Arabesque - triumphant RETURN to dancing!

She hadn't danced for years but when her feet hit that stage

and the music flowed it was like she had never been away!

I have had some time today to just have some fun so I have been working on vector images, just because I have missed doing anything digitally lately and I'm keen to keep learning and trying new things. There is just so much to learn!
After a couple of frogs and an Easter chick I progressed onto one of my favourite subjects - dancing mice....
I hope you enjoy her show

30 day drawing challenge

30 day drawing challenge! Yah! What a concept.
Ive been too busy lately to do much art and posting of art, Well actually, I have been doing the illustrations, just not putting them up here. This might be just what I need to redirect me to take the time I need in my busy days and get onto my blog, which feels very neglected and forgotten of late. Ive decided that it is always like this at the beginning of a new year and I'm not sure why. There are pockets of busy chaos then quieter times where I get more done. Anyway, re my blog - I miss it!
Every couple of days I will put up my updates - warts and all. I reckon that some of them will be pretty rushed quick piccs, but I don't care, its all about fun!
Here's one I prepared earlier... ;-) well one of my hand painted mini greeting cards  anyway. Cant stand to do a post without a picc even if it doesn't necessarily relate to the post. :-)

I plan to start this weekend! Whoo hoo!



Illustration Friday - Intention

Hello my wonderful blogger friends, I'm so sorry I have been MIA for such a long time. I have been busssyyyyyy  - hectic and on top of that having "blogger issues" so I cant just pop in for 5 minutes when I have a chance. I hope you are all still with me and I hope to rectify the " I never have time " syndrome that has been plaguing me.

Anyway here is my IF entry for "Intention"

Meet Wild Bill Hic-croc! Its his intention to keep the west safe from varmints and if I were you, I wouldn't stand in his way!

      Hey Pardner.... whats your intention?

You might ask whats a crocodile doing way out in desert country... but I wouldn't!

He has dedicated his life to his mission, he will go wherever he needs to.

Illustration Friday - Suspense

Better late than never.

And the winner is........

Illustration Friday Forward

This illustration is an older one and it came to mind when I saw the topic for this week as I see him as being a very upwardly mobile business rhino and the only way for him in his career is forward!
I gave him an appropriate background and here he is, ready to share his success with you!

Anniversary trip

Oh its been ages since I posted, sorry, I'm back at work and in full swing!
I have had a lovely break though, it was our anniversary so we ( the family ) went down the coast and had a wonderful "time out" from everyday activity.
The place we stayed was idyllic, it is a working farm with accommodation, just out of a small town but far enough away from everything that it was completely tranquil and serene.
The sun went down in the evening to a chorus of birds of lots of varieties and came up to more of the same.
We had breakfast out in our covered porch in our own little piece of paradise, visited by the farmers dogs and cat after a bit of anything they could get their paws on to eat,  and sheep at our back door.
We went to the small local beaches which were dotted along the coastline and the water was gorgeous, calm mostly and deep blues and aqua greens.
After 5 o'clock we had to travel 1/2 an hour to get to find anything open (shops restaurants etc) and on our evening trips out to get dinner from a bigger town we would pass loads of kangaroos grazing happily in paddocks.
I absolutely loved the colours, being our summer the earth was pretty parched and dry but the colours just looked gorgeous together!These and the landscape reminded me of my home town growing up (albeit that wasn't coastal) but it did have a lot of familiar looking scenery.

Safe to say that a wonderful and relating time was had by all!

Some piccs below!

The colours

Ahhh feel the serenity!

Dibbydabby sand art :-)

Sunsets

 

A wet dog imprint - I thought it looked pretty cool!

An emu!

Okay, that's the family picc 'slide show' over... hope you enjoyed it :)

I enjoy seeing other peoples lovely photos, especially of places I have never been, that's why i thought i would share ours.

xxxx Janet 

Creative Tuesday Bubblegum

Ned is not pleased!

Please dispose of your bubblegum thoughtfully, this has been a 'Ned' community announcement.

The creative Tuesday word this week is Bubblegum ( in case you haven't figured it out :P) See the other interpretations at http://creativetuesdays.blogspot.com/

Excuse the dullness of the photo of Ned, its 0630 here and I'm doing this while getting ready for work. I've had the illustration done for days. There is something to be said about doing things last minute

xx Janet

Illustration Friday _ Prepare

Julia was having a dinner party. Time to prepare!

Someone you care about will be glad you did!
Face book store https://www.facebook.com/dibbydabby.art?sk=app_138996027389
dibbydabby.com website http://www.dibbydabby.com.au/website/hand-painted_cards_home.html

Illustration Friday - Grounded

Well, when I received the notification of this weeks Illustration Friday prompt I just happened to be reading a shoe catalogue (well going through it, I didn't actually read it per say) and dreaming about all the lovely shoes I would love to have. The word grounded just seemed to fit so I sketched a pair of shoes by combining attributes of a few pairs I particularly admired and there you go!
I must say though, I infrequently wear real heels these days so I may not stay 'grounded' too long (or the wrong bits of me would be hitting the ground) if I did get these. They were lovely though...

