Cathy Darling's Pure Art Studio

Hello Florida, Here I Come...

2011-09-13T21:28:00.000-07:00

This is probably the last post I do before I fly out to Orlando, Florida. My son is moving back home and I am flying out to drive back with him. We are going to Disney World on Saturday before we head back. I am sure I will have a blast since I have never really grown up.

My latest news is that the painting I posted in my last blog entry (Dogs Always Has Your Back) was accepted into the Utah Watercolor Society Fall show. The juror is Christopher Schink. Pretty exciting!

For those of you who live around Salt Lake City, the gallery I am in is moving. Local Colors of Utah is having a moving sale - 25% off everthing. Last day is Friday September 23rd. The address is 535 South 700 East. There is parking in the rear. We are currently negotiating a lease on a new location, so when I have more info I will let you know!

Here is a painting that is currently for sale at Local Colors, titled Wild Ride. It is 11 x 14 and framed. Oh by the way, you don't have to live in Utah if you want to buy this painting, contact me if you want more information and get 25% off!

Update on Experimental Auctions "Project Clean Out Studio"

2011-09-11T22:35:00.000-07:00

Well it's been two weeks since I began listing auctions starting them at 1 cent. As a result, I listed 13 pieces of art, various sizes. All auctions sold for a total of $169.09. Only one actually sold for 1 cent. The highest price was $36. I thought that was pretty good for just cleaning out the studio! You have to look at the overall picture and total of sales, not just the selling price per item. However if you wanted to average out the cost per piece it would be 13 paintings at $13 each. I know, that doesn't seem like much. But just imagine going to your studio and opening a drawer full of paintings that you did for workshops, experiments etc. and finding $13 for each painting instead. Would you leave the money in the drawer? Heck no. So I figure why leave paintings sitting in a drawer?

I will continue to clean out my studio and put more paintings on auction for 1 cent. I am also finding what kind of painting is getting more bids. I have been offering a variety of styles from realism to whimsical. It has been interesting to see what gets more views and bids. Once my studio is cleaned out I will start paintings specific to what sells best for me. I will keep you posted on how this all turns out.

I entered the Utah Watercolor Society Fall show. I have yet to hear if my painting was juried in. It is a whimsical one called "Dogs Always Have Your Back". It is my observation about dogs and cats.

Portrait of Edith Brown

2011-08-29T22:12:00.000-07:00

Taking a break from the hectic schedule of my 1 cent ebay auctions, I finished a portrait I have been working on. It is acrylic on panel and is an 8" x 10". It is a portrait of the mother of my friend, Mr. Joe. His mother is 96 now, but as you may have noticed, this is painted from a photo when she was in her early 20's. That would be around the years 1936 -38 is my guess. She is a very sweet lady.

Edith Brown

Studio Clean Out Time!

2011-08-28T23:43:00.000-07:00

I am a collector. A collector of art before it's made. Meaning I have a LOT of stuff in my studio that I have not been able to part with because it has the potential of becoming a fabulous art piece. I have decided I am going to clean up, get rid of the things that I don't need or don't inspire me, and release the art that I have laying around that either needs to be sold or given away.

Southern Utah 5"x7" oil pastel on panel now on ebay!

I think I will be able to combine the two solutions just mentioned and find my art a good home.
I hope you don't mind, but I am going to tell you exactly how I am going to do it! A little history first... I have sold on ebay since September 11th 2001. I worked all that evening to get my first auction ready on a very slow computer and a free dial-up connection. By the time my auction actually posted it was just a few minutes past midnight, so I guess the 12th really is my start date. As you can imagine the news of the day was my constant companion that evening.

I have had a lot of modest success over the years with ebay. Recently a friend sent me an article about how to sell on ebay. I thought it was interesting and found a lot of the information shared there to be true. I decided since I had a bunch of work that I would like to have find a new home, I would try this guy's method. Here's the link in case you are interested in reading the article *but finish reading my blog entry first!*:

http://faso.com/fineartviews/31888/whats-up-with-e-bay

Anyhoo, I am going to start my auctions at 1 cent. Maybe they will get bid up and maybe they won't. As you can see it will result in either my work selling or I will give it away and the buyer will pay to have me send it to them. :-)

Over the years I have created art just for the joy of it. I have a lot of different kinds of art - some more traditional and some very whimsical. So as I clean out my studio, I will be putting up a wide variety of things. Now part of the reason for starting so low is that it puts your work at the top of the auction pages where the potential buyers are searching the lowest prices first. That hopefully translates into a wider audience of people looking at my work - and buyers for it. That in turn can result in multiple bids. Anyway that's the idea.

So there you have it - a brief explanation of why I would start my auctions at the crazy price of 1 cent. I hope YOU will take a look at my auctions and if you feel inspired to bid, you might just end up with a nice piece for not much money. That is my way of ensuring my art goes to a good home regardless of the price. I end up happy because I will have a cleaner, less cluttered studio and maybe have a little money to show for it.

Girl of Many Flowers 8 x 8 watercolor on panel with acrylic finish

Now on ebay!

Back To Blogging!

2011-08-27T22:39:00.000-07:00

As previously mentioned, I have been a fulltime grandma tending my grand-kidlets. Although I have managed to fit in making art between my tending duties, I haven't been very good about blogging. So I am here to repent!
Here's a picture of Lily Rain so you can see for yourself that all is well with my world.

So what kind of art have I been working on? I am in the midst of a project with my boys. We are making apps for smart phones. I am doing the illustrations and my boys are doing the technical stuff. It has been a lot of fun working with them. We are creating several apps right now, but one is a story I wrote and illustrated years ago called Jorky Finds A Snorp. We are focusing on making apps for children.

To do the illustrations for the apps I am learning how to paint in Photoshop CS5, big learning curve, but I am learning slowly but surely. Here's the first rendition of Jorky (see below) which I painted in Photoshop. We have decided I need to make some changes because a smart phone screen is so small and also to animate him I need to make some adjustments. I originally drew Jorky way back in High School and worked from that. He hasn't aged at all!

I have also been developing a new line of art that I will be selling soon at art festivals as well as online. I will be previewing it in the next week or so as I get some made and have photos to post.
I hope to be blogging again on a regular basis. :-)

I've Been Lost But Now I'm Found

2011-07-31T16:15:00.000-07:00

Last time I wrote my blog was April 26th, oh my! To catch you up to date with my perils and joyous times, I will briefly describe what's been happening.

When last we left off I was heading to Albuquerque, NM for the Western Federation of Watercolor show. The show was great, and it was an honor to be in it. Santa Fe was awesome with all the galleries!

While I was there, I worried about my youngest daughter who was due to have a baby girl the night of the watercolor show reception, Friday, May 6th. She couldn't have that little jellybean while I was gone! However, I was able to stay until Sunday and there was still no sign of baby Lily Rain. Whew!

That following week, labor began and we knew Lily was close to making her appearance. On Friday the 13th of May, Miss Lily Rain Hostetter was born shortly before midnight! She weighed 7 lbs. 10 oz like her mama did when she was born. Celebration!

The week after that I had to prepare for a show called Art in the Afternoon at the Cottonwood Country Club which was held on Sunday, May 22nd. Busy week! It was a fun show to do.

My rollercoaster in May took on the scary turn when the following week I found myself in the hospital. I was there for four days and then it took a couple of weeks to recover. I am missing a gall bladder. I wonder what they did with it? Seriously!
The next week my daughter went back to work, and I now take care of Miss Lily Rain five days a week. Tending a new baby really cuts into the painting time, but it is oh so worth it! I also tend my cute handicapped grandson Anthony in the afternoons.

It has taken me about a month to get my act together (well, not totally) and keep all the balls in the air. That's why I am posting a painting that is called Juggling Life, I painted it a few years ago and often use is as my avatar because it seems I am always juggling things. I have finally figured out how to tend kids and still paint sometime during the day. I had forgotten how much time it takes to care for a baby that eats every two hours. It certainly been a long time since I had an itty bitty kidlet around. But what a joy!

I will be posting on my blog again, painting and taking care of sweet Lily and Anthony. Sorry about so much personal stuff. More fresh art coming soon!

In Pursuit of Happiness

2011-04-26T19:51:00.000-07:00

Can you believe May is almost upon us? Time is flying by so quickly that I can't hardly conceive that it has been a year since we had a big watercolor show here in Salt Lake and now we are preparing to go to it in New Mexico at the first part of May. I think I must be in a time warp. (or I have been watching way too much Doctor Who.)

The other day I tried something new. I sat down to paint with no plan or idea of what I wanted to paint. I just started painting, trying to drum up some inspiration. It turned out to be a happy painting called Pursuit of Happiness.

On her dress I wrote words like peace, love, joy, happiness and light. It is always nice to remind ourselves of these lovely words. This painting is currently on auction on ebay.

I also painted some Lily Rain paintings and have them on etsy. The link to this particular painting is titled 'Angels Watch Over Me'

Dear Deer John - opps I mean Moose John

2011-04-22T10:47:00.000-07:00

Last night I attended the Wasatch Camera Club where my friend John Blumenkamp was the presenter. He is an amazing artist that specializes in wild life and nature photography. All I have seen of his work is the end result (check out http://www.tetontrails.com/) which is simply amazing photography. You can also see his work on Facebook; Teton Trail Photography. His presentation was excellent too. He is very knowledgeable about his art. I am hoping that we will be able to get him to teach some photography workshops at Local Colors art gallery (hint, hint, John!)

I took a picture of John when he was in front of the screen that his presentation was shown on. He made a pretty good screen himself with a moose face displayed on his face. Unfortunately I took the pic with my camera phone and it is a wee bit fuzzy. Ok, alot fuzzy. Which is kind of funny when you consider I was surrounded by photographers that use thousands of dollars in camera equipment. So sorry, John. I am not a photographer but a wolf in sheep's clothing among your phlock (short for photography flock).

Meanwhile back at the ranch... yesterday I painted another Lily Rain painting and put it up on etsy. It is called Peace Garden and Lily is in it with her little dog Commander PiddlePot. It is 12" x 16" and is a watercolor on canvas with a acrylic finish. Check it out on etsy; Peace Garden

All in all a very lovely day it was, smooseing with John and enjoying peace with Lily Rain and Commander PiddlePot.

Lily Rain is born... Well, Sort of

2011-04-20T23:37:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday, I was talking to my daughter Aubrey who is expecting a baby in May. I was telling her about how for the first eighteen months of her life, she was bald headed. Back in those days people used to stick bows on bald headed babies with karo syrup or some other gummy substance. I didn't like doing that, so I started making baby headbands of stretchy lace with flowers and bows. You're probably thinking... so what?

Well back in those days there weren't any baby headbands, just karo syrup and bows. Aubrey was the only baby with headbands on her bald little head! I could have made a million bucks if I would have marketed them back then. But maybe the world wasn't ready for them.

I told Aubrey that when Lily Rain (that's her baby's name to be) was born, we should make her some really cute baby headbands. Then I got to thinking if we make REALLY cute ones we could sell them! Well, then I got to thinking I should make some art for the nursery and then that got me to thinking I could sell nursery art.

The next thing I knew I was researching baby stuff on etsy. The next morning I woke up thinking about it. I even came up with a name for this new enterprise... Lily Rain Collectibles.

I have been trying to come up with art for ebay and etsy that would be totally different than what I paint for the galleries. I decided that I could just do Lily Rain stuff for online sales.

I came up with a little character for the Lily Rain nursery art. I did an ACEO (which means Art Card Editions and Originals). It is 3.5" x 2.5" in size. I thought if I developed my Lily Rain character on art cards I could then sell them on ebay and kill two birds with one stone. Then when I was satisfied with how the characters look, I thoughtI would paint some larger Lily Rain paintings. This painting is done in watercolor and is titled 'Teaching A Dragon to Beg'.

I entered this painting in the Nibblefest contest on ebay. It's a contest among ebay artists and all the auctions start at .99. The artist with the highest bids wins! So if you want to take a look at this little ACEO, click on the ebay link at the top of this page. Any bids on this painting would be greatly appereciated.

So this is what I have been thinking about lately and now you know how this concept of Lily Rain art was born.

The Puppers are Featured on the Front Page of EBSQ Art

2011-04-15T12:43:00.000-07:00

EBSQ art is a wonderful website for artists and collectors. Today an art quilt that I made is featured as EBSQ's daily art on the front page today. The painting is called Chihuahua Tails and it is a portrait of my daughter Kim's little girls, Bonita and Bella. Thanks EBSQ!

The Parable of the Muffin Tin

2011-04-14T08:20:00.000-07:00

In my artistic journey, or in other words- my life, I am finding that the more I ponder and search for inspiration in my art the more depth I find in my faith in God. Now generally I am not one to openly expose my soul in this manner, but since this blog is about my art it would be without truth not to speak of my inspiration for it.

