Sun Drenched Irises......

"Sun Drenched Irises" is the latest piece to roll out of my studio this week.  I really love bearded irises and wanted to create another painting of sunny colored flowers this time around.  I decided on the very pretty yellow / orange shade and got to work on my canvas.  This one measures 16" h x 8" w and is 1 1/2" d.

The blooms and leaves are once again done in stucco so you can see and feel the texture, which I'm really liking these days. 

The rest of the week was spent doing a bit of work around the house , still purging junk but at this point, we are almost finished with that end of it, which is a really good feeling.  Also trying to get out there and enjoy some spring weather too, nothing like a good walk to clear the cob webs.

Reflections Of Spring

This week I finished "Reflections Of Spring" an English Iris painting.  I'm feeling all about spring these days, really only wanting to paint happy paintings.  I often like to pair the canvas shape with the proportions of the subject to make it look as natural as possible.  This particular piece is 12" h x 4" w and I think the canvas suits what I wanted to do with the composition of this painting nicely.

This week a new digital camera arrived in the mail for me as well.  I had my original one for only 4 years and in the last 6 months, it became harder and harder to take photos and get the camera to actually work.  I mean geez, it was a compact little digital camera for casual use, it certainly never got put through the ringer by me so I was bummed it didn't last longer, I really expected it too.  Once I got over the offensive (to me anyway) idea of shelling out money right now for another digital camera, I'm really glad that I did.  This new one is wonderful, almost just as small as the last (important to me) and wow, the detail shots I can get with it.  When Chris took these photos today, I was thrilled, the detail shots really reveal the layers and texture of the stucco along with the blend of color.  Now that the pain of having spent the money is over and done, I'm really glad I got it.

Have a creative week....think spring.

"Spring Pleasures" Completed

Yesterday I finished painting "Spring Pleasures" and just in time too as I needed some spring cheer to help deal with the blizard we got yesterday.  Shoveling out in the biting cold wind with a foot and a half to two feet of snow in some places is just one of my favorite things to do.... (not even close) .  I know I sound a bit snarky about it all and well, snow makes me very grumpy.  All I can say is....Orlando here I come, there is nothing in the NY winter that I will miss, not even a little.

Now it is revealed that my woodland creature is a happy little chipmunk nestled on one of the tulip leaves.  The tulips, leaves, chipmunk and some of the background swirls are 3D with a texture you can see and feel.  A stucco medium was used in these areas to create this texture.

This painting measures 24" h x 8" w x 1 1/2" d.   I hope the yellow, pink and magenta bring cheer and make everyone think of the color and warmth of spring ahead.

Painting Tiny - Bite Sized 3D Artwork.......

This week I decided I really wanted to paint small and so I went to my basement stash of canvases and ferreted around for a while until I finally found what I was looking for, some of the smallest sized canvases I have on hand, a 6" x 6" and a 4" x 6".   "This piece is "Sunburst Monarch" full of color and happiness.  I think I will make a tile trivet out of this design.......

I also felt like painting a dragonfly so on the 4" x 6" canvas I created "Jeweled Beauty".  Both paintings are created using acrylic mediums so they are 3D, you can actually see and feel the texture on each piece.  I'm finding textured work really has the effect of making you want to reach out and touch it when you walk by.  It is really fun to feel the different levels of textures under your fingers, very tactile.

Aside from painting, I'm dealing with a house that is in a state of flux at the moment (no end in sight either).  Some of you might know that Chris and I are moving to Orlando this year. We closed on our house the week after Thanksgiving and we will be moving away from NY in a little over 4 months so these are the start of some crazy busy days for us.  We're going through all our belongings, trying to throw away what we don't want to move with us , organizing everything and even though we'll have movers when the time comes, we're packing our more precious items ourselves. We're very excited to get started on our new journey and I dearly wish we could leave now but we have to wait a few more months, most likely till the end of May.  At some point when the time gets closer I'll have to pack up my art studio but not quite yet, I will keep painting for many more months, until the last minute basically.  I always find I miss painting when I'm away from it for too long.

