New painting, hikes,motorcycle rides, and not much else getting done...

Hey everyone,  I have a new painting to show you all!  Actually it was finished a while ago, but I forgot to post it.  I call this one Grow.   It will be for sale in Etsy maybe tonight, but definitely by tomorrow.  I'll also have prints available.

I'm still working on my whale, in fact I haven't done much too it except start the background, but it's coming along, I actually really like how it's turning out. I may even do a work in progress pic on the next post. 

I've been busy going on hikes and motorcycle rides this week, so not much art or business stuff is getting done. I really need to buckle down this week and focus, but it is so hard with summer here, and the days being nice, all I want to do is play.

One thing I am focusing on though is finding a way to help my Unicef cause.  I really want to be able to contribute to them but am finding it hard. Now that I am an official Unicef volunteer (!), I figure I best get going on my contributions, so I listed that Fairy Tale collage on Ebay in hopes that it would sell, but sadly, so far it hasn't.  It does have one more day to go though, so there still is hope.  :)   I think I just don't have the audience to sell much right now so my stuff gets buried among the thousands of other things Ebay has to offer, of course, hopefully all that will change someday. 

I'm also still working on getting more artists together to make an art piece in order to sell on Ebay with the profits going to Unicef, so if you are reading this, and interested in participating please let me know.  A couple of you have responded and I'm so glad and excited you are wanting to do this project with me!

In other news, I am finishing up my new website, and I should roll it out later this week, or early next week.  I think you will like it!  I have the option of having my blog on there as well, and think I might use it, but am worried I'll loose followers if I switch, plus I really like blogger and am very familiar with it so it's hard to change.  I'm still making my mind up on that. Of course I'll let you know when the time comes .:)

Oh yeah, my Hootie the Owl print has been sold and relisted on Etsy!  If you are interested please stop by!

Fairy Tales, my recent obsession with Unicef and Ebay

For those of you who have been following my Facebook updates, you may recall that my husband and I have been watching a movie called "The Long Way Down."  What it is, is an 8 hour documentary about Ewen McGregor and his best friend Charile Boorman riding their motorcycles from the tip of Scotland to the bottom of Africa.

Even if you aren't a motorcycle rider, it is still enjoyable and pretty impressive to watch. In fact I HIGHLY recommend this movie.  I loved it so much I'm going to re-watch the first movie "The Long Way Round" (London to New York by way of Siberia)  Fantastic!

Besides riding the bikes, you see gorgeous scenery, ruins, culture, exotic animals etc.  But they also highlight several stops to Unicef sites in Africa.  What you see there is very eye opening to say the least.  I tend not to read the news simply because it's depressing.  A terrible excuse I know, but the way I thought, was why insert more problem/drama into my life, I already have enough I don't need anyone else's.




Well guess what?  My drama?  Is nothing.  Absolutely nothing.  I feel completely spoiled and rich after watching this movie.  I am extremely grateful for what I have, and I really don't need anymore.  I thought I did, but I realize now, no I don't.  I can't tell you how much it put my life into perspective after seeing children orphaned and living essentially on the streets because both their parents died from AIDS.   Children who have to learn to be aware of land mines right outside their front doors.  And on and on and on. 

I don't want to go into too many more details for fear of sounding all preachy, but I want you to know it really touched me to see this.  And I immediately felt I wanted to help in some way.  I know it will have to be small, but something is better than nothing right?   Well I thought and thought how the heck can I contribute? Yes I could donate money, but as rich as we are(compared to them)  that needs to go to bills unfortunately.  So I come up with a better idea.  I will use my resources and sell one of my collages!

I found out if you list on Ebay you can set the amount of the sale proceeds to go to your favorite charity.  So I did!  I listed the piece you see above called fairy tales, and 100% of the profit will go to Unicef!  I'm very excited about this and truly hope this piece sells.  If you like what you see, and would like to buy it please wander over to my Ebay listing.

I sure hope it sells!!  Oh and I really want to get a group of artists together to sell 1 piece of their art on Ebay and donate the funds to Unicef.  I think it would be such an awesome way to band together as artists and give a little something to those who are less fortunate.  If anyone is interested let me know!!

Thanks yous, a commission and few other things

Hey everyone!  I just wanted to say thank you so much to everybody who participated in my blog giveaway!! It being my first giveaway, I didn't really know what to expect, but I found out that is was really a whole lot of fun!  I definitely plan to have another one, and yes, I will have my handy assistant pick the names again.  :) 

I'm so glad you all enjoyed the video of him.  At first I was only going to take a bunch of step by step pictures, but then my husband said why not take a video?  Well yeah, why not?  That was a great idea!   Anyway, don't be surprised if you see him staring in another video at the next giveaway.  :)


Now the picture you see above is a commission I did for a friend of mine.  It is for her little girl Zoey.  My friend is a huge lover of ladybugs, so it came as no surprise that when she asked my to do a painting for Zoey that a ladybug would be involved.  I had a lot of fun making this, but I have to say I had trouble with the face.  For the longest time, this poor bug looked like Al Jolsen.  I found it was a lot harder to paint facial features, when the whole face is black.   Anyway, I'm off tomorrow to give her the painting, and I really hope she likes it!

