Author: staceygrovecreative

Wow! Where has the time gone? Typing a blog post now feels further away from normality than it ever did before. I took on another fantastic job role back in February artworking for the RNLI so the time (plus energy!) I have to paint is slim to none these days. That doesn’t stop the inspiration from bubbling up inside me like a witches pot though (see what I did there given the time of writing?) so I still managed to find some hours to create my colourful friends for you all (albeit not as many as before #busymumma).

Even though I have taken on more work, I have also committed to exhibiting my colourful animals more than the usual once this year. “Great!” I hear you shout from the distance. “But where?” comes the following cry. Well lovely people I shall tell you now…

Kingston Maurward Christmas Craft & Gourmet Food Fair
Kingston Maurward, Dorchester
9th and 10th November 2019
10am – 5pm
(Don’t mistake this one for the Macmillan Christmas Craft Fair happening the following weekend)

Canford School Christmas Craft & Gourmet Food Fair
Canford School, Canford Magna, Wimbourne
23rd and 24th November 2019
10am – 5pm
(Another stunning venue that I had the pleasure of exhibiting at in the summer)

RNLI Christmas Craft Fair
RNLI College, Poole, Dorset
Sunday 8th December
11am – 4pm
(naturally couldn’t say no to this one and i’ve heard it’s a cracker of a day! Santa arrives on a lifeboat, what more could you want?! Oh and mince pies and the RNLI Choir and ME! #winning)

I had to make sure I have something new to add to the collection for Christmas this year so hold on to your feathers… please welcome ‘Blue Flash the Kingfisher’ and ‘Delilah the Emu’. The ‘Blue Flash’ original is up for grabs (please message me directly if you want to buy) as will prints, cards and coasters. ‘Delilah the Emu’ has been SOLD already but prints, cards and coasters will be available.

So lots to look forward to this Christmas and i’m sure you’ve been thinking about Christmas presents already?! I look forward to meeting you all and seeing some returning customers. It’s a pleasure. Thankyou for reading and i’ll see you next month!

Please note that my Etsy shop will be updated with all the new stock (eventually and when I get some extra time) but if you wanted to purchase something before such time arrives then please just drop me a message. I respond very quickly! (much to the disappointment of the other half who thinks I have a phone addiction. Obviously not true in the slightest)

I am no stranger to a plan. In fact, if i’m not planning my daughters princess themed birthday party or have reams of paper on my desk covered in ink sketches, notes and to-do lists, I have a brain full of ideas just waiting to get put into motion! So, I thought I would share some of my thoughts with my lovely followers, aka. YOU!

I have another craft fair coming up at Kingston Maurward, Dorchester, on the 3rd and 4th November. It was a successful show for me last year as my first time on the craft fair scene, so it would have been madness for me to bypass it this year (even if the exhibit costs have gone up, eek!). I will be selling a new gift product which adds another price point to my stand and enters SGCreative into the world of homeware (I have literally just sent the artwork to print and i’m so excited to see how they’ll turn out!). If anyone has any thoughts as to products they would buy with my artwork on, please do share with me. I’m hoping to add to my product range every year.

If planning for this awesome craft fair wasn’t enough, i’ve been super busy working on commissions and Graphic Design work of late. I have already got pet portrait painting commissions coming in for Christmas and availability is very tight now for Christmas delivery, so if you were planning on a painting commission for a gift for someone for Christmas, please do get in touch right away and I may just be able to squeeze it in.

I really hope I get to see you at the Kingston Maurward show next month. I love meeting you all. If my work isn’t to your taste, I am sharing a stand with an awesome upcoming landscape photographer (Luke Raines Photography) who is selling his prints for the first time. If you love atmospheric, seascape photography of the Dorset Coast, he’s definitely one for you to visit. Come on down! (We’ll be in the Marquee)

It really has been raining cats and dogs since November and i’ve loved every minute of painting your beloved ‘fur babies’. I’m honoured that I get asked to paint precious pussycats and pooches that are so close to the heart and that you would happily adorn your walls with my artwork.

