Hold on tight, this blog is moving!

After much deliberation, I've decided to relocate my blog! I wanted to move away from the 'Illustration' tag, so I've created a new blog at www.leanne-ellis.blogspot.com

Thank you so much for all your support and lovely comments on this blog! I'll be leaving this one in place so that previous artwork can still be viewed.

I've uploaded the images from the recent exhibition over at the new blog, so hopefully I'll see you all over there! xx

I'm painting like mad at the minute for a group exhibition this month! I'll be uploading pics of the final artworks and the exhibition once it's all up, but for now I thought I'd post some of my sketches! :)


P.S. Thank you so much to all the lovely people who've left comments and awards these past few weeks - I'm soooo sorry I haven't had a chance to go blog hopping lately and leave replies, as soon as my workload eases up later on this month, I'll be able to spend lots of time visiting all your gorgeous sites!!! :)

I was recently contacted by the absolutely lovely Shelley from Artful Achievements, requesting that I answer a few questions for a post on her blog, and needless to say I was completely honoured to be featured on her beautiful site! :)

You can find the interview here.

Shelley also plans to run a challenge, to create a design using one of my stamp designs from Sugar Nellie, so that will be exciting!!

A few days later, Shelley e-mailed to say she was sending a little gift as a thank you for the interview (which in itself was really touching as I felt that I should be thanking her, not the other way round!!) I was completely amazed when, the following morning, I opened a package containing this:


WOW!! I would not describe this as a 'little gift'!!! It's gorgeous in the picture, but it's even more gorgeous in real life! The attention to detail is really beautiful, and I love it! Thank you Shelley!! x Check out all of Shelleys stunning creations on her blog! :)

*** The challenge will begin on the 5th June, and Funkykits have donated a prize for the winner!! :) ***

And the winner iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis...

Milla!! :)

I used the random number generator to ensure objectivity on my part! (I wanted to give one away to everyone who left a message!!) Thank you so much for all your lovely comments. And congratulations Milla!! Send me a quick email with your address and I'll get it in the post! xx

Entry for Illustration Friday, and a giveaway!

Right, first things first! This is my entry for this weeks Illustration Friday topic 'Poise'... I used a similar colour scheme to the artwork in my last post as I'm a bit addicted to jadey blues and oranges at the minute! :) It's a bit of a different approach to the figure, slightly more realistic, as I'm attempting to add a few more contemporary style Illustrations to my 'ever in progress' portfolio!




Also, it's been a shockingly long time since I added any new treasures to my Etsy shop, soooo I've been working non stop for the last few weeks making lots of lovely things to tempt you with! ;) Here's a little preview of some of the things I'll be listing:



There's 63 new items in all, including Pendants, Magnets, Bookmarks, Butteflies, and ACEO's, and also my original painting 'Whisper'! I'm in the process of uploading everything today and early tomorrow so they should all be in the shop by tomorrow evening! *** All uploaded now... Phew! :) ***

To celebrate my GINORMOUS shop update, I've decided to do a giveaway with one of my artwork pendants! (Click on the image for a supersized view!) Apologies for the less than perfect photographs, the light wasn't great! This pendant is so much nicer in real life, even if I do say so myself! ;)


This particular pendant features my artwork ' A little Bit of Pruning...' and is one of a kind as this is the only pendant I've made so far with the image set under glass! The Pendant setting is a gorgeous antique bronze filigree frame which measures 5 x 5cm. I've taken a crisp reproduction of the artwork on heavyweight paper and set it with glaze under a lovely flat glass nugget which measures just over an inch, then I securely attached it to the pendant base. It hangs from a short length of antique bronze chain accented with a beautiful off white pearly flower button, taking the entire length of the drop to a whopping 9cm!! But trust me, it looks really delicate and elegant on! The matching necklace measures 18 ins and closes with a lobster clasp. So, if you can see yourself wearing this then leave me a comment and I'll draw the winner in the next week or so! :)

Good Luck!! xx

'Subtract' on Illustration Friday...