As mentioned in my previous blog entry, I have been making meditation a part of my day. I have always been a great one for believing that we all can receive inspiration on a daily basis. God knows each one of us and our needs - of that I have no doubt. I find joy in incidents that illustrate that belief of mine. So I would like to share with you my own personal little parable; that of the Muffin Tin.

A couple of weeks ago I baked some mini quiches (very delicious, I might add) and although I baked them in a non-stick muffin tin, with a swipe of oil for good measure, they stuck like a wad of gum to a tennis shoe on a hot day. Well actually it was worse than that. I tried all kinds of things to remove the film that had baked on the tin. Lots of soap, water and scrubbing with one of those green scrubby things didn't work, nor did using the steam cleaner. Nothing would get that muffin tin clean! I soaked it for a week, trying each day to remove the film. Finally I just said a simple (exasperated) prayer. Please help me get these muffin tins clean! Immediately inspiration hit; "fill the tin up with water and bake it for a half hour". So of course I did. When the baking time was up I found that with a bit of elbow grease I could scrape off that quiche-y film.

So I guess I would say that the moral of the story is that what may seem like an insignificant matter addressed in prayer resulted in a very profound message that God hears prayers and answers them. To me this is quite a miracle that he loves me enough to respond about this little matter in my life.

One more thing.... there is further depth in this little parable. The muffin tin incident illustrates to me that we have a partnership with God, he does his part but we have to do our part as well. If I had just pulled the muffin tin out of the oven and dumped out the water, it would not be long before it would be the same as before. I still had to work hard to make it clean.

Recently I completed a painting inspired by a few lines of a blessing I received many years ago. It described the state of our world like this; " The world today is in serious trouble. It is struggling for survival in a sea of selfishness, hate, greed and sin. They travel and cry for peace but do not want peace in righteousness".

I have always felt that those words are pretty profound. One day a few weeks ago, I was thinking I would like to enter a painting in the Spring Salon at the Museum of Art in Springville Utah. Immediately a title and a picture came into my mind for a painting. It was based upon those lines I just quoted.

As the painting progressed from a pencil sketch to another sketch that was painted, and then onto a 4' x 2" canvas; I tried to keep myself open to inspiration. Color and design were affected by this process. When I finished the painting, however, I was not completely satisfied with it. I had painted for a deadline and although had a finished piece, it didn't feel like I had illustrated my inspiration properly.

I took a picture of the painting just as I was running out the door to get it down to the museum. Unfortunately the battery in my camera was dead so I used the camera on my phone. So, not the best picture.

The painting has a bit of symbolism in it and is titled 'Rising Above the World". It depicts a girl rising out of a sea of selfishness, hate, greed and sin (sound familiar?). Originally what I saw in my head was a girl above the water, not rising out of it. Now that it is done I see it as anyone who is aware of the state of the world and fighting to rise above it, still in it but rising. Another thing that changed from what I first saw was she was reaching for a very bright light but instead of a blue sky and a bright sun, I felt inspired to paint what looks more like evening with a full moon. The meaning I found in this change was that we start where we are; imperfect beings reaching up towards the Light shining peaceful and serene in the darkness.

I see this painting as the first of a series of spiritual progress towards the light as the girl rises higher with the light becoming more brilliant as that of the sun at noon day.

Trying to live and paint by inspiration makes the journey before me unpredictable. I don't know what direction I am heading with my art, but I am fine with that. If God answers prayers about muffin tins I know for certain He will help with the more serious stuff.

Bloggity Blog Blog and Other Sundry Thoughts

2011-03-29T21:13:00.000-07:00

So I haven't been blogging much lately. Bad Cathy! Truth be known, I haven't been painting either. I am going through a transitional period, not only in my art but in my life. It's totally self inflicted, which means that there is no major crisis or unsettling changes going on. I am just searching for how to find focus on what I am doing here in this world.

After thinking constantly about my art and what direction I should go with it, I found I was thinking way too hard. So much so that a good friend told me I am so busy thinking that I am not allowing inspiration to come through. He was absolutely correct. He counseled me to take an hour every day and just ponder and meditate. Let my mind be quiet so that inspiration has a chance to reach me.

So now for the last two weeks I have been getting up in the morning and pondering. But I found an hour was just a bit too long as the last 15 minutes of it I began to feel anxious which kind of defeats the purpose. So now I ponder for 45 minutes. It works for me!
The most amazing things are happening. I am getting direction, and having faith in the inspiration I receive, it takes away confusion that I have been known to bring upon myself. I am finding a lovely peace that makes me feel confident in my daily journey.
The second verse of one of my favorite hymns 'Be Still My Soul' expresses so perfectly my feelings:

Be still, my soul: Thy God doth undertake

To guide the future as he has the past.
Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;
All now mysterious shall be bright at last.
Be still, my soul: The waves and winds still know
His voice who ruled them while he dwelt below.

Text: Katharina von Schlegel, b. 1697;

trans. by Jane Borthwick, 1813-1897

The day I started pondering, I got a call that a painting of mine was selected to be in a Disney movie that will come out this year during the holiday season. It's based off the Disney channel series Good Luck Charlie. The painting is one that I posted here before, a Santa Claus and it's titled 'Twas the night Before Christmas'. Anyhoo, the film company rented it for a week for $200! Cool huh. So how does that tie in with my pondering? Well when something good like that happens, I consider it a blessing and a sign that I am on the right track.

Being creative is a very spiritual process I think!

-

My UWS Spring Show entry

2011-03-09T22:34:00.000-08:00

It's finally spring! Well at least in the way of call for entries for the Utah Watercolor Society Spring show.
I felt people-ish so I did a painting from a photo I took about 18 years ago of my youngest daughter. Her name is Aubrey. You know like the 'Bread' song (that's a group in case you are too young to remember). And Aubrey was her name.... if you know the song I bet you can hear the tune in your head. Yup, we named her after that song. Funny thing is, in the baby book it is a boy's name. We didn't care though and actually neither does Aubrey. It means Elf Ruler, so Aubrey really loves her name. She is quite partial to elves- especially ones she can rule.

Western Federation of Watercolor Societies

2011-03-04T18:03:00.000-08:00

Let me tell you abit about Western Fed and some exciting news (to me at least!)

The Western Federation of Watercolor Societies (WFWS) is comprised of 11 watercolor societies. Utah Watercolor Society (WS), Arizona Watercolor Association, Colorado WS, Idaho WS, Nevada WS, New Mexico WS, San Diego WS, Southern Arizona Watercolor Guild, Southwestern Watercolor Society (Texas), West Texas WS, and Watercolor Society of Oregon.

WFWS holds an annual show, last year it was held here in Utah and this year it will be in Albuquerque NM.
As members of the various watercolor societies we are encouraged to enter the Western Fed show. This year there was a total of 1066 entries. Only 125 paintings were selected to participate in the show.

So.... guess what? My painting 'What Next' was accepted! Yahoo! I have posted it on my blog before but in celebration I am posting it again.

The exhibition dates are May 6th to June 5th, 2011 and will be held at the Fine Arts Building at Expo New Mexico. I am excited to go see the show!

Local Colors of Utah Website is ALIVE!

2011-03-04T17:28:00.000-08:00

Sounds repetitious I know, but another place I like to show my art is now available online. Our artists cooperative gallery located in Salt Lake City now has it's website up and running!
Local Colors of Utah Art Gallery

That's the link above but if you want to just memorize it the actual website is www.localcolorsart.com

Now my online friends can take a look at what I have at the gallery. We still have a few things to finish on the website, like adding pricing and how to purchase art, but at least you can see whats available by the various artists.

So much fun!
I hope you will click on the link and take a look around.

Doll Town is Alive!

2011-02-27T21:30:00.000-08:00

Madame Butterfly

Art dolls are a lot of fun. I loved playing with dolls when I was a kid and now I love making them as an adult. Which means I can still play with them. Doll Town is now open and there are a lot of fun handmade dolls for sale there. Take a look:

Cathy Darling at Doll Town

Currently I have Madame Butterfly listed for sale. I have a bunch of new dolls in various states of creation that soon will be there too.

Love to see you there!

Selling Dolls at Doll Town!

2011-02-22T15:48:00.000-08:00

Hello Friends,
I just wanted to let you know about a new place to buy my art dolls - Doll Town! This is brand new. Grand Opening is Feb 27th @ 7pm est

Harmony and Progress on 'The Cache Cow'

2011-02-17T19:49:00.000-08:00

I worked on my demo painting the other day and finally got around to posting the progress. I have been busy this week getting ready for gallery stroll at the gallery I am in, Local Colors. So I apologize to my Cache Valley friends and anyone else who is following this demo for being so dang slow!

I put another layer of color on the cow and worked on Miss Moo's face and down udder. The spots are as dark as I am going to go with them. I like the way the colors blended together and give the impression of black, but it is really quite colorful.

I have been contemplating a lot about what direction I should go with my art lately. I decided that I need to strive for harmony in all aspects of my life so that I will be more open to inspiration in my art. I was once told to visualize myself as a mountain stream running along. When something comes along in life that threatens to block progress, I should do like the stream does whenever it comes to a rock and just flow around it. I think if I strive have harmony in my life I could do that! I'll let you know if it works. :-)

A Watercolor Demo with the Cache Valley UWS

2011-02-14T11:52:00.000-08:00

Last week I had the opportunity to visit the Cache Valley chapter of the Utah Watercolor Society. What a great experience! I was invited to do a demonstration. What I chose to do was watercolor on masonite, using Golden's absorbent ground. I first showed a slide show of my work and history as an artist. Then I showed some pieces that I had painted on masonite and other surfaces. I had brought with me a 16" x 20" piece of masonite that I had prepared with gesso and then a coat of absorbent ground. So as not to take too much time, I had already drawn my subject matter. Then I painted for the demo. With questions etc. I only got down one coat of color and didn't get to finish the painting. So some of the members suggested that I post my progress on my blog. The painting is of a cow. Oh I forgot to mention that I had applied a texture before I put the gesso and absorbent ground on the masonite. It broke up the watercolor in a very interesting way. Keep posted for the progress shots in the next few days.

Thanks so much to Andi and Deanna, I had a great time!

Cupidtoe?

2011-01-20T21:26:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that Valentine's Day is just around the corner. Today along with my other art endeavors I made a little cupid ornament. Since Valentine's is all about love, it got me thinking... why do they have mistletoe at Christmas but not for Valentine Day? I was thinking cupid would be an obvious choice for a mistletoe substitute, and he does have toes...

Wish I could do today over again

2011-01-18T21:45:00.000-08:00

Today was one of those days I wish I could do over. I didn't paint a thing! For that reason I wish I could rewind and start fresh. However I was busy all day long, doing other art related tasks, lest you think I was laying around watching TV in my jammies and eating chocolate.

It's gallery stroll this Friday here in Salt Lake City, and the whole week seems to be filled with things I have to do to get ready for it. We had a gallery meeting tonight and it was also our un-Christmas party since we missed out in December. Tomorrow I will re-hang the gallery with my hanging partner Mr. Troy. He is a great hanger because he is well over 6 feet and we rarely need a ladder. Plus he is funny.

On Thursday I should be able to get some painting done. Friday is the stroll so I will be at the gallery that night. Our featured artists this month are Jeff Clay - photography, Frank Fuller - painter, and Steve Halsford - wood sculpture.

The Alice in Wonderland painting is one I did a while ago. It has a lot of collage in it. I liked the way it turned out. I posted it for no apparent reason.
Below that is the card for our gallery with our featured artists' work

If you are in Salt Lake, go to our Local Colors Gallery face book page for a coupon to get a free gift from our gift basket. There have been some pretty cool things in it. Ooops I just looked and they didn't put the coupon on yet. I thought I saw it the other day. Hmmm. Well, print up this blog and take it into the gallery and we will pretend it's a coupon! Trust me it will work. Just show them this entry. :-)

Follow Your Inspiration

2011-01-17T21:54:00.000-08:00

A couple of years ago I painted a watercolor called 'Follow Your Inspiration'. I am a big believer that our best work comes when we listen to our inspiration.

Today I realized that I was getting too caught up in the 'making' of my art that I have been forgetting to stop, ponder and seek inspiration. Kind of sounds like stop, drop and roll, you know, like what you do if you're on fire. I think that's a good similitude for what I am trying to say. When you get inspiration you really get on fire! Except you don't want to put it out.

If I don't make a point to seek some inspiration on a daily basis, pretty soon I get sidetracked. Everyone has their own ways of seeking inspiration. For me, morning is the best time to contemplate my day. I don't limit it to a specific amount of time, I just let thoughts flow as I do my morning routine, exercise, get ready for the day, eat breakfast, study scriptures and pray for guidance.

