Poppy

"Poppy" 5 by 7 Pastel Painting

I completed another painting today, and I thought you might like to see my process and also my little painting area.

When I paint small (which is almost all the time) I just sit at my desk. When I paint larger, I like to use my easel, especially when I’m painting water and skies. I have my pastel pencils off to the right and a small amount of pastel sticks just in case. I also keep my sharpener and baby wipes handy.
I like to stabilize my painting surface, so that it’s not moving all around. I painted on a piece of Bristol board today, and I just used a little piece of tape to stick it down to my clipboard. I fold up a kitchen towel and place it underneath the clip board near the top. This puts my surface at a comfortable angle for painting. You can barely see the drawing here, but I complete my drawing before I adhere the paper to the board.
When I’m painting realistically, I like to outline my main subjects first. I outlined my poppy in green, which will be my background color. I use a very sharp pastel pencil to do this. If I don't outline my subject first, when I take a pastel stick and try to cover the background, I will lose the pencils lines.Then I like to complete the background. Sometimes I use pastel pencils for this and sometimes I use pastel sticks. It just depends on how much paper I have to cover. I had a difficult time with the background for this one because I was using Bristol board again, and you cannot apply as many layers of pastel as I like to. Next, I outlined my poppy to maintain the outline and began painting it piece by piece.
I like to work in one direction and not jump around when working on a piece like this.
Almost done with the petals.
Once I’ve “finished,” or covered all areas of the paper, I will take a little break. When I go back to it, I add highlights and darken darks, and sometimes rework the background if needed.
And the finished product.

This is only the 2nd time I've used Bristol board, and I'm definitley not used to it. I really want it to work for me, so I'm going to keep playing around with it.

I have to thank Pat from Back Porch Musings for allowing me to use her beautiful photograph. Thanks Pat!

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Making Prints

This is what my desk looks like right now. I’ve been a busy bee making prints this morning. In exactly a month from today, my representation begins at the gallery, and I still have lots to do in preparation. While making these prints I’ve come to the conclusion that I really need a new printer. I currently have a Canon printer, which prints incredible photos, however the types of paper that I’m able to print on, is limited. So, I’ve begun “Operation New Printer.” :) I know the one that I want and it’s ridiculously expensive, but I think it will be a great investment.

I only have 2 more days off before new classes begin in school, and I’d love to have some more time off. We only get a week and a half off between quarters, and no summer break. But I’m very lucky that I don’t have to work and go to school at the same time. Although, I treat my painting and quilting like a job! :) I spend a lot more time painting and quilting than I do with school, and I’m still managing to maintain a 3.9 GPA. Not bad! :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Pink Sky

"Pink Sky" 5 by 7, Pastel Painting

Well I'm back to the pastelbord. Didn't take long did it? :) Actually, I think the pastelbord works really well for skies, so I will continue to use it for that.

I have to thank Joey at The Village Voice for allowing me to use her beautiful photograph as a reference for this painting. I just had to paint that striking sky! :) Thanks Joey!

I used all pastel sticks or regular pastels for this painting (Mount Visions).

Just a little side note - If you're interested in a Fall/Autumn table runner, they're going fast! I only have a few left in my Etsy shop.

Have a lovely evening!

Amaryllis

"Amaryllis" 4 by 6, Pastel Painting

Well, I gave the Bristol board a try today and I'm not sure how much luck I had with it. It is so unlike any other pastel surface that I have used before. It certainly was easier to achieve fine lines and details, but it didn't take many layers of pastel. I think if I were to change my usual approach to painting, it just might work. I'm definitely not going to give up on it, because I'd really like it to work for me. The Bristol board is archival and acid free, so it will hold up and last many years.

I used all pastel pencils for this little painting. In fact I used all CarbOthellos. After seeing the scanned painting, I see a couple little tweaks that I need to make.

Thanks to Melissa Clark who allowed me to use her beautiful photograph!

