Knickerbocker Snowman

One of My Favorite Toys

I had one of my 5 grandsons for a week before Christmas

and he is a creative sort,

soooo,

We created.

I gave him a pretty cool art set for his birthday in November

and he brought it and we used it.

We painted on paper using acrylic paints and foam brushes.

I've never painted anything but a wall using foam brushes, but I thought it might go better.

We had my snowman in a little setup, but the only thing we got on the paper was the snowman.

I received this little snowman on my first Christmas

and have always loved it.

I've sort of worn it out and he's no longer white, but he is still one of my favs.

After we finished the snowman, then we painted trees.

He wanted to paint an apple tree and I painted fir trees.

This was all him.  I didn't help him one little bit, except to tell him to add more apples.

This is Aidan holding my snowman.

I spent several years holding him just like this.

Here's the creative one all dolled up and ready for his close up.

This doesn't get any better!

We had a great time painting and creating.

To Paint or Not to Paint

What Say You?

January brings cold, snow, sleet, hail, rain

and 30 paintings in 30 days.

I'm still exhausted from the September Challenge.

My question to you all is,

Would you do it if you were me?

When I first heard about the challenge,

my eyes crossed with the daunting challenge.

But now that I've had a few days to consider it,

I'm beginning to think,

I may not make it all the way through, like I have with the other 2 challenges,

but there are things I want to paint and things I want to learn to paint.

Here's what I did during the first challenge.

Several are missing because the template didn't have room for 30 anythings.

I stretched my daring to paint a chicken which I was very pleased with,

and a whole series of beach paintings.

I painted my first still life with the tennis shoes and sea shells.

So that was all good.

These are from the September 2013 challenge.

I really made an effort to make things easier on myself 

by being more organized. 

I'm trying to survive Christmas right now with a sinus infection and a kidney problem.

So I don't know how much of that organization will happen this time.

But on this past challenge I learned an awful lot.

My painting really improved and that is an important part of the challenge.

I sold several of these really quickly and I had a great time,

even though I drove to Oklahoma for a private lesson with Jerry Yarnell,

Jim and I went to Myrtle Beach,

I still completed the challenge.

SO,

Please give me your opinion and advice.

Shall I paint or not

and do you want to see it as it happens?

 

Mudlark Gallery Closing

A Local Gallery Closing

It's really hard to run a small business,

but it's really hard if that business is an art gallery.

Mudlark Pottery and Fine Art Gallery

in Warsaw, KY. is now closed and I went to collect my art today.

These are some of my favorite paintings so I thought I'd give you a look.

Aspen Glow 

framed 16" x 20" acrylic

$200 + $20 shipping

 Another View

is a framed 10" x 8" acrylic on a panel.

The frame, though not shown, is a wide wood gold frame with black speckles.

$150 + $20 shipping

Anyone Home

is another 10" x 8" acrylic on a panel

beautifully framed in a wide wood gold frame with black speckles.

 $150 + $20 shipping

Time is Getting Short

Art Makes a Great Gift

Pink 

unframed 6" x 6" acrylic on a panel

painted during my September 30 paintings in 30 days as are all these paintings.

$50 w/free ground shipping.

 Of The Purple

Beautiful iris.  

unframed 6" x 6" mixed media on a panel

$50 w/free ground shipping

 Water Lilies

unframed 6" x 6" oil on a panel

$50 w/free ground shipping

 Wisteria Walk

unframed 10" x 8 acrylic on a panel

$95 w/free ground shipping.

Let The Sun Shine

unframed 6" x 6" acrylic on a panel

$50 w/free ground shipping

Stargazer Lilies

Elegant Evening Wear

 

Oh how wonderful it would be to dress like one of these.  

Stargazer

7" x 5" unframed acrylic on a panel.

$50 w/free shipping on my blog only.

Scouting for an Original Gift

Scouting

is an original 6" x 6" acrylic on a panel

and it was part of my 30 paintings in 30 days in September.

The sun shines bright on this pelican as he swoops over the ocean

Scouting for a meal.

Wouldn't you just love to be at the beach right now,

well, at least in one small corner of your home or office

you can be.

$50 with free shipping only here on my blog.

Manly Art

Need A Gift For the Man In Your Life?

Well yea!

Like who doesn't!

Here are a few original paintings for that hard to buy for man.

This is a classic, vintage, antique, otherwise known as old truck
grazing abandoned in a field.

Is he a car guy?

Grazing

unframed original 10" x 8" acrylic on a panel

$95 with free shipping in December from my blog only.

Wabasso

is a great little tackle shop near Sebastian, Florida.

unframed original 10" x 8" acrylic on a panel

$95 w/free shipping only from my blog.

 

Wanna Play

I'll bet he has and would like to again.

unframed original 6" x 6" acrylic on a panel

$50 w/free shipping only from my blog.

On in Two

A Florida golf course scene.

Who doesn't want to be there.

unframed original 6" x 6" acrylic on a panel

$50 w/free shipping only on my blog

Finding His Way

Ever been fishing and had to figure your way into or out of a marsh.
I don't know how they do it.
Maybe they drop bread crumbs.

unframed original 6" x 6" acrylic on a panel
$50 w/free shipping only on my blog

Keeping all the Balls in the Air

Wonderful Holidays/Horrible Holidays

There's so many wonderful things I love about the holidays,

and then 

there's 

the STRESS!

I always think I can get 10 times more done than I actually can.

I sort of feel like this guy.

http://www.youtube.com/embed/z8qFBvnUGSM

Click on that link to see the coolest juggler ever.

Hand Painted Furniture

Hydrangea Love

I have this lovely hand painted end table or boudoir table available

for $100.

