Creating Concept Sketches for a Client

In working on these mermaids, I've discovered something rather funny about the way that I work. I tend to just draw my ideas out in my sketchbook and THEN resize them in the computer to fit the proportions of the painting. I'll then add or rework things to make it fit within those proportions. Do you do this? Or do you draw out your proportions first and then create within those parameters?

I have chosen my three concept sketches for my client and have added color to them using some new watercolor pencils that I had purchased awhile back and some prismacolor pencils. I find it's a bit easier using these mediums for such a small piece. (the sketches are only 4" x 5" in order to stay proportional to my 16" x 20" final painting)

 I have sent these on to my client and am now waiting to see which one she chooses. It's always a bit nerve wracking when you send your ideas out for someone else's approval. Will she like them? Or will I be starting over from scratch? I guess that I'll just have to wait and see. Over the years I have at least learned that you need to make sure to only give your client the ideas that you are excited to create. In the past, I would have one that I really wanted to create and would put it in with two that I didn't like as much. In the end, I'd be stuck doing a piece that I wasn't terribly excited about. You can't expect your client to have the same tastes as yourself. In order to make the experience enjoyable for both of you, you must make sure that you are only offering to do paintings that you would be happy working on . The end result will be so much better if it's a piece that you are excited about.

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!!

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!

Busy November!

Good morning everyone! Yet again, I have been remiss in my blogging duties. No matter how much work I do, I never seem to get finished with my to-do list!

Here are some things that have been happening as well as things that are coming up in the future...
The cold that I had when I was writing my last blog post ended up being a super bug from hell. I had the most horrific coughing fits and ended up pulling a muscle in my side and pinched a nerve in my neck because of them! My doctor prescribed an antibiotic, steroid, antihistamine and decongestant all in one fell swoop. I've never been on so many drugs in all my life! Needless to say, each one seemed to have it's own special brand of side effects that ended up making me feel much worse until I finally started to feel like myself again.

ook about 2 weeks out of my life where I barely had the energy to get out of bed let alone go to the day job and get artwork done. However, I still managed to get to my burlesketch sessions. Here are a few drawings from the first one that we had. All of the poses were no more than 20 minutes so you really had to work quickly!

Because of Halloween, the theme was a naughty witch. Very fun to draw!

Some other projects that I have going on right now are about three portrait drawings, one painting and one pair of custom earrings. I am also working as the costume designer for a photo shoot in L.A. that my talented friend, Drew Bates, hired me for. I'll be working long distance helping him with a fun 1950s look.

< If you are going to be in the South Florida area Dec. 2nd and 3rd, I will also be at the Palm Beach Gardens Holiday Art Show. There is always a nice turn out and it should be lots of fun!

I hope to be better about blogging more regularly, but we know how well this usually turns out... Anyway, I hope that you have a fantastic week and I will be sharing some new artwork soon!

Your creatively overwhelmed artsy friend, Rebecca.

A Portrait Drawing and a Painting of Spring

Well I had yet another unexpected day off today. (a result of our tourist season being over with here) I'm sad to not be earning as much money, but grateful for the time to work on my artwork.
Today I worked on a portrait that I have been commissioned to do of a woman's grandson. She just wanted a simple drawing.
I must confess, I haven't done a portrait like this in a very long time. ( or a basic pencil drawing for that matter! )  It felt sort of weird at first, but then ( just as with all of my art) I felt the momentum growing and the interest in the piece as well. I still have a little bit more defining to do, but I'm pretty happy with him at this point.

                                     Something about his eyes hints at the mischievous don't they?

Once I got this far with him, I took the time to work on my painting of Spring for my four seasons series. ( to see Summer, go here) I still have about 2 hours worth of work to do on her, but she's also at a point that I'm pretty happy with. I've been enjoying the challenge of painting flowers like this. Next will be Autumn, where the challenge will be painting leaves. Fun!

      This particular photo was taken with my phone, so I apologize for the crappy photo quality! 
Hoping to have time to write another blog post tomorrow. Until then, have a wonderful night!

