Goodbye January!

That first month of 2018 just whizzed by …
Looking back with some January faves from my Instagram feed:

Happy February everybody!

P.s.: For those who might like to follow me on Instagram, here's my account: https://www.instagram.com/evamarion_art/

Figure and Room

"Here again so softly" – roomset courtesy of Minted

There's a new art contest on at Minted, the Minted Make A Statement Large Format Art Challenge. Art prints sourced through this contest will be available at sizes up to 48" x 70" (= ca. 122 x 178 cm), so really big! 

I had been a bit intimidated by the large formats at first, and decided that this contest wasn't for me. But then I became very inspired by the contest's special "Figures & Form Award". Minted is looking for the most interesting artwork featuring a human figure in large scale. I imagined my fashion/ figure drawings in large size in a room, and felt that this might look intriguing …

Today I'll show you a selection of my submissions, a mix of older and new drawings/ paintings.

"Here again so softly", watercolor and gouache on paper.

"Here again so softly" – the abstracted painting above was inspired by a walk in autumn fog, observing other walkers emerging like ghosts out of the white nothing. I aimed to express this ethereal feeling, painting a figure that could be here, there or elsewhere, or just a fantasy …

"Homage to Rahvis" – roomset courtesy of Minted

"Homage to Rahvis", watercolor and ink on paper

My watercolor and ink drawing "Homage to Rahvis" above leads us back to the 1940ties and was inspired by Clifford Coffin’s photograph of an iconic Rahvis evening dress. I aimed to weave my own story around it and created a reduced, delicate and dreamy drawing, imagening this young lady being in anticipation of a glamorous ball.

"I will dance through the Fire" – roomset courtesy of Minted

"I will dance through the Fire", mixed media (gouache, ink and crayon) on paper.

These two paintings above and below are part of a series of 4, featuring the various strengths of women. I aimed to create expressive female characters that would be open to merge with the viewer’s own stories. The series is inspired by heroines from literature, theatre and film, by fashion and by astrology too.

"I will dance through the Fire", as seen above, is related to the astrological fire signs and symbolizes power, spirit, passion, resistance and initiative.
Whereas "She Who Knows" as seen below, is linked to the earth signs. This lady is an old soul, a strong, earthbound and wise character.

"She who knows" – roomset is courtesy of Minted.

"She who knows", gouache and ink on paper.

The reduced "Elegance" drawing below features a woman in a ball dress, highlighting the lightness and soft drape of her gown as well as the elegant lines of her pose. I drew her with just a few quick lines and some watercolor accents.

"Elegance" – roomset courtesy to Minted

"Elegance", ink and watercolor on paper

 

"Swift", as seen below, is a bit of a throwback into the 1980ties. Drawn with just some sweeping lines the drawing showcases the figure's elegant 80ties silhouette and the rich drape of the garments. A fab print for fashion enthousiasts as well as a good option for those who aim to add a softer vibe and an expressive touch to minimalistic interiors.

"Swift" – roomset is courtesy to Minted

"Swift", ink on paper.

That's my selection for today! To see all of my submissions, please just hop over to my "Voting now" page!

If you would like to support me in this contest, please just click on the images. That'll lead you directly to my submissions on the Minted page and you'll be able to place your votes. Thank you so much! A certain amount of winning art will be sourced through public voting, so through your votes! The rest will be chosen by the Minted Editorial Council.

Voting is now open and will close on Wednesday, January 24th at 10am PST. 
(Please note: If you are not a Minted customer or a Minted artist yet, you'd need to set up an account on Minted to be able to vote.)

New Wall Art for Kids and Teens

Here's some new art or young people! Inspired by the Minted + Pottery Barn contest for kid's and teen's wallart I made a small selection including painting/ illustration and photography.

(Like always with Minted comps votes and likes are very welcome! Voting already ends tomorrow evening, Monday July 31 (Mid European time). So if you see something you like and want to help me to get it selected for the Minted and/ or Pottery Barn stores, please just quickly click on the image! That'll lead you directly to my submissions on the Minted page. Thank you so much! 
Please note: If you are not a Minted customer already, you'd need to set up an account on Minted to be able to vote.)

"Quick as a Bunny said the Beetle"

"Hello World said MissTurtle"

Here's some more info about my art:

For both illustrative pieces above I did the main characters with papercut and collage. Then I added the "scene" with crayon and put it all together digitally. A fun way of working!
As you might see by the choice of my titles I aimed for storytelling prints that prompt the viewer to weave  their own stories around the characters.
The sporty hare will be fab for any young athlete or sports fan. Whereas the turtle conveys confidence and curiosity and will be a great print for any child that is keen to discover and explore the world.

