Tag Archives: painted dr martens

14 Jan

Happy New Year 2019

Happy New Year everyone and here’s to a healthy, happy 2019 to you all.

2018 has been an amazing year for WildBunnyArts. I recovered from the events of 2017 and used this year to gain new skills and continue my professional development. From zero to hero in screen printing and design software, I’ve gone from being frustrated about getting one-off t-shirt prints done, to building my own printing press and learning the art of the hand screen printing, as well as he graphic design skills required to design and print unique t-shirts.

kindness is my thing. screen printed t-shirt.

Custom Converse and hand-painted Vans have remained a core element to the business. I made the sideways step into leather painting, and had some amazing commissions for customised Dr Marten shoes and custom Nikes.

henna design hand painted doc martens

One thing I love about painting shoes- as well as providing an amazing personalised gift – is when my customers ask for fan art. These shoes were lengthy to complete but I had great fun with them, and of course I had to watch The Big Lewbowsky so that I could get a feel of the character for the artwork.

It’s an exciting journey and I enter 2019 buzzing with new ideas and projects. One of my focuses at the moment is to get writing here more regularly so that I can communicate with you all here, as well as on my social media channels. What would you like to see?

13 Apr

The back story

I often get asked when and how I started to draw on shoes, and where the name WildBunnyArts came from.

I’ve loved to draw and paint for as long as I can remember but customising shoes began when I had some Toms that had faded but the fabric and soles still had life left in them.  I dyed them black, painted a little dandelion on them with some fabric paint and stuck some rhinestones on them.  I had a new pair of shoes and nobody else had a pair of hand painted Toms like mine.

Back at the time that I started to paint shoes, I began to be aware that I was being stalked.  Things had been happening that I couldn’t understand but what I did not know was that my son’s father was stalking me.  We were going through the family court system at the time and when the court was presented with the evidence that he was stalking me, they gave him the go-ahead to continue, saying that because of the ongoing proceedings, it was “research”.  The police thought differently though and after several breaches of a restraining order he went to prison.

In 2015 I was working as a blogger and web designer but because of the stalking I closed down that business.  I would have been out of work but I had painted a few pairs of shoes as an unique thank you gift to some amazing people.  The amazing Dawn from thinkitchangeit.com had provided me with therapy to help me process the family court and stalking (p.s. she also cured me of my bird phobia).  Some of her friends loved my work and they wanted to buy hand painted Converse too.  She encouraged me to set up an Etsy shop selling custom Vans and Converse, painted Dr Martens and Nikes, and the rest is history.

Why the bunny? My son and I invented the name together, to honour the street bunny. Our street is home to an escapee rabbit – she belongs to someone, but keeps escaping. This bunny will not be caged! To my amazement, it’s survived the cold, the snow and any predators. She appeals to my rebellious spirit.

She’s a beautiful bunny but she used to hop away at an impressive speed if you approached her. The week we chose the name, my lad managed to get close to her and even pick her up. His joy was unparalleled, and he brought her into our garden for a play.

There’s a little vid on my YouTube channel, if you’d like a peek.