Good Morning Glory

It is a glorious morning to celebrate one of my favorite flowers, the Morning Glory.  I have for several years now been featuring this cheerful annual by giving it a grandiloquent presence in a number of my paintings and now drawings.  This flower is one of several flowers that has strong memories of childhood affiliated with it and beside who can resist this cheery morning flower.

I just read that I can grow morning glories in a container and so today I'm off to the home improvement store to purchase a pack of seeds and a few color flowers to accent the front of my home.  I'm so excited at the prospect of once again enjoying these climbing beauties and yet having them contained as not to get out of hand.  They will be my inspiration in a pot during the hot summer months that are coming.

Whither you want to see them or not, this is where I'm going to share just a few of my MORNING GLORY artwork work with you.  READY OR NOT, HERE THEY COME!

These first three photos are taken while the artwork is still in my sketchbook.  These pieces are drawn using Prismacolor pencils and pen and ink.  All have been done in the just the past 2 weeks.  I'm currently working on a large canvas piece that features a small jersey calf lying on the ground just in front of a huge cluster of morning glories.  This piece has been a challenge because of the size and shear number of flowers and leaves needed to pull it off.  Drawing in my sketchbook helps me be a better painter and besides these three drawings stand on their own as cute artwork.

The next five pieces are all paintings that I have complete over the past 2 years for a series of work the I call "Down Country Roads".  Each large piece features a different farm animals standing near a fence covered in bright blue morning glories.  Of these five pieces shown here in this blog post, only the last one featuring the trio of noisy geese in "Neighborhood Watch Committee" is available as an original.  I can make prints but they have all been sold and have found new homes.

If you like my artwork and are on Facebook, you might consider following my art studio page.  I always post my newest work there and on Instagram first.
@JulieTownsendStudio

From Sketchbook to SALES

Scan from my Sketchbook

You are such a swine....but you are just adorable.  I couldn’t resist sharing with you this morning a sketch I did on Monday in my sketchbook.  It just turned out really sweet and I can’t wait to see how far this little guy will go.  Yesterday I started an 11 x 14 painting of this composition and we shall see if my brushes can reproduce what my colored pencils did.   I have a strong feeling that this guy will be among my original art that will be on exhibition at the Boulder City Art Gallery in March for my solo show that I'm calling "Dare You Not to Smile".  I'm guessing you can tell why I would include my little friend. 

Yesterday, I spent a little time working on the image in Photoshop and decided this was the image I thought would make the best prints and greeting cards.  The original matted sketch is for sale but it is the selling of cards and prints that really are the main revenue generators for me.  My goal is that by the end of the week this image will be available on my Etsy Shop and at both the local galleries in the form of greeting cards, magnets and matted prints.

Here is my sketch with a little Photoshop editing.  

 

All Good Things Must Come to an End

Yesterday my small studio space just got a lot more crowded.  All the pieces from my solo show at the Whitney Library had to come home and now they are stacked up like cordwood.  My exhibition time was over and all that was left to do was to bring them all home.  29 pieces in variety of sizes, some framed and some not.

So much time, effort and hard work goes into putting on a solo show and I'm not counting the many hours of painting or drawing.  Pretty much a solid year of effort went into my "Down Country Roads" collection.  It may be exhausting, but it is so rewarding to see all your work hung in a gallery on display.  Today there is a variety of mixed emotions.  I'm happy to have all my work back because the past two months there has been a strain keeping up enough new inventory to have pieces of high caliber to display at the other galleries that I show at regularly.  

This morning I am sitting here drinking my coffee and reflecting on the show.  I am also reading through the guest book comments that were recorded by the public during the two month of the show.  There were 10 pages of signatures and most were just a word or two.  There were lots of comments about color and detail.  A number of comments about my poetry and my sense of humor.  Several mentioned that the show reminded them of home or their childhood and some said I made them smile.  My artist heart is so touched by so many kind words. I thought I would share just a few of the quotes with you.

Channel- "Beautiful! Brilliant colors, put a smile on my face!"

Mary Ann- "I love your artwork; it brings happy memories of my childhood to me, thanks.?

Channel- "I had to bring my husband to see your amazing work!"

Unknown- "You brought so many memories back to my farm boy Vermont past!  Loved your talent!"

L.N.S.- "Very astonishing artwork! Mesmerized"

Unknown- "I love this work also I could feel the fishing hole, birds bugs and breeze.  Wonderful!"

Unknown- "Brilliant Poetry and lovely work."

