The Art of Naomi von Monsta

Green Eyed

2012-02-05T12:09:00.000-08:00

I'm not entirely sure how I feel about this painting. It's not turned out exactly as I planned, but I played around a lot with layering and scribbling and I'm not sure it's completley finished, but I think if I do anything else to it, it will just become more of a mass of scribbliness than it already is. Perhaps it's already too over worked? I'm not sure. Anyway, this is very personal, which is not something I usually share, but here we are all the same.

'Green Eyed'
210mm x 297mm (A4)
watercolour, watercolour pencil, ink, acrylic and pen

Art Survey

2012-02-03T12:43:00.000-08:00

I've got rather a lot of unfinished art at the moment, so not too much to share, so in the meantime, I thought that I would fill in an art survey (which I stole from Liselotte Eriksson) so that I at least had a little post to fill time

1. When did you get into art?
I've always been into art, I guess. I can't ever remember a time I didn't draw or paint or love to look at other peoples work. It's just an intrinsic part of me, I think.

2. What art-related sites have you ever signed up for ?
Elfwood was the first, where I still have an account, although it's the the same one as the one I started off with (I posted a whole heap of embarrassing stuff there I think! Haha!). I left and then returned a long time later. I have a Deviant Art and an Epilogue account as well, although I think the guidelines for nudity are absurd and I'm considering leaving. Umm, otherwise, I can't recall any others, but there's probably at least one I've missed.

3. Show us your oldest piece of art you have on hand
A painting from back in 2003! I wish I had some of my reeeally old drawing from when I was a small thing, because childrens drawings are the most amazing things ever. They're all in my parents attic.

4. What defines your artistic style?
Umm, this is really difficult. I'd like to think slightly creepy but also beautiful and dreamy creatures, strange woodlands, a magical otherworld, scratchy lines, splodgy watercolours, spindly fingers and creeping sneaking things.

5. Do you practice other styles/have you tried other styles in the past?
I suppose I have a few different way of working; just straight up drawings which can be a lot more scratchy and scribbly, and I have a similar approach when it comes to working with pen and ink. My usual watercoloury stuff is a little bit different to how I work with acrylics. I'm a lot looser with watercolours. I've tried other things in the past, especially during my Art Foundation Course and during my first couple of years in University, but mostly my style is intuitive and where it is now us more of a natural evolution rather than a purposeful exploration.

6. What levels of artistic education have you had?
I basically went through every art course from GCSE level through A Levels and from then I attended a Foundation Art Course and finally did BA in Illustration at The University of Brighton.

7. Show us at least one picture you drew or sketched recently that you did not put on a public site.
A recent pages from my sketchbook. I've actually been working on a proper drawing based on this, today!

8. What is your favourite piece that you have done?
This is pretty hard. Perhaps 'The Unseeliefiend' as it means a lot to me. It's the first peice I ever painted that I have been truely proud of and remain proud of even now.

I also really like 'Foxgloves'

And two pages from my sketchbook which I'm still really fond of and look at quite a lot with pride aha!

9. What is your least favourite piece that you have done?
Oh, they've all been destroyed.

10. What do you like most about your art?
The strange faces, the colours and the creepyness that's also pretty.

11. What do you like least about your art?
I'd like to have more variety in faces and bodies, better positioning, sometimes they're rather posey; I'd like them to be more scene-like, more backgrounds, better interaction between characters when there's more than one figure in a peice; umm, better painting technique and sometimes they feel a little flat. I'm working on all of these things, though, and hopefully I'll get better!

12. Have you ever considered taking commissions?
I have taken them and do still take them, however they terrify me, and I need to be more disciplined and stop second guessing myself but I'm working on it.

13. Are you looking to pursue a career in art?
I am indeed! It's what I've always wanted to do. I'd just love to get to the point where I could live off of my art alone, that would be wonderful!

14. What do you like drawing the most?
Faces, female bodies, plants, creatures/animals, gothly things. Oh! And toadstools are wonderful to draw!

15. What do you like drawing the least?
Things I struggle with; feet and well, lower bodies in general, but I'm trying! Backgrounds are difficult. I hate drawing things like cars and objects I'd consider boring, maybe like tumble dryers or something. Haha! I'm trying to think back to art school and some of the things we were asked to draw. I remember having to draw rope and a whisk. I hated that.

16. Do you draw more fanart or original art?
Original art, definitly. I've drawn little bits of fan art; characters from The Sandman, Harry Potter and from some of my favourite books, but I've never shared them because they're not quite right.

18. What is your purpose for drawing?
Mostly for getting all of the crap out of my head. It doesn't want to stay in there. It's also really nice to show other people what's in my head, sometimes. It also makes me extreamly happy and accomplished. I'm always happiest when I'm making art.

19. What medium/program do you use the most in your art?
2B or 4B pencil, watercolour pencil, watercolours, pen and ink or drawing pen, sometimes acrylic and sometimes a little bit of Fimo when I'm sculpting little things.

20. How would you rank your art? (poor, mediocre, good, etc.)
Sometimes it's good, soemtimes it's bad, it just depends how I'm feeling at the time. It's never really in comparrisson to anything else, though.

21. Do you believe there is such thing as “bad art?”
I guess so, yeah. But maybe what I think is bad art, other people is good.

22. List at least one of your “artspirations.”
Brian Froud is probably my biggest, which is probably quite obvious.

23. What do you think you could stand to improve on?
Anatomy, especially drawing boys, better expressions, poses, more variety in general; backgrounds, not rush or panic too much, which I am prone to do.

24. Do you have a shameful art past? (recolour sprite comics, tracing art, etc.)
As Liselotte said, nothing that I'd consider shameful, no.

Bookmarks

2012-01-18T09:02:00.000-08:00

I made some bookmarks featuring a few of my favourite paintings! I'm so pleased with how they came out. They're printed at home using high quality inks and paper, and then laminated and decorated with brown string, rat tail in a corrosponding colour and then finished off with a teeny tiny silver plated toadstool charm!

Unseeliefiend bookmark

Foxgloves bookmark

Fly Agaric bookmark

Bluebells bookmark

Faerie Guising bookmark

The Pendle Craft Fayre and Faery Ball

2012-01-16T11:56:00.000-08:00

I'm really excited (and similtaneously terrified!) to announce that I will be having a little stall at the Pendle Craft Fayre on the 7th April!

This will be my first ever stall, and it's going to be rather fun! I'm really looking forward to meeting up with my friends and making some new ones and getting all dressed up for the Faery Ball! Perhaps I shall see you there!?

p.s. The gorgeous Esther Remmington's art featured on the flyer! Go and take a peek at her work!

Raspberry and Strawberry ACEOs

2012-01-16T11:34:00.001-08:00

Two little ACEOs! I want to make more berry themed things, they're really fun! Raspberry has found her home with my lovely friend Carly and Strawberry was a commission. :)

'Raspberry' ACEO
2.5inch x 3.5inch
watercolour, watercolour pencil, ink

'Strawberry' ACEO
2.5inch x 3.5inch
watercolour, watercolour pencil, ink, silver pen

Regitze

2012-01-16T10:52:00.000-08:00

A commision that I have taken an embarrassing amount of time to share!