Today I painted another foamance girl. I put a quote on it by R. Schuller;

"Anyone can count seeds in an apple, but only God can count the number of apples in a seed."

Hmmm, I just noticed that there is something I need to correct on this painting. Taking a picture of a piece sometimes lets you spot something that you missed. In this case, the quote is pretty much along the same line of the grass. I think if it were above or below that line it would look much better. To correct it, I am going to raise the grass line up closer to the trees. But I will do that tomorrow. Hopefully that will make it look better.

Tomorrow I am going to seek and follow my inspiration. I know I will have a better day!

A Subtle Change in Direction

2011-01-16T22:45:00.000-08:00

Writing a blog on a regular basis is pretty therapeutic! I have often struggled about which direction to take my art, and have found that just writing a few things down has helped me to see a path appearing. I see myself lying on the psychiatrist couch of Dr. Blogblogblog. (Do they really use couches?)

After doing my first three foamances ( I need to call them something!) I decided I didn't want to pursue that style of art. I call it my eBay art. My high school art teacher would have called it kitsch art. I think he must have drilled that into my head, because I have felt through all the years of selling art online, the kind of art I sold there was inferior to what I should be doing. I felt I ought to be doing 'fine art', but that takes more planning and a lot longer to paint. In my situation I needed to have daily online sales. So I painted things that were cutesy and fast.

Now I am not saying that kitsch art is bad art. People love decorative fun art like this and that's a good thing. However it's sidetracking me from where I think I want to go with this. So I decided this weekend as I was drawing in my sketch book that I would do sketches on my foam figures and this time try to make it look more fine art-ish. It would also be a mini practice for the direction I am heading. I think it's a little bit different from the others.

I was thinking about Valentines - I love holidays! So I decided to make my sketch into an angel with a heart and put words on it. I know, it's still looks kitschy. I can't help it! This is a journey, one step at a time. This foamance is titled Love is Kind and will be on etsy tomorrow.

When is your best not your best?

2011-01-14T23:40:00.000-08:00

Sketching in a sketchbook has never been easy for me. I have this thing about making it look really good. However a lot of the time it doesn't and so I don't want anyone to see it. I need to get over the feeling that everything has to be a masterpiece. I am not saying I create masterpieces, it's just that I hate to show art that I feel is not my best work. Which really isn't true, I have shown a lot of my art that I wouldn't even claim nowadays...just kidding.. well maybe not. :-)
What is my best? What do I compare it to? I remember a drawing I did in the 6th grade of the Mona Lisa. I was so proud of it and everyone thought it was awesome ( I was the class artist, don't you know?) I really had done my best. But was it my all time best piece of art? I don't think so. I should dig it up, and post it. It is really bad.
It was probably my best at the time though.

Writing in my blog today is an exercise for me to stop thinking everything I do needs to be my best. Learning and practicing does not mean perfection. So I am being brave and posting a sketch that isn't great. I have to tell myself it's ok to expose my art in such a ruthless fashion. It doesn't have to be great, it's JUST A SKETCH Cathy, get over it!

I also have a hang up about sketching people when I am out and about. I don't want them to wonder why I keep looking and staring at them. So when I did the sketch of this kid, I figured out something really cool. I was in my studio and decided to take a break from my day job (wink, wink) and do a sketch. When I am painting I like to listen to music or TV, and recently NETFLIX! It's the most awesome invention! I can watch it off my computer. So I was watching/listening to a show on netflix when I decided I ought to sketch something. Then the phone rang so I paused the show. After the phone call, I looked back at my computer and on the show there was this kid playing chess with his dad. Here is the cool part... because the show was paused I thought to myself, hey, I could sketch that guy! He wasn't moving and he doesn't know I am staring at him.

So I saw, I sketched and I am proud to say it is not my best.

I'm featured on EBSQ's Art Blog

2011-01-14T16:27:00.000-08:00

Today my blog is one of five artist's that is featured on EBSQ's art blog! Thank you Amanda! Check it out; http://blog.ebsqart.com/

My Art Day Job

2011-01-13T19:38:00.000-08:00

In my effort to continue pursuing the artist's life, I decided that with my decision to improve as an artist (see previous blog entry) that I want to make what I sell online in venues such as etsy to be quite different from my work that I will do while studying and practising to be a better artist.

So after thinking and thinking I came up with a plan. I really enjoy mixed media and collage and since my focus of study will be drawing and painting, I thought my online sales would be mixed media. I also wanted to use something different than canvas and watercolor paper for my foundation so I chose foam to be the first element of my mixed media art.

As I began to work with the foam, I started to have all kinds of ideas of things I could do with it. I told my daughter some of my ideas and that I was going to make this art specifically for etsy. Her response was that I needed to do it for longer than a couple of weeks! I tend to try something new and then if it doesn't sell like hotcakes the first couple of weeks I have been known to abandon the idea. It kind of becomes little orphan annie art.

SO.... I had this really brilliant idea- I am going to spend this entire year making mixed media with a foam foundation for my online sales. No more abandoned little orphan annie art! I am going to stick with it for a whole year. I think it will be a creative challenge to see all the things I can do with it. Of course I will post my creations here, need you ask?

I started with a basic idea for my first few pieces. I thought it would be fun to create some whimisical people and rather than do them on a rectangle or square piece of foam I got out my scroll saw and cut out shapes. I posted the first three pieces I made.

Allow me to introduce to you my first mixed media ladies; The lady holding the cat is titled 'Dancing with Cats', the second one is 'Motherhood is Sweet', and the last one is 'Love Messenger'. They are all currently on etsy.

Why don't I just paint one style for my art studies, galleries and online sales? Because my art study is to be uninhibited by any pressure to create art to sell. I want to paint without the pressure of thinking this needs to be good enough to enter a juried show. That's why I want it to be different from my online sales art. Does that make sense to anyone besides me?

I'm a Home School Artist!

2011-01-12T11:52:00.000-08:00

The new year always motivates me to review my life and try to improve. I suppose that happens to most people. The new year brings new energy to me and my work.

I have evaluated my art and in so doing some amazing realizations came my way in terms of experiences during the last few weeks of the old year. Without going into detail, I decided to go back to the drawing board, so to speak, and hone my skills as an artist.

I am home schooling myself!

I am making my sketchbook a daily habit and will take it everywhere with me. Currently I am studying a book called Design Basics by David A. Lauer and Stephen Pentak. I'm giving myself homework assignments. Sounds fun, right?

I am traditionally a 'paint for deadlines' kind of artist. Which means about a week or even a day before a deadline I whip something out. No more!!! I am taking a journey to discover what I am capable of producing if I take time to think out and really plan a painting. I will not set a time limit to get it done and avoid painting for deadlines. I want to paint for the sake of painting and work towards becoming a better artist. I will create work that isn't necessarily for sale, but for experience. Sounds kind of like a mantra, huh!

As a full time artist, the past few years have been filled with 'producing product'. My goal was to have something to sell. Not that that's a bad thing, as my livelihood depends on selling my art, but that mode has hindered me from exploring what I am capable of creating.

So I thought to myself; how do I make a living, and make art that is not solely for the purpose of a sale or a deadline? At first I thought that maybe I ought to get a day job and study and do my home school art at night. That lasted about 8 hours (while I was sleeping). I awoke and thought that's crazy! Why would I want to stop making art so I can make art?

I realized that I needed to make a plan and organize myself. As you can tell from reading my past blog entries I do a variety of art, sometimes more along the fine art lines and often not so fine art. As I pondered on the direction I should go, I decided that I should divide my day into two parts. The first part to devote to the study and improvement of my fine art talents. The second part would go to producing art to make a living. Kind of killing two birds with one stone. (No birds were used though).

I don't know where this will take me, but I will keep posting my art and hopefully I will be learning something along the way.

The painting featured today is a commission that I finished 4 days before Christmas (yup one of those dastardly deadlines!) It was for my next door neighbor and it is titled 'The Morning Breaks, the Shadows Flee' and is a painting of the Bountiful Utah LDS Temple at dawn. While painting it I kept humming a hymn, so it seemed logical to take some of the words from it for the title.

Twas the Night Before Christmas

2010-12-02T22:55:00.000-08:00

Tomorrow night is gallery stroll in Salt Lake City. It's moved up from the 3rd Friday to the first because it could end up on Christmas or too close to it. To celebrate this festive season I did a version of the Night Before Christmas. It is the cat lovers version. :-) I collaged the poem onto the painting. It goes like this;

‘Twas the night before Christmas and all thru the house
The reindeer were sneezing and so was the mouse,
The stockings were hung by kids everywhere,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

But Rudolf was nestled all snug in his bed
While visions of headache danced all over his head,
Mrs. Claus shook her head - it was just a cold (perhaps?)
“NO! NO! NO! “ Wailed Santa about to collapse;

Santa moaned “Christmas Eve, that’s what’s the matter,
How can I give gifts without reindeer clatter?
All the reindeer have caught a fever in a flash,
And NOW is the time for the Christmas Eve dash”.

He looked bleakly outside at the new fallen snow
The moon gave mid-day luster to objects below.
When what to Santa’s surprised eyes should appear,
But his own lovely sleigh with eight fuzzy cats near;

They all frolicked and played so lively and quick,
An idea occurred to the stressed St. Nick;
“With Christmas magic these cats can be game!”
And he whistled and shouted and called them by name;

“Now Pumpkin, now Muffy, now Felix and Nixen,
Come Cubby, come Cupid, come Meow-Meow and Kitzen!
To the elfs for sprinkles of flying dust on all
You will save Christmas Eve” (and such a close call!)

He harnessed the Kitties, they were ready to fly,
As the excitement mounted they took to the sky;
So up to the house top those kittens they flew
With a sleigh full of toys and St. Nicholas too.

A wink of Santa’s eye, and a twist of his head,
Around the world on Christmas Eve they sped.
Santa spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
He filled all the stockings with plenty of perk.

And laying his finger aside of his nose,
He gave the cats a nod, to the sky they rose!
The cats saved the day, Santa gave them a whistle,
He thanked them with gifts of catnip and thistle

They heard Santa exclaim to everyone in his sight;
“Happy Christmas to all and to all a good night!”
Adaption of the Night before Christmas by
Catherine Darling Hostetter

Regarding the painting, I had so much fun painting the Noah's ark one using my kids for models, I decided to use a friend for this one. If you are one of my local artist friends, can you guess who? What gave me the idea to use this person is he is always telling me how he likes to take friends pictures and change them in photoshop into something funny. So I thought he would be a good candidate for Santa.

Come to Local Colors and see the original - it would be great to see you at stroll! Or if you don't live in Salt Lake, I will be selling prints of this painting on Etsy.

Springville Museum of Art

2010-11-01T21:49:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I posted anything. Partially because my computer crashed (hate when that happens!), and then on top of that I have had several painting deadlines. The most recent one was for a painting that I submitted into the Springville Museum of Art Religious show. I am happy to say it was juried in, which I consider a wonderful honor!

I chose to illustrate the Noah's ark story. There is a song about the biblical prophets that the kids sing at church called Follow the Prophet. It has a verse about Noah that goes like this:

Noah was a prophet called to preach the word,

Tried to cry repentance but nobody heard

They were busy sinning, Noah preached in vain

They wished they had listened when they saw the rain!

I had my kids pose for the figures in the piece, (Noah's family) and then changed them to fit what I wanted in the painting. My oldest son modeled for Noah - he isn't really that old though! I just made him old. I enjoyed doing it. The chihuahaus are my granddogs. I also used a bit of artistic license in the painting, that's the fun of being an artist. :-)

Angels and Saints Show

2010-10-19T22:23:00.000-07:00

Last Friday was gallery stroll in Salt Lake City, and the reception for our show at Local Colors - Angels and Saints. If you've been following my blog at all you will know I have been painting saints, a bunch of them.

That night we also had a halloween party at the gallery and dressed up. The picture of the ultra-hot guy is Troy Nuttall who I did the show with. He does really cool photography and then adds photoshop effects to them. He created angels with halos of dandelions and neat things like that. Very artsy and very talented. He dressed up like a 50's biker dude.

The other picture is another one of my saints, the Saint of Motherhood. I dressed up as a Saint, but didn't manage to get a picture of myself. I hope to get some soon. I begged Shanna who also did the show with us to send me some of the pictures of the reception. I will post them when I get them.

Shanna is a master bead weaver and makes glorious jewelry. I am hoping to have a picture of her to share here as well.

We had a great show and thanks to everyone who came by to see us!

Saint of Breast Cancer Awareness

2010-10-11T20:37:00.000-07:00

It wouldn't be October without a Saint of Breast Cancer Awareness. This is an 8x10 painting with a pink halo and delicate flowers - pink of course!

Tonight I am working on framing all the paintings for my show. Then tomorrow I hope to paint a couple of small saints. I should have started painting sooner. So many ideas and not enough time!

