"Waxing" Creative... and a little welcome!

First of all, I'd like to give a little shout-out and welcome to a really cool lady with an awesome site to the right-hand side of this blog--> see? look over there! :) My Craft Assistant is a great site that offers assistance to Etsy sellers with SEO, marketing, shop setup, and more. I've been exploring the site and I am quite impressed - go check it out!


And now if my cat will stay off of the keyboard long enough for me to create the rest of this post...

Last night I stepped outside, just to get a little fresh air, and stood out in the front yard looking toward my neighbor's house, up at the moon and stars. I'd say it was close to ten o'clock, and I hadn't yet wound down to head to bed yet.

It's always so relaxing to gaze up at the night sky, and often very inspiring.

I had a wonderful view of the silhouettes of several trees, which framed a few bright stars and a crescent moon. I decided that, although I wasn't going to get out the paints at the time, I was inspired enough to begin a sketch on a canvas - the beginning of my next painting. I hope to get started on it this week!


What has inspired you lately?

Wandering the streets of Gdansk...

This month's Virtual Paintout is Gdansk, Poland, which has turned out to be a city full of wonderfully interesting and colorful vignettes. I'm extremely partial to cityscapes and great architecture right now, so my choices so far have ended revolving around some type of structure.

I thoroughly have enjoyed wandering through the streets with my watercolors and sharpie pen, hunting for a place to plop down and begin painting. I intend to paint perhaps one more scene before the end of the month; the next one might have more of an abstract feel to it, as my contribution last month did.

When I did these particular paintings, I took very little time in sketching and painting, forcing myself to concentrate on the shapes of the structures, the color and contrast that I could see or remember from the map street view. In doing this, I'm attempting to step out of my comfort zone. Since my usual style is abstract, when I want to paint something that leans more toward realism I feel the need to constantly check back with my reference.

As you can see, this particular view featured the most wonderful architecture:

I may end up painting this particular scene again, but in my usual style - which should end up really interesting!

And who knows - one or more of my "Virtual Paintout" works might end up with a rather interesting new look, as my interpretation of a building in St. Petersburg, Russia did just recently:

I'm picturing those buildings in purple and lime green right now... hmmm.....

Snickerdoodle Saturday and those pesky Summer Colds...

Yesterday my mom and dad came down for a one-day visit, which was filled with the usual standing around the kitchen and talking, cooking, and baking. My mother brought the ingredients plus recipes for both snickerdoodles and pumpkin bread - both favorites of mine and my kids'.

One of my favorite things to do is to get into the kitchen and put together something delicious - whether it be a cake, a batch of cookies, or a to-die-for steak dinner. I enjoy cooking and baking with mom, because we can spend time catching up - since she and dad live about 3 1/2 hours away, we don't see each other every day, for obvious reasons.

We ended up with more than 2 dozen cookies, and a loaf plus about a dozen pumpkin muffins - which by the way are wonderful with coffee for breakfast aaannnnnd loaded with vitamin A so I can eat as much as I want.

Soooo... anyway.... part of our kitchen conversation was sortof like this:

Me: ohhh you know what would be good? Snickerdoodle cupcakes! with yellow cake but with cinnamon sugar, and maybe a buttercream with cinnamon sugar...


Her: *odd look* hmm..really?


Me: *eyes glazing over* oohh..yeahhh... *drool*


....and guess what?

They exist!

Adapted from a recipe by Ann Byrn in her book The Cake Mix Doctor(shameless plug: great book, seriously, no really honestly), the cupcakes have that hint of cinnamon and sugar I described to mom and I can't wait to try them out.

Go here for the recipe and try them out yourself!


Oh and yes, among all that fun in the kitchen my body decided to let in a few visitors - in the form of achiness, runny nose, and all over just blah feeling.... so now I'm downing vitamin C, lots of fluids and trying to rest up to feel better before heading in to work tomorrow morning. Gack! I don't have time to be sick! :P


oh and almost forgot! (shameless plug alert)

I finally listed another painting!

You can, of course, find it in my Etsy shop.

I... think I'm finished with it?

I started a painting 3 days ago, beginning with the background and what you might call the first "layer" of scenery, adding to it little by little until I think I have the finished piece.

here's a a portion of what it looked like last night -


And a little of a preview of what I have now -


My aim was something imaginative, whimsical, and fantastical - hopefully that will come across in the finished piece! :)

Trends... or your heart.....

