A New Year Means......Reviewing Past Works

Happy New Year to everyone.  I know, I know, usually a new year means new everything, resolutions, ideas, artwork, etc etc and that of course is all still true however, sometimes it really behooves us to review and revamp older work as well.  After all I'm learning once a piece of artwork finds a new home, what's left is the image and that is of course, still the property of the artist (in this case me) so why not put that image to good use.   Waste not want not....right?





 

This ceiling tin for instance is something I painted years ago.  It has long since gone to a new home, (it lives in Korea now) so all I'm left with is the image.  This is my favorite rose painting that I've ever created though so I would like to use it for other purposes.

 

Chris reworked some things on it today and made it high resolution and framed it nicely for me , blocking out the majority of the tin and focusing almost entirely on the roses instead.  I'm thinking this design could work on cards as well as tile trivets.  The uses might actually be endless, more than I can think of right at this moment anyway.  It might actually be a good idea each week or two, to go through artwork that has long since flown the coop, that you might have even forgotten about and rework it for a different purpose. 

Custom Bluebird Paintings And The Curse Of the Dreaded X.....

Well to start, now that spring has sprung, I've been painting quite a few bluebirds, some have been custom orders, like this ceiling tin above.

My customer wanted a happy, chubby little spring bluebird surrounded by lots of lavender, painted on a vintage ceiling tin.

The completed bird on a very ornate ceiling tin!!! Another customer wanted a bluebird pendant, done on glass and with a brown background to match up with as many of her work outfits as possible.....that little fused glass bluebird sits below, hanging from a satin neck cord. He has already flown on to his new home.

Now for the curse of the dreaded X or actually I should say, an X (a really giant one) and a curse (pick your favorite). What is an artist to do when she screws up a painting, a very large one, one that she has been working on diligently for over a week now?? How does she get rid of the frustration of it all and move past that failure to another piece of artwork??

I don't know how other artist's do it but here is my method put into practice by me again, just yesterday.......very unfortunatley. I had been working on a very large canvas for over a week, the subject doesn't really matter at this point but it was one that I knew could go either way, a great painting or a disaster well...... it turned out to be the later. When this kind of disappointment hits, I have a little therapy session with my painting, first of all, I make absolutely sure the the work is not worth saving and once I've determined that, I pick a nice bright color and paint a giant X through the canvas.....here is where the curse comes in, I then write my favorite curse word down across the canvas, right near the X , in big bold letters. I then proceed to go out my back door and over to my trash cans, where the canvas promptly gets thrown away, never to be seen again. This practice, followed by ordering some comfort take-out food, assures that I can put the days train wreck out of my mind and start anew on a fresh piece of artwork tomorrow. There you have the story of the Curse of the X!!!!

Butterfly And African Violets Painting Inspirations

Just yesterday I finished my Butterfly & African Violets painting. This piece was painted with acrylic paint on an ornate vintage ceiling tin.

Lots of my favorite color in this one......PURPLE!

The inspiration for this acrylic painting came from the 4 lovely African Violets I purchased a couple of weeks ago at one of my favorite nurseries. They always have a beautiful selection there, not just African Violets but just about everything. I'll be purchasing the Geraniums for my garden from them later this month and lots of Impatiens from them in the month of May.

Some of the inspirational African Violets in their new home by my Orchids and Maidenhair Fern.

My only delemma was which color plant to use in my ceiling tin painting. I finally settled on the purple and white ones though.......

This piece will be coming to my website and ETSY site www.artfulcreations.etsy.com soon. Enjoy the spring weather and try to look around for something that can inspire you everyday.

A Sampling Of Projects

I seem to be going in so many different directions these days.....I've been trying to finish up some things and start up others. For instance, I got this tin out weeks ago, applied gesso and then stuck it under a pile of papers and photos in my studio. I had put it aside to work on my Chickadee & Petunias Faux Window. Now that the window is finished, the tin made its way back out of the mess it was under to start being worked on.

I had to start by deciding on a design that I wanted to paint on the tin. You will be able to see the design a bit better in the below photos but the one above shows how I approach the creation of the sketch itself. It is easier and more functional for me, when painting on a tin like this, to draw the design on tracing paper first. I've actually used two pieces...one with the actual design and one with the shape of the ceiling tin outlined on it. This allows me to move the sketch around the tin shape in an attempt to dertermine the best placement. It basically lets me play around all I want without committing to a final position for the design until I'm ready.