Saint of Peace

2010-10-09T22:29:00.000-07:00

A few more days of painting left before I have to hang my show at Local Colors on Wednesday. I finished this painting yesterday and it is titled 'Saint of Peace'.

Peace is an essential part of my life, a necessity for my own happiness. Although I may not always find it in the world today, I can strive to have it in myself. It is a gift from God that I treasure.

Saint of Great Joy

2010-10-01T17:18:00.000-07:00

I have about a week and a half before the opening of my show in Salt Lake. It's time to get cranking, since I don't have the number of paintings done that I would like. However I have a number of them started and I just need to finish them!

This painting is titled Saint of Great Joy. Awhile back I ran across an anonymous quote that reads; "Jumping for joy is the best exercise".

This painting is 14" x 11" and is framed in a gold frame.

Saint of Turning Back Time

2010-09-28T22:15:00.000-07:00

Onward with my journey of painting saints. This one was suggested by my friend Amy who works for Sundance Catalog as a designer. She is also an amazing jewelry artist and a mom.

Ah if we could have a saint that could turn back time, we could get more done in the day. That's a goal that is worthy enough to merit a saint for it, right?

The Saint of Kind Words

2010-09-23T21:43:00.000-07:00

I finished another piece for my upcoming show at Local Colors. As mentioned earlier on my blog, I am doing a theme of Saints. I think the world is full of them! Good people everyday inspire me with plenty of reference material in their kind words and deeds. In my book a saint is anyone that inspire us to live better by their example.

This piece is called The Saint of Kind Words. If we all had a one of these saints, I wouldn't have a to paint a 'Bite your tongue' Saint!

Catching up - Thanksgiving Point Plein Air

2010-09-22T21:25:00.000-07:00

This past weekend - well week actually, I participated in a plein air competition. Now landscapes are not my cup of tea, but it sounded like fun so I signed up. In conjunction with the competition they had a two day art festival so I signed up to have a booth as well.

On Thursday I loaded up my paints and went to participate in the competition. Thanksgiving Point has these massive formal gardens and with so much beauty it was hard to choose what to paint. Having visited the gardens a month ago I decided to paint something that had previously caught my eye. It was a statue of herons (I think) located in the Monet Gardens. The competition actually ran 3 days in which I could paint but because of previous commitments I could only paint on the last day. By the time I got setup it was noon and the paintings had to be done and framed by 5:00 that afternoon. I suddenly realized that I didn't allow myself much time!

I set to work, sitting in the full sun, plastered in sunblock as I enjoyed the warm September day. Not being a plein air artist I had chosen acrylic as my medium. It wasn't too long I realized the folly of mixing acrylic and hot sun. It dried almost immediately! Nevertheless I pressed on and painted til 4:10, then hiked back to my car to frame my piece.

I didn't win a prize in the competition, but I surprised myself that I could paint a landscape and I enjoyed the peacefulness that I found in the garden that day. I think I will do it again next year but definately paint in oils instead!

Plein Air At Gilgal

2010-09-12T23:08:00.000-07:00

There is nothing better than spending a warm summer afternoon in a garden painting. Today I painted plein air at Gilgal Gardens 10th year Celebration. It was made by Thomas Child who created in his backyard this sculpture garden that illustrated his beliefs. Here's the link if you are interested; http://www.gilgalgarden.org/

For the celebration they asked artists from Local Colors to come and paint plein air. Our gallery is just around the corner from the garden. I chose to paint the Alpha and Omega arch. I took a picture of my painting and the arch so you could see. It's about a 1/3 way done and I will finish it in a week or so.

Let the Saints Begin!

2010-09-08T21:23:00.001-07:00

As previously mentioned I have a show mid October at Local Colors and had decided to do a theme of Saints. So between now and then about everything I paint will be Saints.

This weekend I will have a booth at the Avenues Street Fair in Salt Lake. This is a lovely community day long festival which I have done for 5 or 6 years now. One thing that is really enjoyable about it is that everyone brings their dogs to it. You see the most amazing variety of dogs! I love it.

So with dogs in mind, my first saint painting is a dog! St. DoggyBeGood is the saint of doggy treats. He is very sweet in nature and very popular among dogs.

If you happen to be in Salt Lake this weekend come visit me. The fair will be on 7th Avenue between I and N streets. I will be sharing a booth with John Blumenkamp - an awesome photographer. Our booth will be between K and L street, on the south side #22.

I will be bringing my dog (painting), come meet St. DoggyBeGood.

Dancing with Dogs - Revisited

2010-09-03T23:12:00.000-07:00

Last March I had a show at Local Colors and one of the paintings I did for it was Dancing with Dogs. Recently I entered this painting in the Intermountain Society of Artists Fall Show. Tonight was the reception and awards ceremony. I was happy to win a 3rd place award for it, along with a Recognition award for another painting called "What's Next". It is always nice to win awards, it kind of makes you feel you are doing something right with your art.

Being one of the last to leave from anything I attend (I don't know why - probably I gab too much) I noticed a lady that kept going over to Dancing with Dogs. Then she was trying to measure it with a string since there wasn't any measuring tapes around. Well of course I stepped right up and told her the measurements - 3' x 4'. She told me she was a volunteer at the Cultural Celebration Center (where this show is). Her daughter had come in and looked at the show first and told her mom that she saw a painting that she just loved. Then the mom got a chance to take a look and found a painting she really liked. Both of them loved Dancing with Dogs! So.... after calling her son to make sure it would fit above their piano, she bought it! Whoo-hoo, an $1800 painting!

When you sell in a gallery you don't often get the opportunity to meet the people who buy your paintings. I can't tell you what a treat it is when you get to meet them and you know your painting is going to a good home.

So tonight, I am counting my blessings and being thankful and grateful to be an artist. It is a joyful occupation.

Life is Ever Changing

2010-09-02T09:19:00.000-07:00

Good news! Local Colors of Utah will soon premiering their new website. I am excited about that because I will be able to offer my gallery work online. If you have looked through my blog you will see that I have a mixture of styles in my artwork. After thinking long and hard I decided I will be upgrading what I offer online on Etsy and Ebay to something similar to my gallery work. I am also going to focus more on a particular style.
It has been tough these past couple of years for artists with the economy being what it is. For my online venues I have tried to lower my prices, paint faster, I have aimed for making a certain wage per hour to try to make a steady income. It's been hard as art is more of a luxury than a necessity.
So after much thought I have decided to focus on making a presentation of art that is more consistent whether it be for sale on my gallery website or on etsy or ebay. I will also be more consistent in pricing, so regardless where you shop, it will be comparable. There will probably be variances, for example; if an item is framed will cost more than one that is not framed, and so on.

So for the next few weeks there will still be a modgepodge of styles in my art and pricing, but once what I have is gone, you can expect the new style and pricing.
At least that's my thought for today. We will see how well I stick to it.

Today I am featuring a little ghost called Little Halloween Ghostie. She is an art doll/ornament and can hang wherever you want some haunting! She is on ebay for $25. Click the ebay link at the top of this page for purchase.

She Would Be Queen, A Catitude

2010-08-31T21:59:00.000-07:00

Lately it seems my life has been comparable to a turbulent ride in a plane smack dab in the middle of a storm over a large ocean filled with sharks. Ok, maybe not that bad. Ok, maybe not bad at all, I just wanted to write that.

Today I put on ebay a painting titled 'She would be Queen'. It is the first in a series of 'Catitudes'. I find that cats seem to command that they be treated as royalty, at least those that I have become acquainted with. You almost have to admire a cat that has catitude. They exist so that we may serve them. This ebay auction will end next Tuesday evening, Sept. 7th.

Procrastination (sung to the tune of Anticipation)

2010-08-24T22:34:00.000-07:00

Remember the Carly Simon song Anticipation? Well I substituted the word procrastination for anticipation. That's my song for the day, all day long. Here I'll sing it for you;

"Procrastination, Procrastination is making me late, is keeping me waiting".

Today I had a painting deadline for the Utah Watercolor Society Fall show. First I pulled up the call for entry and read that I could email my image, but the entry fee and form was also due today and it had to go to Park City. Heck, I hadn't even painted my painting yet, I didn't have time to run to Park City! So it was without too much resignation to my fate of missing the deadline that I posted my entry form dilemma on Facebook.

It wasn't long before my UWS/Facebook friends contacted me with the glad tidings that the entry form only had to be postmarked today. Woohoo, I was off the hook and could enter the show after all. Or was I ON the hook? I still didn't have a painting to submit. I have to confess I did have a half-way-done painting that I started last winter. I had started it with the intent to submit it for UWS Spring show which was last May. Of course I didn't get it done. Now seemed the perfect opportunity to finish it.

The Fall show also has a theme which is your painting should illustrate a poem. The poem I chose is by E. E. Cummings titled Seeker of Truth...

seeker of truth

follow no path

all paths lead where

truth is here

I finished the painting, took a picture of it and emailed it off, took the entry form directly to the post office, watched it get stamped with today's date. Whew!

So there you have it- a full confession of my procrastination. There is a consequence though. Procrastinating means that you don't always do your best work, at least I don't. The painting is ok, and at least I had something to enter. So I am content in my procrastination today and can honestly say "if it weren't for the last minute, I wouldn't get anything done".

Experimental Angel

2010-08-23T21:09:00.000-07:00

I have a show in mid-October at Local Colors of Utah gallery. Of course I haven't started painting for it yet. Can you say procrastination? Good! I probably should legally change my middle name to that.

I have in mind to do a series of saints, kind of a whimiscal perspective of what kind of saints people might like to have, for instance; a saint of chocolate. Anyone who really loves chocolate would adore a chocolate saint, right? And I am not talking about the hollow chocolate Santas that you get at Christmas. Anyway, I have all kinds of ideas for Saints, like all the dog lovers really ought to have a saint of dogs, or one for cats... the list can go on and on.

So today I did a study, not for my show, but some experimentation of painting on a textured canvas. I wanted to try some things out before I actually started painting for my show. This painting is a 20"x 16" and is titled 'Petit Ange' or Little Angel. I enjoyed painting on the texture which included some random collaged papers and then I applied a layer of modeling paste and went over it with a little roller. I liked the effect I got with the texture and will try it again tomorrow.

This painting is currently up for auction on ebay and will end next Monday on Sept. 30th. Click on the ebay link at the top of this page to see all my auctions.

A Wedding Present

2010-08-21T23:31:00.000-07:00

On Thursday night my son Brock flew in from Florida to be the best man at his best friend's (Jake) wedding. They've been friends since high school. Brock wanted to give a painting for the wedding present. He doesn't paint, so guess who got to paint it?

He'd been talking about it for several weeks but we never nailed down the subject matter for the painting. So on Wednesday we decided to do something that might be meaningful to Jake. He had proposed to his girlfriend while on a trip to Jerusalem on the Mount of Olives. So I thought maybe I could paint an olive tree and find a scripture to go along with it. However, I didn't get around to painting it and I talked Brock into giving Jake something already painted. Brock seemed a little disappointed, so this morning I decided I would give the olive tree a go. I am not a landscape painter by any means, so it is always a stretch for me to do this type of subject matter.

It took me most of the day and then I framed it, put a big bow on it and it was ready for the reception this evening. The scripture I found for it was in Psalms 52:8.
'But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.'

I often like to use symbolism in my paintings so I looked up the meaning of olive tree. It stands for peace, strength and prosperity. Good things to wish for a newly married couple. I hope it will also remind them of the day they were engaged.

So... busy day.

Cats Have Never Forgotten

2010-08-14T18:25:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite quotes about cats goes like this:
"Thousands of years ago, cats were worshipped as gods. Cats have never forgotten this".

I happen to know this to be true. All the cats I have ever met expect homage - just short of a curtsey. No doubt they'd expect a curtsey too if it were in their vocabulary.

This painting is available for sale - just contact me for information. It is 16" x 20" x 3/4" on gallery wrapped canvas. It is done in acrylic with some collage. The sides are painted black and it is wired on the back and ready to hang! Just $200 for buy it now! Free shipping.

August is Zipping Along

2010-08-11T21:54:00.000-07:00

Today I painted ACEOs - Art Cards Editions and Originals. Since it's August and kids will be heading back to school soon I did a theme. Back to School! Only instead of kids I painted animals.

I have four of them today, the bunny one is called 'Learning to Write Your Own Name', the dog one is called 'Bulldog Genius', the cat one is 'First Day of School' and the pig one is 'Pig Latin'.

They will all be on auction on ebay starting today and tomorrow.

A Frog is a Frog is a Frog Except When It's Not

2010-07-29T21:38:00.000-07:00

Gertrude Stein said "A rose is a rose is a rose".

