Some new Stuff

I've been busy getting out some orders to shops but I have managed to get into some painting

I've started lots of new pictures 

Now to finish them

sea sea sea

I took a breather and went to the sea

We truly have the best beaches in the world - if you can catch the weather! 

Ya know what one I really enjoyed about this years holiday?

Coming home and realizing I love, no adore my home and where I live

truly blessed

Life is for Learning

Well I've gotten myself well and truly up to my eyeballs in work now! I've signed up to two on-line courses which run at the same time - eeek. There defiantly won't be much housework done here this week! 

The first is too much fun - Faces 101 - yup I'll draw 101 faces in a week! 16 done already and it's just day one. 

I love the exercises Carla gets us to do - lots of freeing up, playing with materials, shapes and letting go of what we think a face should look like. Super excited about whats in store next! 

The other class relates to my textile background is fun, intense packed with sooo much information and fabulousness it's taken me  a while to get started properly - I'm way behind the rest of my group but will be working my mac to the limits this week to catch up! Its the art and business of surface pattern design and is ran by the talented and generous Rachael Taylor

I have been working on my first collection called 'the dreamer' based on this painting and had so much fun - I'd forgotten how carried away I get when I'm designing - utter bliss. 

So - it's busy :-) but ya know...

...Life is for Learning 

Happy Summer!

Wow it's been such  abusy busy busy month for me! I'm just beginning to get my breath back, getmy studio (nearly) back in shape and catch up on some sleep.

A huge thank you to all who came to my shows this month, supported with kind words and beautiful messages.  It is all so appreciated affirming and loved - thank you!

I shared a booth at Bloom 2012 with my two sisters. Clare make stunning glass lovelies along with a range of sassy magnets, mirrors and cards. Geraldine makes her own preserves, jams and chutneys from all her own home grown produce using her aga and my granny's old recopies. YUM!  

It's such a great show with a friendly and loving crowd. This was our second year and it was great to see familiar faces calling in for more of our products. 

 My display 

 

Clare's display

Ger's Preserves Display

I also had a solo exhibition as part of Carlow Arts Festival Éigse 2012 which went so great - I sold over half my paintings and was met with so much positive love ohhs and ahhs I nearly couldn't take it! It's always nerve wracking to do a solo show so thank you to all who came, saw, loved, laughed and bought. 

I didn't take enough pictures (as always!) so I just have one from my phone 

I have plans to put my remaining paintings up for sale in the coming weeks and I will be informing my newsletter subscribers first so if you'd like to get the heads up so sign up here!

In other very exciting developments we woke up a couple of weeks ago to 4 brand new kittens!! Mama Dinny (who is a kitten herself!) is doing a great job minding her babies, while we're doing our best to keep our little one at a safe distance!

Happy Summer Everyone

xxoxx

Carlow Arts Festival 2012

It's that time of year again and Carlow Arts Festival (Éigse) kicks off tomorrow. 

There is tons to see and do in the town so click on the link above and plan a day out! 

I've been busy painting up a storm and have loads of new work ready to hang tomorrow morning. The official opening is on tomorrow (Friday 8th June) evening so pop in for a glass of vino and a chat.

The exhibition runs until the 17th  - would love to see you :-)

My View today

 

Night flying

Fridays are my studio work days - I try to be disciplined and not get side tracked with too much computer / admin work but here's  a quick post to share what's on the agenda for today! 

1. finish the picture above

2. Order mounts

3. Work into more pictures I have on the go (deadlines are FAST approaching!) 

4. Go for a walk

5. make more necklaces 

6. Play with some ideas for soft sculpture

Busy day ahead - here's hoping three of my jobs get ticked off! 

Happy Friday everyone x

 P.S.

 Fabulous giveaway on my sisters blog - just head over and leave a comment to be in the draw!

                    Clare Jordan Blog

 

http://clarejordanltd.blogspot.com/2012/05/give-aways.html?spref=fb

***update on my days productivity! Didn't get through as much as i'd hoped! Got to order the mounts, work into another picture I have on the go, finished the owl pictured above (hope I didn't ruin him!) updated my facebook page and did lots of filing on my computer (I may actually find stuff now!) All and all not a bad day - going to enjoy a glass of vino now :-) Happy Friday x****

I love my new (old) studio!

 

I've finally enlisted help and gotten my studio space cleared up, organized and in order. The relief is palpable! I honestly didn't realize how bad it was until I got it fixed and  I am in love! 

It makes me wonder 'why didn't I do this ages ago!' It's amazing the difference some shelving, storage and organization makes - I'm totally in love with it and have found myself just sitting here and admiring my space, something I could never have done a couple of weeks back. I now know where everything 'lives' can see all my supplies and have space for painting, sewing, production and a desk for admin. Amazing!!! I think it's for keeps :-)

The pressure was on to get it order for a video shoot I did.

Illustration Friday - Jump!

Here's  a wee lady I did a while back

Jump For Joy! 

Life is good :-) 

Preparations and Contemplations

Lots of preparation is happening in the garden and the studio in anticipation of a funfilled and exciting summer! 

I always get so excited at this time of year, dreaming of harvesting all that we invest into ourselves, the land, our work. It seems that it all rests on the work which is done in spring and we must trust that we've done enough to reap a reward during the summer. Himself has done a power of work in our pollytunnel, preparing the soil, planting the seeds and tending to the seedlings.

I feel it's the same in the studio - a flickering of an idea is prepared, planted and tended to in order for it to grow into a piece. We trust the sun will shine enough to allow our ideas grow, we help with nourishing ideas and putting in the work but it's such an organic process ANYTHING can happen! 

It's so exciting! I can't wait to see what's going to happen next :-)

Carlow's annual arts festival, (Éigse)  is coming up and it's theme is 'civilizing the wilderness' - LOVE this theme, it's so rich and opens my mind up to a whole plethora of ideas and directions.

