introducing Shadolls

 Meet the #shadolls. There I am on the right with my trusty camera around my neck.

Shadolls stands for shiny happy art dolls and they began their exsistence on Norfolk Island last week when Anna Bartlett from Shiny Happy Art brought an en plein air painting group to Norfolk Island.

 During this trip, one of the painters was celebrating their 60th birthday with us so Anna hand painted this divine card.

 Anna beautifully matched us all with incredible memory and detail of actual clothes we were wearing complete with out little red shiny happy artist badges.

 Here is me below, as the only one not travelling from Brisbane with the group, I was an overlay on the card.

 I joked to Anna that we could all have one of ourselves and hang them like ornaments on our Christmas trees and Annas eyes lit up with a new challenge.

 

And the shiny happy art dolls or (hashtag) shadolls were born.

 Anna did an exceptional job in capturing our little details and copies of our actual clothes.

Since then... the #shadolls seemed to take on a life of their own, at the restaurant.....

At the beach...

In the cemetery visiting old friends...

And they all seemed to gain little high pitched squeaky voices when they talked to each other.

#shadolls rule!

But then sadly it was time to say goodbye for real.

 #shadoll Cristina and Lynley waving bye to #Shadoll Anna before she gets on the plane.

 Anna taking a photo of her creations together for perhaps the last time.

 This amazing card above was made with love from Anna, It includes all the items I brought to the group during their trip. Called the Norfolk Oracle because a friend calls me that, she said if you want to know ANYTHING on island, you ring Cristina first. She is the Norfolk Oracle.

 Some of the cheeky #shadolls getting up to mischief during the flight.

And after.

Keep an eye out for #shadolls, you never know what they will get up to next!

Shiny Happy Art on Norfolk Island

When someone on island (that’s me) sees that one of her favourite artists is advertised to bring a group over to paint here, I begged to join in!

I have followed Shiny happy artist Anna Bartlett for quite a few years online always wishing that somehow I would get to her Toowoomba shiny happy art paintalongs.

Knowing the chances were slim for me with yound children and the cost of travelling off island.

So just imagine how happy I was that I could be included when they came to me!

Even better was when I made contact with  Anna, it coincided with me having to take my daughter to Qld for an arts camp and having 5 days up my sleeve to myself, I really did get to make the trek to Toowoomba and indeed join in to one of Anna's classes. Even better was that we were doing landscapes in that class based on Norfolk Island photos and some of them were mine that I granted permission to use. ( I am very happy to get any images of Norfolk Island shared around as it is such a beautiful place.)

Anna's studio is indeed as bright and vibrant as her.
The name was what reeled me in one late night on the Internet, but her talent is what kept me dreaming of painting with her.

We had dinner together in Toowoomba and then lunch after the class and I made some firm friends and stayed with the lovely Kim and Adrian. We all kept contact on facebook.

6 weeks later the group of new and familiar faces arrived on the island.

Timing wise, this was a difficult week as we were finalising our renovations and taking photos to put our house on the market. So I did miss a couple of painting sessions and dinners, but all that I did attend were wonderful. Most of the group came from Qld and a couple from NSW and one even came from America.

Our friendships grew again and I look forward to paint with them again in the future.

As Sienna was away on year six tour, Jasper accompanied me on a few painting outings. He really liked the group and wanted to hide a few art treasure hunts around the island for them to find.
#norfolkislandtreasurehunt as seen on Art & Murals by Cristina Rose

He also got to draw with us on the cliff tops of Anson bay, he chose to draw his shoes and nobbly knees.

 Painting en plein air on location around picturesque Norfolk Island was an amazing experience.

Of course Anna is a wonderful teacher & artist!

 And then we ate, ate, ate, drank and were very merry!

 All too soon it was time to say goodbye for now.
I hope to continue to be a shiny happy artist in the near future.