An Unruly Haired Fairy

My sketches have been taking me a bit longer these days. I just find myself getting lost in details, but I'm so happily lost that I can't really get angry with myself.
It's much like losing oneself in the woods, because you are enjoying the wildflowers growing underfoot or the various wildlife that you see scurrying about.
It sort of reminds me of my childhood when I would spend hours playing in the woods while imagining all of the fantastical fairy creatures that I just knew were hiding from me at that very moment. My latest 'adventure in the woods' brought about this sketch of a rather unruly haired fairy.

I think that she and I would have gotten along quite well. (especially when I was a child)

New Sketches for the Week!

This week's 'Sketch A Day' project has been pretty productive. In the past, I've had a hard time finding the time or energy after my day job to sketch anything. This week I was pretty good about doing something everyday. It's sort of funny though. My week started with me just drawing from my head. Then it was drawing from my head, but inspired by events in my life and by the end of the week I was just drawing from events in my life. This is why I'm loving this project though. It allows me the freedom to just draw whatever comes into my head or inspires me at the time without any sort of constraints. I've also stopped doing my sketches solely in pen and ink and have added watercolors into the mix.

 

Fairies have been a common theme amongst my sketches, but this one has more of a Jane Austin feel about her. Probably due to all of the Jane Austin books I've been indulging in. ;)

 

May 5th, 2014

 

Two of my friends had babies within hours of each other so it only seemed natural that my 'sketch of the day' be inspired by them. Their daughter's names are Winnie and Violet and I drew this sketch as a way of celebrating this happy occasion and welcoming them into our world. This was also my first time attempting to draw a baby and I'm surprisingly happy with the way she turned out. :)

 

May 6th, 2014

 

 

I saw some ducklings playing in the water the other day and took a million photos to capture them.

Once I started drawing them, I realized that I would really like to add color, so I changed my definition of 'sketching' to include watercolors. :)

These two siblings were hiding underneath the lily pads and I just thought that they were too cute!

May 8th, 2014

This little guy had a lot of character. It was really a lot of fun drawing these sweet little bundles of fluff and webbed feet! I just might end up drawing a few more of them...

May 9th, 2014

 

 

 

I haven't seen a blue jay in our neighborhood in years, but I saw this one the other day in my backyard and just had to draw him. The colors of his plumage take my breath away. Nature is so incredible!

 

May 11th, 2014

What sorts of things have been inspiring you this week? Has spring brought about a return of some of your favorite flora or fauna?

Etsy Featured Artist: Olivyea

I am often stumbling across inspiration when clicking through the internet and have decided to share some of these discoveries with my faithful readers.

Etsy is a wonderful place to find inspirational pieces by some truly amazing artists and artisans. While 'taking a stroll' amongst Etsy's wares I came across the shop Olivyea (artist name Danielle Olivyea Christian ) Her works are definitely inspired by the impressionists with a few pieces moving more into pointillism.

This is the piece that first caught my eye. I absolutely LOVE her use of color and the way that she's captured the light here is beautiful.

 

She's also not afraid be more abstract and allow the light to take center stage

 

Here is a piece that definitely appears to be more inspired by the pointillists, but her love of light and color are still clearly visible even as she plays around with her brushstrokes.

Not very many of the paintings in her shop have people in them. Of the pieces that do, I personally like this one the best. I love her use of aerial perspective. I've stated that she's never afraid to allow things to get more abstract and that's true of the background in this piece as well.

 

 

If you love color and light, then painting a sunset seems like a pretty natural subject to be drawn to. I'm again drawn to her lovely use of color to capture this.

 

 

I would love to hear what you think about Danielle's work so please feel free to share! :)

Did you enjoy this blog post? Would you like me to continue posting features on various artists and artisans?

 

To see more of Danielle's work, check out her shop at https://www.etsy.com/shop/Olivyea?ref=pr_shop_more When you do, be sure to click on her profile page as well. Her bio is as inspiring as her work!

