Rainy Day Creative Frenzy

Newsletter 72

Hello my dears! I hope you’re all well and keeping warm. This month was another wonderfully creative one for me. There’s something about being cosy inside while the rain pours outside to inspire creativity. I’ve been leaning into play and experimentation and loving it! As an illustrator, I was told at University to find your ‘style’ and just keep doing that until you find success. Good advice! I’ve been refining my detailed pen/watercolour style for 10 years now (since I started doing markets) and it’s brought me success. I do however feel like I’ve put myself into a box and am keen to expand my skills and style. This year I’m committed to trying lots of new things and being a happy beginner. It’s hard as an adult to try new things and potentially fail, but the rewards are most certainly worth it! See some of my June experiments below and let me know in the comments what mediums/subject matter you think I should try this month.

VLOG

I put a little more effort into my VLOG this month, and enjoyed the process. Enjoy a little sneak peak into my garden/house/studio and some of the fun creative outputs of the month of June.

Art Classes

I’ll be a busy bee teaching around the place these coming School Holidays. Unfortunately, I believe most of these classes are booked out. There are however spaces left for the Anthropomorphic Trees at The Cedars class on the 9th of July. The trees around Hans Heysen’s home are iconic and I can’t wait to draw them with your little people.

If you’ve yet to visit The Cedars, and you happen to be of the Adult persuasion… come along and draw/paint a magpie with me (step-by-step) on the 14th of July (2-4pm). Birds of the Cedars is a workshop that runs every month, with a new bird focus each time. Tea/coffee is included in the price, I hope you can make it (super beginner friendly).

I’m also running a Winter Flowers with Wine and Nibbles at The Cedars class on August 10 (2-4pm), for those who prefer sipping on wine whilst they paint.

Classes at Stangate House and Garden have returned, hooray! I’m running a 3-week birds drawing/painting sessions. Wander around the beautiful gardens and be inspired by the birds/flowers you see to use in your artworks. Come along on the 2nd, 9th and 16th of August… all 3 if you’d like to work on a larger artwork or just 1 or 2 sessions for a smaller painting. Book in here.

Term 3 homeschool classes at Norton Summit are now available to be booked, you can do so here.

Australian Animal A-Z Book

I mentioned a couple of months ago that I’m donating $5 from every A-Z book I sell online to the Bob Brown Foundation. My aim was to double my last donation by the end of August (meaning that I need to sell 100 copies). To reach this goal, I need some serious help! If you buy my A-Z Book in this coming month, you’ll get a free copy of ‘The Grand Banksia Adventure’ to say thanks. Check it out here.

My focus animal from the book this month was the Dunnart. These are very cute little marsupials, but don’t be fooled, they are actually ravenous killers of the night! Learn more here (plus a free colouring page).

Colouring Sheet Giveaway

It’s definitely beanie and scarf weather here in the hills. I hope that you enjoy this very wintery colouring sheet of a red-browed finch, just in time for the School Holidays! Please send me your results, I love to see your interpretations. Download it here.

I was utterly delighted to see some colouring from a lovely lady named Carole in the United States! She purchased my printable Australian Animal colouring book and printed them out herself to colour. How cool are the results?

New prints and original artworks are going to be available through my website soon (and maybe t-shirts too) if I can stop being so arty farty for a little while and get some serious admin done! If you’ve seen a particular artwork that I’ve done that you like, don’t be afraid to let me know and I can arrange a print for you.

With love and a dose of whimsy,

Zinia