Wednesday Favorites

This photo in neon colors by dbvisualarts would be fantastic in a retro decor!


This serene-looking kitty by Lucia_Salemi makes me smile.


A colorful selection of glass beautifully rendered in pastels by Marionsart!


Awesomely cool and fierce Keds shoes by AntiqueImages!



I can't help loving this adorable little birthday mouse by CSiravo!

Wednesday Favorites

Fabulous retro image in cheerful, eye-popping colors from designs2inspire!

Pretty in pastel Whimsical Candy Bar Sticker from CandyBuffet!

Elegant black and gold wedding invitation with peacock feather accent from NiteOwlStudio!

Lovely, simple design with blue tulips in a blue striped vase from FloatingLemons!


A very handsome recipe binder for your crockpot recipes from Klassy_Kitchen!

Influences

It was years ago. (I think it was probably shortly after suffering my last bearable indignity in high school and I had left for the last time.) It happened that I hadn't been awake until the wee hours of the morning and I was up early enough to be watching The Today Show. They were doing a segment on Milton Glaser and it was, during that short segment, when I decided I wanted to be a graphic artist. More specifically, it was this image that inspired the decision:The juxtaposition of the natural fluidity of the flowers and the rigid geometry of the grid left me awed. It had never occurred to me before that you could do such a thing! It completely changed the way I thought of art, making me realize that everything wasn't just the same prosaic paintings that hung on my grandmother's walls. Although I've since discovered many other wonderful artists since then, Mr. Glaser seems to be always at the back of my mind and continues be an influence in my work.

A True Flapper

My grandmother was the archetypal 1920's flapper. Born in 1903, she was at just that age when the 20's came roaring in. Ardently sought after by men, she was a dark-haired, mysterious beauty with finger curls and loads of style. Maybe a little wild (or, at least, what might have been considered wild for the time.)



By the time I knew her she was a quiet, gentle lady who wore Endora-from-Bewitched-style caftans with huge, chunky costume jewelry. She and my uncle, Jim, would throw lavish parties that would pack the house and everybody who was anybody was in attendance. She enjoyed those parties but, more than anything, else she loved to read. Not surprisingly, F. Scott Fitzgerald was her favorite author. My oldest brother was even named for him and he was always her pet. I didn't get to know her for very long. She died when I was just five years old, but I've never forgotten her style or her understated brand of elegance or her gentility. To this day, she still influences me.

Fishing Buddies

For two mornings in a row, I was outside on my porch when a man went by in a Jeep with a rusty, old canoe strapped to the top and his big, black Lab in the passenger seat. I couldn't help but be inspired by the sight and a little envious of the nice, peaceful time they were going to have.

Thinking out loud

It's no secret to anyone who knows me how much I love my Wacom tablet. Since I got it a few months ago, I've quit using the traditional forms of media almost entirely. This brings me to a couple of questions: Is digital artwork valid as art and will it eventually replace art in conventional media? Because I create all my work digitally lately, I never have a physical finished work - nothing you can hold in your hands. Of course, I can always print it out (or have it printed out), but then is it still an original? One generally thinks of a printed image as just that - a print. Even if it's a one off, it's still a print. Although most of the work I've done lately has been more in the realm of design that's meant to be added to the products in my Zazzle store; I have done a few paintings and drawings that I think could easily stand on their own, but they only exist on my hard drive. How does that impact their relevance? Does it impact their relevance?


At this point, the number of artists that use strictly digital media is probably relatively small, but this is the digital age. I suspect more and more artists will begin turning to digital. After all, who can resist the lure of dozens of different pens, brushes, paints and most any other medium you can think of right there at your fingertips? (Not to mention any color you want without having to blend or deal with the hassle of cleaning brushes.) Will art galleries eventually be filled with artists' work who have never so much as touched a real paintbrush or pencil? Maybe. Maybe not.


All I know is that, either way, I will keep happily using my tablet and hope that my computer doesn't crash.

And people try to tell me I shouldn't take naps...

After not having slept well the night before (as usual), I was having an afternoon nap. At some point I woke up with a design in my head. I had to fight to stay asleep as this image kept popping into my head. When I did wake up finally, I couldn't immediately get to my tablet as I had a few things to do. I had to keep "repeating" this image in my head for fear it would be forgotten and lost forever.
After the various chores were finished, I sat down to create my "dream design". I made three simple leaves using the digital airbrush - one in lime green, one in Barbie pink and one in pumpkin orange. Then, with the thick and thin pencil, I added a curved line to represent the twig from which the leaves were growing and a few quick lines for veining on the leaves. When I woke up with that relentless image in my head there was something at the end of the twig, but I have no idea what it was and it seemed superfluous anyway. This was the resulting design:I added it to several items in my Zazzle store. For all but the cloth products, I turned it 90 degrees and added a tone-on-tone beige striped background.