I cannot wait to see all the shows which will be on so if you're in the country from the 8th - 17th June 2012 do come down and have a look see!

 

Here's some of my newest works for my show at the Cathedral Parish Center during the festival. 

So much to be done!!! 

new website!

Remember I had said I'd been working on redesigning my website? 

Well it's now up an running! yay

I'm totally loving the fresh feel of it - it works and links in everything together (my shop, my blog, facebook and twitter) And allows you to sign up to my newsletter!

I think this may be the 5th website I've designed for myself and by far my favourite - at least at the moment! haha

Here's a link to one I did in 2008 for my landscape paintings (wow that doesn't feel like 4 years ago!)

So. I invite you to come have a nosey around and let me know what you think!

www.siobhanjordan.com 

PS I've got a great GIVEAWAY on my facebook page - it's ending today so go on like and share the picture to be in with a chance of winning the earrings!!! 

One of my favourite things - my paint tin

One of my favorite things to do is mix paint. I find it meditative and calming and can throw up many surprises. I'm getting good at it at this stage and have gotten to know all of the nuances of my watercolour tin.

It was  gift from an artist I painted with in Germany when I was 16. I adore that a symbol of the early nurturing of my creativity has traveled with me everywhere, been used and abused, refilled and just gives and gives. I can't remember the ladies name which is a shame but we had a glorious day painting her garden and she gifted me this precious tin. I spoke very little German and she spoke no English. It was the first time I really understood the power of visual art as a communicator and connector.

I am working on some new illustrations today. It's fun to take the paints back out! 

PS Here's another great shop (Gallery Crafts, Cork) which is stocking my canvas prints and jewellery range - If you're in the cork area do be sure to check it out! Have a beautiful Day :"-)

Drinks Cabinet - Re purposed and Reborn

I love a bargain and this drinks / display cabinet is defiently a bargain!

 

Herself has taken over the bottom shelf for toys and thankfully can't yet reach the higher shelves and doors! 

 

She cost my €50 in Oxfam Home, Dublin.

Probably €20 to get her home in petrol

Paint was free (left over from other projects) 

Vintage wallpaper was free (gifted to me from an interior design shop) 

Knobs were around €3 each (I picked them up in Austria when I was on a painting residency) 

 It\s great  to finally be able to display car boot finds (vintage telephone, vintage plates) along with some fab wedding presents we hadn't been able to display before (Mosses pottery plates and bowls, Killarney crystal glasses etc)

And paintings from Mary Hoare, Laura De Búrca, TimsSally and my newest purchase from Marriane Wolf (Mon Petit Pois)

I'm sorry I didn't take a before pic but she was a big dark ominous beast in the room! Lets just say himself was none too happy when I brought her home! But he did the majority of the hard work with her and I'm so in love!

at long last! A new blog post!

I'm back!!

It's been a while,

things have been busy.

The juggling continues but recently I've enjoyed lots of family time. Some time in the garden and lots of play time with herself. I'm enjoying the longer days, warmer (slightly!) weather, and new growth.

We have a lovely old granite wall in our garden and last year I planted some bulbs on top of it in the crevaces. Nothing came up last year - but hey presto this year we have a poppy! 

Auch a heartlifting sight to see some colour and growth in the garden after the winter. 

Here's our dog Rosie standing on the wall admiring the flower - or maybe just contemplating trampling it! 

I don't know why I'm surprised but so much of my time is spent on non-making / non-painting endeavors! I've been doing lots of writing of proposals, business plans, cathcing up with accounts, networking that I haven't gotten to paint in a while.

My new plan is to do a plan! A realistic plan this time :-) 

I'm redesigning my website! Here's my proposed new layout. Hopefully it'll give me room to grow, is  a tad less busy than the one I've up at the mo and will be search engine friendly!

So now it's just a matter of getting the head down and coding it! 

No rest eh? 

PS

I'm really excited to be stocked in such lovely shops as Couture, Naas and  Sineads Gifts, Portarlington. Do check them out if you're in the area :-) x

New Year

It's Spring time again!! 

we're constantly talking about the weather in Ireland so an update for you! The sun is shining here, it's still cold and frosty but so beautiful. Snowdrops are out in force, some daffodils have already bloomed, fields are ploughed ready for sewing, seeds are layed out and planning for the new year has started in earnest.

2012 so far has been good to me. 

I've took a booth at Showcase, Dublin with the Creative Carlow group. This was my first wholesale show and I got great feedback on my products, made wonderful connections and some fab new shops who are going to stock my goods! 

So now it's all about filling out the order book, getting suppliers to ship out stock yesterday, thinking seriously about where I want to go as an artist and a designer, product maker etc. Thinking about the logistics of actually making this work for me. How I want to grow, where I want to be. It's a very exciting time filled with sheer bliss and a healthy dose of fear!

I'm doing my best to embrace true growth and existence in the now, and the future journey it will bring me on.

 This little (well she's quite tall really!) darling is available on my etsy shop - link here x

2012 - bring it on :-) 

2011

2011

 was 

          busy

                                  exhilarating

                                                  tiring

                             exciting

              loving

thrilling

It was about becoming again...

becoming a mama

becoming an artist

becoming myself

becoming brave

I nursed my baby, started to paint again, nested my home, established my studio, started my blog, met lots of online lovelies, worked on a product line, made lists, scrapped lists, made plans, scrapped plans, cleaned bums, wiped tears, laughed more than I can ever remember, struggled with life/work balance, tried to give up on regrets, started a journal, then abondonded it, had lots of shows, hosted a couple of parties, had lots of quiet nights in, cried, laughed, loved and dreamed. 

Looking forward to more of the same.

Happy New Year Everyone!