Easter Is On Its Way

So Easter is just around the corner.
Yesterday, in our part of the UK, it was decidedly Spring-like. Today, not so much. But such is the nature of the great British weather. So I will not be looking out of the window at grey wet skies. Instead, today, I shall celebrate all things yellow, golden and fluffy in anticipation of sunshine, chicks, baby bunnies and daffodils.

Feverfew Flowers

Daisy, feverfew and camomile flowers always brighten a dull day: brilliant white and butter yellow. 

              

Digital, printable scrap book papers

If you're thinking of Easter crafting - whether it's scrapbooking, journal making; or you are simply looking for a bright and cheerful piece of art for your wall, nursery or as printable Easter cards - we have a nice little selection of printable art available for instant download

                         

 

HAPPY CRAFTING

Autumn Colours

Its that time of year again.
I love the colours of autumn.
As we reach mid September the golds and yellows are already becoming apparent in the foliage all around us. The leaves are turning a little more crisp. The sun is lower. Misty mornings are aglow with warmth, even though the air itself is turning cool.

And, as ever, our creativity is sparked by the change around us.

From abstract, to landscape, to still life - everything is taking on a golden glow, a darker tone.

I can't wait for the pumpkins!

        

Fine Art America (or Pixels.com)

As well as a large selection of images for download in our Etsy shop, Bamalam Photography can now be found on Fine Art America or Pixels.com, and, we also now have our own website.

On these sites you can find a mixture of our styles: floral photography and abstract art; textured monochromes and colourful wildlife artwork. All these are available professionally printed to various sizes as prints, canvas and iphone cases.

                                     

 

                             

Earth Day

Browsing Etsy this morning I decided to make a treasury list of some of the beautiful raw and natural items that I stumbled upon for Earth Day.

Raw silk. Uncut gemstone jewellery. Drift wood carvings and willow sculptures. There are some amazing items out there for those who prefer their shopping to be at one with nature. I also couldn't resist including some woodland photography.

This gorgeous piece of artwork in particular caught my eye. 

Tree of Life painting in oil and acrylic. A huge 6ft by 3ft abstract across 3 canvasses by Nicolette Vaughan Horner. Discover more of her artwork in her Etsy shop Artmod.

Happy Earth Day!

Bockingford Watercolour Paper

Bockingford Inkjet, double sided watercolour paper for printers is a dream.
Made by St Cuthberts Mill in Somerset, using the same process as their watercolour paper on a traditional mould machine, it looks and feels beautiful.
Acid free and archival, it takes ink perfectly and is made to last, so our works of art will last.

To be honest, we like it so much that many of our planned art projects (originally to be printed to crisp white textured inkjet paper) will now be printed on the watercolour paper.

This is Geoffrey.
He agrees with me.
He is very happy to be printed to such a lovely paper.

'Geoffrey' Personalised Nursery Art

Cottage Chic Wall Art

Art has many faces.
   Everything that requires a creative eye is art - whether placing fine strokes of oil to canvas, carving detail in stone, capturing reflections on water with a camera or arranging the colours of gemstones to create jewellery. We use many different mediums, but we are all, in the end, artists.

Digital art is our new passion (to add to the list of many other creative hobbies in which we dabble).
   What we've been doing lately is creating patterns with an old cottage tapestry effect, then applying them to animal silhouettes and printing to 100% cotton canvas sheets.
   We've also been experimenting with different textured inkjet paper - testing how they take ink, how pigments come out.
   Our favourite at the moment is Bockingford watercolour inkjet paper. It has a lovely look to it and takes colours beautifully.

Watercolour (inkjet), 100% cotton canvas and textured inkjet papers

100% Cotton Canvas

Cottage Chic Designs Printed to Canvas

Fabric effect flowers printed to 100% Cotton Canvas

Purple Iris on 100% Cotton Canvas

Digital Watercolour of British Butterflies

Comma Butterfly
Digital Watercolour printed to Bockingford
Watercolour Inkjet Paper

Peacock Butterfly
Digital Watercolour

Tortoiseshell Butterfly
Digital Watercolour

Fairy Tale Pink and Blue

I've been playing light.

