Francesca Whetnall 2010 - Watercolour Calendar

I've just created a calendar of my watercolours for 2010. I've chosen a broad selection of my paintings from this year. All are watercolours but some have some mixed media elements and one has a bit of collage. I've also selected a combination of still life and landscape paintings as a reflection of the way I paint - moving from one subject and style to the next.

The paintings I've chosen are:

January - Little Window

February - Roses

March - Yellow Tulips

April - Bluebells

May - Forde Abbey

June - Boats at Beer

July - Barcelona Sunshine

August - Red Tulips

September - Sunflowers

October - Gold Hill

November - Have a Nice Day, Mr Shark

December - Winter Shadows

View the full calendar here:

Magic Mosaic!

A mini mosaic of some of my Etsy items!

Christmas Watercolour - Help!!?

I've recently been aiming for a loose, expressive style along the lines of Shirley Trevena's work. In this painting I was trying to do a Christmas themed still life, playing with pattern, paint and perspective a bit. But I didn't plan the composition very well! I'm pretty happy with the teddy bear, but I added the teacup quite late on and now it looks as though it's sprouting from the bear's foot. The kettle's spout isn't placed very well either....

Overall I'm quite pleased with the bear and kettle, but the foreground composition has really made a mess of the whole thing. I'd be very interested to hear any feedback or comments you have? I've posted the painting on Flickr and added it to a number of critique groups, and I've already been getting some really helpful feedback!

My current thoughts are that I could cut the elements out of the painting (bear, kettle, angel, cup) and start again as a collage. I could also bring in some Christmas ephemera and other bits and pieces that might add something to the composition and textures...

If anyone has any suggestions on what I could do to fix or improve this painting I would be very grateful to hear them!

Latest Paintings

Sunflowers

This started out as a quick 'Shirley Trevena' style practice painting. It went a bit wrong in the middle so I thought I'd try adding some collage bits to it. I tried to keep it simple by only using some sheet music strips, some blue Japanese patterned paper and the central sunflower which is a piece of paper I painted yellow and then used pen and watercolour to add detail.

I'm not sure if it's finished yet.


Water Lily

This is another attempt to get the lose and expressive 'Shirley Trevena' style. It was a very late entry for the Lotus watercolour challenge from Lorus Maver's great photo: Lotus Challenge Photo. There were so many beautiful paintings from this photo, by the talented Flickr group, that I had to give it a try. All of the versions can be seen in the group's pool here: Lotus Challenge entries

The 'Watercolourist, Painting with Light' group has been running challenges like this for a year now but this is the first one I've taken part in. Hopefully I can start catching up with the others from now on!

This painting is predominantly watercolour, but I've also used a bit of salt and some coloured pencil in places. And quite a bit of wax candle for the sparkly highlights on the water and lily pads.

Little blue jug

Again, I'm trying to work on still lives in a Trevena style. I bought this great little jug and bowl in a charity shop recently and I'll probably be using them in many more still lives to come. I've used water-soluble pencils in the background and for some of the details of the bottle. I used a wax candle for the pattern on the bowl - not ideal, but I've run out of masking fluid. I've also used a bit of the pencil sanding technique in places - i.e rubbing watersoluble pencils on sand paper over wet paint, it gives a great speckly texture.

Hantsweb Award Nominated!

Hurrah! My art gallery & shop website, http://www.francescawhetnall.co.uk/ has been nominated for a Hantsweb Award!

The Hantsweb Awards celebrate excellence in website design, accessibility and service, so it's a real honour to be nominated. So far 1000s of sites have been whittled down to a hundred or so and the next step will knock the list down to a shortlist of just 10 sites in each category. The judges will then nominate a winner and 2 runners up in each category.

I've been nominated in three categories:

• Small Business


• Special Interest


• Business Innovation

The Business Innovation category is new this year and has been added to recognise the effective ways companies have used the web to drive business during the recession.

Leader of Hampshire County Council, Councillor Ken Thornber, said: “Good quality design is vital to ensuring websites remain easily accessible and simple to navigate for everyone. The Hantsweb Awards are a great way of encouraging best practice examples and celebrating those websites that are leading the way in their field and delivering the goods."

