I have closed my Australian Art Gifts store on EBay due to dissatisfaction with EBay customer service and not with my customers who have been EXCELLENT.

I am reopening all my shopping carts to my customers as from today. See my galleries above.  I always supply bonus items to my local deliveries to allow for the cheaper postage rate.  I look forward to seeing you in my store.  Thank you for your continued support.

_Plenty Valley Arts is once again showcasing its talents at its annual exhibition at the Historic Le Page Homestead.

This year’s exhibition features a collection of art and photography.

When:28 Oct 2011 1:00pm - 18 Dec 2011 1:00pm

Cost: Free
Booking info:Booking not required

Where:Plenty Gorge Park

Here is a great art business tool for the creative person.

The Writers' & Artists' Yearbook 2012
Format:Paperback, 832 pages

Other Information: Illustrations
The bestselling guide to markets in all areas of the media, completely revised and updated, and this year in its 105th edition. With a new foreword by a famous author and several brand new articles by authors and publishing insiders. It also contains a wealth of practical information on a huge range of topics including copyright, finance, submitting a manuscript and e-publishing, as well as being a comprehensive up-to-date directory of media contacts. 'Essential reading ...the A-Z of how to survive in publishing' - Kate Mosse 'Even established writers can feel as though they're climbing a mountain. Think of the Writers' & Artists' Yearbook as your sherpa' - Ian Rankin 'Full of useful stuff. It answered my every question' - JK Rowling

PrizesForeword by a famous author Consistently in The Bookseller Top 10 listings - strong sales all year round Comprehensive up-to-date listings of all media markets - more than just a directory - includes practical advice and information More information and wider market than its nearest competitor; includes markets for illustrators Praised by many very successful authors as their stepping stone to getting published

Reviews'provides a comprehensive list of agents and includes details of how you should approach them with your book.' This Is Money (web) (March 14, 2011)

Check out this link for the discounted price and free postage in Australia.

I am all for encouraging creativity in the young and this set is an idea art craft item for gift giving.
 
Happy Handle Stamp Set  - Arts and Craft, Melissa and Doug

Product Description

With a special handle to keep your little one's fingers far from the six-color inkpad and six different stamps to choose from, stamping fun will be endless! The handy case keeps the stamps and pad organized! Washable, non-toxic kid-friendly ink.In 1989 The Melissa & Doug Company started in the garage of the home where Doug grew up!
Thanks to your support, the Melissa & Doug Company grew and was able to move into a real office down the road.

Their philosophy has remained the same over the years-to make each and every customer a happy and permanent member of the Melissa & Doug family, while offering products with tremendous value, quality and design. Melissa & Doug have always welcomed customer suggestions, and they continually strive to make improvements to their products.

Melissa & Doug are honored by the faith you place in them and view it as their responsibility to continue to earn your trust in the years to come! Melissa and Doug range of products include puzzles, preschool, play food, puppets, stuffed animals and gardening toys.

Publisher:

Melissa and Doug - Arts and Craft

Books » Children's » Fiction » Activity Books

To purchase at discount with free postage within Australia, click below.

Diary of a Wimpy Kid Box of Books By Jeff Kinney


I bought a heap of books as Christmas gifts today and it was the book illustration as much as the stories that sold these books to me.

Foremost on my purchase list was the Wimpy Kid books.

Format:Paperback, 4 books.
Release Date: 01 September 2011

This title includes such books as:
"Diary of a Wimpy Kid";
"Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules";
"Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw"; and,
"Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days".

Get the first four books in this mega-selling series in one brilliant Wimpy Kid set - the funniest books you'll ever read.

About the Author

The Diary of A Wimpy Kid series is an international bestseller and has now been made into two blockbuster films. As well as being a bestselling author, Jeff is also an online developer and designer. He lives with his family in Massachusetts, USA.

