Owlette Sitting Pretty

Just wanted to share a little watercolour owl I painted a little while ago to help lift my mood...it is the first owl I drew since my Hedwig-drawing-obsession back in the good ol' Harry Potter days of 2001 and 2002...I'll see if I can find any remnants of those drawings to show you sometime :)

Although the image makes it seem large, the owlette is only 2 inches in size, thus why there isn't as much detail as others illustrations i've posted :)

I think I might brings owls into my art-repertoire a bit more, as they are really cute, fun to illustrate and are a more grown-up and socially acceptable option if you are secretly obsessed with fairies ;D

Happy Hooting! :D

Choc-Banana Cheesecake Cupcakes

So I like seriously love chocolate. I can’t even deny it. If I can’t decide what I feel like baking, it usually ends up involving cocoa powder or a block of 70%...the other day was no exception.

I haven’t baked for ages, and for someone who used to do so minimum weekly, it’s rather shameful to admit my falling-out with the mix-master. But, in that time I have gotten surprisingly fitter, which is probably a tell-tale sign of my inability to stop at one piece/slice/square…

So I decided it was time to get my baking-on, admittedly ‘cus I had cravings, but I wanted to make something I haven’t made before…So I tried these, and it turned out that they tasted pretty awesome. So awesome, that I decided straight-away that I wanted to share the baking love (thus why the photos aren’t exactly artistic, as it was a spur of the moment decision!)

So enjoy some chocolate-baking-love today…it is lifting for both the spirit and the waistline!

Recipe lovingly adapted from Bakerella’s Black-Bottom Cupcakes.

Ingredients

Cheesecake Mixture

250g Light Cream Cheese (room temperature)

½ cup Sugar

1 Egg

½ cup Cream

100g 70% Chocolate (or chocolate chips)

Chocolate Mixture

1 ½ cups Plain Flour

1/3 cup Cocoa (unsweetened)

½ tsp Bicarbonate Soda

1 cup Brown Sugar

3 Medium Over-ripe Banana’s

1/3 cup Rice-Bran Oil

Method

Pre-heat fan-forced oven to 160°C. Line a 12-hole muffin tray with muffin-papers.

Cheesecake Mixture

Beat cream cheese until smooth.

Add sugar and beat until fluffy. Add egg and beat in well. Add cream, and beat in well.

Roughly chop chocolate, add to cheese mixture and mix well. Set aside.

Chocolate Mixture

Into a bowl sift in flour, cocoa and bi-carb. Add sugar and combine well.

Beat banana’s until smooth. Add flour mixture and mix on low, whilst adding the oil in a stream.

Once well combined, evenly spoon into muffin-papers and press to fill the bottom. 

Then top evenly with the cheesecake mixture.

Bake for 25 minutes, until cheesecake top is just set.

Notes

Will give a scrumptiously moist cupcake, cooking for longer will dry it out, so don't fear it being wobbly when you remove it from the oven :)

They taste great straight form the oven when the choc bits are all melty-gooey goodness, but equally delish straight from the fridge, no re-heating required! So you get the best of both worlds with these, a yummy fresh one now and a yummy cold one for later =D

Happy Baking :D

I Don't Do Mornings

This is for those of us who don't do Monday's, or mornings for that matter.

This is a watercolour and ink illustration I made upon setting out to try my own version of the gorgeous piece by Ewa Ludwiczak. I discovered her illustrations by chance, when conducting a random image search (for fairy-inspiration of course!). I'm so glad I did, as she is one of my favourite artist's! Ewa's work is so beautifully exquisite, and I admire her skill for intricate details, bold use of colour and cute imaginative characters :) See Ewa's website and facebook page, for many more amazing illustrations...

Illustration © 2011  Ewa Ludwiczak

Replicating works you love by other artists' is a great way to experiment with new skills and techniques  which are not a part of your repertoire! And because art is so one-of-a-kind, it's almost impossible to do an exact copy, as your own style reveals itself in all you do :)

Happy Illustrating :D

Glowing Tinkerbell

Here's a little more Tinkerbell, just because she is a fun character to illustrate, and a great way to experiment with poses and techniques without having to design something new also!

