Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Writing for Writing's Sake




I can’t remember how or why I begun writing but I have enjoyed it ever since i started!
It was in 2007 I had my first poem published in an online magazine called SHINE then only a month later another piece was accepted to be published in Contemporary Rhyme’s e-journal!

This was very exciting and extremly encouraging! - To this day, I still have every one of my acceptance letters! (I even kept a couple of the cheques! I properly should have banked these!)

I continued writing for a long time and the more I wrote the more I enjoyed it!
Between 2007-2011 I ended up with a fair few pieces being accepted for publication, in e-zines and online journals such as Blackmail Press, Mouth Full of Bullets, Abyss & Apex and Eclecticism E-zine along with several pieces published in print.





10 years + later and I still love to write!
I have learnt a lot about writing and publishing over the last few years and maybe one day i will use what i have learnt and pursue this hobby further, but for now, I am happy to continue creating stories and writing for the simple joy of it!


Friday, July 15, 2016

Happy Birthday ME!


I had a WONDERFUL Birthday Yesterday!
My day was filled with great company and a delicious dinner (cooked by my mum) who can complain about having dinner cooked for them by a professional chef!
Loads of Birthday Wishes and cards from loved ones -including a lovely handmade Birthday card from my In-laws!



And, though not the most important thing, awesome gifts!!! One of my FAVORITE gifts sent to me by my Brother In-law were chosen especially for me by my super cute Nephews - A Light up Butterfly Ball and Barrel of Bright Pink Slime - exactly what i wanted!!!
What more could a girl ask for!!!




Tuesday, July 5, 2016

Mouse House Illustration!


A few posts back i Introduced The Mouse Family! Today i thought I'd share the drawing i created of their little house!
(Stay tuned for more Mouse Family illustrations coming soon!)





Tuesday, June 28, 2016

Handmade - Book Box

Tomorrow is my Mother In-Laws birthday and i thought I'd make her something special...






I made her a book box! In this little collection i have included a hard cover copy of her story "The Boasting Bull", which she wrote for her grandsons. I did the Illustrations for her and we only recently finished the final edits and have had it printed into a book! It was heaps of fun to work on!
The Book Box also includes my own Book which i wrote and illustrated myself and my husbands (her sons) book! Which he created and wrote and I did the pictures for.
I think she will love it!


Sunday, June 19, 2016

Introducing: The Mouse Family!


Previously i posted about Creating Characters and shared two of the Illustrations i have created so far - The Boasting Bull & The Abominable Bat.
Today i am here to share my most recent Illustrations/Characters which i am currently working on for a story my Mother In-Law Wrote and I must say I am enjoying this quite a bit!




I am hand drawing everything (as usual) and have then scanned them into Corel and we will see where I go from there... this is still very much a Work in Progress!
(Keep an eye out for further developments!)


Monday, June 13, 2016

A day out and about...


Sometimes my partner and I may only see each other two or three times during a week due to work.
I work 8.30am til 3.30pm-ish and when he does night shift he starts at 4pm. Some Weeks we will see each other Tuesday evening then not again until the weekend.
Last week was one of those weeks.
So come the weekend we decided to have had a 'Date Day'! We both had Saturday off which is RARE so we planned to spend the day together out and about. That morning we found out The Hot Rod show was on so we went for a look...



We took the camera and Phil got some great shots! (above)
I was impressed with the amount of cars on show to be honest, Blenheim is quite small and usually so are the events! It was a AWESOME display!
Afterwards we headed into town and wandered about then decided to head over to the Saturday Market and have a browse. There was heaps to look at but no 'treasures' to be found that day.
We ended our 'Date Day' with hot chips and milkshakes... a Delicious end to a great day out!


Friday, June 3, 2016

Introducing: The Abominable Bat!


Perviously i posted about Creating Characters so thought i would post my Abominable Bat Illustration!
I originally created a version of this little guy as part of a project for one of our Nephews.




I have since done some work on him, upgraded him slightly and re-creating him in Corel (still learning about digital illustrations etc) and i think he is one of the best Characters I have created so far!
I have an idea for a story featuring this fluffy fellow and if i get time i may work on it so keep an eye out for future updates!



Saturday, May 28, 2016

Treasure Hunting!


