Work in progress and other news

Oy, it's been an interesting week.

The main thing I did was poison myself eating too much health food. Yes, it is possible to do.

I am living proof, that too many vegetables=a lot of time spent in the commode. And I don't mean reading! Unfortunately it's taken until today to recover.

Luckily for me I finally realized I was overdosing on vegetables and whole grains, AKA fiber, so naturally I switched over to pizza, nachos, and ice cream. Feeling much better now!

In art news, above, you will see a disaster... I mean work in progress.

Actually that piece looks nothing like that now, but I don't have a recent photo, because I was too lazy to take it when I thought about it, and now I'm not home so I have no choice but to make due with this one. Of course I could wait until I get back home, and take a proper photo, but why do that, when I can waste a whole paragraph explaining why I posted this one?

Anyway, this is what happens when I paint, rather than do a collage. It's been forever since I've done a real honest to goodness painting, no help with papers, embellishments etc. that I forgot what to do. So bear with me, while I get my painting wings back on, it's going to be a bumpy ride I suspect.


In other even more interesting art news, yesterday I packed up all my art again, and took it over to the local library for it's summer vacation! I'm sad to see it go, since my walls are uglier than homemade soap when bare, but I know my collages will have a good time hanging out with the fine folks at the library.

Now, this is where thing go fuzzy. Somehow during the two hours it took to hang the work, I managed to agree to teaching a collage workshop.

I know!

If I woke up with my head sewn to the carpet, I couldn't have been more surprised than I was yesterday when I agreed to do a class. Me? Teach? Other people? As in, I need to speak in front of a crowd? Of people not of the imaginary kind?

Who took over my body, and said yes to that?

Now, I'm the kind of person that during collage on the first day of class, if any kind of public speaking was mentioned, as in you need to give a speech for your midterm, or I love to torture students so much that everyone will give a speech every other week kind of thing... I would walk out at the break, and scratch that class off my list forever.

If we were halfway through the semester, and the instructor announced a surprise speech, I would drop the class right then, no matter how much work was invested or if I needed that class to graduate. No way, no how. Not going to happen.

You get the idea, that public speaking terrifies me no? Though, perhaps this is why, I haven't graduated from collage, even though I've been out of high school for nearly 17 years?

Yet, despite all the shaking, hyperventilating, panic attacks, and sweating, I usually go through when I so much as think about talking in front of people.

It looks like I will in fact be teaching a workshop. Fancy that.

1st Day of School

So today Kelly Rae Robert's e-course begins and I'm super excited. It couldn't have come at a better time for me, and I can't wait to meet everyone in "school" and learn all that way cool info!

So I'm off to class right now, and hopefully if I get up enough drive, I'll head into the studio to paint.

It's a little hard this weekend, as it's so completely nice outside, that all I want to do is play around, enjoy the warm weather, and swim in the creek in our backyard.

Anne Boleyn (The Most Happy)

I made this one last night. It's 18x24 and is the 4th wife in my series of the six wives of Henry the Eighth.

There are tons of layers and textures in this piece which may be hard to see, but I tried a cool thing with gesso, which I've seen others do.

When I put the gesso down, instead of just spreading it on like normal, I made some areas super thick, some where very thin, and some areas I made patterns with the palette knife, which made a really cool crackle looking effect.

I really had a ton of fun with this piece, and these kind are my most favorite to do, because I totally get into the groove, and just have so much fun putting layer after layer of paint down, and trying all kinds of techniques and textures.

You really can't ruin it, and there isn't much pressure to get many details right, not like if I was painting a portrait or something, you know? They way I look at it is, if it doesn't look right, add more paint! It's always worked for me.

Anyway, just in case you are curious, the collage elements used were, Anne's portrait, her signature, her badge, her motto (The Most Happy), and a love letter written to her from Henry (oddly enough none of Anne's responses have survived, but there are quite of few of Henry's).

To be honest, I'm going to be sad when this series is over. I'll have to think of a new theme to do with this style.