After meeting a lovely lady at the Kingston Maurward craft fair in November, she entrusted me to paint her three black and white cats, Chloe, Jack and Tony, and Cole her dog in my bright colour palette. This is what she said: “You are so talented and have brought my fur babies to life in a ore of amazing colour!!!! (Considering they are all black and white)”. I get very nervous just before I start a commission as I am always doubting myself. Art is so subjective and it takes courage to be creative, so to get a response like that is so confidence boosting! I’m still quite new to be branding myself as an ‘artist’ so I need all the encouragement I can get.

Tony

Jack

Chloe

Cole

This amazing client also recommended my work to a friend who recently lost his gorgeous dog George. I was asked to paint him for a present for his wife for Christmas. I loved the detail on George and the words he wanted me to add to the painting were so touching. What do you think?

“My wife has asked me to thank you for bringing George back to her she now feels like a piece of her heart is mended, as for me I’m blown away by the picture and it’s qualities.”

If you love Labradors then check out this. Charlie is a 9-year-old rescue Lab and is a much-loved companion to a friends other half. She decided that the best birthday present he could have was a painted version of his best friend. Painting Charlie was so much fun, the shadows and highlights made him a dream to paint.

I love receiving photos of happy customers with their pet portraits and it’s even better when I get photos of the star himself next to his portrait! Meet Clifford and his self portrait…

If you decide that you want your lovely pets painted in my style (or if not for you then perhaps a gift for someone?) then please do get in touch.

In the meantime, I’ll be back on adding to my Country Collection and I am also planning on painting a Sealife Collection so stay tuned! Do drop me a message or comment below if you would like me to see me paint something specific (a unicorn perhaps!? So on trend).

It’s goodbye from me and ‘Meow’ from Sammy my cat (who has turned into such a lap cat he can mostly be found on me!) x

So, i’m almost there with my Country Collection in preparation for my first craft show on the 4th and 5th of November at Kingston Maurward. Exciting! If only I wasn’t battling illness I might just get there abit quicker than planned. Fingers crossed! The dreaded lurgy is holding me back, but with a couple of weeks to go until the show and my helpful sidekick by my side, I might just have enough time to paint a Barn Owl and get all the prints and cards made up in time! Pray for me!

In the meantime, share the love and hopefully i’ll see your beautiful faces at the Kingston Maurward Craft and Gourmet Food Fair on the 4th and 5th November!

Please feel free to message me to reserve your prints or the originals. I will also put up a post to let you know when they will be up on my Etsy shop to purchase.

Recently I got asked to produce a painting for a wedding gift. I was asked to include the initials ‘K’ and ‘B’ with a Flamingo. Sounds odd right? It did to me! No worries I said, I can do that no problem at all. I was sent an image as to how the initials should look and the rest was down to me. I was then told that the idea behind the commission was that Kirk and Brittany met in the Flamingo Bar in LA and this is a wedding gift to them. HOW THOUGHTFUL!!!! Blown away by the thought process that’s gone into a wedding gift as well as actually having to fly out to LA for the wedding. So, I hope I have done the client justice and that the happy couple love it! Fingers crossed.

Since my last post life has been pretty hectic, from a minor op to moving to the country, it’s not stopped for a minute for me to even write so much as an email that doesn’t start “Dear Sir/Madam”. Sorry about the delay in updating! I have a load of new paintings to share with you lovely lot, some of which, will be available on my Etsy shop to purchase prints very shortly. I am so excited to be settled enough in my new home to actually crack open the paintbox again.

As promised, I have my latest Giraffe and Sea Turtle paintings all ready now to share with you. These make up the 5 of 6 paintings that I have been commissioned to do that will adorn the hallways of a new factory that is in the process of being built. What do you think?

Another client loved the giraffe and recent Elephant paintings so much, that I was commissioned to paint another two. These now brighten up the playroom in their new home.