This is my entry for this weeks Illustration Friday topic! I've been thinking a lot lately about how essential it is to give your life a little 'prune' every now and again! :)
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p.s. Stay tuned for a hoooge shop update, I'll be listing loads of new goodies in the next day or two, and there will also be a giveaway with one of my artwork pendants! x

Répondez s'il vous plaît...

This is my entry for the Illustration Friday topic, 'Breezy'. :)

There's Always Time...

My (very late!) entry for 'Time' on Illustration Friday.

Pale

Entry for 'Pale' on Illustration Friday.

There's been a severe lack of posting around here!! So much so that I've neglected to write about my lucky encounter with the lovely Sugar Nellie stamp company! They very kindly asked if they could turn some of my artworks into rubber stamps, and I said YES PLEEEEEASE!!! So, here's the first batch!

I'm working on the next set now, so hopefully they should be available soon! And I'll be doing a new batch every 2 months so there will be lots more to come! :) If you like them, you can click on the Sugar Nellie link on the left and it will take you straight to the online shop. And this is the Sugar Nellie Blog, always full of lovely goodies and lots of inspiration! x

Just a few pics of a new character style I'm exploring at the moment...

I've been feeling a bit dissatisfied with my approach to the characters in my work lately - I've sort of been boxing myself into a corner by being to restrictive with their proportions, and trying to make their faces look 'perfect', etc. Sooo, I've been trying to get out of some of my nasty habits over the past week or so with these ladies! I'd love to hear what you think :)

Late

This was my response to the Illustration Friday topic 'Late'... but by the time I'd finished working on it, it was too late to enter!! :)

(Updated version with flowers!)

Hey guys! You're probably so bored with my endless apologies for the hoooooge gaps between posting, but I am genuinely sorry for being such a rubbish blogger! Thank you so much for all your lovely comments on my last post. My only excuse is that I've been really busy lately, as I'm working this year as an Artist in Residence at Swansea University, which is great! I have my own studio space to work in, which makes a nice change from my tiny bedroom in my tiny house!! And it's so nice to be in amongst that creative atmosphere again! I've also been working on some gallery pieces and a commission. I finally got around to changing the appearance of my blog aswell! I think it needed a bit of sprucing up! I'll probably change it another 10 times before I'm happy with it! :)

Below is a piece that has been accepted for the ING Discerning Eye exhibition at the mall galleries in London. It opens on November 13th so I'm hoping to get up there and see it! All the entries will also be shown in the online gallery that will run alongside the main exhibition. It's a little bit different from my usual style, I painted it mainly with gouache which I've never really used before. The original, entitled 'When', measures around 15x15ins and it's in a lovely heavy white-washed wood frame. I did try and get a good pic of it framed up but they all came out fuzzy!

* 'When' now belongs to a lovely little girl called Ruby :) *



I also had this piece accepted for a local exhibition called Works On Paper at the Elysium Gallery, Swansea:

It's drawn on crumpled vellum and it's slightly bigger than A3. I've been really enjoying working in pencil lately, you can achieve so many lovely effects. Here's some other pieces I've done recently in pencil:

'Pick Me' - Pencil on cartridge paper , approx A3.


'Where Next?' - Pencil and digital


'The Escape' - Pencil and digital

Hmm, I think that's everything! I'm off now to visit all your lovely blogs! :)

Illustration Friday - Sail

Inspired by this week's topic on Illustration Friday, this little lady has appeared in my sketchbook, bobbing around in her porcelain 'boat'!

A winner, and a wavering mind!

I decided to let the giveaway run on a bit longer so more people could enter!! First I printed the names of all the lovely people who left a comment :)

Then I put them all in a bag and picked out the winning name:

So, the brooch will be heading off to a new home with Michelle!

Thanks so much to everyone who left a comment, and I'm planning more giveaways soon!

