I see a red door and I want to paint it....Orange!

Well I think I have accidentally stumbled across a new, New Year tradition.  Right at the very start of this year we decided to repaint our front door.  We were in the middle of repainting our whole house but suddenly it seemed important to get this done first - and what a difference it makes!  Now I smile EVERY time I get home, it's more of a grin actually accompanied by an excited little shiver.  I think this is definitely having a flow on effect in my happiness level this year - smiling as I enter my home, having that warm "love where I am right now" feeling - all from a door!  I kid you not.

Colour is something I take quite seriously,  I have pretty strong opinions on it and I know Mr Odd One Out finds it extremely painful to watch me with piles of paint charts and test pots (of what he considers to be the same colour!) trying to get it just right.  I just had a feeling that a dark tangerine / orange was where we should go with the door and what do you know, it turns out to be Pantone colour of the year too - awesome!  I couldn't leave gorgeous blank canvas like that alone so a couple of days later I painted on a little design from my sketchbook - it was supposed to go on a plate but I think it looks pretty cute on the door too!

After it was all finished I thought I would have a little research into the symbolism of all of this - I think we pretty much hit the nail on head.  Now I am really loving the idea that you can change your front door each year to attract your goals and dreams for the year ahead.  What do you think?

Here's what I found out............

In Feng Shui they believe that your front door is where you set intention about yourself and about what you want; your entrance is a message to the world about who you are.  It is thought to be the mouth of the home, the entry point where energy, abundance and opportunities may find us.

ORANGE......... 

Our door faces south west and apparently Orange is the perfect colour being a fire colour.  Wicked!  In Feng Shui the colour orange promotes lively conversation and good times.  It is also the colour associated with fertility... hmmm not sure on that one!

Universally Orange is a colour that symbolises hope and a new start.   It holds that energy and warmth from the sun, nice!  It is a spiritual and often sacred colour, connected to creativity and overcoming depression.  So far so good!  Orange brings about creative energy, playfulness, exploration on a practical level, relief from boredom and equilibrium.  I'm sold :)

I love this quote from Wassily Kandinsky........  "Orange is red brought nearer to humanity by yellow"

HOT AIR BALLOONS........

I wanted to have a little picture on the door that would make people smile, with a little hello to make them feel welcome.

The symbolism of these is interesting too.  They also signify overcoming depression and are associated with the rising sun that starts the new day.  They can represent the process of  individuation and a quest to fulfill spiritual needs.

An ascending balloon signifies frustrating conditions in your life in which you are seeking to rise above. It expresses a desire to escape and the need to acknowledge your inner child.

So it sounds like by joining the two elements of Orange and my hot air balloon I was in fact subconsciously reaching for the same symbolism they bring. 

Already thinking about next years door!

Stunning New Penguin Book Covers

These new Penguin book covers are just stunning!  Using illustrations hand embroidered by Rachell Sumpter they are works of art and so deserve to be on display.  I want the lot!

HAND embroidered, seriously!  That is a . lot . of . work .  right there.

and possibly my favourite (if I had to pick)

So Inspiring!

Pics from her Flickr photostream here

I'm so in love with...... felissimo’s 500 pencils!

This may be hard to understand for those not completely obsessed with colour and pencils and storage like me.  But I really NEED this......... it is an illustrators dream!!!! I am just beyond excited about this amazing wall of pencils - 500 to be exact.  Actually so far beyond excited I was seriously jumping around in my seat grinning like an idiot when I first saw it.

This set was designed by felissimo for social designer .  The complete set of 500 coloured pencils consists
of 20 units with each pencil telling its own story with a unique name - lemon drop, Norwegian sky, drizzly afternoon and tragedy - the names themselves are as interesting as a story book and the colours as beautiful as a piece of art.  If you buy the Aurora display case, the impact of all the colours together is just stunning.

25 colors x 20 months
"It's about enjoying an unhurried creative process.  As you build your collection, the pencils become your story and your experience.  Each month for 20 months, 25 colors arrive by mail from Japan - packaged in like tones and hues.  The collection gradually takes shape as each colored pencil set arrives, expanding the possibility of all that has yet to be dreamed."  Eeek! how exciting - this is totally the way to build up a collection - I know I would be sooo excited waiting for each new package to arrive.

hmmm, now how to justify this as a must have expense (especially difficult when most of my illustration is with porcelain paint on plates)  Perhaps I could just call it a piece of investment art?

I'm so in love with.... Plates on walls! (yes still ;)

I know you know that I'm so in love with plates on walls, and yes I am still collecting images of displays I like.

Even though I am surrounded by plates and paint them every day - my walls sadly do not look quite as cool as these ones in the pictures.  I just haven't got around to hanging all my plates and it doesn't help that I keep selling them or giving them away!  One day I will show you how my walls are looking  - promise.

Here are some pictures from my travels around the internet - I love each and every one of these displays.  I love the ordered collections just as much as the randomly placed ones.  I adore the colourful groups but am equally in love with the monotone ones.  Perhaps this is why it is taking me so long to put my own collection together.  I would love to know what your favourites are.

 I have really tried to keep the sources of the pics this time - so top to bottom and left to right are......

eeek sorry! somewhere on Flickr, down and out chic, down and out chic, apartment therapy, design sponge, trulynaturallyme, design attractor, piterest, pinterest, down and out chic, design sponge, pinterest

these are a few of my favourite things.....