Now I think it may be time for another nap. Ya never know. ;-)

Another example of inspiration being where you find it.

While my husband and I waited for our entrees to come at a Chinese restaurant the other night, I noticed how pretty and graceful the lotus flowers were on our plates. I took out my phone and, so as to not look completely weird, discreetly took a picture while pretending to be typing a text.





A couple of days later I used one of these flowers as the model for my latest design. I decided on red instead of blue and used the simple watercolor brush in the Corel Painter 4. The resulting image is at left. I only hope I was able to do justice to this beautiful Asian symbol.

One of summer's pleasures

There isn't much I like about summer. I've never been a "fun in the sun" type of gal. Summers in the south are generally so miserably hot that you don't find me outdoors much between July and the end of September. One of the things I do like about summer is daylilies. I love their bright, cheery colors and their graceful dancing in warm breezes. It's almost as if they know their time is fleeting so they have to show their best while they have the time. (Hmm...maybe we could all take an example from that.) Anyway, it was these transient beauties that were the inspiration for my latest digital painting. I painted it using the gouache brush tool. It was my first time using it, but I like the effect. I've added the painting to a number of items in my Zazzle store.

The creative process (modern version)

I created this impressionistic image through a process of several steps using a combination of Corel Painter Essentials 4 and Corel PaintShop Pro.












First, I painted this field and sky using the Seurat brush in Painter 4 (only turned 90 degrees).








Then, in PaintShop I took this old family photo and cut out the lady (g-g-aunt Sue)












and pasted it onto the painting of the field. I painted Sue's features out (sorry, Sue) with the same Seurat brush to create the look of the back of a woman with blond hair. (below) Finally I used the Impressionist auto painting feature to create the ending image. (The one at the top of this post.) Ah, the wonders of modern technology. I wonder what Monet would say?

Art and a love of antiques

Whenever I can combine my two passions - art and antiques - it makes me doubly happy. My love of antiques came from my uncle who was an avid collector. I even have a small antiques business that I call "My Uncle's Attic". This digital painting of an antique tole painted coffee pot on an old wooden side table was done from a photo I had taken at his house as we were settling his estate after he passed away in 2007. It ended up having a nice old world look - almost like a Vermeer. I've added it to several items in my Zazzle store, including this print.

Final result

The finished product - one of them at least. I made several products with this same image, each with a different quote. (This just happens to be one of my favorites.)

Sometimes it ain't easy

Been struggling all night with an image and just can't make it happen. These are what I've come up with so far. Not thrilled with either. It may not be meant to be. Sigh.

A fine old tree by an old brick church

I've done a lot of genealogical research for my family. In the course of doing that research I've been in dozens of cemeteries. The photo that this image came from was taken at one of my very favorite church/cemetery spots. It's an 18th century Lutheran church stuck way back from the beaten path in Wythe County, Virginia, but what actually struck me was the enormous old tree next to the church. It completely dwarfed it. So, I took this shot and it's been sitting in my files until now. In the good old Corel Painter program I did the match palette function with an artist I really like named Dadd. I then used the auto paint function with a fine camel brush. I've added this to several items on Zazzle. I'm just so glad I finally got to do something with the photo of that amazing tree.

Yet another cat creation

Obviously, cats are one of my favorite subjects - especially my own cats. This was done from one of my favorite photos of our kitty, Olivia. In the Corel Painter 4, I used the match palette effect from a Matisse painting, then auto painted it using the impressionist brush. I then went back in and used the soft edge cloner to sharpen her face. (And it's such a good face.) This is the resulting image. I'll be adding it to some Zazzle products within the next few days.

Another artist

Since I seem to be creatively dry at the moment I figured it would be a good time to share the Zazzle store of one of my favorite artists. His work is simply brilliant. The mood he can evoke with just some simple lines and his use of color are genius. And he's a very nice person to boot. I think you might be able to tell - I'm a fan. This is just one example of his beautiful work. There's more at:
sword42's Store at Zazzle

This is a sketch I did today then messed with in Paint Shop. I'll most likely be adding it to some Zazzle items. It was inspired by a photo of the amazingly talented Mark Hollis formerly of the '80s band Talk Talk.

Traffic to both my Zazzle stores has steadily declined over the past few days. Need to find some more ways to promote.

Had an unbelievable sale on Zazzle yesterday. I sold twelve of these shirts! It's from an original mixed media drawing I did a while back. I guess it's time I stopped complaining about not having any sales. :-)

A peaceful moment

I wrote this poem this morning during a moment of quiet reflection then added it to this image I had already created. I think it turned out right well.