Have a nice afternoon! :)

Marbles

"Marbles" 5 by 7, Pastel Painting

Well I finally decided to try a new painting surface. "Marbles" is done on UArt 800. I've had this paper for a while, but I've really been enjoying my pastelbord, so I didn't see much of a reason to try anything else. However, lately I've really been going for more a realistic look with my paintings (at least my still lives) and the pastelbord doesn't suit that style, at least not for me. UArt 800 is a very smooth paper. It was my first time using it, and when switching painting surfaces, there is a learning curve. It was easier to achieve a realistic look with this surface, but it still isn't quite what I'm looking for. Anytime I tried to blend the pastel, the texture of the paper came through. I do like the paper though, and I see myself using it occasionally.

I have some Wallis paper that I was going to try, but for realism, I don't think it will work. A friend of mine paints realistically in pastel and she uses Bristol board, which I never thought of using. But I purchased some, and it's a very smooth surface and you can't really see a texture on the paper. The only concern I have about it is that there really isn't much of a "tooth" to the paper, so I'm not sure how many layers of pastel that I could apply. But I'm excited to give that paper a try.

I used all pastel pencils for this painting (CarbOthellos mostly but some Faber-Castell's as well). I also got a new electric sharpener which I'm excited about. Ha-ha.. I know it sounds silly but to achieve any kind of realism, it's essential to get the sharpest point possible on your pencils.

I hope you all had a great weekend! :)

Boat Reflection

"Boat Reflection" 5 by 7, Pastel Painting

I have to start by thanking Kathleen Young for allowing me to use her photograph as a reference for this painting. Thank you Kathleen! I can't tell you how long I've been wanting to paint this picture. Those reflections are so intriguing! I used to be so intimidated to even try to paint reflections, but I've been finding that I really enjoy painting them. I like the challenge.

I have to also say that I've been lacking confidence in my painting abilities lately and I think I've figured out why. I've been going weeks at a time without painting because of school and other obligations. By the time I get back into the studio, I feel like I've completely lost it. So, I've decided that I have to paint everyday or at least every other day to keep the creativity going. Even, if it's just for a few minutes. And honestly I feel the most like my authentic self when I'm painting. There's nothing I would rather be doing! :)

So anyway, I hope you're all keeping dry. We've gotten several inches of rain in the past couple of days and they're calling for more! Great weather for painting! :)

Reflections of Night

"Reflections of Night" 5 by 7, Pastel Painting

I was in the mood for a sunset this morning. Steve at Shooting My Universe has graciously allowed me to use his photographs as references for my paintings (thank you Steve!). I recently came across this one and knew I had to paint it.

I scanned this painting and for some reason my scanner always makes blues appear more green than they actually are. The blue is more of a real blue, and the streak of pink and orange in the middle is a little more subdued than it appears. But you get the point anyway. :)

It was done on pastelbord and completed with soft pastels. I used a few Mount Visions and Senneliers for this little painting. This is the first time that I've done a scene like this in a 5 by 7. Usually when I do water and skies I like to work big, but I felt like recreating this in a smaller size today.

Have a great afternoon! :)

My Bleeding Heart

"My Bleeding Heart" 5 by 7, Pastel Painting

Oh how I've missed painting! I completed this painting titled, "My Bleeding Heart," this afternoon. This was inspired by a photograph I took this Spring at a local park. I've been wanting to paint it for a long time, and today it was just calling out to me. It's done on pastelbord with soft pastel and pastel pencils, and is 5 by 7.

I am now officially on a break from school. For those of you who don't know, I'm currently in my 3rd year of college and working on a degree in law. I've spent the past two weeks working on final projects and studying for exams. I am so relieved to have that done and finally have some time to paint. I'm going to fit in as much painting as possible in these two weeks, but I'm not going to put any in my Etsy shop. I'm still deciding which paintings that I want to frame and put up in the gallery, so until I decide on that, I'm going to hold on to all my new paintings.

I hope you all had a great weekend!

Puppies and Update

I thought maybe you were all missing the puppies, so I thought I would put up some pictures of them and update you on what has been going on with me.

Bentley posing nicely for the camera.
Cooper says, "Bentley, do you want to come down here and play with me?" Bentley says, "Can't you see I'm being photographed?"

