Squirrel ! ...

.... and I'm off!  That didn't take long did it? Today I was "squirreled" after viewing an online artist friend's new video.  Mystele Kirkeeng.   She is a Mixed Media Diva!  She makes it look so easy & not messy at all.  I love to watch her process and I am happy that I have some of her art.  Well right there on the side bar was a video by Betty Franks, Mystic Tulip Art, (click on their names to view their videos)  and her colorful doodle painting caught my eye so I watched Betty and I then painted & doodled all day.  I love mixed media pieces. I try, I make a mess, I have fun for awhile then I start thinking too hard, I get stuck, or I ruin it somehow, anyway I'm not ever super happy with the end result ...  then I clean up the mess & vow not to do it again for a long while...  But these were fun! It's just paint & ink. No stamping, poking, scraping, coloring, spraying (well I didn't spray. I dabbed ;)  I actually did some paintings like this in 2008 or 2009. I even resorted to my white lines like my ol' folky folk art I used to do.  

I took pictures of my process today so you could see that too.

 A great tip that Betty has for doodling is what I am gonna call the "double doodle".

Going over your lines twice and not perfectly does look really good!

 

 I already have some ideas for more and will probably think of a few more when I'm trying to get to sleep.

I did these little spontaneous pieces yesterday.

All 3 of the latter are ACEOs. 

Now I'm off to bed with paint in my head! 

Blessings!

On My Easel...

... I've had this drawn out for some time.  He looks like my little Bubbie.  I kept the piece at the front of the pile, often picking it up, then putting it down. (I say front of the pile because it was a stack, then the stack fell over and now they are all in a row like a library drawer- yes I have work to do!)  Feeling afraid to "ruin" it because I liked the drawing & planned to paint on white, using a built up of lots of thin layers, which is something a little new for me. This is the first layer.

Postcard size, acrylic on paper

I have been having fun doing these little ACEOs when I can get in the studio and paint. Doing a small pieces that I can get through in a short amount of time. Using vintage fabric & acrylics these girls came to life. I call them all "Love is Like a Pretty Blanket". I am debating on whether to sew on them as well and just might try it while I have all of my sewing machines out.

 Snuggles.

 

Create a Great Day!

What's On My Easel...

...Easter Bunnies!...
I started doing these "bunnies" as zentangles while I was watching tv.  My sister got me zendoodling and it's hard to stop. Most that I have done are ACEOs, my favorite.  I have lots of them and I plan to list them for sale on Ebay (Click HERE) and maybe a few in my Etsy shop (Click HERE).  These I drew with pencil and then painted them lightly with just craft Americana paint with lots of water, like watercolors, except the the bunny with the black background, on heavy watercolor paper. I'm playing with acrylic paint on watercolor paper before investing in serious watercolor paint.  What can I say, I love acrylic paint. Years ago I only painted with oils and couldn't imagine myself saying that. I have grown to love them. You can see the texture of the watercolor paper in these photos.

I am currently painting "Seek and Ye Shall Find" which is a fun one! 

Blessings & Have a great weekend!

In Mini Mode...

... I was cleaning up and just listed lots of ACEOs (mini paintings) in my Etsy shop that I had painted but never listed for various reasons, which may or may not include laziness. haha I figured why not just put it out there. Some things that I don't particularly like all that much, others like, so who knows.

The Sky's The Limit

ACEOs (Art Cards Editions & Originals) /ATCs (Artist Trading Cards) are great to use for trying new techniques on, to experiment on, or to see how a painting is going to look before putting it to a large canvas. I am hooked on painting these collectible cards. I prefer to paint on a small canvas rather than a large canvas. In this market that means I have to paint twice or three times as much to make as much money as a large canvas would bring. Truthfully when I first saw ACEOs/ATCs I didn't get it, but I have grown to love them. I joined a ACEO/ATC group on Facebook months ago but haven't participated in a traded yet, my bad, but I plan to. Some people keep them in journals, use them in scrapbooks, create handmade cards with them, collect them in ACEO/ATC books, but I think they are the cutest framed. I would like to do a grouping of them. Believe or not my walls have very little on them.

BIG Shout Outs & Thank You's go to AdeleBeeAnn, SmilingBlueDog, Claire's Clayware, HippopotameJewelry, Sweetybird09 for featuring my Art in their wonderful collections in Etsy Treasuries! They have some wonderful things in their shops. Just click on their names to check them out.

Next week, in honor of my 2nd blog anniversary, I'm having an Anniversary Party and you are invited! I will be giving away an Original ACEO, of your choice, as a thank you for all my Faithful Followers. So if you are not a Follower/Angel of mine yet you still have a chance to get in on the drawing!

A Little Word on Wednesday

“The LORD bless you and keep you; The LORD make His face shine upon you, And be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, And give you peace.” Numbers 6:24-26

Go Figure

I had a pretty uneventful but very relaxing weekend, which I needed. Watched a few movies. The Invention of Lying was AWFUL. We thought it would be funny starring Ricky Gervais and had looked forward to renting it. Turns out it was blasphemous & not funny. Making fun of, or trying to make people think that believing in God is stupid, was not entertaining in the least. Really a disappointment. Ricky's performance was ok, he pretty much acts the same in every movie. Jennifer's performance was dull for me, she's not that funny or believable. She was suppose to be a real beauty in the film but with the awful hair styles, this was hard for me to buy. At times I even thought she was ugly. I'm sorry if that sounds really mean. You are pretty Jen but your ears are distracting. Just keeping it real. Why hasn't someone told her that her ears are just too odd looking to wear ponytails or her hair pulled tightly back or pushed back around the ears? Sorry Jennifer, said with all kindness, please don't let them fix your hair like this anymore.

