Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Highlights from Paris

I am finally back from my trip to France. It was a wonderful experience immersing myself in a different culture. Come with me on a quick trip to France as I share some of the highlights of my trip.


              The stained glass dome ceiling of Galleries Lafayette

      The Beauty of Parisian Architecture (especially the roof tops)

                                  The Gothic Grandeur of St. Eustace

                              Quaint Medieval towns with Castles

                                French Desserts! Ooh La La!

                                 The Eiffel Tower at Night

                             A Walk Along the Seine River

                          The Romance of Paris at Night

                          The Rose Windows at Notre Dame

                               Monet's Garden in Giverny

                      The Louvre (highlights of my visit to come soon)

                           The Opulence of Versailles

                    My Favorite Fountain. A Fallen Giant in Versailles

                        The Stained Glass Splendor of St. Chapelle

   Spiral Staircases, Spiral Staircases and MORE Spiral Staircases

                                       Fashion in Paris

                                       Old vs New

                            Awesome Street Entertainment

I hope that you enjoyed your brief trip to France! I'll be sharing some my sketches/ paintings from the trip as well as pics of my favorite artwork from the Louvre, d'Orsay, etc in upcoming blog posts. Stay tuned!

Have a wonderful week and thanks for visiting! :)
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Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Painting in Progress

I leave tomorrow to go to France with my family. I have never been and am excited to immerse myself completely in all that art and culture! I'm also grateful that I've been given this amazing opportunity to be with my family. It will be wonderful to be able to share all of this with them.

I am hoping to be able to keep up with this blog while I'm gone,but as I'm not sure about the internet/computer situation over there, I felt that it would be smart to post something now before I leave. This is the current painting that I am working on. Perhaps it is because of my little sister having a little girl of her own, but I've definitely been finding myself drawn towards the pure, beautiful love that a mother has for her child. Either that or my "biological clock" is finally ticking.... yeah, right! Hahahaha! Anyway, I've been doing a lot of mother/child related sketches in my sketchbook and have finally taken one of them and am bringing it to fruition. I have always wanted to work on wood, but never really gave it a chance. This is my first time working on it and I'm really loving it! It feels so much more natural to me than painting on canvas.

Here are some quick mother/daughter sketches that I have done in my sketchbook.


Here are some images from the painting I am currently working on.


 I'm having a lot of fun with this one and am sort of sad to be going on my trip right now, only because it's inevitably going to effect the momentum that I've worked up with this piece. C'est la vie!

I wish everyone the very best and hope that you have a wonderful June! See you again in two weeks! (sooner if I can.... )
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Friday, June 3, 2011

Medium vs Value

Should a piece of art's medium dictate the value of a finished piece? This is a question that I have been asking myself a lot lately. I have noticed (especially at art and craft shows) that people will often be drawn towards my work. However, once they find out that my medium is polymer, they casually toss it on the table as if it no longer has any value. I have been quite baffled by this response. An artist who works in precious metals will have pieces with an initial value simply because of the medium used, however I don't think that their work should be regarded as more valuable than something made of a different medium. A simple pair of silver hoops can be melted down for their silver but they shouldn't have more value than a piece of art jewelry made from humbler beginnings of clay or beads. Every artist must take into consideration the cost of materials and the time spent when determining the cost of the finished piece. The archival quality of the piece must also be considered. An artist who works in pencil or charcoal will typically charge less for their work than someone working in oils. However, I don't think that the difference in medium should determine whether the piece of art holds any value. When purchasing a piece of art, you aren't paying for the medium(s) used. You are paying for what the artist has CREATED with those mediums. Here are some examples of what can be done with some humbler materials...paint on cardboard,  a pencil and paper, some beads, a bit of clay and most importantly, a lot of talent and imagination ...

                                               
                                                  
Toulouse Lautrec- oil painted on cardboard


                                        
                                             

J.W. Waterhouse study for Hylas and the Nymphs.
                              
                                 
                                         
Sun Face Goddess Necklace by Beaded Art Jewelry


                                          

Citron Ruffle Collar by Elise Winters- polymer clay

These are pieces that are beautiful and inspiring. They show that value of art lies not in the medium but in the talent within the artist's hands.

Thanks for reading and have a wonderful week!
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Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Bohemian Rhapsody

Here is a recent treasury that I created for etsy. Perhaps I'm just the stereotypical bohemian artist, but I just can't help but love all of the textures, patterns and colors in these amazing pieces! I hope that they inspire you as much as they did me!  Enjoy! :)

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Monday, May 23, 2011

New Etsy Shop is Open!

