A New Painting and a Sale!

I've been taking Mindy Lacefied's 6 month course, Wild Surrender. February Mindy did a lovely textural sailboat painting and her lesson inspired this painting.

This is my first painting to feature a boy (my son was thrilled!). I had so much fun painting this one. My love of the ocean, the book "Where the Wild Things Are" and the painted papers of Eric Carle influenced this piece.

In other news, my birthday is March 15th! To celebrate I am having a 10% off sale in my Etsy shop. A print of the above painting is available along with some other new art. Just use the code HAPPY45BDAY at checkout. Sale ends midnight on Sunday the 16th.

Thanks for stopping by!

 

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Let the Countdown Begin!

 

This is how many days I have until I can work at my art full time. Both my kids will be getting on the bus around 8:15 and getting home around 4:30. If I work about 9:00-4:00 five days a week that's 35 hours a week to create and work at my business. I decided to start a countdown to give me a goal; A focus.

Things have been a bit crazy the past couple of weeks. We've had snow and ice with school closings. I had lots of little things to get done before I went into the hospital for surgery. Then I've been recovering from surgery. Things are finally leveling out and getting back to normal. While I was recovering I spent time thinking about my art and my frustrations. I get really annoyed at not having time. I'm talking 4 or 5 hours in a row of uninterrupted time. It just doesn't happen often. So, what can I do about it? How can I get what I want? I think I need to let go of the desire of having hours of uninterrupted time and just steal minutes where I can. Focusing on "time" has become a roadblock so I'm changing my thinking.

I'm taking "Year of the Fairy Tale" from Carla Sonheim and this month's assignment has been about "quantity" over "quality". We have to make lots of quick sketches and paintings instead of intensely working on a few paintings/sketches. I love this concept. It puts all the focus on the process of making art instead of the final product. So, I'm going to make as much art as possible and not care if it's "good enough" to sell or if it will "work" for licensing. I'm just going to make the art and have faith beauty will emerge. Some of the best things I've made have been when I just got lost in the moment of making art.

My art buddy Juliette Crane has been painting on paper and she has piles of paintings now that were quick to make and are lovely. And my friend Mindy Lacefield had a post of all her work from last year. Over 100 paintings. I can't even imagine accomplishing that! If I let go and just think of any minute spent on making art as valuable I know I will have a wonderful body of work. I'm just going to sketch, doodle, paint and create. Whatever time I get will be time well spent because I'm not going to worry about the "quality". I'm going to enjoy the process!

Here are fun charcoal sketches I've been making on book paper. They take a few minutes to create and they are so dang cute!

I love these little drawings. The charcoal has a nice bold line and you can easily smudge and shade for depth. I can see some of these pieces being used in something else down the road. Every mark has value because it leads to another and another and another.

 

Thanks for stopping by!

 

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Bitten by the Comparison Bug

It happens to all artists. We look at other artists' work. We love what we see and then we start to compare our work to theirs. I try very very hard not to do this. I know comparison is the death of creativity. So, if I find myself comparing, I try and take a more analytical approach. I don't want to paint like the artists I admire but I do wonder "what do they have that I am missing in my art?".

So I looked at the Etsy shops of some of my favorite artists to see if I could figure out the quality or qualities these artists have that. I checked out Juliette Crane's, Mindy Lacefield's and Danita's. Each of these women have a very distinctive style and a consistent style. It doesn't matter what the subject matter is, you can look at any of these artists' work and know who the painter is. This was an "aha" moment and a "well duh" moment too. I can tell a Renoir from a Degas no matter what they painted. So, I looked at the work I have created over the past year. I can see some consistency in my work but I think my style changes when the subject matter changes.

These girl paintings have a similar look.

And so do these but, I'm not sure the style is similar to the ones above.

These animal paintings are similar in style but, do they go with the girl paintings?

And then I've been making this style of animal. I used collage and watercolor on these atcs. Do they go with my other paintings?

I'm still learning I suppose. Developing my style and finding out how I like to paint. I admit I'm still all over the place. Exploring art supplies and what I enjoy drawing. I love color and whimsy. I also love my serene girls. Ugh! I don't know. The only thing I can keep doing is paint, draw and paint and draw some more. The other thing that the artists I admire have in common is years of experience. They've been painting a long time and it likely took more than a year for them to find their style. Comparison isn't always a bad thing. It can help you be objective. You just can't get stuck in the "comparison mode". You have to move on and just paint.