Doctors, Tests and Artwork

Don't worry, I haven't forgotten to tell you about my latest doctor's appointment. The truth is, that there isn't much to tell yet. My rather overbearing and gruff Jewish rheumatologist has sent me onward to get more bloodwork done. ( I don't mind really, I'd rather a doctor be thorough than not.) Auto-immune diseases are prevalent on my mother's side so he says that I have a predilection for the genes that cause arthritis and such. However, just having the gene doesn't mean that you will ever develop the disease itself. So the tests are apparently to determine whether I have a disease or simply the genetic makeup to develop the disease. I'm learning all kinds of scientific and medical gargon! Don't I sound smart? Ha ha!
My doctor actually seems to think that I'm pretty healthy. He insists that a large part of my problem is my sleep patterns. I tend to go to bed at around midnight or 1am and then wake up at 7am or so. He has ordered me to go to bed  at 11am and to take melatonin about 20 min beforehand. Well it's night 3 of doing this and I feel that the doctor's "treatment" is making my sleep pattern worse! Night 1 was me tossing and turning all night long. Night 2 I completely woke up at 3am and couldn't get back to sleep until around 5am! Well here it is Night 3 and I'm writing a blog post at 3am. I am sort of fed up with this! I might have only gotten 6 hours of sleep before, but I got 6 HOURS OF SLEEP. Nowadays I might be laying in bed 8 hrs but I seem to be getting less sleep than ever!

Ok, that's enough of my ranting. I apologize. Hee hee hee. Anyway, on to my current artwork. I am finally working on Spring for my Four Seasons series. I have been doing color studies for these since they contain so many various plants and colors and I want to make sure that the composition is right.

I have also done a quick underpainting in browns and am now working on layering in some color.

Lately I have been getting a lot of commissions for portraits! I have about 3 going on right now with the possibility of a fourth! I have to be honest, it's been awhile since I've done an honest-to-goodness portrait of someone and I am worried about it. What if the client doesn't like it? Or think that I've captured "little Johnny" quite right or something? This is why I have avoided them in the past, but lately it's become unavoidable. Oh well. It's a challenge, and I LOVE challenges. :) I'll be sure to share the end results with you.

Until then, have a wonderful weekend and hopefully many pleasant nights and sweet dreams. ♥
Your sleepy, yet awake Rebecca

A Trip to the Louvre

I just wanted to thank everyone for the kind comments regarding my last blog post about my trip to France. I'm so glad that everyone enjoyed my photos!

I didn't really cover my trip to the Louvre in that post because the Louvre definitely deserves a post of it's own. That place is mind boggling with the sheer size of the building and it's quantity of art! It contains more than 380,000 objects and displays 35,000 works of art in eight curatorial departments with more than 652,000 sq ft! It also gets approximately 15,000 visitors a day! I only spent a day there and felt like my head would explode if I took in one more piece of artwork.

I would like to share with you some of my personal favorites that I saw while there.

A Detail of Psyche Revived by Cupid's Kiss by Antonio Canova - one of my favorite Neo-classical sculptures.

   Young Christian Martyr by Paul Delaroche I had never seen this painting before but feel instantly in love with the dramatic composition and lighting. SO beautifully executed.

                           Diana and Actaeon by Francesco Albani
This piece is beautifully executed like most Baroque or Rococo paintings, but I'll tell you WHY I loved it so much. This piece tells the story of the hunter Diana's bath being disturbed when the mortal man, Actaeon,  accidentally stumbles into the scene. She ends up turning him into a deer who is then killed by his friends when they fail to recognize him. Typical tragic story. Diana stands in the center pointing in an accusatory fashion towards the unfortunate Actaeon while her nymphs try vainly to shield her nakedness. Here is the part that I love. Check out the face of the young nymph to the bottom left of Diana's figure. ( Diana is actually resting her foot upon the nymph's thigh) This nymph is shielding herself like the others, but actually has a slight smile on her face. Does she find the whole situation amusing? Is she slightly enamored with the young man? There is a shy, but definitely intriguing look upon this nymphs face and it's HER face that made this painting one of my favorites. I could spend hours just looking upon the story and trying to determine what exactly she might be thinking or feeling.

                  A detail from The Slumber of Titania by Richard Dadd  I've always loved Midsummer Night's Dream and have myself done several pieces depicting Titania asleep. I hadn't even realized that this piece was at the Louvre so I was delighted and surprised when I stumbled across it. The thing that is so unbelievable about this piece is that it is SO SMALL! All of this amazing detail is done in a 25 x 30 inch painting!

Here are a few more that I really love, but can't give credit to because I forgot to write down the title and artist's name. (the Louvre's database is a bit difficult to navigate if all you have are descriptions) If any of you recognize the painting, or artist, PLEASE share it with me so that I can add it under the pieces! Much obliged... :)

             This sculpture depicts Joan of Arc as she hears the voice of God. I love that the artist placed her in a standard dress, but has the foot peeking out from under her dress in armor. It's a lovely sculpture that beautifully tells a story.

 This is a detail from a portrait of a young girl. ( The photo I took of the full piece had some light glare from the window behind me ) The soft light and way in which this piece was painted just stole my heart immediately. I absolutely love it!