My art teacher in high school introduced me to that quote. Unfortunately I can't remember why. But it did come to mind when I thought about posting my newest, most fantabulous art doll creation. This little doll started out as a 'frog is a frog is a frog', but ended up as an exception, as in 'except when it's not'.

I titled this little art doll "Frog child'. I think that whatever it is, frog or child, it appears to be quite contented. Frog Child is 9 inches tall and when it was an itty bitty thing it was called the Tadpole Kid. At first I wasn't sure if it was a frog or a toad, but now that I wrote Frog Child on the back, I guess that makes it a frog. Artistic license allows an artist to do stuff like that.

Frog Child is now on auction at ebay and is hoping someone will adopt it and give it a real name.

Cherry Popsicles

2010-07-25T21:52:00.000-07:00

Gee, here I was sitting, eating a cherry popsicle, thinking the world was grand when all of a sudden I hear the sound of water running- not where it's supposed to be running! My son was doing some laundry and the drain was clogged and well, it kind of made a mess. But not too big of a mess. I caught it before we drowned.

This week I made a couple of dolls. One is titled Tattered Ballerina, just because she is antiqued and her tutu is bit tattered. She is made of cloth and is sculpted in paperclay. The other is Bizzel the Witch Girl. She is a painted lady. I think that's what I will call my dolls that are just painted and don't have any paper clay sculpture on them. By definition, painted lady could be A. a victorian house, B. a butterfly, or C. a lady of the evening (you know what I mean...) or the most newest definition: D. one of my folk art dolls that are painted. Ta Da!

Did I mention that both dolls are on ebay? The ballerina ends on Tuesday and the Witch (aka painted lady) ends next Sunday. I think I need another cherry popsicle. Life is good as long as drains don't get clogged in the middle of eating one.

Success!

2010-07-22T15:45:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my sister dear and I walked 7 miles. There is no one better to walk with than a sister or good friend. In my case, my sister is also my bestest of friends! Then in the evening I walked another mile and half with my friend down the street and when I got home I then went walking with my son for another mile. Now the cool thing about walking with wonderful people is that you get to talk to them and hear about the great things happening in their lives.

Today I painted an acrylic and charcoal painting called 'Success'. It will be listed on ebay tonight. I put a quote on it by Ann Landers that I really adore: "The Lord gave us two ends - one to sit on and one to think with. Success depends on which one we use the most".

So I have to say that based on that philosophy, yesterday I had a very successful day because I certainly wasn't sitting much!

A Frida Doll

2010-06-23T09:40:00.000-07:00

I have not created much art in the last few weeks. With summer and a determination to lose some weight, I have been outside a lot. I finally finished a doll that I have been working on off and on for a couple of months. It's a Frida Kahlo doll. I am enjoying making 'portrait' style dolls.

This Frida is a folk art doll, and is made of cloth and clay. She is currently listed on ebay. This auction ends June 29th in the evening.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=260624320650&ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT

A Sterling Edwards painting

2010-06-07T12:47:00.000-07:00

During the Western Federation of Watercolor Society's show and conference, we had a visit from Sterling Edwards, a well known watercolorist and instructor. I was fortunate enough to get one of his paintings! It's the landscape with aspen trees.

Sterling is a very generous instructor, we had him do a workshop for the Utah Watercolor Society last year. What I liked about him was that he shared everything he knew about art, his techniques, his marketing strategies, etc. Sometimes you get instructors that will protect some of their techniques, but not Sterling! He was very sharing and is a lovely, kind southern gentlemen. Everyone who attended the workshop was just thrilled with him.

His style of painting is very loose and colorful. My own style is very controlled, but it was really wonderful to take this workshop and loosen up abit! Since I acquired Sterling's painting recently, I thought I ought to try painting a bit looser in watercolor. For me this is really quite difficult! So I have been practicing on 18" x 24" sheets of paper. I admit I am struggling to get the beautiful clear washes that Sterling does. It's going to take a lot of practice for me! My study pieces are going on ebay, like this poppy one. Tomorrow I will try, try again!

Quick! Paint a daisy before it gets cloudy again!

2010-06-04T22:09:00.000-07:00

Do you ever get so involved in something that you forget to eat lunch? I do that all the time, creating art absorbs me totally.

Today I painted a daisy, on a 17" x 23" piece of watercolor paper. It's quite colorful. I listed it on ebay tonight. I thought it would be fun to do a series of summer flowers. This is the second of the series. The first one was a poppy, but I was using a different brand of paper and I am not used to the way it handles paint, so it didn't turn out like I wanted. So I called it a poppy study and I will probably paint another poppy. Gee. I should have started at the begining of the alphabet to see if there is a flower for every letter. Hmmmm. That sounds pretty ambitious. I will have to think on it.

So what do you eat for lunch at 4:00 pm? String cheese anyone?

It's Summer - I think?

2010-06-03T21:19:00.000-07:00

We have had a lot of rain, even snow this past May. This week the weather has finally turned a sunny face our way and it's been in the 80's the past couple of days. Hooray! It has been lovely to walk in the park in the evenings.

Yesterday I painted a cat face on 17" x 23" sheet of watercolor paper. I thought I would do a few larger paintings for ebay. This one was first done in acrylic and then I pulled out my pastels and colored! It was quite fun. It is sealed with a spray acrylic finish. I have it listed on ebay this week.

Sweet Tooth Fairy

2010-05-26T21:44:00.000-07:00

Life is an adventure. I like to think of it that way. Every time something new and different to do comes along, I am game for the new experience. A week and a half ago the Utah Watercolor Society hosted the 35th Western Federation of Watercolor Societies. Delegates from 11 societies came to Salt Lake along with some of their members to attend this wonderful watercolor show. For four days we indulged ourselves with great art and meeting new and old acquaintances. We had a great time and thanks to everyone from UWS that put in so many hours to make this event run so smoothly.

Not to change the subject, but I am going to... here is my latest doll. She is a sweet tooth fairy and she was inspired by all the cupcakes that were present at Western Fed. She is now on auction on eBay.

Guardian Angel of Naughty Kitties

2010-05-06T21:02:00.000-07:00

Some kitties are naughty... they just are. They can be cute and sweet and cuddly one minute and then next minute they are sharpening their claws on the new couch! After I finished painting this kitty angel's face, I could tell she was a guardian angel for naughty kitties. Her expression looks like, 'here we go again'! She is 8" tall and likes to fly around alot. She kind of sneaks up on naughty kitties and they don't know what hit them. Suddenly they become cute and cuddly again. It makes you wonder if cats really have nine lives or just a really good guardian angel.

This cute little angel kitty is on ebay looking for more naughty kitties to watch over. http://stores.ebay.com/Pure-Art-Studio

I Made a Gritty Jane Doll!

2010-05-04T15:48:00.000-07:00

In January I took the Cloth and Clay Doll Workshop from Jane DesRosier. I thought at the time I would like to make a 'Jane' doll. So now it's May I am finally finishing her. She was the second doll I sculpted, so there is a lot to be desired in my efforts, but it was fun to do. I am really enjoying the sculpting of faces on these dolls. I called her 'Dear Jane' and will be listing her on ebay tonight. I hope you will go take a look at the auction, there are a lot more pictures there. Here's the link: http://stores.ebay.com/Pure-Art-Studio

Sweet Tomato Bird

2010-04-27T16:05:00.000-07:00

Since my featured show at Local Colors last month, and having produced a number of paintings, I have been focusing on making art dolls the past few weeks. Tonight on Ebay I will be listing my Sweet Tomato Bird. Click on my ebay link for more pictures.

http://my.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?MyEbay&gbh=1

The Last Seven Days Made Me Feel Week in the Knees!

2010-04-17T22:08:00.000-07:00

I am so glad this week is through! It was not very artfull for me. I recently started tending my handicapped grandson for 4 days a week, every afternoon, and just before that I have to take my daughter to work -which is an hour round trip. I will have to do that for a couple more weeks. Then there were meetings three nights this week. But the worst thing was that I had procrastinated doing my taxes and worked on them each morning before I had to run around for the afternoon. I finished them, and got them to the post office by Thursday the 15th at 10:30 pm! Mix in rehanging the Co-op gallery one day and then gallery stroll on Friday night. Well those things are kinda arty. But no painting. No sir, not for me!

Every year I swear I will do my tax preparation each month so it's not such a big task when it becomes tax season. Gee it's April and I am already four months behind! I think I would rather paint.

I was very pleased to see that I was featured on EBSQ's blog as one of Friday's Five! That was a surprise. Thank you, Amanda! http://blog.ebsqart.com/

As a result of my busy week there is not much on ebay, but I will get some art back on in the next couple of days. It's going to take some doing to adjust to my new schedule of missing the whole afternoon when I normally paint all day.

This doll will be on ebay tomorrow night.

More Ebay Art

2010-04-04T23:07:00.001-07:00

If you have read my earlier posts over the last couple of months, you will know that I have been experimenting with my ebay auctions. In a nutshell, I have read some books that recommend that you start your auctions at $1.00 or less. They say it averages out, as normally some auctions go for low prices but other auctions get bid higher, because by starting low, more people view your auctions. In my experiment, most everything sold,and the low listing fees were very nice, but... I decided that it didn't work for me, most things didn't go high enought to make it worthwhile. So.
New plan, making my folk art dolls, starting them at the minimum bid I am willing to take. Here's what happened so far; after one week, all dolls sold except one. Nothing got bid up - but they all ended on Easter (today) so I didn't feel too bad about that. Holidays are usually not a good day to end an auction on. So I was happy with the winning minimum bid on the doll auctions - they at least paid for my time and materials. And I had a lot of fun!
I have decided to just make dolls and do small watercolors for ebay, mostly my whimisical art. I don't think I will put my acrylic paintings on ebay any more and just put them on etsy for higher prices. I guess I am tired of working for nothing! :-)
I think the economy art-wise is improving, my work has been selling again at the galleries I am in. I am looking forward to not being in the starving artist mode anymore (although to look at me you'd know I am kidding!) Anyone else feel like they are in the starving artist mode? Or is it just me, a lone artist in the world?

I believe good things are on their way! Above is a small 4x6 inch painting listed on ebay this week. It's called Calico Kitty Hugs.

My Folk Art Dolls

2010-03-28T20:49:00.000-07:00

I guess I've never grown up and find that making dolls is as fun as playing with them. This week I made dolls from my favorite childhood book, Alice in Wonderland. Although I would think it would be quite odd to visit Wonderland (everything was a bit twisted there) I still love the characters and the imagination of Lewis Carroll.

The American Holiday Artists had an Alice in Wonderland challenge for the month of March, and so I created Alice, the Cheshire Cat and the Mad Hatter. I know it's almost the end of the month but I was so very busy painting for my show at Local Colors for the first part of the month that I didn't get anything done for the challenge til this week.
"Which part of the proverb do you prefer? Better never than late, or Better late than never?" (Lewis Carroll)

I think I prefer Better late than never. At least that's what I find myself practising on a regular basis. So please visit my ebay auctions and say hello to my Wonderland friends. There are a couple of angels hanging out with them as well.

Utah Watercolor Society Spring Show

2010-03-26T21:49:00.000-07:00

The Spring show of the Utah Watercolor Society is the big show of the year for this organization. This year it will be held in May, but we just got the results this week from the juror, Carla O'Connor. I was very excited to hear that the painting I entered was accepted into the show, hooray! It's titled 'What's Next?"

It's Nibblefest time again!

2010-03-22T21:44:00.003-07:00

Nibblefest is a fun contest among ebay artists where all auctions start at .99 each. This month's theme is cows. I made a lovely cow doll. Her name is Missy Moo and she is a very pleasant cow with lots of personality (she was voted Miss Cowgeniality by her herd). If you are a cow person, seach NFAC on ebay for quite a cattlelog of wonderful cow art!

Opening Reception for My Show

2010-03-21T22:05:00.000-07:00

Last Friday night was the opening reception for my show. I shared the evening with two other featured artists, a potter, Tori Miller and an artisan jeweler, Patty Street. It was a great night! I tried to get a picture of the main part of my show, but it's not a very good one. But you get an idea of what it looked like. Special thanks to all my dear friends who supported me! It was the highlight of my evening seeing each one of you.

Being an artist is certainly a journey. I am at a defining point in my career, I think. I mean, I have tried all kinds of things, experimented with styles etc. Maybe it's not so hard for some artists to define their style. My problem has been I have kind of a mixed bag of styles. So for this show I decided to paint what was in my brain rather then a more realistic approach. So that's what this show is about, letting my brain loose and seeing what comes of it. Pictured above is 'Tulip Girl', who went home with my darling friend Annette Vernon. Tulip girl is painted in acrylic on masonite and then I put a crackle finish on her with an antique glaze. I try to get a shot of all my paintings before I take them to the gallery, but didn't with this one, so I took a quick shot of her under gallery lights - which isn't the best lighting. Oh well.

