Custom shoes!

Oh hey! Here are some custom shoes I did for a client recently. :) 

They're called 'Mermaid' - suitably. 

To order your own custom pair or to order a pair for a friend or family member, visit my website. 

New shoes!

I got some spiffy vintage shoes! So I had to customise them, naturally. These will be my birthday gift to myself. They're awaiting the just-right-perfectly-suitable laces. 

If you think these are spiffy and you'd like your own custom pair of awesome canvas shoes you can order them through my website:

www.faunawolfcreations.com/custom-canvas-shoes.html

The latest pair of custom shoes

A well received gift. :) 

Merry Christmas 2013!

It's Christmas! Whether you celebrate it or not I hope you're spending time with the people who matter most to you and keeping warm and safe. 

Because few, if any, people will be checking blogs during the hols I'm only publishing a single entry this week. 

It's nothing fancy or special (check back for my Year End Summary on the 31st!) - just some delightful shoes which will have been given as a gift today. They were a super fun project, one of so very many over the course of the last year. I finished them back in October so I'm giddy to finally get to share them. 

I hope they are well received.

Merry Christmas to all! 

I was given free reign with these, told only to make them 'Christmassy'

They were a lot of fun to design and paint. Especially the baubles. 

Finding LED shoelaces was just a bonus, really. 

May your Christmas be full of light, love and laughter. 

Another pair of custom shoes

This weekend I finished another pair of custom shoes for a client BUT they were once again, a Christmas gift. Which means I'm not going to be posting them. I did, however, work on a new pair for myself. I'm really pleased with the final product and I'm looking forward to breaking them in soon.

Lovely ivy design - very green! 

Little beetle spreading his wings...

Butterfly and my logo!
I'm especially pleased with how the butterfly turned out. 

Custom Shoe Design - 'Shakespeare'

A few weeks ago I was commissioned by two different clients within two days of one another to do shoes. I've not done custom shoes for some time so it was quite fun to get two in such a short span of time.

Both commissions are gifts for my clients to give to someone else so I've had to be super secretive about them as I've been working on each design - until today! The first commission has been warmly received by the recipient (She absolutely loves them!) so I can unveil my latest custom shoe design: 

Shakespeare

The client requested multiple lines from Shakespeare on the shoe.
I made the suggestion of incorporating an
ink well and quill into the design -
which were the first elements I painted. 

My client provided a list of quotes he wanted used on the shoes.
I chose a typeface that I thought would work well across all
of them and got to work. 

The completed design

To order a pair of custom shoes visit my website. 

Each pair is 100% unique and range in price from £30 - £150 depending on the style of shoe and complexity of the design. 

A pair of shoes

Recently I have been asked to do some custom shoe designs for some clients. Due to a miscommunication I now have a pair of women's size 8 (UK) sneakers.

When someone orders a custom pair of shoes my first task is to source a pair in their size. I don't keep a supply of shoes because A) I don't have the space and B) it's easier to get the size I need when I need it.

This means I now have a pair of shoes taking up space with the potential to continue to do so for the foreseeable future. I'm not much interested in shoe storage and would much rather find a happy client to design and then send the shoes to.

So, if you or someone you know would like a pair of size 8 (UK) hand-painted 100% unique shoes, please get in touch! Because they're already paid for and I want to move them along I will only charge for the design, which will be created to your specifications.

If you're not sure - please take a look at some of the other designs I've done. I have many happy clients with happy feet in shoes made just for them.

Tropical

Rainbow with a twist

Spitfire

Round-up!

Full-time work means that my blogging has been greatly reduced - at least whilst I sort out my schedule and what I'm doing in my 'free' time. I have a lot of freelance projects on the go and they take priority after the day job.

It's funny referring to it as the day job though. Unlike all my past jobs this isn't merely something that pays the bills. This is me actually in a position that uses the skills I love and allows me to express myself creatively. I love it, truly, and look forward to Mondays!

That being said, I'm still getting loads of other stuff done on evenings and weekends.

Aside from branding work for a few clients, I've recently been approached to do some more shoe designs. I've not done custom shoes for clients for some time so it's a nice change. The bonus is that shoe design gets me away from a computer screen. My eyes appreciate the break and my hands love working with brushes and pens rather than a mouse all the time.

Both shoe designs will be given as gifts so I am unable to post progress photos as my clients want them to remain secret, of course. Once they have been delivered and gifted I promise to share both designs.

In the mean time, if you'd like to see a bit of what I'm up to you can visit my shop! I've been drawing a lot lately and turning my drawings into designs for various products. I'll continue to upload more in the coming weeks so drop by my shop regularly to see what's new.

Also - if there is a particular design you'd like to see leave a comment or post your thoughts to my Facebook page. I love new ideas and am always up for taking requests.

General update post!

