Saturday, September 29, 2012

Third Place in Nibblefest Contest

"Sam" took Third Place in the Nibblefest Contest.  This was my first time entering, and it was a lot of fun!  I can't wait for the next theme...."Fantasy".  Hmmmm?  This will be something new for me.  That's one of the best things about a monthly theme.  A challenge is always good to get the creative juices flowing!

Friday, September 28, 2012

New Lady Painting and WIP


Happy Friday! I hope everyone has a great weekend! I have a new "Lady Painting" and a WIP painting to share. The Lady is, "Madeline" with her cat...who has no name.

 

  The WIP will, hopefully, be finished next week. In the second WIP photo... You can see my help, "Rudy Farcus", coming to work.  He doesn't look very excited; however, he does a good job keeping me company while I paint.

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Nibblefest and Giving eBay another Go






 I sold Art on eBay for over 10 years, but they changed things, sales dropped, so many of us moved on. Well, I've decided that I miss the online auctions; they were a lot of fun!  So, I've spent the day listing several paintings on eBay.  Which brings me to, "Nibblefest"!  "I have two NEW paintings, and one recent painting, to list after 4pm today.  I joined a wonderful group of Artists who call their group, "Nibblefest".  They have a different theme every month, and list the themed paintings on eBay, with a starting bid of .99.  The auctions start on the 20th and end on the 27th.  There's, also, a contest each month!  The Artist that receives the most bids, and the Artist that sells their piece for the most money win an award!  I can't wait; it's going to be fun!  The theme for this month is..."CATS"!

Thursday, September 13, 2012

Cat Calendars to help the Kitties

I'm posting this information, so anyone that would like to help...can.  If you are an Artist, you can submit Artwork...Cat Paintings...and possibly be in the Calendar.   If not an Artist, you can vote, soon, for your favorite Cat Painting, and buy the Calendars...to help some great Cats!  It's a fun thing to do...no matter what!  Check out the Cat Art, too!  Lots of great paintings and drawings!
Here is the link 
                                          
                                         "Fuzzy", and three of my other paintings are in the running!
                                                                    

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Two New Painted Ladies








I've been working on two new painted ladies.  They are mixed media, using napkins, maps, acrylic paint and old book pages.  "Autumn's" dress was cut from a napkin, and I used one of my favorite paint colors, Nickel Azo Yellow, for the rest of the bodice.  I wish I could capture the richness of this paint.  It just doesn't show in the photos.  I mixed the NAY with a lime green for the background and antiqued it with Burnt Umber...looks kind of cool.  I like to experiment with paint colors. 



 
I'm not sure what I'm going to do with the background or dress for this painting.  I used a map, that my daughter gave me from one of her trips to Washington DC, and I kind of like the way the map looks.  I like the look of the print on her dress, too.  So many decisions.  You may remember seeing a girl that looks a bit like this.  I used the sketch from my "Dora" painting.  It's fun to use the same sketch and see how different the paintings are. 

Friday, September 7, 2012

My Review of Animal Print Background Business Cards


Nice Product

By Deb from Oregon on 9/7/2012

 

4out of 5

Pros: Easy to use, Good Quality, reasonable price

Best Uses: Making Custom Cards

I like this site because I can use my artwork to design custom business cards for my business. The site is easy to use and affordable. Only down side I have found is if you are not aware that your image is too dark, they print the cards anyway. So, you need to make sure you have a good image. Also, the better quality paper is worth the money. The cards look much better using higher quality paper.

My Custom Business Card

thumbnail

Tags: Picture of Product, Using Product, Made with Product, Custom Business Card

(legalese)

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Ellie Is Finished

Here are the rest of the WIP pictures for "Ellie".
At first I painted the background brilliant blue and light blue violet.  I used burnt sienna, raw sienna, mars yellow, cad red light, titanium white, gold ochre and burnt umber for her hair.  Eyes are Olive Green and payne's gray. Lips: cadmium red light, quinacridone burnt orange and titanium white.  Skin: Titanium white, gold ochre, mars yellow, burnt sienna and Cad red light. 
                                                                   
Next I used Matte Medium and glued torn pages, from my old  French Novel, to the background for texture.
Then, for several days, I worked on the hair and background...because there was something that I just didn't like.  That usually happens with every painting.  I finally decided that I didn't like the blue background.


So, "Ellie" has a Payne's Gray background.  You can still see the texture, and I think she pops more with a darker background.  She is now wired, and hanging at the bank for a while.