Art by Jenny, Artist and Graphic Designer - Design, Illustration and Publishing Services plus Art Workshops

A post all about me... Jenny James aka Art by Jenny. Its been a while since I wrote in my blog, since Easter in fact, but with time flying past so fast and so many things I want to get done each and every day, I kept putting off the blog (I've a folder on the desktop with loads of examples and notes) until I had more time. But time is something I need to learn to manage, not wait until it stretches into more time or go slower.

So...

To start off my blogging momentum (again), I thought I'd start with who I am and what I do. While chatting with friends I've found that what I do confuses people, so here it is, clear as mud!!!

Its that fairy illustration again! I know, I keep posting her everywhere, but she's gorgeous! I'm so happy with how she turned out. This fairy was digitally hand painted using Adobe Photoshop. I love how her wings turned out... and the butterflies, hair and flying teddy! Visit www.redbubble.com/people/georgiegirl to see the whole painting.

'Art by Jenny' is here for all your graphic design, publishing and illustration solutions ... local and worldwide!

- Illustration and design
- Business and personal stationery
- Publishing services (books and ebooks - cover design, book layout, whole book design, publishing)
- Logos (get your business image looking professional)
- Business cards (these should be handed out to anyone and everyone like lollies or sweets)
- Websites (design, development, management, or just help whenever you need it)
- Wedding invitations (designed or handmade, also birthdays, engagement and any other occasion)
- Oracle or tarot card design
- Newsletters (need help with Mailchimp? call me!)
... there's lots of other stuff too, but these are what I like to design :)

My website and portfolio - www.artbyjenny.com.au - designed and developed by me! I'm happy with it and hope you like it too. On my todo list is to redesign it to be more mobile friendly and not so green... if you have any ideas on what you'd like to see stay or go, feel free to give feedback.

As an accomplished artist, I also love to share art and craft techniques with everyone and anyone... so an afternoon every Saturday has been dedicated to 'Something on Saturday', whether its Me, Myself and I or a group of friends... its a day of art.

"Something on Saturday" - workshops all about Art

Book today so you don't miss out!!!

Something on Saturday is an Art Workshop held in the Art by Jenny Studio at Christie Downs. Every Saturday at 1pm. My workshops are fun, relaxing and inspiring... with no more than 6 in a class.

Hello! This is me, Jenny. Here I am at a mosaic workshop taught by my bestie Donna. We had such a fantastic day breaking tiles, making a mess and creating a beautiful stepping stone.

For only $60 you discover new skills and have fun in a relaxed, welcoming atmosphere (max 6). Don't bring a thing (unless you have fave tools you want to bring) - just come along and have fun!

Workshop info - www.shop.artbyjenny.com.au/pages/whats-on-in-the-artbyjenny-studio

- Mixed media
- Art journaling
- Rubber stamp making
- Using stamps with watercolours, inks, acrylic paint
- Stencil making
- Using stencils
- Watercolour pencil techniques (Derwent Inktense)
- Drawing, tangling (just for fun)
- Colouring with Copics (techniques and tips)
- Painting (watercolour, acrylic, folk art)
- Gelli Arts mono printing
- Tim Holtz craft techniques
- Off-the-Page craft projects
- Sculpture with Fimo and other clays
- Cardmaking (postcards, greeting cards)
- Scrapbooking
- Papercraft flowers

Arty Tuesdays are a day of creative freedom - you are welcome to pop over and have tea, coffee, lunch and/or a chat! Or not :D Its up to you. I do recommend you msg me before you arrive, you don't want to see me with Mad Hatter hair!!! Its frightful :D lol

Where to find me online

I can be found many places in our virtual universe... if you see my Georgiegirl cow on her new purple background, you've found me. The following are my main places...

REDBUBBLE ... Check out my online art gallery and shop - www.redbubble.com/people/georgiegirl. My artwork is sold worldwide!

There is a wide variety of artwork and photography at Redbubble... so many clever and talented people all in one place. Redbubble organises the fabulous, high quality products for us so we don't need to worry about anything except creating art or taking photos. There are many amazing writers (authors and poets) floating about RB too, so check them out. There's something for everyone!

MY ONLINE SHOP ... hosted by Shopify (they do a great job with the SSL, encryption data and other high tech stuff that creates the little padlocks and keeps all our private data safe).
I've also got an Etsy shop... it echoes abit at the moment from lack of goods but stay tuned for its virtual shelves to have amazing handcrafted artworks and wooden creations.

