Weekend project no2 update

Hi everyone!

I hope you had a wonderful long Easter weekend. I was blessed with a four day vacation so I finished my latest watercolor for the upcoming craft shows.

Here is as promised the evolution of the artwork as well as the final product. I used some Opera Pink as the dominant color as well as a deep black India Ink to make the shades of pink pop out more. I really like the flow in the black ink, and I hope that you like the final results as well! :) A 90lbs paper was just enough to contain the amount of water required for this piece. I enjoyed creating a more fluid subject and adding a few precise touches to define the flower. How about you? What do you love about this watercolor? 

I also jumped on my camera last weekend and took out my Swarovki earring out for a photoshoot. We had real bad weather since the beginning of April, but this week, the sun is up and bright and it is such a pleasure! I'm hoping to create some more earring and take advantage of the beautiful days strike that we seem to be having. You will find some bright sunny yellow, feminine dark blues and vivid pink oranges crystals added to the new collection.

I haven't been quite as active in the past few days as I took two days to celebrate my birthday with my friends and my family.
No worries though, I still have 2 more new Berry necklaces in beautiful shades of green to be listed. And I will be back with another watercolor post as I'm missing one more new artwork to submit to the fairs.

I hope you are looking forward to the next artwork post! :)
On this everyone, have a wonderful day!
*M*

Weekend project 2

Hi everyone!

I hope you had all a marvelous week and enjoyed the Spring 2015 at Kirameku post! As you have read, it has been quite busy few days and after a long awaited Berry Necklace photoshoot, I decided last weekend to take two days off and retreat to a beautiful chalet in Magog to enjoy a few hours of peace and painting.

Why watercolours at this time of year and no more Berries? It's quite simple : the craft shows submissions for 2015 are slowly starting to fill my inbox. I have enough new Berry jewelry to show for these events and simply not enough new illustrations. So I packed my watercolors and my various inks in my luggage and hop, here I went.

No worries, I still have many new ideas for Kirameku's craft shows in 2015; but as our moving day is getting nearer every week, I thought it best to finish the projects I had already started before launching some new R&D.

But, wait a minute you might say; you spoke of another watercolour project a few posts ago, how did this one turned out? Well, my previous watercolor idea of fiery anemones bouquet was a total flop...! Despite all my efforts, the paper I had in stock could not carry the effects I had in mind. I have already mentioned the amazing Fabriano watercolor blocs on a previous post and as I resisted the temptation of buying a new bloc, I realized soon enough that my 90lbs cold press Winsor & Newton paper was not up to this anemone task.

Kirameku's latest illustration in progress, a mix of inks and watercolours.

On this, I decided to try a different approach and paint orchids with a mix of ink and watercolora. I painted for most of Saturday afternoon, also you can see the the sun slowly coming down on my artwork on the pictures. As the sun left to rest, so did my paintbrushes. The biggest part of this mixed media artwork was done in the space of a few hours and I'm counting on this Easter Holiday to be able to add the finishing touches to it! :) 

On this everyone I hope you have a great long weekend and I'll be back soon with some more updates and necklaces! :) Happy Easter to all! :)
*M*

I can't stop painting!

Hi everyone!

I hope you all had a great week! Here we had very very cold days again and at minus 25 (or sometimes lower...!) Let me tell you that I can't wait for spring to get here...! I'm so glad the two days have been around minus 10, it is truly a relief! Feels like my body and mind are finally warming up and slowly combing back to their normal pace.

The cold temperatures got me reminiscing about my last trip to Mexico, with it's hot sun, palm trees and turquoise sea. It inspired me to make a Caribbean Blue Berry Ring, which you can see here in exclusivity! :) I believe the gorgeous transparency of the glass translates perfectly the depth of the Atlantic ocean that I first witnessed while we were landing in Mexico. I hope it brings a bit of heat in your harsh winter as well!

The lovely Caribbean Blue Berry Ring that will be added soon to Kirameku's Etsy store! :)

But I have a confession to make... These past few days, my mind slips away from my jewelry and always comes back to painting ever since I created my latest artwork.  I would come home from work and put the final touches on my watercolor painting. I wasn't staying very long in my atelier but I went almost everyday and took my time mixing and playing with colors. I believe I was simply away too long from my first love (painting that is). It's like it's calling me whenever I think of home, or get across my room and see the paintbrushes set in their tidy case, waiting for me to pick them up and bring them back to life. I was cleaning my art drawers last weekend and I fell on 5 miniature canvases I had completely forgotten about. Those small white square are speaking to me of colorful promises and hidden gems, but not clearly enough for me to go back to sketching just yet.