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Also, this is a painting I just finished early this week. It's entitled 'The Wavering Mind' and it's acrylic and pencil on board (12 x 16 ins).

I've donated it to a charity Art auction (Shelter Cymru) so fingers crossed it will raise some money! I got it professionally scanned before I waved goodbye to it, and I've also acquired a delicious new Epson printer, (after my other one decided it'd had enough!) so it's now available in my Etsy shop as a print! x

Lots to catch up with!

Hey everyone! I've been away from my blog for a while so this will be a bit of a long post!

Firstly, I really want to thank Amy Short, Vintage Palette Art and The Cart Before the Horse for passing on some lovely blog awards to me. I really am honoured to receive them from such talented artists - Thank you so much Amy, Lori and Jo! (I'll pass them on at the end of this post!)

Secondly, here's some pics of the big painting that I was 'whining' about in my last post! It's too big to scan so I could only manage some dodgy photo's (you can probably see more of the reflection on the glass than of the actual artwork!!)


The 'detail' photo's were taken from the side to avoid glare so that's why the proportions look a bit strange. It's entitled 'The Reluctant Magician' and it measures 22 ins x 31 ins, which is pretty whopping for me! Ha!

I entered it into our local Open Exhibition here in Swansea, along with the original 'Patience' painting - Patience got in but this one was rejected! :( Ahh well, never mind, she's happily hanging on my wall for the time being!

Thirdly, (I told you this would be a long post!) I've updated my Etsy shop with new Moleskines, ACEO's, Pendants and an original artwork.


My printer is playing up lately so I've had to suspend all my prints for a while, but I've filled it with other goodies instead!

And finally... I've got a lovely silver metal picture brooch that I thought would make a perfect GIVEAWAY! It has a little print of my Whisper painting inside. (she's got a little bit of sparkle on her wings)


On the back of the bow is a brooch pin, or alternatively you can take off the bow and stand it as a tiny frame (there's a little rest at the back that folds out so it can stand it up). So, if you'd like this pretty brooch, just leave me a comment and I'll draw the winner next Sunday! :)

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The blogs I'd like to pass my lovely awards to are:
Colleen at Green Frog Graphics

Colleen's blogs always inspire me so much! I've put this link to her main website as I think it's great, and really shows off her amazing talent as an Illustrator! Her posts are some of the funniest things I've ever read and she never fails to make me smile! :)


Anne-Julie at Ma Petite Theiere

Her beautiful images, pocket mirrors, jewellery and much more are SO breathtakingly beautiful! I honestly can't explain how amazing this lady's work is, you have to see it for yourself!
x

True Love...

This is a piece on wood that I've just added to my Etsy shop. Trying to finish a big painting for a looming deadline at the minute!! Noooooo, will I ever learn?!!! ;)

Sit with the flowers...

This is a painting I've just finished on canvas, with the text added on photoshop. I've decided she's called Frances (a name I love sooo much!) and I'm thinking of creating a little series with her! :)

My quest for crisp photos!

Hey everyone! Hope all's well with you! I've been trying to take decent photo's over the past few days, of various things like pendants and canvas work, but whatever I do I can't get them crisp and clear!!! I've got a fairly good camera - 8.1MP. I've tried it indoors, outdoors, artificial light, natural light, with a tripod, without a tripod... you get the picture! (No pun intended!!) I've even attempted a photo box... the less said about that the better... Soooooo frustrating! All the blogs I visit have lots of lovely crisp photo's on them so I thought I'd ask for some advice... anything you can suggest will be much appreciated!! x

Sample book spreads

Apologies (again) for the huge gap in updating this blog! I've been busy with freelance work for the past few weeks! I'm in the middle of a few new pieces, so in the meantime I thought I'd post these:



I did these two sample spreads a few weeks back for a book company (unfortunately the project didn't go ahead) but it was nice to use a combination of traditional painting and digital!