Oh, I need to add a side note. I'm coming to realize my brand new computer has terrible color management, and when I look at photos of my work, it looks awful. Really washed out and greyish, etc. So I often will alter the colors to make them look more like the original painting. However, since everyone's monitors are different, I've no idea what you folks in cyber land see. So, if the colors you are seeing are really crazy bright, or dull, I'm sorry. The real painting, I promise, is very vibrant.

Okay, I'm done.

Stay tuned for Jane Seymour!

All Clean!!

Showing off CLEAN studio pics. :) I redid the whole thing yesterday mainly by converting the closet into an extension of the room. Taking off the closet doors helped wonders! This photo is shot from the back corner looking towards the entrance.


Taken from inside the closet. My room appears so big now! :) In reality it's pretty darn small, hence the reason, I moved into the closet.


Again this is taken from the closet, looking at my sitting area, which frankly I do not use often enough. Usually when I'm in the room, I'm painting, so not much sitting going one. Though it is nice to know it's there, just in case. :) Also, you may not be able to see it that well, but the space inside the window seat is painted hot pink!


Another view of my painting desk, and my regular desk looking out the window. I LOVE my overflowing bookshelves on either side of the wood desk. At one point I aspired to be a writer. And this is where I was supposed to be writing. :)


Finally a pic of my new and improved closet. I now have a place to store all those canvases and a put that black shelf thing in there, that hold all my misc art supplies, that were crowding my desk. It's great to have because it's out of the way, but easy enough to get to when I need them. Sorry about the shadows though. :O



This is a shot just outside of my window. Love this view! You can't see it in the picture, but the hill goes all the way down to our creek. I shot this looking to slightly to the left, but if you look straight on, you can see down the creek further, and the land across the creek. No one can build on it, so we will always have a beautiful view!!

Cleaning up the Mess

My "Art Day" turned into clean the art studio day. I haven't exactly accomplished a whole lot, except to take everything from my closet and throw it on the floor thinking I was "reorganizing" it's contents, only to realize in my over-enthusiastic cleaning frenzy I have thrown away all the boxes, from whence the contents came, and now have no where to put anything, thus creating a much larger mess than before.

On the bright side, I found my official membership to the A-Team fan club certificate! Which I'm totally going to hang up. As soon as I find my walls again.

Lady With The Blue Dress On

Hello everyone! Here is some new art for you!

This piece is another 8x10 mixed media collage, with the image by Itkupilli. Like I had to even say that right? I think we all know how much I love love love her images!!

Anyway, she is up for grabs should anyone be interested. I will be posting her on Etsy this week.

And speaking of Etsy, I'm getting the hang of this store thing now, so I'm gradually filling it up. Come on by and see what' s new.

I'll be adding more tonight, including the batch of necklaces I made, and finally art prints!!! I'm beyond excited about being able to offer those, as I'm finally getting my printer/paper situation sorted out.

In other news, I'll be taking my first art workshop this weekend with Kelly Kilmer! I've been wanting to take a class from her for awhile now, so I'm pretty excited to get this special opportunity. I can't wait! If you don't know her awesome, fabulous journal work, check her out. You won't be sorry. I promise.

Two For Tea

So this is a Mothers Day present I made for my mother in law. It's 8x10 and on canvas.

She really likes chickens, and I just couldn't resist making this for her once I saw this image, which btw is from Itkupilli.

These guys are so cute, I may use them in another collage. As of now they are available in prints and necklaces!

And speaking of necklaces, I've been busy. I've got about 25 in the works right now. They are all dried, and ready to be assembled.

They will be photographed on Tuesday, and hopefully I will have them up in the Etsy store within the week. Lots of new images, so be sure to stop by and check them out!

I Have Necklaces!!

I'm so excited! I finally have some necklaces!!!

There was a lot of trial and error involved in getting these suckers right, but I finally found the secret.

I don't know what I was doing wrong, but every glue I tried made my images run and fade. Not only that but it would not stick to the glass.