I went through some of the many canvases I have to be repainted or thrown out, pieces that I never listed, never finished, or just wasn't pleased with. Examining each old canvas with a fresh eye, it was noticeable to even me how much I have grown since painting full-time. I also noticed that I may have given up on a few pieces too quickly, instead of working on it a little longer. After I finished some pieces that I have to get done I may repaint some of my old paintings. Maybe paint some new folky stuff, some new crabs, chickens & funky flowers.

I'm having fun painting the little bees right now and have added a few new ACEOs to my Etsy Shop. I may put a few old ones just mentioned on Ebay & start the bid like so many do at $.99 just to make room for more, spring clean. I have heard many pros & cons to listing on Ebay at $.99. As a full-time artist it could be very discouraging to have your hard work & originals go for pennies. Not to mention the hole you are in for cost of supplies. Also what does it say about your art? Does it reflect how you value your work or others will? I was approached by someone not long ago offering to put all my original artwork under their name and sell it on Ebay with a starting bid of $.99, promising me big final bids & they would take a commission. What? Not sure why they would think this would be a good idea for me to do. Ebay fees are already high, more than $.99! I know there are a few Artist that have a following that do quite well, however, it's been the opposite experience for me. Recently I put an opening bid of $4.99 on an ACEO, which I feel is low for original art work, it didn't sell. Then I put an opening bid at $11.99, a more reasonable price for a mini original, and it sold. So go figure! I'm taking a poll. What do you think? Would you or do you list your work on Ebay with an opening bid at $.99 ? I'd love to hear what you have to say on this subject.

I've had so much fun creating collections in Etsy's new Treasury East. Click Here to see the collections I've made so far. I am also honored that the following people have included my art in their creative collections! Click on their name to see their shop & their Treasury to see their collections. The Big Shout Outs go to RasberrySwirl81 their Treasury, SilverandEarth their Treasury, DesigningIt their Treasury , MindieLee their Treasury and my friend Terraworks who makes beautiful pottery. Unfortunately her Treasury has expired already but it was lovely & lovely to be included.

On My Easel

Cirques Acts are now listed on Ebay. Click here to bid!

Little Swimmer's are now listed on Etsy. Click here to purchase!


Dreamy Angels are now listed on Ebay. Click here to bid!

I can't put the oil pastels down! I'm having so much fun with them. Here's a few ACEOs I've been working on. The "Little Swimmers" are currently listed in my Etsy Shop. I've had the circus in my head this summer & going to the Cirques du Soleil show only made it worse. I guess I am facing my fears of Clowns in my Cirques collection which is fun and a little creepy! Clowns scare me. I'm scaring myself! LOL

Quirky Night

Tonight was my monthly "QAG" meeting ( Quirky Art Group), a sub-group of the Swell Sister Society. I had so much fun. We did a journal project from Keri Smith. Collages with a catch. We had to tear out 15 or 20 pages (or as many as you can cut through) then pick a shape, I did approx 2x2 square, then cut your shape through all pages, no peeky. Then you had to collage with your cut out pieces only, no tearing, ripping or altering them. You get what you get. I used an old Gourmet magazine so mine came out with a little bit of a theme. The squares with recipes or writing is on the sides. Sister Juliana, a fantastic collage artist, brought Caran d' Ache crayons which now I have to have. They are like butter. The colors are great, they smear, blend & seem to just melt into the into paper. When you have all the paper glued to your canvas or wood, (I used wood) then you can embellish with crayon, ink, paint, whatever you want. Every time I get together with my Swell Sisters' I step outside my little box and I always have a big surge of creativity. I embellished mine with the crayons & black paint that I put in my henna bottle for a thin controllable line. I did some ACEOs last night using this wonderful little bottle. I'll take some pictures & post them. I think I am going to try this collage technique on some ACEOs and see how they turn out. So grab your old magazines & have some fun!

When Dieting...

...paint food! I can hardly go a day without a tomato. (or jalapenos, maybe that's next) The tomato & eggplants are ACEOs. The juicy red pears are painted 8 x 6 canvas prepared with fine sand for lots of texture. I just listed all in my Etsy shop. You'll know I'm really hungry when I start painting hamburgers, fries, hotdogs & mac-n-cheese! haha

"The Last Tomato"

"Eggplants In Waiting"

"Juicy Red Pears"

Some shout outs... I am in FOUR Etsy Treasury's today! WOW! How sweet is that?! I'd like to thank BlingbyChristine, please click here to check out her Treasury; Hullabaloo, click here to check out her Treasury; Estudiomartita, click here to check out her Treasury; and TheBeadAerie, click here to see her Treasury! All of these Treasury are very creative with a great collection of goods. One of these days I will try to do one myself but it seems complicated and time consuming so I really appreciate the effort & creativity when I browse through them on Etsy.