Back to origins and start with originals

In the last few weeks my little shop on Etsy has changed quite a lot, having eliminated the bilingual animal alphabet and the various fox prints. Now the shop mainly features small original artworks, in limited edition, expressing more myself and the place I come from.

I would like to share the reasons for this...

Why new subjects...
I wanted to go back to the aim I originally set when opening the Etsy shop, years ago. As I stated in my profile, "Isle of Ainlis" refers to the island I come from - big source of inspiration for me - as well as the interior world of my creativity. But then Etsy was a big playground, where it was too easy to be influenced by the work and the subjects of other amazing artists...! I feel that now it's time to go back to where I started and I have so many illustration subjects in my mind that it will take a while to express them all... No rush, one step at a time.

Why original artwork...
Because...I love drawing and painting!
Having a day job,  I can dedicate only a  small amount of my time for producing and selling artwork on Etsy and I would like this amount of time to be dedicated almost entirely to the process of drawing and painting, handling and having fun with artist materials, rather than juggling digital prints and mounting them on wood...with results that sometimes disappoint me.
Also, I love the idea of people having a real handmade work that comes directly from my drawing table, enjoying the original colours of the watercolours and the glimmers of the gold ink.
So I will try to strike a balance between something that I can reproduce a limited number of times and at the same time is small and affordable.

I hope that the people who favourited my "old shop" will not be disappointed and that they will be ready to enjoy the new artwork as much as I enjoyed making it!

New botanical illustrations with watercolour and gold ink

Lisbon legend

I'm involved in a cultural project that gave me occasion to travel to quite a few places in Europe this year, attending a lot of storytelling events.
Some stories have a strong visual content and I can actually see specific images.
Listening to the legend of Lisbon - with its hills and its springs - while actually walking through the beautiful district of Alfama was truly great. And it definitely left a trace.
So I finally sat at my desk and tried to give shape and colour to what I had in mind.

The legend tells about a place inhabited by giant snake women who didn't allow anybody to be in their land, especially men. Then one day Ulysses arrived, the queen of the snakes fell in love with him, they lived together and loved each other for long, but then the longing for another dearest land called Ulysses and....

I had fun using mixed media - inks, watercolours and golden/copper leaf - having in mind Alfama, its overwhelming white, its light, its cobblestones and the deep green of some window panes and doors - which makes me think about Arabian nights. Well, the place it's actually more colourful that this...but this is imagination..

Autumn

Autumn has definitely started with its beautiful colours and its chilly breeze. Well, at least here in Scotland...still very different issue in the Mediterranean!
Pottery classes have also started and I look forward to get my hands on clay and make new things.
Here are some items I made with the throw some time ago - plus a little tile dedicated to the pomegranate, one of the most beautiful Autumn fruits.

Chickpeas and Rosemary

I'm working on some new ideas, which I would like to develop soon, slowly but steadily. 

Playing with pottery and illustration here are some small results, dedicated to two very common plants which are also the basic ingredients of a very popular italian recipe: pasta e ceci. 

Recipe to be shared soon :-)

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Candleholder fish

Here is my first object using the pinch pot technique.

ABC Animals - X-Ray fish...Pesce cardellino

The word X-Ray fish may recall the image of some terrifying creature living in the darkness of the abysses. It's actually a tiny fellow living in the Amazon and having the characteristic of being a little bit transparent...to the point that you can see through it.
In Italian its nickname is Pesce Cardellino, as its colours recall those of the Goldfinch.

ABC Animals - Frogs and Toads

The frog prince meets the golden toad...
One is not a real frog, the other one is a real toad...but it sadly looks like it's now extinct.

We all grew up knowing that the frog prince regained its human shape after being kissed by a lovely princess. But in the original version of the story - as collected by the Grimm brothers - the frog becomes a prince after being thrown against a wall by a princess who was loathing it.

When it meets the golden toad maybe a new story could start?