If you live in Salt Lake I hope you will stop by and see the show!

Dancing With Dogs

2010-03-11T13:12:00.000-08:00

This is a painting for my show at Local Colors. If you're in town I hope you will stop by on gallery stroll next Friday March 19th between 6 and 9 PM.

This is a large painting 3ft x 4ft. I used a lot of texture, some collage and it is painted in acrylic. Well I'm off to paint another one!

New Stuff

2010-03-10T10:14:00.000-08:00

This past week I made some art dolls. It was fun and a new way to express creativity that 2D art does not provide. Of course I am still painting, I am the featured artist at Local Colors of Utah gallery, the opening is Friday, March 19th. So this week I am painting my socks off to get my show done.

My art dolls are on auction this week on ebay. http://stores.ebay.com/Pure-Art-Studio?_rdc=1
I hope you will take a peek!

BDAC Opening Reception

2010-02-28T22:40:00.001-08:00

On Friday night I attended the opening reception of the Bountiful Davis Art Center's State-wide Show (boy that's a mouthful). As previously mentioned I had a piece accepted in it and so did a number of friends. I thought I would be the artful reporter and take pictures and report on the opening. However after 3 pictures the battery on my camera went dead. So much for artful reporting.

The first image is of Cara Koolmees, an award winning watercolor artist, known for her colorful splashy watercolors. Two of her paintings were accepted in the show. She is shown here with Dancing in the Rain, or was it Rain Dance? Gee am I a good reporter or what... I didn't take notes. Oh well. I really liked this painting.

The second image is of Pat Rivkind. This is the first juried show she has ever entered. She said it's my fault because I told her about the show a couple of weeks ago at the UWS miniature show opening. She does some nice work and she just needs to have confidence in it. I hope getting juried in this show helps! Great job Pat, and I love your black and white jacket with your painting - the truck on the bottom, a watercolor... didn't get the name on that one either...duh!

If you are from Salt Lake, you might be familiar with Tanner Frames, a high quality frame shop owned and operated by Travis Tanner. Did you know that he is a talented artist as well? This is his piece, an assemblage and beautifully framed, of course. Travis always gets juried into all the major shows here in Utah... Again I didn't get the title of the piece, but Travis does have cute dimples.

After my camera died, I hi-jacked my Mr. Joe's camera and got a few more pictures. If I can get them off his camera in the next few days, I will post them here.

Listen With Love

2010-02-25T20:26:00.000-08:00

Today I painted another study for my show. This is a vast improvement for me. Not only am I NOT painting the day of the scheduled show but I am doing studies. That's good, right?

As an artist I am always questioning myself, or should I say my art(?). If you have read my blog much you would see that my art roams. Roams in style, that is! So as I think about these studies that I am doing, and I ask myself " is this what I want in my show in March?" I am like a fish out of water... flip, flop. I can't make up my mind what style I want to paint. So... I would appreciate any input from anyone who happens to read this: Should I be painting my more realistic paintings for my show or a series of these whimisical paintings, like this study which is titled: Is Auditor Per Dilago (She Listened With Love).

Either way, both styles would still be on the whimsy side, but I would surely appreciate comments and welcome your opinion!

Hot Flash!

2010-02-23T21:47:00.000-08:00

The other day I was at a board meeting and the ladies who were present started talking about hot flashes. There were some pretty humorous stories that brought a smile to my face. So today as I thought about what I wanted to paint for a gallery show in March, I couldn't help but think about those ladies and their stories. I had already determined I wanted the theme of my show to be about women and everyday things that happen in their lives. So you guessed it, I painted a study for the show called Hot Flash. I am thinking I will do the whole show in my stylized women, instead of realistic ones.

Guess what? I got notice today that my 'Carpe Diem' painting was accepted into the show! Hooray!

Carpe Diem!

2010-02-21T23:16:00.000-08:00

Well another show to enter... I can't help it, I like to enter shows! This one was a state-wide call for entries at the Bountiful Davis Art Center.

Not sure I liked what I entered, but since that's all I had painted, I entered it. It seemed ok yesterday, but now that I look at it, there are things I would fix if I had a little more time. But hey, it's titled 'Carpe Diem' and if you saw the Dead Poets Society, or maybe you just happen to be fluent in latin, you will know it means seize the day! That's the title of the painting. My son thought the girl in this painting was looking upward in a positive manner, like she was planning something good. But 'Planning Something Good' wasn't a very good title. So after some quick thinking (I was running out of time) I came up with the title! Now if the painting will just get juried into this show.... I will know it really was Carpe Diem-ing!

Award of Excellence - Yipppeee Skippeee!

2010-02-17T20:26:00.000-08:00

Tonight was the reception for the Utah Watercolor Show. There was a lot of really good paintings there, a total of 110. It was a great evening, what could be better than mixing with dear friends who are also artists!

I was very excited to learn that my painting 'A Hypothetical Question' won an award of Excellence, which is next in line to the Best of Show. Yippeee Skippeeee! Best of Show went to Ian Ramsay. If you look back in my blog to October of last year, I had taken a workshop from him and had posted one of his paintings there. You can see what a truly fine artist he is.

There was a time when I would be blushing three shades of red to tell you about this award, but over the past few years - especially once I joined a gallery - I had to learn to talk about my art and do more than just mumble an embarrassed 'thank you' when someone paid a nice compliment. If you are an artist and want to market your work, you have to learn to talk about your art. I mean, would you have much confidence in an accountant if he shyly said he probably could do a good job on your taxes? No, he would tell you why he is qualified! So once I realized that being an artist was my profession and that I needed to have confidence in my work and talk about it, I don't blush quite so often anymore. I just say Yippeee Skippeee!

A month later, the ebay test

2010-02-16T00:01:00.001-08:00

Over a month ago, I decided to see if I started my auctions at 9.99 if would bring more sales and more importantly with more views would the prices go up. Then I would report back on what happened.

Well, I mainly sold ornaments and the good news is that most everything sold. They didn't go as high as the ornaments that I sold before Christmas, but then it twas the season for ornaments then. I have had so many show deadlines this past month, that I didn't produce enough to really test it properly. I think I need to put more than ornaments on auction. One thing I really liked about starting auctions at the lower price is that my ebay fees have been immensly lower.

So would I continue starting at a lower price? I haven't totally decided if I will do it on a continuing basis. But for today, I thought I'd give it a shot with something other than ornaments - Today I put up an 10"x 8" oil painting titled 'Canine Thoughts'. Now on auction!

Happy Valentines Day!

2010-02-14T15:24:00.001-08:00

It's a great day when everyone is thinking about love and the people they love. I hope everyone is have a lovely Valentine's day.

I made my first artsy doll, she was for a challenge on the cloth and clay doll group. It was to make a Queen of Hearts by Valentine Day. I made one, and she is delighted to make an appearance on my blog today. I guess I have never quite grown up, as I found she is as much fun to play with as she was to make.

My favorite subjects to paint are people and animals, so I am finding that making art dolls are a natural extension to that. I love the small format and look forward to exploring sculpting in paperclay and then using my hoard of odds and ends that I have kept around, hoping one day I would use it in my art. So really this is a theraputic de-junking exercise! :-)

Utah Watercolor Miniature Show

2010-02-13T23:35:00.001-08:00

Well, if you have been following my blog, you will know I have a problem with painting for deadlines. Today the entries were due for the UWS miniature show, and I was kinda busy painting this morning! I was going to do two paintings but ran out of time since my car decided to have brake troubles ( I wasn't painting in my car though). I needed to address the brake issue and that took some time. Then my phone wasn't working again. Everytime it snows or rains it loses the dial tone. So I had to call the phone company AGAIN. Anyway I completed one painting and then decided to crop another existing painting that hadn't been in a show yet that I had painted in the past year. I think I may have posted the full version of it here before. I think it worked better cropped down. The call for entry said that the painting AND frame could not exceed twelve inches in any direction. So my images were approximately 5" x 7" and then framed were a total of 11" x 9". The titles are "A Hypothetical Question" and "Look!".

There were a lot of great entries in the show. It's going to be a good one. The opening reception is Wednesday, Feb. 17th from 6:00 to 8:00 pm at the Michael Berry Gallery, 163 East Broadway, Salt Lake City, UT.

I meant to post this on Saturday, and now it's actually early Sunday morning, but pretend it's still Saturday because I want to post a 'Happy Valentines Day' entry and I don't want you to think I'm a dork for posting twice on the same day.

Deja vu, I did a Monet!

2010-01-24T20:44:00.000-08:00

If these two painting look familiar, it's because they are. Didn't Monet paint waterlilies over and over? Well I painted my zoo friends of last week again. This time in a different size from the color versions and they are done in grey scale.

This week I had a show entry deadline that was due yesterday. It was for the Eccles Black and White Competition. If you recall, one of my goals recently was to have a piece ready for a show earlier than the deadline date. With that in mind, I tried to think up something I would like to paint for this black and white show. My mind was blank (that was last Monday). The next day it was blank, and by Wednesday, blankety blank blank! I was getting a little frustrated. So I thought I ought to see if I had any frames around that might stir my imagination. (I tend to buy frames when they are on close-outs). I found two that I have had around for awhile but never felt inspired to paint anything for. They were heavy, nice black frames with a linen liner. I thought they looked like a jungle animal should be in them. So... I thought hmmm, what if I just took my giraffe and monkey drawings and resized them and painted them in black and white/grey)?

I spend quite a bit of time working on my compositions for paintings and always save my sketches and drawings. Anyhoo, I thought the giraffe and monkey would go very well in the black frames. They are a little different from the first ones. I wasn't out to paint them exactly alike. I gave the paintings different names than the color versions too. The giraffe one is 'Standing Taller' and the monkey one is titled 'An Unexpected Friendship'. I used charcoal, acrylic paints, watercolor markers and a crackle glaze.

Guess what? I even had them all finished by Thursday night and delivered them yesterday (Saturday). No last minute frenzied painting for me this week!

Now I have to wait and see if they get accepted because it is a juried show. Speaking of juried shows... I got one painting juried into the zoo show, the monkey one. The award reception is this coming Friday. I am crossing my fingers it wins an award. I will let you know ok? Well... I will let you know if I win something... if I don't, I probably won't say anything ;-)

To Friends!

2010-01-18T22:19:00.000-08:00

This morning, my day began with an email from a dear friend who had lost her mother this past week. Then an hour later another very good friend dropped by to pick up some of her paintings that I had picked up for her at a show. She invited me to go get a hot chocolate (but I had this hot vanilla milk thing - yum!) and we visited for two hours! I love talking to artist friends. While we were visiting, another friend called to let me know his mother had passed away on Sunday. I couldn't help but shed a few tears for the second time today.

Friends are so precious! So as I went to work to create a little art today, I was thinking about all my wonderful friends, sharing good times and sad times with them. Sharing is what makes the best of friends. Do you ever get with an old friend and it seems like you could just talk for hours?

I made a little ornament with a piece of a collaged page from a 1937 book titled "Behave Yourself!". It is an etiquette book for young people. One of my favorite excerpts is where it talks about personal hygiene; "Plan on at least one bath a day, but don't limit yourself."I had to laugh because I have been lucky if some of my teenagers would take even one bath a day. There are alot of other fun tidbits that I am sure will make interesting collages on my art in the future.

Anyway back to the ornament I made, it's from Chapter 12 "The Gift of Gab" and it is dedicated to wonderful friends that can't stop talking to each other!

Hi Ho it's off to the Zoo!

2010-01-16T22:25:00.000-08:00

Today was the annual call for entry for the Hogle Zoo World of the Wild Art Exhibition. As usual I put off painting my entries until the last minute. I had decided what I wanted to paint and had it sketched out on Friday, but with it being gallery stroll that night and having miscellaneous things to do, I didn't get them painted til today. So I got up early and watched (or I should say listened) to Pride and Prejudice with Colin Firth (yes!) and painted. Naturally the paintings were due today, and I arrived 5 minutes before 4:00, just before the doors closed. Yup, I was the last one there.

I don't know why, but I am always a last minute painter. I know plenty of time ahead about these deadlines, but it always seem I wait til just before to start painting. After today's experience, I decided I would start on Monday to paint for these kind of things each day, whether it just be a painting for the galleries or an entry for a show. I tend to focus on ebay first and then do the other things last. So I am going to try to be a little more balanced.

I entered 3 paintings in the zoo show, but don't have a picture of the third since it was an older painting that was already framed. When entering a show, I usually am rushed and don't get a picture of whatever I just painted. But today I did! These pictures of the new ones aren't great but at least it will give you an idea what they looked like. They are titled 'True Love' (the giraffe and frog) and "Best Friends" (the monkey and toucan). Not great titles, but hey! I was lucky to have got them done.

Dolls Anyone?