So if anyone else is in love with Giraffes or Elephants and want one painted especially for you or a friend, please don’t hesitate to get in touch. If Horses are more of your thing, check out this recent painting, Punk Horse. Prints will be available on my Etsy shop for this one soon so email me to reserve yours.

Since I now live out in the country, I’m feeling that a country collection of paintings may be coming your way very soon. We have a resident Barn Owl that I was lucky enough to come within 3metres of on the weekend, absolutely stunning bird, it blew me away. So much inspiration right on my doorstep that I can’t not dip my paintbrush in the country colour. If anyone has any requests, please do get in touch, i’d love to hear them.

Before I can get carried away with that though, I had a request to paint a Scorpion. Being a small creature embellished in detail, it was a joy to paint (I just wish I wasn’t so disturbed by the look of them that I didn’t get so creeped out when I focused in on that detail!). A3 and A4 prints will be available to purchase of this one shortly, please email to reserve yours now.

Next in line will be the Leopard to complete the set of 6 for my corporate client. It’s all go go go from here! Any feedback from any of my readers will be really appreciated, it is a real confidence booster. Bye bye for now, it’s time for me to get sketching.

I love the snowball effect!

So, it all started when I decided that being a new freelancer/fairly new mum to a 16month year-old equals being penniless, and that meant that mother dear will have to get a homemade gift for her birthday this year (which being in January sucks enough! Poor love). So, sorry mother. Not only did she get the final product of my experimental Jam making session on new years day (and i’m not entirely sure that worked out all that well!), she also received the gift of her Golden Retriever Jack painted in beautiful watercolours and framed ready to hang in her new wall gallery. Thankfully this present did work out well! Don’t you think?

Fantastically, by the power of social media, this commission got me another within half an hour of sharing online. And so Ronnie Roast was born and now adorns the home of her loving parents.

Since then, i’ve had a lot of keen beans interested in getting their dogs painted. Which is amazing! I get paid for my therapy! What does suck is that Christmas has zapped the wallets of such keen beans for now, but it’s ok, I just love the recognition and time is a healer.

I have though had one of my graphic design corporate clients buy three large original paintings which were already available to purchase on my Etsy shop and commissioned me to paint 3 more to add to the collection and adorn the hallways of their new factory that is in the process of being built. I am so stoked! It’ll be like my own mini exhibition, only I won’t have to pay gallery commission fees (*picture me tapping my fingers together in a Mr Burns style). So hold on to your hats for a Giraffe, Sea Turtle and Leopard coming soon.

Before I am allowed to crack on with these though, I had a bespoke commission to do of an Elephant for a birthday gift this week! I am so pleased with how this turned out. What do you think?

I still have a few original paintings, framed and ready to hang, on my Etsy shop here: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/SGCreative?ref=hdr_shop_menu and also prints available to purchase there too. If you would like a bespoke commission please do get in touch and drop me an email at staceygrovecreative@gmail.com. I’d love to hear from you!

With only 880 left in the wild, these statuesque animals are now listed as Critically Endangered. I decided they are just too spectacular to let slip past my net.

‘As their name implies, mountain gorillas live in forests high in the mountains, at elevations of 8,000 to 13,000 feet. They have thicker fur, and more of it, compared to other great apes. The fur helps them to survive in a habitat where temperatures often drop below freezing. But as humans have moved more and more into the gorillas’ territory, the gorillas have been pushed farther up into the mountains for longer periods, forcing them to endure dangerous and sometimes deadly conditions.

What might have been a bleak outlook for the subspecies just a couple of decades ago has brightened in recent years due to conservation efforts. Despite ongoing civil conflict, poaching and an encroaching human population, both populations of mountain gorillas have increased in numbers.’ – WWF

I also bought a pot of metallic gold ink and couldn’t wait to test it out! What do you think of my new beauty? All framed and ready to hang, it’s one-of-a-kind as no prints are being made of this one. Available to purchase on my Etsy shop here: https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/SGCreative