I even bought that fancy Microglaze that is supposed to fading and running, and it did nothing for me.

I was so bummed, because it seemed that all over the web and Etsy everyone was making these fabulous necklaces with no troubles, and here I was struggling, and trying a zillion different products with no luck.

Well finally I found the trick. 5 minute Epoxy! That stuff rocks. It dries right away, doesn't run nor does it fade. Believe me I was shocked too, but I'm super happy it works.

So anyway, here are a few to look at. I will be making a lot more this week with new images. They are so much fun! And, they will be for sale on Etsy tomorrow should you want to get your hot little hands on some. :)

You Can Fly When You Want To

New art! I gave this to my mom for Mothers Day.


This one is 24x24. A new size for me, and I love it. I don't know why but I really like working on squares. The only problem is they aren't a good size when you are trying to make greeting cards and postcards out of them. Oh well, you do what you gotta do.

I've been planning this collage for a few months, but wouldn't you know at the last minute, I changed a major component and basically had to start over. So in the end I was rushed to get to it done, but I'm so glad I made the change, because it is 100 times better this way.

I used a bunch of techniques here, including a new tissue paper one I read about to give the background more texture. It's the wrinkly bits you see. I also drew, cut out, and painted the butterfly on Bristol paper and then glued it to the background.

I usually prefer using this technique as opposed to painting directly on the canvas. That way I can build up the backgrounds as much as I like, and not have to try to paint over it. I feel you get a cleaner more vibrant look when it is painted separately on paper. And for this piece I really wanted the butterfly to stand out.

Anyway, I'm pretty happy with how this one came out, and I'm thinking I'll have to do more like this.

And for those of you who pay attention to the sidebar widgets, you will notice some new decorations there. Yep it's official. Finally! I have a functional Etsy store, where you can buy original artwork, prints, postcards, necklaces etc. Now before you rush over there, please note, that I'm still setting everything up, so right now there are only a few items listed, but each day I will add more and more.

My first priority is getting all the originals posted. Right now the 5x7's are done, but the bigger ones will take a bit more research into shipping prices. Anyway they are all for sale, and I hope you visit soon! Need to make room for the new stuff!

Dancing In the Trees

More new art! This collage is 8x10, and the image is from Itkupilli. I just love her pictures!!

I had a breakthrough with this piece because, I think I finally have come to terms with using purple. I love the color but we have been enemies in art for a long time. However, with this picture I did not struggle with the color like I usually do, and it was awesome!

It might help too, that I finally found a shade of purple that I like from Liquitex. Man I've gone through so many tubes of that darn color only to be disappointed with the results after it dries. Thankfully that all seems to be in the past.

Now, about the name. I was originally going to call this piece "Birdhouse in your Soul", partly because I was listening to the song when I made this, but also because looking at the finished product now, it looks to me like she's in a tree, which is a birds house. I don't know where the soul fits in, but it's a cool title anyway.

So, long story longer, I didn't use that title because I have another painting in the works that will have it. So I chose dancing in the trees because in the image the lady seems to be dancing, and like I said, it looks as if she is inside a tree on the branches or something.

Don't see it?


Ok Moving on. :)

Things are bit busy for me right now. I'm learning tons of new things trying to make a business, and name for myself in the art world, and it's taking a lot of time. I haven't spent as much time creating as I would have liked, but hope that will change soon.

I am however in the process of making necklaces!! I'm using glass tiles, but I'm having a horrible time getting glue to stick. Not sure what I'm doing wrong here, but as soon as I figure it out, I will have them for sale, so keep your eyeballs peeling for some really cool and colorful necklaces on Etsy!

And speaking of Etsy, I haven't finished it yet, but finally I will be making a site, and selling originals, postcards, prints and necklaces!! I cannot wait, but again it all takes time to list and put everything together. Sometimes I can be so impatient. :)


That's all for now!

My new postcards are here! My new postcards are here!!!

