African Art

I have a new venture. It's on a site called Fine Art America. A great place where a person can buy prints of photo's or paintings, sculptures..anything really. The prints of paintings are on postcards or stretched canvas, or mounted in a frame and are really reasonably priced. Of course the larger the item the more expensive.. AND the higher the quality of the original the more one would expect to pay.

I've submitted a variety of items, some of my original paintings and some of my original photographs taken during my travels. I'm still searching through my photograph collection for more, so keep an eye out on the site, you never know if there might be something that pops up that is perfect for a gift just for you!

Also on the site, Leopard at night.

Go along and have a look :-D

africa paintings flower painting canvas prints

Kiddies Over The Moon!

I was searching Etsy the other day... just browsing really and I came across this store... the items are so very cute! So I decided to upload some photo's of what she does.

Lovely Elephants!

Happy Hippo!

Kings of the Jungle!

Pop along and have a look :-) I'm sure she won't mind! Click on any picture or HERE!

Name Change!

Just a quick note to everyone to let you know that I've changed my shop name on Etsy from Sylvie's Designs to:

 Sylvie's Art on Fabric

My Facebook page can be found on :
https://www.facebook.com/SylviesArtOnFabric

My Pinterest boards are here :
http://pinterest.com/SylviesFabArt/

So don't lose me.... okay!

Lukagwa African Art and Jewelers from Kenya.

Lukagwa African Art & Jewelers was started by people who have a youthful passion for art. We embrace the meaning of Lukagwa to be that “Our ideas are heaven sent”. We specialize in the meticulous assemble of beads to form art pieces that are a fusion of contemporary and historical trends. Our jewelry is a unique infusion of different styles, ideas, inspirations and global influences.
Lucille has recently submitted two new pieces to her shop that can be found on etsy.com. Her chosen theme is to display her pieces of jewelry on a black background on some rocks. It's a striking display and really is going to hold her shop together.
 This theme will make the shop memorable, so returning customers will recognise it right away and feel at home.

This is definitely the way to go when showing your work. These pieces of jewelry are striking, innovative and fun!

Pay a visit to Lukagwa and see what else she may have uploaded.

Here's hoping that she will get a lot of support from folks all over the world.

Jessie of Henry Kuikens in Cape Town, South Africa!

Jesse does some great fabric printing. Here is a bit about her from her:


I'm a free-lance illustrator, comic artist, and print-maker, living in Cape Town, South Africa. My Shop on Etsy is called Henry Kuikens.

Printing patterns with individual hand-carved blocks means that I'm able to design the layout of the pattern as I print. My fabrics are sourced locally, in Cape Town, either at cotton mills in my area or at flea markets. 


There is this one cushion of Jesses' that i just love. It caught my eye and made me take a closer look. It's called: 
Black Flowers Cushion Cover. 

I asked Jesse how this design came about and this is what she told me.
"The cushion cover is a variation on another design printed with the same block, a much simpler geometric design. While I was printing that, I accidentally dropped the block,and realised that it would work as an overprint on the basic design."
A fortunate accident! I just love it when something great gets created out of happenstance. 



This photo is a good close-up of the design. To think that she hand carves these out first and then carefully prints them onto the fabric... It must take some time.


There is something else she designed that I liked and that is her fabric covered buttons. She doesn't just cut out fabric and cover metal or plastic buttons with them. NO! She first carves a tiny design and then prints them onto the fabric. Then she cures the dyes so that they will not run and then cuts them out and makes the buttons. Hmmm not a quick job here either.  Click this to go to the shop and look at it.



Jesse writes this about the buttons:
"Printed with hand-carved blocks and water-based silkscreen ink on cotton, they've been heat-cured to set the ink. The dome of the button is rust-proof metal, the back plastic, and each one is interfaced to prevent the metal shining through. Hand washing is recommended, dry-cleaning is not."


"The buttons are printed interpretations of buttons from my vintage button collection".

