Old Time Light

This is an artistic depiction of Heceta Head Lighthouse which is named for Don Bruno Heceta who in 1775 was sailing for the Royal Spanish Navy en route to the Arctic Circle claiming territory for Spain. Once he reached the Columbia River, the expedition turned back due to many of his sailors being sick with scurvy, but he journaled about this headland formation which is named for him. The lighthouse was constructed over a century later, the light being automated in 1963.

The painting is a watercolor I began some time ago and put aside unfinished, only to pick up today to work on it again, and so it became my offering for Painting A Day. It is now a mixed media piece with the addition of some acrylics over the top to add interest. On a quarter-sheet of Arches Cold Press Watercolor paper, it measures approximately 11 x 15 inches.

It can be found in my Etsy shop: DreamON . (Yes, you can click on it.)

Yaslani

Yaslani is the focus of today's 90-day Challenge feature. The shop owner, Yasmin says, "My shop name is a combination of my name and my daughter's...I'm Yasmin, she's Leilani hence - Yaslani!" Yasmin is a very focused mixed-media artist who has confined her Etsy product line to two art forms: mixed-media collage and bamboo pendants. The marketers would tell you to do this, and from sales numbers, it appears it has been very effective for her.



This Etsy shop is loaded with pendants, pages and pages of pendants with different themes. These are made of bamboo tiles and have a single image applied to each and coated with layers of non-yellowing varnish. There are single pendants, duo pendants, trio pendants and sets with many pendants. I like this one that looks like seed packets and makes me think of Spring and starting a garden. There are many, many images to choose from, and you can, "Wear several together for a layered style or hang individually from a leather cord or ribbon for a unique necklace. Also very cute on a charm bracelet, cell phone or keychain," says Yasmin.

But now, about the collages . . .Yasmin created these wonderful mixed-media collages using 4 x 6 gallery wrap canvases (means you don't have to frame them, just hang if you want to) with layers and layers of paint and paper and these little wooden animal guys. There's a series of these, and they can be grouped together and really make a statement.

It seems there was a time when Yasmin wasn't pursuing her dream full-time, and then all of a sudden she burst out with all sorts of creativity. To let her tell the story though, "I spent many a day and night daydreaming about doing art and selling my work...maybe just making a little money but mostly gaining much needed self esteem. I dreamed and came up with a thousand and one reasons why I couldn't, shouldn't, can't and probably wouldn't. Ten years later I was still a single mom (now of a teenager), still at the same job (and got used to the idea...even comfortable) and still dreaming. But this time it was different...

I got tired of seeing everything change around me and not doing what I really really really wanted to do. You see the truth is, the only person that told me I couldn't was me! I thought I was on my side!! I was tired of listening to myself whine about how I wanted something different and I was tired of my own excuses. Today's message is for any artist with flabby creative muscles...as Nike says...Just do it. Looking back and knowing now how much I was able to achieve in one year, I feel silly that I wasted so much time."

Isn't that a fabulous and insightful story! Living it, was undoubtably a hard, learned lesson, but if we could only read about life lessons like this one and learn from them, it would surely save some bumps and bruises along the way.

Check out the fresh ideas in Yaslani's shop and blog too.

http://yaslani.etsy.com/

http://yaslanisgroovespot.blogspot.com/

Paulette Insall Mixed Media Artist

Preparing for this feature has been soooo much fun! Being an artist myself, I really enjoyed watching Paulette paint - in her YouTube videos that also appear on her blogs. In addition was the choice I made to listen to the music she listens to while painting, which I did and loved, because that is also an option on Paulette Insall Mixed Media Artist (just one of her blogs). She has the coolest widgets on her blogs that to my way of thinking makes her a techno-genius as well as a super artist. Like I said, I really enjoyed myself while I was getting ready to write, and I could have hung around a lot longer, but I really needed to get on with it!!!!

I chose to include Paulette's print (above left) entitled Choices, because I liked the story behind the painting. It's the old "behind door number one is. . ." (only in this case it's window number one), and according to Paulette's story, the windows represent life's choices. She says, "If I had made different choices, would I have become what I am today? No, I wouldn’t.The heartaches, the suffering, the ups, the downs…they all made me the person I am. I wouldn’t have the life I have now without them…and I wouldn’t change a thing."

To the right is an original painting entitled Pondering. This painting has a beautiful softness to it and is inspired by the artist's son, and her realization of how the time we have with our little ones passes in the blink of an eye. She says, "Being a mom, there are many special moments with my son that I cherish, but some of the things I cherish and reflect on the most are the every day things….talking with my son about what happened at school that day, bedtime stories, coloring, playing games…things that I know that all too soon will just be memories."

This Portland, Oregon artist has been involved in creative activities since she was a child, but was not a painter until much more recently. She says that she dreamed of painting and from the looks of what's in her shop, she dreamed these paintings, planning well ahead. Very cool.

Blessings is the title of the painting on the bottom right. The story behind this one is, "Many times we don’t see all the blessings we have in our lives. While some are obvious, many come to us in disguise. Some may not seem like blessings at first, but in time they reveal themselves. God fills our lives with so many blessings…whether or not we choose to see them is up to us."
Her philosophy of life, really, is very well expressed in her Artist's Statement. "My art is about the search for connection…to self, to like minded spirits, to family, and to God. Most of my work depicts a sole woman because these are the stories of my own personal search and the emotions they invoke within my soul. My hope is that the visual stories I create with my art touch people from all walks of life and let them know that they are not alone…and find comfort in that knowing. " This is beautifully expressed in her artwork. One can sense mood and substance from her paintings and know that this is a person with depth.

To see some of what Paulette Insall has available for us to behold, please enjoy the following sites:
http://pauletteinsall.etsy.com/
http://www.pauletteinsall.com/blog
http://web.mac.com/pauletteinsall/Paulette_Insall/Artist_Features/Artist_Features.html