Right now I'm currently working on a lot of things.  I've got 2 other commissions to get done for friends, and I am still trying to make more of my animal paintings.  I've already got a whale started, and really want to do a cat right now too.  Unfortunately I haven't had much time to paint, well no time actually, as I've been busy outside of the house enjoying summer.  Finally!

And also trying to get a lot of the business side stuff done.  I just ordered new business cards, mailing labels and a set of postcards which I can't wait to get, and show you.  I'm also working on a new website, and I'm so excited about it.  I can't believe I'm saying that because I hated the making of the website I have now.

In fact my husband did it for me, bless him, but the problem is I have no clue how to update it.  None.  And he is always so busy working that I hate to bother him with it, therefore nothing new has been posted since it first went up.  Obviously this won't do.  So I took matters in my own hands and went to Squarespace.  So far I'm loving what I can do there, and the best thing is it's all on my own!! 

And one last thing, I've been trying so hard to get around to everyone's blogs and see what you all are up to, but this past week has been super hard to keep up.  I'm so sorry I've been missing in action lately, I assure you I love reading and seeing what you all post, and am trying to make it a point the rest of this week to properly catch up with everyone. 

Thank you so much to everybody who has been dropping by and leaving comments, I just love hearing from you, and I am truly thankful for all the new friendships I have been making.  This has been a wonderful experience for me, and I couldn't have gotten this far, without all of you!  Love you guys!! 

And The Winners Are....

Okay all, it is official!!  The giveaway  results are in.  I had my handy assistant pick the names.


Of course he needed to be bribed a bit.  Here he is right before the pickings.  

Naturally I didn't want to disturb his slumber, so I made a few preparations in the meantime.  I laid out all the names of everyone who commented and placed a crunchy treat on top.  Then we took the treats and made trail from his box to the names, well, take a look for yourself, click the video to see what happened...

 
Don't worry you aren't going deaf, there isn't any sound.  It's not the best resolution (sorry 1st video), and of course while trying to film, we had a incident with a skunk and another cat, so that confused things a bit.   

Now In case you can't see the video for some reason, here are the winners...


1.  Is Curly Girl Art!!  You are now the proud owner of this print!

2. Is Michele From Pipi La La!  Congratulations you won my CupKate Necklace!

And last but not least, Sunny Lee won a set of postcards!

Okay winners, please email me your address, so I can ship your prizes to you!

Thank you all so much for participating!! 

3 new pieces and a bunch of inspiration!

 I have a few new pieces to show you all.  I'm on a huge roll right now, and I'm painting like a maniac, right now I'm working on a commission but I have lots of new art lined up.

This past week, I was totally inspired by a post by Ophelia over at Ophelia's Art.  She talked about how her daughter just jumped in and starting painting a canvas with no care as to how it might come out, whether or not she would muddy her colors etc.

She was just being a kid and having fun and letting the creativity  flow without worry.   It totally came out awesome too!

When I read that post, I had spent the last few days trying so hard to catch on up on blogs, Twitters etc, that I was sick and tired of the computer.  I wanted to paint, but felt physically and emotionally drained.

After reading about her daughters painting, I was so inspired to try and paint as freely as a child would, that I ran to my studio at 11:30 pm and went for it.  I created two canvases that night and finished them the next day.  That started the ball rolling for a series of paintings that I want to do.  Different whimsical cartooney animals!  They are so much fun to create, and I now have a very long list of critters I want to paint.  I'm so excited about this, and I have Ophelia's daughter to thank!

So here we go, I have to two animals to show you, and one canvas from a while ago that I finally finished.
The little guy you see above is called Hootie, and he is on a 12x12 canvas.  His body is actually fuzzy!  I used hot pink flocking on him, and I love how it came out!

This is Ellie, and is actually the first canvas I did that night. It's so simple but I love it, and it was the best painting experience I've had in months!

This is the piece that was inspired by It's A Small World.  I gave her a slightly crazed look, and I used gears because I always liked the gears the Small World Castle had, so I made my own and put them in her hat.  Somehow it just seemed to fit. 


Tonight I will be listing these paintings on Etsy along with a bunch of new prints, so keep your eyes peeled for new art! 

Also don't forget I'm having my first ever blog giveaway which ends on Monday July 19th, and there is a 20% discount on all my Etsy items for those who participate in the giveaway!   All you need to do to qualify is leave a comment on this post! 

My First Giveaway!!!

Alright everyone it's here!  Just like I promised, in the spirit of good fortune, and just because I feel like it, I'm having my first ever blog giveaway starting right now Monday July 12th!

I will be picking and announcing winners in 1 week on Monday July 19th.  Names will be picked at random, quite possibly by my studio assistant if he's up to the job.  :)

All you have to do is post a comment in the comment section.  That's it!

There will be 3 winners!  The first will win a giclee print of your choice of these pieces....

Make sure you let me know which print you prefer in your comment!



