Along with a few other Etsy sellers we are having a little give-away this week. I am giving away a magnet set or pendant and cord. Your choice of design, anything you see in my shop is available. To enter just post a comment here and tell me why you like the item.
The contest starts Sunday Oct 5th and ends Friday Oct 10th. Remember you can pick any pendant or magnet set, not just the ones pictured here.
The link to the shop is on the right
And here are the links to the other Etsy sellers having give-aways:
Here's where to go and what you can win:

Laura Bucci *bags and accessories
Win a retro-styled felted wristlet
Enter here: http://laurabucci.com

Designed by RJ ~ Jewelry for the Playful Spirit
Win a pair of Lamplight and Brass earrings - Your Choice of Colour
Enter here: http://designedbyrj.blogspot.com


rikrak, modern & sustainable patchwork
Win a quilted wallet / card case made of repurposed vintage fabrics
http://transcanadaetsyteam.blogspot.com

Thanks!!!
Alesha

I honestly dont know how I end up with so many animal paintings, I guess because I do demonstrations of things my students are interested in. Sometimes I wonder what my work would look like if I wasnt teaching and I could paint whatever I want, [not that anyone is stopping me but its hard to find the time.] As Zackery and Rhiannon get older I am finding more of that so maybe things will change. Another thing that will help is that I am giving up the wholesale component of my home-based business. I will no longer be making those little glass magnets except for in my Etsy shop. Surely not having to make 3000 little glass magnets after a trade show should help me find more time to paint? I am hoping but I am teaching more as well so we shall see....
Here is a painting I completed in a wet on wet class I taught at Monterey a few months ago:

My Week
Things to do:
1. Clean studio and try to make small cramped space an encouraging environment for creative development.
2. Pay some attention to offspring, nurture etc..
3. Chuck out a bunch of old paintings started in classes-or find some way to recycle
4. Lesson plans for 3 classes this week and 1 workshop, prepare samples
5. Finish a painting-just one, don't try to work on ten at once, it just confuses you
6. Add items to Etsy shops [see link at right]
7. Start reading book you just took out of library " How to Deal With Your Acting Up -Teenager by Robert and Jean Bayard]
8. Housework?
9. Start getting stock ready to send to Prince George Studio Fair by Oct 12th
10. Pay some attention to husband.

This is a painting I completed in 2005
"Fish Out Of Water" watercolor and mixed media

Okay its been a long summer, I haven't finished a painting since June.
Its been one thing or another-I taught 4 weeks of intensive all day classes, one four session class, one week long half day teen class, plus a one session art gallery class for 6-7 year olds....
And I went up island with my family for a couple of days.....
And my Etsy shops continued to produce sales, albeit at a slower summer pace.......
Then I put my back out moving furniture so my studio is STILL all torn apart. The chiropractor is richer and I am still not completely mended.
And the kids were home a lot......need I say more?

This weekend I judged the art competion at the Saanich Fair and I am demonstrating there for a couple of days.
I have lots of new classes coming up in the next couple of weeks, if you follow the link to my class and workshop blog you can see.
Hopefully I will have something new to post when I get my studio back together!
Thanks for all of you who took summer classes with me, I thoroughly enjoyed them!

Good News!
I got a piece in the Sooke Fine Arts Show. The show is well attended and I always sell lots of cards and sometimes the actual painting sells too.
It wasnt this one though-they picked the cityscape on Yupo I posted awhile ago.
This little hare-also watercolor on Yupo, was not so well favored.......

My daughter went to a week long choir festival and took my camera with her, so I cant take any pictures of my new paintings. So this is an old one- one of my little Kermode Bear Paintings. I have done quite a few....This one is quite small, about 5 inches square, and is for sale in my one of my Etsy shops www.alesha.etsy.com

It is a strange thing to try to duplicate a painting you have already done. I have attempted it a couple of times when people have wanted to purchase a painting that was no longer available. For a painting like this it is especially difficult. The original [which can be seen on my facebook and flickr portfolios] was painted two years ago and donated to Art Incognito. I never got a picture of it before framing it so I photoshoped the crappy photo I took of it in its frame under glass.
So I find myself trying to re-create a painting that I dont really remember exactly, using a doctored photo. hmmmm.
So what do you think? Is it done? What else should I do to it? I changed the fish in the painting to a Sockeye rather than a Coho,[or whatever it was.] I have stuck to the same color palette and tried to keep the same concept in mind while painting, but with a painting like this I just dont know....Any suggestions?

Another of my tile pendants

New Pendants

I think I finally have found a good way to make these, and it doesn't involve cutting and fusing glass which pleases me no end.
Can you guess what they are made from?
Check out www.starryeyedstudios.etsy.com for details.

ol.
I have always loved assemblages but rarely make the time to create them.
This one was started in a Papier Mache and Sculpture class I taught at Island Blue a few weeks ago.
I finished it as an example for a Pro-D Day workshop called "Sculpture in The Classroom" I recently conducted for a group of teachers.

Watercolor Self Portrait
Did this one a few weeks ago for a workshop
I think I took creative license and shaved off a few years....
didn't mean too, it just happened!
I could look a little happier though.....I also lost interest before I completely finished it.

Okay this is one I started in my watercolor workshop on the weekend. It was inspired by a Georgia O'Keefe Skull Painting. The question is should I keep it as a skull or morph it into a lanscape?
I just cant decide. My daughter and her friend Koa voted for Cow Skull. They say I have too many landscapes.
But it might be too scary for me :[

This is a painting I have been working on over the last few days.I have a couple of cityscape watercolors on the go-this one is on Yupo paper. I am loving painting on that slippery synthetic paper these days. The surface is so white the color just pops!
I think I may let the city scape theme go for awhile though-I am finding the painting of the actual buildings to be kind of tedious.
Just my little attention deficiency asserting itself!
I do like this painting and it is almost finished. It was inspired by the view from my studio which I just love.
I just wish I got to spend more time there.

Well I was all booked to go to the Toronto Wholesale show this weekend. I was not going to be there physically but my friend Kelly was going to take my product as well as hers.
Well that didn't happen-She had a death in the family and we had to cancel at the last minute.
So I updated my website, sent off my product and it turns out I didn't need to......
So am I devastated? No.
The money coming in would have been nice....
But the crazy all out frantically trying to get all the orders out is usually very stressful...
And I would really like to finish some paintings....
and spend some more quality time with my neglected family...
So maybe the universe is trying to tell me something. Hopefully the next time you visit the blog you will see some new art work that doesn't have a magnet or necklace attached. So stay tuned!
But in the meantime check out my etsy shope [link at right.] I am going to be putting some energy into that as well in the next few months and you can see all my new designs that I did for the trade show. My favorite the Bird Themes [pictured.] And please check out my class and workshop blog for what is happening on that front.

As you can imagine there hasnt been a lot of paintings finished with all this holiday nonsense going on. Right now I am making some new designs for my Cannery Row Art Magnets. I have a big trade show coming up and I have to get all my stuff ready and shipped off to Toronto.
These are inspired by Day of the Dead Calaveras and Sugar Skulls.
I start teaching again next week too-busy busy!

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