Chickadees Galore

The season is changing outside here in Las Vegas but it has been slow coming with November temperatures still in the upper 80's but in my studio there is snow all around.  Winter and the holidays has arrived in full force. With December approaching I am finding that every gallery I affiliate with has decided that a holiday themed show is the thing to do and I have 4 of them I'm busy trying to create for not to mention my recently completed ornament that is on it's way to Washington D.C. to be hung on the National Christmas Tree.  I've been one very busy artist!  This ornament features the Mountain Bluebird, which is the state bird of Nevada.






After finishing the ornament, I focused on creating more unique Christmas designs including a painting.  As you can see this week has clearly been a Chickadee kind of week.  I finished this 12 x 12 acrylic snow scene and what fun I had painting it.  I'm calling this one "Chickadees in the Snow" and I'm thinking of hanging it in the Boulder City Art Gallery for December.












Then I decided to add a couple of more sketches that featured a similar pair of birds and those adorable red berries by having them appear to be stringing garland or decorating their nest.  I thought it was a cute idea and the "Stringing Garland" piece looks really great on a greeting card.







Speaking of greeting cards, I have also been working on improving the look of my cards by adding a border around the 4 x 6 print with a slightly larger rectangle of Christmas designed card stock.  I bought a pad of 60 sheets at the Michaels Store  just to see how I could spice up the design on my cards and I think they have turned out really nice.  I'm looking forward to filling card orders and making these available at a number of local area galleries and hope to take some out to the store in Pahrump.




A final design created this past week is more in a cartoon style but those little Chickadees are still going strong.  This one I have called "Decorate to Impress".

If you enjoy my work please leave me a comment below and check out my website at JulieTownsendStudio.com or follow me on Instagram or like my Facebook Page.

 

Don't Throw Away Your Revenue Potential....Rather Turn it into a THROW PILLOW

"Bluebird and Rose Hips" as a beautiful throw pillow

Did you know that even though you have sold the original artwork, you as the artist still owns the image?  If you don't take the time to get a high resolution photo of the piece, then your revenue potential for all your hard work is over.  For the last three years or so I have made sure that I get a good photo of each piece of original artwork I produce  I can then load it to my website and make it available for purchase there like my own brick and mortar gallery.  I also upload the image to a wonderful site that allows my image to be custom added to a number of items.  This is a wonderful way to continue having a revenue stream.

How many of you have an account with FINEARTAMERICA.com? I love this website. This week alone I have sold 1 print and 2 pillows. All I had to do was upload my images over a year a go and after that, they do all the work including mailing me a commission check.

It takes time and no way am I saying you are going to make lots of money but I find it a great way to have my work available to the public so they can order pillows, prints, greeting cards or phone cases. You set the profit you want to make. I include a link button on my website for each of my works that says "PRINTS" that allow anyone interested in my work to go straight over to my Fineartamerica page.

2015 is a great time to make your art promotion a goal. 

Here is my link to one of the pillows I sold this week.  Doesn't this painting as a pillow make a wonderful gift?

http://fineartamerica.com/products/bluebird-and-rose-hips-julie-townsend-throw-pillow-14-14.html

Most of my artwork is available at on my website at JulieTownsendStudio.com so click the link and check it out.  

Making a Big Impact With Just a Pen and Some Colored Pencils

I have always loved sketching from the earliest age I can remember.  In school or in meetings, you will often find my paper covered with strange doodling.  I'm sure this isn't unique to just me, but it helps me understand why recently that I find myself often reaching for a pen and a piece of paper rather than a paintbrush and canvas.  Oh don't worry, painting is something that I will never tire of, but when I can't paint I will often draw.  This past couple months I have turned to the pen and combined that with either colored pencils or a watercolor wash to finish off my creation.  Below are two floral pieces that I have completed and wanted to show to you.

Nature's Bounty- 11x14 Pen / Colored Pencil

This is the first floral sketch that I did and I decided to only add color to the fruits and flowers.  I liked the contrast that this effect created.  I decided also to make my apples green to give a variety of color.  Perhaps I should have gone with an odd number of apples.  Three apples might have been more interesting than just two but this is an observation after the sketch was completed and therefore is something I will have to consider if I repeat this composition.

Nature's Bounty of the Sierra Nevadas- 11x14 Pen/Colored Pencil

Once again I decided this week to do a second floral piece.  Keeping with my wild roses, blackberries and pine cones for this sketch.  I did decide to change some of the fruits represented.  I found that there is a variety of wild plums that grow in the boarder area of Nevada, California and Oregon that is called the Sierra Plum.  Also a very interesting berry that grows in the Sierra Mountains is that of the gooseberry.  What a odd looking berry it is.  Full of stickers but I read that once you get past the sticky exterior that the fruit itself is amazingly sweet.  I know there is good sermon material in there somewhere.

With this composition, I decided to color all parts of it with my prisma colored pencils.  It turned out to perhaps have more red and pinks then I would have originally considered but I love how that makes the foliage and the blackberries stand out.

Both of these pieces will be available on my website JulieTownsendStudio.com and on Fine Art America- Fruits of the Sierra Nevadas or Fine Art America- Nature's Bounty  if you would like to order prints or cards.  I will also be making up my own original cards of both of these designs so just let me know if you would like to purchase a pack of 12 cards.