It's really great to get such encouraging feedback from this nomination, and to know that the clear design of my website makes it both accessible as well as enjoyable to view!

Fingers crossed for the next stage! :-)

The female of the species is more deadly than the male

Sexual Cannibalism

Sexual cannibalism is where the female of the species attacks, kills and eats a male of the same species before, during or after mating. It's common in many families of spider, insect and amphipod (shrimp-like crustaceans). In most species in which it occurs, sexual cannibalism is related sexual dimorphism, where the female is much larger than the male.

There are competing theories on how the practice evolved. Some biologists suggest that sexual cannibalism is just the result of a voracious female appetite. But experiments have also suggested that females use it as a technique to select the best fathers for their offspring. Some sexual cannibalism might occur because the female regards her suitor as more acceptable as a meal than as a mate.

As an adaptive female strategy, sexual cannibalism is easy to understand. There are two clear advantages to sexual cannibalism:
Natural Selection - Any male who succumbs to the female's attempts to devour him before mating occurs fails to pass on his DNA.
Nutrition - Any male eaten by a female, whether he has mated with her or not, provides the female with nutritional benefits which should increase the quantity or quality of her offspring.

For males, sexual cannibalism seems a less than satisfactory strategy. For some it seems to have evolved as an extreme form of paternal investment. In other species, the males are less happy with the arrangement, and use diverse strategies to decrease their chances of being cannibalized. Some, particularly Nursery Web spiders, bring the female a diversionary meal.


The Black Widow Spider

The female Black Widow Spider is known for her distinctive black and red markings, which are designed to warn potential predators away. Only the female black widow bites humans, and she bites only when disturbed, especially while protecting her eggs.

Her bite is highly venomous, which is effective for disabling and killing her prey of insects and occasionally other spiders. The toxin affects the nervous system - muscle and chest pain or tightness are some of the most common reactions to the black widow bite. Fatalities in humans have occurred and are most commonly due to respiratory paralysis.

On occasion the female will eat the male after mating, generally the smaller the male is, the higher the likelihood that she will devour him. As a method of self preservation, male black widows often restrain females in silk prior to mating. And if the male survives copulation he will often fertilise multiple females.

Sources:

Is the female of the species more deadly than the male? - Scienceray

Sexual Cannibalism - Wikipedia

Black Widow Jewellery

Please visit my Etsy or Folksy stores for more deadly jewellery:

Esty Jewellery

Folksy Jewellery

Black, White and Red

Oo, this is fun, it's digital scrapbooking but with real clothes and accessories.
For my first attempt I had to go for spots and stripes and red and black:


Black, White and Red by ceccacat featuring DKNY accessories

I'm not too sure how great i'd look wearing the wellies, scarf, fantastic telephone bag and spotty helmet all at once!

Shop Redesign

I'm not sure exactly what I was thinking but I thought it would be fun to rearrange my Etsy shop's categories from sensible categories like 'prints', 'original art', 'jewellery' and 'cards' into interesting themes....

So, at the moment I have the following categories:

Autumn Harvest

English Country Garden

Coastal Creations

Rainbow Brights

Urban Jungle

Eastern Promise

I do quite like the groupings, it makes me feel like there is some method to my madness, and that I am drawn to particular themes.

I do love the sea and I always want to paint more beach huts, boats and coastal scenes. I love autumn colours and textures - leaves & berries, golden and warm. But the same goes for bright, strong colours, I don't generally like pale, washed out shades. I would really like to spend more time on the 'Eastern' style stuff, Morocco, India, Egypt - all hot and spicy colours and rich textures, but contrasted with some deep dark shades and intricate details, mmm!

Most of all I like categorising things!

But, I think it probably makes my shop pretty tricky to navigate. It wouldn't be quick to find all the prints, or earrings, without going to the trouble of searching for them. So I think I should go back to my original categories. But I'll leave it for a few days in case it grows on me..

What do you think? Terrible idea?

Any comments or suggestions you have would be great :-)

Golden October

It's great to be featured in an Etsy treasury, especially a beautiful Autumn one!
Thank you Pazzapazza!