Ha! I can't resist stealing that line from "The Jerk", but it's exactly how I felt when I saw the package on my deck this morning.

So here they are! Since I didn't know how they would turn out, I only ordered 5 different kinds. I tried to pick ones that would capture the different styles of my work, but it's not an easy decision to make! Now I wish I had all the others, because they look so cool.

I'm really loving these guys! The quality is excellent. I can't believe how perfect the colors are, and the image is so crisp. I know it's hard to see from the photo, but they really are great quality.

I ordered them from Vistaprints in case anyone needs to order some of their own. They were highly recommended by other artists, and I'm glad I listened! Also they have fabulous sales. The only bummer is, the lowest quantity is 100. Which is another reason I only ordered 5 different images. I now have 500 postcards to get rid of!

Which brings me to my next topic. I will be selling them for a dollar apiece or you can buy the set of 5 for 4 dollars. The cards measure about 5 1/2 x 4 1/4 and the back has a greyed out image of my Dreamy collage, plus lines to write the recipients address on, and a little stamp box. Keep the card for yourself or send it to others! It really is a win win situation no?

If these end up selling, I'll definitely start adding more images to the bunch. And until I get them on the website, and in my Etsy store, if anyone is really interested in buying them right this minute, just email me and we will work something out.

The Red Dress

Another new piece hot off the press! This is another 11x14 collage on canvas. The picture is from Itkupilli. Actually there are two photos, the background and the lady.

And if you can believe this, I actually used Photoshop (which I hate) to merge the two and change the colors. I know! Don't get used to it. Photoshop and I do not get along, so I this won't happen often.

I had a lot of fun with this piece, creating a sort of Alice in Wonderland-ly feel, or so I think anyway. :) I have the perfect home for her too, because my living room walls (only two of them actually) are red, I think she will look awesome there. That is until someone buys her... hint hint...


So I'm off now to bring ALL my artwork home! It has been vacationing this spring at a lovely local cafe, but now it must move on to bigger and better things. The Library! I will be hanging my art in to the local library in June, so this is really perfect timing. Now I won't have to worry about having enough pieces!

See ya!!

Angel Of Harlem

Here's a brand new piece, fresh off the studio table. An 11x14 collage on canvas, and I call it Angel of Harlem.

Now, I actually have no idea who this is or whether or not it is in fact an angel of Harlem, but as I was making this, the song Angel of Harlem came on, and well, the name kind of stuck. It just seemed so fitting somehow.

I don't normally do religious pieces (for no particular reason), but I thought this lady was so pretty I could not pass her up.

My recent flurry of sales has totally inspired me to go back in the studio, and create like a madman, so I have several pieces in the works right now. Only 3 made it to the photo shoot today, but two more are very close to finishing, and I have many more just waiting to be started.

Now, I have a super dilemma though. I'm not sure how many artists struggle with this, but I'm guessing quite a few do. My problem is I want to do so many different styles and techniques (so many possibilities out there!), that sometimes I get quite overwhelmed, and when that happens I tend to freeze up. Not in a bad way, it's just I can't figure out what to do first.

It's kind of hard to explain I suppose, but that's where I am right now. I have a few different styles I play around with, and I have a long list of many more I want to try, but it's like I don't know where to start, or even if I should.

I wonder if I should be sticking with one style, and make it my signature look you know? Or is it best to keep playing around, and it doesn't matter if you do multiple styles?

Any thoughts??

Goodbye Pretty in Pink!

I sold this one today!

It's been quite a week! Besides the fact that some artwork is selling, I'm very excited that I am able to create art that other people resonate with. It makes me feel good, that others appreciate the piece as much as I do. And maybe even more! :)

In other news, I spent this weekend doing some marketing for myself, and managed to waste a ton of time researching places to get postcards. It took several hours, but I finally got it done, and now I eagerly await those 14 days it will take to get them!

Once I have them in my hot little hands, I can sell some online for those who may want some artwork, but can't afford an original.

