 I did it!!! I finally did it! Over 10 years ago I did a painting of a tiger which sparked the idea to do an exhibition of endangered animals and raise money for conservation and now it's finally here! After 6 years of painting and another 4 years trying to find somewhere to show it Face Up is finally on display and it looks amazing! I had an opening event on Saturday which was very exciting - a huge thank you to everyone that came! I know it sounds stupid but seeing the paintings on a wall makes them look like real paintings! A huge shout out and thank you to Adam from Ty Pawb who curated them for me and made the whole thing look so professional and amazing. I learned a lot from him about where to put things and why and I'm so grateful for his expertise.             Face Up has the pleasure to be the first exhibition in the newly named Oriel Bach space at Ty Pawb in Wrexham. A few weeks ago it was just a little grey room being used for storage and now with a little greenery and some good lighting it is a fabulous little gallery! Another big shout out and thank you to Peter the manager at Ty Pawb for his help and enthusiasm. After so many years of struggling to find a good space it was so nice to finally find someone who was excited to help me and put up with my many many questions! I hope too that people will now see the potential of Oriel Bach and use it for more exhibitions and things. Of course the biggest thank you to my family who helped me pull it off and are always by biggest supporters and best customers! Especially my ever supportive boyfriend who is the only person to have seen these paintings before now and has been nagging me for years to get this show out there - well I finally have! And I've already got plans for my next one! Make sure to go and see it if you're in Wrexham 28th June - 12th July.
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New art prints!
I added two new prints to my shop this week!
The first is 'Cormorants and Herring Gulls' painted from a photo I took many years ago in Rhos-on-Sea. The second is 'Ong Bak', which is a coloured pencil drawing I did even longer ago and has always been one of my favourite pieces of art I've made. Also the film Ong Bak is excellent and if you haven't seen it you definitely should! Back in the summer I decided to book a week off work and have an 'Art Week', where all I did was art and nothing else. I often find it hard to get a new project going as I feel I've always got so many other things to get done first, so my art week was a chance to just focus on art with no guilt about having to do anything else and finally do some paintings, some of which I have been wanting to do for years! This is what I made!
   Bee on Pink Lavender 1, 2 and 3 - acrylic on canvas This little trio were done from photos I once took of bees on the beautiful pink lavender bush I used to have in my garden. The photos were full of layers and depth; lots of out of focus flowers in the foreground and blurry backgrounds and I wanted to recreate that in these paintings. It was quite a challenge painting the out of focus parts as I am almost hardwired to put lots of detail in and leaving it 'unfinished' in places was torture! I do think I am getting better at loosening up when painting though, which is something I really want to accomplish in the future, if only so I can get my paintings finished a little quicker! Sweet Nectar (chalk pastel and coloured pencil on brown paper) and Bird on the Brambles (watercolour) These two pictures weren't actually done during art week but they were done during the summer. I made them specifically for an open art exhibition at Ty Pawb in Wrexham. The theme was 'Growing Together' and I didn't have anything to enter that really fit so I decided to create a coupe of little pieces. 'Sweet Nectar' was done whilst watching the bees on the white lavender in my garden, and 'Bird on the Brambles' is a watercolour of a photo I took on the coast path in Cornwall. I haven't been able to identify what bird it was but it was very tuneful.
I decided last year to try my hand at landscape painting. I've always wanted to do it but I've never really done it properly before. This painting of a misty morning was painted from a photo I took whilst visiting my sister on the Isle of Wight. I chose this view because of the contrast between the light and dark areas and the challenge of painting a misty sky. I'm really pleased with how this turned out and I'm happy that I managed not to be too picky with the details.  Misty Island Morning - acrylic painting
   My next painting adventure was up the panorama near Llangollen. I took a couple of canvases with me this time. My first painting was a view of Castell Dinas Bran. Then I found an interesting row of trees surrounded by heather. It was a lot less windy up there this time which made things much easier. Sometimes when painting I can be a bit too rigid and picky with the details so I made a real effort to be looser with these. I'm really happy with how they turned out and I'm going to try and paint more like this in the future.
I would have liked to do more of this but unfortunately we didn't have a great summer in terms of weather. Hopefully this summer will be better because I love painting outside!
 When I went to Scotland in January I thought it would be a great chance to do some art outside (something I hope to do much more of this year). I took a small canvas with me and painted the view from Cul-na-shee across Saddell Bay to the Isle of Arran in the background. It was a lovely sunny day but it was also pretty cold, so I had to keep popping indoors to warm my hands up every now and then. When the light started to fade it got far too cold to paint outside any more so I finished the painting off in front of a lovely warm fire. It was a perfect way to spend a sunny winters day! 
Saddell Bay - acrylic on canvas
You may be wondering why I've been doing all of my Christmas blog posts now at the end of January instead of after Christmas. Well it's because my wonderful boyfriend treated me to an amazing two week holiday in Saddell Castle in Scotland! We went for the first time in 2012 and loved it so much we've been saving to go back ever since. This time we took some friends with us for the first week, and also spent some of the holiday in a little cottage called Cul-na-shee. We saw some amazing wildlife whilst we were there and had almost every sort of weather imaginable! Here are some highlights from the trip, as it's such a beautiful place I can't help but share it with you: This week I came across a wonderful gallery of unusual, beautiful and at times down right adorable caterpillars, and the moths and butterflies they turn into. My attention has often been diverted from some practical undertaking, often accompanied by the phrase "ooo look a butterfly!" They are magical little creatures, and these pictures just further my love of them even more. I also feel that moths get an unusually bad name a lot if the time, but when you look at the flannel moth don't you just want to hug it! You can never have too many pretty pictures in your day - Enjoy!
Source: Bored Panda
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AuthorMy name is Rachel West. I am a freelance artist, animator and cake enthusiast. This blog is an insight into what goes on in my Art Bunny world. Archives
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