     This sculpture just looks so real to me! I love his gnarled, lined face and hands. The amazing folds in his cloak!  He's just beautiful!


A few other shots of the Louvre itself.

                               Being inside the glass pyramids are super cool!

                      The architecture inside the museum is stunning!

                                The ceilings are breathtaking!

 If you would like to take your own tour of the Louvre, you can take a 3-D tour by going to their website. 
I hope that you enjoyed this brief trip to the Louvre!

Thanks for checking out my blog and have a wonderful weekend!

The Terrible, Horrible, No Good , Very Bad Day

I hope that everyone has had a wonderful holiday season this year!

Mine has been pretty good for the most part. My parents have been spending the holidays with my little sister this year which has left me home alone. I had a nice party with some of my dearest friends and my aunt invited me to come down to her house and stay the night Christmas night.Unfortunately I started to get a scratchy throat on my drive down to her house and it's been pretty much downhill from there.

On Monday I sounded like a mix between an 80 yr old smoker and Darth Vader. After taking some mucinex I began feeling even WORSE as that stuff makes you cough up stuff that has been inside of you for decades. It definitely helps knock the chest congestion out, but you begin to wonder if you were really that badly off with that chest congestion. (Breathing is highly overrated after all) Today I slipped down my wooden stairs in my socks and pulled some muscle in my chest that now makes coughing even more uncomfortable. If you are familiar with the wonderful children's book "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" by Judith Viorst then you know where I'm going with this. When crappy things start piling up one after the other, I can't help but think of that book and declare that I'm moving to Australia.

On the positive side, I have been getting a decent amount of rest because I refuse to overdo it until I am 100% better. I am almost finished with my masquerade painting and have begun working on my entry piece for the Polymer Smooshers Guild January Challenge. Pictures will be following soon!

Until then I wish everyone a very safe and happy new year!

Catching Up on Artwork

With the holidays here I've been quite busy between my "real job" and my artwork. So much so that I haven't been very good about keeping up with my blog. I've been producing so much work and haven't been able to really share any of it with you. So here are a few new items that I have recently made for my shop. I am especially pleased with some of my new hair accessories. I recently ordered more supplies and am hoping to do quite a few of them. I have some really great bridal ideas for the upcoming spring season.

                                                        I really love the headbands a lot.

A medium sized barrette that sold at my show. I really love the colors in this one and will probably try to reproduce it once I get my supplies.

Some smaller barrettes that I've been working on.

I have also been reading a lot of fairy tales from around the world. Some of them were from India and as I imagined the lush iridescent silks, brilliant colors and beautiful embroidery I created these pendants.

I had a personal goal to list 100 items on my etsy shop and recently reached it! I'm so proud of myself! It's been extremely hard getting that many pieces up while working full-time. As a reward for my perseverance (something I've struggled with in the past) I have begun working on some pieces that I've wanted to do for awhile. One of them is a series of masquerade paintings. I LOVE masks and have always wanted to do some illustrations/paintings of them. I have just begun my first one. It feels like I haven't done a painting in forever so I'm feeling a bit rusty. I'm just so happy to be painting again though that I don't really care about the end result. So far I am decently happy with how it's going. I'll definitely share the end result once it's done.

This is the inital sketch that I did in my sketchbook.

Still lots of work to go...

Rough Night, Worse Day, But Something Nice to Show in the End.

Last night, a little after midnight, I got a creative itch that wouldn't stop. I knew that this was a big one and that no sleep would come until I had satisfied this late night urge to create. So I sat down at my drafting table and went to work. The only problem is that after I was done, my brain was super stimulated and I spent the rest of my night desperately trying to sleep while visions of artwork not yet created danced on the insides of my eyelids. When I woke up, I received a nasty surprise as I discovered that an ex-friend of mine had decided to attack my artwork on a public portfolio page with over a dozen nasty comments. He also decided to post my address and phone number all over the comments as well. Pretty sure that this isn't legal. Also not sure how this man thinks that this is anything other than extreme loser behavior since I haven't spoken to him since last Thanksgiving. Definitely a bit more than pathetic.

Not the best way to start the day.

Overall, I've had a pretty rough night and day, but I'm excited to share the small ACEOs that I created last night during that feverish burst of creativity. I also worked on a small painting of some zinnias picked from my parent's garden, but it still needs about another hour or so of work before I'll be ready to show it.

" Sisters " ~ 2.5" x 3.5" Watercolor and ink

"The Blue Flower " ~ 2.5" x 3.5" Watercolor and ink



Has anyone else out there ever gotten a creative itch that just wouldn't stop? Have you discovered, as I have, that the internet is a lovely place to meet lovely people but also a terrifying playground for psychopaths? Just wondering...