 

You can read more on impressionism by going to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impressionism

You can read more on pointillism by going to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointillism

 

Practice Makes Perfect

I remember back in college, we had a speaker come to talk about being a professional artist. One of my fellow students asked him what advice he could bestow on all of us. He said that if you would like to be good at something, then you need to practice it all the time. If you'd like to be better at drawing hands, then keep a journal just for hands and draw in it every single day. This wasn't necessarily profound advice, but it still managed to have a profound effect on the students who heard it. Many of us went out and purchased new sketchbooks and used them to better ourselves on whatever subject we felt we were lacking in.

Now, years later, I am finally putting this into practice again. I'm not focusing on a particular subject matter, but I am forcing myself to sketch something each and every day. There are no rules as to what the sketch has to be about, but typically I give myself only about 30 min to create it. Some days I'll be inspired to create something from my head, while other days I'll be short on ideas and will therefore devote my sketch time to observing something around me. I expect that some of these sketches will be good and some will be downright terrible, but I'm not going to allow myself to focus on these things. I'm only focusing on the act of creating and allowing whatever comes of it to remain as it is.

My goal with this is to keep the creative juices flowing so-to-speak. I would like to make sure that I continue to grow as an artist each and every day. So ensuring that I am creating something each and every day (no matter how small it may be) seems like a good way to do that.

I'm calling it my Sketch-A-Day Series and have added 5 sketches so far. I'm looking forward to adding each days' piece as they are finished.

Here are some of my sketches so far...

 

March 20,2014- A sketch I did while at work on my birthday.

 

March 21,2014- A concept sketch for my next painting

 

March 22, 2014

 

March 23,2014- some sketches I did while attending a musical concert at my church

 

March 24,2014

What do you do to keep yourself in tip top shape? If you could give advice to someone wishing to pursue your line of work, what would it be?

Making Art Usable

Some artists are what I would consider 'purists'. They only want their artwork in it's original state. They turn their noses up when customers ask them if they offer their artwork in prints or card form and scoff and take insult when customers ask if they've considered turning their art into textiles. To an extent, I can understand the mentality of these artists. I see that they fear diminishing the value of their work by transforming it into cheaper versions of itself. However, I also see this as stubborn foolishness. When a customer is asking you if you offer prints, they aren't meaning insult. They love your artwork, but can't afford one of your originals. I don't know about you, but I WANT people who love my art to be able to have some of it.

If this isn't enough of a reason, then there are always the financial benefits to consider. When you are a purist, you will only earn whatever that piece of artwork is sold for and you only earn money from your art IF that piece is sold. However, if you aren't a purist, then you will earn whatever that piece sells for as well as earnings from the sale of prints, shirts, etc. You don't have to wait for your original piece to sell in order to begin earning money on the artwork that you have created. There is a limitless income to be earned as long as you keep that image in production. Considering that museums these days offer prints, cards, glasses cases, umbrellas, etc with the works of some of the greatest artists in the history of mankind on them, how can any artist in this day and age consider their artwork ' too good' for the same type of consumer products?

There are many websites that allow artists to make their artwork accessible to clients in a variety of forms. One of my personal favorites is www.society6.com They keep the integrity of the artwork while allowing the artist to transform their artwork into prints, cards, t-shirts, iphone covers, etc.

' Fairy Kisses'  ipad Skin

'Little Mermaid' iphone cover

Most recently, society6 has begun to create throw pillows. I am very excited with this idea. I understand that in this economy, people WANT artwork, but they would prefer to have it in a usable form rather than purchasing something that will just hang on their walls.

When creating these pillows, you have to provide Society6 with a high resolution image that is at least 3500 x 3500 pixels square. I have created some pillows using my latest Four Seasons series.

                                                                      
                                                                        'Autumn'

                                                                           'Summer'

' Winter'

                                                                             'Spring'

Aren't these fun? I can just imagine rearranging these on your couch or bed and playing with which season goes where...

