Some newbies

Hello friends! Am I back to blogging? Well I am for now. I have found that blogging is a job which requires more time than I orignally thgouht I had. So I shall keep my blog writings to a minimum and upload as many pics as I can as often as I can. I've come to terms now with the fact that I will never be a regular blogger. And my hat goes off to all those who do it on a daily basis, even weekly even monthly!

For today here is something new. I've created some lovely new Christmas cards. They come in a pack and are available from my online shop. http://www.laikonik.bigcartel.com/

I made a papercut, in Polish they are called "Wycinanki" and I used the design to make the cards.

First I cut out the design. I make it up as I go along...

...then I scanned it into Illustrator, drew the design and created the cards...

...and lastly the packaging. I love the stitching on the side :)

Exhibition photos

The exhibition opening night was fantastic. I know I said I was going to write about it the next day but.....

I will keep the words to a minimum and let the pics speak for themselves. The most exciting thing I'd have to say was meeting other artists who were interested in using eco materials and working with the environment instead of against it. This week there will be two sessions at the GAFFA organised by The Hemp Gallery in partnership with Jaspers Village. This is an exciting project with a vision for a sustainable future. Contact the GAFFA gallery for more info.

And now for some photos!

My wall, I set up my Hemp paintings on one side and all my commercial work on the right.

Daisy Prowse

Wearbeattie

Steve Woods

Steve Woods

Exhibition tonight!

I am excited and nervous for tonight's opening at the GAFFA in Sydney. Yesterday I spent part of the day setting up with my friend Nathalie. Thank you Nat!! I saw the work of some other artists who are also exhibiting tonight. The standard is superb and all the work I saw was gorgeous. If you have an opportunity please drop in any time over the next two weeks. You can still make a booking for tonight and come along to the opening. Just go to www.trybooking.com/3664

Here are a couple of pics of me setting up. I will take more photos and post them tomorrow and tell all about tonight! Thank you to everyone who has been emailing me with support and encouragement especially while I was in bed with tonsilitis this week. A most inappropriate time to get sick!

Until tomorrow friends :)

Sneak peek at the exhibition paintings

I have been 'busy' painting and getting ready for the exhibition on thursday. It has been extremely fullfilling to paint every day. I LOVE the results of the work I have done over the last few weeks and cannot wait to hang it in gallery on wednesday. If you would like to join me on the opening night please go to www.trybooking.com/3664 and book yourself and friends to come on the evening. There will be 10 other artists all exhibiting work on fabric as well as some beautiful jewellery design.

Here are some details of the paintings. I will upload them all on thursday 17th. Comments welcome!

Before & After offer

My friend recently sent me a photo of a bare wall space in her home. She asked if I could show her what the Laikonik Wall-hangings would look like. I super-imposed the wall-hangings in Photoshop and below are the results. She loves the chocolate brown one.

If you would like to see what a Laikonik Wall-hanging would look like in your home before you buy one, just email me a photo of a room in your house where you are thinking of hanging something on the wall. The photo must be a front-on shot, not sideways or on an angle and must contain a large portion of the wall to fit the wall-hanging. I will email you back with a pic of your transformed room! Don't forget that your kids and especially babies rooms look great with the Wall-hangings. Especially the white one for a nursery. So send away!

Before

After, both look good but my friend went with the brown.

Stop being busy

Here are some very wise words from a blog I follow regularly. It is called Zen Habits and Leo Babauta writes many inspirational and very practical things about life. Here is something from his post today. As a result of reading it I have been NOT BUSY making apple and pear pies :) Please visit his blog it is well worth it.

“Doing nothing is better than being busy doing nothing.”

~Lao Tzu

Stop being busy and your job is half done.

Think about how busy we are, and how it has become a way of bragging: I’m so busy, I must be important.

“I have a million things to do! I never have time for anything! I can’t slow down — I’m too busy.” This is thought to be a good thing in a society where we must be productive, active, occupied.
But it’s a fool’s game. Busy is simply noise, action without meaning, lots of little unimportant things rather than a few important ones.

Stop being busy. Just decide to stop, today.

Now you’re halfway done. You’ve decided to slow down, and to focus on what’s important. All of a sudden, your schedule clears up, and

your to-to list shrinks down to almost nothing.
Now you just have one or two things to do, instead of a million. You clear distractions, and focus. Get all the goodness »

A new design

The other night I did three drawings. One of a face, one of a womans body and one of feet. I loved the results. The drawings came out of me effortlessly and it was very relaxing and a joy to do them. I have just transferred the design of the face onto some hemp and painted it with some colours. I love it. Her face looks joyous and makes me smile when I look at it :) I will be doing more of these in different colour ranges. I can't wait!