Here you can see the outline of the tin and the basic sketch. A birdhouse and a little chickadee. The birdhouse is resting on some Lilac branches.

This photo shows the very beginning stages of painting. My birdhouse and chickadee have been positioned just the way I want them....transferred onto the tin and I've started painting the background at this point. I'll be showing the progress of this tin as I go alone.

Now on to something totally different...... I don't do mailboxes on a regular basis anymore but I was recently contacted by a long time customer of mine who wanted a very special mailbox for his mother for Christmas. He sent me a photo of an Easter cross and asked me to create my own version for this mailbox. Above and below show the finished design on both sides.

Last but not least, I started to think about what I wanted to do with this egg over a year ago. Nothing was really grabbing me and so, I put it in a box and forgot about it. Just this week I was saying to myself...."what did I do with that egg?" The time has come for this Emu egg to be painted and I know just what I will do on it. I will show the finished piece in a few weeks. It seems like there are so many projects these days......and so little time.

A Little Of This...... And A Dash Of That

Today is a day when I seem to have so much to talk about......lots of different topics occupying my mind at this point....A little of this .....And (well, you know the rest). Remember last month I created my Autumn Whimsy painting on vintage ceiling tin?? I told you at the time, that it was created for a very special purpose and that I would fill everyone in on that once October hit. Well, here it is the end of October already and I almost forgot to post about this. The artwork above is now on the cover of................

Southeastern Antiquing And Collecting Magazine. Dianne Zweig wrote a very nice article about the collecting possibilities of antique ceiling tins and featured my ceiling tin art in the article. The editor of the magazine was nice enough to ask me to create a special piece for their October issue. He wanted something that said "autumn" but also wanted a dash of "Halloween" mixed in there as well. This is why I created Autumn Whimsy above! I hope all the readers enjoyed the article. My thanks go out to Dianne Zweig and the editor of this lovely antiquing magazine for not just including my work in the issue but putting a piece of the cover.

I have to admit that I have become so addicted to blogging. I'm constantly searching for new and beautiful art blogs to visit that are a treat for the eyes and an inspiration for creativity. The painting above is entitled: "The Girl On The Red Bicycle" and is an original piece of artwork created by Erin Houghton. She is a modern day impressionist and if you love gorgeous garden scenes, her work is a must see. Not only is Erin a great artist but she is new to blogging and I think from what I've seen so far that she will become as addicted to the blog world as I have. Please visit Erin @ http://www.thepaintedgarden.blogspot.com/ to see some of her gorgeous work and maybe send her a "hello", to welcome her to blog land.

**This painting is copyright to and was used with permission by Erin Houghton**

Ok, is this Shih Tzu ornament too cute or what?? As many of you know, Chris and I have 3 Shih Tzus that keep our lives pretty busy and sometimes, wreck total havoc on our daily routine. I always keep my eye out for great Shih Tzu art I might find along my internet travels. This adorable Shih Tzu ornament was created by my friend Melissa Langer over at Pug Notes, http://www.pugnotes.blogspot.com/ . Melissa is so creative and has her hand in all different kinds of art forms. One day I was visiting her site and saw her adorable Pug ornaments.....I knew I had to have one so I quickly asked if she could make me the Shih Tzu version. This little guy now hangs on the door knob of my studio , where I get to see him everyday. Melissa is a fabulous artist that creates whimsical paintings of dogs and cats and many different kinds of products from her paintings as well. If you get a chance, pay her a visit.

This week I've been having some fun with egg art.....creating what I'm calling "Word Eggs" eggs that have a meaning. They were just some fun little projects that I enjoyed working on and will probably do more of in the future.

I started with a marbled looking background that I painted on this one and added the design from there.

I guess I was thinking of the ocean when I created this one.

This is one of my favorite sayings so I decided to use it on the above egg.

Even though I don't purchase my duck eggs at the local grocery store, it was still fun to photograph them in this egg carton.