Right now my mind is filled with purples, oranges and red as I want to paint an anemone bouquet with watercolors, and on a bigger size than my latest artwork. I would love to make it a 9x12 inches or about, and have a soft blue and turquoise background to make the fiery hues pop out. My basic sketch is done, I'll be transferring it to my watercolor paper probably tonight, unless I decide to go buy a larger Fabriano watercolor bloc - they are so wonderful to work with but unfortunately quite expensive. I'm still hesitant to purchase some things since we are going to move in a few months, but the gorgeous 100% cotton Fabriano paper is such a pleasure to work with...!
I promise I'll keep you posted and will be back with  pictures! :) Meanwhile, what subject would you like me to paint next? :)
* M *

Weekend project

Hi everyone! :)

I apologize if things have been slow these past few weeks, I have been stuck in both personal issues and managed to catch a nasty cold that left me in bed for days.

Health is coming back slowly but surely - thank God - and I was able to shoot a few new Berry rings that I had created back in January and start editing and posting them on my Etsy store.

My energy levels are still a bit low so I focused this weekend on a more relaxed project and picked up my paintbrushes and started this wonderful watercolour. The artwork is almost done, I still have a few touch ups to make here and there, but this painting was made for my craft shows for 2015. I'm still planning to make 3 shows this year, although I have 1 or 2 shows that I have yet to decide where to apply.

My latest watercolour piece, with highlights of wonderful metallic inks!

My dilemma is mostly a question of timing as me and my wonderful boyfriend will move to a bigger apartment this year. I have many ideas in mind, and that would mean new displays and all, but I would rather get those projects started once we've moved and settled in. We have many reasons for looking for a bigger place, but the most exciting one is that we are looking for an extra room to be converted in a real atelier...!! I'm so excited and I don't even know where to start on how to organize it and how to make it my own, but I have to remind myself first, we have to find the venue. Then I can dream about turquoise walls and white shelves ;)

On this everyone it will be a busy next week scouting apartments but no worries I'll keep you all updated. And since I don't have any new updates for Kirameku, I decided to not send a newsletter for February.
Have a great week guys!

Projects countdown - July

Hi everyone!

I hope you are enjoying your week! Here in Montreal we are having a second heat wave and let me tell you that it is abnormally hot at Kirameku headquarters.

Last weekend though we escaped the heat and went picking up raspberries and blueberries in a field. And like an idiot I forgot to bring my phone with me and take pictures of the lovely scenery... My apologies everyone, I'm working hard to always think about my smart phone and sending you news on the spot. But let me tell you the freezer is full of yummy berries to keep me inspired and healthy until next summer.

That being said, I promised you a final picture of the geisha artwork and I think you guys have waited long enough! So here she is! Isn't she beautiful? I'm really happy to see how she turned out even with the minimum of colors involved in that artwork.

That else does Kirameku has on it's plate? An actual lot! I've ordered some paper samples as I want to find a special way to make unique gift tags for all my Christmas orders. I've also been translating - slowly but surely - my entire Etsy shop in French. Between working full time, making new items and working on my future craft shows I hope to have translated all 75 items by November, as the shop policies and about page are finally finished.

I'm also working on special items for my craft shows and I'm currently shopping for some new colors. This part is always tricky since there's always soooo many lovely colors and shades but I really must narrow down my choices otherwise I would end up buying way too much. If ever you'd like to see something added at Kirameku, now is the time to make your special requests! :)

I'll leave you on this new idea I had at the end of last year. Kirameku wants to support small businesses as well and has added a supplier that handmades all her glass drops. Can you guess which berries in our limited editions are made with her drops? :)

On this everyone, I have to run. I hope you'll all have a lovely night and weekend! :)

*M*

The show is on...! :)

Hi everyone!

I hope you all had a marvelous week. Here I've been working hard to get everything ready for this Saturdays craft fair…! I had my marvellous stamps from Baisimu just on time to make my authetification certificates for my artworks yay! I'm also hoping to finish my geisha piece soon and show you final result! :) But with the sudden heatwave hitting Montreal these past few days, I'm scared to ruin the paper with all that humidity! Hopefully, they are saying that tomorrow will be getting back to normal. *Fingers crossed*

I don't know if you guys would like to have a post about how to prepare for a craft show? I didn't do a lot of them but I've traveled around a lot and had some great and bad experience. What's new at this fair is that it will be Kirameku first summer fair and I'm super excited!! :)  I have to go fetch my banner from vista print at the post office and I can't wait to see what it will look like! Creating something on your computer is sooo different than seeing it printed! For sure I will let you guys know about my feedback on my banner as it is my first time doing business with vista print. Thanks to the recommendation of my follow Etsians, I was able to have a quite large banner printed and that fitted my budget. I promise I will be back with some pictures too!

