Jessie Lilac Blog

I've been busy making daily paintings and here are a few of my most recent ones. I also have some finished paintings for sale listed in my Etsy shop but more of that later. Sometimes it's nice to have a break and a few days ago we visited Tintinhull in Somerset. The house is very beautiful and because of its smaller scale than most National trust properties, very homely too.  The view from the house into the garden is very pretty. It's lovely to wander around the garden, arranged like little rooms that link one to another.  A feast for the eyes from the beautiful and delicately coloured pale lemon tulips and hyacinths  ♥   ♥ and the Heuchera Plum Royale. (I had to Google that!)  😉 How very perfect don't you think? A very pretty house and garden. So now I'd like to show you my newest paintings. This one above is called Marina and is painted on 300gsm (140lb) watercolour paper with inks. I've listed it in my Et...

So autumn is finally here. I love the sunshine this time of year, the long shadows and low magical sunlight. Having said that, every year I try to resist the fact that summer is over, wanting the season to stretch as long as it can but this year I'm making new plans for my shop and retocking it with lots of new items! I've been asked many times if I have prints available from my paintings so I thought it was about time I stocked up the shop with oodles of them!  Each one is printed on Epsom archival matte photographic paper and the colours are clear and bright, hard to tell them from the originals. Each one is printed A4 size and have a white border to make framing easy. Please click here to take you to the print section of my Etsy shop. ~ There are lots to choose from! Now September has started, I'm starting to work on bigger paintings again, playing with paint and colours. I shall be back soon to show you my progress. See you then! xx

 Hello, I expect you're getting busier by the day in the lead up to christmas! If you have a little moment to spare amongst the madness, I'd like to show you my latest watercolour painting that I'm calling 'Queen Neptune'. She's available here if you'd like to see the details. (crop) (crop)  Could I have been inspired by my christmas fairy as I painted this? Or maybe by my recent visits to the sea? ..both probably! My Etsy shop will be closed this Wednesday evening,(17th December) for the christmas holidays and I'll reopen on January 1st.  I managed to squeeze in one last christmassy painting! This one is called 'Chance Meeting'. It's 10 x 8 and £30 (worldwide shipping, all currencies accepted.) If you'd like to see the details, please click here . I'll be back here soon, meanwhile, enjoy the run up to christmas! xx

Before I went away on holiday, I did this sketch (above) of a gypsy caravan. They're so pretty aren't they?  The caravan on display at Bristol City Museum Since I was tiny I would go to the city museum and look in wonder at the caravan they had on display there, finding the inside so cosy and welcoming. Everything inside is so carefully designed and so clean and shiny. I used to love the cupboard at the back where the bed is, with decorated doors to keep the chill out.  Now I'm also intrigued how someone can have all their possessions inside such a tiny space but still make it feel so homely. I'm sure I remember being able to go inside it but maybe I did but wasn't supposed to! Nowadays you definitely can't go inside because they have glass across the door. Such a shame but I guess that's how they keep it from getting damaged with time. I thought it would be nice to make a painting with a gypsy caravan as part of my Mini Matted ...

Hi there! I'm back in studio action again from this week and I want to start by showing you a new section I have in my Etsy shop. :) It's called ' Mini Matted Paintings '. I decided that I'd like to make some more affordable artwork to sell so these are slightly smaller than my usual ones. I don't know about you, but I find that smaller artwork is more difficult to display on its own so to make these paintings more substantial, I've mounted (matted) each of them so that they're ready to either display as they are, or alternatively you can put the ready-matted painting into a glass frame too to hang on your wall! close-up showing matting (mount) I have 3 paintings in this size so far and as I make each one, I'll add it to this section . I'm in the middle of making another one right at this moment so stay tuned! x x

Hi there, lots have been happening in the world of Jessie Lilac this week. It's funny how there's a lull and then things happen all at once isn't it? First of all I want to tell you about a gallery near Bristol called Tinca Gallery that contacted me about my paintings. I went to visit them and it was the sort of gallery I love, the rooms were interesting shapes and very light and spacious, the work displayed was gorgeous and I was very thrilled when the lovely owners asked to have my paintings there! It's been a few months since I've been in an exhibition so some of the paintings that they liked were still on Etsy. I've taken them off there now and I've decided that my Etsy shop will be for my smaller works and my watercolours from now on. :) My other piece of exciting news is that I've been featured on the blog of Judy Darley, a local writer. She's written a lovely article about my work and I'm so happy that I was asked. Please ...

 Hi there, Do you remember at the end of my last post I was showing you my sketches of bees and told of my plans to make a painting about them? I've finished the painting and here it is in the very place of the garden where my inspiration came from! I'm calling it 'Beatrice and Her Bees' and it's now listed in my  Etsy shop .  :) I enjoyed drawing the little bees and the details on the basketware. I could have gone on adding details for ever but something told me it was time to stop and to move on to a new painting. :) The new painting will have feathers. It'll be a bit like this sketch. I'll see you soon with an update! xx

First of all can I say a massive thankyou to all of you that have 'liked' my page on Facebook. This picture above was an illustration I did a while ago and it seemed so fitting to celebrate the occasion. (I added the text afterwards!) Thankyou to my bloggie friends too! I really enjoy your visits and your comments here. Do you remember the painting I was working on in  my previous post ? I've now finished it and given it a layer of varnish to protect the surface. It's now ready in waiting for its next adventure. I hope someone would like to buy it and give it a new home. :) (The copyright watermark won't appear on the actual painting.) I love to look at people's houses and imagine what it would be like to live there. I do admire pretty gardens too and wish the magic garden fairy would do all my gardening for me, well maybe not all of it because I like to do a little bit of planting when I'm on the mood but I could do with some help if ...

'Show Your Soul',  watercolour and acrylic ink on paper. One of the most calming and powerful actions you can do to intervene in a stormy world is to stand up and show your soul. ( Clarissa Pinkola Estes ) It was a stormy morning when I painted this picture today. I tried to get a feeling of calm and centredness (is that a word?!) The colours are cool blues and greens and maybe more reminiscent of a summer's day than a November one but I felt drawn to using soothing greens on this blustery day. This painting is approximately 6 x 8ins, and will be available to buy in my Etsy shop. Please click here to see more details. You can't have my vases though! ;)

Stripey Grey Cat Illustration Friday this week is the word 'Tree' and as trees are one of my favourite subjects I had a lot of fun making this painting! I made some more ACEOs with cats and here they are.. Love Cat Shy Cat Each of these are ACEO size,   2.5 x 3.5ins. (that's 64mm by 89mm) and are painted on strong watercolour paper ready to frame as a picture for your wall or for your ACEO collection.   You can click on each of the titles to take you to the details of the paintings. Have a lovely weekend! :)

Can you spot the owl? This is the scene of my youngest daughter's bedroom this morning. She having 5 friends over tonight for a sleepover. I am so brave. Meanwhile I've been having fun making new owl ACEOS. You've already seen the middle one but let me introduce you to the others. pretty owl Two owls I've just listed them in my Etsy shop and I've painted them on strong acid-free watercolour paper with acrylic inks. They're $10 each (approx. £6.43 each.) Click on each of the titles to take you to their details. Thankyou for looking! I hope there's an owl that you like and if cats are more your thing then you'll like my next batch. It's going to be more cats soon! :)