class work in Lets Face It and big news!

I posted earlier about the first 2 LFI 2019 classes of the year, and have had a few more under my belt.  I'm enjoying my challenge to work on or at least attempt each weeks class in this year long course.

this whole first section of 7 classes was going to be a struggle for me from the get-go, just because of the medium of pencil and pen work.  and this isn't the end of my struggles.  later in the course will be more charcoal lessons.  it's ok, learning is supposed to be difficult.

heres my work from week 3 with Lucy Cooke in colored pencil and pen, in the style of van Gogh;

 in attempt 1,

 I used her drawing as a reference using pen to outline.

big mistake; not a fan of the bold pen

 I then found van Goghs painting and left out the pen.

liked it better

 attempt #3 was my favorite out of the bunch

 with #4 I added white pencil along the edges 

to help it stand out

here are all 4 together

a nice, loose class that I enjoyed immensely 

week 4 was with Kellye Fowlkes in graphite.  I succumbed early with only one attempt that I claimed to be wrong, so scrapped it pretty close to the start of the sketch.  

I'm just not used to making lines and erasing lines and re-making the same lines til I get them right.  I'm more of a 'slap some paint down, and if it's wrong, slap some more down to create layers and texture' type girl.


the next lesson (week 5) was with Angela Kennedy.  here we did an initial sketch, with the eyes looking up or down;

she didn't use a reference photo, but I needed one (I won't show the sketch I drew without a reference!)

then we sketched on wood, added ink to the background and used colored pencil to add color.  here I used one of her works as a reference   I'm not finished with the details of this one, though it might be stalled at this point for now.

not horrible

I liked the wood texture coming thru

this week is with Danielle Mack, a talented watercolorist who also layers with colored pencil, which is what we'll be doing.

the sketch portion went well this week;

because the shading will be in another medium.

the difficult part for me will be the watercolors...




and I have huge, huge news on the business side of my art.  I'm now officially an artist at Bates Crafters Gallery!  I've been thinking about it for a while now, and my sister in law, who has a woodworking business, Crazy Crafts, sells there.  Deb makes brilliant signage and home decor.  she was going to the gallery on Friday to bring over some more completed items and I tagged along to ask questions.   I needed a friend holding my hand and initiating things with Fran Bates- who was very nice and didn't bite me.  I ended up going back home to get my mini paintings to set up a shelf right then and there!

my selection is small right now, but I have a foot in the door.

the paintings look great in the store display!

business card holder by Deb at Crazy Crafts

I figure I'd start small and see how it goes, then add larger paintings and some merchandise from my society6 site, along with a binder with info and photos of other items people can purchase online.  

today is the grand re-opening of Bates after remodeling to create more space for new artists (they are around 75 strong as of now!).  I think I got in at a great time!  hopefully the store is getting lots of traffic today, and people smile when they see my tiny little paintings.  

as sweetie and I were doing our Saturday morning errands, a cashier commented about how she loved my elephant tote.  I thanked her and told her that it is made from my artwork, gave her a business card and chatted with her about the grand re-opening literally across the street from where we were, and about products she could buy from my online store, as well.  I told her about all my elephant paintings when she commented about how her daughter loves elephants and would love my tote for that.  she also commented how she loved the artwork that was on my business card, and I told her she could get that painting on a mug.  this was the first time I have been stopped for my tote, and that I was able to whip out a business card and talk openly about my art without stumbling over my words!  it did my artist heart good to have that interaction on the day after I put my work in an actual brick and mortar store!

I'm now ready to start working on my minis again after telling myself they were just way too small to go on with them.  but they are great sellers, and show really well.  and, for around $20 you can get an original piece of artwork for the home.  who doesn't like that?  I went down to my studio and tracked down the minis with backgrounds on them, and now have sketches on 7 soon-to-be paintings for when the shop needs more or if they need a rotation.

3 foxes, 2 bears, and 2 bee paintings in progress,

and ideas brewing for so many more!

so, thats my incredible news, and the scoop for whats happening lately.  my painting area (currently the dining room table) is being used for manly stuff right now, but I hope to get to my classwork before Mondays class comes around.  I was also hoping on getting some images up in my redbubble shop this weekend.  we'll see how it plays out.  sweetie seems rather overwhelmed with the dreaded list o' things.

until later,
Jenny