But meanwhile, here is a photo of the beautiful peonies of one of my neighbours. I had to post it, peonies are so gorgeous!

To sum it up….! If you have nothing planned for the week-end or if you are curious and want to meet me in person, I will be more than happy to have you visit my table at the Venise-en-Quebec Samedis Artisans fair, this upcoming Saturday, from 10 am to 5pm. We'll be at the Church on 151, 14e Avenue ouest, inside if it rains, and outside if it's bright and shiny - and which is the original plan.
I hope I will meet many of you dear readers! :D

It is quite late up here and I'll try to catch some sleep despite the 34 degrees in our headquarters….
On this everyone, have a great night and I'll keep you posted on my social medias for those of you who can't attend this fair. Make sure to follow us on Twitter and Facebook to get all the behind the scenes goodies! :)

* M * 

Projects countdown

Hi everyone! :)

My apologies if you have seen a few ''test'' posts in the last  couple of days. I've unfortunately had issues with the blogaway app on my phone... I thought I had solve my problem switching to the blogaway app since I had so much technical problem with the blogger one. Well that's a bummer. In any cases, I'll try to solve this problem this week so I could be more active on this blog and update some more photos of Montreal ;)

Speaking of pictures, I promised you guys some photos of the photoshoot I had a couple weeks ago, well here they are! I had so much fun in that photoshoot! Do you like how it turned out? :)

Oh and, I don't know if you'd noticed, but that's the Coquette Dress dress from Fleet Collection that I'm wearing for the first part of the shoot! :) Love that dress! So comfortable and elegant!

And here's another shot, for your eyes only ;)

I'm sorry I haven't had enough time the last few days to edit all those gorgeous shots and put them online. My weeks were so full! The sweet Anna who won the The Stilettosaurus giveaway (congrats again dear! :) ) and I'm also working hard on my kiosque for the Samedis Artisans de Venise en Québec craft fair. Don't worry, I'm really not taking a vacation yet! I've been busy making some new models for the fair as well. I like for people who know my online shop to see some novelty and exclusivity whenever they stop by my table at a fair. I will list a brad new Berry ring tonight though. Didn't I promised you all some lovely shades of green? :)

I must admit it has been great on my eyes to take a break of my computer screen to focus more on manual things like drawing. You'll bappy to know that my geisha artwork is almost done! Yay! I've just got the flowers in her hair to finish up with a few touch ups and it will be all done! :) Here's where I'm at, I hope you like to see how it's coming along! :)

On this, I hope everyone had a great week! :) I'll be back very soon with the final results of the geisha artwork! :) Stay posted! And please, don't be shy and let me know how you like how the projects are coming along! :) 

* M * 

My travel Art kit

Hi everyone!

Summer is finally here, and so is vacation time! Yay! I'm actually planning a small trip with my amazing boyfriend, but for now I can't say more than we are still looking where to go. There are so many beautiful destinations, but we can only spare a few days for travelling this summer. We would hate to visit a place and only see a third of what it has to offer us...! If ever you have any suggestions for a 3-4 days trip, we would be more than happy to be inspired! :)

Speaking of inspiration, I hope I could inspire some of you with my recent artwork posts. I thought that with these posts and summer at our door, I would give you my list of materials whenever I'm on the go. I always find it fun to see what people bring with them on a trip, I always learn something from it! May it be ''that was a bad idea'' to ''This is genius…!'' 

So here's my list of art material when I'm travelling :

* Digital tablet - I have some pre-loaded reference pictures on my tablet in case I go somewhere with no internet connection, otherwise I browse on my extensive Pinterest account. I find this is way more practical to be able to switch from picture to picture. It also saves some trees since I don't have to print 10-20 images to be able to bring them with me. Oh and yes, I always use references whenever I'm creating artwork, may it be for proportions, shadows or colours.

Artwork in progress - part 2

Hi everyone!

I was almost able to publish this article with my phone, and I was so happy to be able to do so…! But seems like the Blogger app might not be the easiest and more efficient app to do so… So I'll complete this blog post on my computer because I do not with to delay any further this post…! I'm having so much fun creating this artwork, I wanted to share with you what I had done yesterday in my studio. We are finally having some bright, sunny days in Montreal this week, I can't what to open up the door of my atelier…! :D

Original artwork - All rights reserved Kirameku - do not use these image without permission

I also took a few pictures of my materials, thought it could be nice for you to see with what I'm creating those effects on paper. I'm using a special edition of Windsor & Newton water-colour paper in a cold press grain with my marvellous, high-quality Faber-Castell pencils.