Apparently I'm on a roll when it comes to shoes. I bought this lovely pair for myself whilst in Canada back in April. I put them in a drawer and promised to spend some of the time in Japan coming up with inspiration for a design. I'm quite chuffed with the outcome.

Got a little ego boost this past weekend when one of my clients sent me this shiny testimonial:

"Kaitlyn created my twitter header and background. What seemed like a small project was actually a thoughtful and an incredibly helpful process of defining me and my brand, assisted by a very original and clever questionnaire I had to fill as an initial briefing. It made me think of so many different aspects of visual imagery and subtleties of design that one small art project became a proactive exercise in empowering my brand."

This was from the organiser of 'Ladies Who Impress'. The next event is coming up on June 17th and will feature Jenny Dawson, the founder of Rubies in the Rubble, Katherine Grainger, a British rower who won Gold at the 2012 London Olympics and Xiaolu Guo, a writer, filmmaker and storyteller. You can get tickets through the website. 

And the epub research for 'Wise at Any Age' is coming along nicely thanks to Lynda.com. I'm still flip flopping on whether to publish what I have right now or wait until I can launch both the ebook and print version at the same time.  

Generally I think the decision will boil down to just how easy/fast it is to turn what I currently have into ePub material. Regardless, watch this space for news on the release of my book! 

Shoes - from concept to finished project

The creative process for my dancing shoes, from concept to finished product:

This was a sketch I did on the flight home
from seeing family over Christmas.
At this point I didn't have the shoes yet -
just a rough idea of what I wanted to do when I did. 

The shoes arrived and I now had a canvas to work with! 

I alway do an initial sketch onto the canvas.
Sometimes, once I begin to paint, the ideas will change.
In this case my initial sketch didn't include
the sweeping lines at the bottom. 

The background done I could begin to think
about what colour I wanted my faery to be. 

This design wasn't in any of my original plans.
I knew I needed something on the inside of the right shoe
but it wasn't until I was working on the background
that I decided on this Art Nouveau style flower. 

I completely finished the right shoe before moving onto the left.
Sometimes I work more closely on both at the same time
but in this case I didn't have a final concept of what I wanted
the left shoe to look like. Finishing the right one first gave
me a lot of ideas for the left one. 

You can see from my initial sketches that my ideas changed a lot.

The finished product!
All laced up and ready for dancing! 

I'm really pleased with how they turned out.
I'm super excited to break them in with some public dancing! 

If you'd like a totally custom pair of knee high shoes
for only £80 you can order them through my website.
My shoe designs are done with the wearer in mind.
Let me capture your personality with a 100% unique pair of shoes!

www.faunawolfcreations.com/custom-canvas-shoes.html

Another pair of spiffy shoes

I have been working on a pair of shoes for my personal collection. I try to do myself a new pair of canvas shoes every year. For several years now I've wanted to get a pair of knee high ones because A) They're really neat looking and B) Just think of all the surface I get to paint!

I'm pleased to say that I managed to secure a pair recently and for the last few weeks I've been working on an Art Nouveau design inspired by my love of dancing in public.

They're still a work in progress simply because all that extra surface area really does require a lot of work - but here is Shoe 1, completed! Next shots will be of the lacing and *finger's crossed* the second shoe all done!

Actually a bit of Shoe 2, as well. 

The inside. 

The outside! 

Shoe season!

Canvas shoes seem to be cheap everywhere I go. It's great because I do love making my custom designs but often the initial cost of the product is a bit of a bullet to bite. I want people to have amazing, unique footwear but I also want it to be affordable. This design, including the shoes, cost £35.

 'Fire in my new Shoes'

 I think the laces go especially well with them. 

www.faunawolfcreations.com

Fabulous shoes!

Summer is upon us! Although, as I am quickly learning, 'Summer' is only a loose concept in the UK. There are moments of absolutely glorious warmth and intense humidity which could fool a person into believing they are living somewhere tropical. These can last for a few days or even a few weeks, lulling Londoners into thinking it's safe to put away their woolens and pull out all their shorts. 

But give it a few days and then there is rain. Then there is not rain but a lot of wind. Then there is a day of not a lot of rain or wind but a bit of threatening rain and a lot of cloud cover. Fortunately, as a Canadian, I have a thing for weird weather and discussing how absolutely strange it can be. 

But I digress. This post is not about something so boring as weather - or interesting as weather depending on who you're talking to about it. 

This post is about SHOES! Because, when the Summer comes, even if it's tepid or rather unsummery, I like to get a new pair of canvas shoes and make them lovely. The last pair I did for myself are nearly two years old now and anyone who wears canvas sneakers knows, canvas sneakers are not built to last. My old pair are on their last legs, erm, soles. They've cracked and torn and are rapidly becoming less usable as footwear. The final breaking point was a few weeks ago when I went to put them on the  shoe lace on the left one snapped. Now, I know I could just get a new set of laces. That would be sensible, but have you ever noticed how sad new laces look in old shoes? They're just too bright and clean against a pair of shoes which have had their day. 