Then I was having a bit of a play in my sketchbook and Clara popped up! She wanted to try ice skating but felt the safest way to do it was without skates to begin with.....Mmm looks like she has a bit of a thing for shoes too this week.

Ive moved back on to my art room

Well, you may remember a little while ago I was saying how happy I was with the new shelving going up in my art room. Its all done now, with even more shelves and a bit of tweaking here and there to give me maximum space and usability and I am soooo happy!
Its probably 88.9% restocked, I have a few more things to arrange but I just wanted to get in and paint so the 'unpacking' is on hold!
I love it, I love working in there and I feel like I can just relax and paint or whatever I need to do without going looking for things! Yah!
Oh and I must say, I promised my daughter some time ago it was a shared resource so I should be saying "our art room" (mind you mummy does hide the 'good supplies' just yet.
Thanks again to my wonderful husband...

I even have a drying rack... Yah!

And a couple of daylight lamps - they really are great!

A sketch form my sketchbook just because.... I cant stop painting in there :-)

Creative Tuesday_12 Days of Christmas

Mabel and the girls where extremely proud to have been chosen to play the 3 French hens in this years rousing rendition of the 12 days of Christmas.

(Apologies to any French viewers for the terrible stereotyping.... )

For Creative Tuesdays 12 Days of Christmas theme. Pop along to the Creative Tuesdays blog for a look at some other renditions of the theme.

I love the internet!

I love that I can wake up in the morning and think - mmmm I would really like to do this.... and pretty much whatever it is I can learn right here, right now on the Internet. Today it was creating a seamless pattern from an illustration. This ones a bit rough but I just wanted to have a go at it...

A bevy of Kelvins!

These were my tutors for today, Much thanks to the authors.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cDiTE4Fe_24 ( a very simple little video tutorial - you might want to go forward to the actual photoshop part)
http://www.designsponge.com/2008/05/welcome-julia-and-how-to-make-a-repeat-pattern.html (on papaer not photoshop)

Illustration Friday - Highlight

The highlight of Kelvins week was Sunday, that was Roast day and it almost always meant a little something extra after dinner.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Well, the sun has set on my second year of a blog outlining my illustration journey. As this time of year is one of reflection I have given much thought to  where I have come from and where I want to go.
I know i don't spend as much time blogging as I possibly should but I have to say I am happy plodding along as I do and I am so happy every time I open my blog and see a comment to one of my posts, Ive said it before but it makes me feel connected and a part of something much larger and very special.
In terms of my illustration I am am happy with where I am going with that too, I feel improvement and best of all I feel a confidence that has grown over the year and a 1/2 I have been at this. I know I will get to where I want to be and I'm happy to enjoy the journey.
I hope Dibbydabby will be bigger and better in 2012 but i also hope I continue to enjoy every minute of what I do and just have fun along the way as well.
I thank everyone who has liked and continues to enjoy my art and my blog, especially the regular people who come back time and again, I really do consider you friends even though we have never met.


Happy New Year Everyone! May 2012 bring happiness, peace and joy.
 

My art room will be organised for once.... Yah!

I am very fortunate to have a very loving and for the most part patient husband who supports my art and me 100%. This afternoon into this evening he has been fixing my studio with more shelving space for all my art supplies and tools. This in turn frees up more of my work space for actual artwork and I have no excuse now for trying to work around piles of things I want close at hand on my painting table. They can all be in easy reach and easy to find spaces. This shelving set is an addition and modification of some he set up for me last year which I ‘outgrew’ art supply wise. I’ll stick up an0ther photo once I get my gear back in there. 

Just for fun, a little illo on something I mailed today.

Illustration Friday _ Messenger

I thought I would hire a spruiker to pass on my New Years message this year.
Hear Ye hear Ye! dibbydabby decrees that she hopes everyone has a lovely New year!

Boxing day evening on the beach

Boxing day evening on the beach

A confused pidgeon? I think he thinks he is a sea gull

Illustration Friday - Sink

I have an illustration from an art course I have completed that is absolutely perfect for this weeks word 'sink'. Well my illustration shows what happens under the sink when the doors are closed and no one is around.
Hope you enjoy it. It was a lot of fun to do.

Find me on facebook: https://www.facebook.com/dibbydabby.art

dibbydabby has a new facebook shop!

Hello everyone, I just wanted to share the exciting news that I have today launched my Facebook shop (imagine the sound of champagne corks popping, balloons rustling in the gentle breeze and  people cheeringJ).

It has a selection of my printed and hand painted cards and Aceos with more coming soon including my hand made glass tile pendants and magnets.

There are special offers for those who like my page, as my way of showing my appreciation I have taken 10% off prices for you.

Please consider my shop for your greeting card needs and also pass my information on to your friends and family who enjoy unique and special greetings and products for occasions and events.

As a special treat I thought I would give away two hand painted cards (postage free) to one of my old or new page likes. To enter simply visit dibbydabby illustrations on fb and comment on the post about my new shop saying what you like about my cards or illustrations. I look forward to hearing from you. The draw will start once I reach 25 comments or the 28^th of December 2011, whichever comes first.