... as artists and artisans, which do you follow? I have found myself thinking that perhaps if I followed whatever "trend" there is in art and decor, maybe I'd suddenly have a massive increase of interest in my art. Yet when I start to paint something that supposedly follows whatever trend in color, style, etc. that happens to be popular... I end up HATING it, and I almost hate myself for wasting time, creativity, and paint. Alright, that sounds a bit harsh - maybe not hate, per se... but I almost feel as if I've let myself down by not tapping into what I truly want to create.

I've never been much of a trend follower, and I suppose that's going to carry through to my art. I think, or I hope, that maybe those who appreciate my art are those who feel the same way :)

____

Speaking of creating.... I finished a painting last night, and I'm really proud of the results! :)

I live?

Yikes! Well, sortof - ha ha...

Seems as though real life wants me to have nothing to do with the things I enjoy, or at least not more than a few minutes at a time. I shouldn't complain, though, because I do have a full time job that helps pay the bills and buy the occasional fun doodad and tall mocha from Starbucks, and a bit of canvas and paint when I have the time to trek to Hobby Lobby. ;)

I've recently decided that enough is enough, real life! I'm going to get back into making and promoting art, and stick with it. I've been doing a teeny bit of creating - some ACEOs:






and some painting -



I think a little each day will keep me going, and if I can swing it on the weekends, I'll have major promoting and painting sessions. Of course, that'll be between rounds of laundry and cleaning house!

I still paint... occasionally?

Since I started working full time back in August, my life has pretty much revolved around the routine of waking, working, and sleeping, and starting the whole cycle over again. I haven't had much time to get creative with paint and canvas because my weekends are usually getting caught up with mundane projects like the giant mountain of laundry or the dust bunnies that have formed a colony under the sofa.


However, I finally did find time to create two paintings just recently.

Now if I could only find the time to photograph them and list them...

New Painting, and another "Item of the Day"

I'll have a new painting to list soon. It's not quite finished but I should have it done tomorrow - at least I think so :P It's another acrylic landscape on canvas; hopefully it'll wow a few people - ha ha ha.






Anyway, as you know, I'm promoting an "item of the day" now. Right now and until 11 PM Etsy time on the 7th (Which is Eastern Standard Time here in the U. S.), I am offering Oceanic, one of my acrylic paintings at a drastically reduced price! This painting, which is on gallery-wrapped canvas and measures 24" X 12", is normally priced at $100.00. It is on sale for ONE DAY ONLY for $60!

Item of the Day for August 6th!

Right now until 11 PM Etsy time on the 6th (Which is Eastern Standard Time here in the U. S.), I am offering my Moonlit Tree acrylic painting at a drastically reduced price! This painting, which is on gallery-wrapped canvas and measures 16" X 20", is normally priced at $75.00. It is on sale for ONE DAY ONLY for $45

New Listings and Happy Fourth!

Sorry for not posting anything yesterday - but I have been busy painting so I can bring you.....

:D New listings!

After the Storm is now available in my shop and is a 5"X7" watercolor.

Also just listed is Violet, a 5"X7" acrylic floral.



Those paintings and many more can be found in my Etsy shop, Jennizart!


And of course, with it being the 4th, I'd like to wish everybody a happy and safe Independence Day! I'm hoping that the rain stays away today so the kids and I can go watch some fireworks this evening! :)

A Fun Painting Challenge, and a new ACEO

I came across a blog the other day called The Virtual Paintout, which is hosted by Bill Guffey. To participate artists use google street view from a map that is provided on the front page of the blog to produce a painting. This month Hong Kong is the chosen location, and I did a quick 5" X 7" acrylic on art board of some buildings on LinCheung Road.

Artists can submit three works per month, and the location changes monthly. The Virtual Paintout is a really great way to either expand on your subject matter, or just find new and interesting locations to paint - without leaving your home, of course!


Oh and speaking of new and interesting (ha ha ha)-I've listed a new ACEO this morning:
Wavelength is an original ACEO acrylic painting and is available in my shop

C is for....

Cranberry and Coconut!

You can win this deliciously scented soap from Julie's Bits who is hosting a giveaway right now! Go here for details!

And in other news: I started another painting last night - hope to finish today and list in my shop :D

:D I've been featured

ForveverAndrea

has been kind enough to feature one of my paintings in her latest blog post




You should check out all the other nice things she's posted as well!