Last but not least, as the day was winding down....enter Dudley, who decided to wreck a little havoc on my work plans by trying to make me stop and pay attention to him. While Willow and Orchid were sound asleep in the living room, Dudley was getting quite impatient with me for being locked away in my studio so he decided to come in and see if he could get me out of the room. When he comes in and whimpers while I work it means one of two things, he has to go out or, he simple wants me to come into the living room with hiim and sit for awhile. He doesn't like it when I get so focused on what I'm doing that I forget about him. How can I possibly resist this cute face?

Treetop Chickadee Vintage Ceiling Tin, Note Cards & A Blog Break

I finished my latest vintage Ceiling tin , Treetop Chickadee, it measures 12" x 12" and comes ready to hang on your wall with a hook on the back. When I first saw this antique tin, I really fell in love with it because it was so intricate in design and well, just plain different from anything I had purchased before, I knew I had to have it.

With the embossed design covering the whole of the tin, it was quite challenging to decide what exactly I should paint on this one that would compliment the tin design.

I mulled over several design choices in my head for a few days, really unsure what to do. If I decided on a complicated and intricate design, I ran the risk of making this tin look like a crowded expressway at rush hour. : )

More so then any other tin I've painted so far, my design had to be something that complimented and flowed with the lovely pattern already on the tin. As I sat and studied the tin, it occured to me that the tin pattern kind of reminded me of a treetop somewhere high in the sky, lots of vines and branches twisting around. Maybe this treetop was so high up that you couldn't see it, you could only imagine what it really looked like.

This is when I was able to finalize the design and settled on a little chickadee perched high up in a treetop. I created some flowers, leaves and vines to coordinate with the design already on the tin. I painted in some of the embossed areas of the tin, with light blue and light green, to give it a very whimsical and natural feel. This little guy is now available on my ETSY site and my website as well.

I've also started to create a line of note cards from my vintage tin images, the first two designs can be seen on my ETSY site @ http://www.artfulcreations.etsy.com/ . They are a set of 10 blank note cards, with 10 envelopes in each package.

Last but not least, I'm taking a blogging break for just a little while to embark on quite a big adventure.... I will be going with my friend and her family to visit the Grand Canyon and some lovely parks out west. I'm leaving this week and will return the week of Oct 9th, no doubt with tons of pictures to show you from my grand adventure. I will be away from my computer for the week but Chris will be here caring for the 3 Tzus while I'm gone and he will keep me posted on what is happening in the land of the internet . Until next time....

Country Victorian Magazine - Artist's Feature

Pinch me so that I know I'm not dreaming this, I have an artist's feature on my vintage ceiling tins in the winter, 2009 addition of Country Victorian Magazine. Available in book stores on Sept 9th.... It is all I've thought of for months now but couldn't talk about until I actually saw that it was happening.

This has been a dream of mine, I cannot tell you for how many years I have dreamt of having my work featured in a home decor magazine. I remember it all started when Iwas first learning to paint many years ago....I would pick up decorating magazines and dream about the day that I perhaps could be in one. I'm quite thrilled to be in this edition of this very lovely magazine.

I probably cannot express quite how excited I am , lets just say....VERY EXCITED!! Harris Publications was such a pleasure to work with and I want to thank them for having me in one of their beautiful magazines, it really is an honor! I was also lucky enough to have my friend Kathryn Bechen , do the phone interview with me and write the article for this feature. You can click on the photo to get close ups and read the article. I'm off to my new home for the next few days atleast....Cloud 9.

A Little Autumn Whimsy......

My latest vintage ceiling tin was created by request, for a very special reason but more on that in the month of Oct.

I was asked to create a piece that not only said "autumn" but had a touch of Halloween to it as well. I had a couple of ideas in mind for this piece but quickly narrowed it down once I knew the feeling the tin needed to convey. I really wanted this piece to be all about whimsy, hence the name "Autumn Whimsy" Anyway, with that in mind, I knew I had to use my little Chickadee friend and this time, I decided that he should be perched on a lovely orange pumpkin. For a pinch of whimsy, I added a little witch's hat to his head.

For the background I wanted to create almost a grainy effect if I possibly could so I tried out a few different techniques to see if I could achieve that idea.

The leaves I wanted to make almost foil like in appearance, almost as if they are made of delicate colored foil that could crumble in your hand if you are not careful.

The autumn twigs were painted in on one of the very last steps and I think, connect the dots of this theme very well.

This piece and some home decor products made from the image, will soon be listed on my ETSY site.... http://www.artfulcreations.etsy.com/ .