painting portraits.

After my little visit to the Gallery in Cardiff at the weekend with Boyfriend it inspired me to get my paints out and create a little something. After getting ridiculously excited seeing my first ever Van Gogh and cooing over Monet I thought I had better harness this flourish of creativity and I decided to print a little picture out of Natalie from Natalie off duty, and use it as my artistic muse and paint a little portrait. she also tweeted me yesterday to say how amazing the painting was, which was amazingly sweet of her because I am a massive fan of her blog and her style.  I chose the photo as a challenge to myself, as I have never drawn or painted anyone wearing sunglasses before, this may not sound like such a a massive challenge but getting the shading right can be a bit of a pain, trying to make the glasses stand out is where it is at. 

I personally paint an under colour of lime green where i will be painting the skin, ( its personal preference and it has always worked for me) this is due to the fact that our skin is never just one colour, I bet if you look at your hand right now you will at least see 4 colours red, blue, purple, green, brown, peach, yellow, there is so much depth to skin tone. It has to be one of my favourite things to paint. I also personally never ever use black in my paintings, as it can be far too harsh against the skin tone, i always use a mixture that never fails, teal with brown, also red, blue and brown is always good for shading and adding great depth to any painting. 

In this painting I have used acrylics and a canvas from tiger, I love the oval shape and I can just imagine hanging it on a wall in my living room once I have finally moved into my own place.
Acrylics themselves can be manipulated and watered down like watercolours and spread around a lot, which is another medium I love to paint in. Also another trick I use is to paint and draw upside down, not me upside down but the painting, its the best way to look at shapes because your eye automatically think it knows what an eye looks like or a mouth, it gets you to really look at what you are drawing. 

I think when it comes creativity we should always push ourselves to create something beautiful that we didnt think we could ever accomplish, I was told when I was at school that I was the absolute worst at drawing and painting portraits, so I told my teacher that I would only ever do projects from now on, looking at people and portraits, if someone tells you can't do something. 

Would people like it if I did a little tutorial on how to paint? 

What Ella did at the Weekend...

I don't often travel, due to being busy, or for the sheer fact that travelling gives me the worst kind of anxiety. So for once, I set these annoying parts of life aside to visit my lovely welsh boy in cardiff. I travelled down (I know its not down but across didn't look right?!) after work on friday (hello beautiful sunset and rainbows) seeing him was the best treat after possibly the most stressful week at work.

The friday night was filled with chocolate and wine, I was left in charge of picking the film to watch which resulted in watching pirana DD for about 30 minutes before realising that my film choice was pretty horrific to which we both decided I had made the wrong choice and i shouldn't be allowed near dvds or film selections. I did warn him!

I had never been to cardiff before so Adam was my tour guide and we spent a few hours wandering around the national museum of cardiff, which I have to say was pretty awesome, I am a cheap date give me a room filled with painting and old artefacts and I am a happy lady. It was the perfect first date. After our little wander around the museum we went for pizza, I probably wouldn't recommend the pizza hut gluten free pizza tasted of nothing, sad times! and spending a romantic meal sitting next to 12 screaming and shouting 10 year olds is where its at! lesson learn't haha. The evening was a lot quieter spent watching horror movies, drinking more wine and more chocolate.

I hate the fact that the time we spend together is so brief aren't long distant relationships just a little bit of a pain? but getting to spend a few days together makes me happy until I next get to see him. So on the sunday we had a lazy morning watching harry potter and chatting, before we headed back into town for me to catch the train back into london, my train journey which always feels like forever was filled with me stuffing my face with crispy m&ms and listening to Lennon and Maisy on the old head phones,  train journeys are not good for my bank balance, itunes why are you so easy to download onto my iphone? haha!

All in all it was a really lovely weekend being able to get away for a bit. It is always best when you need to sort your head out and getting to hug my boy always helps, one thing i have learn't this weekend is that snuggles are best.

p.s yes he has a beard and yes I have made him grow it.  

A new start.

RubyRaeLove Blog 

I've had a very strange busy week (due to my day job being particularly tough the last few days) and we are at Thursday and I have a weekend away seeing my boy so i thought whilst I had a spare few minutes I would share with you a little something I have been working on. I recently came to realise that people come to my blog to read my lifestyle posts and probably not too much for the business side of my life so I set up RubyRaeLove Blog for all things Boho and jewellery related. Its a simple layout so people can navigate it easily and get to know the ins and outs of running a little business, sneak peeks and what we have been up to. I would love it if you could take the time to venture over there at the moment I only have one post at the moment, introducing myself, its very odd to start again from scratch but I am excited to get my teeth into my little jewellery shop and blog again.

A lot of new readers will be wondering where the shop has come from and why so out of the blue, I got a little dis-heartened a while back a few months ago and i got stuck in a rut with RubyRaeLove I went through a process as a business where others were undercutting their prices and hand-making everything was getting harder to make the money, my soul kind of lost its way for a while. So I took a break, I never take a break from anything, I never give up on anything so it went into hibernation for a while and I finally feel excited about the pieces I am making again. We have a few Magazine Interviews coming up...super exciting!!

So I really hope you can join us on our little blogging journey we have a freebie weekend coming up so keep your eyes peeled!

from me to you

This week marks the loss of a friend after four years I still struggle to cope with the news, I don't often share the most inner thoughts I have on here, for many reasons,  but this week is often the hardest. We were so young and it was so unexpected, I haven't written this post for sympathy far from it, I have written the post to keep the memory of him going, sometimes its hard when you forget memories and it the hardest when you move away from people who you all once shared a friendship with, its like what we all went through never happened. So if you are living with people at university or with your family, please appreciate those people you share your life with, observe the small things, appreciate the moments you have together. Its always the silly things your brain retains when you can no longer be with them. Because we all at some point suffer a loss be it family, friends or pets and it is never the easiest to cope with but life can be hard and life can be amazing, never hold back I have learn't life is to short if you like someone like them, if you don't get on with someone you tried move on, if you worry about how you look, don't - well worry in the right proportions, and move on. 

