Pencil Portrait Finished - Ashley

As promised here is one of the portrait commissions I completed at the end of 2011.

Drawn on Canson 160gm pastel paper with a combination of 

Derment Prismacolor & Derwent Studio pencils.

My next post will be my 100th post and i think a giveaway would be in order. What do you think?

In other news, Life Book is up and running and as expected, its awesome. Over 900 students have enrolled thus far. Amazing huh? Well done to Tamara Laporte. I haven't completed week 1 yet, but am looking forward to working on it over the next few days or so. 

I have also been asked to be involve in a new project. Whoo Hoo! But for now it remains under wraps while planning and preparations occur. I'll let you know all about it as soon as I'm able.

On a personal note, my youngest child recently turned 5 years old and starts school in a few weeks. I can't begin to tell you how bitter sweet this is. The positive side is the obvious, I'll have more time to get everything done and more. Artwork here I come. The negative side to this is the realization that my baby is growing up and will no longer be with me 24 hours a day (well, just about). I'm making the most of the remaining school holidays, as come early Feb my baby, my little buddy, my daily companion, my helper, my source of unconditional love, hugs and kisses, my little spark that makes me laugh every day without fail, will go to school with his brother Jack (6 years old) and his sister Louise (7 years old) and will no longer be by my side all day long.
Bitter sweet indeed. 

I'm dreading that first day when I kiss and cuddle him goodbye and walk home......by myself. He, on the other hand, is ready and very excited about going and I will not let him see how big-a-deal this is for me. Instead I will make a big deal about how great the occasion is for him and how happy I am for him. 

2012 is full of big changes for me and I am excited and eagerly looking forward to discovering what is in store. Time will tell.

I hope that 2012 brings you all the things you need in order to follow your dreams and live the life your are destined to live.

Humungous Hugs,

Kyles xo

Life Book... Under 2 weeks until classes begin.

Just a reminder that there is less than 2 weeks (yes that's right, 2 weeks left until the amazing LIFEBOOK begins. 

Would you love a whole year of Creative Bliss, with like-minded people?

Would love to learn from AMAZING teachers, 

like Tamara Laporte (AKA: Willowing), and many, many others?

Then this is the course for you. 

To find out more click on the image below. 

I do hope to see you there.

Big Smiles,

Kyles =D

Mixed Media ATC swap. For Lucy.

The theme for the month of November was 'Ancestors' and I was partnered with the lovely
Prudence Pudleduck of 'Puddle Duck Grange' blog.

Here are the ATC's I sent to Debi:

I don't think they photographed very well, so I was reluctant to post them. So at the request of sweet
Lucy Chen, here they are.

Hugs,
Kyles =D

ATC Swap with Kirstin McCulloch

The theme for the month of December was 'Baby Animals' and I was lucky enough to be partnered with the lovely Kirstin McCulloch of 'Listening to the squeak inside' blog.

You can view her amazing work on blog or her Flickr site.

Here are my ATC's I sent to Kirstin:

If you feel like you want to be apart of an ATC swap, pop on over to Willowing.ning.com. Who knows, you may end up being my swap partner.

Big Smiles,

Kyles =D

Elixir of the Gods! My Mixed Media Mail Art.

I love receiving mail, with the exception of those dreaded bills, of course. The picture above is what I received in the mail last week. It looks great here, but so, so much better in person. I LOVE it. Thank you so much Cameron.

I recently came across the blog of lovely Cameron at 'Paint Myself Pretty'. On discovering her blog I landed on this 'Elixir of the Gods!' post and instantly fell in love with her art piece. I headed straight over to her Etsy store and brought it. It now is up on my wall in my studio. What do you think of it?

I also brought another art piece recently, but will save that to show you in the next post.

You still have time to enroll in Life Book. Classes start January 1st 2012. I can't wait. I hope to see you there.

I hope you are organised and have all your Christmas shopping done.

Big Smiles,

Kyles =D

30% Off in my Etsy Store.

To celebrate Christmas I thought I would have a SHOP SALE.

From now until the 14th of December I will be offering 

30% off on all my art prints and original ATC's 

in my Esty store.

I'm planning on adding more original artworks up for sale in the new year.

In the meantime, here are a few items you will find in my store:

No fancy photos or layout today. I have to go and do some recording for my Life Book classes.

