A winning commission

A few months ago I did a big giveaway on here - thank you again to all who entered, you can read about the runner's up here.  Jodi of 'Art by Wiley' won the big prize of a custom illustration - YAY!

We started off with Jodi letting me know that she wanted the illustration to be of her house in Melbourne, Australia and was kind enough to take photos for me from all angles (having to take these myself would of been a bit pricey!).  I got going with my sketchy rough draft, following a few pointers from Jodi of key pieces that should be included.  I then got way-laid with commissions to do which you can see here and here - Jodi, you were so understanding, thank you!  And finally, I got on with painting and sharing my progress with Jodi.  This was one of the best kind of commissions that I get.  I absolutely love it when people want me to do a piece for them, they let me know what they would like it of, but other than that they are happy to see me interpret it as I like.

The Wiley's have 3 lovely chickens too which got pride of place in their garden.  This illustration arrived safely in Melbourne and is now happy in it's new home!

Drum roll please...!

HURRAH!

Thank you all for your entries, your RT's (re-tweets) on Twitter, the shout outs, passing it on, spreading the word...etc etc etc.  I really appreciate it.  My little online shop has been a bit 'bish bash bosh' since I first opened it, and to be honest I've found it hard to get people to let me know what they think.

Therefore, I have loved reading your valid points you've shared with me and look forward to putting it all into action.  Thankfully a lot of the points boil down to the same thing,.  Otherwise I would have 15+ different areas to work on within one little shop and that may of broken me (I would of got there eventually of course!) but two main issues, is what I've summed up and that's great.

I am proud to announce the winners - woohoo!

The grand winner is Jodi of Art by Wiley.

My lovely runner up's are Juliet of 'The Crafty Green Poet', Audra of 'Audra James' and Jasmin of 'A Couple of Photos'.

I'll be working closely with Jodi to complete the illustration she wants and the runners up will be sent goodie bags in the post this week.  One of which will contain a lovely necklace by Naida Crystal.

I was going to share with you all what I put in the goody bags but got so excited with my new packaging that I completely forgot to take photos - drat! 

Give Away

Thats right, you heard me correctly!

I am giving you the chance to win an illustration by me commissioned by yourself.  An A4 illustration of your choice, a complete one of a kind illustration specially for you.  I will use watercolours and add fine line detail, which is the style I tend to opt for when illustrating.  I'll allow a border of paper round the edge to make framing easier.

Some examples of past commissions I've done

In order to enter, I'm asking that you visit my Etsy shop and give me some feedback.  Now.  This doesn't mean that you have to buy something, (although that would be nice if you are tempted).  It means that, I have recently added new products, experimented with the photography and altered my postage costs and therefore would love to hear what you, my lovely customers / fellow illustrators / crafty folk / friends / family, think of it all.

Ideas for you customisable illustration:

• Home / House
• Favourite city
• Garden
• Invitation
• Favourite cafe/shop
• Sweets / Chocolate
• Logo
• Favourite plant
• Pet
• A trinket
• Favourite shoes / bag
• Or you might just like to tell me a few things that you like and see what I come up with!

Please follow this link: www.etsy.com/shop/charlottevallance

And either leave your thoughts in a comment below here, email me, send a message via Etsy (there is a link to 'contact me' on my page) and of course let me know how you would like to be contacted if you won!

I'd love to hear what you think of my photos, the postage costs and the actual items for sale.  If you think something needs improving, let me know!

After all the entries have been placed in a hat I shall select one lucky winner and three runners up.  If you are a runner up, I'll be sending you a little goody bag :-) ppppst I've just had confirmation of a piece of Naida Crystal Jewellery to be in the runner up prizes...you can see her work here: www.etsy.com/shop/naidacrystal

So a total of 4 prizes to be won, you have just under 3 weeks to enter and closing date is the 22nd August at 8pm (UK time).

Most importantly, anyone can enter!

Good luck

X

Ohh Deer - Stuck on Repeat

www.OhhDeer.com

'Stuck on Repeat'

'Repetition in the Everyday'

This was my entry for Ohh Deer's competition for a design that would be printed on notebooks and sold in their online shop :-) There were some great entries, unfortunately mine didn't get picked, but if you want it as a notebook anyway then let me know!

