New Art Cushions!

Hi everyone,

I haven't updated my blog in quite a while but I have lots to update you all on...
My first little update is that I have been learning how to sew! I decided I would love to create more of a variety of products featuring my artworks; so I thought I would start off this little idea by creating some cute cushions.

My mum very kindly offered to teach me how to use a sewing machine - it was quite a challenge, to say the least, but, I do hope I will be able to improve over time. So, with my mums help we made a few cushions with my painting designs on...

My favourite cushion design we both created is the Elsa cushion; I think it looks really cute and it's uplifting too. I love Elsa's character in the movie Frozen.

...For another cushion design I created a watercolour painting of one of my favourite perfume bottles, Vera Wang - Princess (it was gifted to me by my boyfriend last christmas, I love the bottle so much & the perfume smells of sweets ...mmmm). It was great fun to create. I really enjoyed getting all the detail into the bottle & using vivid colours.

Here is a photograph of the fabric - I got my designs printed on a linen mix cotton fabric by a company in America, especially to make these cushions. It was really exciting to see them when they came in the post.

Here is the Vera Wang Princess Perfume Cushion. I love the colours in this design.

Overall, I think my little cushion making experiment was a hit, it was good fun and it's rewarding to see my artworks on other items. I also designed a Miss Dior Cushion, so I will have to edit this post and put a picture in for you all soon. :-) Hopefully I will think of some more designs soon to add to my little collection of cushions.

If you would like to purchase one of my handmade cushions they are available to purchase through my Etsy store. 

*Etsy Shop* Click here

I really hope you enjoyed reading my blog. Best Wishes,

Allanah Claire x

Funky D.I.Y Converse Shoes Tutorial!

Hi there! I have something a little bit different for you all today! I created a Tutorial video on how to:-

• Paint converse shoes
• Add Swarovski Crystals the toe guards
• & How to add Ribbon Shoe laces

I was asked by a few people on YouTube to create 'Tutorial videos' so this is my very first one. I had a lot of fun creating this video. Let me know if you try it out yourself. :-) I hope you enjoy the video!
Click on the video above to watch!
Here is a picture of me in my jazzed up Alice in Wonderland shoes:-

See you soon for a new painting! Take care,

Best wishes,

Allanah x

New Video - Kill Bill - Uma Thurman Painting

Hi peeps, Following on from my last blog post, here is my Uma Thurman Kill Bill painting video. I hope you enjoy it!

Thanks for watching :-) See you soon,  Xx Allanah Claire

Kill Bill - New Painting - Uma Thurman

Hi there everyone!

I have a little art update for you all; I have just finished creating a painting of Uma Thurman’s character from the movie Kill Bill, ‘The Bride’ a.k.a ‘Black Mamba’ a.k.a ‘Beatrix Kiddo!’ So many names; but I digress…

So, here are some progress photos of my Kill Bill painting, I hope that you like them…

It’s so exciting that a blank canvas can be transformed into anything that you want it to be, it’s limitless. I love painting, it’s so primal, but at the same time so thought-provoking; when I paint I feel like i’m putting together a puzzle and the pigments and shade combinations are my pieces. It’s mentally stimulating but relaxing at the same time. It’s cathartic. 

The start of the painting, very patchy!

Mid stage - starting to come to life :-D

Finished painting.

I feel like my photographs don't really capture the detail of my painting too well so I have included some close up shots too.

Details 

I painted this piece for my brother who commissioned the artwork for his new house. It was fun to work on because I love the Kill Bill movies. :-) I enjoyed painting Uma's hair and putting all the details into it. The blurry background was also fun to paint.

Thank you for reading my blog :-)

Maleficent is here :-D

Hi there everyone,

I have a new painting for you all... It is the beautiful Angelina Jolie as Maleficent - click on the YouTube image below to watch me paint Maleficent! I hope you like it ^_^

I recently went to see the new Maleficent film and I really enjoyed it! It was very heartwarming; I left the cinemas feeling quite uplifted. I won’t give too much away, just incase you haven’t seen it…

I hope that you like my huge Maleficent painting. I really loved creating the background on this piece.

I decided to create a green smoke effect as in the movie Maleficent has special powers that come out as green light and smoke; I really loved how it looked in the film and so I wanted to add my own interpretation of this effect into my art piece. It was very fun to paint - I did it all freehand so I wasn’t sure how it would look but I quite like it!

 I also really enjoyed painting Maleficent's eyes, they look spectacular in the movie, they are really twinkly and have lots of different colours in them. It was quite fun to try to capture the beauty of them by painting.

Hope you have enjoyed reading my blog, thanks for dropping by.

I have lots more paintings planned so stick around :-D

Take care, best wishes,

Allanah Claire 

Xx

Sherlock is here!!

Sherlock painting

Hi everybody,

Sherlock is here! & is causing quite the media storm!

Here he is! *to watch the video click on the image above*

I hope you like my most recent painting of Sherlock [Benedict Cumberbatch] he was really fun to paint. 
I am a huge Sherlock fan and I love the BBC TV series so much - Benedict Cumberbatch plays the part of Sherlock so very well; 

If you haven’t seen the show I really highly recommend it. It’s smart, witty and addictive -  Just quite simply genius! 

So, here are some stills of my painting...

I hope you like it. :-) I loved creating it!

Also, I'm super excited to see my Sherlock painting has been featured on some big websites!

