Awhile ago I got an email from an artist in Singapore named Sabrina Sit who was promoting her etsy shop. I checked it out and decided to order some of her portrait mini cards. They were only $4.00 and I thought it would be nice to get her started, [It was her first sale.] The cards when they came were far beyond my expectations.
I had been to her deviantart site and liked her work but her etsy shop photos did not do justice to these little delicate works of art.
I got a whole bunch of them and they are beautiful little ink and pencil lines with accents of shiny painted texture-truly special and unique.
I can see also why people get into mail art. Receiving this envelope full of treasures from Singapore was a lot more uplifting than the hydro bill and bank statement that came through the mailbox at the same time. If you want to have a similar experience for only $5.00, check out Sabrina Sit's etsy site www.abigblankcanvas.etsy.com. and order the portrait mini cards while she still has some left. You can go to her deviant art site as well, that address is on her Etsy site.
While you are at Etsy you can also go to my shop, [follow the link at right.] From there maybe you could do some browsing and spend some time exploring the fabulous world of the hand crafted and handmade.

This is a new version of a painting I did called Midnight in The Garden of Lilies
The old one was about 12 square and sold last year.
This is a commission I did that is a little different but along the same lines. I was inspired by an underwater photo of a lily pond I came across one day.
This acrylic painting measures about 24 inches square and is called Shannon's Lily Garden.

It is the dilemna of the artist to try and make a living from what they love to do.
I do sell the odd painting but mostly I eke out a living teaching art and making stuff to sell.
This is a pendant I made from glass I cut and fused myself [I have my own kiln now]
The print is of a watercolor on Yupo paper I did a few years ago.
Check out my Etsy shop if you are interested in seeing some more stuff, [link to the right]
Weather permitting I will be at Government St. Market Sunday Sept 23rd. from 10-4:30

This is a painting I did during the Moss St. Paint In back in July. Yet another one of Rhiannon. I like working in my comfort zone when I am demonstrating in public, this type of painting is very straightforward, not like the other stuff I do which requires lots of contemplation and angst.
I have been so busy with the five summer week long workshops that I taught this summer, plus all the other stuff I do..... I am looking forward to doing some more painting in Sept when things get back to normal.
I will try and post at least once a month-I am writing it on my calendar!

Sorry I have been so long away!
I have been teaching a lot and painting....but I have'nt taken any new pictures.
This is yet another fish inspired artwork-a small collage I did awhile ago.
Come see me at the Moss St. Paint In on Saturday July 21st between 12-4.
I will be around the Revercomb St. Area.

I always get lazy when I paint a portrait.
This one of Rhiannon I did in about an hour for a demo in my acrylic class. It was from a photograph she took as a self portrait. I wonder if I will ever finish it?

I should be going to bed instead of messing around with this stuff but it is much less messy than getting out my acrylics..... This is from another one of those acrylic on paper paintings. This is one of my experimentations. Its actually only a small detail from a larger painting

Its amazing how you can "soup up the color" on pictures with photo shop. I am finding it an interesting tool for deciding on the next step for a painting. This is one of three abstract acrylic on paper paintings I have been working on and off [mostly off] on for about a year.
The real painting looks much less color saturated than shown here. Just by clicking on "auto contrast" I got this.
Much easier than painting and repainting over and over again which I must admit I have already done. I tend to do that with abstracts.
By looking at this I know how I am going to finish it now.

I found "Reverse Crow" in a pile of unfinished paintings. I did it last year in a drawing class. I love finding these little treasures I have forgotten about...I do that a lot.
This is a combination of watercolor and gouache with a little pencil thrown in.

I have had a couple of weeks off between classes, most of which I have spent trying to clean up and researching lesson plans for upcoming sessions. I also had some fun volunteering in my sons school, [helping with art] and hanging out with my daughter during Spring Break. So not as much time working on my own stuff as I would have liked,but I have managed to make a few new cards. This one is called " Vancouver West End"
I will post more ATC's on my flickr site [link on left column] as I make them.

Have you heard of Artist Trading Cards? I am building a little portfolio of them. It started when I started teaching a class for kids at the Victoria art gallery. It wasnt a class I came up with myself, it was set and they hired me for it: "Cartooning and Artists Trading Cards"
If you look at my art work it isnt exactly "Cartoony" but this encouraged me to look at what kids love about this style of art and to really look into it. I am looking forward to my next session now that I have a little experience under my belt.
So I also became interested in these little cards. I have sold a couple on Ebay, but mainly I just want to have a little stash of these little 2.5 by 3.5 inch works of art.

This is a little sketch I did in one of my watercolor classes a while ago. The inspiration was Mt. Fuji in Japan.

Artists trading cards are a fun way to stay creative on a small scale. They are cut to a standard size of 2.5 x 3.5 inches. I have this Lobster [pen, ink, watercolor.] posted on Ebay right now. I have yet to collect any but I think I am going to start. I love the idea of exchanging cards with artists all over the world

Okay I have posted some still life stuff on Flickr, if you click on the link to your right it will take you there. I used to think it was pointless doing all these types of paintings, more for the benefit of my students and not for me at all. But now I have a group of them I am suddenly into them. I will post more as I paint them.

I end up doing a lot of still life stuff in my watercolor classes. While I enjoy painting them I guess I have never really thought about them as serious "paintings." When I was cleaning up my studio [still] I went through my hundreds of unfinished paintings [I am not exaggerating] and I was pretty pleased. I think a lot of the ones I thought of as unfinished are good the way they are. Whether or not they are good to frame they speak of the journey I am making as an artist. Some of them I will frame as the opportunity arrives.
The most surprising of the bunch was the dozen or so flower still life paintings. Flowers have never been my favorite subject matter but when I lay them out together I like them quite a bit. I plan to take pictures of them and post them as a flickr slideshow or something. If I figure out how to do that and I can figure out how to link it you should see it soon. Here is one of the unfinished ones. Its one of my favorites and the only one that fits on the scanner. I like the simplicity of it and the negative space.
I dont think I will do anything else to it, I have never been able to leave well enough alone so we shall see if I can actually resist continuing to work on it!

This is an acrylic on paper painting I started in the summer.
It's a work in progress and I havent worked on it lately- but it reminds me of warm weather and afternoons at the beach. That and its warm soft colors put me in mind of better weather as I spent the day cleaning my studio [still not finished] and gazing outside at yet another rainy miserable winter day in Victoria. I havent picked up a brush in a couple of weeks and am really looking forward to starting my classes next week at Island Blue [check out www.islandblue.com for schedule] and finishing some paintings. That will get me through the dark and wet days until spring!