Reviews
Kinney is right up there with J K Rowling as one of the bestselling children's authors on the planet Independent The world has gone crazy for Jeff Kinney's Diary of a Wimpy Kid series The Sun

Books » Children's » Fiction » General

To purchase these great books at discount and have free purchase within Australia, click link below.

Someone to Watch Over Me  Artist: Susan Boyle (Vocals)


When I write I love silence, when I paint I enjoy beautiful light classical music and glorious voices like that of Susan Boyle.  This would be my chouce as studio music.

Someone to Watch Over Me
You Have To Be There 
Unchained Melody 
Enjoy the Silence
Both Sides Now 
Lilac Wine 
Mad World
Autumn Leaves 
This Will Be the Year
Return 
Someone To Watch over Me


Performer Notes
Produced by Steve Mac, Susan Boyle's third outing, Someone to Watch Over Me, features a diverse set of hits, including takes on classics like "Both Sides Now" and "Unchained Melody," as well as more modern material from the likes of Tears for Fears ("Mad World") and Depeche Mode ("Enjoy the Silence").
Music » Pop » Pop Vocal » General

To order at a discounted price with FREE postage within Australia click link below.

When I was a child of four, we had hens and my eight year old sister collected the feathers and together we made these quill pens which along with the charcoal we made for ourselves but making fires in the back yard behind the chook shed, where out mother could not see us, became our first art materials.
Then I did jobs for pocket money and saved up to buy black Indian ink and butchers paper to create my art on and my next tool of trade was to buy a fine mapping pen.  I was in heaven with these art materials.

How to Cut and Make Your Own Quill Pen

First you will need a long feather and you will need to temper it. The best way to do temper it is to take an oven proof bowl and fill it with sand. Put it in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes at 350 degrees.

When you take the bowl out of the oven, remember its hot, use pot holders. At this point, put the end of the feather in the sand to temper it. It will go... from a kind of clear to an opaque color.

The feather will become much stronger by doing this. Before cutting the tip, you need to strip the quill of any feathers that will get in the way of your hand.

When you cut the quill, make sure you hold the quill in your hand to find the most comfortable writing position. Hold the quill away from you and slice at a downward, but not sharp angle. (Think of how a pencil looks after you sharpen it.)

Now you will need to hollow the quill out, a toothpick will work.

Then you will need to cut the slit on the writing point. Be careful. You can easily crack the quill.

You will need to cut a curve in the writing point, if its too long, you'll flick ink everywhere.

That’s it and now you have a Quill Pen, made as it would have been in the middle ages. I still remember the fun in the making of these pens.

I once asked a skilled artist I was paying for private tuition, 'how he did something'.  He picked up a brush and with a flourish of his had, he did that special technique I had been striving to learn.  The master's secret brush stroke. 
    "So that's how it's done," I said excitedly.
    "No!"   He snapped that answer at me.  "Forty years of doing that, is how it is done."
So I went home and I did as he told me to do. I practiced what he showed me sixteen hours a day for a decade until I was as good as he was, then glowed when he complimented me that of all the people he had shown his skills to, I was the only one who had done as he said, developed them and become a true artist.  I glowed in receiving his praise.  I was not a naturally talented painter any more than I am naturally talented as a writer.  When I bought my pottery studio which cost me thousands of dollars I could not understand it when people said, 'but what if you cannot make pottery?'  For goodness sake...you learn it you practice it...if you want to do it you just do it. 

A few of my friends are charging away with their NaNoWriMo word count and others are concerned that they are not getting up a word count as they are still struggling to get into a story.

Thing is if they are in there and trying, having committed to write the novel draft, they are doing better than those who never try. Better than I did for the 50 years that I postponed writing a novel, believing I would not have the skill or the time.  How silly of me.  No one has the time unless they steal it back from something else not do we have the talent until we learn it, develop and nurture it.

As a former successful gallery owner who made a life career from the arts I can tell you..."NO ONE is born talented. NO ONE.   Even Rembrandt had to acquire his talent though learning and practice."

