Floral Painting

I finished my painting and I just learned how to add a copyright mark in Photoshop. You can really learn anything from the internet. I am hoping to come back later with an ARTIST profile.
I hope your weekend is going well so far.

New Painting

I worked on this painting last night in the colors from the last color story( see below). It is fun. Not sure about the grey or green. May adjust them. But I do like the cocoa background. It is gouache on watercolor paper.

Color Stories: Linen+ Cocoa +Lime+ Pink+ Stone+ Lemon

A new color story today. I hope your weekend was great!

Ours was great. I just got the new Cloth, Paper, Scissors magazine. Love it! I am really enjoying the articles by Melanie Testa. Could be because we both attended the same school and studied with the same professors. But her journals are lovely and I now I am thinking of starting one in the new year. So many plans!

With fall just around the corner I keep thinking about yarn. I don't knit but I think I may start an embroidery. I know it isn't yarn but it is needle work. I did one last year and it is a bit meditative. I am also trying to decide on a way to make an advent calendar for my kids. It may take me until November to decide. There are many options out there and some are a bit time consuming. I do want it to be something we will use again but I also don't have tons of time to work on it. Will decide soon.

ARTIST: Maxine Sutton

So I just read about Maxine Sutton today on the Ink Lore blog and I was SO head over heels with her artwork that I had to post right away. Her color, texture, patterns!! Swoon. They are all wonderful. So happy to find her and her work. So inspiring. Go check out more of her work right here. I am heading back myself.

B+W Leaves

Good Morning! I finished my B+W Leaves last night. Painting is so relaxing. I do love the boldness of the black and white but now I am thinking of color.

Here is a quote from my CREATE sketchbook: " Can you hear it? Your right brain speaks to you- and guides you- in the subtle language of impulses, feelings, hunches and intuitions. " I get my ideas," said Edison, " by listening from within." - Zane Vaughn

I hope your day is a great one!

Color Stories: Citron, Teal, Mint, Grey

I REALLY love t his mix of colors. I LOVE color + painting.

Working on this

Worked a little on my painting. The small scrap on top is just the piece I practiced on before starting.

Color Stories: Pink + Green

This color story just came about by playing with color. Certainly it isn't anything ground breaking but I was testing out colors on one paper for another color story and actually I liked how these colors were working. I started putting my color stories into a sketch book. Either taping ones in or painting them right in the book.

Today I am cutting paper to do some paintings. I started drawing last night and will begin painting.

Tomorrow I am going to a friends baby shower and I can't wait. It is her first baby and I haven't seen her in a long time so I am excited to see her belly.

I have so many other color stories in me. I hope I can get them down in time.

Have a great weekend. And thank you to the few new followers to my blog. It is great to have you!

This afternoon

I worked in my sketch book today and my son worked in his. He drew a sunflower and I am still obsessed with leaves. That cup held my beverage of choice, coffee and the bowl held my son's afternoon snack, applesauce and cinnamon. This sketchbook I was working is so great. Every left side page has an inspiring quote about creativity and on the right side it simply says CREATE every day. And in case you were wondering I signed up for the life in the fishbowl course. YEAH!! I can't wait. I am a bit nervous for some reason but super excited. I hope your week is going great so far. I need to get busy actually making instead of reading about it, writing about it and looking at it!

Some things

Today my husband took my son out, my daughter took a nap for 2 hrs and I did this. Organized my paper. I have been cleaning, storing, rearranging things around here the past couple of days. It feels so good to get rid of things that are no longer right for you. I started an inspiration board as well. Clearing space for new things to arrive.
On another note. If you aren't already familiar with Marisa from Creative Thursday you need to run there right now! ( And then come back here of course :) ) She is a very talented artist who is teaching an e-course that starts this September and I REALLY want to sign up so I hope the money fairy shows up and I can. :) She has wonderful podcasts and a great blog. She is super kind and very supportive. So I may just take the plunge and sign up.
And this little quote I found on a walk through my village a few weeks back when they were having an art exhibit in some store fronts. Love it! I hope you are all having a great weekend!

Color Stories: Indigo Leaf Grey Lemon Pink

No words today... busy with the kids. Just wanted to post a new color story. I think I need to find a new camera. these pics aren't great. will probably edit them.

This course sounds great!

Multiple Streams of Income:
An Online Course

Begins September 7, 2009

Attention Artists and Crafters!

