Lighting for Photos

You might be wondering... "Is she taking pictures on top of her washer?!" Yup. I have struggled for years trying to get good light without any abnormal colors. In order to take good photos of art, or I guess anything that sells on line, a light tent or good natural light is needed. Our wee abode is surrounded by trees which block a lot of light & so many pics would have a greenish tint.  I have tried every window in our home with only modest success. Normally much photo editing is needed to capture the colors accurately.


But just recently I discovered that on top of the washer is THE best place for photos, I get lots of natural light without any green tint to the photos. It's close to the back door with a large window which gives me perfect light for photos of my small paintings. Plus the white enamel and my handmade white card stock screen reflect 
the light and the colors perfectly!!

Oh the paintings... the upper left is practically finished, I just have to paint the sides. The large has the most work left to do..it's a new color palette for me. And the smallest painting still has a way to go before I consider it finished.

Two New!! Who Knew? :)

Last night I finally finished one landscape and am very close to finishing the "reworking" of an abstract.  

The landscape is mainly a palette knife painting with a wee bit of glazing and a couple of small brush strokes where needed.  

I'm having the dickens of a time capturing the colors of the painting accurately. Maybe I need a light box or a better camera because I always have trouble anytime I include shades of purple in my paintings.  

When I finish with the photo editing of this one I'll list it on etsy.

 This small abstract isn't finished, but I know where it's going. It started out all done in acrylic inks, but I am adding acrylic paint to it in little spaces. Right now all the yellow you see is new, but I'll be adding more colors too.

 update.... almost finished  the tentative title might be "life" but not sure yet. 

1926 Cartoon

 A little bit of whimsy  for you today... this watercolor, which would be perfect for a child's room if I may be so bold.
And this darling claymation  cartoon from 1926!!
 Smile  & Have fun!

 Claymation: "The Penwiper" 1926 Joseph Sunn; Stop-Motion Animated Cartoon
 

He says "up", I say "across"

I  had a 4x6 stretched canvas that was a little bit loose, & my normal hot water/shrink it remedy didn't make it tight enough to suit me. So this provided me with the perfect opportunity to play without the guilt  of ruining a good canvas experimenting.  This is done in acrylic with one strip of teal artisan paper.

The work in progress.  At this point, I really like it.  side notes} I protect my kitchen counter & stove top with a black vinyl tablecloth  I picked up at the dollar store,(they were out of white).   My palette is made of paper plates covered with foil, when finished I flip the foil over & have a clean palette.) 

I turned the painting vertically adding just a few more accents & then called this finished. ((OH and to my surprise, the acrylic mediums I used, seems to have tightened up the canvas!))

My husband likes this vertical & while I really like it that way, I lean towards  horizontal. I can see it both ways.  Would you please give me your opinion as to which way looks best? 

A New Direction

Over the past 2, mostly quiet years, I've done less and less  mixed media and more painting.  I think my direction changed when I painted this. It has just one small piece of collage, a paper from an 1866 German Devotional in the upper left section.

Something happened to me when I looked at the finished piece. It sounds juvenile,  but it was one of those rare moments when I felt like I crossed over and became an artist  of fine art.
The reaction on twitter was very positive an enthusiastic. And I when I put it up on etsy, it sold rather quickly. I also was asked to make a larger one for someone off line.  

Because of the positive reaction & the 2 sales, I have often thought of painting more like this in other color palettes, but I don't' want my art to be formulaic. On the other hand, what IF this is supposed to be my ionic style?? Yeah I know I'm just day dreaming! :)
I know where I want to go artistically, but how to get there is the question.!

Visual Catch-up

Since I was away from the blog for so long I thought I would show you a little project I created during that time.  My makeup box was old and scuzzy & needed a make over! So with some beautiful hand painted artisan paper and a vintage bathing beauty of the 20's I was all set.

my finished makeup box

Originally this was an "Amazing Grace" perfume gift  box that I turned into my makeup box with an old dresser handle

a new inside with paint, paper & varnish

So there you have a little up-cycled, up-cycled make up box! 

So it's like this.....

About two years ago I began having fainting episodes. Very embarrassing to say the least... fainting in the grocery store, at Church, at the Farmers Market, at home ... the worst part was that I never knew when or where, and that not knowing began to be very debilitating.  I also was very weak when standing too long; my painting came to a sudden stop.   Finally after over a year of experiments, the cardiologist found the perfect med and my life began again.

I started painting in January and little by little I am coming back. :)  SO should you check back from time to time, you'll see another post, some new art work and even a new look for this ol' blog.

see you later 

Inspiration Ave Challenge

Inspiration Avenue's Team Challenge this week is Faces  

and the timing couldn't be any better!

Just over a month ago I rediscovered

the satisfaction one can get from creating faces

when I participated in the 29 Faces Challenge Sept 2013.

From my first awkward drawings to 

modern stylized digital faces, 

it was a terrific growing experience.

One face, that at first I thought was too depressing, grew on me

to such an extent that I have just made it my new profile pic.

It began like this

Then I played around with it

(I think this is really cool)

and becausse I love color, played around some more

and more

I see so many possibilities with this face that I

made a rubber stamp of it to use in my mixed media work.

 My lino block skills are quite rusty and

 the image isn't as perfect as I wanted.

Note: technically this isn't a "lino block" as I did this in rubber;
However when I am able to get more supplies
I will attempt another go at it.

Thank you to Maggie  
& Inspiration Avenue for this weeks challenge!

Mini Autumn Swap

What is a mini Autumn Swap you may ask?

Well it involves mini art in the format of ACEOs.

ACEOs aka ATCs are Artist Trading Cards

and measure 2.5 x 3.5 inches.

They can be in any medium any style the only rule is the size.

Well the ACEO team from etsy was holding a swap.

It was real simple - theme,  Autumn

& we exchange with just one person!

I was really blessed to get Lee of Watercolors or Else !

She sent me not one, but two beautiful aceo's

and they arrived in a handpainted card!

All are most certainly frame worthy!!

I love the tree and the shadow under the leaves - gorgeous!

My offerings weren't nearly so grand -

a collage made using handmade artisan papers, 

"an Autumn Day" is from an old vintage book,

and a genuine maple leaf I saved from last autumn.

this I did in water colors

 and I enclosed them in a collaged note card

So thank you very much Lee for being so generous

with your beautiful art

and thanks to the ACEO etsy team for holding this swap!!

the final face!

 What an awesome experience the 29 Faces challenge has been!

 At the beginning I felt a bit discouraged
 thinking it was way over my head;
but my fellow artists kindly encouraged me to continue.
It was creatively stimulating seeing all the
unique  faces and styles of art while stretching my wings.
But I think my favorite part was
connecting with other artists through our blogs!
.........
Well without further delay on to the final face!

For quite awhile I wanted to attempt a self portrait
but I also wanted to incorporate my artwork within
it & digital photography seemed to be a way of doing that.
A portion of one of my  abstract collages
 is seen in the foreground .

Thank you so much Alaya for hosting this challenge &
to each and every visitor for every encouraging word.
 I hope we stay in touch through our blogs!!