Until it expires, see the Treasury here: Golden October

I've also been lucky enough to have my 'Golden Tree' print featured in Deelight's beautiful Autumn Themed 'Folksy Friday'

There are so many beautiful Autumn themed arts and crafts on Etsy and Folksy, it's very tempting and inspiring!

I particularly love the patchwork cushion cover by Midsummer Stitches on Folksy:

Weekend Deals on Etsy and Folksy

From this friday 21st August until Sunday 23rd I will be offering 15% off all jewellery in my Etsy and Folksy shops.

Just enter the code "weekend deals" in the message to seller and the discount will be refunded promptly through Paypal.

I have some great charm bracelets for autumn:

Owl and Teddy Bear charm bracelet

Chunky Berry bracelet

Purple and bronze charm bracelet

Lots more jewellery available in my Etsy and Folksy stores:

http://www.dickandfranny.etsy.com/

www.folksy.com/shops/dickandfranny

Folksy Faves

A few of the beautiful handcrafted items available on Folksy. I can't believe the prices of some of these!! So much time, love and skill has gone into them, I don't know why anyone would by mass produced stuff when they could have such lovely one off originals as these...

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

1. Handpainted wooden boat by Elli Moody
2. Robot Boy Resin Figurines by Mooglet P. Bear
3. The New Forest by Amy Blackwell
4. Cupcake Brooch by Molly's Mum
5. Finn a Plush Green Frog by Covetables
6. Blackberry Fluffy Flower by HMS Designs
7. Country cottage tea cosy by Vintage Town
8. Umbrellas Print by Sparklehen
9. Wilson Chicken Doorstop by Junky Chicken

Folksy Mosaic

1. Untitled, 2. Westbourne arcade, 3. bowl of strawberries, 4. chunky berry, 5. Bottles, 6. Waterjug and onion, 7. Roses, 8. Forde Abbey

Created with fd's Flickr Toys

I sold my first card on Folksy today, woohoo! :-)

Qoop!!

I've set up a store on Qoop!

It's a printing website that's partnered with Flickr so it looks pretty good. I like the variety of prints and products and the site seems mainly easy to use, apart from a few problems setting up the product listings.

Here are some of the products I've set up so far:

Ohio Girl Talks - Interview with me!

The lovely Vanessa from Ohio Girl Talks has done an interview with me about my art and my Dick and Franny Etsy store. She's also doing a giveaway of 5 of my greeting cards. It's great to see I've had loads of lovely comments so far and it's only been a couple of days!

Please have a look at the interview and enter the giveaway if you'd like to be in with a chance of winning 5 of my cards:

Found On Folksy

I've been featured on Found on Folksy! What a lovely surprise to be featured when I only set up my Folksy Dick and Franny store a couple of weeks ago and I haven't had time to stock it fully yet.

Thanks to Jo Whitehead from Glassprimitif for the lovely feature!

In honour of my found feature I thought I'd follow the same lovely seaside idea and show you some of the sea themed items that I've recently listed in my Etsy and Folksy stores. I've always loved the sea and now that I'm living just 20mins walk from Bournemouth beach I have much more opportunity for seaside inspiration!

Here are some of my latest creations that have been inspired by the sea:

Beneath the Sea - Original Monoprint - $90 (£55)
This is an original monoprint from a series of five I created using leaves, string and a feather. A monoprint is a completely one off piece of art, but in this case I developed the theme using similar colours and objects in each print. I love the watery feeling and the textures in this print.

Chunky Aqua Charm Bracelet - $34 (£21)

Aquamarine, turquoise, baby blue and silver beads sparkle alongside beautiful silver charms in this gorgeous, chunky charm bracelet. Hand picked from my eclectic collection of vintage and new beads this bracelet really is unique!

Tropical Waters - Original Collage - $38 (£23)

Mixed media collage with an under water theme.
Contains watercolour, drawing, stamping and collage elements.

Blue Horizons - large Original Watercolour $140 (£86)

Cool blue and white abstract watercolour painting.

I love allowing the watercolour to create patterns and textures

and to merge vibrant colours as I paint. Intense blues and

cool white stripes, blue horizons, waves or clouds...

Sea Air - Fine Art Print $20 (£12)

Giclee print created from my original watercolour painting 'Sea Air'. This blue and white watercolour still life is fresh and breezy and really brings the seaside air in!

