New painted object artwork – ‘Fields of Gold’

If you’re a liker on my facebook art page, you might’ve read how our poor old family dog recently passed away. He was a bull terrier, one of those dogs that looks scary, but is actually a big pile of goo inside. So to quench my desire to paint on objects, I decided to begin with an old bull-terrier money box I’ve had for years. Here’s how it turned out …

I’ve named this artwork, ‘Fields of Gold’, because I imagine him up there in doggie heaven, running around in a nice big endless park of loveliness. I’ll be uploading him to my shop as soon as I’ve admired him for a little bit longer on my desk.

Rest in Peace, old boy. I’ll always remember your unending love and companionship my Jakey xxx

Love Mummy

I want to paint on objects, like these cool artists!

Ever since I saw these amazing little sculptures on Kate McCarthy’s facebook art page …

 

And this gorgeous deity on Belinda Suzette’s art page …

 

I’ve been almost obsessively musing about painting on ‘things’. I’ve painted on flat surfaces for years, whether it’s little board artworks or massive murals on walls. And you know what? I’m ready for a change and some new inspiration!

Fortunately or unfortunately, this means that nothing in my house is safe anymore. I’m looking at chairs, shoes, bowls and possibly even my son through the eye of a paintbrush. In fact I’m going to log off now and bomb some paint on something!

Happy inspirational weekend to you too x

Snazzy journalist interview

A couple of weeks ago I was contacted by a freelance journalist, Jayvia Magini (Rave magazine), asking if she could do an article on yours truly. Ummm … yeah!

She’s done a truly beautiful job, weaving a beautiful story about my art, Motherhood, success on etsy, exhibition dreams and other emotional tid bits along the way. You can check out the interview here

Thanks so much Jayvia!

Chrissy xx

6 Mixed Months of Motherhood

I’m usually pretty conscious of keeping my art blog as just that; as I’ve never wanted to inundate my loyal followers with bouncing baby pictures in every post. But this week we celebrated our baby Max Bear reaching his 6 months of life milestone and it’s made me reflect on my mixed time of Motherhood.

It’s hard to believe how quickly he’s gone from this:

To this:

Pretty darned cute, right? I’d agree. Teddy bears are his favourite breakfast. Clearly.

So I’d like to take this time to graciously thank you for being there with me on my journey as I adjust to being an Artist, Mother, Wife and Business owner. If you’ve been following my blog for a while you might’ve read a little about my post-natal-depression experience and I can happily say that for the first time since Max’s birth, I realised something wonderful yesterday.

I. AM. HAPPY

I can’t tell you how wonderful it is to say that! It’s been a tough road getting here but I really believe it’s enabled me to better appreciate this wonderful time in my life … With a beautiful, curious, loving little boy and my artwork flourishing with depth and feeling I never thought possible.

What a blessing it is to experience joy and contentment in my own skin again. Here’s to the next 6 months!

C xx

New Artwork – Lazy Sundays

All week I look forward to weekends, when we can spend time together as a family. We rarely do anything fancy – usually just pottering around the house, eating yummo bakery food for lunch and pulling funny faces at our little boy just to hear him chuckle.

They may sound like mundane things to do, but it’s funny looking back at my own childhood, it’s the small things I remember.

So today we all played on the bed together, enjoying each other’s company while I breastfed Maxie laying down. There was this beautiful moment when Hubby reached out and touched my leg and I reached out to stroke him back, and I realised we’d created this beautiful ‘family’ shape, with Hubby and I surrounding our little man, quite literally, in a circle of embrace. It was such a beautiful moment, I had to paint it.

Here it is, called ‘Lazy Sundays’

‘Lazy Sundays’. Acrylic, ink, watercolour pencil and marker on baord. March 2012. © Chrissy Foreman Cranitch

 

It’s turned out looking quite like Indigenous Australian art, which was not at all intentional, but perhaps it’s the essence or spirit of the moment that’s shared with that style of artwork that makes it look similar. Anyhow, this time I’m keeping the original so there’s just prints in my etsy and madeit shop if you wanna take a looksy.

Hope you had a wonderful, warm and fuzzy weekend too xx

New Artworks X 3!

I’ve got three new artworks to share this week after a lovely weekend of painting, buying some new art materials and walks in the rain

‘Our Path’. Mixed media on board. Feb 2012

... An artwork about the journey of love and the conscious choices we take; following a path which ignites our hearts and allows us to grow together.

 

Prints also available in my etsy and madeit shops

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‘Where Mountains Meet’. Mixed media on board. Feb 2012  

An abstract mountain range with underlying meaning ... about experiencing life through layers of challenges, dreams and acceptance of 'what is'.

