Hand Drawn Portraits - Just in time for Christmas!

Want something unique and handmade for a perfect Christmas present this year? I made this one of a kind portrait for my husband for a previous Christmas from a photo we both liked but was a little too blurry to blow up. The 'shades' are created by patterning - denser patterns create the darker areas and more open patterns read as a lighter grey from further away. Up close it's a little abstract with the tiny patterns clearly seen where as from far away it reads as a normal portrait.

The entire piece is hand drawn with black ink. As a special I'm offering a few commissions between now and Christmas for $180 for an A4 and $300 for an A3. (Unframed, ex GST postage extra). Paper will be top quality, acid free art paper.

Please email me to order, I will also need a photo with good contrast between areas as a guide.

Email for more information or to order here.

Now.... to work out what on earth I'm going to get for my hubby this year. Any suggestions?

Framing really does make a difference! This was a $50 frame from IKEA.

Hand Painted Fabric

Have just added two hand painted fabric pieces for sale for the very first time! (So exciting for me as i've wanted to do this for ages but wasn't sure how to do the payment buttons for unique one off items!)

They are listed in my 'Pages' menu on the RHS, and you can also get there by clicking on the heading above.

Both of these pieces have been painted this week and will look stunning as whole cloth quilt tops or with borders / panels added. They have been painted using iridescent Shiva Sticks which really glow against the black fabric. The cotton is high thread count 'Emma Louise' quilters muslin, which is wonderful to sew and the finer weave helps the colours to really pop.

To quilt you could do absolutely anything - while painting them i was imagining them being stitched with either shiny rayon or metallic threads around the painted lines and then quilted with bright swirls over the entire background. I will do one as a sample when time prevails, probably pillow cased before quilting with no binding and intensively quilted.

Over the next few weeks I'll be adding more together with a free downloadable PDF file on how to turn them into a quilt for quilting newbies. I'm thinking about offering some as kits with instructions, backing fabric and wadding too - please add in the comments below if you think that's an idea you'd be interested in!