Cornish Harbour - Original Watercolour painting - $68 (£42)

Beautiful original watercolour painting of a cornish harbour at dusk.

Don't you just wish you were there?

To see more of my art and jewellery please have a look at my stores:

Dick and Franny on Etsy

I've now listed over 100 items in my US store!!

Dick and Franny on Folksy

Early days for my UK Folksy store, just 3 items at the moment but watch this space!

LIFE, DEATH & KAHLO

My talented and philosophical friend Christine Moor recently set up a new group on Flickr for Picture Series - Bildtafeln. Christine says about the group:

"Collecting and combining images as a picture series to illustrate a certain theme. Discovering images in its multilayered functions in context with others and work out the different meanings and symbols, that are hidden and show up in certain combinations.

Illustrating certain aspects of images such as compostion, light, contrast, perspective. Illustrating terms and themes of the everyday live experience in culture and society. Images as a "language" that has its own rules to narrate a story..."

The group already has a stunning selection of 'Picture Series' images and I must confess I am addicted!

Here are my latest contributions:

IDENTITY

1. Untitled, 2. hiding, 3. Justus, 4. Day Thirty-Seven, 3 SIXTY 5, 5. Identity, 6. IMG_0838, 7. shadow, 8. 50/365, 9. Bat Girl - The Morning

LIFE, DEATH & KAHLO

1. FRIDA KHALO, 2. PASSAGE ( in memory of R.B. Kitaj), 3. I've seen things...., 4. Ecstatic, 5. Rose, 6. Ars Moriendi (The Art of Dying), 7. Ode To Frida Khalo, 8. dreamcatcher, 9. No para Innita: The Populi Interview.

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

Craft Giveaways!

I've been thinking about doing a give-away for some time, perhaps even start doing monthly give aways! So I thought I should do a bit of research into the sort of things people are offering - there are some great freebies out there, here are some I came across today....

Bree and Brandon Bliss are giving away a gorgeous Bird Pillow from their Etsy shop Little Pink Orchard

Knitting needle/Crochet set & yarn giveaway from eKnittingNeedles.com - Giveaway hosted by Felting.CraftGossip.com On until 7th July 2009

Sew Fabulous are giving away an Amy Butler Midwest Modern Fat quarter bundle. Giveaway on until 30th June 2009

Kelly Goree is giving away a series of stamping goodies over the next few weeks, relating to Jennifer Mcguire's Thinking Inking class

Daisy by the Sea is giving away this pair of beautiful glass and silver filigree heart earrings .

The giveaway is being drawn on the 1st of July.

Ohio Girl is hosting a giveaway for Cards Corner until the 17th of July. Hany will be giving away 2 lovely sets of felt birds and 2 wired angels from her shop.

Architecture Art on Etsy

1. Charles Bridge - Arkitektur

2. Blue House - James Keniston

3. Westbourne Arcade - Francesca Whetnall at Dick and Franny (me)

4. Sanctuary of Light - Aaron Overstreet

5. Tall Houses - Dancing Girl Art

6. Ion Gardens - Olechko

7. Laundry Day - ArtQuirk

8. English Cottage - ArtWorm

9. Architectural Column - Ahvantegarde

10. Custom House Portrait - Doodle and Hoob

11. Sunlight in Uzes - Mozo

12. Royal Albert Hall - Olechko

13. Old Blue House - Debra L Phillips

14. Prague Church - Inkfinger Sutter

15. 1849 Antique Drawing - Banana Strudel

16. A bit of Paris - ArtQuirk

Portraits

I would love to have the time and subjects to paint and draw more portraits. When I lived in student flats at University it was great to have lots of willing subjects available! Hopefully I'll find some time and people to get back into portraiture again someday. For now I'm happy to enjoy the amazing variety and beauty of portraits on Flickr - there are some stunningly talented people out there, here are some of my favourites:

1. Alma Garret, 2. Disturbed, 3. susan, 4. SUEÑOS DE BAILAR, 5. V, 6. Commissioned George, 7. Misia, 8. Paula Ramires - Portrait, 9. M6, 10. grief I, 11. SARAH VAUGHAN (American Jazz Vocalist) re-post from 2008 by request, 12. Rostro ( Autorretrato), 13. study #2, 14. sp drawing, 15. pastel portrait of laura from 07, 16. version

Created with fd's Flickr Toys.