2nd prize will be a necklace!

And 3rd prize will be a set of postcards!

EVERYONE who participates will get a  20% discount in my Etsy store for the next two weeks!  Starting today Monday July 12th and Ending Monday July 26th!

Ok go post your comments!  Good luck to you all!!

Patchwork Bird

Finally!!  I have new artwork to show!  Some of you may recognize this one as the bird with purple glitter spots.  Well those are long gone, and now we are sporting a nice patchwork look.  Which I totally love!

I'm so thrilled to have this one done, as it has been sitting in my studio for several months waiting to be finished.  The tail feathers are a tad hidden within the background but overall I'm pretty happy with it. I may or may not add a lite outline to the bird to make him stand out more.  Not sure yet, but I am considering it.  What do you think?

In other news, I'm a little bit pleased with myself right now, because I have been semi keeping to my schedule I set for myself.  I basically got rid of the time slots and just make a list every day of the things I want to get done. 

It works much much better as so many things pop up all day long for me, it's hard to assign specific slots of time to do things.  Though I am keeping myself limited on the amount of time I spend checking emails, social media and blogs. 

Believe it or not, yesterday I managed to cross everything off!  Including getting through a lot of blogs.  I still have a few more to catch up on which I will be doing right after this post, but I'm really, really close to being caught up now, and that is a HUGE relief. 

And, I'm still planning my blog giveaway for Monday, so be sure to stop by and check out the goods.  There will be a 1st, 2nd and 3rd place for winners.  I'm pretty excited about it. It's the first one I've done.  

Also, I have a question for those who use Flickr.  Is anyone else having trouble logging in?  I'd say about 75% of the time the Flickr page refuses to load.  This has been going on for months, and needless to say I have just about given up on the site.  Is it just me or does this happen to anyone else?  

I think that's about it for now.  I'm just working my way through blogs and to do lists today.  I even managed to put the computer down, and do some gardening.  Finally!  I now have very pretty colorful flowers all over my deck!

Ta Ta!

Look What I won!!!

                     "Possibility" by Erin Carver

Woo Hoo, I'm so excited!  I found out yesterday I won a print of this lovely Possibility piece from Erin Carver!

It's the first thing I've ever won, and I couldn't be happier.  This is a perfect piece for me right now, as so many new doors are opening, and I'm taking very scary steps trying to start a creative business and putting myself out there. 

I love that is says, "You are Full of Possibility".  Because it seems to relate so well to what is going on in my life, and that really the possibilities are endless.  The only trouble is, I don't always remember or realize it.

 Therefore,  I'm going to hang it up in my studio so I will always be reminded of this very important truth.

Thank you Erin!

But wait, I have more exciting news!!!

I made my first ever Etsy sale!  Yipee!  At first I thought I was being charged something that I didn't buy when I saw the email, but then I realized it was an actual sale!  I can't tell you how exciting that was.  Now I just need to keep the store updated, so I can hopefully continue getting  more sales. 

Anyway, It's been a very exciting week for me.  :)

And, since I seem to be having a run of good luck lately, I thought I'd spread this good fortune amongst all my blog, Facebook, and Twitter friends, and have a giveaway myself.  This will happen on Monday so please stay tuned for the official announcement.

I've also got new work photographed which I will post tomorrow.  Now however,  I need to catch up on emails and blogs.  I can't believe how fast it all piles up when you take 3 days off for a Holiday.  I'm going to be crazy busy all week it looks like.

Hopefully soon I'll figure out this time managing thing.  I went out yesterday, and searched the stores high and low for the perfect day planner. I'm like Goldilocks, I need one not to big, and not too little, not too bulky and not to ugly etc.  It has to be just right.  I'm picky that way.

I finally found one for 20 bucks at Staples which honestly seemed a little steep for nothing more than a spiral notebook with a calendar in it, but it did have all I asked for so I made the sacrifice  and dished out the dough.

Once I got home, I sat down to fill it out, only to find that I really can't put myself on a schedule very easily.  Especially this coming week as I have out of town relatives coming.  It seems like every day I seem to have some kind of commitment come up that throws a huge monkey wrench in my creative schedule. 

Plus I can't figure out if I should give myself specific times to actually make art.  I'm afraid if I tell myself I HAVE to paint everyday at 5:00 pm, that I won't feel like it.  I tend to paint at totally random times, when the mood strikes me,sometimes that is midnight, so having an actual time slot might not work well for me, and I'm afraid I'll rebel against my own rules. 

On the other hand, It is very clear that I can't be trusted to use my time wisely when left alone without any kind of discipline (or supervision for that matter), as I'm inclined to accidentally while away all the hours of the day on the computer, so a strict time schedule might actually be good for me. 

But that means I have to be the one to enforce it. Which  is a total joke.  I'm giggling just thinking about it. It's a known fact that I don't have a good track record with either discipline or willpower, so I honestly don't know how  this schedule thing is going to work.  It will definitely be interesting.

And the bottom line is, I just spent 20 bucks on a calendar, I better make it work somehow.  Wish me luck!!