The link to my online shop is - www.shop.artbyjenny.com.au

At the moment, there is a boutique sized collection of art supplies and craft products... including Darkroom Door stamps, Distress Inks, Graphic 45 papers (some) and a collection of Readymade (Pre Designed) Logos.
Soon to be added are quality artist paints, brushes and supplies by Liquitex, Windsor and Newton, Reeves and Jasart and lots of other awesome arty goodness. Plus more products from Tim Holtz, Ranger, Dina Wakely, Dylusions' new colours and so much more.

I've got so many ideas and things make (and then add to the shop) - original artwork, handcrafted rubber stamps, stencils and more artwork plus Wood'n Marbles has delivered a huge stash of his gorgeous wooden creations... fairy steps, nursery rhyme plaques and an amazing sailing ship.

FACEBOOK ... www.facebook.com/ArtbyJenny.GGofRB. Feel free to 'like' my page and share with your friends (thank you!).

PINTEREST ... pinterest.com/georgiegirlofrb/ a place to share and find inspiration for life, art and everything inbetween.

So I don't do much really, do I? Could be why I seem to keep running out of time each day! lol But I live in the slow lane and eventually I want to do will get done... and my dream art shop and gallery by the seaside is getting closer every day.

Happy creative day!!!
:)
Jenny

Everything Artzy

How Artzy Partzy Came into Being

by Anne van Alkemade

Everything arty weaves through my daily life. It’s the way my brain works, I’ve come to realize, and I’m sure I’ve written before about how odd I feel in general company and embracing this odd thing as that which makes me sort of ‘ME’. 

Finding my niche

This self knowledge hasn’t always been a part of my life and for a long time it lived in a dusty cupboard in my brain while I tried to fit in. For many years I worked in corporate life, unquestioning the drive for promotion and more money and yes, I admit it, status. But I was always the one who could not turn off the personality and often I was accused of being unprofessional because I was too emotional. This failure always hurt. Now I know it is not a failing but part of who I am.

So, how did I ‘come out of the closet?’ What has made it all okay to be me and to start accepting the title of ‘artist’? And what the devil is “Artzy Partzy”?

First thing’s first, I guess.

A kid’s approach is relevant universally

It is often spoken off in artzy social media about how wonderful children’s art is because it is uncompromising, free spirited, and unhindered by criticism. For many years, in my creative writing tutorials, I have urged students to believe that ‘everyone can write’. 

Set your inner artist free with the simplicity of finger painting.

Everyone can be creative. But as adults too often we aren’t. The reason I believe is because as we grow up, we have unrealistic expectations that whatever we will do will succeed. If we don’t achieve perfection immediately we stop trying. Yes, everyone can create, but some are “better” than others. The critic steps in and tells us we will never be good enough; it puts a dollar value on our creativity and tells us to get a ‘proper’ job.

A consequence is we forget how much fun it can be just to try, to enjoy the process and the discovery of technique.

Reconnecting with Arty Me

I was reunited with all of this after my daughter was born and when she first started to express herself artistically.  One of the most unexpected surprises to me when becoming a parent was how dramatically my perspective of the world changed. I looked at my immediate environment in new ways because I had to try to see it through her eyes.

When Robyn picked up pencils and chalks to draw, I would sit with her and draw too. It was (and is) a most bonding and enjoyable experience. As the years rolled by we became more creative together; drawing what we saw and what we imagined, doing huge canvases together, painting on the old shed wall, and covering the driveway in chalk stories.

Vincent van ScareCrogh

My daughter’s hunger for paper and highlighters/permanent markers is insatiable, but that’s 
another story.

My realization through all of this is that we were able to form a special connection by working together and it made me start to think about the wider landscape. Although not together, Robyn’s dad and I get along quite well. He indulges the light of his life (sometimes ... well … again another story) but one of the things I love is that he will help her build houses out of cardboard boxes (thank you Aldi for the many times I have walked out of the store with 3-5 grocery items and a trolley full of empty boxes).

Cardboard boxes have many uses - they're not just for packing!

He will work with her to build a garden, and take her shopping for items in a recipe. Perhaps he feels that creative connection too although he would deny vehemently that he has a single creative bone in his body. I wondered who else feels that way about themselves.

One of the regular art projects my daughter and I have done for years now is making plaster shapes with silicon cake moulds and then painting them. I think I stumbled across this idea because as a kid I had a plaster moulding kit – a rooster and a lion, I seem to recall – which I loved, and I thought she would love doing this too. She did and does!

Uppermost in my mind throughout has been that feeling of ‘connection’.

New people

Robyn and I accumulated a fair few moulds over the next couple of years and of course my garden and house is littered with art projects, reams of drawings, painted and half painted bits of plaster everywhere.

Then in April I met my new neighbours. I was invited to sit around a fire brazier in their backyard one cold Friday night for a drink or two and friendly chat. Don’t you just know that’s when you relax enough to talk about those old ideas floating around in your head? I talked with Stacey about my idea to start a business that connects people through art and we chatted about the plasters Robyn and I made from time to time.

