Love Heart

Love Heart - 3 x 3 miniature canvas

Love Heart - Mixed Media Miniature Painting new in my Etsy Shop

A bit on 30 Paintings in 30 Days. I over estimated my ability to get paintings done while traveling. Which isn't a surprise. :) However, I may be able to 30 paintings in 45 days. *she says hopefully* 

Once I get home and am able to actually finish what I have started. We'll see. 

Sharing today with the folks at Paint Party Friday, hosted by Kristin and Eva. 

What's in my Studio...

We're still traveling. The art desk where I'm working right now is the coffee table in the condo we're renting. Here's a shot of a painting in progress: 

Colors aren't true, but you can get an idea. I'm quite enjoying my Peerless Water Colors, which are so convenient for traveling and using with my water brush. Of course, that doesn't mean I left my other travel set at home... it's here too, just not at use today. 

Also wanted to share a bit of the trades and goodies I acquired at the ARTzona retreat this past weekend. 

I had a wonderful time visiting with familiar friends, and meeting some "old" online friends in person for the first time. What a delight! And of course, met a lot of new folks as well. Most of the folks I've traded with at some time or another on atcsforall.com. It's such fun being in a room full of artists and taking in the creative atmosphere. 

One more shot... of my Etsy work station while on the road. Laptop is with me and I've been conducting business as we go along. I have orders from both shops to mail as soon as we arrive home. :)

Sharing my traveling workspaces with Julie's What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday. 

Little paintings

Playing around with little watercolor paintings while we're traveling. I'm in Mesa, AZ to attend ARTzona - an art retreat hosted by my friend Trina. Our first pre-retreat event is a hike at Usery Park this afternoon, timed to coincide with the sunset. My camera will be in tow and I hope to have some lovely photos to share.

These two paintings are finished, of the several in various stages in my kit. Lot's of rough sketches to convert if I'm able to concentrate.

I am still working slowly on my 30 paintings to be completed by the end of January. Traveling has interrupted the flow a bit and we'll see if I can "get 'er done".  That is my catch phrase for the year, by the way. "Get 'er done." Usually it's prefaced with "suck it up princess". :) I got that phrase from a mentor years ago. Suck it up Princess; get 'er done! Ha!

Hope your week is going well!

Sharing with the lovely artists at Paint Party Friday, hosted by Eva and Kristen.  Do take a peek to see what wonderful art they have created this week. 

What's in my Studio...Lap

My work desk while traveling to Arizona is my lap... as we're driving along. These pages have bits of things to remember and a sketch of some of the scenery along the way. I plan to watercolor this sketch and made little notes on the side to remember the colors. You can't see the sketch very well, unfortunately. 

Check out what others have on their work desk at Julie's What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday.

No Right Answer

Art has no right answer. The best we can hope for is an interesting answer.

Seth Godin / The Icarus Deception

Stained Glass-look Owl
Artist Trading Card

I have an artist friend who "disdains" the use of tracing in their art.  I say horse feathers! Use whatever helps you create your own original art. 

4 Owl Artist Trading Cards
Twinkling H2O Watercolor
#14, 15, 16, 17

These owls were all traced onto the ATC from a drawing I made using a picture as a guide. The rest was free hand. I wanted to mimic the stained glass look. They are headed to ARTzona as part of my ATC for trade, along with the original (top) that was entered into the monthly contest on atcsforall.com.  

I couldn't show these last four when I created them in early January as voting was happening, however they are considered paintings #14 - 17 of the "30 Paintings in 30 Days" challenge. Tiny paintings count and besides, these owls were addicting. :) 

Happy Wednesday! 

What's in My Studio

A painting while in progress on my studio table. 

Three Orange Flowers - nearly finished

I've been asked to hang a few of my paintings at Giuseppe's Al Porto for the next couple of months beginning January 15th! Cool!  This painting will be one of them.