I really enjoy showing you all my new vintage finds in my "my vintage week" posts - it's so great to have an enthusiastic response!  Mr Odd One Out is so used to coming home and finding new (old) stuff that he can be rather underwhelmed with my finds these days.  Of course my house is already packed to the brim with crazy old stuff as I have been collecting vintage since I was wee young thing, but more seriously once I settled in a more permanent (ish) house.  Lets just say you're going to need both hands and possibly some feet to count the years (now that doesn't give away my age too much does it!) Anyway, I would love to show you some of my favourite things that I have collected over the years and give you a bit of a peek into my vintage way of life too!

These are a few of my favourite things...........

This little collection is hiding in a rather dark corner of my dining room - I think they rather suit being there as they have a kind of Victorian and a little bit Goth feel.  This isn't my usual style but I just love all these pieces so they have kind of ended up together.

Dolly is my Antique mannequin - named for her rather voluptuous figure!  She was made back in the day when one was required to wear corseted undergarments.  I found her on Trade Me, and even though she lived in Lower Hutt and was 'pick up only' I managed to convince Mr Odd One Out's lovely Dad to get her for me on one of his work trips.  I'm sure he thought I was a bit mad because she cost a fair bit - but worth every penny I think.

 
Dolly is wearing some very special things..... The jacket I picked up at one of my favourite markets in London.  It's called Alfies Market and I have found some awesome things there.  It is so old and delicate - hand sewn in handmade lace and silk tulle.  I think it's Victorian and I do wear it! Around her neck is a necklace I picked up at a store in Auckland I just love, Victorian Gilt.  I could literally spend hours in there fossicking about.  The tape measure is from the Camberwell vintage market in Melbourne - wow that market had me wishing I lived in Melbourne, I would so be there every week!  The little vintage gold trim - I wear as a necklace - is from one of my favourite places in the world (from my limited travel experience!) The Marche aux Puces is on the outskirts of Paris and is one of the coolest places to find the vintage and also the unexpected.  You could get lost in all the little alleys and ateliers - and that would not be a bad thing at all.  I've seen Dinosaur eggs and even a stuffed sabre tooth tiger for sale there! Look it up on Google images - you'll see what I mean!

Behind Dolly is a VERY large vintage New Zealand flag.  The wooden pole part is over 7ft tall and the flag is all hand sewn in pieces with applique stars.  I found this on Trade Me also, and it was a complete fluke of a buy.  It was really cheap with a very bad, dark photo, you couldn't tell the size or condition at all.  We just bid with fingers crossed and were super excited when we picked it up - I just love those scores!

Hope you liked this little peek into my vintage world - there's more to come!  

Customised Plates - a little peek at the process....

I have been wanting to document the process of painting a customised plate for some time.  But I have never really photographed the stages, as I am usually too in the 'zone' to think about stopping and taking pics.  When I was asked recently to paint a rather amazing image, on a vintage plate that was to be a gift.  I thought it would be the perfect chance to show you all what is involved!  Hope you like......

I was commissioned by the lovely Cate - a very good customer of mine, who just happens to have a pretty impressive collection of my plates herself.

She thought it was about time to spread some Odd One Out love to her friend Tara, who has the most amazing tattoo of a rather saucy looking mermaid.  I love painting tattoos on plates so needless to say I was pretty excited about doing this one.  Here is the photo she gave me for inspiration.....

First thing to do was find a vintage plate that would complement the image, and Cate was keen for something with a nautical vibe.  I found a few options from my collection and Cate chose this vintage 1950s plate which had a super cool original yachting image on it.

 And here we go..........painting time!

I've developed this kind of - outline in dots technique - to map out the placement and the proportion of the illustration first.  Working with porcelain paint is rather difficult and if you go wrong it is much easier to remove a few dots than a big thick painted line.  I've always drawn and painted from the outside in and I find this works best for me on plates too!

I decide that she would look pretty cool holding on to the yacht and I want the seagulls to be flying around her head so I change the angle of her body just slightly.

Once I'm happy with the placement and how the proportion is looking I start filling in the outlines.

Because the porcelain paint dries really slowly you have to be careful where your hands are so you don't smudge the paint.  I always start from the top left and work my way down to the bottom right.  If you make a mistake you have to let it dry completely before trying to fix it or it can get very messy!  I have the original printed out to refer to as I go.  (Please excuse the dark photo - I do most of my painting at night.)






 Now is the hard part for me - I have to let it completely dry before I continue.  I really hate stopping painting, but leave it overnight.  Then I fix any details or lines that I don't like - repaint and let it dry again.

Next is the fun bit adding all the little details, like the scales and shading.  I always find faces really hard so I usually have a couple of goes at getting the expression just right.

I want her to look a bit special to I decide to add a bit of gold detailing.  Gold porcelain paint is super tricky to deal with too!  I add tiny little dots to give the scales and her hair a bit of a glow.

et Voila!  she is finished.  I love how this one turned out - a bit of a challenge but super fun to paint.

Thanks Cate!

Tattooed plate meets the original!  Hope you love your present Tara - what an awesome friend you have  - to think of such an original and personalised gift.

Sharing the ceramic love....The Broken Plate Pendant Company

I love upcycling and clever upcyclers - especially those that make things using vintage plates.  (A wee obsession of mine as you well know!) 

This lady is super cool and does all of the above.  I fell in love with her china knuckle dusters ages ago, when I saw them in her etsy shop.  But she makes heaps of other cool stuff too.  These are all on my Christmas wish list (hint, hint!)

I love how she describes her work... "I break each and every plate with love…and force…crafting them into a collection of inspired and versatile pieces."  - and her profile pic - Awesome! check her work out here too.

 Blue Willow - knuckle duster awesomness!

 

Beautiful pendants - she makes sets for bridesmaids out of the one plate, such a cute idea!  Would be great for a group of friends too.....and look at the intricate cut out necklaces above!  ♥♥♥