The Wedding Dress Original Mixed Media Painting

"The Wedding Dress" - Original Mixed Media Painting

I have a new painting to share today, "The Wedding Dress".  I created it using leftover pieces from my wedding veil. The tulle was a little finicky getting onto canvas, but I got it on and it created a beautiful dimensional aspect to this painting. It is similar to my wedding dress, not exactly - once I got playing with some textures, the painting took on a life on its own.

Here are some detail shots of all the wonderful textures in this piece:

It is available, here.

Floral Work in Progress Part 2.

I've been working on my floral painting a bit here and there, but it's been developing well. I had some issues building up one of the flowers, and ended up just completely redoing it - and I'm very happy with it! I'm glad that I've been actively making time to paint - it feels nice getting into it all again. I didn't realize before how much planning a wedding last year took away from my creative time!

You can see from the above picture that I have lots and lots of layers of paint, and I have even done a bit of sgraffito (scratching into the paint). Here are the remaining progress images, with where the painting stands (still not done), at the end:

Finishing up the base layers in the background really brought it together - gave the whole arrangement shape. I love how I was able to utilize the initial background layer so much with some negative space painting. Still lots of work to do on it...but it's really starting to come together now.

You can see the beginning of this painting, here.

The Hum of Bees

"The Hum of Bees" - Original Watercolor painting

Spring is here now - I feel is safe to say. I've been feeling spring fever for some time now, luckily all my little seedlings are keeping me satisfied for now. In about another month or so, I will be able to be out in the gardens planting some frost hardy goods.

"The Hum of Bees" - detail, watercolour

This year, I have really focused on keeping the bees happy. The bees have been in my mind all winter - and when I stumbled across this quote from Elizabeth Lawrence, I knew that I had to paint it out.  I've never painted a laurel before like this - so it was a tiny bit of a learning curve. There was one point where I thought it was not ever going to look alright and almost gave up on it. But, then I added a few more layers, and some details and it all worked out.

Now, I'm am going to get some beautiful flowers a head start in some seed trays for warmer weather and all those bees that I am hoping to help out...

This painting is available, here.

Online Shop Update!

"Dancing Queen" - Art Print

I just wanted to share a little update in the online shop, Jellybeans. Over the winter some original paintings have sold, and I am now able to offer them as art prints! :) I always print on beautiful, museum grade paper, giving it the perfect giclee quality all art deserves - also meaning that wonderful quality will last the owners of these art prints year and year.




"Such Great Heights" - Art Print

"Shine Through" - Art Print

Snowy Doodles

Sometimes the most random doodles turn into a picture...take this doodle from break time at work - on pink scrap paper, of all things.

And then the little girl on the pink paper that is no more than the briefest of scribbles, gets worked out in the sketchbook.

And then they both make it onto watercolour paper! It's still a work in progress, but you can see especially the dog has taken so much more shape / personality with the colour added. He might be based on my dear pooch Chewie....

Who say's all this snow we've been getting is depressing?! So far, lots of inspiration has come from it :) So far, 2016 has proven to have given me a pretty creative start! I do think part of it, is that I don't have wedding plans / DIY's constantly running through the back of my mind. 

Forest Flurries Watercolour Painting

Today I'm sharing with you a new painting in my art shop! "Forest Flurries" is a watercolour of a woodland forest friend, a doe, wandering through a snowy night. We have been getting quite a bit of snow lately, and some days I feel like we are just a snow globe that keeps getting shaken up! 

Deer are always a favourite woodland critter to illustrate. And, I always love painting stars peaking through the night sky.

"Forest Flurries" - Original Watercolour Painting

The original painting is available for purchase online :) It's the first one of 2016! Yay!

Bloom Original Watercolour Painting

I have a new painting to share with you all in the online shop. "Bloom" is an original watercolour, with some beautiful 'natural' typography details in the limbs of the tree.

This summer, I have been focused on 'blossoms' in my day-to-day gardening -- ensuring that there are enough flowers for the bees, and encouraging bees to buzz into my gardens and pollinate my vegetables for a successful harvest. It was only a matter of time until they showed up in my artwork again.

The organic flow of the tree was perfect to incorporate words and emotions into this painting to inspire its viewers.