'Regitze'
210mm x 297mm (A4)
watercolour, watercolour pencil, ink, silver pen

Ink Faeries I & II

2012-01-06T12:42:00.000-08:00

Two drawings I did for my friend Carly for her yule gift!

'Ink Faerie I'
149mm x 210mm (A5)
2b pencil, watercolour

'Ink Faerie II'
149mm x 210mm (A5)
2b pencil, watercolour

Space Swamp Creatures

2012-01-04T14:04:00.000-08:00

A yule present for my beautiful friend Hannah!
It's scanned a little bit oddly.

'Space Swamp Creatures'
210mm x 297mm (A4)
watercolour, watercolour pencil, ink,

Judi Mermaid

2012-01-03T12:53:00.000-08:00

A painting/almost-sorta-portrait thingy of my beautiful fiend Judi.

'Judi Mermaid'
210mm x 297mm (A4)
watercolour, watercolour pencil, ink, silver pen

Fayrie

2012-01-02T06:31:00.001-08:00

Christmas gift/almost portrait thingy of my beautiful friend Fayrie!

'Fayrie'
210mm x 297mm (A4)
watercolour, watercolour pencil, ink, silver pen

Eluned

2012-01-02T05:41:00.000-08:00

I've been a bit silent from posting recently, but I have been busy arting, it's just all been rather secret as they've all been Festimas presents for my friends and family so I've been saving from posting them so as to not spoil the surprise! But now the have all found their way to their intended recipients, I am able to finally share!

This is the painting I made for my Mother beast, Eluned; the most beauiful, splendid and kind mum, and I am so lucky to have her.

'Eluned'
210mm x 297mm (A4)
watercolour, watercolour pencil, ink, silver pen

A Happy New Year!

2012-01-01T13:17:00.000-08:00

I saw in the new year with my boyfriend and a few friends playing geeky games and getting slightly tipsy. It was really lovely. I hope yours was mervelous!

2011 was a little bit up and down art wise. Downs wise, just to get them out of the way, I succumed to sadness a little bit and my art suffered for it and I was absent from art making and posting for a little bit. Positives have however managed to outweigh the negatives! I still haven't destroyed any of my art, which is incredible for me! I've been looking back at last years New Years post and I'm feeling really proud of myself. I've achieved 4 out of the 5 goals I set myself. I kept up with this blog, had huge moments of productivity at times, and I believe I have improved my tecnique and my eye somewhat. I opened my Etsy shop, finally! (Although it's curently closed, but it will be re-opened again very shortly) And on top of that, I have my art up for sale in a real-life shop! I've even sold some stuff, which is amazing to me! I've been published in a little magazine and I've painted a huge mural on a wall-something I have never done before and I'm rather proud of the result!

I feel that this year has lain down a few little beginnings for myself which I hope to build upon this coming year!

Art things I hope to achieve this year:

-To draw more. Find more time for my creative pursuits. I want to overcome my depressive episodes before thay stop me from arting.
-I want to keep up blogging, and blog even more than I have done this year.
-I want to re-open my Etsy and expand my shop a little bit more. More prints and trinkets for sale!
-I want to start attending craft fayres with my wares! I have one scheduled to attend this April (more information about it a little bit further on in the year when I know a little bit more myself!) and if it goes well, I hope to do more!
-I hope to get published again
-Overall, I hope to become more established and a little closer to becomming a self-sustaining artist!

Finally, I'm going to share a little quote that has meant a lot to me this past year, and I take with me into the next.

"and by the way, everything in life is writable about if you have the ongoing guts to do it, and the imagination to improvise. The worst enemy to creativity is self-doubt." -Sylvia Plath

Oh! & before I forget; I started a little Tumblr just for my art: http://naomivonmonsta.tumblr.com/
& moved my personal blog to this little Tumblr here: http://www.unseeliefiend.tumblr.com

Come follow me if you are so inclined!

Mods Pick over at Elfwood!

2011-11-27T12:46:00.000-08:00

My 'Imp' painting was chosen as Mods Pick today over on Elfwood! You can see the rest of my gallery here!

Yule Star Faerie & Yule Gift Faerie

2011-11-22T13:45:00.001-08:00

Two little yuletide faeries that I've been painting. I'm also hoping to make them into my Yule Cards this year if I can fix the ridiculous alignment issues I'm having with them!

'Yule Star Faerie'
149mm x 210mm (A5)
watercolour, watercolour pencil, ink, silver paint, glitter

'Yule Gift Faerie'
149mm x 210mm (A5)
watercolour, watercolour pencil, ink, silver paint, glitter

Yule ACEO's

2011-11-22T13:11:00.000-08:00

Four little ACEO's I've made for the yuletide season. They haven't scanned particularly well, and look a lot better in real life that they do here.

'Baubles'
2.5inch x 3.5inch
watercolour, watercolour pencil, ink, silver pen

'Elf'
2.5inch x 3.5inch
watercolour, watercolour pencil, ink, silver pen

'Candycane Girl'
2.5inch x 3.5inch
watercolour, watercolour pencil, ink, silver pen

'Snow Girl'
2.5inch x 3.5inch
watercolour, watercolour pencil, ink, silver pen

Pen and Ink Gothlings

2011-11-22T12:01:00.001-08:00

I've been working so much recently that I haven't really been feeling up to posting all of the art I'm making. As soon as I get in from my regular day jobs, I just want to sit down and draw and eat a ton of stuff and watch a movie (mostly Harry Potter) and I really don't feel like scanning anything or posting here, but I am gathering rather a backlog of things I need to share so I'm going to try and get some of them out of the way this evening.

These are just a couple of pen and ink doodles I made recently. Dreamy goth things are my favourite.

'Dreamy Goth 01'
149mm x 210mm (A5)
black pen, ink, watercolour

'Dreamy Goth 02'
149mm x 210mm (A5)
black pen, ink, watercolour

Smugglers Treasures

2011-11-18T13:41:00.000-08:00

I've recently been going on a lot about painting a mermaid over on my Facebook Page but I've been a little bit mysterious about it! I've been designing the logo for my gorgeous friend Geri's beautiful jewellery collection Smugglers Treasures (which you should totally go and have a creep at and buy, by the way as they're bloody beautiful!) and it's finally been aproved and put into use, so I can finally share her! Yay!

I'm rather proud of her! :D

Three Pen & Ink Drawings

2011-11-03T12:44:00.000-07:00

Three little drawings I did today whilst in Carousel. I don't usually show my pen drawings, but I really like doing them and I was pleased with how these came out. I played around with light ink washes on them as well.

'Black and Purple Faery'
149mm x 210mm (A5)
black pen, ink, watercolour

'Black and Blue Faery'
149mm x 210mm (A5)
black pen, ink, watercolour

'Black and Pink Faery'
149mm x 210mm (A5)
black pen, ink, watercolour

Samhain Greetings!