It’s times like those you know it’s never enough just to have an idea, but that you also need the belief and enthusiasm to make them happen. Artists often wrestle with self-doubt. I am no exception. It can be crippling. Stacey has heaps of enthusiasm and belief. Together we became a team and we established Artzy Partzy earlier this year.

What is Artzy Partzy?

Initially, our little partnership is focused on founding the business. Our prime aim is to market plaster painting parties. To this end we have been selling moulded plaster shapes to get establishment funds. There has been a list of things like registering a business name, partnership, getting public liability insurance, purchasing equipment, tables, paints, chairs, smocks and all sorts of consumables – all of the equipment we need to achieve our aims.

Just one of the many kits available.
Perfect gifts for all ages - Christmas or birthdays!

At the moment our Mission is to market the business. But our Vision is to connect people, all people of all ages, by getting them inspired to try. Plaster is our starter, but we have plans on the books to introduce other art forms in formats other than parties. We’re only six months down the track and the going has seemed slow at times, but that Vision is unshakeable and we both believe there is an Artzy place in the world where people can connect.

Like Artzy Partzy on Facebook

To keep up to date with Artzy Partzy, find out more about this fun, creative business or to book an event - visit their Facebook page at www.facebook.com/ArtzyPartzy.

Useful Apps for Gadgets

Hello everyone :)

I think there are a fair few of us that have smart phones and tablets that do everything but the housework or wash the dishes... but then again, there's sure to be an app for those! Eventually!!!

I have a few faves... no, I don't just use games. I have a bucketful of useful apps (or applications) that are often found in those other categories. You've seen them - productivity, utilities and photo/video, and many more. 

There's even one called catalogues! I don't imagine that its productive for business but it sounds useful if you like shopping!

I have noticed though, that some of the so called time-saving productive apps take more time to use than it would if you just had a notebook! 

In case you've forgotten, a notebook is a book (actual paper bound together, usually with a cover) that can go anywhere and be used for nearly anything... drawing, writing, scribbling ideas, inventions, chatting (writing messages), games (noughts n crosses, dots, hangman), paper planes, scrapbooking and much more. And its eco friendly, battery free and wireless! 

hee hee All paper addicts will understand what I'm saying... if you don't get it, just pretend you didn't see it. As the penguins (Madagascar) would have said, with their wings/arms swirling about... "there 's nothing to see here!"

A few of the apps I've found useful are iBooks (great for storing and reading pdfs), Blogger (to write this post), Facebook Pages (its good because you can just update your page without distraction), Mailchimp (campaign/subs reports), Mailchimp Editor, Awesome Note, Mail, Music, Shopify, Paypal, eBay, Seek and Linkedin... just a few regulars!

There are so many more apps that we all find useful for every day. Most of the ones I have seem to make the time go too fast... they're still useful though :) They're mainly for drawing, painting, Facebook, Pinterest, photo editing, Safari, Project Life and other apps for "must do every day things". 

There are literally millions of apps out there, for both Apple and Android. While there are those that are a bit tacky, there are bound to be even more amazing apps that would be not just fun to use, but would save time as well... meaning more time for drawing and games!

I haven't created an app (yet) and don't get anything from mentioning any here. I am just sharing my thoughts on the apps that I use.

Have fun discovering new apps and or ways to save time and or be productive. Any tips on saving time that you have would be truly appreciated.

Happy Creative Day!

:)

Jenny

Advertising Tips

Advertisements chew up alot of our marketing dollars, so you really need to ensure they're designed for impact. 

Word of mouth is the best form of advertising and is also the cheapest, but sometimes we need to give our businesses a bit of a boost. 

Before designing your advertising campaign, you need to find the ideal space to display them... preferably a place where your potential clients will see them.

But some places like radio don't need it to look pretty, they just need good clear content.

Newspaper classifieds and similar styles of advertising only need short phrases (as they're under set headings and categiries), but when you want to get noticed in glossy magazines, websites and television its best to have a good looking and informative advert.

An advert I designed for my Redbubble shop

To work out where to advertise, think about where you usually look for the businesses you shop with. Whether its Facebook, magazines or radio, there will be an ideal space that suits both you and your customers. 

For instance, its best not place an advert for swimwear in a skiing magazine. Although the ski resorts have pools and spas, the majority of readers for those magazines will be looking for warm woolly clothing and ski boots, not bathers and thongs!

If you need help designing an advertising campaign or would like to brainstorm ideas, get in contact. Often the best ideas come from talking outloud to someone else.

Happy Creative Day!

:)

Jenny