• Are you struggling to make a living doing what you love?
• Do you feel like you are working all the time and getting nowhere?
• Do you feel overwhelmed and confused about all the ways artists and crafters can make money?
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If you answered yes to any of these questions, this online course is designed for you!

Click the link to read more... Workshop

Funky Fabric Beads!

Last fall I tried really hard to come up with a great way to make fabric beads. I wasn't very successful. I tried stitching them ( time consuming and not easy) and I tried gluing (didn't look the way I intended) but I came across this version today and I thought it was just great and easy to do. I really want to try to make one. I realize it is probably a bit funky for most people but I think it could be super cute.



Funky Fabric Beads!

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Color Stories: Blue Charcoal Spice Sage Apple Raffia

I have a new color story today.. this one I didn't set out to working on.. I started in a different direction ( one I still will go back to) but ended here. Fall inspired for sure. Just a short month left of summer and I don't know if it is because this has been a cool summer here in NY or what but I feel a bit excited for fall to come. So I used old lace, a piece of wool, colors that were already painted, a piece of a security envelope and some embroidery floss. These are so fun to make. I love working with color. I could do it all day. The possibilities are endless and it is so exciting to see what will happen to one color when you put another color next to it. I hope you have a great weekend!

Submission Done

So I submitted designs (above is a small sampling) to CRANE for their new STUDIO line. It felt good to try something new. Who knows where it will go and it doesn't even matter it was great trying something and learning from it. Good or bad. Too often we let fear keep us from trying something. What is the worst that will happen really? I encourage you all to try something. Anything. Submit your art to a magazine, take a class, write to an author or artist you admire. Do something that takes you a bit out of your comfort zone. You will grow, you will learn and you may make some new discoveries about your self along the way. I think I am coming out of my lull. I have many ideas I want to get down in my sketchbook.

ARTIST: Abby Glassenberg

Artist Abby Glassenberg was recently featured in Cloth, Paper, Scissors and I just fell in love with her work. She is a mom and artist who creates soft sculptures. I love her use of color and her attention to detail. She mostly does birds but there are some other lovely creatures. This is a link to her web site and there you will find links to her blog and her etsy shop. She is also in the process of writing a book. I find her very inspiring since she is doing her work while raising her two daugthers. And I love the name of her shop and blog, While She Naps. So go check her out if you haven't found her already!

It has been a long time since I posted and I have to admit I have been feeling unmotivated. Sorry about that. I have been creating some art to submit to Crane and feeling a bit unsure of it as well as unsure in what step to take next in my art. Our Etsy shop is pretty much dead in the water so I am not feeling so motivated to make anything new for it. It could just be this week this is how I am feeling and things will change. I really don't know. I hope to get out of this funk.

I just wanted to share my fall wreath that I made for a friend. The picture isn't great sorry. My mom and I are going to clear out our Etsy shop at the end of the summer. It hasn't been going so well over there and I am not even sure if I will continue with it. Exploring different ideas and directions right now. And I am now going to concentrate on working on my Crane submittal.. I only have until August 1. Yikes! I hope your weekend was great! Mine was.

ARTIST: Mary Englebreit

As I was cleaning my art table this morning ( my daughter is up at 5 every day) I sorted through a pile of papers and the first thing I noticed was in a rejection letter from 2004 from Gallison that the creative director was Lorena Simonvich from this post.. So Cool. It was very strange to say the least! The work really wasn't very good and the rejection certainly was in order but it was sort of strange that the connection was made... well to me it was anyway.

So, then I was led to my pile of Mary Englebreit Home Companion covers, illustrations and stories. I really miss this magazine! I was always so inspired with each issue. I love her art ( guess that is why I couldn't part with it). I was somewhat disappointed when they stopped the illustrated cover. So I hope it makes a return soon. It seems she is still doing lots of great things check out her site here.

So I chose this particular illustration since I love this quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson and her art. For me it is fitting today. I love it!!

Working on this week..

This week I am working on a new wreath in fall colors for a friend who has a birthday coming up. I am trying something new with my flowers. I made some templates and traced them onto watercolor paper and painted them in. I also did some book page flowers as well. I am thinking of doing some kraft paper flowers as well. The bottom pic has a small painting I am working on that I was going to give as well. I would love to see what you are working on. Leave a comment with a link if you are working on anything this week.