First Day Of Spring.....

My newest painting was finished this past week, my last one for a while.  My studio is being cleaned, sorted through and boxed up over the next week or so.  It is amazing how much junk I found and also located things I've been looking for as well.  Too many art supplies and too little time I guess.  I probably will not be getting back to painting until July as we'll have things to do on our new house that we want to take care of right away (to actually make sure we do them) and also, we want to spend some time driving around and doing things in our new area, to get to know everything and have a bit of fun as well.

Last week we finished all the odds and ends in the basement and I stumbled upon a bit of a surprise. 
I found our old coffee table buried under a pile of boxes that had accumulated over it through the years ( I knew about the boxes so that was no shock ) but the coffee table had quite a pile of nuts on it.....yes, nuts and nuts mean that there was a squirrel in my basement at some point enjoying a meal.  I'm so glad he left before I could run into him down there, I would have screamed my head off.  We're leaving NY for Orlando on June 12 and while most of the work is done, there are still some things to sort through.  Hopefully no more squirrel surprises though.....yuk.

Anyway, this little chickadee is 6" x 6" on gallery canvas and the bird, tree and greenery are all done with stucco for extra texture. 

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.

Cleaning The Clutter Of My Life......Plus Some Art Card Designs

 Before I get to the clutter part of my life, I did make a couple of new art cards a while back.  The "Butterfly Garden" card above was created from the original painting below (with Chris's help cropping and sizing everything).  I'm very happy with the way this one turned out.

Chris had to do a bit more work on the "Bearded Iris Garden" card because the original painting below was a big square and he was trying to change the shape while keeping as much of the main subject as possible.  I would love to get these art cards (including all that I did before this) photographed and onto ETSY but I just don't think that is going to happen at this point.  Seems like too much to get done for now and this kind of thing can wait until the upcoming months.

With just over 2 months until we leave West Point, I have some clutter and garbage to remove from my life.  For me, the worst possible thing would be to not bother with it now and have the movers pack all my trash, with me having to throw it all away when I get to Orlando.  I'm trying to avoid that so I've been working in my messy studio above to go through everything, recycle what I can, throw away what I don't need and just organize what I'm taking with me to make it easier to pack.  I tackled the messiest part of the room this week, the area to the left of my desk that is actually not in this photo.  It is all clean, organized and ready to go....I was able to get rid of a ton of junk from this area.  Going through everything I found things I hadn't seen in years, things I wondered why I didn't throw away long ago and many items that gave me the "so that is where it has been all this time" moment.

Dudley of course kept me company through the whole thing and I think was standing there in awe of my finally having done the stuff I should have done a long time ago.  He by the way offered no help with this task what so ever but did stop long enough to pose for the camera.

"Branching Out" Abstract Triptych Treescape

"Branching Out" is the newest treescape triptych to make it out of my studio, recently sprayed with a protective matt finish and currently drying in my basement. 

I wanted to do a multi-canvas painting and knew that I had something in mind that was really contemporary and abstract but I also wanted lots of texture, so I decided on a triptych treescape.

First I always play around with different shapes and sizes of canvas, orienting them different ways to try and decide how I want to lay out the painting.  Once that portion of the process is decided upon, I can than go ahead and make my sketch.

While I'm creating a sketch, I also start on my background which can take a couple of days for a painting this size as there are layers or color applied that must dry before others are added.  A heavy application of stucco gives the tree branches really thick texture.

 

The finished panels are placed together for the last time, just to make sure everything looks just right and the completed painting has emerged.





An Abstract Tree-Scape

This week I got the bug to work on a contemporary piece, a quadtych (4 panel) tree-scape, "Extensions".  Sometimes when I'm planning a multi canvas painting, I will run down into my basement and grab a bunch of assorted sized canvases and just begin by arranging them in all different configurations on my studio floor.  I play around with the layout until I think I've got something that pleases me , as I try to keep in mind the design that I want to create as well being that has a great deal to do with the sizes of the canvas and the layout I have chosen. 

This piece has a very abstract background of different slashing shapes (((( and ))))) .  Many times with my paintings I work with  very wet surfaces and watery paints so I must lay the canvases out flat.  With this piece the varying background colors and shapes were done very wet, while the foreground tree branch was done in a dark, bold...thick black acrylic paint.    

The end result was exactly what I had in mind for this painting when I started it, contemporary, colorful and abstract.  All artists have a varied and unique process for their creations and for me, when I'm doing a multi-canvas painting, I like to play around and arrange things and then experiment with color to determine what the base of my painting will be built on. 

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)