Painting release and workshop announcement

Sing Me a Song of the Circus was finally finished today... available as the original Oil Painting on Gallery Cotton...

Sing Me a Song of the Circus
40 x 30 x 1inches
$1200

Please contact me if you would like to purchase this beautiful painting directly.

Also available as a Canvas Print starting at just $80.00! I know a few buyers out there who won't be able to refuse this offer :-)

NEW HOW TO VIDEO coming next. Please contact me if you would like to learn how to create a whimsical work similar to this one in acrylic, oil paint and charcoal... I will be releasing this how to video soon and will be offering "lovetiques" of the works that you create :-)

And I would like to offer a massive THANKYOU to Highly Strung for donating a Gallery Canvas to Nirvana Visions by Tara Spicer, for the work created for this years' Give Me 5 For Kids annual art auction.

These guys rock when it comes to art supplies :-)

Yours in Art,
Tara Spicer
Nirvana Visions by Tara Spicer
tara@nirvanavisions.org

Painting Progress and studio overhaul!

"Sing me a song of the circus" is coming along slowly but surely and I am really enjoying how beautifully she is turning out. This painting makes me really happy even in its' unfinished state!

The little bird came out so sweet and enchanting, the perfect bird for setting such a scene. If you have a free spirited love of the Circus, please take a glimpse at other Circus themed paintings that I have created... most of them have sold, but I am always more than happy to create works of a similar nature if you have a favourite... and I can always arrange a print to canvas if you desire!

My studio is undergoing a massive clean up and overhaul at persent and I recently picked up this new cupboard (which just refused to be posted upright!!!) and it is as I write this being sanded, sprayed and spiffied right up to become my new art storage cupboard. Yippee. Wait till you see the transformation.

Finally, a sweet scented thankyou to Amanda at Flax Flower for the beautiful flowers that she provided me with this week to keep my house beautiful and smelling great...

Roses and Jonquils with a clean white linen feel and a pretty red and white ribbon. Fresh flowers really lift one's spirits, don't you think?

Thanks for reading,
Tara Spicer.

Sing me a song of the circus...

For those of you who know me, you will know that I am a little obsessed with the magic of the circus!... And this obsession has been fueled further by an incredible book that I recently read "The Night Circus" . I am re-kindling my love of Fire Stick Twirling and trapeze too, doing a practice session each week, hopefully to light up the ends soon for a mini performance for my kids :-)

This passion has seeped into my paintings as well... here is my latest work in progress, titled "Sing me a circus song". I hope that you do enjoy watching it grow:

This painting is still in the making, but if you want to know more details, it is an oil painting on Gallery Cotton, measuring 40 x 30 inches.

Other circus works that I have previously painted are:

A Little Bit of Mischief and a little Bit of MagicAcrylic on Gallery LinenFramed in Silver Frame$3400.00

SOLDAvailable as a print to canvas upon request!

SOLDAvailable as a print to canvas upon request!

So roll up, ROLL UP and dive into the magic of the circus be it one of these beautiful works to grace your walls and inspire your heart... or your own dabbling into a local circus class... it is good for the soul :-)

Warm Regards,

Tara Spicer.

Flaming Elise

With a little bit here and a little bit there to go, I think she is pretty much ready and with just a few hours to spare too!
I humbly introduce my "Flaming Elise" and I am hoping that since a Lady Beetle landed on me while I was photographing her, that this might be a good sign that I have done well and she is ready.

Flaming Elise
1m x 1m
Acrylic, Charcoal and Oils on Gallery Linen
DONATION
-For live auction at next month's "Give Me 5 For Kids" Sunshine Coast
Please contact me if you would like to bid by phone on the night.

A huge thanks to Elise for 'sitting' (quite literally) for me so that I could do this painting.
Please also check out my new website and pass it on if you have a moment or are just curious...
Tara Spicer

Flaming Elise

Hello and welcome!

Inspired by Sir Frederick Leighton's 1895 painting "Flaming June" I am currently working on a piece to be donated to Give Me 5 for Kids 2012 to help raise funds for the Children's wing of Nambour Hospital. I donate to this cause every year and get very excited about the funds I can raise towards this cause!

So here is the original piece "Flaming June"

I am going to title my own interpretation of this painting as "Flaming Elise" as this is the name of the beautiful young lady featured in my own painting. So the following images are progression pics of the painting in the making:
Initial sketching phase:

Progressed sketching phase with a small introduction of paint:

Further painting in the figure and the cloth surrounding the figure:

I am a little anxious about showing my works unfinished, I hope that you enjoy watching the 'journey'.

More images will be posted and the auction date will be June 21st... The auction will be held on the Sunshine Coast and phone bids will be accepted. I will be posting updates as the piece progresses and as the auction date draws near.

In other news, I have a new website www.taraspicer.nirvanavisions.org so if you are curious, I welcome you to visit this new refined site for what it has to offer to you :-) Soon, through this website I will be offering a shopping cart to purchase original works as well as a catalogue of books that I have had a hand in Illustrating or co-creating...

Warm Regards,
Tara Spicer

Charcoal Painting

Yay! Here is a pic of the finished Charcoal Based painting. I am really really happy with it and I am going to do a matching painting of a certain young man to go with this one. I am going to try a few different techniques on the next one and will post images of it in the making too here on my blog.

In other news, I have begun creating my piece for this years' "Give me 5 For Kids" and am very excited to post updates... I am hoping to raise lots of money through my painting again this year at the Annual Art Auction, so be sure to spread the pics around to people who might be interested in bidding on this painting as it is created and finally auctioned... more awareness = more money raised, so get those tongues wagging and be sure to spread these posts around :-)

Warm Regards,
Tara Spicer

Sketching passions!

Thankyou so much to Yanni Floros, who held a workshop through Lethbridge Gallery, that I was able to attend on the weekend. Yanni guided a number of us step by step through working with charcoal... here is as far as I got (obviously there is much to go!).

So I came home afterwards and just had to try out what I had learned on canvas from one of my own images:

Part 1, my sketch with graphite.

Part 2, incorporating new skills and charcoal as learnt with Yanni.

I am now testing out the success of painting on over this beautiful sketch (nerve wracking!) Waiting for the clear gesso to dry... will post the results. The gesso still dragged the charcoal a little in areas and the spray fixative bunched up in places, might have to try diluting the gesso with water and see how that goes?

Tara Spicer.