Circles & Sales

Woohoo!
I've been having a great week for sales, I've sold a couple of paintings, a couple of bracelets and a few cards!!! Which is great - It seems that my little Etsy shop is picking up some views and building up an audience. It's great to know that people like my work and I'm getting some really lovely feedback too.

I've also not been doing too badly with sales in my CafePress shop. I started selling on CafePress nearly 2 years ago now. Their products are great - it's such a nice idea, anyone can upload photos or their own designs and paintings and the site will print your images on any of a range of products when someone places an order. So the site takes care of the production and postage of your items for you and you earn a small commission when your designs sell - genius!

So far my best selling item is my 'Circles' throw pillow - it is gorgeous, so I'm not surprised :-)

I've also sold a fair few of the same design on T-shirts:

I also recently sold this framed print - it's great to think that my work is hanging on walls across the world now! This week I've sold paintings, cards and jewellery to America, Canada, Russia and the UK, wow! :-)

The only drawback in the past has been that the site was US based, with all of the prices in dollars. But now they've got a UK version, with prices in pounds which is great!

Please have a look at my online shops to see more of my art and many more exciting products!

My UK Cafe Press site: http://www.cafepress.co.uk/whetnallart
My US Cafe Press site: http://www.cafepress.com/whetnallart

My Etsy store for Original Art and Jewellery: http://www.dickandfranny.etsy.com/

Chunky Charms

I've been doing quite a bit of beading on and off over the past few months - here are some of the results.

1. rich harvest, 2. disco black , 3. treasure chest, 4. pink & aqua, 5. egyptian queen, 6. red and black , 7. purple & bronze, 8. apple green & silver, 9. silver & plum, 10. owl necklace, 11. blue, 12. green & mean, 13. green & mean, 14. woodland, 15. aqua, 16. chunky berry
Created with fd's" Flickr Toys.

I sold a few of them at the Hastings exhibition and I started listing them in my Etsy store yesterday and I've had a sale already! yay!

Please visit my shop for more: www.dickandfranny.etsy.com

Bicycle Blues

Some great bike based art on a selection of Etsy items:

I want to ride my bicycle, original ACEO by me:

The Patrick Connection - A slideshow of the Exhibition

Interview with an Artist - Thomas Whetnall

Tom studied Illustration at the University of Westminster. A mixed media artist and illustrator, his work ranges from detailed pen and ink drawings to painterly digital designs. He has recently designed a series of health promotion illustrations for the NHS in Wandsworth, so you may have seen his work on the side of London buses or in the London Underground. You can see more of Tom's work at http://www.whetnall.com/.

Name: Thomas Whetnall

How would you define your artistic style? Slightly odd inky drawings

When did you start? 2004 ish

What is your favourite media and why? I like cheep, water soluble ink. It's unpredictable and interesting to work with. I can go through loads of it without worrying.

How long does it usually take you to complete an artwork? An individual drawing will take an hour at most. Formulating an image and making a version i'm happy with can take ages though.

What advice would you give other budding artists? Don't over think. It will ruin every thing.

What or who is your inspiration? Nature, science and history.

Which artist, past or present would you most like to meet? Meeting a caveman would be pretty neat. or leonardo da vinci.

Do you find art relaxing? No, it is stimulating.

Which is your favourite gallery and why? The natural history museum, because you can't improve on the marvels of nature.

How do you define Art? Illustration of nothing in particular.

For more of Thomas's work see his website and blog:

http://thomaswhetnall.blogspot.com/

The Patrick Connection - Joint Exhibition

For the past few months I've been preparing for a joint exhibition at Hastings' Art Forum Gallery. It's a family affair and I'm really looking forward to it. Both of my brothers and two of my cousins will be showing their work. We've all got really different styles and work in different media so it should be a very interesting mix - I can't wait to see it all together!

On display will be art by:

George Whetnall

George studied Fine art at Camberwell school of art. He's exhibited in London and Barcelona and his work includes video installations, sculpture and abstract paintings.