On this, I hope you enjoy this artwork! :) I'll be back with more - and better - pictures soon!
Have a great day everyone!

* M *

Artwork : Work in progress

Hi everyone! : )

I hope you all had a great week! On my side, it was a very busy week as I've started a job at a new place and it's simply awesome! I'm so in love with this job…!  I'm just a bit sad that spring seems to have pack up his things and left of for a few days… We had a snowstorm here - yes, again… sight - and kindda crappy temperature all week. Hopefully, Spring will be back in April. I can't wait to open up the door to my balcony in my atelier and have some fresh air and sunlight flowing in.

I'm still cleaning up my atelier, but if you guys are curious, I could try and take come pictures once we'll have a bit of sun here in Montreal and my spring clean up will be over. I've recently finished my complete inventory (beads, jewelry, supplies etc…) and I'm super glad that part is over…! It is very very tedious. I'm not too bad with numbers and I'm very organized, it's just that I really don't like doing inventory. But hey, it's part of the game and I usually treat myself with something sweet afterwards so it's worth it. Not to mention it's so much easier to see where you are heading once the inventory is done.

The main reason of my post today if to show you guys one piece I'm currently working on. I don't want to show too much to keep the mystery around that project, but here are some shots of the original drawing. ( I would so much prefer spending my day drawing than making inventory! ;) )

Images under copyright - All rights reserved  ©Kirameku

If you are curious about my artwork process, I create the original sketch with blue Col-Erase pencils. Why blue? Simply because it is an easy colour to touch up and easy to get rid of in photoshop if I ever need to make a digital copy of my artwork. I then use tracing paper to copy the original artwork on my media that will host the final illustration. It could be art boards, canvases, water-colour paper…. you name it.

Vernissage ! :D

Good evening everyone ! :D

I just want to take a few minutes to announce a very important news ! :D I am finally graduating from the Illustration and Design program, from Dawson College, Montreal !!!

It was a trip that was full of ups and downs as we faced different problems and happy suprises along the way. It will be this upcoming May 25th, at 6hpm, at Dawson College, on the third floor cafeteria. ( For those who came to Artist in Bloom this year, it will be at the same place. ) It is located at the Atwater subway station and there will be clear indications at where the event will take place.

A year and full of suprises

Hi there everyone !

Sheesh, long time no see ! It has been almost a month since I have written a proper article ! O_o

Unfortunately I will have to keep it short and sweet once again since I have tons of stuff to do.

All right, I promised an interview with Marie, and it is coming up ! I just want to give us both a tiny break between our huge projects - cuz yes yes, we are in the same program.

Ok, so, what`s new ? Well, I have the pleasure to say that on the 8th of this month, I have celebrated Kirameku`s first year .... !!!! Yay ! I am so glad ! Thank you so much everyone for your love, support and guidance ! :D This is absolutely awesome ! :D

So, let`s sum this up !

Sales : 40
Twitter follower : 283
Blog follower : 61
Items : 58
Heart shop : 411


Youhou ! Almost all of my goals are achieved ! :D I didin`t had enough time to create some more new pieces as I was overwhelmed by orders because of the famous daily finds in wich I was featured ... ! * Dances in joy *

All right ! So, what do I have in stock for you ? Lots of new beads ! My drawers are almost all empty so I have to fill them up, and once this is done, I`ll be able to put all my items back on sale and much more ! :D Got Diotric Glass Bracelets coming up, giveaways and winter and fall themed items ! :D Yay !

All right, but all that is in bewtween my classes, so let`s all cross our fingers so I will have time to create new pieces as fast as I wish I can ! :D

All right ! Also, thank`s a lot to Krista`s lovely review of the flower paper earrings, we have a winner ! Congrats ! She has won a pair of Silver Flower Earrings, summer edition ! :D

All right ! That`s about it for today ! :D

I just want to post the Revised columbine artwork finished so you guyz can compare with the work in progess ! :P


Original Watercolor - Revised Columbine

Once again, thank you so much !

Take care everyone ! :D

* M *

After the rain, sunshine !

Hi there everyone !

Yeah, long time no see ! The last few days I was barely on the Etsy forum and I appologise for my few quick posts and run, but I barely have time to do anything these days­... ! T_T

They pump up my hours at work and I have my driving lessons taht started. Ouf ! Driving is sure harder than I thought ! O_o

I practiced a lot these days and it hopefully got better ! I have my second class coming up soon, so we`ll see how it turns out ! :P

Before I forget it, I want to say a special thanks to all of those who votes in my new poll section. I do not have a lot of entries though, so I can`t really have any concluent data, so pretty please, take just 2 minutes and give me a few clicks on my new vote page ! :P

I also went to put up another artwork at Le Papillon Bleu, a very lovely and delicious Fine Sechuan Cuisine in Downtown of Montreal.