What are your thoughts on making your artwork accessible in a variety of forms? Are you more of a purist? Or do you embrace this new way of selling artwork? If you are a purist I would LOVE to hear your reasons for being so. I truly want to better understand this type of mindset. I have spoken to several purists at a variety of art shows, but they weren't able to voice their reasons very well.

Hope that everyone is having a wonderful week!!

Wearable Art Runway Show

For the past five weeks I have spent over 200 hours working on a project for the Armory Art Center's Fashion Artillery Show. (a wearable art runway show) The theme of the show was Daydreams and Nightscapes. As I mulled over the two I decided to go with Daydreams. Daydreaming essentially consists of a person dreaming about the things that they might wish for. You might daydream about being famous, or beautiful, or rich, etc. Once I had taken it to this point, I began to ponder the ways that we might make a wish. (blowing out candles, wishing on a shooting star, etc) In the end, I chose the act of throwing a penny in a fountain and making a wish. As I often daydream about living in a bygone era, I chose a retro look for this dress. This is how my dress, 'Throw A Penny, Make A Wish' was born.

The Armory Art Center requires that you provide them with your idea and concept sketches in order for them to accept you into the show.

My initial sketches were quite rough. I originally intended to create the piece out of photographs. ( Photographs of things that people would wish for, mixed with photos of water)

A clear plastic with pennies would create an overlay.

As I contemplated the logistics of the dress, I came up with the idea of drilling holes in pennies so that I could lace up the back. Knowing that the weight of this dress would be considerable, I also devised a possible strap option if this should be needed.

 

 

My finalized concept sketch for 'Throw A Penny, Make a Wish'

 

Once my design was accepted into the show, the hard part began. I had to actually MAKE this piece. I also learned something that I hadn't known before. We would be required to attend a dress rehearsal as well as actually walking this piece down a runway. Once I knew that this piece had to last through essentially TWO shows, I decided to toss my original idea of working with paper. I have both worked with and worn paper clothing in the past and I didn't feel that this medium would last through two nights. While figuring out the actual logistics of this piece, I also didn't think that there was a way to make the paper sturdy enough to hold up the weight of the pennies. So I had to do some revisions to my design and decided upon muslin as my base medium instead. I chose this because it's essentially a blank canvas. My 'wish images' would be created using image transfers and I would create the watery look that  I wanted using paints.

 

 

 

The finished underdress pattern in muslin.

 

I thought that I would be able to drape my piece on a dressform,but couldn't find a dressform to borrow or rent in time. Therefore I had to create my dress by creating a flat pattern. It was essential that the piece be VERY fitted as I wanted it to be strapless and it would be carrying quite a bit of weight with all of those pennies.  I decided to model my own dress out of necessity. I didn't have a dressform, so to ensure that it would fit correctly, I had to be my dressform. It's sort of difficult to pin a dress when it's on yourself but somehow I managed it.

 

                                Once I had the dress fitting snuggly enough, I dismantled it so that I could begin creating the surface painting and transfers. I had never worked with image transfers in the past so I took great care to do alot of practice runs beforehand. I used gel medium for these transfers and found it to be a rather inaccurate science. Some transfers would come out quite well and others not so much... I created a fun ombre look using acrylic paints. It was exhausting painting so much material but I enjoyed having so much control. By handpainting the piece I could be very specific about where I applied the darker blues and where I applied my green and gold tones. To help give myself a more hourglass shape, I applied darker blues at my waist and hem so that those areas would recede to the eye.

 

The hardest part of this project was the pennies. I had originally thought that I could sew the pennies into the plastic with my sewing machine. I sandwiched the plastic with tissue paper thinking that this would help to keep it from sticking on my machine's feeders and foot. Sadly this wasn't the case. After much trial and error I came to the rather horrifying conclusion that I would have to sew all of the plastic components by hand.  So I creating a sewing pattern with the tissue paper, mapping out all of the sewing lines like a grid and began sewing the pennies in by hand.

 

 

After I finished the bodice pieces and added the muslin drape, I worked on the 'peplum'. (again by hand)

 

                                                       The finished dress and peplum.
                               