"A little Fantasy about Flying"

And here's two "airborn" prints. My "Little Fantasy about Flying" above is inspired by my love of airships and hot-air-balloons and shows some steampunk influences as well as a decent dose of whimsy.  It's another mixed media piece combining pen and ink drawings with gouache paint and a little bit of collage.
The photograph below was done in Zeebrugge, Belgium, one of the best spots for kite surfing/ surfing on the North Sea coast. I love the feeling of space, freedom and movement in it and think it would be a great print for a young person's room.

"Testing the Winds"

"The Evening Bath"

"The Evening Bath" above was bravely taken by a group of schoolchildren on the coast of the Isle of Wight, England. Bravely because the North Sea was very very cold on that day … (I'd tested it out myself before!)
I love this photograph because it evokes the carefree summer holiday feeling of childhood. And as well because of the contrast of that small hub of human energy against the huge turquoise and blue surface of the North Sea.

"The Midnight Flock"

"Nighttime Tidelands Gleaming Sea"

"The Sorbet Tide"

Speaking of the North Sea – the series of 3 photographs above was done on the North Sea coast of Belgium, and is called "North Sea Nocturne". We took a trip there in June, and I was fascinated with the bright nights of the Summer Solstice. The gleaming light was just amazing! I really didn't expect this, usually you only get these bright Summer Solstice nights a bit more up north. Probably it's the surface of the sea reflecting the light that leads to a similar effect like in Scandinavia. Anyway, I was intrigued, and took several long walks along the beaches late in the evening. These photographs all were taken close to midnight … I hope I managed to capture a bit of that dreamy and peaceful atmosphere.

"The Dreamy Palace"

The "Dreamy Palace" was painted with watercolour and gouache. It's inspired by the tales of 1001 nights.

"Rainforest Rythms"

The photograph above follows the current interior trend for tropical and green wallart. It's a close up of a palm leaf. I aimed to captured the leaf’s abstract organic forms and found two different rhythms that characterize the rainforest: sunlit, fresh and almost electric green on the front, dark, gloomy and intriguing on the backside …

That's it for today! I hope you like my selection. Fingers crossed … and thank you so much for any votes and likes!

New originals in my Etsy shop!

Over the last days I filled up my Etsy shop with new listings. Some are older paintings, some pretty recent.
I've had a serious studio sorting – just the thing one does before springtime starts I guess! Feels good to get things out of the drawers. Half way through this I realized that do this (and maybe need to do it!) to invite new work in.

For now here's some of my new listings:

First up here are two smaller watercolours that tie together well. "Color Energy 1" and "Color Energy 2" inject a generous dose of fresh colour to energize a room after the long grey winter.

And here is another floral watercolour – with a softer vibe this time:

"Soft Summer Bouquet" is great to bring an informal, relaxing summer mood to any room.

And I now have a new section for kids in shop! For now it is just three paintings, but I hope to grow it over this year. Here's one of the new listings: "The Adventurers" – they originally were painted as a placement design for kid's fashion but I think my little animal pirates are great for wall art as well.

Let me introduce you to the gang:

 

Tiger for sure is the captain. No adventure will escape his brave heart and sharp green eyes!

Little Rosella Piggie always looks on the bright side of pirate life and has a smile and joke for everybody, even in bad or dangerous situations …

and Benno the dog is a faithful and strong sidekick, the best friend any pirate could have!

 

 There's more in the shop, so feel free to have a look :-) Hope you'll enjoy!

 

A new contest: magic light … and lots of animals!

February starts with a new art contest, with the 2017 "Minted x West Elm Art on the Big Stage". The contest is for art prints, theme and chosen medium are open.

Here's some of my entries, I hope you'll enjoy them! They pretty well reflect my fave media at the moment: photography, watercolour and handprinting. Please vote for them if you like them! You as well can have a look at all of my submissions on my voting page. Thank you so much! Voting ends on Wednesday, February 15, 2017.

(If you'd like to vote you'll have to open up an account on Minted, or log into it. Then you can rate the submissions from 1 (worst rate) up to 5 (best). Likes don't count as vote. Love them anyway though!)

Morning Bath Killarney Ireland

With the photographic collage of a scene at the Lakes of Killarney in Ireland, I was aiming for a storytelling print that feels like an entry into a diary and depicts a fleeting but treasured moment. The scene was shot against the light, which adds to the dreamy atmosphere of the beautiful landscape.