Happy Wednesday (or whatever day it is for you),

Kyles =D

Sneek peek at my new Mixed Media Portrait

Ok, here is a sneak peek of my newest commission. I think I may be giving away too much here. I hope the portrait recipient does not follow by blog. eeek! This commission is going to be a Christmas gift, hence the sneeky peek only.

Still trying to get more creative with my pics. 

I'm also working on small original works of art for my Esty store. How scary? As well as working on the classes I'll be teaching on Tamara Laport's course, LifeBook.
If you haven't signed up, it's not too late. To find out more click on the image below.

Hugs,

Kyles =D

Pencil Portrait Completed

I have finished one of the commissioned pencil portraits I have on my agenda at the moment. Hooray! Unfortunately I can not show you this portrait in it's entirety, as it is a surprise gift for someone. But I will show you at a later date, once it has been give to the recipient. 

I've tried to spruce up my images a little, instead of the my usual style. What do you think? I used a free photoshop template from Rita over at The CoffeeShop blog. I highly recommend you pay her a visit. 

By the way, I'm now on Pinterest and I am addicted. You can add a 'Pin It' tab to your browser and 'Pin' anything from any site. It's awesome. Great for saving ideas to refer back to later. Have a look at my pin boards and you'll get the idea.

Until next time,

keep creating,

Kyles =D

Famous Paintings & Heros ATCs

I forgot to show you a few ATCs I have received over the last few months.

For my August ATC Swap over at Willowing.ning.com. The lovely Beth Gould, from 'Dreaming of Tomorrow' was my partner and boy did I receive two wonderful ATCs.

The theme for the month was: Famous Paintings. You can see the two I sent Beth here. These ATCs below are the two I received from Beth. Aren't they great? There is even a little pearl bead glue to 'the girl with the pearl earring'.

The theme for the month of September was: Heros. The lovely Laura Zato Clemons sent me the ATCs below. Aren't they beautiful? You can see the two I sent to Laura here.

So, as you can see (especially if you've been following me for a while), I have a wonderful collection of ATCs. I just need a way to display them all in my studio. Any ideas?

I hope this post finds you well.
Kyles =D

ATCs and my Life Book Box

Here is a sneak peak at a few ATCs I've been working on.

Here are the ATCs I made for last months swap over at Willowing.ning.com.

Here is the two I received today from Gretchen Schroeder. They are so cute.

And here is a sneak peak at my Life Book box that I'm creating, to store the artwork in that I create over the course.

Best Wishes,

Kyles =D

Printmaking Class Work.

This is just a little something I was playing around with in my Printmaking class. This print was made using my hand carved vinyl plate and water soluble ink. After printing I coloured it in with pencils and markers. This was a practice before printing on good paper with oil based ink.

***Linda (Serendipity), this post is for you =D***

In other news:

You can now find me on Pinterest. And yes it is addictive.

You can still enroll in Life Book, the year long mixed media course that I will be guest teaching in.

Click here for more details.

Hope you're having a wonderful day.
Kyles =D

And the winner of my Life Book Giveaway is.............

Thank you all very much for entering my Life Book Giveaway.

In total I received 58 entrants into this Awesome Giveaway.

I went through each and every comment to see which bloggers needed to have duplicate entries, due to promoting elsewhere. I had 2 entrants who emailed me to enter and another 2 who commented on my Facebook page, letting me know they promoted on facebook.

Here is a recap of the prize on offer:

A place in the year long mixed media course, Life Book. 

You will receive a whole year of amazing artistic growth, art creating, personal development, joy, fun, laughter, friendship, art community, painting, painting, painting, mixed media, gluing, collaging, cutting, sticking things on, drawing, having crazy awesome fun!

And by the end of it, you'll have a beautifully bound journal (or Life Book) with gorgeous art that will have captured your special journey in 2012!

With the help of my trusty assistant (my son James).

 Drum roll please........................No. 29. ***looking over my list****

And the Winner is: Kate. 
Why not go over to Kate's blog to congratulate her.

Congratulations Kate. You are going to loooove this course.

Thank you to everyone who participate in my giveaway, particularly those of you who promoted it.

For those of you who missed out, but would love to enrol:  
Click here to view more details

Best wishes,

Kyles =D

My Interview & A purchase from Juliette Crane.

The lovely Deborah, from Scat N Style, has featured me and my artwork on her blog. You can read my interview here. Wow! Can you believe it? The universe is so good to me at the moment. I must have done something right, somewhere along the line.