                                    My original idea of lacing up the back was kept. I had my dad drill some holes in the center of pennies so that I could lace up the back. I like the use of the pennies because it doesn't interrupt the flow of the top as traditional grommets would have.


To see some backstage photos from this show as well as some video from the runway show, stay tuned!! I'll be posting a continuation of this post tomorrow! Hope that you've enjoyed this post and have a great day!

 

Renting Art- Yea or Nay?

Back in October I read an article in the New York Times entitled "Gallerists to the People" by William Grimes. ( just goes to show you how busy I have been that I'm only NOW getting to writing this blog post on it)

This article described the latest arts venture by Alex Tryon and Scott Carleton,  whimsically entitled "Artsicle" . They are revolutionizing the art world by allowing art lovers to rent and/or purchase artwork. That's right. You can RENT artwork now. Starting at a mere $25 a month you can rent a painting and keep it for as long as you would like. If you choose to keep it, you can purchase the piece.
While the thought of having my artwork shipped all over the place gives me the sweats ( I've seen some massively abused packages in my day) this idea really excites and interests me. Galleries are often quite stuffy and escalate the cost of the artwork well beyond what the artist would typically ask for.
I myself am not a huge fan of entering most art galleries as I prefer going to art fairs where one can see the art in a less intimidating way and can even speak with the artist.

Having an online gallery is nice because you view the art at your leisure. There is even a curator that you can chat with on their website. Renting the art is an appealing idea because it allows you to experience the piece and live with it without having to actually commit to it. Art is expensive, plain and simple. It's difficult for the average person to buy original art. It's why I try to make prints available for my most of my pieces. While $25 a month might not be doable for everyone, it's definitely cheaper than purchasing an original piece of artwork outright. If you get a bonus, or come across some extra money, you can purchase the piece if you love it so much. The artist gets 50% of the rental price and 70% of the sale price, which is huge considering that most galleries generally take between 40% and even 60% of the sales. This seems like a win win for everyone involved. The artist has the possibility of earning even more money on their work as it could be rented multiple times by multiple collectors before it is actually sold. The artist can also feel a certain amount of satisfaction that their work is going to someone who has had time to truly fall in love with their piece before buying it. No impulse buys here.

I personally hope that this idea takes off with others. I believe that Artsicle, as a New York based business, is generally supporting New York based artists, so I would love to see more nationally or internationally based websites pop up with this concept. I think that it would be exciting if  art collecting went  in this direction as it makes art much more inclusive and accessible rather than exclusive and elitist.

What are some of your thoughts or feelings on this? Do you view this as a positive direction for art? Would you consider renting your artwork or renting the artwork of others? What negatives do you forsee with this?

My Latest Art Project!!

I have been working hard creating a bra for an exhibit at a local gallery. The exhibition is called Artybra and involves lots of fun and unique bras created by the local artists here. Each bra will be auctioned off at the end of the exhibition and the proceeds will go to a local breast cancer center. I'm so excited to have been able to participate in this event as I love being able to help others with my art! Here is a quick video that I created showing my piece. I plan on doing a more in depth blog post showing my process from the original concept sketches to the finished product so stay tuned!!

Hope that everyone is having a wonderful beginning of the new year!

New Facebook Giveaway

Just wanted to share some exciting news. My facebook fan page has been growing and is now at nearly 200 followers! Once I reach 200 followers, I am celebrating by having a giveaway! You must be a fan of my page to participate, so if you aren't already, please go here and "like" my page. If you are an artist and have a FB fan page of your own, feel free to post a link to it on my page. My page isn't just about my work, it's about sharing the work of others. It's essentially an arm of this blog. I always strive to share exciting artistic finds that I stumble across. Whether it's the artwork of masters come and gone, or the work of artists and artisans who are up and coming. My main goal is to inspire others.

