Gallery Website

Just a little announcement, I am now up on the Stillwater Art Guild Gallery website! Click here to see my profile. If you didn't see my post yesterday there are a few things going on at the gallery this week. The holiday trunk show begins tomorrow, and runs the entire month of December. Stop by the show to see a variety of marked down art of all kinds. Also, this weekend is the Art on Main event. The Meet the Artist reception is Friday from 4 until 9, and the event is also Saturday 11-5.

I am so busy this week getting everything ready for these events at the gallery that I haven't had any time to paint. I hope to be painting again by the weekend. Oh, I almost forgot... I'm moving to a bigger wall in the gallery tomorrow, and I've been spending my morning framing some new paintings. I've had to take a couple more off Etsy, and now I feel like I don't have anything on there (as far as paintings go).

Just a little side note - If you've been following my blog you may recall a post a did called "Operation New Printer." Ha-ha... A couple months ago I discovered this swanky printer that I really wanted to get, but couldn't afford at the time. Well... I bought it today! It's time for an upgrade. I'm so excited to be able to make my own giclee prints. I'll let you know how they turn out. :)

Have a nice afternoon!

Holiday Quilts and Update

I have been quilting away this past weekend. I made a total of 16 quilted table runners! Half are for my Etsy shop and half will be going to the gallery this week. Here is a little look at a few that I listed on Etsy today. These are $28 each, and they really make great gifts. This is my busiest time for quilt sales and I know these will find good homes :).

Just a few other things.. The gallery (the Stillwater Art Guild Gallery) is having a trunk show that will run all December. This show will take place in the River Room and some of us artists are including some of our reduced price art. I will be adding some table runners, hand painted cigar boxes, and maybe a few other things.

Also happening at the gallery this week is the Art on Main event. There will be a meet the artist reception on Friday evening from 4 until 9.

Just another side note, my blog was named one of 2010's top pastel blogs by onlinegraphicdesigndegree.com. :)

Have a nice night!

Field of Flowers

"Field of Flowers" 5 by 7, Pastel Painting

I've been wanting to do some more landscapes and this is one I did this morning. It's 5 by 7 on pastelbord, completed with all Mount Vision pastels. It turned out okay. I've been feeling that my paintings lack emotion and feeling, so I thought I could better express that through landscapes. Well, it's clear that I need a lot more practice.

I deeply admire Paula Ford, and I would love to take one of her workshops. Her landscapes are just incredible. I'll just keep working on it. :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving

I don't have a new painting to share today, but I wanted to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving! I did a few tree studies this morning in pastel, but I'm not too pleased with them, so I didn't want to share them. :) I've been doing a lot of quilting and I have a lot going on at the gallery right now, so I've been quite busy. As soon as the holidays are over I will be able to dedicate more time to painting, and I'm very much looking forward to that!

I hope you all have safe travels and a wonderful time with family this Thanksgiving. :)

Looking Out

"Looking Out" 5 by 7, Pastel Painting

Available Here

SOLD

"Looking Out" is my latest pastel painting. I have been enjoying painting cats lately. This painting was done on pastelbord with soft pastels and pastel pencils for the small details. I have already listed this painting on Etsy, if you're interested.

I've missed being loose with my pastels and painting skies and water, so that might be next. After my recent trip to Michigan, and seeing the lakes again, it has me longing to paint those types of scenes again.

I hope you all have a lovely evening.

Kitty Green Eyes

"Kitty Green Eyes" 5 by 7, Pastel Painting

SOLD

Kitty is finished! I really didn't think I would be able to finish this by today, but I worked on it for a while last night and finished it this morning. I have to say, I love painting cats! Actually I'm beginning to fall in love with painting animals in general.

"Kitty Green Eyes" was painted with soft pastels and pastel pencils on Ampersand Pastelbord.

As I said in my last post, I'm going on vacation tomorrow, just for the weekend, so I won't be around until next week. I hope you all have a great weekend!

New Kitty - Work In Progress

I started a new painting this morning of another cat. I knew that I probably shouldn't begin a new painting today, but I couldn't resist. I am going out of town Friday to visit some family for the weekend, and I'm not sure that I will complete this kitty painting by tomorrow. I don't like the thought of leaving this painting only partly done while I'm gone, but I just might have to come back to it (I like to complete paintings as soon as possible, and it's never taken me more than 2 days to complete a painting). I like to work on something until it's finished. So, that's why I didn't start the hair yet.