I enjoyed doing a bit of collage with the kites.  They make me think of windy summers on the beach in England, so this design is almost a mix of summer and winter.  As blue skies make me think of summer (hence the kites) but it was definitely a cold winter day when I was illustrating this.

Thanks for looking!
X

Extra Special Sweetshop Giveaway!

Happy January! 

I've had a good start to the new year, January has flown by so fast, and I've received lovely, encouraging feedback.  It's come from every direction, from friends & family to fans & newly made illustrator friends - Thank you!  I am therefore going to now give something back to you.  As you've all seen recently I've been working on a range of illustrations for my local sweet shop aka 'Old Amersham Sweet Shop'. It's the loveliest little shop full of everyones favourites, which you can get in a perfect sized portion of 100g in a pink striped bag-just the way it should be!

Anyone can take part, old friends and new alike.  Maybe you entered the last competition I did?  You can see the goodies Laura won in that here.  In order to be entered all you have to do is sign up to receive my email newsletter.  Yes thats right, you don't have to follow me on Twitter to make sure you don't miss out on something I've been up to!  Genius?  I think so :-)  I send a newsletter out about once a month, maybe two if there is quite a bit happening.  Please leave a comment on this blog post to let me know when you've done this.  And please in your comment let me know which is your favourite painting!

Follow this link to be taken to the form to sign up:

NEWSLETTER

The competition shall again be judged by my hat :-) and the winner shall receive the illustration they love the most out of the 5 on this blog post.

You have a little over a week to join in and sign up :-) I shall be picking a name out of my hat next weekend, on Saturday 11th February. 

The classic original 'Great British Lolly-pop'

'Life is like a box of chocolates'

'Love Heart'

Or I think in America they're 'Double Hearts'?!

'Lucky Dip'

'Love Heart Lolly-pop'

No Chocolate in 2011

WAY WAY WAY WAY WAY back in September 2011, Laura Manfre decided to give away a BESPOKE ILLUSTRATION by her lovely self.  All that was asked of entrants was to say what they would like and why, and an entry would be selected at random as the winner.  I absolutely fell in love with her illustrations, they are bright, gorgeous, almost edible, cute and amazing works of art!

Therefore, I was over the moon when I won!  You can see the original post on her blog here, and as well as seeing the lovely finished illustration in this post in it's new home, you can see the post Laura wrote about it here.

The subject of the illustration came about because myself and my sister Katie gave up chocolate for 2011 - yes you read that right, we did NOT eat CHOCOLATE for the WHOLE OF 2011!  I had been thinking about getting something for us to remember this year by and Laura's competition came along and I thought, great idea!  So I asked if Laura would do an illustration to celebrate all the chocolately things that Katie loved.  I think the banner was Laura's idea :-) such a great illustration, it's up in our studio area where we have our desks to inspire us everyday!

Here are also a few photos of pieces i've managed to get/swipe up from Laura's Etsy shop,  she always includes great cards as a compliment slip as well which are lovely to have dotted around my room!  You can visit her website here, and you can follow her on Twitter here.  Which you should do as she's lovely and you often get to see little previews of pieces she's working on.

Thank you Laura!

And the winner is....!

Again, a HUGE thank you to everyone who participated in my little competition :-)  I'm so grateful for you all taking the time to enter, it gives me lovely feedback so I can see how I'm doing, it's a bit of fun, and someone comes out a winner!  That lucky lady was Laura Bertinelli!  Congratulations Laura (@la_bertinelli), and as you know your winning prize went into the post just before Christmas so I hope it reaches you soon (and unharmed!).

As I stated in the original post, I chose the winner the lovely old fashioned way of putting everyones names in a hat and picking one out :-)  It was definitely a fun way to do it!

We'll have to wait to hear from Laura to find out what was in her winning package...!

Follow my blog to find out about my next competition/giveaway!  You can also sign up to receive my newsletter which I send out when something interesting has been happening.

Thank you

X