2011-10-31T16:28:00.000-07:00

It's All Hallows Eve, the best day of the year! Happy Halloween to you all! I hope you've all been having a spectacularly spooky and creepy day and evening. Here's to all of the monsters, ghosts, ghouls and fey creatures that wander through the veil tonight!

Artist Feature in Torn Magazine

2011-10-28T16:18:00.000-07:00

It's my 100th post! And what a nice post to have! I'm currently one of the featured artists in the first issue of 'Torn Magazine', a new Art and Culture Magazine about Manchester! :D It's available for download here and I'm on pages 5&6 alongside a little interview (excuse the rambling). And it's also the Halloween Issue, so it all feels very fitting aha! There's also haunting and macabre art from Love Raccoons and art and cinema reviews and a really great What's On in Manchester guide! & it's free!

Thank you so so much to the rather splendid Kate Dutton and Torn Magzine for the interview and feature it was a lot of fun!

Bad Faerie Horns

2011-10-27T08:14:00.001-07:00

Purple black and silver faerie horns for causing unseelie mischief...

'Bad Faerie Horns'
Fimo, acrylic paints, glitter and varnish

Carousel

2011-10-27T04:43:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to share a few photographs from Carousel at the moment. I've got all of my little halloween goodies up for sale there along with the mini art prints. I'm so proud of my little space at the moment. Yay!

I'm currently in the process of painting the shop front for Carly. It's nearly done, just one panel on the left to finish off now.

Carly very kindly made me Featured Artist at Carousel! <3

My little corner

My new prints! :D as I mentioned ina previous, these will be available very very soon online on my Etsy shop. :)

Prints!

2011-10-27T04:27:00.000-07:00

I've finally gotten myself a printer which can make really rather lovely prints! :D I've started off my making some mini prints, just smaller than A5 but I'll be making some proper A5 and A4 sized ones as soon as I've figured out all of the fancy settings and located some A4 plastic wrappers to keep the prints all safe and cosy...

Thy're printed on really lovely heavy weight finely textured 200g/m paper and the printing quality is pretty beautiful.

They're now available in Carousel and will be available of on my Etsy shop very shortly...

Bats, Spiderwebs, Vampire & Zombie on Wood

2011-10-26T13:00:00.000-07:00

A few more little halloween treats: paintings on wood panel...

'Bats'
Acrylic pencil crayon, silver pen and varnish on wood

'Spiderwebs'
Acrylic pencil crayon, silver pen and varnish on wood

'Vampire'
Acrylic pencil crayon, silver pen and varnish on wood

'Zombie'
Acrylic pencil crayon, silver pen and varnish on wood

Halloween ACEO's

2011-10-25T08:12:00.000-07:00

A few little halloween ACEO's I painted recently...

'Witch'
2.5inch x 3.5inch
watercolour, watercolour pencil, ink, silver pen

'Daemon'
2.5inch x 3.5inch
watercolour, watercolour pencil, ink, silver pen

'Twilight Bat Walk'
2.5inch x 3.5inch
watercolour, watercolour pencil, ink, silver pen

'Poison'
2.5inch x 3.5inch
watercolour, watercolour pencil, ink, silver pen

Samhain at Dusk

2011-10-24T12:16:00.000-07:00

This years All Hallows painting! Inspired by bat walks, pumpkins and autumn leaves.

'Samhain at Dusk'
210mm x 297mm (A4)
watercolour, watercolour pencil, ink, silver pen

Imp

2011-10-24T11:34:00.000-07:00

A sneaky little creature...

'Imp'
149mm x 210mm (A5)
watercolour, watercolour pencil, ink, silver paint, glitter

Back!

2011-10-24T10:54:00.000-07:00

Urgh, so my proposed return for the end of August was completley thwarted as it is now nearly the end of October. My computer manged to contract somewhat close to a millionzillion viruses (I may or may not be exagerating here) and I was unable to log on to Blogger, Hotmail and countless other places, nor access files and whatnot so I've been pretty much missing in action. However, thanks to my parental beasties, I now have a new computer as they gave me their old one and it's it's really spiffy and a little bit flash so I am back with a vengence!

Keep on the lookout for some All Hallows artwork coming up over the next few days in the run-up to my favourite time of year, some new horns, some exciting little makes and a little interview! Yay!

Absence

2011-08-15T06:32:00.000-07:00

Applogies for the absence this past month; I still have lots to share, including finishing off my 3 Wishes posts, and I haven't forgotten. Life has been getting in the way an awful lot these past few weeks and I haven't had the time to stop and blog, but I have been arting.

Also, one of my new baby ratties that I adopted a few weeks ago passed away yesterday and I'm absolutely heartbroken and lost. I hadn't known little Pippistrelle Horcrux Beetleheart for very long at all, but he was the most lovely, charming and shy and secretive little run rattie. I love him so so much and feel so lucky to have known him and his little hyena face and miss him horribly. It's been such an unexpected thing.

I hope to be back to arting and blogging properly by the end of the month.

3 Wishes Faery Fest 2011 Part 1

2011-07-02T16:24:00.000-07:00

Myself, Liselotte Eriksson, Naomi Nowak and Moomin all boarded the bus from Manchester, late on the Thursday evening, with bags full of bus treats as it would take us a whole nine and a half hours to get down to Plymouth. We arrived there at 11.30 that same evening and wandered around Plymoth city centre, dragging our bags behind us, looking for a place to set up camp until morning.

We finally found this lovely little plot inamongst some trees in a sort of mini park and settled down for the night. Lisis and I decided to play a game describing what animals we'd like to see roaming the treet infront of us whilst Moomin and Naomi slept whilst waiting for the 5.30am arrival of Monkey.

Moomin Troll & luggage in Plymouth City Centre
Photograph by Liselotte Eriksson

After hiding away from the early morning rain in a coffee shop and gathering more food supplies, we hopped on the bus and over the water on ferry to Mount Edgecomb where this years 3 Wishes Faery Fest was being held. We arrived at the festival and threw up our tent just in time to hide in it just before it completley threw it down with rain! We hid there with our friend Oli and all got out of our travelling clothes and into our festival stuff...

Monkey, Naomi Nowak & Oli
Photograph by Liselotte Eriksson

Monkey and Lisis
Photograph by Moomin Troll

Lisis, Naomi and myself, backcombing my deathhawk
Photograph by Moomin Troll

We all ended up looking a little bit awesome:

Moomin, Me, Naomi & Leroy
Photograph stolen from Bryony Whistlecraft

I was some sort of goblin royalty thing, I think. All moth eaten and neglected. I was imagining some sort of abandoned lineage or some such thing. I was very happy with it, mostly.

Myself and Lisis
Photograph by Liselotte Eriksson

Myself and Lisis
Photograph by Moomin Troll

Myself and Lisis
Photograph by Liselotte Eriksson

Most of my outfit was made or adapted by me; I'm mostly proud of my overskirt, which resembles Ron Weasley's dress robes a bit perfectly. I stole the wings from Liselotte (she makes the best wings!) and we matched the whole weekend!