That's right you read that correctly.

This end table has a drawer on the front and has 3 hand painted hydrangeas on it.

The top, drawer and bottom shelf are a light green with the rest of the table

a lightly distressed black.

This would be so cute as a bedside table

or in that shabby chic decor.

This will need to be picked up in Carroll County, KY.

Please contact me at 502-523-0663 for those arrangements.

You can click on the buy now button below to make the purchase.

Our Savior's Nativity

Our Savior's Nativity

The Carrollton Branch of 

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

is putting on 

"Our Savior's Nativity"

again this year.

We build what a street in Bethlehem might have looked like

when the Savior was born.

We have six shops 

We have a baker

A weaver

and a money changer.

We also have several other shops 

I know you'll enjoy.

We have a live indoor Nativity also.

This spiritual and peaceful presentation is a gift to our community.

It is completely free and you can come and stay as long as you'd like.

501 Main St.

Carrollton, KY  41045

Friday, December 6, 6-8 p.m.

Saturday, December 7, 10 a.m. til 2 p.m.

Please bring your family and feel the meaning of Christmas.

Technology Tuesday - Spread Sheet

Did I Blog About That Painting

There's a lot of things to remember when promoting your art

or any product, online.

Have you every realized that painting you love is not on your website?

I have.

Have you ever forgot to post it on Daily Paintworks?

I have.

Have you ever forgot to blog about a painting?
I have.

If there's a way to screw it up,

I've already done it.

But during the most recent 30 paintings in 30 days challenge,

I was able to keep all the balls in the air with my trusty spread sheet.

I know,

I'm a geek!

Anyway, here's how I did it.

Name of Painting	Photograph	Website	DPW	Blog	Facebook	Pinterest	Sold	Leslies Blog
Day 1 Jersey Girl	X	X	X	X	X	X	X	X
Day 2 Grazing	X	X	X	X	X	X		X
Day 3 Strut	X	X	X	X	X	X		X
Day 4 Wanna Play	X	X	X	X	X	X		X

There are two columns to the right I'm not sure you can see.

One is a sold column which you could make a whole spread sheet for that with columns for

sold, paid for, shipped, insured, price for shipping, and dates and anything else you need.

The other column was strictly for the 30 in 30 challenge,

and that column is on Leslie's blog.

With that spread sheet, I no longer have to worry about did I do it or not.

When I did it, I checked it off.

Another Thing I Don't Have to Remember.

Also, I'm sure you guys have figured out a way to do this,

but this is what I came up with on keeping the URL's for my paintings listed on DPW.

I have a document in Microsoft Word and I copy and paste all the URL's on there preceded by the name of the painting.  

If I want to facebook or blog about a piece on DPW, I just copy and paste the URL and link it in the new document.

I usually keep both of those documents minimized on my desktop,

so they are always handy.

It takes a few minutes to set up the spread sheet,

but for me, the time it saves in helping me stay organized is 

"Priceless"

Still Time For A Commission

This was a commission I did last year of a local tobacco barn for a Christmas gift.

There's still time for your custom art piece for Christmas.

 (for the next 10 days or so)

email me at slgraves6@gmail.com

or leave me a comment and I'll contact you.

What a great gift idea.

I Did Just Fall Off . . .

I Did Just Fall Off the Turnip Truck 

Enough Said,

My husband brought in a whole tote of these the other day

and you know I couldn't resist that purple and all those roots.

The first one got wiped, but this one, I'm satisfied with.

6" x 6" acrylic on a panel

$50 + $6 shipping

Migraines as Inspiration

Migraine Night

 Shhhhhh!!!!!!!

There's a migraine going on here.

OK, not right now

but I had one the other night that was absolutely in color.

My migraines are very orderly, usually.

I get the aura of waving black lines,

then the nausea,

then the headache

and then what I call the aftermath,

when your eyelashes hurt,

your lips hurt,

your fingernails hurt,

and you might be having an out of body experience.

You've been there, right?

I'm very visual, and the other night I had a migraine and the aura was in color.

I'm not kidding you.

I studied it, because I knew I was going to need to paint it.

Not selling it, just painting it.

This is what I saw from the inside out.

I felt like I could really see my eyes.

That was one weird night.

And I don't even drink.

Why Is Green So Hard

How to Get Great Greens

Green is one of the hardest colors to mix,

but I found this on YouTube.

They send me suggestions and this was today's suggestion.

Click here to watch this cool video on making green color charts,

without using green.

Here is my green color chart I made.

 

The colors on the left are:

Lemon Yellow

White

Cad Yellow Med

White

Yellow Ochre

White

Indian Yellow

White

Cad Orange

White.

The colors across the top are:

Phthalo Blue

Ultramarine Blue

Cerulean Blue

Tourquoise

Prussian Blue

Black

Burnt Sienna

Burnt Umber

These are great colors for landscapes,

and I decided to use every shade of yellow and blue I had

and he also used the last two,

Burnt Sienna and Burnt Umber.  

I'm going to do more of these

probably in reds, blues, purples, pinks, etc.

Get the picture.

Re Work Wednesday

Reworked, Renamed and Happy

Sometimes you're just not happy when you finish with a painting.

That's how I felt about this.

First Rendition.

I didn't like the water,

I didn't like the rocks,

I didn't like the plants,

I didn't like the trees.

So I began a rework.

Now this isn't the first re-work

or even the second re-work,

but it is the one I'm happy with.

Introducing

 Swirls

12" x 12" unframed original acrylic on a panel.

$100 + $10 shipping.

Thanks for checking this re-do out.