I Will Try And Do Better… with my blogging…!

And, once again, where do I start?! I guess it's because I am a very eclectic artist ... not really sure I'm worth of that title just yet...(!).  Joking aside,  I've still been keeping busy, art wise, but had a few things intermittently as well.              2 Christmases for starters; I host BIG Christmases, (very much out of choice I might add), which go over several days, and take a fair time of preparation which in turn puts my art on the back burner! We've also had a very large week long wedding in a Chateau in France, which was absolutely amazing!! There was also lots of enjoyable prep work for that too!

But here I am - loving my art, with quite a bit of new stuff to show you. But before we get into the art - meet Ruby - our new Bengal! we re-homed her from a breeder in Nov2018. Now 4 years old, she has slotted in very well with the 2 dogs and Tonto (our male Ocicat), but unfortunately she and Yoyo (female Ocicat) just don't see eye to eye, so a bit of management of the situation is required, which we manage quite well!

 

 

 

Little Yoyo... now 7 years old.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tonto...doing what he does best!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Meet Ruby!! 

 

 

Ruby and her amusing form of pole dancing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You certainly know when you have a Bengal! She shares my art room and don't I know it!

Pen & Watercolour Work

(I've just realised I can time my posts to go out at a certain time, meaning I hope you don't get bombarded with little bits of my blog posts, in succession!)

Anyhows - yes, so the last 2 pictures show an example of what I've been up to with drawing and watercolour.

I've also, been experimenting with another style of pen work, and water colour; I'm liking water colour more now - as long as I don't use it too loosely as I seem to create a bit of a mess! I prefer to use a semi-wet brush which allows me to have more control of what I'm doing. These have been fun kinds of art - not serious stuff.

And here are some examples: (I think they'd be great in kid's bedrooms!)

Colouring Books

Exciting Stuff!

I'm a bit excited to say, that I'm now having my 2 colouring books - 'Big Hair Art' and 'Toff Cats' printed independently now and not just with Amazon. The books i am doing myself have 120gsm paper quality ( which i think I'm right in saying is about double the thickness of my books on Amazon - which I might add you have no control over).  And - Toff Cats, i am now able to offer as a wire bound book, making it much better for colouring as it will lie flat. I will get some Big Hair books printed as wire bound, but I have a few here still to sell, that I had done a while ago (still 120gsm paper), so I shall wait til they have gone first.

More news to follow on the books - but that will wait for next time!

I should be able to keep this blog up to date more now my website is completely up dated. I just got that finished today with my new colouring books and other art works for sale ...... why don't you take a little looksi?(!) x

ARRRGHHHHH!!!!

I cannot believe where the time has gone! The last time I posted to my blog here was 26th March! Lummy loos - it just flies by, eh? Obviously I've been busy; not just with my art - though that is my major busy-ness! But also with the garden. Which is pretty big as it happens. (And I was - still am I suppose), a Garden Designer when I was working, so therefore when we moved in here 5 years ago, with this mooosive blank canvas of a garden, I created all these planting beds. and they need lots of looking after. So, thats what I've also been up to.

But art wise, well. Where to begin. I'll keep this short and add to it as and when, but in the main, yes, I've been working on new techniques with pencil and graphite drawings, and then by adding water colours to a printed version (on a good inkjet water colour paper).

Which Way Next……?

First Things First!

I'll let you into a little secret .... I'm not much good at writing - as in writing my blog. Or even social media posts. I write something. I re-write it. I write it again. I then tweak it. And it goes on. Truthfully, writing just does not come naturally to me, which is why there's some long gaps between my posts on here! 

BUT .. here I am!  

And here's another thing. I've been so busy either promoting on social media or producing art, I don't know where to start. I'm trying out new techniques with my artwork too, so lots to tell. Some I will leave for another post.

What I do want to share with you over the next few weeks, amongst other posts on here,  are some colourings from others who have bought my 'Big Hair Art' colouring book. I'm truly flattered and honoured when anyone buys one of my books, and then even more so when they put their colourings on Facebook or Instagram or whatever.  These first coloured pages below, (yes - there are a lot!!) - are by Carol Ricchio Nelson, who has, as you can see by the number here,  now completed the whole book bar a couple of pages, and each time she has shared them online online. (The link attached to her name will take you to her Instagram page). It really flatters me. And I am hugely impressed by her colouring technique and the colours she chooses to use. They somehow look either spring-like with soft flowery colours; or autumnal with fiery reds and oranges; and some are vibrant with a mix of colours. Carol uses coloured pencils; including Prismacolor pencils, and Crayola Twistables. Also, Gel pens, Gelly Roll gel pens and Wexford gel pens.  (As she lives in the US, those brand names may not be available here - but I'm sure there are others). 

So here then are her coloured pages! And thank you Carol for allowing me to share them.  

If any of you have any coloured pages from my book you'd like me to share on here, post them on Instagram and #bighairartlynne  Or simply email them to me:  lynneavonvale@btinternet.com

My favourite pens

Pens! Pens! Pens! ...... and more pens!

We all have our favourites - of most things - but these are my favourite pens. I prefer water-based pens as they will blend, particularly with each brand's own blender. There's definitely times I like my Sharpies for their intense vibrancy, or the very opaque Posca pens, which will cover over anything. But for a more artistic approach I like the water based 'Tombows'; the Winsor Newton Pigment Markers; oh, there are quite a few others - so what I've done is create the pic below which shows them all, with info as well.