The of that Friday evening was spent saying hello to our friends, having a wander around all of the stalls and getting a bit drunk and having a bit of a dance under the huuuge trees!

Part 2 Coming Soon!

Re-emergence!

2011-07-02T14:51:00.000-07:00

Good grief, I've not made a blog post in faaar too long! Well, I'm back for good, now anyway. Badger has managed to fix the computer, thankfully, so we haven't had to try and scrape together some money to buy a new one just yet. (Although we're saving up for a shiny new one anyway and for an external hard drive should this happen again!) Also, none of my work, scans, photos etc have been lost to the ether, and infact, we have managed to recover all of the lost data from the last time our computer had a melt down, so a very pleasing result!

I have a few paintings to share from the past couple of weeks, and an adventure to the 3 Wishes Faery Fest to document. Give me a couple of days to get mycomputer happy again, and I'll have things to throw at you. :)

Off To 3 Wishes Faery Fest!

2011-06-13T11:40:00.000-07:00

I'm just finishing getting ready to go to the 3 Wishes Faery Fest in Cornwall this Thursday!

My ticket arrived a couple of days ago, and today I finished my last day of my regular job at the vintage shop I work in and now I have almost 2 weeks off! I am so so excited and I'm racing around trying to finish my headdress and skirt before time runs out! I'm meeting Liselotte Eriksson and Naomi Nowak at Manchester airport on Wednesday and we're heading to Plymouth with Moomin Troll on Thursday evening! I really can't wait! I keep obsessivly looking at my ticket and at all of the photographs from the first time I went in 2009 (I couldn't afford to go last year because of moving house and it was so utterly heart wrenching.) and getting all giddy! It's the best place ever and it's full of the most lovely and marvelous people ever. It's such an open and welcoming and inclusive place and it really can't come soon enough!

I'll be sure to take a billion photographs to share, and if you're going as well, I'll see you there soon! :D

A Little Update

2011-06-06T11:23:00.000-07:00

My main computer is still ka-put, but a friend of ours seems to have pinpointed the problem, so hopefully it'll be sorted soon. He can help us fix it as well, so it's just getting the part and then I'll be all go again!

Otherwise, I haven't really done much in terms of art. My little rattie, Ratzilla has been very very sick, so I've been looking after her and worrying about her too much to really get much done. Last Thursday, June 2nd, we kissed her goodbye, so I've been spending some time grieving over her as well. Night night Ratzilla, my perfect little rattie. <3

I'm also getting ready for 3 Wishes Faery Fest! I still haven't got my outfits ready for the weekend; I've got horns and a headdress and a skirt thingy to make as well as my outfit for The Pirate and Mermaid Ball on the Saturday Night there and I've only got less than two weeks to go! Eeep! So I think all of my free time is going to be taken up with that

I'll update again as soon as any computer news comes up. :)

Disaster!: A Sort Of Mini Haitus. :(

2011-05-22T06:27:00.000-07:00

My PC has very thoughtfully decided to give up on life and collapse; we can't even turn the thing on! We still have our crummy little netbook thingy, so I will still have internet access, but as I can't use Photoshop or my scanner with this thing, my art posts will probably be a little bit sporadic at best for the next month and a bit until we can afford to buy a new computer. Luckily my friend Judi has kindly said that I am allowed to use her computer and scanner but again, it's not going to be a regular thing. Just to let you all know that I haven't abandoned the blog, should it be some time until my next post!

In the mean time, come follow me on Twitter!

Naomi von Monsta on Tumblr

2011-05-05T12:21:00.000-07:00

I made a Tumblr! It's mostly for posting inspirational things, my friends gorgeous and amazing talents and my own work as well. Come follow me here!

Happy One Year Of Art Blogging!

2011-05-05T10:55:00.000-07:00

Ooops! I wrote this a couple of days before my blog turned one year old, and completley forgot to post in on it's actual birthday. So here it is, three days late...:P

2nd May 2011:

It was one year today that I started my little art blog here on blogger! I'm feeling really proud today, firstly for sticking with my little blog for an entire year with no intentions of stopping, secondly for the progress I've made with my art over the past year: I've become a better artist; I've gotten myself real professional buisness cards (wit woo!) ; I've opened an Etsy shop & I sell stuff in a real-life solid four walls shop; I've sold art work and taken and completed comissions; I've been a featured artist & been interviewed & I've pushed my boundries by painting on wood, painting on large scale and more. I've really begun to tick off my little list that I made at the beginning of the year!

Thirdly and most of all, I'm really proud of my progress with my self belief in my abilities. For a long time I struggled to accept that I might be quite good at art. It was always something I knew I wanted and needed to do, but I was never good enough; I used to tear up all of my art work; I hated everything I ever drew or painted and I was my own worst enemy (this was a huge reason why I fared so badly at university) I'm so proud that I haven't torn up a single peice of work I've done since starting this blog.

I want to say thank you to everyone who follows me, shares my work with others, comments and has given me fantastic constructive critiscism, to anyone who has ever said anything nice about my work.

I also want to thank my parents for believing in me and following my blog and sending me nice messages about my paintings (and buying my art work when I've been so so dirt poor and living off of nothing)

& finally, I know he'll probably puke up from the sludge and goo, but I want to say thank you to my rather amazing and brilliant viking pirate faun boyfriend, Badger, for dealing with my evil awful art related frustrations and tantrums, for dealing with all of my art mess; the 3 day old cups of tea, pencils and pen and paint everywhere; for pushing me and making me try harder and for believing in me. You're pretty fucking awesome & I love you more than satay tofu! <3

Affleck's Wall Painting Part Six: Finiiiished!

2011-05-05T10:49:00.000-07:00

I've just gotten in from finishing painting the wall in Afflecks. Finally, it's done! I am so happy and relieved! Hurrah! & I'm really pleased with how it's turned out. Just a quick mention as to why the painting stops where it does; There's a door that opens just to the right and the foxgloves stop just before the door so nothing is obscured...just in case you were wondering. :) Now, on to the photos...

I've still got the wall opposite to do, but for now, I'm going to rejoice!

Affleck's Wall Painting Part 5

2011-04-28T12:02:00.000-07:00

Part 5! Pheeeew! I've been in for two whole days this week painting the wall, and it's come on leaps and bounds and I really feel as though it's getting somewhere now. I think only another day and a bit and it'll be done! This is the result of the two days of work:

Sketchbook: Part 05

2011-04-24T05:00:00.000-07:00

I've not really posted any pages from my sketchbook for ages, so I thought I'd just share 2 recent pages I made:

Now I'm planning to spend the rest of my day making horns whilst sitting in a fairy light & candle-lit room inamongst the incence whilst listening to Ghosts by Nine Inch Nails because I'm a big goth. (And probably googling Pipistrelle bats in between it all)

Affleck's Wall Painting Part 4

2011-04-24T04:26:00.000-07:00

I meant to post this on Friday, but my rattie has been really sick (I took her to the emergency vets today and she's got some antibiotics and stuff so she should be okay) so I've mostly been worrying about her and looking after her so I've abandoned blog posting for the past couple of days, but I'm back, & with the promised update of the Wall Of Doom! I managed to get a really good amount done on Thursday, so I've been quite pleased with myself. (I was ill on Tuesday when I also had intentions of going in to paint it some more, but alas I was bedridden and spent most of my day covered in snot and coughing wildly whilst trying to concentrate on reading Tithe by Holly Black.) Anyway, without further rambling, Part 4 of my wall painting...(the photos are slightly burry!)