Sydnee- "Ive never seen such beautiful art😀 Especially love the bunnies!"

Unknown-"Beautiful work & a great sense of humor!"

Martha- "Love your sense of humor.  So ably expressed in both words and art."

Traveling Down Country Roads

I lived the best years of my childhood on a dusty dirt road surrounded by trees, flowers, wildlife and farming.  I love old farm houses, gardens, livestock, barns, porch swings, old mail boxes, barbed wire fences and fence posts covered in morning glories and banks of wild flowers dotting every dirt road and 2 lane highway across this amazing country and they are my inspiration as I approach my senior years. 

When the world feels like crazy is becoming the normal,  I have to only return to my roots to find that this country is still full of good folk that appreciate the freedom to work hard and get their hands dirty, to raise their families and take care of their neighbors. This series of paintings is my tribute to that way of life and looking at them.  My goal with this series is frankly to, if only for a moment, take you back to your childhood and make you smile.

My artist motto, "Telling Stories with My Paintbrush" has never been more relevant in my life.  So I'm stuck on painting farm animals and standing along barbed wire fence posts   Cows are such curious creatures and will often watch you as drive by, especially if all your children are hanging out of the windows yelling, "MOO."  

I just can't help myself and found that I have a strong compulsion to paint these giant creatures with their sweet curious faces and large eyes.  Maybe they are just chewing their cud or engaging in the disgusting habit of licking their nose with their over sized tongues.  No matter what they are doing, cows make great subjects for my stories. Pair that with the consistent theme of blue morning glories and tall green grass you have all the elements of a great composition.  

I have painted 6 large feature works and several smaller pieces for this theme and hopefully all of them tell a story of life "Down Country Roads".  

I hope you enjoyed my little trip down memory lane.  All of these images are available in prints at Fine Art America or as 4 x 6 art magnets on my Etsy Store- Country Magnets or Etsy Store- Cow Magnets

Stuck on You Like Gum on Your Shoe

These Stickers are the best of fun

Just plop them on and you are done

These stickers are making the world a brighter place

I’m just doing my part to help the human race

Can you tell I'm just a bit excited about making my new stickers?  I'm not sure exactly what it is, but I have been fascinated with stickers for sometime.  Not just any stickers.  I know that there are a group of people that are crazy about stickers and have sticker collections.

They are cheerful and pretty much brighten up any surface that you apply them to.  I should clarify....When my niece, our last child at home moved out to leave Brad and I to finally enjoy the empty nest we found that she had put a number of cheap stickers on her beautiful solid wood dresser.  I was not happy about that to say the least so PLEASE USE THESE STICKERS RESPONSIBLY!


So applied correctly to notebooks, laptops, books, journals, planners and such they are a really nice touch.  So this week I took the step to start making my own stickers using my original artwork.  Now that is a sticker I can get excited about.  I chose 4 of my farm animal sketches to begin with.  I purchased an inexpensive laminator and a 100 sheets of matte sticker paper and when they all arrived the learning curve commenced.



With a few other adjustments yesterday I was able to add stickers to my Etsy Store listings.

ETSY STORE- FARM ANIMAL STICKERS






Besides Etsy, I want to make these stickers available locally and several galleries so packaging and display concerns I also dealt with.

Another new addition to my Etsy store is beautiful bovine magnets.  Now over this pasts year and a half I have come up with a half a dozen or so paintings of cows.  There is something about these creatures that really struck a cord in the hearts of many.  I get a lot of positive feedback on these pieces so it only makes sense to make them available in a small 4 x 6 inch format with a magnet backing added.  Now they can easily be added to brighten your kitchen appliances, office cubical, file cabinets, lockers or many other surfaces that are made of boring metal.  I even laminated the print to add extra durability and make them water and stain resistant.  These guys and gals will make an excellent gift for any country girl or the cow lover in your life.  Guys....Mother's Day is coming!
ETSY STORE- COW MAGNETS

I GUESS I NEED MORE COWBELL

Last night turned out to be pretty exciting for me.  My feeling is that any day that has an art sale in it is a good day.  This past week I managed to finish my rooster painting that I have decided to call, "Rise and Shine".  That piece had been on my easel for almost a month because I have been so busy with all the details of my solo art show.  Along with finishing the painting, I was able to whip out a total of 3 cowbells.  One cowbell was given away as a prize at my art reception.  Last night I got a Facebook message from a woman I had met briefly last fall while at an outside art event.  She wanted to buy both of the remaining bells.

