More Pansies....

Here I am the second week in a row with more pansies to share.  I have two more mini canvases sketched out and ready paint and then I think I'll have them out of my system!  Maybe.  I will be starting on Christmas presents next week, so I'll definitely have something different to share then ;)
For now; here's my new pansy painting; so new, it doesn't even have a title yet!  I say it's finished, but I see spots here and there that I might be tweaking- no promises.

This is a 4"x 4"  "block" canvas (meaning it's 1" deep)

 right now, the only tweaking I want to do is to make the veins a little more delicate

And here's one I showed last week, I did a little more, but it still needs 

touch ups here and there- it's close tho!

I'm sharing this with Paint Party Friday- my favorite weekly blog party- always so much beauty to see there!  Holpe to see YOU there!

Happy Friday,

xx

Stephanie

Two and Three Fourths of a New Series......

Who hoo!  I seem to have finally gotten it all together!  I've been juggling baking and making jams to sell at our local farmer's market (plus my cards ;)) twice a week with teaching and finally, FINALLY, regular painting!  All added together, it almost equals a "real" job, and one that allows me to stay at home to be available to kids and hubby!  It's been really hard, but I think I've found a rhythm that I can do it all! 

Last week I started a new series of mini paintings- I wanted to have a different price point for my original paintings.  Right now, they're featuring pansies- yep, once again, I'm on a flower kick!
These are sweet little 4"x4"x1" deep canvases (these images are almost actual size!) and I've been listing them on Etsy as fast as I can paint them!  They'll be coming in as cards too as soon as I take the time to put some together- maybe even today!

For now, here's "Copperfield"- For more info, I have it listed HERE in my Etsy shop.

 Where I live, we plant pansies in the fall and every time we have warm weather, they will bloom.  I swear there are about a million varieties of pansies, but this series- Skyline Copperfield is my favorite!

Another Copperfield pansy- the title of this one is "Enchanted"- for more info, click HERE 

I like this one on the diagonal, like this:

Lastly, my current WIP- it's almost done, just needs a bit more tweaking here and there 

and a signature and it too too will find a place on Etsy!

That's all for now, for the first time in a very long time, I actually feel like I have time to participate in Paint Party Friday- there are always close to 100 links to visit, but today, I think I can do it!  Hope to see you there!
Happy Friday
xx
Stephanie

Finished (mostly) with the Living Room and Dining Room!

So here it is- first the dining room- remember it was turquoise before (which my hubby recently informed me is a color he HATES!) so we kept the stripes and changed the color....

 I've had these little lamps for almost 10 years, and I've always loved the color of the (now falling apart ;)) shades so I used them as inspiration for the color....

And I'd hoped that I could make the living room (which I just repainted 2 years ago) work for a while longer, but it clashed horribly.  So I used the DR art for inspiration for the LR and we found a warm magenta/burgundy colro called Cherokee Brick- it has a lot more purple in it than shows in the pictures and I AM thrilled with the two rooms now!  Christmas has come early!

I think it's pretty funny how red this is here!

Oh well, at least you have an idea of what it looks like ;)

Cheers,

Stephanie

3 Posts in one- Playing catch up (once again ;))

Hello, hello, HELLO again!  I'm so sorry I've been MIA for so long- both from posting here as well as visiting everyone's blogs!  I've missed you all so much and will be by soon- I PROMISE!
For now, here's three posts in one as a catch up...
When last I posted, I was working on a pencil portrait, and it's since been finished and delivered.
Here's "Annie"

I really was pleased with how this sweet girl turned out.  For anyone who's interested in commissioning a portrait, I'll have time to accept a couple more before Christmas- email me for details and prices.....

And of course, art class has been on going- we're two weeks into our current session and I had them do a Thanksgiving poster, filling the paper with a gratitude list and accompanying illustrations. 

 As always, they amazed me!

My own personal grattitude list this year included, my beautiful family, my home and garden, and my wonderful friends both in person and in bloglandia- I am SO very grateful for you all!  