I have recently signed up to take an open drawing session entitled Burlesketch. I am SOOO excited! I am assuming that they were inspired by Dr. Sketchy's Anti-Art School, where they often draw burlesque models and such. I have always loved figure drawing and am excited to try something different while still honing my skills. The classes begin in mid-October, but I will be sure to post some of my drawings/paintings here for you to see.
If you research Dr. Sketchy you will come across all sorts of lovely work. One of my favorite drawings is by Audrey Kawasaki.

Whether it's corsets, bras or pasties, I'm sure that it's going to be lots of fun! 

Using the Body as a Canvas

As an artist, I suppose it's only natural that I should love makeup. I'm like a kid in a candy store whenever I encounter a Sephora store. It feels as if I'm walking into an art supply megastore. Waking up in the morning, my favorite thing to do is to choose what my palette is going to be for the day and then paint my face with it. Just as I use a plethora of colors and brushes to create my paintings, so do I use a plethora of brushes and colors to apply makeup to my face. (it doesn't look as bad as it sounds, I promise! ) I pay attention to values, tones, etc. I'm not sure if all women enjoy this, or if it's just me being a bit of a weirdo.

I think that many women view applying makeup as a necessary evil and fail to see it as a fun thing to do. We also often fail to view this as a creative exercise and an artistic one as well. However, makeup is a pretty amazing medium to work with. With it, we can completely alter the look of our face, body, etc. Our noses can look narrower, wider, smaller. Our eyes can look sultry or large and doe-like. Our mouths can appear to be full and pouty, bow shaped, tight-lipped, etc. It's amazing what some carefully placed highlights can do! I haven't even gone into the amazing creations that FX makeup artists are able to do!

Here is an example where an artist has blurred the line between art and fashion. Makeup, painting, photography, you name it.

Her name is Ragen Mendenhall and her work is truly inspiring

After she has created these beautiful works of art on the human body, she creates elaborate backgrounds and photographs them. Here are a few of my favorites.

 The photographs are so beautifully composed that you can forget that they are a photograph and mistake them for a painting. I also love the way she has incorporated her background and headpieces into her body paintings. They remind me of my years as a costume designer. When working on a production, you are essentially working to bring the director's vision to the stage/ screen. It's as if you are the hands of the artist and the artist is the director. I miss this collaboration. In the end, you would often end up with something like this. Where the lighting, set and costumes move seamlessly in and out of each other.

If you would like to view more of Ragen's work, you can go to her website
If you would like to see more of Ragen's artwork and photographs that are for sale, you can go to her etsy shop.

Hope that you have been inspired and that you have a wonderful night!!

Transferring Images onto Polymer

I'm sorry that it's taken me so long to write this post. I've been keeping pretty busy these days with my day job and my more artistic "night job". I went to the rheumatologist to get the results from my blood work. I do not have an auto immune disease. An auto immune disease would be something like arthritis, lupis, scleroderma, etc. Actually, Venus Williams was recently diagnosed with an auto immune disease. I do have the genetic makeup to develop something in the future, but I am relieved that I haven't developed anything at this time. The aches in my hands have improved since the doctor told me to get a bit more sleep so that's no longer a worry. Instead I have been diagnosed with flat feet and wonky knees due to the muscles keeping my kneecaps in place being weak. Anyone know of shoes with good arch support? Hahaha!

Anyway, to celebrate this good news I have completed a new video. In it I show you how you can transfer an image onto polymer clay. Once you have transferred the image you can create a pendant, brooch,etc.
Here are a few examples:

   This brooch was made using an original drawing that I xeroxed, colored with colored pencils, transferred and then painted with acrylics and mica powders before varnishing and adding the decorative frame.

         The wings on this fairy brooch are actually created using an original colored pencil drawing that has been transferred onto polymer and then painted with mica powders and varnished. The rest of the sculptural pieces were then added afterwards.

To see how you can create your own wearable art, watch my video.





If you enjoy this, please subscribe to my channel! Have a splendiferous evening! ♥

Exciting News and New Art!

