About Me

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Hi, My name is Irene Owens. My greatest passion in life is Art. I love drawing portraits, painting whimsical pictures and illustrating for children. I also collect children's books and hope to one day get one of my own picture books published. I have a shop on Etsy where I sell my prints, hand painted pendants and mirrors. In this blog you will find artists that inspire me, brilliant handmade creations and my own art. I hope you enjoy my posts.

Saturday 31 December 2011

Igor Oleynikov

When I grow up, I want to be able to illustrate like Igor Oleynikov......










Aren't his paintings amazing?

Friday 30 December 2011

Steve Hanks


When I first saw paintings by Steve Hanks I couldn't believe such beauty could be created with watercolor. When I think of watercolor paintings, lose simplistic images come to mind. These, however, are so rich in detail and color! Truly amazing.








Baby Nursery Mirror "Looking into Squirrels House"

I have started making cute hand painted mirrors for decorating nurseries and children's rooms.

'Looking into the Squirrels House' features an adorable squirrel enjoying a lovely cup of acorn tea.

This is a one of a kind hand crafted mirror, nobody else will have a mirror like it!

Available in my Etsy shop  TinyRed




Thursday 29 December 2011

Quentin Gréban

Every time I look at illustrations by Quentin Gréban I feel like panting with watercolor. Aren't they lovely? :)










Wednesday 28 December 2011

Michael Sowa

Michael Sowa is one of my favorite artists. His paintings are whimsical, surreal and so cute!









From Dreams



In my dream I had a tiny frog and he died suddenly. I was looking at him lying at the bottom of the tank and then I saw a fish quickly pick the frog up, hold it gently by the throat. She was pushing the frog upwards, I could feel her panic, as if I was that fish. She thought that the frog was sick and needed air, she didn't know that he was dead, but I did.
I don't remember what happened later, maybe she did manage to save him. I'd like to think so.

Acrylics on watercolor paper. A print is available in my Etsy shop TinyRed

Tuesday 27 December 2011

Kate Leiper

Breathtakingly wonderful paintings by Scottish artist Kate Leiper










Kate's website http://www.kateleiper.co.uk

A Girl and Her Peacock



She thought he was an enchanted prince but he turned out to be just a peacock....

Acrylics on watercolor paper. Print is available in my Etsy shop TinyRed

Nicoletta Ceccoli, weird and wonderful

Italian illustrator Nicoletta Ceccoli holds a special place in my heart. I own seven books with her illustrations (and hope to buy more) and I often indulge myself with an evening in bed flicking through page after page of her gorgeous art.

Nicoletta uses my favourite medium - acrylics, she also combines acrylics with Photoshop and clay sculptures.

She paints eerie girls with pale skin and huge unsmiling eyes, like these....






.... and she also does incredibly warm and imaginative illustrations for children, like these....