In with the new

As predictable as an abandoned New Year's Resolution, once again, I'm looking forward to the turning of the last page on this year's calendar.  It's time to think of past successes, good times and the not so good, and planning for the coming year.  2014 was a good year for me.  Art sales were steady. There were some new venues in which to show my work.  Time to lay out a strategy and try to treat my art job like any past office job.  Best wishes to you all in your New Year.

"Shaken, Not Stirred"   This is an acrylic painting on gallery wrapped canvas, measuring 24" x 24".

Dreaming of a White Christmas

Once again, in my corner of the Pacific Northwest, we will have to dream on regarding any shade of white for Christmas.  We get green, warm-ish and wet...really wet.  It could be worse. At least we don't have to shovel it.

This is one of my Christmas card designs for this year.  Snowy owls are perhaps my favorite of all raptors.  This one was done in transparent and opaque watercolor.

Wishing you a Merry Christmas, white or otherwise.

Never Leave Home Without It

How many times have I said that.... "Never leave home without my camera."  It's a little argument I have with myself on the way out the door.  Why do I want to bring the extra weight of my camera (I don't have a smart phone)?  This day, a wintery December day last year, I happened upon a car rally of sorts.  Dozens of beautiful vintage cars and not a driver in sight.  They must have been in a nearby coffee shop celebrating the season.  Meanwhile, I was seizing the moment, crawling all over their cars (not literally) with my camera finding next year's Christmas card. (cards available on my Etsy "whimrab" site.)  Now, if I'd just brought my camera this year, I could have gotten some closeups of those reindeer.

Oil painting adventure

It has been a long time since I was a complete novice at some sort of art making.  Recently, I placed myself in the position of "total newbie" when I joined an ongoing painting group and brought out my oil paints.  Watercolor and acrylic have been my materials of choice for a good number of years, so working with slippery oil paint was a different thing altogether.  I wouldn't say the result is where I would like to remain as an oil painter, but there were some things that I wasn't totally unhappy about.  Long way to go.

So thankful!

On this Wednesday prior to Thanksgiving Day 2014, I reflect on what I have been blessed with thus far in my life.  So Much.  More than I deserve, for the most part.  I vow to be a better steward of my gifts and share more with those who have less.  Thanksgiving blessings to all.

Studio Tour Recap

It's been a month since the first weekend of the Whatcom Artists Studio Tour.  Being my first year on the tour, I didn't know what to expect.  I had hoped for 100 visitors and a few sales.  The response surpassed those hopes, so I'm very pleased and will definitely participate again in 2015.  Above are a couple of little original acrylic paintings I gave away in a drawing.  It was so fun to art-speak for hours on end.

Calendar 2015

After much muttering and gnashing of teeth, I was able to coax a calendar of my images out of my Photoshop program.  They have been well received so far and would make a nice gift, I think.  I'll start a little earlier for 2016.

Larger Than Life

Rhody Blossom - Acrylic on Canvas

The summer is absolutely flying by...as it always seems to.  My big goal is getting things painted for the October Whatcom Artists Studio Tour...enough paintings to fill my new 30' x 20' art workspace.  I got a big idea to "stage" interiors outside in my yard and photograph the paintings in natural light.  The problem that was quickly apparent was that sunny natural light creates too much contrast drama and overcast days have been few in number.  Not complaining...just saying.  This one is a little dark.  That's a birdcage next to the faux bed.  All in all, it was a fun photo shoot and I hope to keep dragging stuff out into the yard to set up the shots.  Wish someone would come over and put it all away afterwards.

The Sweet Robin

The robin.  They've just always been there.  In the yard, cocking their heads to one side listening for worms.  Do worms make a noise?  They must.   Every now and again I get a request from a market customer for a robin card for someone with the same name....so here it is.

New Studio and Humble Beginnings

I always love before and after pictures of artistic projects.  Order out of chaos.  So after last years' Whatcom County Artists Studio Tour and seeing the grand and humble work spaces of fellow artists,  I had a burning desire to create a space where I could work on mixed media and larger canvases.  My living room just wasn't cutting it, what with acrylic paint and medium flying all over.  After considering a couple of options for space on the property, we elected to tackle my father's woodworking shop.  This is pretty much the state of things before he had to move to assisted living.  This was his "playpen" and he knew where everything was.  Amazing.   I'm happy to report that I'll be included in the 2014 Whatcom County Artists Studio Tour, which means this new studio needs to get put together pronto.  I'll post more pics as things progress.

Close to the Heart

It appears that 2014 will be the Year of the Dog for me.  It has started with several friends losing their devoted dogs.  I've just completed (thanks to two snow days) these two commissioned dog portraits for people honoring their furry friends.  My hope is that I have captured some of the spirit they possessed while they romped this earth.

Red Primroses

If you were somewhere off the planet yesterday, you may have missed that fact that once again the Pacific Northwest has obtained on-the-map status due to the spectacular victory of the Seattle Seahawks over the Denver Broncos.  I personally am not a huge sports fan, but I was impressed by the unity of spirit of the "12th Man".   I made soup and blissfully painted my way through all the excitement.

I've had enough of winter

I always know when I've had enough of winter.  I start dragging out my photos of dearly departed bouquets from spring and summers past.  My version of pouring over seed catalogs, I guess.  This is a watercolor I have just finished using 300-pound Arches watercolor paper.  At $16.00 a pop, staring down at a sheet of this paper can be intimidating.  What if I ruin it?  So, I quickly cut the sheets up in 8 x 10-inch smaller sheets.  Now I'll only ruin a $4 piece of paper.  That isn't so scary.  These originals are listed for sale on Etsy.com and soon on dailypaintworks.com (links in the right-hand margin.)

Tangents

Anyone who has known me for very long will suspect it...a tendency toward AAD...Artistic Attention Deficit.  I have a hundred different ways I would like to try to make art and all the supplies to prove it.  Some ideas are way too involved and common sense tells me I'd lose interest before I got the first piece finished.  The learning curve has to be pretty short and the process fairly direct.  Some are more toxic than I want to expose myself to for any length of time, should I actually stick with the technique.  This horse is a collagraph I worked on in 2013.  The plate is made with a collage of cardboard shapes and covered in aluminum foil.  From there, a brayer is used to ink the plate with water-based printing ink.  The drawbacks are the fact that I have to go to another artist's studio to use the fabulous printing press (with the associated chance that I might be sidetracked along the way) and the messy process and clean up.

Other printing processes that I'm mulling over in my artistic mind are mono printing with open acrylics on plexi-glass plates on watercolor paper or trying out the  Gelli Arts  synthetic gelatin-like plate I bought awhile back to make mono prints.  If they turn out, I will be sure to post the results. 

The Colors of Winter

We don't have cardinals in the Pacific Northwest, that I'm aware of.  I wish I could see one of these beautiful little birds out my kitchen window.  I do have holly in the yard.  Thankfully, no snow...just gray rain.  This little image was done in transparent watercolor with black gouache and is ready for the 2014 Christmas season.  Ahhhh.  Ahead of schedule.  A great way to start a new year.

First Painting of 2014

A Happy New Year to you all.

With a backyard filled with birds and squirrels, it seems only reasonable to make this little squirrel the subject of my first painting for the new year.  Within several yards of my kitchen window, I have seen 7 different squirrels, a red tailed hawk, a deer, and half a dozen varieties of birds.  It's such a privilege to have a wild backyard in which to spy so many creatures.

Goals for the new year include painting more, posting originals to my site on Daily Paint Works, posting new cards and prints to my etsy site and being very ready for the Bellingham Farmers Market in April.  (See links in the side bar to the right)