People come in and out of our lives for reasons, sometimes they aren't clear and it can be confusing, the loss of a friend in a horrific accident can throw your world upside down and it can be the hardest thing to deal with, and those moments of not knowing and friends not speaking of the worst, was the hardest, and if I am honest I am still wondering why, why you walked into my life and how it was so easy for you to walk out of it. I know it wasn't by choice but it leaves a massive hole. 

Everyone has their tragedies and hard times, we are all humans. We love, we hurt and we eventually die, pretty heavy I know but I think once you grasp the thought that the time we have on this planet is fleeting and that change is inevitable, you learn to absorb the small things and notice that everyone we encounter leaves marks on us be it good or bad and that is important and what they leave behind is what is valued not what we posses. I remember my best friend saying nothing is ever constant, so appreciate what you have.
The moment I had to tell her the bad news I had received via a phone call from another friend in tears, it was the hardest moment, I try not to remember that moment, it was like a movie, when things pause and moments feel like forever, with silence. The phone call will stay with me forever I am just grateful Kelly didn't have to answer the phone, it was a bad dream. I remember exactly where i was and we were watching mamma mia, we were laughing and drawing as the rain poured outside. Both me and kelly thought to ourselves if they had just waited two more minutes would it have been different? I guess we would never know. 

for yourself and for me take today, to do what you enjoy even if it is for five minutes, savour what makes you happy with people that make you happy and if they are far away, which sadly sometimes the people you love and care for are, write to them, call them. If I have learn't anything from loosing my friend is to take the time to appreciate what you have with who you have it with. If you have something you want to do in life do it, don't let fear or failure hold you back. I'm not really saying go out and do everything and take everything in, and rush through life, its nice sometimes to have chill time and not always push yourself, but remember what you are here for. When times seem bleak, you aren't alone you really aren't, if you don't really have someone physically there to talk to, you could email someone, tweet someone, write your feelings in to a letter get them out of your head. Processing feelings writing them down and those negative thoughts can be good for you, we are all allowed at times to be down and vulnerable.

 I surrounded myself with my work after loosing him because I felt so guilty that I could finish my degree and he couldn't, that I could laugh and he couldn't but things are the way they are, if you are going through pain or loss at the moment, those feelings you feel will not always stay so raw, it hurts I think its meant to, its meant to make you feel. The best thing you can do is push through don't blame yourself don't regret and always look to the future with a hint of positivity, if it is without someone they wouldn't want you being sad, write them a letter, they may never read it but it can heal wounds. 

RubyRaeLove

I am so excited to share with you all my new pieces that I have been working on over the last few weeks. I went away for a little and yes my mind was on other things but oh how i have missed making pieces and sharing them with the world. So here are the new pieces over at RubyRaeLove. I have also spent today making a little twitter for RubyRaeLove I am feeling rather proud of the progress I have made with the shop since opening it in March 2011, after breaking up with an ex boyfriend spurring me on to tell him where he can stick it, that was my motivation for RubyRaeLove.  I would love to know what you think of the new pieces. 

My creations and items are inspired by summer, festivals and my time living in cornwall whilst I was doing my degree all those years ago. I am currently looking for bloggers to work with to spread the RubyRaeLove so many exciting things coming up. Thank you so much for your on going support.

To the sea

Me and mum decided that we would go on a little adventure together to south-end not to far from london, anyone who knows me knows, how much i adore the sea-side, I really don't mind where it is as long as I can see the sea I am a happy bunny. We caught the train along the pier as we weren't really up for the mile walk to the end. It was crazy sunny yesterday, perfect pier walking weather. After doing my bit for charity ( cue lifeboat buying gifts) me and mum sat out of the wind watching a beautiful wedding ceremony on the pier and roasting ourselves in the sun. I stupidly forgot that I had a hole in my jeans at the knee and i now have one beautifully tanned knee.. pure genius! I tan in minutes so right  now I have various tan lines dotted about my person haha. Also to add another injury to my list that day, i managed to get 12 splitters in one finger, I probably shouldn't be allowed out..It was all good after a bit of poking and sucking the splinters came out ( sounded less rude in my head sorry!)

Yesterdays outfit, was a strange mix because one minute it was warm next minute it was cold...ok who am i kidding lets just call it british weather not "strange", I popped my £1 sandals from primark in my bag just hoping it would be sunny, I absolutely hate wearing shoes, hate, hate, hate, so when I don't have to wear them I jump at the chance. Everything I am wearing on my top half is from various charity shops, my jeans were from River Island and my trusty studded boots are from Topshop, the Black studded bag I am wearing was from TK Maxx and my large Doctors bag was a Car boot buy but Originally it would of been from Miss Selfridge. All my rings (bar the bands) are from Datter and my Bracelet was a cheap Purchase from Yesterday and my Buffalo necklace is from Zara. 

Its always lovely day tripping with my mum, as we are pretty similar when it comes to the things we like, cake, tea, sunshine, vintage shopping, jewellery and bargain hunting. The day was filled with pretty much all of those which is probably why it was one of my favourite. 

We scrambled off the pier after three hours of sun bathing and into town to grab some dinner which consisted of scampi and chips followed buy waffles with butterscotch sauce. Safe to say the train ride back into london was filled with slight moans and groans from me and mum that we shouldn't of eaten so much, but what the hell!