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New Art - Toadstools

  • Aug. 17th, 2008 at 12:15 PM
melody, kirstinmills

This was a commissioned artwork for a fairy portrait I've been working on and finished a few days ago. I've got the all-clear to release it now, so here she is! A bit different for me with its detailed background but I had a lot of fun taking on that challenge and will definitely be exploring more down that track. This is all watercolour with a bit of ink. Prints will be available as of next month.

  • Mood: cheerful

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Update

  • Aug. 9th, 2008 at 2:36 PM
melody, kirstinmills
I've got so much on my plate at the moment and it's not leaving much time...actually any time...for art. I've had this sketch for a while now all ready to paint and just noooo time. Before I get around to it I have a commission painting to do plus loads of research for uni AND I have lots of things going on behind the scenes to do with my secret project. :D So this one may sit idly by for a bit longer. She's quite simply called "Frog Queen".
  • Mood: busy

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New Art - Bring Me Tidings

  • Jul. 18th, 2008 at 10:43 PM
melody, kirstinmills
This one's been drawn up and ready to go for a couple of weeks now...and the sketch, which randomly popped out of my pencil one day when I was trying to draw something else, has been around even longer. I've just had such a hard time juggling my PhD research with my painting time and it seems no matter what I do I feel guilty about not doing the other. It's stupid too because I really do have time for both...if only I'd stop wasting time in between worrying about which one to do first and procrastinating to avoid facing either! Anyway, this one just kind of evolved on its own as I painted and I can't remember any more if it's anything like I intended it to be. My brain is tired. :) And I had a HORRIBLE time trying to work out where to put the copyright mark...where ever I tried it seemed to ruin the picture.

Anyway, it's called "Bring me Tidings" and is watercolour and a bit of gouache on paper. Hope you like! :)

  • Mood: tired

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New Art - Dusk/Serenity

  • Jun. 13th, 2008 at 7:54 PM
melody, kirstinmills
My latest artwork and I have to say I'm quite pleased with this one! It just felt so natural the whole way through...the graphite seemed to flow from the pencils like paint and it practically drew itself! Such a beautiful experience to watch such a magical little creature come alive before my eyes!  I've called it "Dusk" provisionally for now. I may change it. I wanted something more to hint at the aura of enchantment, serenity and twilight in it. Any ideas?

  • Mood: calm

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New Art - Amethyst Awakening

  • May. 19th, 2008 at 9:52 PM
melody, kirstinmills
A fun new artwork that popped into my head. It occurred to me as I was doing it that for all the baby dragons I've drawn I haven't yet done a hatchling! So here it is. I had ALL kinds of trouble getting this from the original to the screen...my scanner practically inverted the colours and Photoshop just couldn't seem to fix it no matter what I did. I'm sill not 100% happy with it now. But Ohwell. Maybe I'll try again tomorrow.

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New Art - Morning Gossip

  • May. 1st, 2008 at 12:27 AM
melody, kirstinmills
I finished it! The image bounced into my head months ago while swimming in the lake at Ash's house...I drew it and laid down the background wash a week ago and only today and yesterday got round to painting the rest! It feels good to have it finished, and to have taken a bit more time than usual to paint...I feel I'm growing more respect for my artworks now :)

"Morning Gossip"

  • Mood: accomplished

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New Art - Little Witch ACEO

  • Apr. 21st, 2008 at 7:59 PM
melody, kirstinmills
Tonight I came across a forgotten inked but unpainted ACEO that I did at the same time as my last one. So because I had my paints out from the other painting I'm doing, I thought I'd give her some colour and life! Then I went and screwed her up by going over the ink again which made her lose her delicate appearance. Ohwell. At least it's only 3 1/2 inches big. For some reason the paper I used scans HORRIBLY...I've found this out before with another drawing I did...it makes it look like a bad kid's colouring-in page when actually the original looks quite sweet. Anyway...I'm off for dinner so here she is:

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New Art - Sylphia Fairy Sketch

  • Apr. 14th, 2008 at 8:27 PM
melody, kirstinmills
Last night I suddenly had the urge to sketch so I grabbed a nearby sheet of parchment paper and roughed out this fairy...the same fairy, "Sylphia" that I painted last year in watercolour. Then tonight I decided to dress it up digitally to make it a bit more interesting, hence the darker edges and the lace :) Oh procrastination...what would I do without you? Oh yeah...my work. Back to the reading...

  • Mood: blah

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New Art - My first ever ACEO!

