I just got home from the place where I have my work displayed and I got a message that two of my paintings had been sold!!! These two, as a matter of fact:
This means it’s time to up my game. I need to produce more work to display, and I may have gotten a commission out of this. I am so thrilled. SO very very very thrilled!
The funny thing is that I almost took the Rose down and reused the canvas. So glad I waited! This was my first sale!
These were supposed to be a grouping, but I would have to do more work to them to make them flow.. Frankly, I don’t feel like it!
This is the final part in the Buddha series:
Painting the background and adding personal touches!
Best little Fluffins in the world wanted to help… Thanks Gilly!
Post hand printing 
Black and white india ink
CHEESE CLOTH! Who knew it would be so cool? Not me! I am now obsessed! 
Added some paper elements… some chinese tissue paper that I have been hoarding forever… easily 10 years!! 
I ended up removing the middle piece of cloth because I was having trouble with his nose. I look forward to further cheesecloth experimentation!!
I wasn’t really happy with his solid face, so I decided to have fun with it.
Pre-glazing
Post glazing… I might change some small elements, but not many. He is the largest painting I have ever done, and took me around 8 hours total. He is probably my favorite painting that I have done!!
This is a work in progress. Perspective is way off, but there are a lot of elements I am really proud of.
This painting is a mimic of one I found on the internets by Lisa M. Nelson… I fell in love with it immediately. I decided that Henry, because of his love of flora and vegetation, should replace the black kitty in her painting. I like my poppies better too, but I would still totally buy hers because it’s rad.
Incidentally, this was the first time I have ever used sand as a texture! Difficult, but delightful! It adds this whole awesome dimension to the colors!
Believe it or not, this started off as Buddha. I tried so hard to make it Buddha, but he wasn’t intended for this canvas!!
Every so often, the girls in my family like to get together to reconnect with one another, so we started doing these tea parties together. We usually bring inexpensive tea-related gifts, and sip tea while enjoying each other’s company. We take turns hosting, and this time was our (Mom’s and my) turn to host.
For our party, we decided to have everyone paint. We looked up different paintings of teacups, and finally settled on a sweet and simple little project that would accommodate all skill levels. I taught it! I tried the project beforehand to make sure I could teach it quickly and easily, and here it is:
We used some old wood paneling rather than canvas. My Mom had a false wall taken down, so we had it sawed into various sizes. This little nugget is about 7×10 inches, and super simple, if you couldn’t tell! You will notice that my cup is a bit oblong, but that’s what happens to my circle shapes when I paint flat in low lighting… also, I wasn’t doing this project for anything but fun for my family.
I got the idea from Magic Markings Art Studio, which had an all girls tea party summer camp. The teacups came from there, but I left the negative space negative so that everyone could do what they liked with it, and everyone chose their own color scheme. I chose to do the spoon, some others did too, but others did text. (I am actually pretty proud of the spoon…that was my first time trying it!)
Believe it or not, but even this simple painting was a struggle for some. It isn’t that they lacked ability, it’s that they lacked confidence. Though I am relatively in a beginner stage myself, I remember feeling the same anxiety (and sometimes I still have it) while looking at the blank space that I am supposed to somehow beautifully fill.
I think this is something I could do for others–this whole teaching business…I really like coaching people through their frustration and into confidence. I got the opportunity to do this last night too at another larger painting party. A young woman was really struggling with her painting, and I sat with her almost the whole night rooting her on, and by the end, she was happy with her work. She tried crediting me, but it really was her work. She found her nerve, and she pushed through the scariness of the empty canvas.
Is not about being good enough. It’s about being brave, and pushing the limits of what you believe you’re capable of. 6 months ago, I didn’t know I could paint the way I paint. Now I can, and I get better every time. The kind of teaching I wish to do is not “skill” teaching, although that plays into it somewhat… it’s more like coaching confidence, and helping people allow their creativity to emerge, which is really hard for a lot of people, particularly if they have never seen themselves as creative before, but I am positive that creativity is inherent in everyone. They just need to tap into it.
Squirrelopolis 