My aim, when I download my images from camera to laptop, is to create art.
Lens flare in just the right place can add pizazz to an image. Enhanced bokeh gives a magical sparkle. So I took a batch of photographs I had captured last summer - butterflies and flowers, some taken on a very dull day - and played, first with the colour, reducing them all to black and white (with just a hint of pink and blue), and then I threw on a spattering of colours and lights. The result, I think, gives a very subtle and dreamy, almost fairy tale feel.
   These images are available in the Fairytale section at BamalamPhotography on Etsy, as Instant Downloads. Each high resolution image can be printed at home, to create feminine wall art, or for craft, card making and scrapbooking. They also make lovely desktop backgrounds.
   I will soon be adding two new sections to the BamalamCreations shop, offering many of my prints on canvas and pillow covers.
  Look out for the images below on heart shaped pillows.

Bamalam Photography - My Second Etsy Shop

I have recently opened a second Etsy shop – this one specifically for my art and photography. 

   The idea for this new shop was born of my own love of crafting and creating, and for that reason will feature mostly downloadable images. I love to tinker with photography. Although I do find it very satisfying to hold a camera in my hands (and there is rarely a time when my camera is not very close by me) the fun, for me, really begins when I open my newly taken images into Photoshop. A sense of adventure overtakes me. I love to manipulate; to warp; to create art; I can happily spend hours searching for interesting stock images to use as backgrounds or overlays; trying out new textures and tinkering with colour.

From your own desktop and printer you can do so many things: whether simply printing an image to frame on your wall, creating marvellous collages or posters and cards for Halloween, Christmas and birthdays. Personalization is the key to creativity.

But often, finding just the right texture is harder than it would seem. So I began scanning and creating my own. There was a time when only paper, documents and old prints went into my scanner (it was underused and neglected) But now? Feathers, leaves, sticks, fabrics, seed heads… My scanner is perhaps no longer as clean as it should be – but I'm having fun with it so I don’t see it matters. 

It will take me a while to stock up my new shop. I would like to fill it with a wide variety of images and downloads: from pretty pastel papers, to gothic backgrounds; vivid colour images, to moody monochromes. And of course, as ever, the marketing is very time consuming. I have very little time on my hands now that I am running two shops, but, hey! It keeps me out of mischief.

Charms - How do you like to wear yours?

I have been making a whole bunch of different types of charms lately: little lightweight charms on lanyards for cell/mobile/iphones; Tibetan silver and gemstone for zipper pulls or bag and purse charms. Some are very
small, some are extra long, but I was wondering which type of charms you like best.
   Personally I'm a bag charm girl. I have a mobile phone as old as Noah, and the last thing I want to do is decorate it! But bags are a love of mine, and bags deserve jewelry. I would collect charms, if I could. In fact, if I didn't have such self control, I would probably keep every charm that I make!

My favourites at the moment must be these adorable little owls.

More of my charms can be viewed in my Etsy shop. 

The lovely thing about a charm is that you can do almost anything with it, as regards to making as well as wearing. They can be as simple or elaborate as you like. Cheap and cheerful with a few colourful acrylic beads, or dressed up by adding chain, ribbon and semi precious gemstone; hung on phones, bags and purses, or dangled from zips and belts.

I really would like to know how you wear yours...

Colors of Fall. Harvest Calls.

Although the mornings turn a little cooler , the evenings a little darker and the wind acquires a certain bite, fall seems, to me, altogether a season of warmth. Every where you look nature is taking on a warmer tone. The sun is low in the sky. Harvest radiates gold. Orange prevails. Pumpkins glow. Leaves darken and turn a stunning range of hues, from pale yellow through to dark burnt red.
  Inspiration is all around - for the photographer; the crafter; the jewelry designer. Shapes. Colours. Textures.
   As always, I am inspired by nature. But I am not the only one.

  Jennifer Hawkins of Grey Girl Designs  has created a fabulous treasury of finds on Etsy inspired by Autumn called Colors of fall.  Here are just a few.

Enjoy.

~cherie~

Greeting Card by overthefenceart

Leaf pin by LunaEssence

Photography by TorriPhoto

Felted Ring by katinytis

Autumn Light print by aprilbernphoto

Orange Poppy  Wreath by LeatherandRoses

Leaf pendant necklace by BamalamCreations

Miniature leather books by RilegatoaMano