Cooper has no idea why Mom is running around taking pictures of them.

" Mom, I don't know what you find so difficult about Biology, I find it rather stimulating."

I wish I had a new painting to share with you today, but I'm afraid I don't. I really haven't had any time to paint lately, and it's been frustrating. I'm at the end of another quarter in school, so I have final projects and finals due by the end of next week. I'm also trying to get a jump on my Fall and Winter quilts for Etsy. I made out pretty well the last holiday season with my quilted table runners, so I thought I would give it another try this year. Although, I'd much rather be painting than sewing right now.

As far as my painting goes.. I'm still getting everything ready for my gallery representation. Little did I know, this incredible opportunity was going to turn into phone calls to the IRS and appointments with an accountant to try and figure all the legal stuff out. So, I'm officially a small business owner, or self-employed according to the government. I'm excited about being able to write off my art supplies and all my other "business related expenses." Ha-ha... it just seems funny to say that.

Anyway, I hope to finish up these classes, get ahead with my quilting and finally have some time to paint. I'm gathering many beautiful reference photos for future paintings!

I hope you all enjoy what's left of Summer!

Water Lily

I'm back! I finally finished a painting, can you believe it? It felt so great to be painting again today. This painting is called "Water Lily" and it's another 5 by 7 on Ampersand Pastelbord. It was completed with a combination of soft pastels and pastel pencils.

I have been so busy, with my family visiting, with school, and with the recent news that I will be represented by my first gallery in 2 months. I have so much to do in preparation for it, and finding time to paint has been difficult. But today I decided I would give myself the entire day to finally sit down and do some painting.

I'm going to hold on to this painting and maybe it will end up framed in the gallery. :) I have to choose about 6-8 paintings to start. I know that I want to use some that I already have, and I wanted to paint a couple of new ones.

Well I hope you all have a great weekend!

Exciting News!!

Well I have some very exciting news!! As of November 1st I will be represented by the Stillwater Art Guild Gallery in Stillwater Minnesota! This gallery has always been my favorite in the area, and to have the chance to show my art there is a dream come true! I haven't been represented by a gallery before, so this is very exciting for me. I will have a relatively small wall space, but it will be a great start. Plus most of my paintings are small, so it will be perfect.

I have a lot of work to do in preparation for this. I believe that I will select a few paintings that I've already done, that I have listed on Etsy, to start. I think I'll do a few new ones too. I have a little more than 2 months to get everything ready, so that should be plenty of time.

I'm so excited!!!! :)

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Holiday Quilts

I thought it was about time I got a jump on my holiday quilts for Etsy and I can't believe people are purchasing them already! I thought for sure that I had a couple of months before I needed to put them in my Etsy shop. I've sold 3 holiday table runners in the past 24 hours. The worst part is that I haven't assembled them yet! Oops! I bought doubles of the panels above and never got around to putting them together. I thought I could list them, and assemble them as soon as I received the order. I didn't expect that to happen so soon.

So anyway, I wanted to let you all know that I think I'm going to be spending most of my free time quilting, at least for a while. I've already stocked up on my holiday fabric, and since people seem to be interested in it now, I think I will continue quilting. I really miss painting though! It's been weeks since I've painted.... Ahh.. I'll get back to it as soon as I get a jump on these quilts.

If you're interested, check out my Etsy shop. And get them quick! They're going fast! :)

Visit With Family

I thought I would share some pictures with you from this past week. My brother and sister came to visit me from Michigan and we had such a fun time! They left this morning, and I'm already missing them!

My twin sister and I in Stillwater, Mn.
My Fiance, Chuck, and I on a hike in Taylors Falls, Mn.

My sister, Christina, and I on a hike in Taylors Falls, Mn.

My sister, brother and I on a hike.

My sister and brother in Hudson, Wi.

I wish that our visit could have been longer but I suppose we all needed to get back to reality. This was my sisters 3rd visit here and my brothers 1st. We only get to see eachother about once a year and I always look forward to it with great anticipation.

I hope to return to painting within the next couple days!