I'm also looking into making greeting cards, and if all goes well finally some real art prints! The fact that I probably need to buy a fancy printer is holding up the whole process, but I'm hoping I'm getting closer to resolving this issue. When all that is done, I will for sure offer them for sale on the website!

Another One Bites the Dust!

I'm a little sad, but also super excited to have sold "Someday her Prince will Come"!

This piece went to a lovely 6 year old artist who wanted it for her room. I'm thrilled that I could contribute to her decor!

Enjoy!

Sold!!

Oh my goodness, I sold my first piece today!! I got the news this morning, and it took me a long time before I was able to stop shrieking. Too cool!

A lot of good things are happening art wise right now, and it is such a good feeling to be able to sell a piece that someone else will enjoy as much as I do.

So long Beautiful Dreamer hope you like your new home!!

Big News!!

I'm finally official! I have a website up and running! I have business cards that I can pass around now, and I have my art on products over at Zazzle!

Now all I need is an audience. :) I'm very excited about this because it's been a long time coming. I am concentrating almost exclusively on art now, and that is a very good feeling.

I am also in the midst of proposing a project so hopefully I'll have more good news soon.

Anyone interested in checking out the new digs, come on over to Polychrome's Palace! That's my new name! Like I said several blog posts ago, The Cat's Pajamas was already taken as a website, so I had to come up with something new.

Well the story behind the name is on the website, but the gist is, polychrome means lots of color! And we all know my artwork if full of that!

Don't worry though, I know I'm breaking the rules, but the blog name will remain The Cat's Pajamas. I like it, and I want to keep it. So I will.

Now about the art you see. That is Catherine of Aragon. If you know your history you will recognize her as Henry the Eighth's first wife. That's 3 Henry wives down, 3 more to go for a complete series. I love doing these collages, though I suspect they aren't as popular as the other stuff I usually do. Too bad, because I'm having fun!

Oh and feel free to stop by Zazzle. I've got a lot of new products in the store this week. New things are posting everyday!

That's all folks! Hope to see you over at Polychrome's Palace!

CupKate

Meet Cupkate! She's an 8x10 mixed media collage on canvas.

Her creation took several months believe it or not, but I'm glad I persisted with her.

For the longest time, I just wasn't satisfied with the background. It took many many layers of paint and papers before I could actually start feeling like I could go somewhere with this one.

Now the cupcake was a different story. I knew right away I would do that, but the problem was how to create it.

Since I'm not a magician, and I never took any ribbons with my drawing and painting skills, it was quite clear from the start that I needed to find an alternative cupcake creating method.

The cupcake wrapper was the easiest, it is folded and painted tissue paper. Pretty standard. But the frosting, I wanted to make as real as possible.

So, I created a combo of molding and fiber paste which I then put into a plastic bag, snipped off the tip and then squeezed the "frosting" out just like I would with a real cupcake. Once it dried I painted and embellished with glitter and beads.

The face however, came a lot later. I had created her sometime last year as a doodle, and then brought her to life with paint just last month. She has been patiently awaiting a body and a home, and neither were forthcoming. It wasn't until this week that I realized she would do very nicely on this canvas.

You can't see it in this picture but she is 3D as well. In order to make her even with the frosting and to glue her on, a background of molding paste was built up for her to rest on. I then painted the sides to match her hair and hat, and viola! She is complete!

Oh and before I go I want to mention again that I have a new Zazzle store! You can click on the word Zazzle or click on my store widget in the sidebar. Also If you hadn't noticed I have now added pages at the top of the blog so if you clink on the store link it will take you there as well.

I add new products almost everyday, so you should come and check it out sometime! Also Zazzle is having a Tax Day Sale. Here's the info below in case you get the urge to shop:

Tax Day Sale at Zazzle- 10-40% off ALL ORDERS!

Use Promotional Code: TAXDAYZAZZLE

Ends Thursday April 15th

Thanks for stopping by!!

