Dancing With Dogs

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

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

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

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!

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!

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!

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

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!

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

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!

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!

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!

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?

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!

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!

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

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

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

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?

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!

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

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!

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!

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

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!

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

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!

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

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!

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

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

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

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

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!

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!

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!

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'.