I first noticed an article on RadioTimes yesterday (though it was published 30th May 2014) *Click picture above to be taken to the article*

Thank you Emma Daly (Journalist, RadioTimes) for the lovely write up. You honestly made my day yesterday! I'm extremely flattered and honoured.

Today (1st June 2014) my Sherlock painting video has had a lovely write up by Charlotte Wareing (Journalist, The Mirror). Thank you so very much Charlotte from The Mirror! You've made my day today too. 

Thank you very much for your kindness and lovely words. 

Thank you for reading my blog.

See you all soon!

Take care & all the best,

Allanah Claire 

I'm going to be on the TV!!

Hi everyone!

Finally; I have the time to create a new blog post!

I have been very busy the last few weeks and I have some very exciting news to share with you all. 

I’m going to be on the TV with 3 of my paintings!

I’ll explain why and how now…

I was recently selected by ‘Etsy’ (A popular online market place that sells only handmade & unique items). To appear on their first ever UK advert. I had entered a casting call, really not expecting to be chosen.

To visit my Store on Etsy click the image below! :-)

When I found out I had been selected I really couldn’t believe it. I was so elated, proud and excited! (Also slightly nervous!)

^above is a screen shot of the e-mail telling me I was successful!

There were 50 other artisans that were selected for the advert also; I got to meet many of them on the day of filming - everyone was so friendly and lovely. There was such a warm atmosphere. 

The producers and directors and all the Etsy staff were just brilliant. It was quite a long day for us all but the whole day everybody was in high spirits.

We filmed the advert on Wednesday May 14^th 2014. Filming started at 10:00am and finished at approximately 9:30pm.

The film studio was in London so I stayed in a hotel overnight as I am quite a distance away! My lovely & awesome friend Gemma came with me too; it was so exciting to share the once-in-a-lifetime experience with one of my very closest friends!

We had a great time together, and we also managed to do a sneaky spot of shopping at Oxford Street! Also we both fell in love with London! (& are planning to come back soon)

*Gemma if you are reading this a huge THANK YOU for being such a brilliant friend and for helping me with my huge paintings (I know it was stressful at times but I think we both managed it so well). I'm so proud to be able to call you a friend & think the world of you!*

^a little snap shot of the paintings I took along to London

I will be creating another blog in more detail about the Etsy advert but for now I am not allowed to reveal too much about it. I don’t want to get in trouble!

So, to follow will be some photos of the set, more info about the day and lots of other details too! So stay tuned. It’s going to be brill!

P.S the advert airs in the UK this summer! ^_^ Yey!

Best wishes,

Allanah Claire

Elsa the Ice Queen Speed Art Video!

Hello there!
I had a slight change of plan this month. I got Frozen for my birthday (Early April) and decided to paint Elsa. I really loved her character in the film and just felt inspired to paint her...
Here is a link to the video...

I have prints of this painting in my Etsy store if you would like to buy one! Here is the link...

*Click here to buy a print*

 I really enjoyed painting this piece. It was fun and uplifting!

The music in the video is by Joel Sandberg he has a youtube channel and creates some really beautiful music on piano, here is the link to his youtube channel:- *click here* well worth a look!

In other news...

I am still working on my Benedict Cumberbatch video. I just want the video to be interesting and more exciting than my usual ones (I'm trying my best to get better at video editing so hopefully he will be worth the wait!)

I will Include my 2 little sketch studies for now! I hope you like them.

Thank you for taking the time to read my blog,

Take care, all the best,

Allanah 

Hi peeps, a quick update here before I go to work. Yesterday I painted this cute French Bulldog. He is called Dexter. My dance teacher brought him into class with her. He is only a puppy and is so very cute. I have a new sketchbook and thought he would make a perfect first page!

Hope you are all having a nice day. 

Thanks for reading x

Allanah Claire

Marilyn Monroe Portrait

Hi peeps!

I have finished my Marilyn Monroe painting - below is a picture of the final piece. I hope you like it!
After reading a book about Marilyn I felt a bit of connection with her, she really had drive and ambition, she was very much a dreamer and so am I.
When you have a connection with the subject you paint, I feel that it makes the artwork so much more interesting and meaningful.
For this painting I really wanted to capture Marilyn's beauty.

 

I hope you like my very first painting of 2014. I will embed the video of me creating this piece below so you can watch that if you're interested. 

Thank you for reading, hope you have a nice day, all the best, Allanah Claire x

Happy New Year 2014!

Hi everyone,

First of all, I'm so sorry that I haven't updated my blog for a couple of months! I've just had quite a few things going on lately. I'm hoping I will be able to get back on track with everything now.
Anyway, better late than never, right?
Here goes... 
I have a few little updates. 

I am currently working on a new painting (see above)

It is, of course, Marilyn Monroe. I have painted her in the past but I feel like I have never really done her justice or painted her to a good enough standard so I thought I'd revisit and attempt to paint her again. 

It's going well so far and I can't wait to update my blog when it's finished to show you all.

In other news, in December 2013 I was awarded a prize in a art competition by Element Eden. I was so happy to win because the standard was outstanding, all the entries were amazing. I'm very flattered I was chosen as one of the winners. I will add a picture of my prize soon. It was €300 to spend on any element eden products I liked! I chose a coat and hoodie to keep me warm in the winter and also a lovely bag and T-Shirt! It's all really high quality and such a great prize! So thank you Element.

That's all for now but I'll be back soon,

thank you for reading my blog.  Take care everyone and I hope you all have a great year in 2014!
Kindest wishes & all the best, Allanah Claire