Papa Under The Water

Yes, this is my husband.  He loves to dive, and is volunteering at the Aquarium in Newport every 3 weeks.  Benefit to the family...we get to see him underwater, and enjoy a great Aquarium.

See those little pink boots?  They belong to our youngest granddaughter, and she wouldn't walk on the glass floor after seeing her Papa under her feet.  A lot of people avoid that floor.  It's pretty cool, though.

Papa cleaning up after the fish.  They have to vacuum the floor and clean the glass.  Now that I know he can clean...

Running out of Air, so it's time to go.  Sometimes they are in a tank with Sharks...we won't take the kids to watch on those days.  It's pretty scary. That's a sturgeon in the picture.

Her first underwater petting zoo

So pretty

In person...these are so gorgeous!

Our favorite Fish.  It's hard to get a picture of him...he is super fast!

My Artwork in Cross Stitch!

I was contacted the other day by another artist, Vera Dennen, and she made me an offer that I couldn't refuse!  I'm very excited to be working with Vera!  She has been making Counted Cross Stitch, and Needlepoint patterns from Artists' original paintings! The Artist receives a percentage of sales, and more exposure.  Besides all of that...it's a lot of fun to see your Artwork in a different medium.  Here is the link to my first piece.  "Loving You" And, here is the link to Vera's Shop   

Pumpkin Patch

Being the dog lovers that we are...  We took Mr. Gatsby and GusGus to the Pumpkin Patch with us on Saturday.  Lucky enough to have found, "Bose Family Farm", a dog friendly Farm, we set out and had quite an adventure.  The minute we arrived, Gatsby and GusGus jumped out of the car...smiling!  Yes, they ran and smiled the whole time we were there. Tori found all of the Scarecrows in the maze...Mr Gatsby knew the way out, so he was a big help too.  Then for the final treat of the day, A Hay Ride!  Heads back in the wind, Mr Gatsby and GusGus looked like proud Kings sitting on their Hay Throne!

GusGus found his pumpkin!

They have great produce!  Bought huge butternut squash and my favorite Delicata Squash.

They, also, had a nice, fresh water bowl for the dogs...which they really appreciated.

GusGus didn't love the wheelbarrow, so much

Best Corn Maze we have found

 

Mr. Gatsby loved riding in the wheelbarrow!

Loving the Hayride!

 

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!

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.

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"!

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!
                                                                    

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. 

My Review of Animal Print Background Business Cards

Originally submitted at 123print

Animal Print Background Business Cards

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

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

(legalese)

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.
                                                                                                 

New Zazzle Store Coming

I should be painting, but I decided that it was time to open a Zazzle Store.  I had a hard time coming up with a name.  I guess since I've waited so long to open a store, most names have been taken!  So, the store is called, "Flamme'che; which means Spark in French. I only have one product, so far, but I did figure out how to add their button!  I don't know about everyone else, but figuring out all of this STUFF hurts my brain!  Need to go rest and paint now!

"Ellie" A Work In Progress

I love seeing, and reading about, other Artists' "Works In Progress". So, I decided to show a little bit more of my process while working on, "Ellie". I started with a sketch on paper and transferred to the canvas. Then added a bit of paint to define the lines. ( I used Nickel Azo Yellow for her dress, Titanium White, Mars Yellow and burnt sienna for defining the lines.)

 

 

 

 

I decided to use flowers, from a napkin, for her dress; so I cut them out and played around with placement, until I was satisfied.

 

 

 

Then using Matte Medium I glued the flowers in place.

 

 

 

I then started painting.  I have a slow painting process of adding thin layers of paint...over and over and over.  Her hair, so far, is burnt sienna and mars yellow.  Mars yellow has been my favorite color for many years.  Well, they no longer sell it.  I have found that it is very similar to Yellow Ochre.

 

 

 

I am really liking the way Ellie's dress is turning out. 

 

 

 

More to come...

"Friendly Fur Stole" Finished!

"EMMA"

                                                            "Friendly Fur Stole"

At  24" X 12" X 1 1/2", "Friendly Fur Stole" is one of the biggest paintings I've completed in a while.  I, also, just finished, "Emma".  Emma is a bit smaller at, 16" X 12" X 3/4".  I am listing "Emma" in my Etsy shop, but "Friendly Fur Stole" will be hanging at Citizen's Bank for two months.  Both of the paintings are Mixed Media pieces.  I used a combination of torn pages from a book and napkins to add texture.

Friendly Fur Stole

Our Summer has been flying by!  I've been so busy, and having a great time being busy!  We just returned from a family, beach, camping trip; that was a lot of fun.  We took all 4 dogs, and being able to run free on the beach...just looked like the best thing in the world!  They were actually smiling with their whole bodies!  I've, also, been working on paintings for a show.  A local bank contacted me and asked if I would like to hang some of my paintings in the bank. " Well, YES!!!"  So, I've been painting non-stop.  I've been meaning to post some Work In Progress pictures...and here they are!  The painting is pretty much finished now, so I'll post those pictures tomorrow.  I call this painting, "Friendly Fur Stole".  Have a great weekend!  

Yellow Spider and Green Cat Paintings

I hope everyone is having a great Summer!  Our Summer has finally arrived!!!  It's been so wet and cold here; it really makes us appreciate the warm Sun...hope it stays around a while!
I finally finished two paintings that I started quite a while ago.  MY "Yellow Spider" abstract, and what has turned into a "Green Cat".  Not sure of what the Cat's name will be yet.  My husband thinks it looks like something out of the Avatar movie.  LOL!

Have a great Weekend!

So Beautiful!

If you are ever in Oregon; I highly recommend driving over the McKenzie Pass.  It truly is a wonderland.  You have gorgeous shades of green everywhere, wildflowers, majestic snow covered mountains, hiking trails  leading to amazing waterfalls, and thrown in here and there...massive lava beds that cut through the greenery like huge gray and black rivers.  We spent yesterday exploring a few trails and came upon Proxy Falls.  So beautiful, but what really caught my eye was a pool at the bottom of one of the falls.  The green trees reflecting in the pool..... absolutely mesmerizing. Yes, it really did look like this!  I think I'm going to have to try and paint it...

Forest Creatures

I am sharing a couple of Forest Creatures, and a JRT, (My new painting)