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

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

the poppies that almost were. weren't

my poppy painting is no more.


heres what i faced when i went to the studio;

this morning i had a vision of an angel in a field of poppies, but when i saw the painting again i was disappointed that there were three giant poppies, not a field of small ones. what a bummer that was. i felt the need to have a figure of some kind, one that represented love. and i thought of the placement of the figure and how i could incorporate it in with the poppies that monopolized the inside of the heart.

i thought of an angel in the bottom right, under the heart space, but that didn't seem right to me. another buddha, nestled in somewhere with the poppies? an angel sitting somehow? i couldn't figure out how to make it work. so i just stood there, looking, waiting for my muse to appear.

and, it's funny how a painting could make you love it so quickly after hating it. that has happened today. the muse struck.

actually, a team of muses struck!

i just adore my three whimsical red-headed muses! they are not yet complete, but we are all resting from a great painting session.

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

heart painting progress

oh, i am liking where this one is taking me!

heres where i left you with this one;

and here are the progress photos so far;

it's not quite finished yet.  i think i'm calling it "let your heart bloom".

until later,
jenny

still painting, and an exciting studio update

i've been busy with a few projects since i last posted.  the first is a series of experiments on old wooden boards, just having fun.

i've also been playing with my backgrounds again.  this first one was dark and i just threw everything at it, not really worrying.

then i got worried.  but i finally sorted it all out

it wanted a poppy on it!  yay, it's not a lotus!

i dripped some india ink in the middle, but it didn't splay out like i wanted it to, only making a big puddle, so i raided my feather collection from our cockatiel and amazed myself at how delicately it painted.  i will be painting with feathers in the future!

and lastly i had this;

and i had an idea;

i wasn't happy about how bright the heart was so whitewashed it and added some white drips inside spilling down.

i like it much better now.

i may add a little message in the heart about love being worth the risk of possible heartbreak.  it needs to dry, and i need the right words.  i've seen heartbreak, and i tried again and found Mr. Perfect, despite my wounds.  he healed my pain, made me trust.  and i'm thankful for my previous wounds for bringing to where i am.  for all my wounds, i am grateful.  i am at peace now.  this painting seems a bit dark for me, and the message might be scary, but it's important to just TRY.  it might be the best thing you've done for yourself.  and, if it flops, then you have a good story to tell later.  after you've healed of course.

this got deep very quickly!

do photos of my puppies help?

pita pocket

miss lucy (aka ears)

OK, i almost forgot my exciting news!

my love ordered my flooring the other day!  it should be at the store for him to pick up this weekend or so, but he needs to put in the doggie beds first, so flooring won't start this weekend.  but IT'S COMING!!!

so, i cleaned out the studio, leaving just my easel, one little metal shelf next to it and my paints in their built in shelf.  i swept the floor, even.  it's, like, really clean!

if you look closely you can see pita coming down the stairs

those two cut outs by the floor will be where the dog beds are.  the upper cut outs will be more shelves.  i'm so flipping excited!

until later,

jenny