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

Updates to "Sanctuary" and Thanks.....

Happy Wednesday- I hope you all are not getting tired of seeing the same painting again and again!  There are a couple reasons why it's taking me so long...One; It's a lot bigger than what I've been doing lately and it takes time to cover that much space!  Two; I try to alternate my "freer" paintings with more detailed ones (like this one;)) so I don't forget how to do either- I want both styles to be easily available to me ;)  and finally, Three; Now that my kids are out of school for Summer, my painting time is severely limited- that's just the way it is this time of year!
The reason I'm sharing what I did yesterday day is I want to thank you for the suggestions from yesterday- I love compliments just like anyone else, but when they've paired with constructive criticism, they are so very valuable to me!
As always; I enjoyed all the feedback I got, but the one that really hit home yesterday was Elizabeth's:
"I like the roses, and I like their color, but the clematis (is that what it is?) is too bright with the roses AND I thought it was a poinsettia. Of course, I'm no artist, so I don't want it to sound like I'm judging."

And the reason she nailed it, was it was making ME think of Poinsettias too- I just didn't realize it until reading her comment!  And while I like poinsettias, I don't want my Clematis to look like one!
So, here's where I got with the leaves yesterday-

 which was not too far because the kids got up earlier than I anticipated and then the rest of the day delved into taking the middle daughter for her learner's permit- me forgetting to turn the lights off and ending up with a dead battery in an unpleasant side of town (see, she's already learning- turn the lights off, or you cant go anywhere!;)) and then assorted Mommy/Wifely duties......

But, now that I know what I want to do to the Clematis- I found a great reference to follow and fix it:

I'll be using the one in the upper left corner, and maybe borrowing from the colors of the rose too- 

haven't decided yet......

That's all for today, I'll be checking in again for tomorrow for Palette &Paint Thursday- with more updates on this guy.....maybe even double dipping again for Paint Party Friday- just so ya'll don't get *too* bored with this painting ;)
 TTFN
xx
Stephanie

A Bit More on "Sanctuary"

Happy Tuesday all- I keep thinking it's Monday because of yesterday's holiday, but here we are on Tuesday!  Anyway, I managed to squeeze in an hour of painting on Friday and thought I'd share it with you all before I make any more changes.......oh, and I've decided to name it "Sanctuary"

I'm not crazy about the Clematis on the left- it's shape is too perfect or something. I'll be studying it while I'm working this morning...and the roses I DO like, but, I'm not sure their warm color doesn't clash to much with the rest of the painting!  I think for today, I'll mull these things over while I work more on the leaves and getting the rest of the under painting in.  I should have two or three hours to work before everyone else gets up and the noise level becomes to much for me to concentrate! 
Happy Tuesday!
xx
Stephanie

Palette and Paint Thursday- I made it!

Whew, this has been some kinda crazy two weeks month in my family!  Our oldest is graduating from high school tomorrow and the other two have had not only their regular exams but also their exit exams so it has been a whirlwind of activity around here!  BUT, I did manage to get a bit more painting done on my WIP.  And a snap of my palette so I could be part of Palette & Paint Thursday!  So, here is what I got done on my new painting..

  I will actually have some time to paint a little more today- I think I want to put the leaves aside for a bit and get the Clematis painted in because their color (magenta) will affect how the other colors read.  So, hopefully, I'll be able to post more tomorrow before all the business of the day sets in!

And here is my palette...

 I'm off to see what everyone else did for P&P- you should too, it's always such a beautiful collection!
Have a wonderful day!
Stephanie

A Little More Progress....

Here's a bit more on my new painting.....the way I paint this kind of piece is to layer in the colors from the back to the front and then tighten up their color relationships.  Being a huge fan of purple and chartreuse pairings; I've made this sculpture quite a lot more purple than the original photo which was more of a golden color.....and I plan to intensify the chartreuse of the leaves next.  We'll see, these "gambles" don't always work for me!

 

Anyway, that's where I am at this point...I hope to have time to do more tomorrow- I'd love to lay the leaves in next!
Happy Monday all!
Stephanie

New Work in Progress

It has been one crazy week, around here but I wanted to pop my head in for a moment just to say hello.  Remember the pictures from the Decatur Garden Tour I shared a while back?  Well, the only art I've had time to work on this week was sketching out a painting of one of my all time favorite gardens- Ryan Gainey.  We're lucky enough to have him right here in Decatur and he's always generous about sharing his space with the public.  Anyway, my new painting is from one of his vignettes.  Actually, probably my next one too- I LOVE his style!
 So here's what I have so far- you would not believe how it took to sketch out!