Even tho I haven't been around much, you are often in my thoughts...

Lastly, we always host Thanksgiving dinner, and I always use it as a motivation to freshen up the house with paint

 and such.  I'd been planning on touching up my turquoise stripes, when my hubby told me that he HATES turquoise, and could I please change the color!  This is after 5 years of living with it and him never saying a word!  I agreed to change the color, if we could keep the stripes (which I LOVE ;)) 

And here's a "before" picture:

And here's a teaser for an after...

I'm really happy with the end result, which I'll share soon.  Along with our newly painted living room which did NOT work with the dining room!  We're actually in the midst of finishing up on that today!

So for now, I'm off for a much belated visit to all my bloggity friends, then it's on to painting (walls today- and canvases next week ;)) and making more jams for the market......

because, I'm still oh so busy these days!

xx

Stephanie

Maggie's Journal Spread- DONE!

First, to all those affected by Sandy whether through worrying about loved ones or being personally affected- you're in my thoughts and prayers.  What a terrible, terrible storm!

I finished my spread for Maggie's journal yesterday, now all I need to do is a tag and then it's on it's way HOME to her!  Yep, mine was the last entry in her book!

 I've never done a mermaid before, or rather, I've never finished one!  I've started them before and they've morphed into other things....so I really had fun with her.  In the nature of Halloween, 

I felt compelled to give her a mask!

 Today will be quite busy around here, I have the market this afternoon, so lots of baking in preparation, plus I need to finish my portrait and then of course, it's Halloween.  My daughter's having a party, so I need to get ready for that too!

Happy Halloween!

xx

Stephanie

Works in Progress.....

Hello- I'm back to share some WIP's I have going on.  First up, is my final journal entry for my round robin  This one is for Maggie of The Fanciful Magpie -she and I share of love of all things fantastical.  She did a mermaid for my book (which I got back last week- eeee- more on that later!) and I decided to do one for her as well.  I wanted my mermaid to be sitting on the moon, not sure why, but that's what the muse demanded so I listened...

 

 this is the left side of my two page spread- and tho I still have a good bit to do, hopefully you can get the general idea of where I'm going with this!  

The other side will sport a quote:

"Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail"  

Ralph Waldo Emerson

The other project I'm working on is a commissioned graphite portrait- I'm almost done getting the groundwork in and then I'll lay in the shading and be done!  I find it so helpful to put photos of my WIP's up on the monitor like this, because I always see things that need to be fixed and whatnot- here, I noticed that hers eyes and mouth aren't quite lined up....but SO much easier to fix now than when I have all those layers of shading in! 

side note: I know my drawing doesn't match the photos- my client wanted the "hand pose" but with more of a smiling face, but looking straight- that's the main challenge here- good thing I LOVE drawing babies!

Have a wonderful Monday, and for all my friends in the path of Sandy- STAY SAFE!
xx
Stephanie

Helloooo my Pretties........

Happy Friday!  Maybe next week, I'll actually get to say "Happy Paint Party Friday" once again, but I just don't think I'll have time to visit the 80 plus blogs at the party this week.  Fingers crossed for next week tho!  So while I have things baking for tomorrow's Farmer's Market, I grabbed a moment to take some snaps (as promised ;)) of my Halloween decorations.  I didn't do nearly as much this year as usual, but I did manage to get some of it out and about.

So grab a cuppa, sit back, and enjoy!

This is "Edith" (really, it has her name written on the back of her head!)  My Mom found her at the antiques market and gave her to me- she knows how nuts I am for Halloween!

BOO!

usually, I'd have some tombstones tucked in, but they just didn't make it to the party this year.......

Not much to see here,but I wanted to share our front path which I've been widening (thanks Tara for the suggestions!) and transplanting dwarf mondo grass to, tho you probably can't see it for all the leaves!

Closer view of the pot above with a "beware" sign.....

 twice blooming iris- this guy was blooming on Christmas last year- I LOVE it!