 

A New Painting.... Mermaids

As promised, here is the big reveal of my BIG painting, Mermaids.

It took me about a month to create this 24'x36" painting. This video from Alisa Burke and this video from Mindy Lacefield inspired me for this painting. I watched Alisa's video and I thought "I can do that. I need to paint big!" I wasn't afraid or unsure of what I was doing at any point during this process. I was in the zone!

Here is is from start to finish.

A background filled with collage, paint and inky drips.

A face emerges.

 

Then another.

 

They are mermaids.

 

 

 

Here are details of the painting.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am so proud of this painting. A part of me can't believe I finished this and another part of me knew I would because I was so into it! I am currently taking Mindy Lacefield's True Free Spirit course. It has really built my confidence as a painter. I highly recommend this course. The women who are taking it are so supportive. It is just amazing!

As a special bonus I have a video here from Qwiki. It's a new iPhone app that let's you share videos. They are short snippets of special times in your life.

Click here to see the video. I hope you enjoy it!

 

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Cardboard Inspiration

One of my favorite artists, Mindy Lacefield, posted this video, "Little Cardboard Paintings", on YouTube. I found it very inspiring so, I did a few of my own. Now, after you watch the video you'll see that I didn't do them quite like Mindy did. I tried, but got stuck. So, I decided to experiment and just create whatever the heck I wanted to. They're only cardboard. If I hate them I can toss them out if I want. No harm done. It is a completely freeing way to paint.

Here is how the backgrounds started on each board.

And here are the finished boards.

 

 

 

 

 

I used acrylic paints, Stabilo Marks All Pencil for sketching, acrylic inks for glazing and oil pastels. These were soooooo fun to make! I'll be exchanging these with some art friends of mine who are also making sets. If you are an artist and you are feeling stuck, try painting on small pieces of cardboard. I think when the material is disposable, it gives you a freedom in your creativity. You don't mind messing up. You don't mind painting over things. Watch the video and give it a go. You won't regret it.

 

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Mermaid Painting from Start to Finish

Here is the completed painting I gave a sneak peek of in my last post.

First is the background with the beginnings of a face. I did this on a textured gesso board with paper, inks and paints. Funny thing is, I originally messed up on the background. I adhered some beautiful papers with gesso instead of glue. It made everything milky white and I lost all my colors. Oops. Well, I think I got my color back.

This is the face. It's still in the early stages but its going in the direction I want it to. I drew the outline with acrylic ink its dropper.

She has become a mermaid. I'm not happy with the tail. I need to tweak that.

I fixed the tail. I added some coral and shells and more blue to the background. I like the translucency and seeing the layers underneath. I feel like she's in a coral reef. I think she is done at this point and then I noticed the left eye. It looks like she got a black eye swimming under the sea. I felt the need to fix that.

She is finally finished. My three year old daughter (soon to be 4 this spring) insisted on some shimmer. She said it would be the "perfect finishing touch". So I added some shimmery inks to her hair and body. My daughter was right!

I really love how this painting turned out.

This is the second one I did based on the techniques I learned from Mindy Lacefield's True Free Spirit e-course. It's only the first month of twelve months of lessons and it is so much fun. We have a very active and supportive Facebook group and the work being produced is amazing. Mindy also created this video here that was an inspiration for my painting. It gives you a good idea of Mindy's style. I'm finding this class has given me a kick in the creative butt! I'm so excited with what I'm creating!

 

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Following my "True Free Spirit"

One of my favorite artists, Mindy Lacefield, has a brand new e-course for 2013, True Free Spirit. I'm reducing the number of classes I'm signing up for, but I had to do this one. It's a year long course with a different project each month. Mindy is trying not to plan too far in advance so each project is a surprise. Our first project is based on Mindy's new series of True Free Spirit Girls. You can see examples of them in her Etsy shop.

 

I started with sketching faces. So much fun!

 

 

Then I felt ready to move to canvas.

 

 

 

I love the look of these girls. Mine look so serene and peaceful.

I am finding creating these girls quite exciting.

Here is a sneak peek at my next painting.

 

I can't wait to see what Mindy has in store for next month either!

 

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