Traveling Down Country Roads In My Studio

My Current Work in Progress on my Studio Easel

This week I have managed to steal away here and there a little time to work on my piece that features a Jersey Cow and Calf along with a fence post of beautiful morning glories.  The morning glories have been a repeated theme in my last two works and this piece makes number 3 in a series that I'm calling "Down Country Roads".  It looks as if this will be the name of my solo show at Boulder City Art Gallery in April and then eventually another Clark County Library show.  I'm really excited because these pieces are very special to me and are full of memories of my childhood in the beautiful Ozark hills of Central Missouri.  I am hopeful to have at least 2 more large pieces  and several small works finished by the end of March.

Each piece is hopefully going to be charming, colorful and humorous so it will be a show you will want to see if you are in the Las Vegas area.  I will most definitely keep everyone posted as to the times and dates of my shows.

Marketing Flyer Draft

I worked on some rough drafts for a postcard to use as a marketing tool for my up coming show.  So far this is what I have come up with.  There may be some slight changes but overall I am pretty pleased with how it looks.  When I have made all my edits, I will order some cards to be printed from Vistaprint  to pass out and to mail along sending out electronic invitations to the show.

"You Stole My Heart"

This little sketch was one I did last week but wasn't happy with the composition when I went to place it in a matte.  I decided to extend the background wall to take up more room on the paper and then I added a scattering of small hearts in the wagons path.  I have had a lot of positive feedback on this piece.  It is matted to 11 x 14 inches and will look great in a frame to give as a gift to someone special.

"That's a Lot of Hogwash"

I did this "Big Mamma" piece last night and may do a little more blending touch ups to it before I can say for sure it is finished but I had a great time drawing this one.  I like the pink and blue of the sow and that contrasted to the mud she is so happily standing in.  Hogs can be very large creatures, especially the full grown boars.  They can also be very mean and I know I wouldn't want to get into the pen with them unless I had a big stick or electric cattle prod close by.  I have a great deal of respect for farmers.  My grandparents ran a hog farm for a number of years in small town of Woodlake, Minnesota and so I have first hand experience smelling that lovely aroma in the air when the breeze is blowing from the direction of the barn.  You have to LOVE the smell of  rural America!


That pretty much outlines my artistic accomplishments for this past week.  It was a good week and I am blessed to be able to spend as much time as I do pursuing my passion.

The Start of Something Big....

So as part of my Year Of Art in 2016, I want to create a portfolio of sketches.  Don't worry, I will continue to paint on canvases and cowbells,  but I want to develop my skills in the illustration arena.  I've been reading a number of articles about getting your art licensed and this thought excites me. The one e-book suggests that you take 3-6 months and develop a portfolio of ideas so that you can share them with potential companies that buy art for licensing.  I will make a little confession here that a secret dream of mine for years has been to have my art published on a Leaning Tree card so art licensing has been a goal of mine long time.

The last several days I have been a bit under the weather, so yesterday I brought all my drawing supplies out of the studio and arranged them near the sofa and the warmth of the wood stove.  I spent a good portion of the day drinking hot tea, watching movies, drawing and trying to stay warm.  The result of these efforts is a little 5x7 sketch that I'm calling "Take the Time to Enjoy a Good Book".  I think this idea has potential to make a cute card.

"Take Time to Enjoy a Good Book"- 

So my first sketch for my portfolio is almost finished.  I need to decide if I should do something to the background at this point.  I don't want to distract from the book but if I put a light color for the background then the book might actually stand out more.  It a lot of light colors so I can see a beige watercolor wash perhaps.

Here are some other recent drawings I have done for my darling grandchildren for their birthdays. I'm trying to create a unique piece of art for each grandchild as part of their birthday gift from me.  I never liked buy cards from the rack and so I thought it would be much better if I tried to create them something special.  These are the three 3 year old grandchildren and I had so much fun turning them each into little cartoon characters.

JoJoda....The Force is Strong With This One!

Katherine- and her "Lovely Lime Green Tutu"

"It's a Bird, It's a Plane...no It's Super Noah"

Wanna Build a Snowman?

"First Snowman"- Original Acrylic on an 18x24 stretched canvas

Very often life floods in and takes over when I start to paint a composition.  I'm thinking of my childhood or some life experience that I have encountered along the way.  This piece that I'm calling "First Snowman" is no exception.  This painting is actually based off a photo taken of myself and my younger brother in front of my grandmother's place in Swedeborg, Missouri.  I'm not positive that this is the first snowman experience but because my grandmother took the time to build it with us it is the forever memory that makes this snowman standout from all the other snowmen in my childhood.  

I can still recall picking buttons out of her button box to aid in the creation of facial expressions on what otherwise just a cold blank stare.  Her plaid scarf around his neck and a silly knitted stocking cap finished off his accessories.  The picture snapped that day shows both myself and my brother, red cheeked and squinting from the bright sun but smiling ear to ear because a woman we greatly adored took time to make a memory in the life of a 4 and 5 year old.

The photo of us and the snowman was cute but we are standing in front of my grandmother's house with just a plain window and drab blue-gray aluminum siding as a backdrop so of course I had to make up a charming snowy barn scene.  That my friend is the joy of using artistic license.  

I will end this blog post today with a meditative question to myself, but one that I hope you too will consider.  I have to wonder that now that I am a grandma soon to be seven times over, do I do enough making of memories with my own grandchildren?  I can make my life get so busy that I'm not so sure that I've done the best job in the memory department as I could.  I think it is time to do some planning as the holidays approach and carve out some memory making activities.

Hanging in Boulder City

First blog entry for 2014....and I'm so excited to report that I am now hanging work at the Boulder City Art Gallery that is located on the 2nd floor of the historic Boulder Dam Hotel in downtown Boulder City, Nevada.  I just had to stop in the other day and see how my work looked hanging on there.  I would say it looked right at home.

This gallery is charming and well run for a co-op and I think I'm really going to like being part of the group.  There are some really amazing artists there and I'm looking forward to getting to know them better.

Standing in front of one of my pieces now hanging at the Boulder City Art Gallery!

This week I have also started making unique cards using my artwork.  These cards will be available to purchase at both galleries later in the month.  

My first try at making my own unique cards to sell using my artwork.  I think they look pretty good and they will be available for sale later this month at both galleries.