Improved Design with Eagle

Front

Back

More Designs on a woodcarving theme

As I work on these I find that the size and shape of the item you're painting on changes the way a design works. This time I'm working on a wider and thicker horse that will stand on a desk or shelf.

Drawing the wood carving tools smaller would have made them fit better because I ended up making the design wrap around the shape in order to get it all on there. Still, this is interesting and I'll finish it anyway before making any further attempts. There are a lot of things in life that you just learn by doing and this seems to be one of those...Wish me luck!

Wood Carver's design for a Dala Horse

I created this design to thank my friends Dick and Esther for cutting out all of my wooden horses and showing me how to carve them. I'm making this one into a Christmas ornament and I'll be designing something similar in a larger, free standing horse that can sit anywhere.

I thought you might like to see it sitting next to the tools that inspired it.

Big sky country wooden horse

I'm still making a few "Thank You" gifts and since this one is for a guy I decided painting a small landscape on it would be nice. Here's where I'm at with it so far:

I'll add more photos as the work progresses.

Laying in the framework for the trees

The big finish: filling in the branches and adding some grass

update

There haven't been a lot of posts this week because I've been busy setting up a couple of different stores at Zazzle and am getting ready to start doing some designing for cafe press as well.
I'm wondering about all of that shopping that's supposed to be going on this time of year, my sales haven't gone up at all in spite of all of the new designs I've been coming up with.
Maybe art  really is a crime...it certainly doesn't pay.
Still, I love the challenge of trying new things and even trying combinations of old ones. I'm always creating something even if I'm only making a mess around the house.
Anyway, that's why you're not seeing a lot of pictures here.
The paints are calling and I'll have to get back to them soon...

Daffodil Horse

 Front

Back

I'm making a Christmas ornament out of this one 

for a "thank you" gift for someone special that's helped us out a lot 

Mystery Solved

As you may have noticed from my last post, I FINALLY found my camera. Believe it or not it's been in my crochet bag all of this time (over the weekend). I've been doing a lot of floral arranging over at the senior center and decided to do a few projects while I was over there for crochet group. Well, long story short- I got distracted visiting with my friends, crocheting and lighting one of the big plants so I totally forgot to take pictures and that I'd brought my camera along.
I was back working on florals today, did 8 vases and a few bows for other projects so there are no photos of those either.
I'm glad to have the camera back, good thing I decided to sort my bag while cleaning the dining room/studio.

Anyway, things are back to normal and there should be lots of photos coming on my next projects.

Poinsettia Earrings

I'm back to work with the shrink plastic that Colleen brought in. I drew poinsettias on them with fine point permanent markers and put them in the scanner to give you the first look at them.

I scanned it against 2 different colors to see how they would look.

After that the scary part began as I carefully heated them to begin the shrinking process.

Here they are, ready to go to Irene for jewelry findings then we'll each get a pair of new holiday earrings. I love a project where we can all contribute something and enjoy the results, don't you?

Project Updates

I don't have pictures today because the camera didn't turn up when I sorted my art supplies. Of course I didn't sort all of my art supplies, just the bins that have been going back and forth with me to the senior center. I plan to start cleaning the work table tomorrow.
I'n the meantime we've been trying lots of new and different ways to combine my paintings and drawings in interesting ways for new products on Zazzle where I've been busy creating 2 new stores. One for all of the cards, stickers and postage stamps http://www.Zazzle.com/PaperHugs*  and another for removable wall decals, signs and decorations http://www.Zazzle.com/DecalDesign*
This time of the year I'm trying to get as much new merchandise into the stores as possible so that holiday shoppers will have lots of choices and I could make enough money to pay a few bills.
I want to get back to painting, I've been away too long and there are several canvases pulling me...of course once I slide into them it may be a while before there are posts or pictures of them. Time ceases to exist for me when I loose myself in the paint.

Hats

The photo on top is how these hats look when you fold up the brim. The photo below is another hat that I just finished so I threw them both in the scanner so you can see how they look either way.

Blue and White Horse Projects

These horses are from 2 different paintings and I thought it would be fun to combine them in new projects on Zazzle. I ended up doing a lot of different things with them and that's one of the reasons that I haven't posted since last week. I'm also carving and painting other horses, doing some sewing and a few other floral arrangements. I just din't get time to shoot pictures...OK, I lost the camera somewhere in all of this but I should have something for you soon.

Stylized Horse project, Before and after

Sewing projects, Art Sale and the way I do things

I spent the last couple of days finishing a tote bag and sewing a slip cover for the latest Sunflower painting. ( I always like to drop them into a pillowcase or other fabric bag to help protect them when I ship them). Also when I sell a painting I print and send in progress photos and posts I wrote while working on it. I don't know if other artists do this but I feel that telling the story behind a painting is like sending the adoption papers along with that piece of me (the painting) to it's new home.

Anyway, after I finished that I sewed a table runner to go with those floral arrangements that I did yesterday and then went back to carving horses for my next couple of ornament designs.

I'm sorry there are no pictures today, believe it or not I've just been too busy to look for my camera.

A week of projects

Here's something I'd never done before. Drawing on shrink plastic. The blank is the same size I started with when I was drawing on these pieces to be made into earrings.

A bit more floral arranging, I may have gotten a bit carried away with as you can barely see the container but it was fun to throw together from odds and ends.

I wasn't sure how to rotate this picture, again I've gotten so carried away that you can't really see the container. I imagine I'll get better as I get more practice but as always I really enjoy the work.

A friend gave me this ribbon which was the perfect finishing touch to this ornament- Thanks Colleen!!!

Completed Football theme Dala Horse

 front

back

Football Themed Ornament Design

Yes, I'm still painting on horses but you could paint these designs on anything. This one is for a boy that likes both Soccer and American Football. It may look odd at this point because the brown and black background is to make all of the little blades of grass show up when I begin to paint the field in.

Well, I'd better get back to work on it so that I can show you what I'm writing about.

Completed Sunflower Horse

Front

back

Combination views of new ornament

 It's kind of funny the way the pencil wraps around the horse

 Notice the way the petals follow the shape of the ears

Sunflower Ornament

Front

Back

There's still a lot of painting and other work to be done on this but I'm already liking the way it's starting to look. I gave up on trying the paint the sky and clouds at the same time and decided to take a 2 step approach by painting the sky first and then dry brush blending the clouds over it.

Outlines seemed like a good idea to balance the black lettering but I'm having my doubts about it right now. It's a bit late in the process to try to remove them so I'll stay on this path and see where it goes.

New ornament design in progress

This ornament is for a girl that likes both art and sunflowers. Notice that I've used the shape of the ears to be the point of the flower petal and the fact that I've drawn a pencil in such a way that it will look like it's writing her name and will we attached to the end of the Y.

 Here on the back of the ornament I'll be adding the year. It amuses me the way the pencil wraps around from the front and joins the paintbrush to say "we love art" and all the sunflowers in the garden.