For those of you who follow my blog, you may recall my blog post about the Handmade Artists' Shop and their giveaway for a free shop for life. Well, I'm amazed to say that I won!! I am still sort of in shock because I never win anything (seriously), but I am just thrilled as can be! I have already set up my shop page and am slowly but surely adding items to it. Right now I am focusing on getting my jewelry up first, but soon it will also have prints of my original art as well as some original items. I am just so excited! I had been wanting to start a shop there, but just couldn't see adding another art-related expense at this moment. What a blessing!
Anyway, in other news, my painting of Spring is finally finished.

I have really been loving researching and painting flowers for these past two paintings. ( to see my finished painting of Summer, click here )

My original painting is available at my etsy shop. 10% of the proceeds will go to UNICEF.
I am always dedicated to helping those less fortunate than myself and feel blessed to be able to use my God given gifts for the benefit of others whenever possible.
Some VERY nice fine art prints are also available on society6

Now that Spring is finally done, it's time to work on Autumn. All of the research I've done on leaves, mums, etc has really put me in the mood for some cooler weather! Sadly it's still pretty hot here...

 I have completed my Autumn color study and am just now starting to begin work on the final painting. Looking forward to sharing her with you!


I have recently discovered some really terrific artists and am looking forward to sharing their work with you in the near future. Until then, have a fantastic day!

A Day in Pictures

I wanted to write this blog post last night but I was just too tired. Yesterday I decided to take advantage of my phone's camera and take pictures of things throughout my day. Sometimes it's a
nice to do thing because it makes even the smallest things have more importance.
My day started off sort of late as a result of me trying to get more sleep, per my doctor's orders. I actually haven't had as much joint pain in my hands, so he may have something there... (here's hoping!)
When I have a day off, I love taking the time to make myself a cup of tea.
There is something so comforting about it that I can't imagine a bad day ever following something so nice.

                                             Earl Grey with cream and sugar. Yum!

After doing some housework, I did some work in my garden. My orchids are in bloom right now and looking so pretty! I love when I see buds on them because most of the time I can't remember which orchids are which. It's always a nice surprise to see what color or shape they are when they bloom. :)
People think that I have a green thumb because of my orchids, but really it's just because they don't need much work. If I forget about them (which I frequently do) they don't try to punish me by being wilting drama queens.

My jasmine, on the other hand, needs constant attention as it is continually trying to strangle the other plants. No matter how often I trim it back, within a week it's back to not playing nicely with the other plants. Oh well. It's once a year bloom-fest makes it worth the work. LOVE the way it looks and smells!

Even though it's not blooming right now, I always take pictures of it when it IS blooming so that I can remind myself of why it's worth the work. Now if only I could figure out a way to bottle up it's aroma!

After trimming the plants outside, it was time to work on my bonsai trees inside. My one ficus tree is doing so nicely! I love bonsai because it's so much fun to imagine being a small little person playing in their boughs or enjoying some shade underneath them. They can be such perfect little miniatures.  It's like a forest in your house!

Yes those are Nightmare before Christmas figurines that you are seeing under my bonsai tree. :)

I really want to add some moss underneath this one, but I'm not sure how to go about cultivating it. Does anyone know how to go about doing this?

After my indoor and outdoor gardening was done, I spent some time with a dear friend of mine where we enjoyed some red wine and played with her cat, Lilly. Her cat cracks me up. I've rarely seen a cat with so much personality. If she's unhappy with you, ooooo can she give some looks!

                                                                           Salut!

                               I love her stripes and cute little pink nose!

On my way home I saw the most beautiful sunset. I just HAD to take a picture of it so that you could see (despite being in the middle of driving. HAHAHAHA) Sunsets are so inspiring. I hope to get a painting done of it one day when I have a bit of a break in-between paintings.

Anyway, that was pretty much my day in a photo album. What would your day look like if you took pictures throughout it? Even if it's just sitting at a computer most of the day, take the time to get creative and find beauty in the mundane. I'll do another one of these someday soon of a less interesting day and see how creative I can be. :)

Until my next blog post, enjoy yourself and the world around you! ♥