New Work

Just started 3 new paintings. I wanted to show the start of these because I love the way it looks with the just the paper before any paint or anything touches the canvas. I always hope it will look this good when I finish the painting.

This is a commissioned large canvas I have been working on for a couple of nights now. Lots of work left on it to tie everything together. Funny, I got involved into a tiny section of the painting trying to incorporate layers of interesting colors together when I stepped back from the painting and was like "Oh my gosh, it's not supposed to look like that!" I forgot to step back often and look at the larger picture. I haven't done a purely nonobjective piece in a long time. Guidelines on the piece were shapes, greens, reds, and oranges.

Unfortunately, I haven't even been able to touch the computer in the last couple of days. I need to find a better balance between production and computer time. But hey, don't we all! I will try to repost this painting when finished and looking more complete with better lighting.

One of my prints sold on Etsy today!Yay! I need to get some more digital prints going.

I hope to have atleast one finished thing when I post Friday! Too many loose ends!

My Weekend Away and a New Pattern Created

Sometimes I just have to have a change of scenery to let my mind switch gears or stay fresh. It has been a long time since we had left our house for more than a day or two and things were starting to get monotonous. And very boring! My husband kept talking about going up and visiting this camp called Camp Ascca (a camp for children with disabilities) for his Rotary Club. Truthfully, I didn't put much thought to it and resigned to going in support of my husband and visiting my sister afterwards. After getting off the interstate, the scenery along the way was like a scene from a movie. If anyone has ever watched "Win a Date with Tad Hamilton" you would get the idea. Little quaint towns that have seemed to be barely touched by modern civilization and the main attraction being the Piggly Wiggly. Old, victorian homes with weathered paint from years of being untouched,  and a small high school with the marching band outside playing their hearts out, all fifteen to twenty members. Seeing all of these sights, I couldn't help think how simple life up there must be.

As we approached the Camp's private drive ( a 3 mile road just to get to the camp), it opened up to  amazing views of multiple cabinlike buildings surrounded by water on three sides. Stunning! Not to add another movie reference intentionally, but it had the look of "Dirty Dancing" as far as views. After seeing all of the outdoor activities, we were invited as guests to eat lunch with the campers. It was amazing to see a zipline and a rock wall built for wheelchair accessibility. We were only going to stay for an hour or so for a tour, but ended up staying most of the day. We were told the day we came to visit was their Prom at camp and I was asked if I wanted to stay and help the girls get hair and makeup ready. For many of the girls, it was the only Prom they would ever see. So much of this camp continues to run because of donations and its volunteers. It was a wonderful feeling to make even the slightest difference.

If anyone is familiar with Montgomery, Alabama, my sister lives in Cloverdale Park and has this view right in front of her house. What a beautiful park and old oak tree. I think if I had this view everyday, I would never get any work done.

Finally, I created a new pattern right before leaving out of town. Here are a few color variations:

Sold a Painting on Etsy!!!!!

Sold a painting on Etsy and it wasn't even listed one day. In fact the varnish is still tacky! Thank you very much to the sweet Marianne who bought her and will be giving her a good home. So many mixed feelings! I was extremely excited to wake up this morning to find one of my paintings sold. And yet, I feel she is a part of me and it is hard to let her go. But, isn't that what I want after all; I wouldn' t feel right selling something I feel didn't represent me. It felt like Christmas morning, but may be even better; to know that a person who knows and respects art as much as I do, respects my work. Wow!! What a confidence booster! Knowing that someone values my art makes me want to paint even more. Hopefully, I will continue art for a long, long time. I want to continue on and feel this feeling again and again. Thank you!

Weekend with the Grandparents and New Painting

No wonder why my daughter never wants to be at home! Date night with the Grandparents and cousin Mads in one jam packed night of plane watching, mall shopping for soft pretzels and cookies from the Cookie Store, princess accessory shopping, petting the rabbits at the pet store, dinner at Steak and Shake, dancing, and donuts from Dunkin Donuts; PRICELESS! Oh and no wonder why these 4 year olds didn't go to bed until after midnight.

And the funny thing was they were up the next day and ready to do it again!

Oh, and a new painting of mine titled " Where Dreams Grow." Still trying to figure out which way to hang it. Sideways seems appropriate and matches the kids expressions above. What better reason?

Sold

You can buy this painting on our Etsy shop at http://www.bubblesunderthemoon.etsy.com/

Putting Focus Back into Etsy

One of my biggest goals at the moment is to put more focus into Etsy again. For some time now, I have fallen off the side of the Earth when it comes to my Etsy shop. Although I check it regularly to make sure nothing has been sold or there is no conversations lingering, it's as if I have lost all momentum with Etsy. I think the biggest reason is the lack of traffic coming to my shop due to little activity. My goal for this entire month is to make Etsy a priority of mine.

I will:
1.  List or relist something atleast every other day (more if needed)
2.  Participate in the forums regularly.
3.  Add some favorites to my shop.
4.  Go through Etsy resources for tips.
5. Work on my photographs.
6. Work on better tagging.

It's funny though, I have ignored Etsy for a good month now it seems. In the last week, two of my prints were featured; one in a blog and the other in a treasury. I wonder if it could get better, like more sales if I paid attention to it!