It's been just a little over 2 years since I painted my first cowbell.  I just had no idea how really popular these would become.  I would estimate that during those 2 years, I have painted almost 100 of them.  I know that just thinking about that many cowbells blows me away too.  The reality is that I'm not really so fond of painting on their hard metal surface, not to mention the limited space I have to work with.   I sometimes find the process frustrating but I have always approached each cowbell as a unique piece of art and try my hardest to make the end result be something to be proud of.

There are several upsides to cowbell sales...1.  Look at all the practice painting that I have gotten.  I think my style has become a little more loose and colorful.  I chalk that up some to all those cowbells.  Practice makes perfect they say and I've gotten a LOT of practice!  2.- Sales of any kind are a good thing to your bottom line.  Be it cards, magnets, prints or 100 cowbells, it all adds up.  I had a conversation yesterday with an artist who said he didn't want to fool around with selling cards.  I say "Yeah for card sales!"  If I could sell 100 or 1000 cards a month I would be a pretty happy artist.  It is a way of enlarging your fan base and as an artist I have to face the reality that while many people may like my work, most won't see the need to invest in an original piece of art.  I dream of the day that my original paintings are in demand but until then....I will be excited for every cowbell and greeting card I sell.

AFTER ALL, AND I'M QUOTING THAT FAMOUS SNL CLASSIC VIDEO WHEN I SAY ALL WE NEED IS "MORE COWBELL!"

Getting Up to Paint Morning Glories in the Morning Before the Chickens

This colorful guy has been perched on my easel for WAY TOO LONG!  I had initially started this piece almost a month ago and even had it listed on my inventory sheet to be part of my "Down Country Roads" library art show but ran out of time with all the distractions and obligations that sprung up on me in the past few weeks.

It also didn't help that I really struggled with the background composition.  Oh I had the rooster nailed down right away but everything I tried for the background, sunflowers, tall grass or a mottled paint treatment just didn't seem to make me happy.  I actually painted over it 3 times.  And that isn't easy when you have a giant feathered chicken in the middle of your canvas.  Honestly, I came upon this idea of having a very colorful and almost pop art feeling background just yesterday.  Combine that with my normal style and I think it really makes this guy pop!  I even woke up earlier this morning than I needed to just to start working on those morning glories.  

I guess at this point I need to make one more confession about this painting. I'm sure I am the only artist that makes glaring (no pun intended) mistakes and paints the sun in the wrong location.   I had the background perfect and was so excited in how it was looking when I took my normal position across the room where I can take in the whole painting from a distance when I realized that silly me had painted the sun in front of a much larger row of beautiful purple mountains.  The sun was actually rising between the grass and mountains and I hadn't even thought about how impossible that would be.  For just a brief moment, I considered leaving it and chalking it up to artistic license but mixed up some more pthalo blue and purple and so my mountain range shrunk to half its original size along with the bottom portion of the sun.  Pop art or not, it still needs to make sense.

This past week I had the amazing experience of seeing the whole of my "Down Country Roads" collection on display at the Whitney Library.  Here is a picture of me taken the night of my artist reception standing in the middle of all my focal pieces.  Even with the Pop Art background, this piece stays true to the rest of my collection and really shines with the bright blue morning glories finishing off the foreground.  I can visualize it right now hanging right along side the rest of them.

As my usual practice, I do a sketch in preparation for starting a new painting.  This helps me greatly with understanding the details I will be trying to achieve even before I grab a paint brush.  My sketches are usually in colored pencil and ink and are often available for hanging.  I matte them and hang them right along side of my other artwork.  This particular sketch I called "In All His Morning Glory" and I found it especially helpful when it came to painting all those tail feathers.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN SEEING MORE OF MY ARTWORK OR POETRY THEN PLEASE CHECK OUT MY WEBSITE AT Julie Townsend Studio.com

A Little Bit of Country in the Middle of the Desert

I absolutely love this picture my husband took of me, standing in what is actually the middle of a long row of large focal pieces.  The perspective and lighting are just perfect.   This was Tuesday, March 28th at my artist reception for my show called "Down Country Roads". We had a few minutes before the guests started to arrive at the reception and he did a great job documenting the gallery and how my pieces looked hanging there. I also couldn't have been more happy with the response I received from my friends, family and even total strangers.  One young boy that appeared to be about 11 even asked if I would be in a picture with him like I was something important.  How cute is that?