My friend took a photograph of me whilst I was painting haha

ACEO: Flamenco

2011-04-14T14:10:00.000-07:00

A little ACEO commission I did. I was asked to paint something inspired by spanish dancing and flamenco and this is what I came up with!

'Flamenco'
2.5inch x 3.5inch
watercolour, watercolour pencil, ink,

Affleck's Wall Painting Part 3

2011-04-14T13:52:00.000-07:00

It's been killing me not being able to get to paint this wall for an entire week and knowing it was just sitting there unfinished made me criiinge. I managed to squeeze in four hours yesterday morning (I could have stayed the whole day but a homemade vegan sushi and miso soup picnic on the beach with my friends was calling) and I made a fair bit of progress. I'll be back for the entire day next Tuesday in an attempt to get a big heap of it done.

Goth Girl With Rats

2011-04-12T12:13:00.000-07:00

I thought I'd just share a little drawing I made inbetween working on other things. It was also nice to take a little break from full colour work and work in pen and ink. She's going to adorn my bedroom wall. (I'm having a glorious black and white 80's goth themed wall in there, so she'll fit in there perfectly. Oh yes.) 'Goth Girl With Rats'

210mm x 297mm (A4)

pencil, pen, ink, watercolour wash

Afflecks Wall Painting Part 2

2011-04-07T10:54:00.000-07:00

I had another day of drawing and then starting painting on the wall of Afflecks today. I'm quite pleased with it so far, but there's still a long way to go. This is going to take me forever I feel! I also don't get to attack it again until next Thursday due to (non-art) work commitments. Pooo.

Once again, it's very hard to photograph things in there because of the awful florescent lighting., so it does look a little better in real life.

Afflecks Wall Painting Part 1

2011-04-05T09:00:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I (or rather Carly) managed to steal me the opportunity to paint a wall inside Afflecks! I'm lucky enough to have managed to grab two walls adjoining Carousel where I sell some of my bits and bobs, so it's awesome to be able to pretty much decorate the front of the shop as well!

Today I started on the smaller of the two walls I have; it's just opposite Carousel up a little set of steps. I managed to draw the design out in pencil, but there's still a tiny little bit to be added to in the centre and the very bottom of the wall; some iris's, more fungus and some mossy stuff, I think, and then I'll start throwing some paint at it. The basic premise is of a poisonous midnight woodland, so there's lots of poisonous plants (foxgloves, larkspur, toadstools etc) and creepy faeries perched, watching passersby. I will also be painting the wall opposite this one, so hopefully it'll feel as though you're walking through the poisonous wood. We shall seeee.

These are the photographs I took of it whilst I was going along. The light in there is florescent, so it was pretty difficult to photograph it well. A lot of the detail is lost, but you'll be able to see more of it as it progresses. I just wanted to have a small documentation of how it goes, seeing as I've never painted anything even half as big before!!!

I'll be back there on Thursday to actually start the painting of it! Whoop!

Paintings on Wood Part 3

2011-04-03T08:17:00.000-07:00

I've painted another couple of peices onto wood. I really enjoyed it last time and I found some oval peices to paint this time.

'Daffodil' Acrylic pencil crayon and varnish on wood

'Deathcap'

Acrylic pencil crayon and varnish on wood

More Mushrooms

2011-04-01T11:58:00.000-07:00

I've had a bit of a shambly time of doing art over the past week; one of these every time I sit down to paint or draw it all goes wrong times. But I think I'm over it. Have some mushrooms! I've made some more in different colours. There will be other colours to come as well! Please excuse the less than fabulous photographs; they were taken this morning (a terribly grey day) whilst rushing to my regular work.

New paintings & trinket boxes to come over the next few days! :D

Paintings on Wood Part 2

2011-03-22T06:14:00.000-07:00

& the three smaller circles of wood that I attacked with paint:

'Foxgloves'
Acrylic pencil crayon and varnish on wood

'Toadstools'
Acrylic pencil crayon and varnish on wood

'Night'
Acrylic pencil crayon and varnish on wood

Paintings On Wood Part 1

2011-03-21T13:11:00.000-07:00

I found these cute little wooden circles in my local art shop and knew that I had to snatch them up and throw some paint on them. I bought six of them, three larger and three smaller. These are the three larger ones.

'Acorn'
Acrylic pencil crayon and varnish on wood

'Ivy'
Acrylic pencil crayon and varnish on wood

'Rose'
Acrylic pencil crayon and varnish on wood

The three smaller ones will be posted tomorrow. :)

Personal Blog!

2011-03-20T14:53:00.000-07:00

Just a quick note to say that I've just started a little personal blog on Blogger. It's a place for me to chronicle ideas and inspirations, adventures and explorations; being thrifty; outfits and diy; vegan food and other crap. Come and follow me there if this takes your fancy!

Glittergloom Faerie Horns

2011-03-20T07:26:00.000-07:00

Phew! I've not blogged here in over a week. I've been busy with a few things on the go at once, but I've gotten a couple of things finished, so I'll be sharing them over the next few days!

First up is a new pair of horns I've been crafting; Glittergloom Faerie Horns, perfect for night faeries!

'Glittergloom Faerie Horns'
Fimo, acrylic paints, glitter and varnish

Art Studio Again!

2011-03-10T05:58:00.000-08:00

I've spent the last evening and most of today re-organising and arranging my art studio to make it a more of a workable space; I'm horribly messy, so I've tried to find storage for absolutely everything so each thing has its own place in hopes that I will manage to keep it a little tidier and so it will always be ready for me to work at rather than having to move all of my crap out of the way first before I can begin...

I thought as well that I'd take this time to show you some of my favourite things in my studio; things that I keep around me for inspiration and reference!

My newly clean art space! I've got a drawing on the go; A little comission!

Some beautiful art and reference pictures on my wall for inspiration. I've been collecting them for a long time, so this is just a small sample of what I have.

Books! I have a whole bunch, but there are a few that I always have on hand to have a rummage through.

My collection of stuff. I often draw from these as well. Snake skin from my boyfriend's mum's snake; an amazing branch thing that looks like a goblin horse, feathers I've collected, a pine cone and deer spine bones from Liselotte, crab shells and claws from a beach adventure in Brighton, empty snails shells that I collected from the mountain walk with my mum last weekend, my favourtie hag stone...All perched on a really pretty slab of wood that I rescued from a skip, which is also perched on an empty tin can and an empty jar of my mum's homemade jam! A perfect shelf!

Just above my collection of stuff. More stuff! And a beautiful shelf-box thing that I thrifted. It contains horns and mushrooms that need painting.