I've been trying to get as much done as possible in preparation for my vacation so that I'm not running around like a crazy woman tomorrow. :) Pretty much all I have to do tomorrow is laundry to make sure that my man has clean socks while I'm away, and a little more packing. I might not be able to resist sitting down and working on this painting for a while. If I should finish it tomorrow, I'll surely post the final result. But if not, I'll be back next week! Have a great weekend! :)

Red Apple

"Red Apple" 5 by 7, Acrylic Painting

My 150th post! Wow! I've been blogging a lot more the past 6 months than ever before, and I'm loving it! :)

I know what you're thinking, "Acrylic, really?" I was in the mood for painting with a brush this morning, so I brought out a set of acrylics that I've never used before. I've never painted in acrylic before, other than on cigar boxes. It was a lot of fun to be expressive through my brushstrokes and not have to worry about it being perfect. I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out. :)

I've been a little disappointed by what I've been hearing from other artist's lately. The most common thing I hear from them is, "You need to stick to 1 medium only." I've heard this from a few artists that I greatly admire, and for the most part I have done just that. But you know what... there are no rules when it comes to creativity. In fact it's somewhat limiting to stick to one medium if you want to experiment in others. So, that's what I'm going to do.

"Red Apple" is about 5 by 7 with a 3/4 inch white border all the way around. It was completed with acrylic paint on 195lb paper.

Have a nice day!

Portrait of Madisynne

Madisynne

Well, I'm quite embarrassed to even post this, but I thought I would anyway. In school I was never any good at portraits and I haven't even tried one in probably 10 years. Since I have been exploring other subjects, like animals for the first time, I thought I would also try a portrait. This is my 4 year old niece, Madisynne. It didn't turn out very well, and I'm not sure that I will be painting more portraits in the future. I've never really had the desire to be able to paint faces, so I don't know if this is something that I will work on to get better, or not. I suppose it would be nice to be able to paint one once in a while, if I wanted to. But why do they have to be so difficult? :)

Anyway, I painted her on pastelbord with pastel pencils.

Have a great Monday!

My Best Friend

"My Best Friend" 5 by 7, Pastel Painting

This Golden Retriever was so much fun to paint. I have never painted a dog before so I was scared to even attempt it. But I think it turned out pretty well. It's really pretty silly that I'm afraid to paint animals because I'm a big animal lover. I have two dogs who I treat like they were my children. I love, love, love animals. So, I think I might start painting more of them.

This dog is painted on pastelbord, with pastel pencils and pastel sticks.

Summer Pond

"Summer Pond" 8 by 10, Pastel Painting

Available Here

I have been working the past 3 days on this little painting. When I first came across the photograph I said, "This is going to be fun," with all those variations of color and detail. And it was a lot of fun. I was unsure of how it was going to turn out, but I'm pretty happy with it. I've never spent so much time on a painting, and I've never painted something that's so "busy." But I loved painting the reflections in the water and all the different shades of green in the lily pads.

The size is 8 by 10, and it was done on pastelbord with pastel pencils.

Have a great day!

"Like a snowflake we are the beauty of one." -Kathleen Arnason

Gallery

The time has come and my paintings are up in the gallery! I still can't quite believe it! My Fiance went with me yesterday morning and we got it all set up (he's much better with a ladder and tape measure than I am).

I have just a small wall, about 10 feet by 2 feet, but it fits my little paintings perfectly. I have been offered something quite a bit larger, but for now, I'm going to keep this little space. I also have a little basket of my quilted table runners besides my wall.

My paintings, "Boat Reflection," "Full Bodied," "Heavymetal," and "Tabby Cat."

Here is "Summer Cherries" and "Shell on the Shore." I also have several prints available. I was unable to fit my last painting on the wall, so it ended up on my print rack. It is "Multilayered." Also, my painting "An Apple a Day" will soon be displayed in the front window of the gallery.

For those of you who don't know, the gallery is the Stillwater Art Guild Gallery located in historical downtown Stillwater, Minnesota. There are many galleries downtown and they attract art collectors from all over the world.

Since I moved out here, Stillwater and this gallery, have been my favorite places to visit. To now be a part of it myself is a dream come true. :)

I hope you all had a great weekend!