Designing an Invitation from Start to Finish

I don' t know if this is another direction for some of my artwork but maybe. After designing my daughter's invitations for her birthday party, I got a request from a friend to design her daughter's invitations for her party. After designing hers, I thought it may be a good outlet for my digital art and a chance to get more exposure on Etsy. Having two young children at home, leaves little time for my art sometimes. To be able to get more avenues out there for my art is wonderful. Sometimes one digital print can take me a week or more to make! Many people, including my family, don't know what goes into creating my digital artwork, so I decided to show the process on designing an invitation.

To Create a Pattern:

The sketches above are first drawn in pencil and then outlined in black pen for better visibility when scanning. After scanning these pattern ideas, I place them into Illustrator and redraw them with the pen tool where they will become vector graphics. I usually only draw half of a design that will have a mirror image. After a lot of drawing, copying, pasting, and connecting I play with different images and sizes until a pattern begins to emerge that I like. Then, it's more grouping, copying, and pasting. A finished pattern used in the invitation.

Next, I draw the subject matter from my sketchbook in Illustrator using the same method as the pattern. I take facial features from a previous girl already drawn on the computer. A closeup of the eye shows details drawn that are barely visible from the computer screen. The eye alone takes about 20-30 minutes to draw using the pen tool, so reusing elements is essential.

After working on several different layers creating the mermaid, her clothing, and the patterned backgrounds, I add in some touches I have previously already drawn in other prints.

Each drawing has several different layers before grouping them into one easy to manage image. I will use these to add more detail into the drawing.

The finished design of the invitation! Many steps were left out in this explanation, but I didn't want to bore anyone, including myself with the details like I use 4 different drawn patterns in this invitation. Also, I use clipping masks in everything I create. There are about 10-15 different layers in this one little invitation where each image is stacked on top of another image.  This image is made up of 6 different documents. After the image is finished, I set the type where I want it placed. Please note, some type in this invitation is removed for privacy reasons. Thank you for listening to the rambling on, I really don't know if I made much sense. I hope I shared some of my process, even if just a little bit.

The Fear of Evolving

Does this sound familiar to anyone? I have always thought or knew I had a fear of rejection when it came to my artwork. Or may be it was the fear of people critiquing my art and hearing the dreaded "I could do that." I really thought this was my problem for the longest time and it made me not only have the fear of getting my artwork viewed by other people, but also completely avoiding the attempt of creating.


I don't know why it took until now, but today it hit me like a ton of bricks: I HAVE A FEAR OF EVOLVING. Maybe this doesn' t make total sense, but I will try to explain. I have always been a perfectionist at anything I put my mind to. Art is one of those things where there is no right or wrong, yes or no answers. People like different things. When you feel you are totally happy with what you are doing, you look back on it a few years later and think "Wow, I've grown so much as an artist." This is where my fear comes in. I put a lot of myself into every single painting or piece of art I create. Will people see that when they view my work? Will people who own my art want their money back down the road because their painting isn't as good as my latest work? Silly, I know! Actually writing this fear down seems so much sillier and less debilitating than in my head.


So, now what do I do about it? Tonight while cleaning out and rearranging my art space, I found the top image. This was the first exercise in my first painting class in college. Amazingly, it survived four moves along the way. We were to experiment with different techniques and different materials for each square. Even after years of projects, this exercise is one of my favorite memories of college. To try to get over my fear and incorporate new ideas into my art, I will experiment everyday, even if it's the tiniest bit. So now I ask you what is that one fear you have and how can you work through it?

Birthday Dresses

Great Fourth of July weekend! Great family fun! I just had to show the birthday dresses Mom made the girls for their birthday party. No stars and stripes here! The girls wanted pink! I love the fabric combinations together on the bottom detailing of the dresses. Very cute and could they be any girlier?

We ended the weekend with fireworks at the house (Best shot I could get, sorry) and a massive 700-1000 water balloon fight with the kids and adults. Sometimes, pretending you're a kid again and enjoying little things like a water balloon fight is the most rejuvenating thing for the soul. Fun was had by all.

First Painting in 2 Years

Yay!!!!! What a sense of accomplishment! My first painting in 2 years. It felt so good to be painting again! To see the instant gratification and the progress of change so rapidly of what I could do with my own two hands. Don't get me wrong, I still love doing digital art, especially creating prints and patterns, but to be able to experiment with so many different mediums is so much fun and a great stress relief. Painting is also a lot faster than drawing on the computer, atleast to me it is.

I posted a close up of the painting to show my favorite part.

Thank you for sharing my  beginning with me.

Baby Steps

I keep telling myself baby steps. Baby steps. Let things happen slowly in their own time but MAKE them happen. As my husband always says, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over, but expecting different results.

Tonight as I'm writing, I just have to tell you
3 loads of clothes are piled on the couch,
the kids' toys are found here and there (and oh yeah, everywhere),
atleast one bomb has gone off in every room (Moxie likes to take all books out of the bookcases),
I haven' t gone to bed before 2am this whole week,
and yet it has been a fairly good week.

I have just finished my first painting in 2 years tonight and will be posting it tomorrow. It is always exciting to see the image in my head come to life. As for the insanity, I know if I quit my dream again, to have a clean house would be nice but not justifiable in the end. Down the road, I would much rather show my girls how I chased my dreams. And besides, the house work will still be here tomorrow.

My Princess and the Pea print was featured this past weekend on an art blog by DycheDesigns http://dychedesigns.blogspot.com/2010/06/living-fairytale-princess-pea.html  I was very surprised to see this because I haven't been very active on Etsy in awhile.

Baby steps.
Baby steps.