  • Mar. 31st, 2008 at 8:34 PM
melody, kirstinmills
So I'm still tackling that commission I posted about a couple of days ago...or was it yesterday? Feels like ages ago...because for some reason (and I think it helps getting your priorities straight by having the most beautiful, wonderful, kind and caring boy in the world to love!) things just started going right and I had one of the best days in a long time yesterday. I got so much done on the commission that it's at a stage where I feel happy with it enough to feel justified in continuing to work on it! And all with a song in my heart! haha In between stages of working on it I did a tiny little drawing just to rekindle my creative fire...I had been wanting to do another mermaid artwork for so long now! And this is my FIRST EVER ACEO! I'm quite excited and have found I quite like the idea of tiny little original artworks! Except obviously the printing limitations if I happen to really like the image! Anyway, this one was super fun and used my favourite medium...ink! :)

  • Mood: cheerful

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New Art - Quink, the Ink Fairy

  • Feb. 21st, 2008 at 7:37 PM
melody, kirstinmills
Another one! Very fun to do! This may be the last one I get to do for a while...I think I've reached the end of my art run! Not because I'm sick of it or out of ideas but because I start Uni tomorrow! AAH! Should be fun...first day is just an all day commencement program to see what it's like being a Higher Degree Research student. Then it's the weekend again. haha. I'd do more of my own work but I've got a commissioned piece to do by Saturday afternoon, which I only get the reference for tonight. So we'll see. :)

Anyway...to this piece!
Description: "Quink is a fairy who will offer to scribe at any meeting or gathering of the faeries. He loves an inky mess and can't help but splash ink all over the place. If he scribes for you, be careful to read what he writes closely, for he always enjoys twisting people's words and telling things not quite as they seemed."

I painted Quink in watercolours, ink, tea and coloured pencil and made rather a mess myself while doing it! :) Hope you enjoy.

  • Mood: creative

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New Art - Butterfly Magic

  • Feb. 20th, 2008 at 9:59 PM
melody, kirstinmills
Yay! I finished this graphite piece just now and I think it's one of the most beautiful and detailed graphite pieces I've ever done! And I think it's because I didn't rush it all in one day! I've just done bits and pieces as I've felt like it over the last few days and it's been such an enjoyable process! Very rewarding! She's called Butterfly Magic...



It was sooo hard trying to find a place for the copyright crap...I hate doing this to my images! :)
  • Mood: accomplished

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New Art - Lost in Memories

  • Feb. 13th, 2008 at 1:13 PM
melody, kirstinmills
 Wow, I'm painting up a storm lately! I love it! Not having to work for a while helps a lot! :) This new one is more of the same medium(s) that I've been using lately and just LOVE for how expressive they feel! And I'm drawing the initial sketch straight onto the paper instead of tracing a good outline on later, which feels so much more organic and whole - having it all, all the work and emotions and energy, down in the one piece of paper! Anyway, this new one is called "Lost in Memories" (she was hard to pin down and get to tell me her name!) I describe her as so:

"In the half light between worlds, this fairy exists, lost in a dream of memories past. Suspended in nostalgic longing, she whiles the hours away."



Hope you like her! :)

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New Art - Psyche/Mariposa/Farfalla (?)

  • Feb. 11th, 2008 at 11:22 PM
melody, kirstinmills
I've just finished this new painting that I've had lurking in my mind for a while and I'm stuck on what to call her! It wasn't intended to be Psyche, but then she is associated with the butterfly and also with the soul, which I thought was rather poetic. Other possible names revolve around various words for "butterfly" : I loved these ones... "Mariposa" (Spanish) and "Farfalla" (Italian). What do you think? I also found out that apparently in Russian folklore, butterflies were thought to be witches in disguise, which is kinda cool! Anyway, here she is....

  • Mood: chipper

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New Art - Tranquility

  • Feb. 8th, 2008 at 10:24 PM
melody, kirstinmills
So here it is...all finished. I scanned it in and stitched the pieces together (it's a lovely big A3 size) and then it finally let me know what it needed to be finished so I had to add to it, re-scan and re-stitch! But here it is all done...I've had such images in my head for ages now, there's a whole lot of them. Inspired largely by the popular contemporary style that's around so much now...I thought I'd bring a bit of that to the land of faery! It also hearkens back to a style of drawing I used to do a lot when I was younger, so it was lovely to turn to it again now, and with considerably better art skills! :) Mixed media on paper, it's called "Tranquility".