Painting A Butterfly Garden

What has everyone on the east coast been doing these days, aside from dealing with hurricanes?  I cannot answer for everyone else but for me, I've been painting a butterfly garden on gallery canvas.  First though, let me thank my blogging friends who wrote to check on me and my family, it was very kind of you and I appreciated your concern and the time you took to write.  We came through the storm very well at our house, no damage at all, not even enough rain to flood the basement.  We were lucky. 

I know I sure needed a break from thinking about the hurricane so I've been busily painting away this week to finish my latest piece.  "Butterfly Garden" is painted on an 8" h x 24"l x 1 1/2" deep gallery canvas.

It is sometimes the perfect remedy for what is going on around me, things that I cannot control, like hurricanes for instance, to lose myself in a new creative endeavor. 

I have had a few people over the years ask me if I accept layaway for my paintings.  Yes, I do offer layaway and am happy to do so on any piece of artwork.  If you see something you like but would like to pay for it in smaller, more bite size pieces, feel free to contact me and I will tell you all about it.

Things are going well with our house in Orlando as well.  We just had the home inspection yesterday and all went very well.  I wanted to post some inside pictures as the current owners have done a really beautiful job on renovations.  The above is part of the master bath (this is the first time in my life I will ever have had a master bathroom) they installed a beautiful cabinet for the sink, granite counter tops and a lovely mirror.

 

 

 

The master bathroom shower above has gorgeous tile work and it is huge.  The kitchen has granite counters, stainless steel and totally refinished cabinets, with a lovely tile floor.  It is an eat in kitchen (also something I've never had before and am looking forward too) that part of the photo is off to a side we cannot see right now.  It will be fun to show more pictures when we move in months from now but I want to wait as the other parts of the house have the homeowner's decor and furnishings.  I will wait till we have painted and decorated as we would like, before I show the rest.

"Hideaway"

A couple of weeks ago I finished a new painting, "Hideaway".  I've been going through a bit of a birdhouse phase with paintings, whether actually created or still brewing in my imagination so I decided to once again construct a little birdhouse that , this time has been tucked away in a patch of pink climatis and is home to small goldfinch.  I created this painting on a 10" x 10" gallery wrapped canvas.

Thanks to the wonders of photoshop and being lucky enough to live with someone who is skilled in using it, I was able to get the background taken away to offer this piece with a little more variety for art licensing.  Two designs for the price of one so to speak.

First, before I work on the canvas, I start with a sketch that I create on tracing paper.  Once I had my sky background painted in I was then able to trace the design onto the canvas with a minimum of erasing needed.

Here I've just started to get the bare bones of the design painted in.  Before I can work on shading and highlighting, there must be a base to work from.

Slowly and surely layers of color are built ..........

Until finally, an almost complete birdhouse has emerged on the canvas.

The same painstaking process starts with the flowers now, little by little I'm building the color until finally.....the finishing touches can be added.

At this point (and it always happens soooner or later) I either get lazy about taking more photos or I just plain forget and because of that, you will have to jump ahead and view the finished piece.   

This week I got a proof in the mail for my first ever note card and envelope set.  This is a picture of the card unfolded.  The image was cropped to fit a 4" x 6" format and on the back of the card I have all my contact information, website and title of the painting etc....  Really cool to finally see it in person this week and I'm looking forward to getting the box of these finished cards in the mail next week..  I'm starting to work on another batch as well as I know that if I start now, little by little, I will end up with a good supply of different designs in stock.  When we move I want to do craft shows and display paintings, tile trivets, note cards and tile murals created from my artwork.  Our big move is only 8 months away at this point and while we have a while to go yet, time flies by pretty fast and it will be here before we know it.  Next month is house shopping.  (that is what makes it feel like a reality).

Pink Hibiscus In Bloom & The Wonders Of Photoshop

**I'm taking a blogging break for a week or so to finish enjoying some of my vacation time**

This week in my perennial garden the pink hibiscus have started to bloom, they are a summer favorite of mine as they always put on such a pretty show for about 4 weeks during the season.

I use a lot of my black eyed susans that have started blooming for cut flowers to bring in the house and sit on the living room coffee table.

With the black eyed susans, I like to cut them to bring them inside after a good rain or after I have watered, that way I find they will not wilt but will last for many many days.  I also run freezing cold water over the ends of the cut stems, which also seems to help.

