Wistful little boy

I did a drawing of a friend's young grandson for a gift for her husband.

What a sweet little face he has, don'cha think?
 

Holidays are coming

Getting some stuff ready for the Holiday Table at The Store at Mesa Art Center.

These bookmarks look festive, right?

Can you see a difference?

So does this look at all different from the other?  

Got rid of the blaring yellow in the upper right.
Cleaned some flower edges.
Darkened and defined some of the background to make the flowers stand out more.

Small changes, but I think it improves the over effect.  What do you think?
 

Pre-correction

So I just finished this one on Thursday.  After I took a picture I saw several areas that needed a little tweaking.

I'll post a picture tomorrow of the corrected painting.  See if you can see what I change.

 

When life gives you lemons

So I'm homebound doing a recovery thing for a bit, and thought I might as well get started on some future projects.

Need a Christmas card image for the stores I do work for.  Used this idea a few years back for my own Christmas card, but ended up selling that image.

So.... now I've got another one.  Workable idea for a Christmas card, and keeps me out of trouble for a few hours.

Done, and done!

Latest love

My buddy received some flowers recently and was kind enough to send me a picture she'd taken of them.

Perfect for a watercolor, doncha think?

I'm trying very hard lately to limit my use of black, and I think it makes my palette much brighter and lighter.  

Two newest

 My two newest paintings.  I think my watercolors turn out better, more freely done, when I give myself a time limit.

When they're completed this way I don't get bored with them, then do a half-a..... job.  

Learn to live with your disabilities, right?  One of mine seems to be a very short attention span...

Hello, remember me? New stuff....

It was suggested by two of my retail spots: Botanica, and The Store at the MAC, that greeting cards would be a good idea.

So several months of angst, tutorials, and major help from a friend, and I'm now making greeting cards!

These are from my watercolors and acrylics, and my serious attempts to get it right.  Now if only I could get a photo to go horizontal when I wanted to, I'd be golden.

So..... what do you think?

Two paintings

This first one is done.  It's going to be my Christmas card this year.  I'm pretty happy with how it turned out.  My rocks actually look like rocks!  And the snow is close enough, considering I have limited actual "snow" experience.

The second is a painting I'm working on.  It's in the "look at it and see what needs fixing" stage.

The bike totally needs work, the steps and rocks next to the steps, and the little plant area under the window.  

Anything else?

 

New idea (Sort of)

So, I was thinking, while I'm in butterfly mode, how could I make a butterfly bookmark?

This is the sample I did on a scrap of watercolor paper.

Threw down some fun colors, dribbled some salt on it.  After it dried, scraped off the salt and painted a butterfly outline.  

What do you think?  Does it work?
 

Butterflies

The hummingbird and quail tiles have been doing so well at Botanica that I thought I would branch out and do other beasties.

My next favorite is butterflies, so I tried a few.  What do you think?

These are going to Botanica tomorrow.

 

28 and counting

I decided to add some seasonal bookmarks to the ones I have been making.

Here are the latest "bunny" bookmarks.  Have sold 28 so far!!!!!

They're at the Mesa Art Center co-op store, if you want one.  

They're having the Spark Festival there this week, which is geared toward creative arts for kids, so there's lots going on down there.  

How do you like them?

 

My first little bookmarks

I went ahead and cut up some not-so-successful watercolors.  Each one had a spot or two that had gone fairly well.  It was actually kind of fun to do.  It will be interesting to see the difference when I paint them "from scratch".  What'ya  think?  Will they sell?

Another satisfied customer

Giant sized pug is all done, client was pleased, and we say goodbye to the puppy and move on to the next thing.

I was just told that I can sell bookmarks at the Co-op and they do well there.  

I think I'm going to cut up some of my not-very-successful paintings and get some of those together.

Often people buy small when it's an impulse buy.

I'll post some pictures of some when they're done.
 

So, did you figure it out?

Not finished yet, but this little pug is for a girl who really loves pugs.

Should be pretty fun looking when it's done!
 

Can you guess?

Just got started on a new commission painting.

Can you guess what it is?

 

Atomica Ceramica

This is my new piece for the show Atomica Ceramica, Redo.

It's a little weird for me, I know, but I was trying really hard to go out of my comfort zone.  

I know one thing:  it makes me uncomfortable!  I don't know if I even like it.  But even though it's a little odd for me, I think it's good to try to push your personal comfort boundaries occasionally.

 

Cabin in the Woods

Finally finished that cabin watercolor that I was doing, just forgot to show it to you.

Recipient was very pleased.  We were all happy.

Just love it when a plan comes together!

 

Happy New Year!

Got to get back to doing some work, here.  Vacation time is over!

What do you think:  would this be a better watercolor or acrylic painting?

I'm thinking watercolor.  Look at that great purple and turquoise in the waves.  

Think I'm going to give this a try.  Will let you know how it turns out.