Funny little bird dressed up with leaves

All Hallows Vignette.....

 witchy women, all banged up, but still FUN

And that's about it!  To be honest, I kept waiting for the kids to insist I put more stuff up, but they didn't so I didn't either ;)  Sometmes simple equals easy and easy equals a really good thing!

xx

Stephanie

P.S. I'm also working on some art- I'll try to post again soon!

HALLOWEEN in Art Class.....

In art class, we've finished one Halloween project and started on another.  The first is one of my favorites; "Abstract Jacks" and it's a great way for them to learn shading and how to draw 3D......
They started by drawing their Jack o'lanterns BIG and included the directional lines of the pumpkin skin.....

 Then we used water to remove some of the paint creating highlights....

 And more paint to create shadows.....

And filled the inside with black for contrast.....

 For our second project, they wrote "Boo ya'll" in bubble letters and cursive and finished them with many, many Halloween-ish illustrations.  We'll be doing more on these today plus beginning Sarcophagi Cats!

I'm off to visit all my bloggity friends!
xx
Stephanie
I'll be back soon to share my garden done up for Halloween.....

Frida and Sanctuary.....

Yesterday, I got my mini Frida painting finished, photographed and photoed for my Etsy shop.

Plus one other paiting that I finished a while ago.  It's been hanging on my wall for a couple months- sometimes I need to live with my "babies" awhile before I can part with them!

Here's Frida:

For more pictures of her, check her out in my Etsy shop!

And some of you might remember when I started painting 

Sanctuary from my pictures of our local garden tour.....

And for more pictures, it's also now in my Etsy shop!

Both will soon be available as cards too.......

I'll be back soon (maybe even later today- MAYBE ;)) with new projects from art class and SOON current pics of the garden dressed up for Halloween.

Til then...

xx

Stephanie

It's a Frida thing......

OK, I decided the only way I'm gonna get to blog today is if I steal 10 minutes out of my crazy morning.  Every day of every week lately seemed to be crammed full!  But, I am grateful that I've had a little bit of time to paint even if I haven't made time to blog about it!
You might remember that I mentioned wanting to devote a small canvas to Frida.  I did pages for Lisa's traveling journal based on Frida, and enjoyed it so much that I had to do a canvas of her too.  So heeeere's Frida:

I'm actually close to being finished- sorry I didn't manage to share the "in process" pictures this time.  I really, truly am working to get back to my regular bloggity routine!  I miss you guys!
Anyway, I need to soften the moonflowers and "de lime" the leaves, make them a tad more turquoise-y.  And I think I'll be pretty much done and ready to list Frida in my Etsy sop.  For anyone who's interested, the canvas is 6" x 6", will be priced at $69.00 and yes, it's hung on the diagonal.
TTFN,
xx
Stephanie

What's been going on in art class.....

 Hello again, yep it's me, still alive and kickin'!  I wanted to poke my head in and share wat we've been doing in art class.  We just finished another month's session and so, I have two finished projects to share with ya'll.
I've been alternating the kinds of projects I'm doing- first we discuss what they want to do and I create a project around that while choosing an art skill to emphasize.  For this month, they wanted to do something on Mythical creatures, so I had them create a creature of their choice and design an environment for it.  The paper I gave them was broken up into comic book panels and we were focused on telling a story with pictures. 

And here's how they turned out- VERY cool, I think!

 Leila did a fairy......

 and Colson chose a dragon.....

Then for the "me" project, I chose to focus on art history that was also a nod to their LOVE of gold!  We did swirly trees and concentric circles and a brief study on Gustave Klimt and his style.  I love this project, have done it many times and no matter what, it always turns out gorgeous!

I guess you can tell I like gold too?

And voila!  A masterpiece!

I think that's more than enough from me for one day!  I have been doing my own painting (a little ;)) plus cooking for the Farmer's Market and I have fall flowers waiting to go in te ground...I can't believe it's October!  And you know what tat means?  The next art projects will be Halloween- oh yeah!

xx for now,

Stephanie