My Etsy Shop, a discount!

Unlike my other online outlets, Esty offer discount codes, which is handy. Of course, the thing you need most on the internet is feedback, and I need those first few sales to get this, so as a little incentive, and to try out the discount code facility... here it is:

15% discount off anything in my Etsy shop until 9am Monday morning. From a little card to a big original painting, if there is anything you want, get it for a fabulous 15% less than usual! And your code is:

15PERCENTOFF

Browse Michele's Etsy store here

Most popular prints selling (offline) currently... it is neck and neck between these two:

Also available, mosaics, original paintings, cards and linoprints. Enjoy :-)

New Painting, and New Media

So, I am fairly good at painting in watercolours. The problem is, lots of people are fairly good at painting in watercolours, and like it or not, those people are my competition. Watercolour painting has become massively popular in recent years; watercolours are everywhere, some good, some bad.


Now I need an entry or two for a local 'open' exhibition in Colchester, and experience of open exhibitions (as the name suggests, open to anyone) has taught me that a watercolour painting alone, however good, may not be enough to get me in. 


Open exhibitions have a selection committee, and friends on the inside assure me that sometimes a piece is literally looked at for a few seconds before a decision is made; brutal. So I need something a bit different, something that catches the eye, and shows a bit of imagination. 

 (extreme close up!)

So for this piece I used Gouache (opaque watercolour) and collaged seashells to give the piece (I hope), a soft, dreamy look. I am rather pleased with it, and think it will be popular as a print, so it is being scanned currently, then it's off to the framers.

 Here is the original photo and inspiration:

The open exhibition has a Suffolk theme, and it is £10 per entry. Fingers crossed...

Day Tripping

Last week I saw a chap in a t-shirt that read: "The internet is down so I decided to go outside". Sometimes that is how I feel, between work, house renovations and little spare cash we just never seem to go anywhere. So when boyfriend took a week off, I was determined that we would go out for at least one day, so I could get some inspiration for my paintings and some fresh air.

We headed initially for Woodbridge, and the weather was on our side. On cutting through a park from the car park we came across this fabulous tree, massive and obviously hundreds of years old:

Then it was into the main part of Woodbridge where I took this photo, which I am currently working into a painting in Gouache and Collage:

After a hot chocolate and some cake, which wasn't quite nice enough to justify its price of a whole day's food budget we decided to wander towards Felixstowe.

We ended up at Trimley Marshes, and took a very long walk; it was fairly deserted and very attractive:

On the way home we stopped under the Orwell Bridge (favorite suicide spot of the Suffolk disenchanted), for more photos. By this time it was freezing, and the wind whipped my hair around my ears as I struggled to stop the camera from shaking. So imagine my surprise next day when I saw this serene picture!

  
Of course I just had to paint it:

It was lovely to go out for the day, and just shows that even a local day trip can fill you with ideas and inspiration.


Back in the studio and the scan copies of my Little Blakenham painting came back, so I can now offer it as a Limited Edition Giclee Print:

Fields near Little Blackenham Suffolk, Giclee Print

Happy Easter everyone and enjoy any of your own day trips you may be planning!