My Kokeshi! The big one who is Guy in a Cup is from Carly for my birthday, and the Mushroom Guy (he has a name, but I can't remember what mushroom is in Japanese) is from Carly again for making a painting for her. The little pine cone guys at the front are called Kappa, and they're little monsters that eat children. They can't reallycome out of the water so they have a little pool at the top of their heads so they can emerge and chase the children, but they have to be back in the water before it dries out. They're ridiculously happy-making!

A pretty frame I found in a charity shop that I filled with grass and daisies, a little heart box I hand-painted and two mushrooms I bought from 3 Wishes Faery Fest 2009 from the Fortune Fairies Stall!

I bought some little drawers to organise all of my bits and bobs so I'm not throwing pencils and paint pots everywhere. They need re-painting, but they're great! Also, I like teapots, so here are two really good ones. I usually use my polka-dotted teapot, but I've just been given the huge one by my boss, so I want to make huuuuge pots of mint tea and sit and drink it continuously whilst I paint!

Afore-mentioned tea-pot and a really excellent wooden snail from my friend Owl and an awesome mushroom notebook, also from owl, which I keep track of orders and stock and stuff in!

Now to go and make use of my new-improved and more awesome work space!

Carousel

2011-03-08T05:08:00.000-08:00

A painting I made for Carly for her shop, Carousel!
I think I've been spending too much time watching Fuzzbox music videos...it seems to have emerged in this painting, quite evidently!

'Carousel'
210mm x 297mm (A4)
watercolour, watercolour pencil, ink, silver pen

Shop Sign for Carousel

2011-02-27T07:09:00.000-08:00

Firstly, a super quick announcement to say that Sausage Dog In Japan has changed its name to Carousel! It's been a long time coming, but the change has finally been made. It's much more fitting to the shop (it's gone though some huuuge changes recently) and I like it a lot! Yay for Carly! <3

Anyway, Carly of Carousel asked me to make a sign for my little corner of the shop, and she found me this huge peice of wood that was ready for recycling. It's a lot larger than I'm used to working on, and it was great to have a proper go at acrylics on a bigger scale than I usually do. It took me two and a half days and I worked pretty much non-stop; I suspected it might take me up to a week, so I am really pleased!

The Art of Naomi von Monsta Shop Sign

48 x 94cm

Acrylic on wood

Toadstools!

2011-02-23T12:08:00.000-08:00

Just some silly little toadstools I've been making out of Sculpey. I'm going to make some in other shapes and colours as well. I want to plant them everywhere! :)

Fungus Original ACEO's For Sale on Etsy!

2011-02-22T12:21:00.001-08:00

I've just popped the Fungus ACEO's up for sale on Etsy!

Etsy
naomimonsta

Toadstool Heart Trinket Boxes

2011-02-22T10:37:00.000-08:00

A little nesting set of trinket boxes inspired by (yet again!) the fly agaric mushroom.

Toadstool Heart Trinket Boxes
Small: 2inches x 2inches x 1inch
Medium: 3inches x 3inches x 2inches
Large: 4inches x 4inches x 3inches
papier mache box, acrylic paints, varnish

Available for sale in Sausage Dog in Japan!

Faerie Trinket Boxes

2011-02-22T08:50:00.001-08:00

I've been painting little papier-mache trinket boxes recently.

Toadstool Faerie Box
2inches x 2inches x 1inch
papier mache box, acrylic paints, ink, varnish

Green Faerie Box
2inches x 2.5inches x 1inch
papier mache box, acrylic paints, ink, varnish

Mushroom Faerie Box
2inches x 2inches x 1inch
papier mache box, acrylic paints, ink, varnish

Dark Faerie Box
2.5inches x 2.5inches x 1inch
papier mache box, acrylic paints, ink, varnish

BlueFaerie Box
2inches x 3inches x 1inch
papier mache box, acrylic paints, ink, varnish

All now for sale over at Sausage Dog in Japan!

Naomi von Monsta on Manchester Tart

2011-02-15T06:34:00.000-08:00

I've been featured on the beauuuutiful Kate's new blog To Manchester With Love in a post about local artists and quirky little gifts. Go and have a little peek, I'm sharing the space with three talented ladies! Here!

Faerie Horns For Sale On Etsy

2011-02-10T07:06:00.000-08:00

I've just posted my Goblin Horns and my Stripeling Creature Horns for sale on my Etsy store! Go over and have a little peek! (click on the picture to take you to the listing)

& I've reached 50 follwers on my blog as well! Hurrah! Hopefully with many more to come in the future :) Thank you to everyone who follows, makes a flying visit, re-blogs and promotes me in any way! <3

Absinthe Faerie Horns

2011-02-08T12:06:00.000-08:00

Extra glittery faerie horns for the most decadant of creatures...

'Absinthe Faerie Horns'
Fimo, acrylic paints a whoooole lot of glitter and varnish

Faun Horns

2011-02-08T11:26:00.000-08:00

Many thanks to my rather excellent and dashing boyfriend, Badger for modelling for me!

'Faun Horns'
Fimo, acrylic paints and varnish

Naomi von Monsta at Sausage Dog in Japan

2011-02-08T10:32:00.000-08:00

I've had this secret news for the past month, getting stupidly excited but trying to keep it a little quiet! I'm now selling my work in Sausage Dog in Japan, a gorgeous little treasure trove of a shop in Afflecks, Manchester, UK ! Thank you to my lovely friend Carly for this opportunity! The shop is beautiful; Carly, the owner has created this perfect little place, showcasing dolls and art from around the world; Kokeshi's, Russian Dolls, Peruvian puppets and somuch more! It really is the perfect place to snoop around, and I'm really proud to be a part of it!

For the time being I have a little corner selling my faerie horns, but I'll be putting art prints, trinkets, sculptures and much more in there in the next few months!

And have some eye candy of the rest of the shop:

Come in for a poke around if you live in the area or are visiting the city. I'll also be working in there the odd day or so, so come and say hello!

Sausage Dog in Japan
Second Floor
Afflecks
52 Church Street
Northern Quarter
Manchester
M4 1PW

Stripey Creature Horns

2011-02-03T11:57:00.000-08:00

Another new pair of faerie horns that I've been making with the ridiculous amount of oven bake clay I picked up recently! A rather typical faerie horn design, but I love them a lot. :)

'Stripey Creature Horns'
Fimo, acrylic paints and varnish

Gothling Faerie Horns

2011-02-01T10:59:00.000-08:00

These are the horns that I made for my birthday night out dancing and were based off of the horns in my Gothling painting.

'Gothling Horns'
Fimo, acrylic paints, glitter and varnish

My First Etsy Sale & Posting Out Purchases

2011-01-30T11:24:00.000-08:00

I've sold my first item on Etsy & I had another sale yesterday, so I'm feeling really happy and proud! They've just been popped into the mail box and they're on their way! I put together some little parcels to send them that I thought were pretty cute, so I decided to share :)

Naomi von Monsta on Etsy-Now Open!