Thomas Whetnall

Tom studied illustration at the University of Westminster. A mixed media artist and illustrator, you may have recently seen some of his work on the side of London buses or in the underground!

Robert Tremain - Fine artist

Robert is a fine artist, oil painter. His subjects include figurative, landscape and abstracts.

Polly Glass - Product & Jewellery Designer

Polly aims to extract the best and most exciting qualities from mass manufactured and hand made techniques when designing and producing her work.

Francesca Whetnall (me!)

My main love is watercolour and this exhibition will provide a showcase for my latest work. Still lives, architectural landscapes and botanical studies.

Red Tulips

I'm trying to absorb some abstraction and expression into my painting. To add more life and colour than a naturalistic impression might allow. I love pattern, colour and painterly-ness, and hopefully I've managed to capture some of that in my latest painting. Any comments or suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

Please visit my Etsy shop to see more of my work - Dick and Franny

Painting Clearance Sale!

In an attempt to declutter I'm having a clearance sale on some of my older work. These paintings are lovely but I just haven't got the space to keep as many as I paint. I've listed three sets of 4 paintings so far, and will be listing more. At between $30 and $55 for each set of 4 these are great value sets and huge discounts on the original prices! What am I thinking with such massive reductions!!??

I've picked each set carefully into groups of similar style and subject. Below are some highlights from the sale, to view all of the available sets click here: Clearance Sale

Interview with an Artist - Tracee Murphy

Tracee Murphy is a talented and creative artist I met through the fantastic Watercolor Works team of Etsy Artists. Her work is fresh and loose, a style that really appeals to me. Tracee is also the founder of the Watercolor Works team, she puts so much hard work and creativity into the group, she is a real inspiration!

Name: Tracee Murphy
How would you define your artistic style? Loose and painterly
When did you start painting? First started 10 years ago, but i have been painting more as an artist for the past 2 and half years.
What is your favourite media and why? Watercolor, of course. It's what i'm drawn to and probably has a lot to do with the fact my mom is a w/c artist too.

Cactus Flower - Original Watercolor (22 x 30 inches)

How long does it usually take you to complete an artwork? Several small paintings can be done in a day, a 1/2 or full sheet anywhere from 1-3 days unless i'm not happy with it and i put it away for a while. depends on how much detail the painting involves.
What do you like best about being an artist? Artist freedom and license to paint anything any color or any way i want!
What advice would you give other budding artists? I'm still budding, but for newbies i'd say practice, practice, practice, but most of all just enjoy what your doing and if you like your work then others will too.

Original Watercolor (8 x 10 inches)

What or who is your inspiration? The many wonderful local artists i get to be around in classes, workshops, and art organizations.
Which artist, past or present would you most like to meet? Terry Madden is my favorite artist and I've already had the privilege to meet him. i just hope i get to meet up with him again.
Which is your favourite gallery and why? The Art Center of Corpus Christi is where i'm currently putting in my work and trying to get involved with.
How do you define Art? Art is in everything whether you design buildings, a landscaper, tattoo artist, etc.

Cool Winter Landscape (5.5 x 7.5 inches)

To see more of Tracee's work -

Website - http://www.traceemurphy.com/
Blog - http://traceemurphy.blogspot.com/
Etsy - http://www.traceemurphy.etsy.com/

Art for Comic Relief!

For the rest of March I'm donating 30% from the sale of a selection of my paintings and prints to Comic Relief - see the 'Comic relief' section of my Etsy shop - Dick and Franny .
Red Nose Day is Friday March 13th and my 'charity special' will last until the end of March!

For more info about Comic Relief and Red nose day visit their site: Comic Relief

Struggling

I've been trying to combine drawing with painting, but I'm still working out how to achieve what I'm aiming for, and work out what that is. I want the clean line and detail of a pen drawing, with the colour and freshness of a watercolour. Here are a couple of my recent attempts.

In this painting of Forde Abbey in Somerset I started with a sketch using derwent drawing pencils in earth colours. I then added paint with large loose brush strokes, adding extra texture with salt. I also used some pastels once the paint was dry.

I started this expressive painting of Barcelona sunshine with some bold pen drawing for just a brief outline. I then went mad with bright blues, purples and yellows!

Any comments will be much appreciated! :-)