new products in the shop

mark and i have been busy putting my newest paintings and merchandise up in my shop.  i'm very excited about these and proud that they came from my hand.

Grasping from the Depths

makes a cool shower curtain!

and here it is on a tote

we have Mother Earth up in the shop as a print;

she's lovely, but you need to look deep to see all her mysteries

we have other merchandise for her as well, but need to crop for the size allotted each item;

the tote bag shows the most of her

and doesn't Three Muses look great as a card?

we also put up Dancing With the Cosmos;

we have many items for each of these paintings and more in my shop now, and i'm working on a few more paintings this week.  stay tuned!

until later,

jenny

2016 mid year review, and a couple of surprises

remember this;

read about it here

i have not been working with my yearbook faithfully.  er... like, not at all.  

today i dusted it off to look at my 2016 tarot spread, wondering how accurate it is for june, (not bad) and thought i'd take a look back at what my goals were back at the start of the new year. see if i've been able to succeed at some, and if others needed to be tweaked.

goal 1 revolved around creativity.  i wanted to create one mini canvas a week (52 total) and one large canvas every 2 months (6 total).  was i able to do this?  yes and no.  the mini canvasses became tougher for me to do by being so small.  they limited me.  the larger canvasses have been easier for me to create on and i've worked on them, creating 10 large canvasses this year!  thats really good and over my goal for the big canvasses.  i finished one mini canvas so far this year.  today.  

goal 2 was about personal growth and learning about the technical aspect of being a blogger with an online store.  i wanted to learn more about putting 'bells and whistles' on my blog, and i wanted to learn how to upload things onto my store site.  was i able to do this?  so far so good.  i'm learning as i go with the blog, and can do what i want to do.  as for uploading things onto my store site, mark is still doing that *with* me.  we enjoy doing it together, but i think i need to start trying to do it with mark coaching me.  that way i won't have to rely on him.  if ever i have to do it without him i want to be able to do so.

those are the goals i'm willing to share.  the others are about health, cooking, that sort of stuff, and i'm kind of slacking on those as well.  

i guess it's time to get back into the swing of things, especially now that i'm feeling more confidence in my work.  i want to be able to live the artist life that i dream of, and in order to do that i gotta get off my behind and just do it!

and on THAT note, i worked today.  i found the octopus eye i had been yearning for.  it actually looks like it fits, hehe!

i think she may be complete!

not only that, but i was inspired for a brand new painting.  i had a vision, and then i added to that, and it was 'meh'.  but one extra detail and i fell in love!  hard. 

she is not done.  she has more to say.  she wants fish and bubbles in her hair.  i just have to be able to listen and find the detail she needs.

until later,

jenny

big things brewing

i can feel it happening.  it's coming together, people are interested in my art, and the shift is upon me!  mark and i worked on designing my business cards and i think it's time we just get them made.

i received my tote bag the other day, and i have a feeling more people will be asking for my information when i'm out and about with it

this is the medium one!

this morning i woke to a commission!  this will be the first one i have accepted, and i'm a bundle of nerves.  the client is someone i know and love dearly, and she asked my opinion about what subject would be best for the situation she spoke about.  i already had an idea in mind and asked her if she thought it would fit and she agreed it would.  i'm excited to get to work on this painting, which won't be posted until later.  she wanted the original, which is such an honor.   this weekend i need to buy a canvas in the correct size.  i also need a good, small paintbrush.  yay for shopping!

a few hours after getting the good news about my commission, mark called me on his way to work.  he told me that while he stopped to get his lunch at our grocery store in town he spoke to the cashier and she told him that she heard a hobby lobby will be coming soon to the plaza!  thats good news and very dangerous news, hehehe.  mark told her that his wife is a painter and she sounded interested so he gave her my information!

yep.  time for business cards!

since i don't yet have a canvas to start my new painting i guess that means i must start working on my octopus eye.  i've been adding to the coral reef, but have been procrastinating on the eye.

adore the colors and texture in the coral!

time to grit my teeth and get to work!

until later,
jenny

a great painting day yesterday

i spent several hours painting yesterday,  fine tuning areas here and there on both my octopus and muse paintings.  all the work we do for small results... but those small results help to create a good painting, so we do them.

hopefully i will keep making small changes here and there and my artwork will continue to improve.



so, my muse painting doesn't look like i've done much, but i've worked on the faces a little.  tiny, little faces mean i MUST get a better tiny, little brush.  i'm making do with what i have, but i know i can do better with better materials!

where i was before;

and after;

they aren't ready for their close-up yet, so i didn't want to offend them.  you just don't go around offending your muses!  but, the heart area now stands out in a better contrast.  very glad i made that choice.  it makes a big difference.


and, miss octopus is starting to come alive!   here she was before;

and, i had a problem getting the light just right to show her off, so here are three photos of where she is right now;

spooky!

i wanted her to have red undertones so she comes alive in the green water, and i added shading here and there.  i still need to work on her eye and add more detail to her suckers.  then i can see where i stand with the painting as a whole.