2011-01-27T12:18:00.000-08:00

I'm thrilled to announce that my Etsy shop is now open! I've got most of my Toadstool Creature ACEO's listed (besides one which is a gift & another is reserved) & a pair or toadsool horns! I'll add more over the next few days and weeks!

Etsy
naomimonsta

Business Cards!

2011-01-26T12:33:00.000-08:00

Hurrah! My business cards arrived in the mail this morning! I'm so pleased with them! I feel like a real professional artist now! :D

Naomi von Monsta on Etsy!

2011-01-25T07:12:00.001-08:00

I'm thrilled to announce that my Etsy shop will be opening this Friday the 28th January! Hurrah! I'll be selling ACEO's and faerie horns with the addition of prints, originals and other little bits and bobs to follow in the next few weeks! More details to follow. :)

On Prints

2011-01-25T06:09:00.000-08:00

I'm almost ready to order in some prints to put up for sale. I'm a little befuzzled as it's a very big decision and other than having to choose out of all of my paintings which few to make up as prints, I also have to decide what sort of prints I'm going to get in.

I've found a printers who produce the most amazing prints; beautiful giclee prints, fine art prints, archival quality, the most lovely paper and the most acurate reproductions of my paintings! However. They're dreadfully expensive to get and I'd probably have to sell them at about £20 each, which I know might seem a lot of money to buy just a reproduction.

My other option is to locate a cheap everyday photographic printer who prints onto regular dull and boring paper, the image isn't of archival quality but the prints would be much more afordable.

I just thought I'd ask if anyone who is ever interested or buys art at all what their preference might be when it come to buying art prints.

Thank you!

Rat Shrooms 1-3

2011-01-23T01:53:00.000-08:00

My rattie's been very poorly recently and had to have an operation to remove a lump that she had on her side, so I've been very upset and worried and not really been able to concentrate enough to get anything substantial done. But she's good and well now and the operation went swimmingly and she's back to stealing and hoarding all of my food and walking all over my paintings as I'm trying to paint! So to sort of celebrate I've painted three new little ACEO's...

'Rat Shrooms 1-3'
2.5inchx3.5inch
watercolour, watercolour pencil, ink,

ACEO's: Fungus 1-3

2011-01-20T09:10:00.000-08:00

I really enjoyed making the last set of ACEO's, so I've been making a whole heap more. Here are the first bunch...

'Fungus 1-3'
2.5inchx3.5inch
watercolour, watercolour pencil, ink, silver pen

Gothling

2011-01-16T02:06:00.000-08:00

What started out as a little drawing of the birthday outfit I have planned to make for my party at the end of the month, turned into a painting! My rattie got a little exploratory so she's had a good wander over this so there are some little rattie footprints here and there...

'Gothling'
210mm x 297mm (A4)
watercolour, watercolour pencil, ink, silver pen

Owl

2011-01-09T04:29:00.000-08:00

A silly little portrait of my friend that I made for her birthday!

'Owl'
25 x 15 cm
watercolour, watercolour pencil, acrylic, ink, silver pen

Meadow Spites

2011-01-06T04:16:00.000-08:00

Just a couple of drawings I've done today whilst waiting for my watercolours to dry...

'Meadow Sprite I'

210mm x 297mm (A4)

2B pencil

'Meadow Sprite II'
210mm x 297mm (A4)
2B pencil

ACEO Gallery and Flickr

2011-01-04T11:15:00.000-08:00

I've made a little page on my blog to collect all of my new and subsequent ACEO's all together, just as I've done with my drawings and paintings. It can be found here!

I've also gotten myself an active and Pro account over on Flickr! Come and have a visit!

ACEO's: Toadstool Creatures 1-9

2011-01-03T11:11:00.000-08:00

For the first time, I've painted some little ACEO's (Art Cards, Editions and Originals) and they're been so much fun and a really lovely way to begin a new year of creativity! I decided to keep them all to a theme to keep it as more of a project; I chose toadstools, because as you may have guessed, they're a little bit of an obsession of mine, so here they are, the little creatures of the fly agaric mushrooms:

'Toadstool Creatures 1-9'

2.5inchx3.5inch

watercolour, watercolour pencil, ink, silver pen

A Happy New Year!

2011-01-01T06:27:00.000-08:00

2010 was a dreadfully difficult year, but I must say that despite all of my troubles it's been a rather important one; I finally set up this blog which has turned itself into a portfolio I am proud of! This year I've finally begun to really realise my potential; I am the worst person ever for doubting myself, especially when it comes to my art-it's always been the most important thing to me and I have spent far too long hating it and tearing it up and throwing it away when I haven't felt good enough. I'm proud to say that since starting this blog I haven't torn up a single peice! Not one! And I'm a little giddy and pleased with my progress.
I've been featured as an artist by some fantastic bloggers; been interviewed about my art; been a Froudian Artist of the Month; recieved my very first paid comission and there are other exciting opportunities on their way, I hope, which I can't wait to share when they come into fruition!

So despite being definitly not one of my favourite years I am a little grateful for this year even though I pretty much want to spit in its eye. I am, however, thoroughly glad to see the back of it and welcome in the new year!

Art things I hope to achieve this year:

-To continue with my art blog and be much more productive
-To improve my art skills even further; drawing and painting as much a possible without making any excuses!
-To open my Etsy shop and begin to make money off of my art to begin the hopes of one day being able to live off of my art alone!
-To be published in one wayor another
-To be invloved more in the art community here somehow-maybe being a part of a group exhibition

& finally, I want to share with you the words of the bloody incredible Neil Gaiman:

"May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and good madness. I hope
you read some fine books and kiss someone who thinks you're wonderful, and don't
forget to make some art -- write or draw or build or sing or live as only you
can. And I hope, somewhere in the next year, you surprise yourself"-Neil Gaiman

I'm also hoping the same for myself!
Happy New Year! x

Happy Yuletidings & Candy Cane

2010-12-25T08:30:00.000-08:00

Happy Yule to you all! Here's to a very splendid day! My boyfriend and I are spending the day in bed being lazy and watching sci-fi boxsets together whilst gobbling up as much food as we can fit in our bellies! I hope yours is wondeful too!

'Candy Cane'
210mm x 297mm (A4)
watercolour, watercolour pencil, ink, silver pen

I'm taking a little break this week so have a fantastic new year and I'll see you in January 2011! x

Featured Over At FAE Magazine Yule Gallery!

2010-12-02T03:46:00.000-08:00

I'm excited to be included in FAE Magazine's online Yule Faerie Gallery! There are a bunch of wonderful artists featured there, so go and take a little peek! A huuuge thank you to Karen Kay! x

Mistletoe

2010-11-30T13:49:00.000-08:00

I'm getting ridiculously excited about Yule/Christmas this year! I'm getting all inspired by the colours and motifs of this time of the year and it's all starting to come out in my work...

