Spring Paintings....

There hasn't been much of a spring feeling here in NY, with more snow just dumped on us this week but I'm thinking spring anyway, creating some smaller paintings for the new season.







 

"Whispers Of The Season" is 8" h x 6" w and the little wren in the painting is enjoying the first days of spring.

 



"Spring Robin" is 12" h x 4" w tucked away in a purple tulip he is happily enjoying the blooms.

I think at this point I might be painting a tree next or perhaps an abstract or maybe, a combination of both....who knows, I think I'll decide that once I get started.

"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 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.

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.

Electric Pink Lilies

 A new painting is fresh off the easel, "Electric Pink Lilies". 

From start to finish, this piece gave me quite a time, including one canvas that was swiftly thrown into the trash.

Then slowly, this happy pink lily painting started to take shape and told me that it really wanted to be finished.

Sometimes the creations that give us the hardest time, turn out to be the most rewarding.

Garden Perch

This week I finished off "Garden Perch" ....... I decided to go for a colorful and vibrant background of blue with touches of white and purple. Below (in the previous post) is the same painting, minus the background. My garden irises have just finished blooming for the year so I'm moving on to paint another willing subject now. I think I will pick up a nice 10" x 10" canvas, just like this piece was painted on and get to work today on another painting. 

Two Custom Acrylic Nature Paintings.......

Recently I completed 2 custom orders for one of my very sweetest customers....2 - 6" x 8" paintings on gallery canvas. The first piece is "Monarch Butterfly & White Lilacs".

This piece is named "Bluebird & Peach Roses". Both paintings are set against a black background with colors surrounding the subjects done with an abstract technique. A cheerful set of paintings to have worked on recently, especially with all the rain we've had in the northeast. www.artfulcreations.etsy.com

A Work In Progress....Completed!!!

My Chickadee and Petunias faux window is now completed. I did drop the ball on some part of this but I will get to that in just a second. This piece was painted on a deep gallery style canvas that is 1 1/2" in depth and measures 16" x 20" in overall size. I love painting on gallery canvas because as you'll see below, the canvas has no staples around the sides, they are clean and smooth, allowing for the design to be carried around to each side. This of course means...you need no frame, which is something I love about this style of canvas.

The above photo is where we left off in my last post about this painting. The flowers at this point have all been completed, the sky and background are done and the bird is the next thing that needs to get finished. I also started the window panes at this point as well..... just laying the base coat in.

Well, here is where the bad part comes in.....I had honestly meant to take more photos of the window panes in progress since my last post but as you can see, I got so carried away painting that I went straight from the second picture you see in this post, to the finished piece. Since you missed so much of the window panes, I will tell you that it was a detail oriented and time consuming process that I used 4 different colors to complete. I wanted the window frame to look as if it was old and chippy , the white paint fading and chipping off to reveal the wood color underneath. I also liked this frame so much because I love the contrast between the dark and light areas, giving it depth and dimension.

Here you can see a close up of the little chickadee and some of the shading and highlighting on the window frame.

All sides are fully painted to give the illusion of an actual window. I hope you've really enjoyed the window process and I promise next time to not forget to take pictures towards the end.

Artful Pendants

I've started a new creative adventure that I'm having a tremendous amount of fun with, I'm creating glass art pendants from my paintings and photographs. I've also launched a new ETSY shop, Artful Pendants!

I have to say that making each pendant by hand is very therapeutic and relaxing. I'll be adding more and more pendants to my shop over time but for now, I feel I'm off to a good start.

All the pendants, whether they are photographs or paintings, are inspired by nature and therefore, I felt I had to do something quite special and "natural" when photographing them. I have to say, taking photos of them is almost as much fun as creating them.

Pendants are $7.50 a piece and I will always be running a buy 2 get one free offer. I hope you will visit my new ETSY shop and enjoy these new nature inspired pieces. http://www.artfulpendants.etsy.com/ .

Butterfly Inspirations.....

One of my favorite hobbies is photography, I feel like I am constantly running around with my camera trying to get photos of something or other. Last month I was able to follow this little guy around for about an hour (no kidding) and get some great photos of him when he landed in a patch of purple Lantana.

Not only will I enjoy looking at these photos throughout the year but I think he would make a great painting as well, sorrounded by the beautiful purple of the flowers. I always save all my photos to use in a possible future painting because....you never know.

I was able to get so close to him that you can actually see how hairy his little body is in some of these photos. Funny that I never think of butterflies as hairy but........they are!

Although this little butterfly looks like he is cooperating nicely for thse photos, he did lead me on a wild chase through the garden for quite sometime before settling down so I could take these photos. The pursuit however was worth it because in the end, he was very cooperative. Maybe I just wore him out.......I don't know.

Hope you enjoy this beautiful butterfly!!

Flowers Bursting Into Bloom

My back perennial garden is really starting to burst into bloom now. The Lilies are springing to life and the Carpet Roses have gotten big and beautiful with lots of cascading blooms.

Hanging baskets on my back porch filled with Cascade Geraniums and Vinca Vines. The butterfly ornament was purchased at a crafts fair last year.

Some Coreopsis that have just opened up. I love this flower, it is an easy grower, needs little water to look good and keeps the bright blooms coming all through the summer.

Up close and personal with some Lilies.

Some new yellow beauties that have just popped open.

View from my back porch of some of the Lilies.

The deep purple Clematis are still in bloom.

Some Purple Cone Flowers just starting to bloom.

My Lamb's Ear that just came into bloom last week.

The Hydrangeas have just opened and are still a very pale blue, green and white. It is always a pleasure to watch them change colors.