i think today will be a recovery day, just going to try and rest on the couch, maybe catch up on my nude sketching which i have not been faithful to each day.  

until later,

jenny

octopus painting update

i chalked my octopus in over the weekend and gave her a first coat to let dry until today.  i had to take a very deep breath to put that first coat on and leave it!  i didn't hover over her, worrying that she wasn't perfect yet.  i knew the first stages were not going to be pretty.  they never are.  not in anything in life.

i'm happy with her tentacles and body language.  she's telling the story well, i think.



this morning my motivation was high early in the day, so i went right down and got some more color in her and made sure i talked about her suckers.

i'm using several reference photos and my own artistic license with the whole painting, though it is a lot more realistic than any other painting i've done.  pretty happy with how well she's playing with me!

i will be building more color and layers onto this and working on her eye before too much longer.  but she's drying now, and i'm resting.


i've also had an idea about an older painting that has been sitting for a while.  i was happy with it, though it seemed it wasn't really finished;

but now that i am actually looking at it i don't know how to use my idea.  i had a different picture of how it looked in my head.  i'll have to think some more.  nuts.  oh well.  either i figure it out, i think of another idea, i let it sit a while longer, or i paint over it.

until later,

jenny

splash

there i was lamenting about not comparing myself with other artists and doing some painting after viewing some speed tutorials about how light moves in water.  i also worked on an area i had very intense feelings about when seeing this vision the other night.  i had an idea about how to make the splash area around the orb, and i think it came out really well!

i'm at the same time really happy with it as a whole, and disappointed that it doesn't look exactly the way i want it to.  i'm sure, though, that when all is complete it will be a fascinating painting.

until later,
jenny

my blog is 1 today!

happy 1 year blogiversary to my little old self!  i've done pretty well with it as i have 54 posts up as of this one.   i didn't put up a post a week like it sounds i did, but i'm really impressed by what i accomplished when life was rolling on.  i've grown as an artist as well as a blogger and thats what my intention was.  so, it's a good day.  heres to many more!

i don't have cake or balloons to celebrate, but look!  i have an orb!

what a cute little orb it is!

yesterday i sketched another prospective octopus pose because i didn't feel well, and i also put a few more details in the coral, added some bubbles, brought in some more light rays, clenched my teeth and added the orb.  

it was pretty frightening for me to add a big bold egg shape to this enchanted ocean background, but i live with anxiety and fear in my daily life so i decided to put my foot down and not be afraid of my own art!  this is how an artist grows, and i am refusing right here and now to be afraid to grow as an artist.  i refuse stagnation in my art.  

today is another rough pain day.  i think it's the weather changing as it's cold and windy again today.  so, i sprayed my painting with a ton of fixative to let dry until i'm ready to play with the octopus!  i'm going to continue sketching her until i've refined the pose to one i'm willing to live with.  each night i've been seeing tentacles when i close my eyes...

as an added 'gift' to you, and i've shown glimpses of it here and there, i'll show you my upgraded elephant i thought was finished last august.

here he is then

and now

i can't wait to hang him up in our bedroom, but i'm still wanting to get his eyes 'just right'.

pita and pixel wondered what i was doing

until later,

jenny

painting a vision

yesterday i was busy painting a vision i had the night before.  it was a very detailed picture of an octopus in the ocean, reaching to grab a yellow orb (the sun, possibly) from the surface to drag it to her.  i tried to keep as much memory of it alive thru the night so i could work on it the next day, and i think i'm pretty good with all of the tiny detail that i have retained.

yesterday i worked on finding reference photos of the little elements i needed, like the water on the surface and the highlights of the sun underneath the water.  i sketched out my vision and went to work with the underpainting of the background for this amazing creature.

i will make sure each tentacle has some sort of story.  

this is just a rough sketch

i also looked up the meaning of octopus, as every animal has a lesson to teach us.  i knew octopus came to me last night for a reason.

octopus tells us to relax and be flexible in our lives, to move with fluidity and grace, in a more natural, easy going way.  octopus is very smart and loves a puzzle, it teaches us to continue striving for knowledge pertaining to our dreams.  i love the symbolism of my vision with the octopus reaching for the prize in order to hold it closer.

the under painting of many layers to come

finding the sun rays and toning things down a bit

another layer toning some things down and brightening others

getting some life in the ocean

this morning i have some symptoms that are getting in the way of an ideal painting day, but i wanted to get a little more on the canvas.  this painting came to me and i will respect that.  every little dab of paint is a bow to the reason i am here, a bow to spirit, a bow to life and love.  i respect this painting and will give it my utmost attention, even if it has to be in short bursts.

and on that note, this morning i only added some magenta and yellow to the sky to make it more alive, and i added more coral to the ocean floor before going to the couch for some recovery time.

i'm very excited about how it is coming life, and i look forward to time spent with painting this creature!

until later,

jenny