Three Orange Flowers - 8 x 10 (#13)
Print available

Another painting on the same theme, finished Sunday. 

Two Orange Flowers 6x8 (#12)

These are paintings #12 & 13 for the "30 Paintings in 30 Days" challenge. I'm not going to be able to continue this technique in a few days, as we'll be traveling. Back to watercolor sketches until we are settled again for a few days. :)

What are you working on this week? 

Check out what others have on their work desk at

Love is...

Heart (#11)
Oil Pastel on Watercolor Paper

“Love is not something we give or get; it is something that we nurture and grow, a connection that can only be cultivated between two people when it exists within each one of them – we can only love others as much as we love ourselves.”

–Brene Brown

Catching up

It's been a bit of a crazy week... the old too much to do, to little time syndrome. Although I am getting caught up on the "30 paintings in 30 days" challenge hosted by Leslie Saeta, and even working to get a bit ahead.

The following series of spring flowers were created with Twinkling H2o Watercolors by LuminArt. I bought these some time ago, and re-discovered them last week. I have found that they do not give the effect I prefer on the gesso texture backgrounds. Experimentation is fun, even when things don't turn out the way I wish. The first three are watercolor over gesso, the fourth is a watercolor.

Snowdrop (#7)

Purple Crocus (#8)

Blue/Purple Salvia (#9)

Purple Spires ACEO (#10)

I'm having a hard time getting photos that show the true color. The two blue/purple flowers are actually both a darker purple. I'm not sure if the iridescent paints are causing the color loss, or if it's just the low light this time of year. I'll keep tweaking it. 

Still working on other canvases, including a few that I started some time ago and haven't quite finished. I'll have more to show soon!

Hope your week is going well!

Sharing with Paint Party Friday, hosted by Eva and Kristen. 

What's in my Studio

What's in my studio this week? 

Studio work surface - with the remnants of the recent a-thon on atcsforall.com and beginnings of trades for the upcoming ARTzona retreat in Mesa January 25-27. Oh my, I'm getting so excited!  I plan to finish a few more beeswax and paper napkin ATC's for trading there. 

Using the lap desk to paint as I watch movies in the evening with my husband. 

That counts as a work desk, right? 

Thirty Paintings #5 &  6 - ACEO's using Twinkling H2O's. 

Lot's of other things in progress... I just need uninterrupted time in my studio. Hard to come by these days, it seems. :) 

Sharing late in the day with: 

30 Paintings Update...

I was a bit waylaid with a husband unexpectedly in the hospital the past few days.  He's home now and going to be fine (and we've met our yearly deductible. o.O). However while I have a couple of small things started, I did not finish any paintings and am totally exhausted so it won’t happen tonight.

I do, however, have some new ideas inspired by interesting textures around the hospital.
I hope to work on the smaller paintings tomorrow, and also get started on the new ideas. I remind myself that the goal is to have 30 completed paintings in 30 days, not to finish a painting each and every day.

Some of the paintings I create take a couple of days with all the drying times required between layers. I usually have a few going at a time just for that reason.

So... a question for you:
Do you take random photographs in strange places of patterns and odd things to remind yourself of creative ideas?
:)

Day 2 of Thirty Paintings

My goal for the "30 Paintings in 30 Days" is twofold - to created a cohesive body of work for potential solo art shows, and to complete several barely started or nearly finished paintings lingering about my studio.

Since I did not have a newly completed painting when I posted yesterday, here are two that were completed by last evening.

Day 1 - Blue Flowers

Day 2 - Sunflower

Both paintings are watercolor over textured gesso - a technique I learned from Carla Sonheim.

Sharing with Paint Party Friday, hosted by Eva and Kristen. 

First Day of 30 Paintings in 30 Days

Low Tide - Abstract Landscape

This painting was actually finished early December. However, it has just been listed in my Etsy Shop today.

It's early and I have a lot of today left to work on the paintings in my studio. More tomorrow on what I accomplished today.

Happy New Year!