"Bloom" - Original Watercolour Painting

The original painting is available in my online shop, and it is part of a small painting mini-series 'Written in the Trees'.

Shine is also a part of this series:

"Shine" -Original Watercolour Painting

In the Art Studio

I've been working evenings this week - a 3pm-11pm shift, getting home usually just after midnight and right into bed. So my mornings have been spent working on various commissions (most of which I cannot share until they're done, and I've asked permission from those who have ordered them). 

 

I've found time inbetween paintings drying, and waiting for email responses to paint some of my own thoughts as well.  I love painting commissions, but I do love putting down all my ideas on paper. And right now, my brain is focused on the spring in our -30-something degree weather (Celsius folks!).

My super large commission is coming along as well. I'm at a sort of crossroads with it, so I thought I would ponder it for a couple days - make sure it's going in the direction I was hoping. 

I hope everyone is staying toasty warm!

Winter Song Watercolour Painting

 

"Winter Song" - Original Watercolour painting

Today I'm sharing with you a new painting that I added to the store. I know a couple days ago I shared with you an autumn painting, and it felt more appropriate with all the snow to share some winter paintings as well :)

"Winter Song'

 "Winter Song" is a cute little piece about how despite the cold weather, the birds keep merrily chirping away! I gave them all little scarves in this piece to help keep them warm. Their 'song' are little pieces of music paper collaged on - it gives the piece a lot more interest, and even a little dimension.

Painting Progress III: White Cloud Island

 

Another update on my, very large, commission. It doesn't look like too much was done, but more transparent layers were added to the islands, as well as the water and lower foliage started. You can see my 'mock' watercolour painting on the floor to the left - so, so tiny in comparison! 

 

An up close picture of all the layers in the islands. So beautifully colourful. I can't wait to be done and apply the final clear finishing product to it - it will make those colours so lusciously rich!

For those wondering the brand of paints I am working with - it's a mishmash of everything :) I've purchased acrylic paint tubes based on certain attributes that I am go after at that moment: transparent vs. solid, ect. So you end up with a couple brands after awhile. I figure since they are all artist's quality with wonderful light fastness ratings, it's not a huge deal :)

Green Jade Succulent Watercolour Painting

 

Today I'm sharing with you a smaller painting that I've painted up! 'Green Jade' is based on my Jade plant, which I've had for probably 3 years and this year took a turn for the worst and is slowly dying off. I'm having hope that it might come around, but it is not looking likely.

I used the new watercolour paints that have been created by Golden for the green succulent foilage - Hello vibrant colour! I think as I need to replace used up tubes, I might opt for replacing them with the Golden ones. They are slightly more expensive, but the vibrancy is amazing.

 

"Green Jade" is available for purchase online, here. :)

Shine Through New Watercolour Painting

I've added a new painting to my online store, "Shine Through." I know it's been a long while since I've added artwork, but things in the art studio having been brewing and I have lots to share in the upcoming days :)

I've always wanted to incorporate when the sun peaks through all the leaves of a tree - a beautiful summer moment - into a painting, but wasn't quite sure how to achieve the desire effect and look that I was after. Finally, after some pondering, I got the effect I wanted. The yellow to green ombre really translates my thoughts into a colourful composition.

This original painting is available for sale, here.

Even more exciting - this painting is the 'cover' for my - wait for it....... my 2015 calendar!

As well, 'Shine Through' is the month May.

 It took some quality time with Photoshop, but I've put together another colourful year for everyone :)

It features a lot of new and fresh paintings - most of them never seen before and I will be sharing them with you throughout the week - so check back often if you see something on there you like but don't see in the shop. As previous years, this calendar will have a beautiful little mini art easel included with it - so you can display your months on the art easel, or you can tack/tape/magnet them to a board for a wall calendar :)

This calendar is currently in Pre-Sale. I have limited quantities, and it will begin to ship in mid-October. You can get yours, here.

Painting Progress: White Cloud Island

I've begun work on a new, very large commission. This will probably be the largest painting I have worked on to date - and honestly, it's very intimidating. It was easy to sketch out what I was going to do - I had worked everything out loosely with a watercolour painting. But it was actually applying the paint, and deciding the colours and moods that was a challenge. I started once, and then stopped - not liking where it was going. This is my second start, and it's coming along much better. 