I already have 4 more artwork framed there for sale. My prices are quite for every budget, and the owner is wonderful and kind. It is a great place where I have tasted the best chinese food ever, like his Honey and Garlic Chicken that will make your tummy yearn for more. And yeah, I am picky with food.


Here`s my new Beauty Artwork, a colored pencil work on Bristol paper.

Also, I have joined two Etsy Teams, wich you can see the banner on the side of the Blog. I did not have enough time yet to go into the presentation forums and all, and I`ll have a few days off soon, so maybe there I`ll have time to do it.

Meanwhile, I`ll have to go cleaning and all, but I will be back for a feature on Dandee, wich is one of the member of BEST and I was asked to do a feature on this shop.

So stay posted ! :P

See ya later !

* M *

Lime Green & Turquoise

Hi there !

Wow, gee, it has been such a long time since I haven`t posted on here ! As I have spread the word a bit before I was busy repainting my room, and it is finally done ! You`ll excuse the poor lighting of the pictures, as it has not rained, but showered all day and I am still busy putting everything back on it`s rightful place.

All right ! So let`s see it ! :P

Here are the two dominant colors, in plus of white walls. I`ll put up more pics when the sun is up :




Aren`t those lovely ? Great discovery for less then 10$ ! Yay !


And yes ! Finally I have a librairy ! Please overlook the mess lol

And and, yes I might not be around a lot these days on Etsy lol, but I am working on a sweet watercolor of a Columbine.

Here is the work in progress :



I have tried this time 90 lbs special edition Winsor and Newton watercolor paper, medium grain. I find it is not the best one to work with, even though I am addicted to this compagny - I simply loooooooove all their products ! Mediums, paintbrushes, paint... I just love it, there is nothing else to see lol. I am a W&N junkie O_x ! lol

And, as usual, you can see the gorgeous colors of Holbein watercolors ;P


Hum... beside that, what else... I tried to figure out how TweetMeme work but I think I haven`t totally mastered it yet lol. I want to try recepies and go out but well, work is in the way lol, and the back to school is getting nearer and nearer.... Hurray for those stupid artwork lists that goes like following : Pencil.
Great. And when you ask the poor girl, she doesn`t even know what type of pencil she needs, as the teacher haven`t said it. Love love those.... -_-'''

Oh well, I`ll be getting back to school soon too ! Fious, back to 3h of traveling a day, well... let me tell you that I sleep a lot in the subway in the morning lol ! All right ! I can`t wait to have my young girl with the pearl earring painting back ! I`ll tell you all about it when I`ll be able to get better pictures. For now I have just details so it dosen`t make a lot of sense lol.

All right ! That`s it for today !

Got to go back to cleaning and decoration ! :D

See ya all soon ! :P

* M *

Ah, finally !

Good morning to all !

I had a wonderful day yesterday and plenty of views for my newest item ! I am soooo glad !

The weird thing is, I do not know why this title kept sticking on my newest artwork : Poison Ivy... I know it is a Batman`s character and all, but they are totally unlrelated ! Maybe it is because of the colors that I used reminded me a bit of the Poison ad from Dior... I don`t know... O_o

Anyways, I have to put it here, I just love it too much ! :P I almost kept it to myself lol !


Here is my Original Artwork Poison Ivy

This artwork was inspired by the fashion ads that I saw and by my obsession with make up. I tried a new paper for this artwork, and it is all made out from minerals, there is no trees involved in this paper. I do not know though if this is a better paper for the environnement... I`ll hope it is !

I worked a lot on my shop these past few days, taking other pictures, putting up more items, and I finally changed my avatar and now my banner ! I am so happy it turned out so good !


My brad new banner at my Etsy shop !

Now, I wanted to share with you that I will be having a few giveaways hosted in different blogs soon, as well as a review of my famous flower paper earrings. I`ll give you more news when the projects will be up ! :P

Also, here are my objectives for my very first year on Etsy. I opened up last September, and here are my goals :

* 250 shop hearts
* 24 sales
* 50 blog followers
* 200 twitter followers
* 80 items in my shop

Thank you so much everyone for your support ! I am now at 233 shop hearts, 16 sales, 41 blog followers, 127 twitter followers and 55 items in stock !

Thank you ! * big hugs *

Please don`t hesitate to stop by and tell me what you want to see in store or if you prefered my first banner ! Your comments are always welcomed !

On this, have a gorgeous sunny day everyone !

* M *