It's amazing how new Art materials can influence and revitalise the direction of your work. For me, new Art materials mean two things: Play and Experimentation.

For my birthday last week, my son and husband gifted me with an inspiring haul of stencils, paint, medium and glitter (and this fantastic ring set from Aloha Gaia). I was literally itching to us them!

As soon as I had the chance, I began with the stencils, some good quality foam brushes and some green-blue background paintings I'd previously created. I loosely mixed up some gorgeous red-hot pink shades and began stencilling them onto the paper with a foam brush. This always takes a bit of trial and error at first to get the consistency and technique right! I found dabbing the foam brush onto a cloth every now and again keeps the paint a nice, wet-dry consistency. Yummo!

(Check out the newly finished set-of-four Artworks below HERE)

Once I became officially hooked, I played with the stencils on some black paper too, to see the effects. Pretty striking! These will be great to chop up into shapes and incorporate into my future paintings with gel medium. Mmm, Red + Black awesomeness.

Here is another new painting I'm working on, inspired by CHAKRA stencils I bought online from Lulu Art. I began the background at my last Paint Night and reworked it with some yummy new layers of stencils, hot pink glazes and the gorgeous super-fine glitter from my birthday haul.

It feels so lovely to have this secret layer of family love within this painting.

Maybe one day I'll create my own range of stencils using my logo Spirit Designs ...?! These would certainly add another deeper and authentic layer to my work (and maybe inspire others too!) 

So anyhow, I'll leave you with a few other recent Art fetishes, below. Eye candy, am I right?!

Admittedly, I have a Paint Pen fetish. Opaque colour in a pen? Yes please!

I am completely IN LOVE with the Golden brand of neon paints. They go on so thick and buttery, unlike other cheaper transparent neon paints. They do come with a health warning, though! (I buy mine HERE)

I hadn't bought into the adult colouring book fad - until today. When I saw this geometry one at the local newsagents, I immediately imagined making my own collage sheets! So my son and I painted our afternoon away together ... him painting 'The Avengers' and me, pretty patterns.

Here's my first colouring page, using rich watercolours and paint pens. These will look amazing chopped into leaves and shapes to incorporate into my paintings! Stay tuned.

All my Love,

Chrissy x

If you'd love to Join my next Paint Night on 7th November in Brighton, Brisbane, CLICK HERE