Deborah is a Jazz singer who's blog is dedicated to music and art appreciation. There are many interesting interviews on her blog, so grab a coffee and read through a few on them, maybe even mine.

You can find her on facebook also, where she mentions my interview.

Don't forget it's not too late to enter my Life Book Giveaway, if you haven't already done so. 

I have another secret....................and yes, it is as awesome as the last...........stay tuned for this one.

I hope life is treating you well.

Kyles =D

Just thought I'd show you what arrived in my mailbox.

How beautiful is this. I brought this from fellow Life Book teacher, Juliette Crane. She has a beautiful selection of prints and original artworks in her shop. You can view her post on this and two other gorgeous journals here. She didn't have them long, as they sold like hot cakes. I was one of the lucky buyers and LOVE it.

Life Book - I am teaching with Tam. Giveaway coming.

So much for the suspense.  I just can't contain my excitement any longer. Drum roll if you please...............

I am one of the teachers of Life Book. Yep. You heard that correctly. (High fives all around)

Life Book is year long mixed media course, created by the talented and wonderful
Tam "Willowing" Laporte over on her ning site. 

"Life Book, a celebration and honouring of YOU”

I will be joining Tam and at least 14 incredible art teachers, who are all gearing up to share their mixed media techniques, tips and tricks with YOU, on this Awesome course. Themed around self-development and healing, you'll be creating a minimum of 2 loose mixed media art journal pages per month (through a minimum of 2 lessons a month) which by the end of the year you will bind into a glorious journal (a Life Book)!  You get a minimum of 26 spectacular mixed media lessons (videos & PDFs) plus loads of extras for less than $100. How cheap is that. And if that hasn't blown your socks off, on signing up you get to choose one of Tam's other online courses, at no extra cost.  (I should be hearing the words 'WOW!' by now)  So please click the link below, so Tam knows I sent you.

Click here to view more details

I will be having a giveaway in the next few days, so keep an eye out for that.
Till then,
Kyles =D
(dancing around the room)

I have a HUGE secret......and a GIVEAWAY.

Yes I do have a Humungous, Gigantic, Enormous Secret. I am so, so, soooooooo excited, I want to scream it to the moon.............unfortunately it is a secret, so I can't tell you....... not just yet, anyway.

I also have a GIVEAWAY coming up that you wont want to miss. If you haven't subscribed to my blog via email, you may want to do that now, as to not miss out on my next post. You wont be disappointment. 

I'll leave you with this eye candy. I printed out some of my digital ATC sheets for a future project. Don't they look great. You can view them all here at Blissfully Digital. 

What Super Hero Are You?

Angel Super Hero, a photo by Blissful Pumpkin on Flickr.

Just something I created for a local exhibition here in my home town of Horsham (Victoria, Australia). The theme was 'Heros' and the only guideline was that it had to be postcard size.
I hope you like it. She was fun to create.

Speaking of 'Heros', the theme for the September ATC Swap over at Willowing.ning.com was........ you guessed it, Heros. Here are my entries, which are now on there way to their new owner and swap partner, Laura Zato Clemons.

I hope this blog finds you well. By the way, if you were a super hero and could only have one power what would it be? What would you call yourself and why?

Kyles =D

More Modigliani inspired Girls

Modigliani inspired - Fran

Modigliani inspired - April

Mogdalini inspired - Tina

My Modigliani inspired Girls

Modigliani inspired - Alice (Original SOLD)

Modigliani inspired - Red

Modigliani inspired - Martina

 I have more of these Modigliani girls, but I will show you in the next post. I will be putting these originals in my store. You can find them at Blissful Pumpkin Etsy Store

As always, you feedback is welcome and appreciated. 

Kyles =D

Inspired by Mogdalini

Inspired by artist Amedeo Modigliani. 

The theme for August's ATC swap over at Willowing.ning.com was 'Inspired by famous paintings'. These are my two contributions, which now belong to Beth Gould. You can find her blog at Dreaming about Tomorrow.

I'd love to hear what you think. 

After I created these two ladies, I was still feeling pretty inspired by Modigliani's artwork, so I created several of my own girls. Stay tuned, as I will include them in an upcoming post.

Kyles =D

My happy little work of art

My birthday girl. Inspired by the gorgeous girls that Diane Duda creates. I hope you like it.

Kyles =D