'Mistletoe'
210mm x 297mm (A4)
watercolour, watercolour pencil, ink, silver pen

A Playlist Whilst I Work

2010-11-28T10:38:00.000-08:00

I'm working on about five things at once at the moment so nothing is really getting completed as I'm flitting from one project to the next and I also have real-life to contend with, but in the meantime I thought I might share a little playlist; what I've mostly been listening to whilst painting recently:

Grim Faeries: Jizzlobber

Robin Crutchfield: Spider'srestless8thleg

Danny Elfman: A Troll Market

The Cure: Plainsong

Wendy Rule: Hecate

Jill Tracy: The Fine Art Of Poisoning

Bauhaus: Hollow Hills

The Birthday Party: Realease The Bats

Queen Adreena: Soda Dreamer

Rasputina: LeechWife

The Cure: Birdmad Girl

Wendy Rule: Deep Within The Forest

Switchblade Symphony: Wreaking Yard

Robin Crutchfield: Cobwebpie

Siouxsie And The Banshees: Peek-A-Boo

Rasputina: Transylvanian Concubine

Hopefully I shall have something solid to share with you shortly!

Night Creature and Darkling & Galleries

2010-11-16T15:12:00.000-08:00

'Night Creature'
210mm x 297mm (A4)
2B pencil
'Darkling'
210mm x 297mm (A4)
2B pencil

...

I've also made two little galleries on my blog so that all of my paintings and drawings are compiled together so they're easy to browse though without having to search through the whole blog for them. The drawings are here and the paintings located here!

Frequently Asked Questions

2010-11-12T12:25:00.000-08:00

I've made a little FAQ here on my blog to answer any little questions I have been posed. You can read them here!

& if you have any more you'd like to ask, feel free to e-mail me: unseeliefiend@hotmail.com

Froudian Artist of the Month!

2010-11-01T13:09:00.000-07:00

I've been chosen as one of the featured artists of the month on the World Of Froud website! :D I'm so thrilled!
Brian and Wendy Froud have been the biggest inspiration to me for a long long time. Labyrinth has been my favourite film since I was very young and I used to borrow the video casette off of my aunt every weekend and then later I found 'Faeries' at my library and I fell deeply in love so this feels pretty special!

Coming Soon!: Frequently Asked Questions

2010-10-30T17:05:00.000-07:00

I'm making a little FAQ section on my blog. If there's anything you'd like to know, just leave a comment or write me an e-mail at: unseeliefiend@hotmail.com and I'll include it in the FAQ section :)

Happy Halloween!

2010-10-30T16:27:00.001-07:00

Halloween is is favourite day of all of the year so I wanted to wish everyone that reads and follows my blog a Happy All Hallows Eve! I made a very silly little painting in honour of Halloween-think of it as a card that you recieved through your letter box, delivered by little goblins riding rats wearing bird bones and bats wings...!

Have a creepy-crawly magical All Hallows/Samhain!

Another Mods Pick At Elfwood!

2010-10-26T04:29:00.000-07:00

My 'Autumn' painting was chosen as a Mod's Pick over at Elfwood! Woo! My gallery is here.

Autumn

2010-10-24T05:56:00.000-07:00

I've been feeling really inspired by the seasons change recently. I want to go and roll about in the russety leaves, climb trees and steal apples and pick blackberries!

'Autumn'
210mm x 297mm (A4)
watercolour, watercolour pencil, ink

Dusk

2010-10-21T08:17:00.000-07:00

'Dusk'
210mm x 297mm (A4)
watercolour, watercolour pencil, ink

Swamp Princess and Creepling

2010-10-19T13:17:00.000-07:00

'Swamp Princess'
210mm x 297mm (A4)
2B pencil

'Creepling'
210mm x 297mm (A4)
2B pencil

Swampling

2010-10-14T15:02:00.001-07:00

'Swampling'
210mm x 297mm (A4)
2B pencil

Imp and Forest Creature

2010-10-13T13:05:00.000-07:00

'Imp'
210mm x 297mm (A4)
2B pencil

'Forest Creature'
210mm x 297mm (A4)
2B pencil

Moss

2010-10-12T12:25:00.000-07:00

'Moss I'
210mm x 297mm (A4)
2B pencil

'Moss II'
210mm x 297mm (A4)
2B pencil

Naomi von Monsta on Facebook

2010-10-11T13:26:00.000-07:00

I've just added a Fan Page to Facebook.
I'll try and update it as often as possible with little snippets of what's happening and what's to come in the near future with my art.
Add me if you like! :)

Faerie Guising

2010-10-10T14:29:00.000-07:00

I was going to save this until closer to Halloween, but I'm really pleased with it and I can't help but share it! It's inspired by the tradition of trick-or-treating and taking on a demon or otherworldly guise on All Hallows Eve.

'Faerie Guising'
210mm x 297mm (A4)
watercolour, watercolour pencil, ink

...

I was also recently asked about my painting process, so I decided to document the stages of a typical painting...

1. I use a nice heavy weight paper for my drawing and I'll tape it with masking tape to my painting board to stop the paper buckling too much.

2. I usually start with putting a big wash on the background with a big fat brush loaded with a lot of water and watercolour and splodge it about a bit.

3. Once the initial layer is dry, I'll repeat and then splatter and drip other shades or colours on top and generally make a big mess.

4. I'll usually start on a face first. If there is more than one creature in the painting, I'll pick my favourite and start on that one first. I'll put down skin colour using watercolour pencils, and watercolour and then any markings they might have.

5. I'll then move on to hair, clothing if there is any and faces of any other creatures lurking about.

6. I'll start to put in more detail with the watercolour pencils and watercolours, put in some highlights and work a little bit of pen in there as well.

7. The surrounding creatures and any little bits of foreground get roughly painted in.

8. The last little bits get painted in and then the whole peice gets outlined and any final little adjustments made before I put in the spiderwebs with silver.

9. The finished peice!

Sketchbook: Part 04

2010-10-09T11:44:00.000-07:00

A few recent pages from my sketchbook...

Appologies & Some Goblin Horns!

2010-09-25T12:48:00.001-07:00

I've been gone for a little while, I'm sorry! My main computer crashed on its face and I've lost a lot of my images, photos, writing and other bits and bobs-I need to see if the data can be recovered, we shall see...and I've been working extra in my regular vintage shop/fancy dress shop job so I've been horribly tired as well as being disheartened with my computer's death.

I'm having some friends over for a week starting on Monday, so I'm going to be pretty much away for the next week, but I'm going to try and resume my art regime and get some things finished and posted once my little weeks holiday is over!

In the meantime, I'll share with you some goblin horns I made and photographed during the summer:

'Goblin Horns'
Fimo, acrylic paints, glitter and varnish

Naomi von Monsta on Dear Sweetlings

2010-08-06T12:36:00.000-07:00

The lovely Juliet of Dear Sweetlings interviewed me recently about my art and inspirations. Go and take a peek! The interview can be found here. Have a read of the rest of her blog whilst you're there, too. It's utterly charming and inspirational! Thank you Juliet! <3

Bluebells

2010-08-06T12:31:00.000-07:00

'Bluebells'
210mm x 297mm (A4)
watercolour, watercolour pencil, ink