I am excited to announce that my new etsy shop, Jewels of Enchantment, is finally open! 
Almost all of my current jewelry will be moved to this shop.




Within the next month or so,  Phoenix Art Studio will begin to only carry fantasy related jewelry and art.



Please visit my new shop! I would love to hear opinions, suggestions, comments, etc.
Have a wonderful week everyone!
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Wednesday, May 18, 2011

New pieces for Co-op 28 Handmade!

I've finally finished almost all of the pieces that I'm creating for Co-op 28 Handmade in Los Angeles. I thought that I'd share some of them with you.
                                           I really like this pair of earrings a lot!

                                            Some bold, statement earrings...

                                             I'm loving the art nouveau feeling of this drape necklace!

                                     I was so happy when I found the leafy connectors for this necklace!

                                            These colors make me happy. :)


I'm really hopeful that this venture will turn out to be a good one. I've recently found out that there are over 60 artists participating! That's amazing!!

I will be offering these on Etsy shortly, but it won't be under Phoenix Art Studio anymore. All jewelry is going to be going to a new Etsy shop. At the moment, the working title is Jewels of Enchantment. I'll let you know when that is up and running and include a link.

Hope that everyone's week is going well! I'm hoping to enjoy some of the nice weather today by photographing some of my new jewelry outside. :)
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Tuesday, May 3, 2011

Bits of This N That


My surgery went well. I decided to take some photos while I was at the hospital. It just helped to turn the whole thing into an adventure rather than a scary procedure.If you ever face something that sort of has your heart racing a bit, I highly recommend doing that. It really helped me to stay calm.

 This lady has no idea that she's on a blog. She also was featured in a facebook album. Do you ever wonder how many albums you are in without your knowledge? Photos that people took while at some festival or park...
 I had to wait over an hour with the IV in and electrodes attached before my surgery. I ended up having to go to the bathroom around 3 times before my surgery and each time it took an entourage to get me to the bathroom. It was worse than my wedding day! The nurse was joking around with me and asked if I was having stage fright. I told him that I was perfectly calm, it was my BLADDER that was nervous!

My mom took this picture of me right after they gave me the anesthesia. Guess that's why I look sort of drugged.. When I woke up, the first thing I said was that now I understood what my co-workers mean when they say that they can't remember a THING from the night before. I don't think that their excuse is anesthesia though. Leave it to me to wake up with a joke. Sadly I don't remember saying that at all, nor do I remember the nurses laughter from it.

I have lovingly named my armpit Frankenpit due to the nasty purple stitched incision that I have. ( I will spare my followers a picture of that. You might be in the middle of eating something) Recovery is moving slower than I would like, but there’s not much I can do about that! I just miss doing my yoga and being as active as I used to be.My surgeon was kind enough to call both my cell phone and my work phone before the weekend arrived to let me know that my lumps were benign. That's a relief, but I can't help but feel like I am going through all of this pain for nothing now. Oh well. It was better to be safe than sorry. I'm just anxious to feel more like myself.

Anyway, I participated in an arts and crafts show this weekend and got to use my tent for the first time. I obviously had some help getting it up. There’s no way that those things can be put up one handed!
   Almost looks professional, doesn’t it?

It was a beautiful waterfront location. They were having paddleboard races and I REALLY want to learn how to do that. It looked like a lot of fun! Maybe when Frankenpit has finally healed...

I have been playing with the idea of opening at least one other etsy shop and breaking down the items in Phoenix Art Studio. Right now I have a wide range of jewelry and art in the same shop. I am thinking of opening shops that have a more narrow range of merchandise. I would probably still keep whimsical/  illustrated jewelry and art in Phoenix Art Studio, but open a shop for the rest of my jewelry and a different shop for my life based paintings/ drawings. What do you guys think? I feel that my work speaks to too many different people and I’m just wondering if I need to compartmentalize things a bit better.  Fun, zany stuff in one shop. Contemporary jewelry in one shop and traditional art in another.  I would appreciate input with regard to this because I truly feel like I have no idea what I’m doing sometimes.

Other than this, I am just busy trying to get back into the swing of things and get some jewelry completed to send off to Co-op Handmade 28. I’ll post some photos once things have been finished.

Have a great week!
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