This is another design that she has done. There are a lot more on display in her shop and to see them all you have to do is click THIS :-)

Singing Heart Jewelry Designs from CapeTown, South Africa

Debbie is an enterprising lady living in the Western Cape. Her studio and home are at the foot of the Kogelberg Mountains at the southernmost tip of Africa, set in a nature reserve. Wow isn't she lucky. yeah I know a lot of you prefer the cities and such but I'm a country girl and just love the bush of Africa. There is nothing like it anywhere!
Debbie makes wonderful jewelry and she's pretty hot behind the camera too!  Her Photography shop is called  Nomadh Photography.
Anyway here is her story about a couple of her gorgeous Jewelry pieces:

Creating jewelry for me is like meditating.  It’s difficult to put into words.  When I sit down at my jewelry table in my studio, it’s as if the shells and stones speak to me.  Rather than a thinking process, it’s a feeling process.  There are times when an idea for a piece comes into my mind – finished – and I automatically know how I’ll put it together – I can see the colors, shapes, and all the materials – right down to the clasp I will make.  That will often happen to me in that wonderfully creative time just before falling asleep, or when I wake up, but before I’m fully awake.  Other times I will choose the main part of a piece; a shell, for example, and I will begin it without knowing how it will end up, or what I will put with it.  Yet, there is no hesitation as I create.  I seem to know, without thinking, which stone to add next, which colors to mix.  That’s why I say the materials speak to me and tell me what to do.  I can nearly say it’s not me making the jewelry, it comes through me.

However, for some of the pieces, I start with a feeling.  For instance, with the chunky turquoise anklet, I had the feeling of a beach somewhere in the tropics – perhaps along East Africa’s shores – Mozambique or Zanzibar.  Although turquoise is often associated with the southwest, I imagined this being worn while walking beside a sea, while wearing a colorful wrap-around skirt and no shoes! There is a handmade Ethiopian silver prayer bead in it, which, to me, gives the energy of ancient African rituals and prayers.

The jasper necklace was wonderful to make.  I love the swirly colors and the organic shape of this chunk of jasper – just holding it felt good.  This piece also has some of Africa in it.  The Abo beads are handmade by the Krobo people of Ghana, and are the color of rust, or the soil here.  It’s truly a necklace of the earth – organic and raw. You are welcome to visit my store.

I just thought that you might like to know ... the jasper necklace is sold... BUT if you'd like one just send me a note... go to my store and click on the 'contact' button. :-)

Star Bright Girl from Durban, South Africa

Megan is from Durban. It's a great city to visit and to live in. The beaches are wonderful and the surfing can be flipping brilliant. Anyway I digress :-)


This is from Megan,
I hand make from scratch everything I do (I smelt metal, roll wire, and even my resin colours are hand-mixed!), and use only sterling silver findings :)
I hope to achieve a mix of funky, fun & sweet, but ultimately wearable & comfortable every day jewellery - hope you'll love my work as much as I do!!


Here is some of her work for you to look at:
Butterfly Domed Stud Earrings:

These were part of a series of earrings - I wanted to create a bold design, but to create interest I decided to invert the dome - makes making them a little trickier, but I think it works well!
The delicate designs of the resin also add contrast to the solidity of the studs..
I also love to work with resin - by changing the colour used, you can create completely different tones in    your jewellery..

 Although this butterfly tone is playful, the black resin adds a sombre tone, and makes it a little more grown up :)


Amethyst Chunky Ring:

This ring was really designed around the stone - I wanted a bigger stone, but this leads to limitations with regards to the setting.
I decided on a rub-over or gypsy setting, but this meant that the ring would have to be very thick, to accommodate the stone, so I decided to taper the band towards the base - to make it more comfortable to wear.. (Comfort is highly important to me for my designs)
I also decided not to taper the width of the ring - rather keeping it even all the way around, which keeps it feeling chunky and bold - it's a really fun ring!


Megan has a lot of really lovely items in her shop. If you click on the Titles: Butterfly Domed Stud Earrings and the Amethyst Chunky Ring, there is a link embedded in them and they will take you to her shop to those items. If you'd like to visit her shop as a whole click here.




Keep a look out because we'll be featuring more of Megan's work. I think that it's important for people to realise that there are some stunning creations available in Africa. So spread the word. Tweet this and FB it too!
:-D