2010-01-11T08:51:00.000-08:00

Ever since I inherited my mother's bernina and babylock serger, I have felt I need to use these things in my art somehow. Once upon a time I used to sew all my kids clothes, but now all I would use a sewing machine for is repairs etc. Which would not be sufficient use for these lovely machines! So, I figured it would be fun to give dolls a try. Throughout the past year I have experimented and tried different ways to make dolls, but nothing that I felt satisfied me with a final product. Also I didn't want dolls to be my whole art experience as I love to paint paintings. I wanted a simplistic doll that I could paint!

I tried to make armatures and sculpt, but that didn't work for me. In fact I spent this whole last month researching and experimenting. Nothing that rang my bell... got a little frustrated several times in fact. Selling on ebay, you run into some really clever artists. One that I have long admired for her folk art paintings is Jane DesRosier. In the fall of 2008 she started making folk art dolls. I loved them for their simplicity and for Jane's creativity in them. She offered online classes but I purposely didn't take them, I didn't want to make a reproduction of something she designed. Something about the artist in me... wanting to create my own 'thing'. In reality, no artist creates their own thing, inspiration comes from other things and artists and we are just fortunate to give it our own twist.

I was about to give up on the whole art doll thing when last night I stumbled upon Jane's dolls again. She had recently started a ning group for clay and cloth dolls. Since the armature sculpting thing wasn't working for me, mainly because it was too time consuming. I thought, ok, I give up I will join Jane's group. I am still hesitating on taking a video workshop for reasons given above, but have very much appreciated the things she has shared on the group site. What the heck, I guess I will give it a try doing a version of the way she constructs her dolls. So today, I am going to try and make a doll Jane's way. Then I will have something I can paint and collage and sew on to my hearts content... I hope! So Kudos to Jane, a very creative, inovative artist.

I posted a pic of the corner of my studio. My studio is in an unfinished basement, but I like to call it home. On the shelf is three dolls, two are unfinished Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls. Ann's hair is 3 quarters done and Andy is still bald. My mom started making them when I was like, 10 and never finished them and I waited forever for her to finish them! So I inherited those as well. I have had them for over a year and a half and haven't finished them either... they are still partially bald and naked. Oh well, maybe that is their heritage. But at least I have them now! The other doll is a cabbage patch kid "koosas" named Lovealot. I got that from my mom too. She collected cats, figurines etc. and she had to have that doll when it came out. As I write my blog, I am finding how much she influenced my art. Thanks Mom!

I will keep you posted on my latest doll venture.

I love working without interruption!

2010-01-07T21:29:00.000-08:00

I really enjoy days when I don't have a meeting to go to or have to run any errands. I happily head to my studio and spend a creative fun filled day making art! I have been mainly focusing on art for my online sales, but now I need to get busy as new show deadlines are coming up as well as needing to take some new work to the galleries. So my brain is busy planning some new paintings.

I read an article in Art Calendar magazine the other day about selling on ebay. It was written by an artist named Jack White. The tips he listed for finding success on selling art on ebay I agreed with as I had found them to be true over my 9 years of selling there. One thing he suggested that I never tried though, was that he started all his auctions under $1! I have seen a lot of people do that, but never had the guts to do it myself. He stated that some paintings go for only that much, but for the most part, it often starts a bidding frenzy. He said that people like the excitement of bidding and that he did much better with a bidding auction than listing it as a 'buy it now' because of that. I have found that to be true, that bidding auctions have done much better then a fixed price auction for me over the years.

Ok, so I have been thinking about what he said on starting auctions below a $1. I don't think I want to start that low! Maybe $9.99 as a starting bid, then you at least cover your supply costs and listing fees. Interestingly enough, I found this past month that starting auctions at $9.99 was very successful and profitable for me. I only listed the ornaments that I have been making and every one sold, the highest reaching $41, and many averaging in the $20 range. There were several benefits that I found starting auctions at this price; Most all of the ornaments sold first time around and there were very few that had to be relisted. This resulted in lesser ebay fees. The economy has had it's effect on my sales this past year and too often I had to list things several times before they sold. Because I was asking a higher starting bid, the fees were much higher per auction, so as you can imagine, my ebay fees for the month were building and with fewer sales to show for it. (Can you say frustrating?) It was very economical fee-wise to start at $9.99.

Another benefit of starting at a lower bid price is that there is a better chance that more people may see your auction as everyone is looking for a deal and will seach by lowest price first. This can build up a new customer base as most people are willing to bid on lower priced items. I have also found out through the years that items that get at least one bid draw more views. I think the reason for this is people want to see why that particular item is being bid on, are they going to miss something if they don't look?

So have I talked myself into starting my auctions at $9.99? Let me see... here are the possible benefits- lower ebay fees, less re-listings, more sales, new customers? Hmmmm seems like it would be worth looking into to. Oh, one more thing that Jack White said about selling on ebay, you have to be pretty prolific, if you take a week to paint a painting, you won't make any money.

Ok, this is what I have decided to do, I am going to list on ebay everything I make at the starting bid of $9.99 for one month. Then at the end of the month I will evaluate my sales and decide if this is going to work for me. I will report back here, so be sure to tune in then.... it's a date ok?

I am going to keep with my commitment I made yesterday about putting my contemporary folk art on ebay.

The painting featured today t is 'Love Angel' and you guessed it, it's on ebay at a starting bid of $9.99.

A New Year!

2010-01-06T08:50:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I have neglected my blog dreadfully! I have been so busy with the holidays, but mostly I am guilty of neglect. One thing I have been doing is working on some new projects for ebay which has taken me longer than I expected. I hope to have something to show by the end of the week. I also took a little break between Christmas and New Years. Now I am doing ornaments as they make cute little Valentines. I hate to think that far ahead already, but they need to get done now if people want them for decorations a couple of weeks before the holiday.

I have often been torn between my more folk art work and my fine art work and what should I promote online. Yesterday I decided that I will feature my folk artsy stuff on ebay and my fine art work on etsy. At least that's the plan for today. I allow myself the option to change my mind, since it will probably happen anyway.

Today I am featuring an ornament that is currently up for auction on ebay - "I Love Ewe".

Glad It Didn't Snow Last Night

2009-12-05T22:51:00.000-08:00

Tonight is very cold and snowing. The cool thing about snow when it's very cold, is that it looks like big white flakes of glitter on the ground. I love that!

Last night was Gallery Stroll in Salt Lake City, but I headed north to Ogden for the opening of the Intermountain Society of Artist's Member of Merit Show. It was held at the Eccles Community Art Center which is a fabulous Victorian mansion. The show was judged by Al Rounds, a wonderful watercolor artist. I won an Award of Honor!

The painting that won the award is of my Mom, I titled it 'Sandra Darling at Thanksgiving Point'. It brings back happy memories to me. One summer day my mom and I went to the small gardens behind Thanksgiving Point. I took this picture of her and I thought it would make a great watercolor. I painted it and framed it, and gave it to my mom. Now that she's gone, I have this painting to remind me of that fun day I shared with her and her fancy-dancy hat.

I'm glad it didn't snow last night, driving the roads wouldn't have been fun. Instead I got to think about my Mom and that she would be really happy she won an award!

Where Women Create

2009-12-01T23:18:00.000-08:00

I have a new blog listing to the right there... see it? It's called Where Women Create. It's the blog of a wonderful magazine by the same name. Anyhoo they are doing a 12 Days of Christmas give- away. Check it out!

Tis the season to party! This ornament is called Party Cat and is on ebay.

Inspiration from the Past

2009-11-29T21:37:00.000-08:00

This morning I had all kinds of thoughts to write about in my blog, and now here I am and my mind is blank! Oh well. I have learned that when this happens you just start typing and then go back and edit the real dumb stuff.

I have been pursuing a new twist with my online work. I mentioned previously that I was making puffy paper ornaments. I have to admit that the concept is not my own. My mom and her dear friend Mary (hi Mary!) used to make puffy paper ornaments years ago and sell them at home boutiques. When my mom passed away a year and a half ago I inherited a lot of her creative things, like a box of puffy paper ornaments. Lets see... I am going to grab one and see if she dated them... yup, 1996! I have updated my puffy ornaments in the way I make them, they are a bit different from those original ones my mom and Mary made. And I plasticized them! (my super secret for long lasting paper ornaments).Back then they recycled paper grocery bags and let the natural color of the bag be a big part of the design. Oh and guess what they called themselves, BAG LADIES!

As I mentioned, I don't use paper bags, or glue them together with glue, but the original inspiration came from those cute Bag Ladies. Thanks mom! ( I know she would be thrilled to know I am making puffy paper ornaments). Thanks to Mary too. I posted a picture of my latest batch of ornmaments. A couple are on ebay and the rest will be tomorrow. This week I will get some on etsy too.

Where Does the Time Go?

2009-11-22T00:02:00.000-08:00

This past week has been a busy one. Last night was gallery stroll in Salt Lake, and it seems that it takes the whole week to prepare for it. As president of Local Colors of Utah gallery, I had to prepare an agenda for our artists meeting on Tuesday, and then all day Wednesday I spent rehanging the gallery. But my time wasn't all absorbed by the gallery.

I started making painted ornaments for ebay. Surprisingly every one of them is selling! Tis the season, I suppose! I quite enjoy making them. Pictured here are two that are currently on auction, 'Peace Be With Ewe' and 'Don't You Tell a Single Soul...'

On Thursday night, I received a belated birthday present from my sister, who is the bestest sister in the whole wide world! She had bought Manheim Steamroller tickets for both of us! The concert was wonderful as usual. We have gone for several years now. One thing we missed though was Chip Davis, who had surgery on his neck and didn't perform :-(

However there was a special surprise treat. At the beginning of the concert, they showed a video of Chip explaining why he is no longer performing. All of a sudden the clip froze, like a malfunction of the projector, something quite unusual in a professional performance. Then, someone walks out on stage in a white parka - with the hood up over his head. Guess who? It was Chip! (We knew it was him because he had on his white nikes (or whatever brand he wears - we weren't quite close enought to see). He has a place up in Park City and was here so thought he'd drop in. He still didn't perform in the concert, but for the encore he came out and performed one number with the other musicians. Pretty cool. Amazing music and truly inspiring.

What's not to love about Christmas music. Thanks to my sister Debbie, I love you!

Oh one more thing about gallery stroll, at our gallery we hosted a fund raising benefit for Operation Smile. We had a silent auction in two parts; some of the auctions ended that night, and then the rest will still be on for three more weeks. If you live in Salt Lake City, stop by and support a wonderful organization.

Ian Ramsay Workshop -Beautiful!

2009-11-09T09:26:00.000-08:00

Last Friday and Saturday I took a workshop with the Utah Watercolor Society. The guest artist was Ian Ramsay, a truly fabulous watercolor artist. I learned so much from him! In the workshop we all painted the same subject matter which Ian provided and went step by step with him as he would do a demo and then we would go and paint on our painting. Interestingly enough no one's painting looked alike. I feel like no matter how long you have been painting there is always something new to learn. I think one of Ian's techniques that he has mastered is the control of color. His work is so delicate and I found for myself too much color can spoil that delicate effect. He mixes a lot of his color directly on the paper, and let me tell you, if you are not careful, you can end up with mud! But the real magic of Ian's paintings come at the very end when he adds such detail that it takes a very nice painting to something really special!
The painting I posted here is one that we bought for my darlin' Mr. Joe. He has long admired Ian's work, and it was because of Joe that I even took this workshop. He gave it to my for my birthday present this year. Mr. Joe is the best! So what can I say, I need to go paint now after being very inspired by a great workshop and instructor.
For more information on Ian, contact me.

The Holidays are Upon Us

2009-10-25T09:50:00.000-07:00

Do you decorate for the Holidays? Do you put your decorations up right as soon as it is politically correct? Or do you have holiday decorations year round? I am one that generally likes to get my decorations up early. Mainly because the holiday comes only once a year and I like to celebrate it to the fullest extent. Also it often takes a lot of time to put them up and I just can't see doing that for only a week before the holiday.

Currently I have some Halloween items on ebay and etsy. But what is cool is having my

'Witch is In' print featured on American Holiday Artist. Go visit that blog to see some other wonderful holiday artwork. Just click on the link on my blog here. It may just inspire you to get decorating if you haven't already!

I love mixed media and crackle!

2009-10-22T18:48:00.000-07:00

Tonight I did a little watercolor of a diva. What got me started on this was an old cosmetology textbook from the 60's. At least that's what I assume, judging by the hair-do's. Do people still say hair do? Anyway, I thought it would be fun to collage one of the pages from the book to mat board. Then I put crackle on it and glazes of paint. Then I collaged the little watercolor paintng to it. It makes a fun background for the painting, don't you think? It's on ebay this week.

Nibblefest Contest time again!