The hibisucs I cannot cut and bring in, they wouldn't work as a cut flower but they sure are pretty to look at and photograph each year.

I hope you have beautiful blooms in your own garden each week to look forward to and photograph as they put on their summer show.

Ok, on to wonders that don't have anything to do with nature, this particular one centers around the amazing things that can be accomplished by using Photoshop.  This past week when I submitted "Fair Weather Friends" to my licensing agent Laurie, she asked that I change the types of birds in the painting to better suit what they are needing to make the image more usable for them.  

To keep my original painting in tact I decided to create the chickadee, goldfinch and wren that Laurie asked for on loose sheets of unstretched canvas and insert them into the orginal image by using photoshop.  Above is the goldfinch, I painted this bird leaving out the areas that would be in front of him in the painting, so he could just be slipped in behind  the purple climatis petals.

The end result is a pretty cool variation on my original theme.  The original painting is left in tact and a second digital image is created using the newly painted birds.....the finished product is two very different bird house scenes.  These changes of course did not magically appear with the waving of a wand (I wish) I did the painting and Chris (the husband with the photoshop chops) created the new digital image for me.  He did a great job so thank you photoshop for existing in the first place and thank you husband for all your hard work on this image.

"Fair Weather Friends" & Hummingbird Visitors

Early this week I completed "Fair Weather Friends" and this painting is now sitting on my diningroom table having dried thoroughly and is awaiting a trip to the basement for it's protective spray coating.  At the moment it looks like another birdhouse painting is in the works but I'm still figuring out exactly what size it will be, the colors, the house iteself, bird/birds or even, will there be a bird.  Decisions, decisions.......  For now though, thrilled to be finished with this large piece, it is available on ETSY -  www.artfulcreations.etsy.com  .

I tried an experiment yesterday with the hummingbirds to see if I could get even better photos then I did last time (see my post from a few weeks ago) by trying to stand outside this time, rather then in the kitchen and having to shoot through the kitchen door.

I went outside on the back porch and stood very still, as close to the feeder as I thought I could dare go and to my surprise, the sweet little female I call the "percher" came right over, to spite my presence so near the feeder.

She was the first of the hummingbirds to arrive this season and the first to feel at home enough to perch while she drank.  She didn't seem to mind me being outside at all so I was able to take quite a few nice photos of her and it really did make a difference not having to deal with trying to shoot through the screen door.

She still comes by on a constant basis each day and at least once a day, stops by with her mate or her girlfriend and they sit on the feeder and have a drink together.  Hopefully one of these times I'll be able to capture the birds feeding together with the camera , I'll keep my eyes out anyway, you never know.  (click to make any of the photos larger)

Bits & Pieces

I'm coming into home stretch with my new painting.  This weekend I'm putting the finishing touches on it and going over all the areas with a fine tooth comb to see that everything is just the way I want it to be before I call it complete....

I won't show the painting in it's entirety until it is completely finished but at least you can see the happy bluebirds painted on their garden perches for now.

This little guy had to be totally reworked from what I had originally designed as his size wasn't quite right.  After a bit of a make-over though, he came out looking just the way I wanted.

Yes, sand dollar pendants are back in my ETSY shop.  I had originally thought months ago that I was finished creating them but I find, I missed painting them very much so I decided to start offering them again.  I did however put a few rules into play so that I would continue to enjoy working on these ocean pendants.....  First of all, sand dollars were my favorite, the surface really speaks to me as a fun, creative and just plain great blank canvas to work on in miniature so, I will not be bringing any puzzle, glass or wood pendants back to life, just the ones I love the most, the sand dollars.

Second and most important of the two rules to pendant painting happiness, no custom orders .  Custom orders are only available with canvas art, not pendants.  Unfortunately, offering that kind of work on my sand dollar pendants sucked the joy right from the air when I had to create them and that equals (=) no fun anymore.  I'm stocking my ETSY shop with whatever tickles my fancy in the sand dollar department.  What I will have at any given time is a mystery and I will paint new pieces every once in a while, when the spirit moves me, which equals (=) keeping the fun in my miniature art.