Welcome to my blog. I work full time and creating is my sanity. I like to use many different mediums and was a finalist in the Fire Mountain Beading Contest in 2008. I am a passionate blogger, and a promoter of handmade goodness.

I love : my husband, my fur kids, family, music, sunshine, creating, chocolate, handmade soaps, the DUST Team, gardening, friends, Triple J Radio and photography. Comments welcome, I hope you enjoy the adventure with me.

Please respect my copyright and that the original ©photographs and ©text published on this blog remain the property of ©Maddabling (Samara). Please do not reproduce, crop or alter my original photographs.

made with love.........................maddabling xox




proud member of the down under street team

Friday, January 10, 2014

Friday Friends - Local Artists - Violet and Darby

Yay for Friday lovely Maddabling blog readers, today marks the end of the working week for most of us. What are you up to this weekend? It sounds from the forecasts being touted by the weathermen that it's going to be a scorcher in many parts of Australia. I am going to try to make some of the refrigerator jam that I featured in last weekends blog post. 

This week it is my absolute pleasure to introduce to you a dear friend of mine Sandy of Violet and Darby.  I have long been an admirer and supporter of her fabulous art. Dear readers, we love Sandy's work so much that we have two of her prints "Follow the Raven" and "Don't take life too seriously" 
and an original painting "Poppies and Ravens" from her alter painting ego GasBombGirl proudly hanging in Maddabling HQ.
I love the way that Sandy sees the world and her ability to transform that vision into works of art. 
This year marks a milestone Birthday year for Miss Maddabling, and as a special birthday gift to myself, I am enlisting the help of Sandy to create a Violet and Darby portrait just for me. I will share this with you later in the year, I promise! Readers, I will now hand over the blogging reigns to Sandy to divulge The Tale of Violet and Darby for your reading pleasure. Happy Reading, see you on Sunday for the weekend Blog Post xo♥
P.S. Readers, please remember that Sandy has kindly allowed me to use her original images on the Maddabling blog, please do not copy or reproduce these in any way, or use them without Sandy's express permission. 
The Tale of Violet and Darby 

Who is Violet and Darby ? 
I'm a part time artist, who loves creating art that permeates a feeling of nostalgia. I paint and draw portraits of adults as they were as children, using their favourite old photographs, that hopefully lend a glimpse into their personalities and past, or simply encapsulate a sweet old fashioned view of who they once were. 
I try to either stay with the a basic old styled pallet of colours associated with old images, or pursue a more colourful cartoon style, depending on the subjects style of images provided.

How and When did your handmade/artistic journey begin ?  
I've been creating for a very long time off and on,  but when I came across some old photographs of my eldest sister Ann, who had passed away from Motor Neurone in 2005, I was inspired to capture the sweet nature of what I saw. 
From there I received a request to create my nephew and his wife portraits of themselves for their newborn's nursery.  “Violet and Darby” was inspired by my Grandmothers name, who was also an artist.  I changed my art name to this, as GasBombGirl no longer captured the essence of what my art was hopefully going to portray.
I wanted to express the nature of my painting style by using an old worldish themed name that sounded both male and female.

What inspires you ?
Other artists pieces, old movies, old photographs, music, architecture, pulp magazines, colour in nature, and much more. 
I also love to paint with a movie on in the background, usually something along the theme of what I'm painting.

What mediums do you work with - do you have a favourite ? 
 I love to draw in pencil and inks, with paintings chiefly being created with acrylics on canvas and lately wood panel.  
My favourite would be to doodle and sketch my ideas out into my visual journal, and  I also use my Samsung tablet to quickly whip up some colourful doodles for fun as well.
Do you have a favourite piece that you have made/created ?
Besides the portrait of my sister titled “Annie & Albert” 
the portraits of my nephew and his wife, "Keeper of the lambs" and "Keeper of flower hill".  The pieces were created as a pair to hang in their newborns nursery.
What are your future plans/dreams/aspirations ?  I'd like to continue creating portraits of adults as children, and add in some pet portraits as well.  Whether I stay on the old world theme of paintings I'm unsure, this will depend mainly on the clients preferences.

Dear readers, do you want to see more? Here is how you can connect: 

Become a follower on facebook here: 


See what inspires on instagram here:


and visit the Violet and Darby website here: 

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