Sunset Beach

"Sunset Beach" 11 by 14, Pastel Painting

"Sunset Beach" is the 2nd painting that I painted for my living room. It will hang along side my "Sunset Pier" painting. I think they are a great match! :) Usually I feel guilty about painting for myself, but I didn't when I was completing these 2 paintings. I've been wanting to do something like this for a while now.

I completed this painting with a combination of Mount Vision and Sennelier soft pastels (no pencils). It's different going from smaller more realistic paintings, to these. But I love being loose with my strokes, and I just love these water/sky paintings. To me, a sunset is one of the most beautiful natural wonders.

This is probably going to be the last painting that I put up for a while. My brother and sister are coming to visit in less than a week, and I have a lot to do in preparation for their visit. I will also be unable to paint while they are here. I'm missing it already! :)

I hope you all have a great weekend!!!

Sunset Pier - Complete

"Sunset Pier" 11 by 14, Pastel Painting

Well here is the completed painting! I didn't have to add too much today. I just darkened some of the darks and added a little more color to the water. I decided on the name "Sunset Pier" - I think it fits pretty well :). I wasn't sure I was even going to include the pier in the painting, but I'm glad I did.

Now I have to begin the second one. It will be similar to this one, as they will eventually be hung up together in my living room. It feels really nice just to paint for me for a change! :)

Untitled - Work In Progress

I thought I would share a picture with you today of a painting I'm working on.

This isn't the greatest picture of it. The colors look rather muted and dull, but you get the idea. I bought these two frames for my living room and had the perfect idea of the paintings that I could do for them. So this is the first one. I don't have too much more to do with it. I just need to add some lights, darks and other details (the size is 11 by 14).
I thought you might like to see my little work area. It's kinda messy and cramped, but I like it. :) I will post a picture when I complete the painting. Hopefully that will be tomorrow :)

Framed Paintings

You guessed it, I decided to keep my latest painting ("When Life Gives You Lemons") for myself. I really had no intention of doing so when I was working on it, but once it was completed I realized that it went really well with my other painting, "Fruit Tea" (which I also decided to keep for myself). I had these adorable white frames that I thought would be a perfect fit for these paintings and I think I was right! I hung them up in my studio today. :)

I now have 5 by 7 prints available of these two paintings in my Etsy Shop.

When Life Gives You Lemons

"When Life Gives You Lemons" 5 by 7, Pastel Painting

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade! I don't know where that saying came from, but I like it, and I was thinking about it as I was painting these lemons today. This was such a fun little still life to paint. It's on Ampersand Pastelbord, and was completed with pastel pencils.

I'm not quite sure if I want to sell this painting, or keep it for myself :). If I decide to keep the original, I will make prints available in my Etsy shop.

Summer Cherries in Watercolor

"Summer Cherries in Watercolor" 5 by 7, on Hot Press

I know what you're thinking, "That painting looks familiar!" I first painted "Summer Cherries" in soft pastel. I had such a wonderful time doing that painting, that I thought I would give it a try with watercolor. Now you must know that I have never done anything like this in watercolor before (I've also never painted on hot press watercolor paper before). All my watercolor paintings have been loose, abstract and painted intuitively. I've never painted anything even close to realism in watercolor before, so I was sure that this wouldn't turn out. But I don't think it's too bad! I admit I got a little carried away with the background (which is supposed to be a wooden board, or deck), but I'm pretty pleased with how the cherries turned out! Even though the background is a little distracting, I don't think it ruins the piece. I don't know what it is, but I really enjoy painting cherries!

I hope you all have a great evening!

More Custom Boxes

I received a custom order from this lovely lady in Tennessee for these boxes. One is a wedding gift for her son, and the others are gifts for her granddaughters. I had used up my inventory of cigar boxes on my order from the Flint Institute of Arts recently, so I had to order these boxes and wait for them to arrive before I could even paint them. Luckily this customer was willing to wait however long necessary, for these boxes. To show my appreciation for her patience, I included a couple mini paintings with easels for her granddaughters. I'm always happy to do something extra for a special customer. :)

These painted boxes have been a hit lately! Needless to say I'm placing orders for more boxes just in case!