Deer Jump

Looking through my entries I realized that I included a lot of animals this time! Well they are very inspiring to me :-)
I did the "Deer Jump" as part of last year's Inktober challenge (you can read a bit more about it here if you like to). I love the way this simple painterly sketch captures movement and animal beauty as well as a magical mood.

Collecting Birds – Caffinch

"Collecting Birds" is an ongoing series of watercolour birds in their natural surroundings, painted to celebrate the beauty and diversity of nature. They are inspired by the illustrations you'll find in old books for identifying bird species, and I try to marry this inspiration with the loose painterly quality of watercolours. I submitted 3 of these – you can find the other 2 on my voting page.

Irish Sheep 2

Ok, I simply had to include this friendly chap! Travelling in Ireland these sheep are your constant companions, but I tried for long to do a good portrait as they tend to be wild and shy. This close up and upfront shoot now finally shows one of them in full beauty and pride :-)

Cow Parade

My "Cow Parade" is a digital collage of monoprints. The prints I used are all leftovers from an older commission – all the ones that went a bit wrong somewhere … I call them "odd prints", have been collecting them for quite some time, and love them for exactly that, for the mistakes and quirks. It was fun to do sthg with them finally – and I hope people will have fun with them too!

 

And here's two more landscapes!
In this shot of Dingle Harbour in Ireland below I captured clouds and sun playing on the ships and hills, reducing them to silhouettes and highlighting the importance of the elements – it's a small land floating between a vast sea and sky. The photograph is part of my Irish "Light on …" series. I submitted 3 of these – you can find the other 2 on my voting page.

Light on Dingle Harbour Ireland

A Winter Walk

Finally here's a watercolour painted in Germany. It was inspired by a walk on a foggy day in early winter – I loved the reduced color palette and the way the forest and hills melted into the soft greys of the frosty sky. A painting that radiates a peaceful and meditative mood.

Want to see more? Just hop over to my voting page!
You as well can have a look at all submissions here. But beware – it might take quite a while, there's 6278 of them in the whole! Wish me luck!
And thank you for visiting and voting :-)

Skyblue by Eva Marion

Welcome to my new shop – for original art! Doors are open! Finally ;-)
It took me a bit, but after getting more requests for original paintings lately, I decided to take the plunge and to open up an Etsy shop.

So this is "Skyblue" – www.etsy.com/shop/SkyblueByEvaMarion – named after one of my fave watercolour hues.
In there you'll find my "classics":
- original watercolour paintings, landscapes and florals
- and handpulled prints of my aquatint etchings.

I hope you'll like it!


P.s.: For those who are super quick, here's an Etsy promo, still valid until tomorrow night:

Buy a gift. Get a gift.

Spend $50 on your first-ever order and get $10 towards your next one. Ends 12/12. 

Full details: etsy.me/welcomecredit

Happy shopping :-)

Cyber Weekend offers – Minted, Spoonflower and the Roostery!

Cyber weekend offers are now available in my Minted store! In there you'll find beautiful art prints, art & design for kids, fabric and home decor for 15% or even 20% off :-) Make sure you'll use the code BF2016 through to Sunday, 11/27, 11:59 p.m. PT/ San Francisco time ( = Monday, 11/28, 8:59 p.m. in central Europe).

Tipp: On Monday please check on the Minted site for further offers! I am sure there will be reductions – only I will be travelling and offline, so I won't be able to post them here … thanks!

Buy my fabrics by the yard, wallpaper and wrapping paper in my Spoonflower shop for 10% off! This offer is valid through Monday, November 28 at 11:59 p.m. EST /Eastern USA time ( = Saturday, 11/26, 5:59 p.m. in central Europe). No code necessary.

10% off as well for home decor at Roostery! Buy pillows, napkins, placemats, tea towels and even chairs with my designs over here! This offer is valid through Monday, November 28 at 11:59 p.m. EST /Eastern USA time ( = Saturday, 11/26, 5:59 p.m. in central Europe). No code necessary.

Thank you and happy shopping :-)

Around here this week …

… there's autumn in full swing!
I took some pictures out of my studio window today – I love this view, especially in autumn! And it might all look different and leafless tomorrow, as they predicted the first frost for tonight …

I as well have been polishing up my Minted Store, to get into gear for the Holidays. As my Minted collection has been growing slowly but steadily this year, there's lots of beautiful wall art inside, and some kid's art, fabric and home decor too. Come have a look inside! Here's a peek into my faves for November:

Finally I couldn't resist to patch all my Inktober pieces together, so here's the full month!
There's some sketches that I'd love to develop further, in colour. And some interesting painting ideas and bits that might make nice patterns too. Hoping that I will find the time to do this …

Happy weekend everybody!