Illusio Creative: Art | Design | Photography by Lorrie Whittington

Illusio Creative Art Shop – open for business!

Lorrie — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 09:00:08 +0000

Yep, today my Art Shop all newly rebuilt on WordPress and using a tried and tested eCommerce theme goes LIVE. I have tested it thoroughly, and it all looks pretty good. But as always I rely on my customers to let me know if there is a problem. Over the next few days I will be listing new things, postcards, one or two drawings and little paintings.

To inaugurate my new shop, my first five new customers get a little something extra in their package. :)

So, go check out ILUSIO CREATIVE ART SHOP!!!

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Artists Feature Friday

Lorrie — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 23:42:08 +0000

Been a couple of weeks or so since I did a Friday Feature…so here a wee one!

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New Ideas + #7/52- Doodle a Week Project

Lorrie — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 12:22:57 +0000

In the last few weeks due to family sickness, ergo Orla then Luke, then Orla, then me and so on and on, very little drawing has been achieved, or work of any kind come to that. Plush which I have been rebuilding my Art Shop on a new platform.

However, this week I have managed a bit of sketchbook stuff, and below is one of them. This is intended as a basis for some new ideas for development, and is also my submission for the 52 Week Doodle project on Flickr.

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Winters Garden

Lorrie — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 22:03:45 +0000

Taken today in my friends garden today. Messed around with the flower shots in photoshop, and used a couple of vintage ‘actions’ I had downloaded from deviantART. I was so thrilled to see the Snowdrops as I thought I had missed them altogether this winter. But, there they were under the oak tree. I am going to go back with a different lens and take some macro shots this weekend. Thank you Nicky x

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Wordless Wednesday

Lorrie — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 21:34:45 +0000

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Illusio Creative Art Shop: Sneak Peek!

Lorrie — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 10:02:30 +0000

Things have been a bit quiet here lately I know. No Mood Board, Artist Features, Wordless Wednesday, or new art, etc. Reasons are thus. My little girl was ill, then my husband was ill, now I am ill!!! But also, I have been rebuilding my Art Shop on a new platform. I was running it on Drupal. Which was fine, but to be honest involved too much drilling down, module updates that involved ftp, which were clunky, and I kept forgetting how to do stuff with it. I decided therefore to buy a good, and well tested e-commerce theme for WordPress and install WP in my shop directory and do a full rebuild. It’s going very well and the shop should be going live in a few days. I will be listing lots of new postcards, am working on some small illustrations on Khadi paper, and a line of ‘Letter Art’ prints. So, here is a sneak peak of how it looks so far (click on the thumbnail for full size).

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February Desktop Calendar – 2012: Valentine Kiss

Lorrie — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 16:07:36 +0000

Better late than never, a very, very pink and girly Valentine Desktop wallpaper for February. I originally made this a few years ago, and have just added the February Calendar and extended the size. I do have a blue version if anyone is interested. :)

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WIPS: Lino Cutting

Lorrie — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:08:37 +0000

Due to design commitments, family life, sick children, CCN, tax returns to be submitted etc, it’s been quiet here lately, and little time for personal art projects, like my my water colour paintings, lino cutting, my mood cubes and many other projects. However, I have made a firm resolve that despite all these pressing demands, I will make time for my own stuff shit or bust!

So, to that end…I have been working on my latest lino cut this morning. Now, firstly…it’s been a while. I had to abandon the last piece I was working on as I over cut basically, and ruined it. I may try and rescue it at some point when I have time. This is what I am working at the moment, and decided to base this design on one of my leaf illustrations, and keep it as simple as possible. As you can see I am using the bench hook my husband made me, which is brilliant. This was his own design, and he knocked it up in an afternoon, and it’s perfect. I can cut away safely without putting my fingers in any danger.

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Monday Mood Board: Crimson

Lorrie — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:51:14 +0000

My new thing starting this week, a mood board. A montage of photography and art. This week, Crimson. The word comes from the Spanish ‘cremesin’ and the Arabic ‘qirmizi’. The dye was made originally from an insect found in the Mediterranean. Crimson is the colour of passion, portents, the riqsque, liturgical, danger and joy. Too much an assault on the eye, a dash is a splash of excitement.

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Inspiration…

Lorrie — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 01:17:51 +0000

Comes in many forms and from many places. One of my artistic inspirations comes from a source that I have returned to many times and in fact has inspired me since I was a little girl, and that is the art and design of both Japan and China. I have been collecting Chinese and Japanese art, porcelain, and embroidered silks since I was a young girl. I visit the Chinese and Japanese permanent exhibitions at the V&A on a regular basis and have been doing so for years, and I own many, many books on the art of both cultures. So, it’s no surprise therefore that I would revisit those themes and motifs periodically.

Recently having purchased new water colour paints, it was a natural progression that I would get out my books on traditional Japanese and Chinese art and see what I came up with. The style and motifs of traditional Japanese art lend themselves very naturally to a rendering in water colours. My last water colour piece and this one take their inspiration from specifically Japanese art. This work in progress is based on an 18th century silk weave wall hanging featuring many of the traditional and symbolic motifs of Japanese art; water, peacocks, parsley etc. I won’t go into a lengthy explanation of why I like this particular art form, or why it inspires me, because in truth, it speaks for itself, and anyone familiar with traditional Japanese and Chinese art will understand completely. How could fail to be impressed and taken over by the deceptive simplicity, beauty and symmetry of Japanese art.

Sadly, I was hoping to have this finished by now, but due to my little girl being ill, I have not spent much time in my studio this week, and most of my painting has been done at night by the light of lamps (hence the glow). However, I plan to finish this by the end of the week. This and my recent flowers painting are just the start of what will be an ongoing series of water colour pieces. Originals and prints will be available to buy.

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