Roosters and Rock Climbing

My newest painting "In All His Morning Glory" 24 x 36 Acrylic

Today was one of those very rare overcast days here in Las Vegas.  A little bit on the windy side but beside that, it was a PERFECT day to go out for a little hike.  Since I just finished my newest painting titled "In All His Morning Glory" I thought it was perfect to "Kill two birds with one stone" sort of speak.  For the past six months or so I have tried to take a photo shoot of my artwork as part of my saying goodbye ritual. I include myself in the photo as if it was a family picture of sorts.  While, this painting hasn't found a new yet, I wanted to be ready just in case.  Also, if we wait much longer, the temperatures here will be too hot for me to handle.

We often just head out of town toward Lake Mead (that is the edge of town we happen to live on so we can be out in the desert in just a matter of 15 minutes or so).  There are a number of places that have outcroppings of beautiful red rocks that make a good backdrop with just little bit of hiking.

I'm happy with how this piece turned out

Today we found an amazing hollowed rock formation that we had not noticed before and even as clumsy as I am, I was able to work my way over to it.  The hollowed out area was rather large and a whole group could find room to stand inside.

A photo collage posted to my Instagram acct

Side angle of the formation

Beautiful red toned rocks everywhere

Brad showing off

Me standing at the edge

Inside the formation

Baby Goats on Cuteness Overload

So I've been seeing this meme floating around Facebook lately and I couldn't help but notice that the timing couldn't be more perfect.  I have just painted two darling baby goat paintings just last week.  Honestly, the paint wasn't even dry when the original paintings were snatched up by collectors.  I did manage to get a nice photo of each and the prints turned out GREAT!

This past year I have made it a tradition to actually take the time to arrange a photo shoot of sorts that includes not only the new artwork but me actually holding the finished painting.  I do this for several reasons.
1. It is a great marketing tool because it adds to the story of the painting.  Collectors what to know you and often purchase the art based on knowing your story.
2. It actually helps the online buyer get a sense of size of the piece.  I think this is especially true when you're talking larger paintings.
3.  It helps me personally with the emotions I go through when letting go of a piece of art.  I think of this as a family photo of sorts and it helps me remember.

Here is a collage of photos taken just last week with my two newest paintings, "The Face of Mace" and "Cute as a Bug".  Sometimes I just take the photo standing in my front yard but here we drove out into the desert near Lake Mead.

These adorable baby goats are actual babies born just last month at the Galloping Gertie of Glenns Ferry, Idaho.  Katie Lanni, the owner of this amazing little farm gave me permission to use the photos she had posted on her Instagram account @Galloping_Gertie.  I was so thrilled because her baby goats were just the sweetest things ever.

The Face of Mace

The first one is of a little goat named Mace and so that is why I titled the piece, "The Face of Mace".  I loved the contrast of lights and shadows on this one.

Cute as a Bug

The second painting was of darling twin goats, Perry and Berry standing in the straw filled barn.  I loved their cute smiles and you can tell they are real buddies.

Both of these pieces are available now on my Etsy shop in a variety of matted prints along with 4 x 6 inch laminated magnets or blank greeting cards.

Let me give you the link to both my Julie Townsend Studio Etsy Shop and that of Galloping Gertie Shop.

I thought I would end this blog post highlighting some of the images that I put together to demonstrate how these images would look framed or matted.

I probably should also mention that I have a goat painting titled "The Nanny Squad" that I painted last year and is also available on my Etsy shop.

Feel free to comment if either of these pieces of art, when viewed made you smile.  I LOVE to hear about the smiles!

Have a blessed Day

The Nanny Squad

 

Up to my Eyeballs in Ribbons and Rosettes

Art Show Ribbons

It doesn't take long on this artist journey to begin to amass quite a collection of ribbons.  This last art show alone I think I received 5 ribbons for different levels of awards.  Here you see my painting the "Nanny Squad" has won 2nd best of class and a champion ribbon.

My ribbons have been stuffed in a drawer in my studio for quite some time.  I wanted to display them but just didn't have a clue what the best way to do that would be.  As you can tell these ribbons are at least 12 to 15 inches long.  Some of them have the information on them but as I went through this pile I realized that I had not done a very good job of recording them on my website resume or even making notes as to which piece won what.

Pile of Disorganized Ribbons

It took about 3 hours of pouring over old photos to figure it out and still wound up with 1 extra judges preference ribbon that I couldn't identify.  NEVER AGAIN!

My intention from this point forward is to stay on top of this and I knew I had to come up with some sort of display option that took less space than hanging each ribbon up individually.

1st Shadow Box with Ribbons on Display Completed

It was Pinterest to the rescue.  I found the prefect solution and that was to display them all in a shadow box.

I found the perfect shadow box (16 x 20) at Hobby Lobby and purchased 2 of them at 50% off.  The total I spent to purchase both of these beautiful shadow boxes was around $25.  That was far less than I had initially figured.

I just randomly placed each ribbon rosette face down on the glass of the open shadow box and tried to pull the long ribbons in behind so they didn't show.  I can see that right in the middle I failed because there is a green ribbon showing.  I will probably fix this even though it was a bit difficult to get the shadow box back securely fastened down.  As you can see by this photo, I already have some ribbons to add to the 2nd shadow box but I will plenty of room to accommodate future ribbons.

Since it has been a while since I last posted here on this blog, I decided to end this post with showing off a few of my latest pieces.  The large goat piece was painted last year but I felt I should give you a better look at it up close since my photo of it on display at the Clark County Art Show just didn't do it justice.  The little baby goat piece that I'm titling "The Face of Mace" was painted just this week.  While I painted Herman in March and the Meeting in April.

If you like my work, I would suggest that you follow me at my Facebook Studio Page  or join my VIP Studio Email List.  I often have art giveaways on both venues and you can also keep up with my newest artwork.  That is a WIN WIN in my books.

The Face of Mace- 11 x 14"

A Sweet Spot for Herman- 24 x 36"

The Meeting at the Morning Glories- 24 x 36"

The Nanny Squad- 24 x 36"