This morning was a very wet, rainy Saturday morning... perfect weather for garage sales and op shopping! (Perfect weather generally in my opinion!)
We spent the morning out with Friends exploring the second hand stores and rummaging through the local garage sales. It really is a little like Treasure hunting (minus the gold) but we hunt for other trinkets and knick knacks which are treasures to us in there own way. There is HEAPS to find, from the weird to collectable to just plan creepy...


Recently the Mr came across two old nurses chairs (CREEPY things they are) which he brought and added to his "movie prop" collection!
This time around though, alas, we didn't find any treasures but we had a great morning out non the less and who knows what we might find next time!


Friday, May 13, 2016

Creating Characters


Recently i posted about creating a book with my Mother-Inlaw.
I will soon be working on illustrations for her next story so I was having a look though the previous one and pondering how i was going to go about Illustrating the next one. I feel I am still 'finding my style' when it comes to creating illustrations like these.


The first book i ever made, which I created/illustrated and wrote myself - for my own personal joy - was hand painted. I sketched out and painted each illustration onto canvas.
This took ALONG time but it was a personal goal so I had no time restraints and i am extremely proud of how it turned out, and the fact i actually completed it!
My Mother-Inlaws book is the second real story I've illustrated, which i created by sketching out all the characters then re-doing them all and colouring them in corel (image above shows 'character work') which was a fun change and a new challenge!
So here i am wondering how I will create the next lot of Characters and if the next style will finally be the style i stick with?!


Sunday, May 1, 2016

Fairytales and Whimsy!


I thought I'd spend the weekend gathering inspiration for my 2 new Fairy-tale artworks i am hoping to start painting in the next few days.
I'm not really one to go looking for inspiration, i usually wait til it finds me but i thought I'd take the Camera and go see what i could find. While on my walk I found myself near Mums house so stopped in for a coffee. Her house is full of rustic creations and creative ideas and that's where i snapped this shot!...


We decided to take a walk over to Pollard Park, which is only a few hundred meters from her house.
Being Autumn here the entire park is covered in golds and reds, it was beautiful!
On our way home we saw a patch of garden with several different kinds of Mushrooms growing... Another whimsical Snap! A great day full of inspirations!



Tuesday, April 26, 2016

Old Movies


Who doesn't love a long weekend... three days off work - with pay!
Every now and then our local cinema has a special screening of something 'rare' and if your lucky enough to find out about it (somewhat lacking in advertising in our town) it can be a more novel kind of movie experience.

Yesterday we went and saw the Original, Black and White 1933 King Kong Movie with our Friends Shane at Lisa and it was AWESOME!
It was really neat to watch an old black and white film on the big screen, and extra great that it was one of the most classic movies of all time!I enjoyed it A LOT more then i had anticipated and will be keeping an eye out for the next 'special screening' of whatever comes our way!




Friday, April 15, 2016

Story Time- The Boasting Bull


Although i enjoy all things creative my passion is for Painting-Drawing-Illustrating etc !
I recently, and FINALLY, finished working on Illustrating a story for my now Mother In-Law which she wrote to read to her grandchildren.
We have had it printed and made into a book and we are both really happy with how it has turned out. Her story is great with a good little moral to it and I'm thrilled she likes the Illustrations!


Now that my Partner and I  are married and all the wedding prep and organization is over I will have a lot more time for other projects, time for completing older projects and taking on new ones!

I enjoyed working on my Mother In-Laws story and we have decided to put a few of her other tales together and create some more books for her grandchildren! I can't wait to see what story my Mother In-Law will send me next to work on!




Sunday, April 10, 2016

My Motivational Team!



I have officially been Mrs Mckinnon for One Month today!
My Husband is a driving force and major motivation behind my creativity. He helps me break out when I'm feeling creatively stuck or in an 'artistic drought'. He supports and encourages me and is constantly inspiring new ideas.
He is also rather artful himself! Dabbling in a few different creative things from Film Making to creating Handmade, Up-cycled (AWESOME) furniture!
We also have two little 'helpers' who enjoy being part of our creative processes... though not ALWAYS helpful, they are always welcome to 'join in'.



Sunday, April 3, 2016

A Creative Space


Although my primary focus is to get back into creating more of my ArtofAmy illustrations sometimes i need to take a break from them, or get stuck in a creative rut, but that doesn't mean putting a halt on the creativity all together, it just means a change of 'scenery' - that's where this blog comes in.
I pretty much love anything and all things creative - from writing to sewing, painting to crafting - I often have several projects on the go at once so this will be my creative space, a place to share my projects and unleash my imagination...