So I let them go, as we must learn to let go of many things in life, and got not one pair of new canvas sneakers, but two! Two glorious pairs to customise to my heart's content. And customise I have. 

In celebration of Summer, I am happy to present my latest Canvas Shoe Creations: 

'Slice of Life' & 'Calligraphy' 

 'Slice of Life'

 'Calligraphy'

To see more of my artwork visit www.FaunawolfCreations.com

A New Project!

I know I did a warning post several weeks ago regarding the change to my blog updating routine but for anyone who missed it - I'll still be updating my blog just with less frequency.

The reason for my silence this month is that September has been quite full-on for me. My parents have been visiting and therefore most of my spare time is taken up with exploration and visitation. I've also begun my Life Coaching course and as a result have been doing a lot of business planning and such around that.

But as October approaches things will be slowing down and I'll be updating my blog a little more often. Still not 12 entries a month, but far more than I've managed for September - which shouldn't be too difficult as I think that means more than two entries.

There is, however, a slight kink in my plan to do more regular updates. I normally like to post a photo with each blog entry because anyone who keeps a successful, well-read blog will tell you that images do wonders for holding people's attention. Plus, as a creative individual, I like to show people what I'm working on both through description and a nice snapshot.

Unfortunately my point and shoot has finally been damaged beyond repair as a result of my rather careless treatment of it. The screen doesn't work and therefore, taking a quick photo requires a lot of imagination, guess work and crossed fingers. It's just like using film again!

So this entry won't have an image with it but in some ways this is probably a good thing. I have just been to the post office and picked up a spanking new pair of white canvas sneakers that I ordered a week and a half ago. These are the shoes which I will be decorating for the lucky winner of the draw I did following my gallery show. Since half the fun of designing shoes for someone is the unveiling of the final product, it's probably better that I don't start posting loads of pictures.

My parents are returning to Canada this weekend and in the following week I'll resume my normal round of updates along with spending time working on my creative projects. These sneakers will be the first of the creative projects I'm going to dive into. I'm extremely excited for it and will keep you posted on the progress - despite the lack of images.

Task List

I'm so glad I decided not to stick to my 12 entries a month for a little bit. Clever planning on my part, really. Good advice for life, too: Whether you work for yourself or you work for someone else, be aware of your abilities and the restriction of time.

It's one thing to be capable of something, another thing entirely to be able to manage accomplishing multiple tasks in a certain time frame. If you can focus on one thing at a time you'll do a better job over-all and you won't run yourself ragged by having unreasonable expectations of what you can achieve.

As it happens, my gallery show fell at the end of a lull, as a kick-start to a lot of busyness throughout the next two months. I've got a lot of stuff happening in my personal life and a lot of change in my professional life. This means I'm learning to make more reasonable deadlines and getting used to the idea that sometimes, things have to wait. They'll get done, definitely, but one cannot be expected to complete multiple tasks all at once, especially if the plan is to do a good job of which you can be proud.

It's nice though, in a lot of ways, because I'm learning to relax into things. I'm taking my time and enjoying the free moments I have. Like today I was able to make a small task list whilst taking the train home from a day spent at the Hampton Court Palace with my parents. When I got home I jumped on it and as a result I've now purchased the perfect pair of shoes for the lucky winner of the draw I did in conjunction with my gallery show.

I've also managed to do this blog entry! Which is a little bonus and one I'm quite happy about.

On top of that, I'm feeling quite inspired after a day spent learning about the Tudors and where they lived. I'm using this inspired energy to get these things done and formulate some plans for the future, which I have time for because I made that task list which I've now completed.

So nice when you stop trying to control things and just let them fall into place.

Shoes!

These are some promotional sneakers I've done up for the Crazy Sexy Cool show featuring their logo and a bit of my own design work. A nice way to pass an hour out in the sunny garden.

Spitfire

I really do enjoy painting shoes. I don't know what it is about them but from the conception of the design to the finished project, when I'm working on a pair it's almost impossible for me to think of anything else.

In the case of this pair it was a great advantage. I only managed to purchase them on Wednesday and I figured, between all the museum visits and other plans with my parents plus my day job and preparations for Christmas, I'd not have time to start them, let alone complete them. But on Christmas Eve, once all the food was sorted and the house was tidy, I found a window of just enough time to get them painted, photographed, wrapped and under the tree!

I'm utterly chuffed with the design, which I've titled 'Spitfire'. I love that the pair of shoes I purchased just happen to be shaped like the wings of their name-sake design, making the pattern I chose to do suitable for the tongue.

One of the most satisfying pieces of art I've ever done.

..and one of the most satisfying gifts I've ever given.