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 ‘The Day It Rained’. Mixed media on board. Feb 2012  

A lovely little artwork I created after returning home from a beach front walk with my son. It's reminiscent of the moment the skies opened up and we had to take shade under a big old tree until the rain passed. We still got wet!

Hope you had a great weekend too! XO

New Artwork ~ Go With The Flow

Something a bit different … This new little mini artwork on board was one of those ‘golden paintings’ – the ones that come together really easily and quickly without too much thought involved – the best kind!

‘Go With The Flow’ is a lovely little artwork about flowing with life, sailing downstream and around obstacles; taking time to find beauty ever present in this very moment.
I created this original using acrylic paint, watercolour, marker and metallic pens on pine board. 10 x 10 cms x 1 cm deep. (2012)
It has lovely subtle layers with intricate flecks of metallic gold sparkling through, visible in different light of the day/night.

It’s in my shop here

Three new original artworks (under $100)

I had the intention this week of getting started on a few affordable mini original artworks for my shop. Somehow this weekend I managed to pump out three new artworks! YAY! Having Hubby at home on weekends means I can pass the baby over and have a bit of ‘Me time’ to create. Hooray! So here they are …

Vitality … An artwork about living in the moment, following your instincts and making a priority to do things that feel energising and bring about a sense of vitality. Pen watercolour, vintage lace + acrylic paint on pine board.14 x 17.5 cms x 1 cm deep (Feb 2012).

 

Tree with a View … A lovely, uplifting little artwork inspired by rainbows, nature and pattern.
Acrylic paint, marker, watercolours and metallic pen on canvas board. 10 x 10 cms (Feb 2012)

Soar … A lovely little artwork reminding me to spend time dreaming, believing and soaring high in my heart.
Acrylic paint, marker and metallic pens on pine board. 10 x 10 cms x 1 cm deep (Feb 2012).

 

All these artworks are well under $100 and available in my etsy shop here

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In other news, I’ve streamlined the name of my artsy online shops with the rest of my online paraphernalia. My website shop is now purely stocking my large-scale Original Artworks and Fine Art Fabrics, while my etsy and madeit shops - now found under ‘Art by Chrissy Foreman C’ - stock my smaller artworks, prints and stationery items.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/ArtbyChrissyForemanC (mini original artworks, prints + stationery – International shop)

http://www.madeit.com.au/ArtbyChrissyForemanC  (art prints + stationery goodies – Australian based)

I’d love you to pop by and let me know if you have a shop too! I’d love to check it out.

Love Chrissy xox

The postman came with radness!

I’ve had a few key ideas running around in my head for eons now which have finally come to fruition. And all at once, it seems! YAY!

Thanks to Mr Postman, I celebrated Valentine’s Day with a squeal of delight - My new artsy goodies had come back from the printers! For the first time I got to see my new art card designs in the flesh … I had the idea to put my art into hand-drawn frames when I revamped my website recently, so it was great to see they’ve turned out looking pretty snazzy!

I haven’t gotten around to photographing them individually for my shop yet, but I’ll get around to it in the next couple of days. In the meantime, these crappy pics will have to do…

My second squee of delight came when I got my delicious new business cards in the post. They’re through Moo and you can upload up to 25 different designs to be printed in equal amounts for your business cards. I thought this was a great way to showcase a selection of my work and people can choose a card that speaks to them. Aren’t they rad?!

In other news I’ve photographed and uploaded a bunch of new stuff into my etsy shop, such as my fabric canvasses …

And a few smaller, more affordable original artworks, like this one I just finished today, called ‘Your Kiss’.

It’s an artwork inspired by my Husband. Strangely enough, we kissed and the whole artwork vision emerged in my mind, so I had to paint it! The two little Willy Wagtails represent us both - The one on the branch is me and the one in flight is my hubby, representing all the times he's uplifted me and reminded me to look up.

The original is avaialble here

Whether or not you celebrate Valentine’s Day, I hope your day had some loveliness to it!

C XOX

New! Fine Art Notebooks

I’ve been thinking about making these puppies for a while and this week the planets have aligned! These lovely little blank notebooks available in 5 different designs at $7.50 a pop (+ postage).

Each of them are printed onto lovely pinstripe textured cardstock made using wind power (YAY!) and filled with 20 sheets to fill as one pleases! Handmade by my at my home studio in Brisbane. Australia.

This one is my fave I think – made using my ‘Aquatic Soul Dance’ artwork

Available now in my etsy and madeit shops :)

YAY!!!