Item of the Week

"A New England Lighthouse" 5 by 7, Pastel Painting

Available Here

This week is painting week, so I've chosen a pastel painting as my item-of-the-week on Etsy. It's on sale for $45 and will ship for free! I have to say that I just love this little painting. I've even entertained the thought of keeping it for myself, but I don't have a place for it at the moment. I think it would look adorable in a kitchen or bathroom.

For a bit of good news, I just sold "Contentment" at the Stillwater Art Guild Gallery! It's a recent pug painting that I did. Hopefully it's a sign of many more sales to come!

Have a wonderful week!

Goals

"A New England Lighthouse" 5 by 7, Pastel Painting

Available Here

It's that time of year again - time to start thinking about setting goals for the new year. I recently found my list of art goals that I'd set for 2011. There are many that I didn't meet (such as the number of paintings that I wanted to accomplish) and some that I did (such as my financial goals related to my art). Even though I didn't meet many of my goals, I still believe in setting them. Goals give you something to strive for and even if you don't achieve them, you're still moving forward.

For this year I'm not going to set a goal for a certain number of paintings that I want to do. Instead, I've made a resolution to find a better balance for my art and quilting. I think I've come up with something that will work. Instead of trying to paint one day and quilt the next, I'm going to alternate weeks. One week I'll paint, and the next I'll quilt. It should work rather well.

I'd love to hear your art related goals for the new year!

A New England Lighthouse

"A New England Lighthouse" 5 by 7, Pastel Painting

Available Here

I have to begin this post by thanking Sharon at A New England Life for allowing me to use her beautiful photograph as a reference for this painting. Thanks Sharon!

I decided to try a little something different today. I'd been admiring this photo for a long time but was too scared to even try it. For some reason I feel like I cannot paint foliage very well, but I haven't really tried. So, I decided to give it a shot today and I was pleasantly surprised with the outcome. I was disappointed with the scan of the painting because it seemed to take something away from it. I think it looks much better in person and I'm very happy with the way it turned out.

As always, this painting was completed with artist quality pastel pencils on pastelbord. The detail of the lighthouse was so much fun. I think I'm going to have to try more paintings like this.

Have a great afternoon!