The biggest challenge so far, is making sure the colours match along the three canvases. I thought about implementing some mixed media. But based on the size, it might not work out so great - trying to ensure that everything flows properly over the three, and that edges match up. Also, where it is due to be displayed, I think a more traditional approach was called for. 

Colourful Triptych Series

I'm sharing with you today some paintings that I created special for a lovely customer. Together we create a sort of triptych painting series to brighten her walls :) You will have to excuse the poor photos. I took them at night before packing them up to mail out. 

I just love how you wanted a little critter in each painting. It just brings so much life and character to each other scenes. :)

If you are interested in a custom painting, please come see me over at my online shop. I very much enjoy working with clients to create unique art pieces for their homes.

Little Starts to Bigger Things

Last week I started planning for a larger painting project that I have been asked to 'tackle' - it will be 3 panels of 24"x40", giving a total size of 72" x 40" - that's 6 feet of painting! Phew! 

Due to the nature of the request, a lot of planning will have to go into this piece before I can begin to touch paint to canvas. I'll be able to share with everyone the "nature of the painting" once it's complete and everything is done! I started out with a quickie sketch - I've never been huge of sketching before painting, and usually the sketches don't look like much and in the end don't mean too much because the painting process takes over and things often turn out different. 

But since this piece has to be, very, carefully thought out and planned out - which I guess I should do more often to have a higher success rate in finishing in my larger paintings (as I count unfinished paintings and run out of fingers - blushes). So I thought I would be a quick watercolour painting rendition to get a better feel of colours and composition. This rendition - as shared above - is not complete. But, it begins to give more life and understanding to the random pen marks in the above sketch. As you can see, it already deviates from the sketch - as I thought it would...

Zodiac Commissions

I know I had been sharing a lot of pictures about my garden, and photographs from around home. But I have been painting in the meantime :). Today I'm sharing with you some commissions I created for the website, Mi Petite Madrid. They offer zodiac readings on their website, and commission various artists to create their own rendition for each zodiac 'cycle'. 

Below is an 'in-progress' shot of my next contribution to their webpage. These have been so much fun creating, and I have enjoyed merging my characteristic style with illustrative imagery.

Getting A Little Dusty Again

 It's been a long while since I've created a true, 100%, soft pastel painting. I've had the urge to dig them out all winter, but just had no idea what to create - a complete blank slate. Also add to that, the challenge of creating with them again. I was just a newbie still when I set them aside for awhile, so picking them up again would not be a picnic at all. I decided to go with a composition of succulents. I really like them - I think they're super cute - and I've been wanting to create a colourful piece with them for some time. This would also allow me to highlight an aspect of the soft pastel medium that some people do not realize: they are rediculusly colourful!



I began by sketching the image on to ColourFix Suede pastel board - a good pastel painting begins with a good sketch. Then I continued with an underpainting using my Pan Pastels. They are just so easy to use to create a fast and effective underpainting. This is what I've called its "grizzly" phase - the ugly phase. I tried to use completmently colours here, so the final painting will look more opposite than what is displayed here. I sprayed it all with a light alcohol mist (the rubbing alcohol sort, not the vodka alcohol sort) to set the pastels, so that they wouldn't blend with the layers I will be applying on top, and therefore will not make it 'muddy'. This was the easy part. From here, it was all total concentration and complete loss of time...

 



I started at the top left - to work my way across and down, in an effort to not smudge the entire piece. These first two succulent "leaves" are where I sort of determined the style of this painting. I remind you, I haven't used pastels in so long - so I knew what I wanted to do, but didn't know how exactly I would achieve it, and what sort of style it would end up looking like. I know it sound silly - I'm sure there's some artists who understand this :)

 

 This is where it stood when I finished last night. It's not much, but it's almost four hours of work - yes, this piece is going to take ages to complete. But I'm hoping when it's all done, it will be amazing and work every second :) 

 



Above are the pastels I have used to date. It's just under 40 different colours and shades, and I'm sure before I'm finished, more will be added.