I had always wanted to create a night-time background, but with a glowing fairy...and I'm rather proud with this, my second attempt at the look (no-one is ever going to see the first, besides yours truly!).

It took absolutely ages to layer washes of watercolour to get the smooth graduation, but the result is worth it :) This piece also gave me confidence that I can draw a pose straight-away, without too much pre-planning, to just go for it! And see, the proportions aren't too bad for painting straight, with no pencil prep at all!

Happy illustrating to all my fairy-loving-folks =D

Tinkerbell

Just a quick mini-sized Tinkerbell watercolour and pencil illustration...'cus fairies make you happy, when you need cheering up or motivation :D

Happy Drawing :)

Alphabet Series - "G"

This is an illustration I gave my sister for her birthday...only 4 months later :P *artist's problems*

I took her love of africa and the letter of her first name as my starting point, and then I found a picture of a zebra-print shoe and knew I wanted to incorporate zebra-print into the dress somehow...I was surprised with how easily the design for this piece came to me, seeing as how with some which seem simpler take so much more planning!

I'm rather pleased with it, design-wise, there are flaws I see, but I didn't want to re-start it for a third time! And yes, painting the stripes did take as long as it looks! Hope you enjoy it :)

Happy Drawing :D

Halloween Haunt

Finally, my second party-theme post! I’ve had these photos since last October (when I threw the party), but I was good and waited to show them until the relevant planning time :)

This was such a fun theme to do, and I didn’t really spend much money, by using many bits and pieces I’ve collected over the years. So have fun with it, and use the Halloween season as a great excuse to throw a get-together with your friends!

Decorations

I went with a slightly glam look, using black, white, orange and silver, as the colour scheme. Here’s a list of what I used to create the look, but by using what you have access to, your party will be uniquely yours!

·      Various paper lanterns for roof (newspaper, tissue paper)

·      Branch (painted black) in vase with baubles

·      Cauldron (old cooking pot)

·      Antique looking cake stand

·      Antique teapot with black fake flowers

·      Mushroom, owl and hand ornaments

·      Different silver cutlery

·      Orange candle holders

·      Large fake spiders

·      Black and orange plates and napkins

·      Silver teacups and milk bottles with ribbon

·      Sweets displayed in jars – Liquorice, black jellybeans, caramel popcorn

Foods

Planning the food is lots of fun! Halloween is perfect to get creative with giving normal foods a whole other creepy interpretation :) Here’s what I served:

·      Eyeballs (meatballs) with Pumpkin sauce on Maggots (risoni pasta)

·      Witches brew (raspberry and lime punch)

·      Eyeball cookie-dough pops (coated in white choc, and smarties)

·      ‘Vampire bite’ red velvet cupcakes (poke holes, and drip jam for blood)

·      ‘Spiders’ (Chang’s egg noodles mixed into melted chocolate)

·      ‘Ghosties’ (Milk arrowroots with glaze icing, smarties and half jellybean)

Games and Activities

Last year, we just ended up dancing like crazy-dressed-up-people to really loud Halloween-themed tunes! But here are some other activities, if your not keen to jump around the room like a kid on cordial!  

·      Boo boxes (Bowls containing food items (spaghetti, gherkins, porridge etc), covered by a box with a hole just large enough for a hand, then watch your guests squirm whilst they guess what they are touching!)

·      Costume Competition

·      Cluedo Board Game

·      Spooky celebrity heads (Lady GaGa, Michael Jackson, Agent Kay etc)

Playlist

Definitely recommend a themed playlist, adds a nice element to the event.

·      Purple People Eater

·      Monster Mash

·      Disturbia

·      Thriller

·      Ghostbusters Theme

·      Sweet Transvestite

·      Wild Thing

·      Born This Way

·      Bad Romance

·      Time Warp

·      Toxic

·      Phantom Overture

·      Werewolves of London

·      Don’t Wanna Let You Go (5ive)

·      Poison (Grove Coverage)

   Happy Haunting! =O