I'm finally adding to it

Happy Friday! Just popping in to share some info. Lately I've been ignoring my Etsy shop. Sometimes we get pulled in a million different directions with all the hats we wear and my poor little shop got left by the wayside. This morning I thought I'd better get back to it so I've added a couple of new listings and changed the pricing on some others - in the direction you would appreciate too. :)

I have a number of mini paintings that I'll be adding to the shop on a regular basis. They range in size from 2x2 inches to 4x4 inches. These teeny tiny little paintings make great ornaments for the holidays or accents on the mantle or bookshelf. They can also be hung on the wall to enjoy year round. The little bird nest in the top photo also has a ribbon hanger but I folded it down behind the painting so it can sit on the easel without being seen. If you want to add something extra to a gift for someone special, you could tie a mini to the bow on gift wrap. It's a gift on top of a gift! These are great because they're so versatile. Use them any way you want.

So click the link in this post or hop over to the sidebar and check out all the little gift ideas. And then I hope you have a fabulous long weekend.

Peace

 

Before, During and After

The last post was pretty heavy. It's a heavy subject that's very important to me and the next painting in the Don't Forget series is prepped on the canvas and ready to go. But, sometimes you need a break from heaviness and have to lighten things up a little - literally and mentally. After doing so many detailed nest paintings I needed to play so I was looking around my studio and realized I have some old abstract paintings that I didn't really feel all that connected to anymore.

I pulled this one out and decided it was too dark, too tight and just wasn't me anymore so I did this....

And then after more layers and lines with acrylic and graphite, some scrubbing back and then more layers, I ended up with this.

Perspective

24x24

acrylic and graphite

You can still see remnants of the old painting peeking through and I like that. It gives the painting depth but it also has a lighter feel now. A new perspective on an old painting and a lightness of being.

So many paintings... so little time.

Hope everyone's good. I've been busy in the studio since the last post. Finished this nest....

And then painted this one..... sold another one.....

Then for a change of pace I started this landscape with a flowering tree. I wanted to play with some different colors and shapes. I've done a couple of other pieces similar to this one and love the blue-greens against the gold leaf.

From this angle you can see the texture and shine of the gold. I'm using metallic gold acrylic to drybrush gold along the edge of the leaf. It softens the edge and makes a good transition between the 2 areas. And it shows off the texture too. Love the texture!

So right after starting this landscape I found an old nest in a tree in my yard. I got on a step stool to get some shots of it to paint from. It was well seated in between the branches so it wasn't easy to take photos.

The next day I decided to see if I could get the nest out of the tree without damaging it. It was tricky but I did it with only losing a couple of little twigs. 

Of course, now I'm dying to paint the new nest!!! It's going to take some discipline to make myself finish the landscape first. If I don't, who knows when I'll get back to it. There are so many nest paintings I want to do- bigger, smaller, different angles, doing some with copper leaf instead of gold.... 

So many paintings- so little time. LOL