Solo art shows are a tremendous amount of work and for this show I have been painting for several months, trying to add new pieces to make my "Down Country Roads" collection larger and more impressive.  It is hard to describe the feeling you experience as the artist when you walk in the gallery for the first time and see all your hard work hung on the wall.  The closest analogy that I can of is it's like arriving to a family reunion where you actually LIKE all your relatives!

Besides displaying a total of 29 pieces of art, the Library District allowed me to include 12 of my poems.  Of course I would expect that a library would be a poem friendly environment.  Most of them have been written over the past year or so and just like my art, each of the pieces have an element of humor to them.  Pretty much everything I do is geared to hopefully make you smile.


I decided that to make the event even more special I would have a drawing and give away artwork as a prize.  Here are a couple of happy winners.

I had the chance yesterday to run back to the library to meet my daughter there.  I spent about an hour observing complete strangers walk into the gallery room and look at my art.  I was blessed to watch an older gentleman walk around the room reading each piece.  The last piece he read just happened to be my "Go Grab a Tissue Please" poem that accompanies a sketch of a cute calf using his tongue to lick his nose.  I was so pleased when I heard him actually laugh out loud.  That, my friend is the exact response that I am hoping for.

My really good friend is a high school English teacher and she tells me that she is planning on bringing her senior class down in April for a field trip because in April they have a poetry unit.  Now I call that perfect timing.  Someday I hope to publish a book of my art and poems and maybe only my grandchildren will want a copy but for now I'm just thrilled to have them hanging on the wall of the Whitney Library on Tropicana and Boulder Highway.

Let me share "Go Grab a Tissue Please" with you here and if you are interested in seeing more of my artwork or reading my poetry then please check out my website at Julie Townsend Studio

Go Grab a Tissue PLEASE!

By 

Julie Townsend

Picking or licking your nose is a bad habit I say

I promise you will regret that you did it someday

When all the other calves are playing, jumping and having fun

You will be too embarrassed to join them to rumpus and run

So when the hay fever strikes and won't slow

And the snot runs free like a steady river flow

When that fountain is turned on and you have the urge to sniff and snort

And even though God has given you a tongue that is far from short

Please! Oh please! Go grab a hanky or better yet, a wad of tissue

To handle the problems of your snot and dripping green issue 

Blowing your nose is so much better than using a tongue to lick

Be considerate of those around you for you will surely make us all sick

  

  

The Poetry of Julie Townsend

I've Been Feeling a Bit Blue

That is probably due to the fact that my hands are speckled and splattered in a nice shade of cerulean blue Now you know that saying about a woman's prerogative.  In this case, rather than just changing my mind, I think it is more that I have discovered over the past year where I was wanting to go with what has turned into a series of paintings.  A series that I believe is helping define me as an artist.   With these first two pieces that I did I really had no idea how this was going to evolve and grow into what is currently 6 large 24 x 36 inch pieces and a number of smaller pieces.    All featuring the fence post with blue morning glories climbing on it.  

I have no idea where this theme is going to take me but I do know that painting them makes me smile.  That is also the common reaction I am told often by those that view the pieces.  I just tell them that is exactly what I want to hear.  After all, there isn't nearly enough smiling going on in the world these days.  

I have a solo show coming up and all my work in this series has to be delivered next week.  These first two pieces have started to really bother me because I feel that I have improved my skill and I want them to match the rest of the series.  The bright green background has really began to bother me.  At the time I painted them it looked good to me but now it separates them from the rest of the work and I really need them to be part of the series.

Sometimes it is actually easier to start all over than to make such massive corrections to a painting.  The task isn't for the faint of heart because it isn't no easy feat to change to color of the background while leaving the mailbox or the fence post untouched.  Believe me when I say that I used a large quantity of cerulean blue to cover all that green but now that I am done, I would say it was it so worth it.  The before and after pics below tell the real story.

Before

 This piece I call "Life at the Fence Post".  This was the beginning of what has not turned into a series.  At the time I painted I was trying to paint loose and colorful.  I choose a green background because it represented to me the stark contrast between being raised in the Missouri Ozarks and where I now live in the deserts of Southern Nevada.  Green is a color that I greatly miss and I guess I was trying to over compensate here.


In my redo of this piece I repainted about 1/2 of the canvas covering the background in blue. For some reason that I'm not completely sure of, I decided to reduce the number of bluebirds and double the mouse population.  In the end, I'm pleased at the changes and think that the piece is a bit more interesting than it was before the changes.

After

Before

The second piece I painted in what is now my Down Country Roads series is called "Lunch Under the Mailbox".  This piece was also one that I really liked but grew tired of the green background.  I took the same approach and repainted about 1/2 of the canvas, getting rid of the green background and making it solid blue.  Other than just some brightening of the colors, the composition on this one remained pretty consistent.