We may be born with a passionate drive and desires to achieve something but we all start out not being able to do things and need to learn how. Only those who make the effort 'become talented.'
Don't believe the myth that you are supposed to be good at it, when you begin something.

You can apply this to any skill you desire.
You need to learn how, practice and constructively critique your work, there isn't a short cut to inquiring talent and this means if you have the desire to commit, whatever it will take, you too can reach that stage where others will say, lol, 'Oh but they are lucky, they were naturally talented. ;-).

I always plan my paintings. 
I Make sure I have all my materials ready before I begin and plan what I will be doing.

Yesterday I spent a full day in the NaNoWriMo site of the forums learning as much as I could in preparation for writing book two of my Dreaming Billabong series. 

I have lined up a 71 year old man to interview to gain some personal details about life in puberty in the 1950's as seen from the male perspective.  I have most of my story, loosely flowing around in my head and not a word will be typed until November 1.

As I have not submitted Novel 1 to a publisher as yet I will be making changes back into novel one as I write novel two two as I find stories work that way...I wrote broadly back and forth into a novel in the same way I constructed a painting.

Although last year was the beginning for my first novel I was not inexperienced at constructing art works and I approached it the same way I would any other creative project and I will do the same this year. This gives me confidence.  I never felt like a beginner novelist, I felt like I took to it like a duck to water. Even if it was  a baby duck with a lot to learn :-).

1/ I Plan.

Plan the CREATIVE PROJECT. MY Novel
I firmly believe in making a plan before I start.  While I never rigidly stick to a plan but go where intuition and inspiration lead me for a better result, that plan allows me to see my beginning, middle and ending and I do not get unstuck, lost, not waffle into unnecessary detail about things not relevant to this creative work...my novel.   This is exactly the same thing I do when painting.

I will complete my novel's plan this week. It will amount to little more than a few post it notes or a page in my diary.  It will however be the main ideas for the novel.

I will also read though the slush pile of unused writing notes I created when I wrote Novel one and see if any of those ideas work for my novel 2.  I never throw away anything I edit out of a novel.  Often it can be used as a short story or ideas in a new novel.

I will read more about writing young adult books during this week and also romance writing.  Both these areas are a little out of my comfort zone as I am a mainstream writer.  I have just on four days left of my planning stage.

Plan the environment I write in
On a practical level I plan to tidy the house, be all caught up in the area, and have my casual sarongs and the fan and air conditioner out as November can get hot here in northern Victoria and I desire to stay cool as I write.

Plan for my Physical and Mental Health and Fitness as I write.
I will have a written down fitness plan in place and follow though as I gained several dress sizes over the year I wrote my first novel.  That has to STOP.   It might have been my first novel baby but I must not eat for two, lol, as I write or stress eat when my protagonists are in danger.  
I WILL be getting 7 -8 hours sleep at night.

The garden looks beautiful, and is easy to maintain that way. The garden helps me relax and enjoy life.  My day bed where I write is set up in front of a window that looks out over a cottage garden filled with roses in bloom and beyond that is farmland as far as the horizon.  I LOVE this view.  I am inside and yet my vista is of the outdoors where most of my novel will take place.

Plan Finances so I can write.
I have purchased my computer and software to write in. Worked hard to pay for them. My freezer is chock a block with food as is my pantry and ll the Christmas presents have been purchased. and I will be keeping spending to a minimum. 
I have my EBay store filled up with are prints to give me a small amount of income as I write and I have six blogs that earn me a little income.  All these help pay for internet costs and assist me do the research I need for my novel.  A nice break even fund raising side business to assist with my writing.  

Wherever possible I make one thing I do for pleasure...such as writing this blog, serve two purposes, such as earning me a small income.  So I will cut n past and slightly change this blog post and place it again in another blog where I am paid for what I write. 

Great plan.   I am pleased with it.

What are your plans to be ready for YOUR NEXT CREATIVE PROJECT?