 And here's my reference:
If you look closely, you may notice that I made a few changes, I wanted more of the Clematis on the left showing and also, we'd just missed the roses blooming, so I changed the dead blooms to some of my Perle d'Or which I always enjoy painting :)
That's all for now, I'll try to get caught up on my blog visits tomorrow!
 I miss you guys!
xx
Stephanie

Finally- I'm finished with my sunflower!

So I finally finished my sunflower painting, really it's pretty much the same as on Friday, I just did touch ups here and there.....So, here it is now;

 I also actually managed to list it in Etsy; if you want to see more pictures of it, click here.  And here are pictures of it's progression for those of who may not have seen where I started with this......

from two weeks ago before I added the band of burgundy

original one day painting- I just don't think one day pieces are me!

 I also got this one listed...things have been so slow in Etsy lately, I've been forgetting to list new paintings!

Have a great day all, I'm off to start working on something for Paint Party Friday!
Stephanie

Paint Party Friday- March 25th

This week I've been working on a new painting inspired by Botticelli's "Venus" and influenced with Klimt's use of flowers.  And it has kicked my butt!  You wouldn't believe how much paint I've thrown at this canvas, but it is finally, finally coming together to match what I saw in my head upon beginning.  I try to alternate my really tight flower paintings with my looser canvases of women.  And for some reason, it's much harder for me to do the loose free one; maybe because I follow my photographs very closely with the flowers, and I don't have the same kind of safety net with the ladies?  I dunno, but I love painting both so that's what I'll continue to do!
For now, here's my Venus a la Klimt (for lack of a better name- any suggestions would be MOST welcome :))

 

I like her much better up close than from a distance.....not sure why ;) 

Happy Paint Party Friday- be sure to stop by to add a link to one of your own paintings OR just to see and marvel at all the talent over there- it's amazing group of artists!

Paint Party Friday!!!

In my blog travels this week, I discovered that many of my friends are joining in on Paint Party Friday and now, so am I!  Here's what Eva and Kristin had to say about it, "Acrylics, Oils, Watercolors or Mixed Media Big Works or Small Pieces Finished Paintings or Works In Progress All Painting Accomplishments are Reason to Celebrate!

Please join us for a Paint Party...A Place to Check-In, Meet and Chat with Other Painters and Have Some Fun!"  Sounds like my kind of place!

Since I never posted the finished product of my "La Femme" I've chosen to share her at the party.

For more pictures and information, check her out in my Etsy shop.

Happy Friday and hope to see you at the partay!

Stephanie

What's UP in the Studio- More Progress on my new Iris painting....

Well I've been jammin' for about a month now, and making tarts and cheesecakes for each week at the Decatur Farmer's Market......and just this week, I finally feel like I've gotten it organized enough to work on my REAL work- my art, for more than a couple of hours each week!  You might be asking yourself why I'm working so hard on this if it's taking so much time away from my painting (I know my husband does all the time:)) well, it's a family business, and my family is really important to me......also, in the Summer with the kids home from school, I don't get much painting done anyway!
So, here is my new painting in it's current state:

Also for any of you that remember the Tulip painting I had in progress, well I sold it at our Home Show....I'd planned on doing a little more to it, so didn't take any photos of it at that point....

really. all I did was make the background a little whiter, and in all honesty, I can't remember what else I'd planned on doing to it- must not have been too important!

That's all for now- Cheers,

Stephanie

New Acrylic painting! "Moonlight Serenade"- Parrot Tulip in White

I just finished my newest acrylic painting called "Moonlight Serenade" featuring a focused down view of the interior workings of a white parrot tulip lit with various glowing hues of white.  For more information, please vist my Etsy shop.  Enjoy!

New painting!

Here's newest painting from my Zinnia series.  This is an original 12" X 12" acrylic painting portraying the dynamic inner workings of a carmine red zinnia. The center feeds to the pale green stamens which in turn lead to the curling twists of petals in the process of opening. The composition is completed with a grand finale combining petals of vermillion, crimson and burgundy.  You can see more photos of it and my other works at my Etsy shop.