When using markers, its definitely best to use specific marker pens paper - Bristol Board. It's not a board or card, but a 250 gsm very smooth paper, which the pens - any pen - won't 'bleed' through to the other side.

Wahoo – my website is ready to be promoted!

Let the Promoting Begin!

Yes, it's finished! The shop is stocked; I've just completed the links page; a nicely laid out gallery, and everything else I wanted to include is there! It's been a lot easier process than I ever thought it would be, and that's down to Andy, of      Surrey Creative Solutions 

He couldn't have made the process easier; all my boxes were ticked, and after showing me the ropes with maintaining it - which he'd made simple with lots of behind the scenes work on his part, I am finding it very easy to keep updated, and adding stuff to. If anyone  wants / needs a website, I highly recommend him.  He's also a very friendly, personable chap, and nothing is too much trouble.

So, now I'm off to promote it .... watch this space!

Toff Cats – ‘Tails’ of Funky Felines

ToffCats was hugely fun to create! Hard work - like Big Hair, it took me several months to complete, but it was a fun journey. For anyone who isn’t aware, a ‘Toff’ is someone who is posh; in this case all the cats in the book are posh.They live life in the fast lane, but also know how to relax. And whatever they’re doing they are always wearing a bowler hat, and are never without a bottle of wine! There’s 16 one sided pages to colour in the book (less than in Big Hair which has 24). And naturally, the inspirational cat I based the book on was none other than my Tonto.

Some example pages from the book.  This would make a great present for a cat lover, or a young person who enjoys colouring; or even a little present for yourself ... if nothing else the scenarios will bring a smile to your face! 

Sooooooo ….

This is the second attempt at this post as I lost all the content from my first attempt, so here we go again! Anyhow ..... Ta Dah.....! Here is my new website, which is why you've not heard from me for a long while. It has been created by a very clever young man - I'll be putting a link to him on my social media soon as I highly recommend him. He specialises in SEO (Search Engine Optimisation). 

Anyhows, it's great to have a professional website, which I can access  myself to make any changes. I've also got a fully stocked shop, from where I'm selling my artwork as Giclee prints. (Giclee prints are more expensive than a standard print, but they are more superior, as there is specialised equipment and inks involved, and the colours are steadfast - i.e. they won't fade - for 100 years).  I decided I'd rather sell a superior product. But, if any one wants a standard print, just let me know, I can certainly get one. No problemo!

From my shop..... just incase you've not yet had a peep(!), I'm selling the aforementioned prints, and my 2 colouring books in PDF format. This means you buy from my website, and I will send you via email the relevant PDF files. You open the individual files, and can print them off page by page onto whatever paper or card you prefer to colour on. These are also known as instant printable downloads. It literally is that instant... you pay your money and they're in your inbox in seconds! (It works - I've tried it!).

Big Hair Art PDF         Toff Cats PDF

My next post I'll tell you about Toff Cats, my second colouring book. Both have had a few good reviews: see them HERE.

Big Hair Art
Toff Cats

Quick Update On the Cats…!

Just a quick update on the cats! They’re good; Tonto is finally starting to behave more normally, in as much as he is not quite so nervous; tho he is quite a strange puss! They do not get on, however! Yoyo will hiss and spit at him as soon as look at him – and he indeed does keep his distance – even though he is twice her size, as you can see from the photos.
I’m signing off now, but there’s still more to say, so I’ll return sooner than later!
Quick update on the cats

Quick update on the cats

Long Time … No Write …

Yes. It’s certainly been a while since I’ve written here! There is a reason … busy. Busy. Busy! I’ve produced and self published an adult colouring book. That’s it in a nutshell, BUT .. coming out of the nutshell, there’s been the stripping of colour of all my (highly) coloured Big Hair Art pictures, and drawing a few black and whites to add to them. Then onto the self publishing. That was all relatively straight forward, and the self publishing people (CreateSpace)are affiliated to Amazon, so your books are printed on demand, which incurs no upfront costs. Perfect. And I did start to sell, BUT – on ordering a copy for myself, I was very disappointed with the print quality (my fault, as I’d used a poor scanner), so I literally virtually re-did every drawing again which took 3 months or more! It’s now done and re-published. And now it’s down to promoting, promoting and even more promoting!! It’s easily a 9 – 5 job, especially setting everything up; linking websites; updating my blog here; updating my website; updating my Etsy shop; keeping on top of all the social media sites. It is endless! But, I feel essential.

Anyhow, I am now really proud of the book, and I’m now working on the second, which I’ll tell you more about in the next post I do. Here is the said book. It’s available on all Amazon sites (£6.50) just search for Lynne Reeves. Here is also the link for the UK site:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Big-Hair-Art-Colour-Therapy/dp/1545031517/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1503932336&sr=8-1&keywords=lynne+reeves

I’m also offering it as a PDF from here on my website. You can buy and download immediately, and of course you can print more than once which allows for errors etc.  Click HERE to buy your copy now!

I will be doing printable pages – i.e. individual pages to print, which seems very popular! (I have to keep up!).

Big Hair Art
Available from all Amazon sites – search Lynne Reeves
https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_1_12?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=lynne+reeves&sprefix=lynne+reeves%2Caps%2C310&crid=1JY4GTUUFFXFD