  • Mood: calm

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New Painting - Catnap

  • Jan. 30th, 2008 at 5:41 PM
melody, kirstinmills
Yesterday I had a day off work and went to the local art stores for fun (it's sooo fun!) and got a cute little Windsor and Newton Watercolour Sketcher's Pocket Box! heehee Among other things such as a few small 8x5" watercolour pads. And when I got home, even though it was quite late and getting dark outside I just had to try them out! So we have here a rather spontaneous image...I'm not sure where it came from...it looks a bit like my cat Cheroke and also reminds me of my Grandparents' old cat Ginger-Megs. Anyway, its appropriately called "Catnap" -
  • Mood: busy

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New Art - Twilight

  • Jan. 2nd, 2008 at 2:24 PM
melody, kirstinmills

My first artwork for the year! Actually, it was started on the 31st of December and finished the next day so it's a cross-over between 07 and 08! Which is rather appropriate considering the subject...

(cross-posted from DA) "In the place between worlds, through the enchantment of twilight, fairy folk gather and whisper their secrets. This artwork was created in the twilight, or in-between time, between the years 2007 and 2008. The silhouette was created in traditional media with pen and ink on paper. The colouring was painted digitally with Photoshop."



Hope you like it! :) It's my first actual attempt at a serious artwork in the digital medium. I think it helps that I didn't have to do too much detail in this one (for the digital part anyway). Turns out swishy backgrounds are lots of fun! :)

  • Mood: content

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New Art- Dragon Daughter

  • Nov. 29th, 2007 at 11:26 PM
melody, kirstinmills
A new one! It was a bit rushed and so doesn't look as polished as I'd like...I really must learn to slooow down...but the muse just keeps kicking me onwards! The image had been in my head for ages waiting for the right moment to come out...and then today it suddenly hit and a few hours later I was looking at this picture where it had previously been a mere blank page. :)

The runic inscription reads "Dragon Daughter: Princess of the Deep Magic". It's graphite on paper (I'd also been hankering for some more graphite work)

  • Mood: artistic

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New Art- The Seeker

  • Nov. 16th, 2007 at 11:15 PM
melody, kirstinmills
So, I went out to dinner last night, it was reeeeally beautiful, as was today...after working all day with Ash and the animals (I work part-time at a pet boarding place) we rode back to his place on his bike for a swim in the lake (it was sooo gorgeously refreshing! Such a beautiful temperature!) and then I came home to find my grandparents over for a visit (I loooove my grandparents...they are such awesome people!) and THEN...I finished the painting I started yesterday and most importantly...DIDN'T STUFF IT UP!!! I'm quite proud of my efforts with this. Of course there are always the bits I would fix if I could and others I hope to improve upon in the future, but as it stands in the history of my fantasy art so far I'm pretty happy! :) It even has a verse that was a last minute inspiration as I was uploading it to Deviant Art! :) ....Da da da DA!!!....I give you..."The Seeker"

"Standing high on a craggy peak,
the lands stretched out below,
the Western Winds pick up her hair,
forging the way to go.
For thither she seeks a path to tread,
by the moon that rises high:
The Seeker, she's called, and seek she does,
though it is untold why."

  • Mood: bouncy

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New Art and Website Makeover

  • Nov. 8th, 2007 at 3:12 PM
melody, kirstinmills
So! I have a couple of new artworks to show, done today on my first day off work in ages. Charcoal and chalk, quick, easy and very fun! The first, a Queen of Faeries is Mahlia, which means "Queen" in Swahili. The second is a portrait of a friend of mine called Lucas. Hope you enjoy!



In other news, my main website kirstinmills.com has undergone a massive makeover...still a couple of glitches to iron out (I think just the medium pages) but it's done! Any suggestions, opinions or things you see that need fixing/improving/changing, then please send them my way! The artworks above won't be included yet...they'll have to wait until next month :)

Magic blessings to all,
Kirstin
  • Mood: content

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Happy Halloween!!!

  • Oct. 31st, 2007 at 11:07 PM
melody, kirstinmills

"Trick or Treat" ...I had intended to get this done much earlier but as usual things got in the way and took longer than expected! But at least it's ready by tonight...with 49 minutes to go until the witching hour on All Hallows Eve! It would have felt useless putting it up tomorrow! :P

Acrylics on paper...first time I've done that. It was weird at first but I got used to it and then quite enjoyed it! I might use it more in the future! This one was quite rushed though. I just couldn't let it go unfinished on Halloween!

  • Mood: happy

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