The picture we took here I fear doesn't really due the piece justice.  It was the perfect overcast day outside but I think we waited just a little too long and we were starting to loose our light.  For the blog purpose I suppose they are sufficient for you to get the before and after effect.

After

If you would like to see more of my work, then feel free to check out my website at JulieTownsendStudio.com

Watching Carrots Grow

Watching Carrots Grow

I finished up writing a poem I wrote just in the last few days to go along with one of my illustration sketches that I call "Watching Carrots Grow".  I think it turned out pretty cute and so I blogged about it yesterday on my Embrace Your Creative Side Blog.  Embrace Your Creative Side: Watching Carrots Grow:

I know I'm probably crazy to try to maintain two blogs.  I mean it's not like this blog has gone viral or anything but I found that I really needed to bring more creativity into my life and not just me painting on a canvas or drawing a cute little bunny rabbit.  I need my surroundings to reflect my creativity too.  I also need to pass on creative memories to my grandchildren and that all takes planning.  Blogging about projects and ideas will help me stay focused on what I really think is important.  So I say all that to really trying to step up my game.

Don't Forget Your Vegetables

With Spring weather arriving and the Easter Season quickly approaching, I decided I had better pull out some of my bunny sketches that I did last year and maybe add one or two new furry friends.  Now is the time to get these guys making a gallery appearance in the form of magnets, cards and small prints. Combine that fact with me working like a crazy woman trying to get all the details worked out for my March 28th solo art show "Down Country Roads", I have a pretty busy week in store.

This art and more is available on my Etsy Store. Check it out at:  https://www.etsy.com/shop/JulieTownsendStudio?ref=shop_sugg

WATCHING CARROTS GROW

By

Julie Townsend

Waiting and watching for Carrots to grow

Have you ever seen anything so painfully slow?

From the time in the spring when you place the seeds in soil

And don’t you forget to water, weed, sweat and toil

Then you jump for joy when you see that first bright leafy green

Looking like a plate decoration for some fancy cuisine

Remember with carrots the important part is growing out of sight

Deep in the ground without a single spot of light

For it’s the roots of the carrot that cause your lips to smack

Their crunchy sweetness is always a favorite snack

Patience is a virtue many will say

And you better have plenty because it takes many a day

Remember the saying “Good things come to those who wait”

Waiting you must do before that orange goodness is on your plate

There is an important lesson that you should take heed

Plant these words deep in your heart to grow just like a weed

I’ve read in the Bible that we should “fix our eyes on things unseen”

It’s not the outward appearance that makes you selfish and mean

But just like carrots that grow underground and out of our sight

It’s those invisible qualities of Love, Joy and Peace that makes you shine bright

And let’s not forget to save plenty of room

Because there is nothing so sweet when Kindness and Patience are in full bloom

Stand strong and guard the garden of your heart

The reward of that harvest will give your life a good start.

A Stampede of Bovine Beauties

So I'm working like a crazy woman trying to get all my artwork together, framed, matted, printed, inventoried and yes, I'm still painting one last piece for my solo art show on the 28th of this month.  Today, I had to visit 2 different printers and drop off artwork at 2 separate galleries.  We put almost 100 miles on the car just driving around running all my art errands.  I'm so excited about this that I'm sure all this running around is going to be worth it.  

There is just something amazing about seeing all your work hung together in a solo show that makes you as an artist feel so happy.  It is kind of like having all your children home for the holidays or attending a family reunion when you haven't seen everybody for years.  I'm starting to line up artwork along the wall of my hallway and in my kitchen trying to maintain and organized approach as I have now less than two weeks to pull this all together. 

As I just walked past the hallway I couldn't help but notice just how many of my "Down Country Road" pieces feature cows.  It looks like a stampede of bovine beauties in my studio and so I thought I would share them with you.  And if I did the job I intended,  they all will         make you smile.

This is my newest painting and I just got it back from the printers and now am ordering a 24 x 36 inch giclee print made on stretched canvas.  Since this is the first time I have had a print made of my artwork,  I'm really excited to see how it will look.  So if you might be interested in owning the original or having a print of any of these beauties, just send me an email and we can discuss the details.  If you want to see my other works, check out my gallery on my website at JulieTownsendStudio.com

"Happy Cows"

"Always Greener"

"Fence Post Curiosity"

Who Needs a Tissue

"Good Morning Sunshine"