Anne of Cleves

Well here she is, Anne of Cleves, Henry the Eighth's 4th wife. The lucky one, as she was so repulsive to Henry he decided to divorce her as soon as he could, which I'm sure saved her neck. Literally.

As is the case with all my favorites, this one gave me big trouble in the beginning. I kept adding layer after layer of the same colors, and it just wasn't popping for me. Finally after deliberating about it for days, I decided to add a new color, and chose the green for a little contrast.

Finally things started to come together, and now, I am pretty pleased with the results.

In fact I had so much joy after finishing this piece, and since I really wanted to do another collage in this style, I went and did one of Henry himself. The old beast. I really don't like him, but he is part of the series I suppose.

I actually was not intending to do him at all, but since I had his image already printed (I was going to do him at one point but changed my mind, then changed it back again. Confusing I know), and I had just run out of ink and could not print Katherine of Aragon like I wanted to, I did Henry instead.

Unfortunately his collage did not come out as good as I wanted. I still may touch it up later, but for now he is hanging with Katherine and Anne over my couch, soon to be joined by Katherine of Aragon. Hopefully I get my ink soon!

Collage elements used were the agreement to divorce that Anne wrote back to Henry, her motto, her signature, her portrait, and her badge. I also used fluid acrylics, and oil pastels to create texture and depth.

That's all for now!

I finally got my groove back!

Oh my goodness, the last 10 days or so have been extremely frustrating for me. I've been completely blocked artistically. Nothing was inspiring, nothing I tried to create came out, I couldn't draw, I had no imagination... You get the picture right?

I couldn't believe this was happening to me again, and just when I had gotten started making art again this year.

Last time this happened it took over 3 months for me to get back into the swing of things, and I was so worried that was happening again.

It definitely was not a good time for the artistic well to run dry either. So many new things are happening art wise, and it would have been terrible if I just stopped creating again.

Oh, I wish I could divulge everything that is happening, but I can't just yet. There are still a few loose ends to tie up that are taking longer than I anticipated. Which is a big bummer, but there isn't much I can do about it.

Anyway, the collage above is an 8x10 I did last year, titled "Wonderful", the photo in the middle is from Itkupilli. Another canvas that missed the boat. Apparently there were several pictures that never got posted to the blog last year, I guess that was during the dry spell of 2009.

So, back to the present. Last night, I went into my studio to try to fix the 5 canvases that are sitting around waiting for me to finish them, and I couldn't do it. I just sat there, staring at the walls. Oh I dabbled around with the paint a bit, but nothing was turning out. I wasn't getting that spark, that a-ha moment, when you just know the painting is turning out good. So I quit, and played games the rest of the night.

When I got up this morning, I felt hopeless. Then I got an idea. Why not go to the cafe that has my art on display. Maybe seeing it will help fuel my muse.

So we went and had breakfast, and seeing my art was definitely fun and cool, but it didn't quite inspire me. Though I must say It was nice to the paintings again, because looking at pictures just doesn't do them any justice at all. They are so much better in person.

Oh and one cool thing happened while we were there, some customers came in and complimented my artwork to the lady working at the counter. Of course I didn't actually hear them because I was busy reading the comics, and stuffing my face with biscuits and gravy, but my husband let me know what they said.

Now all this back story is actually leading up to me telling you, that somewhere between the biscuits and gravy, the flat tire we got on the way there, going to the post office, coming home and surfing the internet, taking a nap, and making dinner, I actually got the urge to go back in my studio.

And thank goodness I did. I managed to finally finish my Anne of Cleaves painting, which will sit proudly next to Katherine in the living room. I wish I had a picture to show you, but I won't have one, until Tuesday. I also managed to touch up 3 other canvases, and this time every color and swipe with the brayer was right. It all came out! I finally was able to fix my cupcake canvas too, something I've been working on for several months.

I'm telling you, when I finished Anne of Cleves, I nearly cried with joy. It felt so good to be painting and creating again, and have things come out, and like them. It was the most awesome feeling. And now, I can't wait to go back and play again tomorrow!

All is right with my world again.