Spring Fever

After last week's arctic blast, I am so tired of cold and dark weather.  I'm ready for Spring and am so happy to see signs of a little more daylight on both ends of the day.  This little mixed media piece is my way of dreaming of spring.  It has a gouache underpainting with pastel pencils and soft pastel on top painted on hot-press watercolor paper.  Tulips always make me happy.

Staying Warm. Staying Focused.

B-r-r-r-r.  The Pacific Northwest is getting the big chill this year.  Fighting the urge to hibernate is at the top of my to-do list.  Remembering that spring is only a few weeks away helps.  With spring comes the Farmer's Market and the need for new card designs for my loyal patrons.  In between long winter naps, I've checked off a couple of winter to-do items:
I've combed through my painting idea piles and prioritized the card projects that strike me as ones that will resonate with more than just me.  
I've gotten my new-to-me Epson printer up and running to create archival prints.
I've completed several Christmas designs for next year, since I never seem to get them done in time for Christmas if I wait until the holiday season to start them. 

Well, time to go feed the squirrels and birds.

Love and Hate

I have a love-hate relationship with my computer when I use it to create artwork.  Sometimes I do it, but there's a teeny, tiny voice inside my head that says "You're cheating, you know."  Then why do I love seeing what fun new thing "Hal" comes up with using my artwork?  I'll have to think about that.

Out with the Old - In with the New

New Year's Eve - The clock ticks toward the end of another year.  I've always loved the process of making lists...not the doing of lists, but the making of lists.  I love to imagine how things would be if I actually did the things on those lists.  Need to work on that.  The first two bullet points are always the same....get out of debt and lose ____ pounds.  I need some sub-bullet points of how I plan to make those happen.  This year, point 3 is to start creating and posting archival prints on my Etsy site.  Sub-bullet is to paint new images weekly and re-list on Etsy at least daily.  I'm hopeful that this year I will be adding silk-screened products to the site.  You can visit my Etsy store by clicking on the Etsy grid on the right sidebar.

As I reflect on 2011, I'm so amazed at and thankful for the threads of friendship, family, and well being that make up my tapestry of life.  I wish you all the same for the new year.  

It's Almost Christmas

Well here it is...Christmas Eve.  Keeping my Christmas preparations very simple has been an interesting development for me.  This year I've spent more time appreciating the holiday embellishments displayed by others, i.e the office, the lights on houses, etc.  I'm going to try to carry that simplicity into the new year, although a flurry of artistic ideas have been percolating and I'm anxious to put them to paper.  Plans include a greater emphasis on my Etsy shop with more bird and animal paintings and completing several large-scale commissioned pieces.  Maybe this is just the calm before another artistic storm.  I hope your holiday has been filled with the things good memories are made of.  Merry Christmas to all.

Super-Size That?

On a recent trip to Dakota Art, I spied some brushes with inordinately long handles.  I wondered, "who paints with those?".   Uh, people doing very large paintings paint with long-handled brushes, that's who. 

With the Allied Arts holiday show set-up complete, my energy has turned to finishing the first in a series of commissioned pieces representing the four seasons.  I'm quite sure this is the biggest painting I've ever done...two panels totalling 48" wide x 24" tall, like a giant jigsaw puzzle until I would step back a couple of feet.  These pine cones were on a huge pine tree in my yard planted by my parents.  Beautiful in the snow.

Now that I'm warmed up, the next one will be even bigger!

In Praise of Small Shows

Many an artisan participating in art shows has probably taken a gamble on a first-year show.  This past weekend I participated in one such show.  The venue was beautiful, the weather sunny and autumn golden, the products diverse and well made and displayed, but sales overall were a bit lackluster.  As I have some past experience with this sort of thing, I decided that I would bring along some interesting props and do as many small paintings as I could.  As I tend to be a reclusive studio painter, these paintings are never as polished as my studio paintings, but I enjoy doing them and they stimulate conversation with onlookers. 

A couple of jewels for the day were:
1.  I finished the above little painting and started another.
2.  I had sales enough to cover my show expenses and a lovely buffet lunch was served.
3.  I made a possible wholesale contact in another state.
4.  I made two possible Art-Startz contacts for the spring.
5.  I made a possible show contact for the summer.
6.  I got a jump start on my inventory for the next 2 shows.
7.  I met and talked with some wonderful people I would not have met if I'd stayed home.
8.  The cards that were purchased will fly off into the world with kind words for people I'll probably never meet.  Those kind words will make my images look even better.

So, given all that, how could I consider the hours I spent a waste of time.  I don't.  Thanks to all who made the day such a success.