2009-10-21T15:04:00.000-07:00

It's time for another Nibblefest. This month the theme is Halloween and I did a little portrait of Edgar Allen Poe with a little bit of the Tell Tale Heart story written behind him. What would Halloween be without a scary story from Poe? This auction is on ebay and all Nibblefest auctions start at 99 cents. Search NFAC for other contest entries. Heres the link to my auction: http://cgi.ebay.com/PURE-ART-NFAC-POE-HALLOWEEN-WATERCOLOR-PAINTING-AHA_W0QQitemZ230390634664QQcmdZViewItemQQptZArt_Paintings?hash=item35a45a18a8

Another Alice painting

2009-10-16T22:23:00.000-07:00

This is my painting that was accepted into the Utah Watercolor Fall Show. With the theme being 'inspired by a book', I just had to do an Alice painting from Through the Looking Glass. Tweedledum and Tweedledee seemed prime candidates so they got in it too.

It was fun to see the watercolor show, it was really interesting to see what books were depicted. There was a wonderful abstract, inspired by the book 'Home Improvement'. I am sure that looking at the painting was a lot more fun than reading the book.

I felt compelled to do my own frame for this painting, I wanted to collage some of the verse from the book on it. I looked all over to find a perfect frame, it didn't have to be new, as I was going to collage and paint it the way I wanted. After looking around for several days through frame shops and thrift stores, guess where I found the perfect frame? In my basement! It was a very old solid wood one that I inherited from my mom. I don't know were she got it from. It was just what I wanted, what I had envisioned it to look like. I know my mom would be very pleased that I used it for this purpose. She was one of my greatest fans (you know how moms are!).

I think I spent as much time re-finishing the frame as I did painting the painting. It was fun to do, I think I am a crackle addict! (not crack, mind you, crackle!)

Finished... I think!

2009-10-15T22:30:00.000-07:00

Here's a commission I have been working on. I think it's finished, but I will know for sure in the morning. After looking at it all day you think you're finally done and then if you get away from it for a while, you see things that need fix'in. I really hope it's done though. It has been a big project, the size is 36"x 48". It just barely fits in my car.

It doesn't have a title yet... maybe tomorrow it will. Right now all I can think of is 'Koi'. Not very creative or original. :-)

Watercolor Workshop

2009-10-07T21:09:00.000-07:00

This week I am taking a workshop sponsored by the Utah Watercolor Society. The guest artist is Joyce Washor from New York. She does lovely miniature still life watercolors. The size of her paintings are about 3" x 4" and are just wonderful. You might think that painting that small would be easy to do, but it suprisingly has it's challenges. Anyone who does watercolors knows that it is often easy to over work a painting. A successful painting has a fresh look with glowing colors. Well needless to say I found myself overworking my little painting and on that small piece of watercolor paper, any mistake is much more obvious and harder to correct. I posted one of the exercises, it's of onions and grapes. It's not my best work, but at least you can see what we are doing.

It is a great workshop, and I am learning a lot. I especially like the palettes that Joyce is using of complimentary colors of red and green, blue and orange, and purple and yellow. On each palette there is 7 ranges of the primary color and its' complimentary color. We then made a color chart for each palettes and then on the chart blended the colors. It's hard to explain so I included a picture of the blue/orange palette. Anyway, this has been a great exercise for me. By using a limited palette like this you are able to create a painting where the colors harmonize with each other.

I have to thank Joyce, this has been a wonderful workshop! Plus it has been a wonderful time socializing with my talented artist friends.

I am buying things made in the US!

2009-09-30T11:31:00.000-07:00

Recently a friend brought to my attention that they are buying products that are made only in the USA. Meaning that they read the packaging on toothpaste, food, etc to see where it is made at. I decided to do that too.

Another friend just sent me an email with info about McDonalds buying their beef out of the states. I am including it here. It's kind of lengthy, sorry! but good to know.

"This will keep us from ever stopping there again, even for a drink. The original message is from the Texas Cattle Feeders Association. American cattle producers are very passionate about this.McDonald's claims that there is not enough beef in the USA to support their restaurants.Well, we know that is not so. Our opinion is they are looking to save money at our expense. The sad thing of it is that the people of the USA are the ones who made McDonald's successful in the first place, but we are not good enough to provide beef.We personally are no longer eating at McDonald's, which I am sure does not make an impact, but if we pass this around maybe there will be an impact felt.All Americans that sell cows at a livestock auction barn had to sign a paper stating that we do NOT EVER feed our cows any part of another cow. South Americans are not required to do this as of yet.McDonald's has announced that they are going to start importing much of their beef from South America . The problem is that South Americans aren't under the same regulations as American beef producers, and the regulations they have are loosely controlled.They can spray numerous pesticides on their pastures that have been banned here at home because of residues found in the beef. They can also use various hormones and growth regulators that we can't. The American public needs to be aware of this problem and that they may be putting themselves at risk from now on by eating at good old McDonald's..American ranchers raise the highest quality beef in the world and this is what Americans deserve to eat. Not beef from countries where quality is loosely controlled. Therefore, I am proposing a boycott of McDonald's until they see the light.=0AI'm sorry but everything is not always about the bottom line, and when it comes to jeopardizing my family's health, that is where I draw the line.I am sending this note to about thirty people. If each of you send it to at least ten more (30 x 10 = 300) ... and those 300 send it to at least ten more (300 x 10 = 3,000) ... and so on, by the time the message reaches the sixth generation of people, we will have reached over THREE MILLION consumers!I'll bet you didn't think you and I had that much potential, did you? Acting together we can make a difference. If this makes sense to you, please pass this message on..David W. Forrest, Ph.D ., PAS, Dipl.ACAP Department of Animal ScienceTexas A&M UniversityPhone (979) 845-3560Fax (979) 862-33992471 TAMU College Station , TX 77843-2471

Inspired by a Book - UWS Fall Show

2009-09-29T21:36:00.000-07:00

I often turn to a well loved book or author for inspiration for a painting. I was one of those teenagers that would stay up reading into the wee hours of the morning with a flashlight and the sheet over my head. I love how the magic of words can transport you to places in your imagination that were previously unknown. The last thing I do at night is try to keep my eyes open long enough to read at least a page or two of a good book.

In October the Utah Watercolor Society will host it's annual fall show. This year unlike previous years, it had a specific theme, 'Inspired by a Book'. I chose for my book Lewis Carroll's 'Through the Looking Glass'. Are you surprised? If you know me probably not. I chose to illustrate Alice's meeting with the strange and chubby Tweedledum and Tweedledee.

The opening reception will be in October. I was quite surprised (and pleased) to have a cropped version of my painting featured on the exhibition's post card!

Annabelle Lee is featured on American Holiday Artist Blog!

2009-09-27T23:41:00.000-07:00

It's always nice to be featured on someone else blog other than your own. My Annabelle Lee is currently featured, and a few days ago I posted her here on this blog. So rather than post the same picture, I am putting the verse that is part of the piece.

American Holiday Artist blog is a great place to go if you are looking for original artwork with the season's theme. Not long til Halloween! I love Halloween, maybe because my birthday is in October...

Making the Best of It

2009-09-26T23:01:00.000-07:00

The internet is really quite a phenomenon to artists. In the past when the economy took a nose dive, artists and galleries really struggled to survive. But today, with the internet and the self representing artist, one can survive. It's still a bit tough, but not nearly as hard as if you had to depend on only galleries and art festivals to sell your art.

It's sad news when a good gallery closes. One that I was in (note 'was') just closed a couple of weeks ago. Although I still have two other galleries and one boutique representing me, I now have a bunch of paintings on hand. I have recently stocked my other venues with newer work. The poor darlings from the closed gallery need a home! (not my home, it's already crowded with art work).

My online sales have been mostly devoted to small quick pieces that sell at small quick prices. But I have decided to offer some of my gallery pieces online. I will now feature some of them in my ebay store. The painting posted on this blog is one that I just recently listed there. (Please note I will accept reasonable offers). It's titled Doggy Day Dreams. It actually won Best of Show in the Intermountain Society of Artists summer show. Why don't I keep it? Well, yes, I love it but... if I kept every painting that I loved I would have no room whatsoever in my house. And besides an artist has to make a living don't-cha-know. So keep an eye out on my ebay. Check out etsy as well, right now it's a bit quiet there, but I am gearing up to go gangbusters for holiday sales.

Oh and one more thing... American Holiday Artist has one of my small ebay pieces featured on their blog - check it out: http://suzanneurbandesigns.typepad.com/aha/

Louisa May Alcott Poem

2009-09-24T20:49:00.000-07:00

Tonight my little painting is based on a poem by Louisa May Alcott called 'Our Little Ghost'. I did this one in watercolor and then aged it with a crackle finish. I decided I don't do watercolor enough! Then I mixed it up with mixed media, collaging the verse on a distressed background and putting it in a black frame with sanded edges. It really is quite a little gem! It's number 2 of a series for Halloween called 'Haunted Ladies'. It is on auction at ebay.

Commissions

2009-09-24T08:44:00.000-07:00

Having just worked on two commissions, I realize that they are very nice to have in this particular economy. Last week I sent off a spinning wheel to Alaska. Not a painting of a spinning wheel but a real spinning wheel. I have a very nice customer that has bought quite a few sheep paintings from me. So she wanted some on her spinning wheel that she takes to workshops. It was a lovely machine, small and compact to handle traveling. Almost made me want to take up spinning! Since some of you have asked about my commissions, I am posting a picture of it, painted with my signature folk art sheep.

Something New

2009-09-23T21:52:00.000-07:00

I have been bad and have not posted on my blog for a month - yikes! It's been a very busy time, I had an art festival that I was in and finished two commissions, as well as painted things for the gallery I am in. But now it's time to turn my nose toward the internet and focus on my sales there.

Last Friday night I went to an opening of one of my most favorite artists, James C. Christensen. He is a marvelous fantasy artist. Check out his art: http://www.greenwichworkshop.com/studio/studio_artist.asp?artistid=16 I had intended to only stay a few minutes at the reception but it was so fun to listen to him talk about his art. I ended up buying his book, Men and Angels, and he signed it for me! A couple of months ago I had checked out Men and Angels from the library and renewed it twice. I guess I can return now that I have my own. What I love about this book is whenever I need a little inspiration to paint, I just look at this book and I can't wait to get painting.

Tonight I listed a new painting on ebay, it's titled Annabelle Lee, based on Poe's poem by the same name. Tis the Halloween season and I was thinking of ghosts and things like that and this is what I came up with. I took just a couple of lines from the poem and collaged it on the painting. This painting is listed and will be available til September 30th.

Cart Before the Horse Has a Cool Giveaway!

2009-08-24T21:52:00.000-07:00

If you love darling handmade dolls, then you will want to enter Jo of Cart Before the Horse's giveway. She is celebrating her 200 post on her blog. Here is her blog address: http://thecartbeforethehorse.blogspot.com/2009/08/200-posts-and-giveaway-or-two.html

One Down One to Go... and a great use for plastic bags!

2009-08-22T17:49:00.001-07:00

I have been working on a commission for a lady that has mini donkeys. They are so cute! I think they have the sweetest faces.
The past couple of weeks I have been dog sitting, first for my dad and his australian shepherd, Abby, and then for my daughter and her two chihuahuas, Bonita and Bella. I took my art supplies so I could work. But it's not the same as working at home with all your artsy stuff at your fingertips.
I am working on a second commission of a very large painting of Koi (36 x 48). This one is not going to be so realistic as the donkeys. I am using a bit of collage in it. Anyhoo, not being home with my 'stuff', I found there were some things I needed but didn't have. Part of my collage technique is to have very accurate shapes to draw on the paper I want to collage. For instance,
One of the koi is going to be collaged on. Normally I take tracing paper and trace the koi shape off the painting, then I use graphite paper and retrace the shape onto the patterned paper I want to use. Well.... guess what I DIDN'T have with me? Tracing paper!
So being the artist that I am... I thought and thought about what I could use for a substitute. My first experiment was to take a piece of type paper and totally soak it, so it was somewhat transparent, stick it on the painting and trace my fish. Then I got the blow dryer out and dried it. It worked good enough, but was a long process with the wetting the paper and drying it for this impatient artist. So then I had this really good idea! I got a white plastic bag (this one happened to be from Wallymart) and cut it in half and used the blank side like tracing paper. It worked just perfect and was more transparent than the wet typing paper. Hooray! I didn't have to go home to get the tracing paper. (Yes I am sure you are thinking why didn't I just run to the store, but like most artists and supplies, I have a hoard of tracing paper and couldn't bring myself to buy more!)

A Fairy is on my Sheep!

2009-08-12T22:02:00.000-07:00

I feel like I have been MIA on my blog, facebook and online groups lately. I am working on two commissions right now. Yesterday I took some time to paint a little painting for ebay called 'When a Fairy Rides a Sheep'.