Do You LOVE Suprises?

Well I Sure Do!

I give a painting away every month to people who sign up to receive my blog and newsletter in their inbox.

Last month I gave away this,

 a 7" x 5" palette knife painting of a dahlia.

I pulled out the name of Torrie Smiley.

She is a fellow artist who also subscribes to my blog.

It may surprise many of you who read my blog,

that artists subscribe to lots of other artists blogs.

I know I subscribe to 20-30 or more artists blogs

because I love to view art work, 

and artists are often very free with information

on how and why they painted their most recent work.

You can learn a lot by following artists blogs.

Any way, I sent Torrie an email, as I do with everyone who wins a painting and the winner has 24 hours to respond.

She responded within 10 minutes

and was so excited she said she was going to send me a painting in return.

Boy was I shocked and surprised.

This is me and my new lovely painting from Torrie Smiley.

 

It's beautiful and I love it!

 

And you should see how she packaged it.

It was a thrill to open the box it was in.

 

Click HERE  to view more of Torrie's beautiful work.

 

Here it is sitting on my sofa table in my living room.

I have a small collection of artwork from other artists.

It's like having my own mini art gallery.

 Thank you so much Torrie.  

I love it!

 

Collecting art from a single artist,

artists with similar subject matter,

a particular medium,

or all of the above,

is very rewarding.

 

The best thing about having original art

is every time you view it,

you can't help but think of the artist hands touching the piece,

why they painted what they painted,

the colors they chose,

the effect it has on you.

 

I have some prints,

but I don't really appreciate the art as much as I do 

when viewing original art. 

 

I am always looking at the brush strokes,

the composition,

what the artist saw and felt

as the piece was painted.

 

If you don't own any original art,

I suggest you start with a small piece

of a subject you love and colors you love.

 

There are places to go to view original art.

 

You can google original artists,

or there is a site for Daily Painters

who, as the name implies, paint every day.

They have challenges and auctions on this website and you can pick up some beautiful original art

at affordable prices.

 

Click HERE to view Daily Paintworks.

 

When you go to an art show or art fair,

most artists will have small work as well as their larger more expensive work. 

 

FASO is a company that has software for artists websites.  They promote their artists with a daily art show and they show off the work of many artists.

You can see thumbnails of lots of original art by many artists and you can go to their website to view their art and follow those ones you like.

 

Click HERE to see their Daily Show  

 

Hopefully you'll check out some new artists

and their original art and begin to invest in your own original art. 

 

 

 

   

Re-Kindling The Fire

Re-Kindling The Fire

Since I haven't posted for almost two weeks,

you might think my fire went out.

And since that almost never happens,

you might be right - 

Sort of!

I've been sick.
I have no voice.
I've had no energy.

I'm having computer problems.

But now I'm ready to re-kindle my fire.

When you lay a fire the first thing you put in is some paper or something else easy to burn.

Then you add some material that is a little sturdier, like cardboard.

Then you add some dry twigs.

Next you'll need something bigger, but not much bigger.

Then you light it and wait a few minutes.

You might have to fan the flames at this point.

You might need to add more small dry material.

Once it starts to go, then you'll add some bigger pieces of wood

and finally you'll add logs when it's really going.

In my re-kindle my fire activity

I went to my go to activity first.

1. My go to activity is something I paint with ease or something I really like to paint.  In this case, it was a re-do of a painting.  (I'll show you later).

2.  Start Small and Build Up.  Just like in building a fire, you don't put the logs on first, but you start with the small stuff that burns easily and build up from there.  I didn't start out with a brand new painting, but I pulled out something I had done a while ago that I wasn't happy with and worked on a section of it.  

3.  I fanned the flames by watching a few videos of what I wanted to work on, painting clouds, and then I decided what I wanted to change in the painting and finally I started painting.

4.  In building a fire you have to add more wood in varying degrees as the fire grows, so in my painting, once I had the clouds finished, I worked on the background trees, hay field and finally the hay bales.  

5.  Enjoy what you create.  As I created/repainted this painting, I enjoyed every section along the way that I re-did, and if I didn't repaint it, I totally enjoyed that portion.  After all, I had nothing to lose.  I already didn't like the painting so I only had one way to go - 

UP!

 So, I've been motivated and I hope you have too.

Have a great day

and let's paint together sometime.