of the texture of the old timber

I've just listed them on our website, if you're interested you can click on the teacups for details

Explaining the photos below....

I loved the cushion in my below photo
Had to have it but had no idea where to put it, it ended up in our for now "Beachy" themed Loft Bedroom, mind you this Beachy themed Loft bedroom could change directions at anytime!

The painting on the bedside table is one of my originals I painted to fit in with my bedroom theme, it's since sold , but just thought I'd give you the general idea of how things evolved from me buying the cushion

In real life our attic bedroom is very crisp and white, very hard taking photos at this time of the year here in Melbourne, let alone the fact my poor old camera is not quite up to it - looks a bit dowdy in my photos

Thanks so much for coming over

~ Gail ~