Winds of March Sale!

I decided to have a sale of some of my pieces that have been in my Etsy Shop, DreamON, for quite some time. It's time to get some new artwork going in; and clean up, clean out, sweep out with the March winds - some things that have been lurking there in the corner unnoticed. So I'm posting a few of them here.

They're all great buys at their newly reduced prices!!! Please go check out my Winds Of March Sale Section. Click here to be transported. The first one is called A Bit Squirrely.







This next one is titled Heceta Lighthouse. The Heceta Head Lighthouse as seen in the distance from the twisting highway along the Oregon coast makes you want to get up close, but the traffic moves right along, and before you know it, you've driven right past. My original painting has real seaweed collaged onto it now.



This next one is called Kitty Daze. For whatever reason, I've always loved this one. The bright and cheerful colors with the cute little sandpaper kitty collaged on just appeals to me.

I had just discovered that the foam thingy that came with my ultra-spendy Stein Mart watch made a wonderful stamping tool that I have gleefully used and used until it just fell apart. It's a happy painting. And, you know, I just love kitties!

The last one in the post is Wind For Sale. It is all one painting that has a black gesso border dividing it into three panes onto which collaged pieces add a slight, colorful quality to the otherwise all black and white. It had a moonlit marina theme. It's not meant to be realistic, but to have that special quality that moonlight casts on objects in darkness.

There are eleven pieces of artwork in the special Winds of March Sale. You will find them all in my Etsy shop at DreamON.Etsy.com.

Studio 1212 Opening Reception for Designing Women Show

Sunday, April 3rd from 2 to 5 pm. will be the opening of our Designing Women show. Today we were there hanging the show and noticed many more brightly-colored paintings will be hanging in this show than in recent shows. This gallery of some 20+ women exhibit a large number of abstract paintings, but recent newer members are adding more representational work to the shows. There are a number of florals and even some human forms in this exhibit.


The exhibit runs until the end of May and features an assemblage of paintings on 5 x 7-inch canvases of shoes which will be raffled off and will be a real coup for the winner to be announced June 1st at the opening of our next show, Canvas and Some More. Raffle tickets sell for a mere $2.00 apiece, and the assemblage is stunning.

Members were given a 5 x 7 inch canvas and were told we were each painting shoes. Not everyone complied, but we ended up with an amazing variety of little paintings which have now been joined together and are hanging as one assemblage at Studio 1212.

The assemblage to be won is shown in the center section of the poster at left. We also will be selling posters like the one at left, without the raffle ticket information.

Studio 1212 is located at 1405 Cleveland Street in Clearwater, Florida.

Catch us also at http://www.studio1212.org/ .

Glory2727

Gloria Wilson from Etsy Shop, Glory2727 is my featured artist today.

The painting on the right, Field of Daises, is a good example of the containment, contraction and expansion design format using traditional subject matter.

Gloria, like myself, has learned a lot of new skills since joining Etsy. It sounds like, from what I read, that From My Brush is Gloria's second blog and that she learned everything she needed to know about setting up her Etsy shop afterwards. It was the other way around for me. Etsy was my first solo foray setting up anything other than a mailbox on the internet. I have worked with computers for a long time unlike Gloria whose daughter got her started by buying her a computer within the last 5-10 years. Both of us can see the benefits of new learning experiences and challenges.

Says Gloria, "My learning experiences with etsy began immediately. My writing skills began to improve by writing my profile, descriptions of my items for sell, and store policies. I found many useful tips in the forum posted by different shop owners on making your shop inviting. Next I went on-line with Hewlett Packard's free classes. I took a course on using my digital camera beyond pointing and shooting. Next I learned how to download the pictures from my camera. Sizing the picturesbecame another lesson. Templates are used when uploading and require the proper setting in pixels in order to upload.

Shipping was the next lesson. Many vendors again posted to threads in our Etsy forums. It is there and Etsy's How To's that pointed my way to shipping. Also we learn from one another the best and reasonable suppliers for packaging and commercial supplies needed.My computer skills have grown. From the Etsy forums I gained short cuts and knowledge fromsplit screens to cut and paste to designing a banner.

The one thing I am most proud of is the fact that I have joined a wonderful community of shop owners, who can share problems and solutions in a forum They share ideas, and information."

This cute little guy on the right is entitled King of the Garden and is available as an ACEO in her shop.


Little Pink Flower Pot is the title of this piece, useful as well as pretty.








Go visit Gloria at:
http://glory2727.etsy.com/
http://frommybrush.blogspot.com/

Allyon67, 90 Day Challenge Feature

Artist's Statement by Pamela Miller:

"I feel that creating art is a way of sharing your soul with others. As you will see in my artwork: sometimes I am very flamboyant and always colorful, sometimes confidant and peaceful, other times angry or chaotic. I think all of my emotions; passions come out in my works. Sometimes I layer it on thick (paint and words) and other times I flirt with the canvas with light feathery strokes. My art reflects my beliefs in love, warmth, generosity, loyalty, and honesty. I’m inspired by science, fantasy, martial arts, architecture, and nature (especially water)."

Red Tulips by P. Miller

Pamela Miller is the Etsy shop owner of Allyon67 who operates out of Maryland.



Medusa by P. Miller














Saki Sun by P. Miller


Art by Pamela Miller can be found at:

http://allyon67.etsy.com/
http://pmillerabstractart.blogspot.com/

George McKim - Freedom of Expression

Today I am featuring the Etsy shop of George McKim, who is also an visual artist.

If you haven' t had a chance to visit George's website, by all means do. It gives so much insight into his process of evolving art. Shown are the numerous steps he goes through to achieve his final product in the different projects he is working on. It's all very interesting.

Shown above is Springtime Explosion, but look to see what it took to create the numerous collages to finally arrive here.

George was born and grew up in Wilmington, NC, USA. For the past 15 years he has lived in Raleigh, NC with his wife Betty who is a jeweler of some renown with her own website and a degree in Metals and Jewelry, his two adult children Edward and Devin who are twins, their golden retriever Sophie and their cat, Woodstock. (Amazing how many Etsians are cat fanciers, isn't it?)

George says, "I studied art in college and have a Masters Degree in Painting and Drawing. My artwork has been shown in galleries and museums in my region. My day job is working as a pre-press graphic artist for a printing company and I make my art in my "spare time". Since I was a kid I have always drawn pictures and painted. I like the freedom of expression of art and have always enjoyed painting."

George has a wonderful description on his blog telling how how he has created his great sunflower linoprints. The intricacies of carving a linoleum block are not lost on me, nor is the process of applying the right amount of ink. However, George seems to have mastered the process. Have I mentioned yet that his day job is in printing?

This is what George has to say about the Pink Cubist Guitar shown at left:

"This collage is a homage to the great art movement known as Cubism, you know with that guy, what's his name? Umm, oh yeah, Picasso and that other guy named Braque. It's an abstract design based on the shape of a guitar. I think this is one of the best collages I've ever done, even if I do say so myself! It's a tip of the hat to the great Cubist painters, but it's light and lively yet subdued and classic. The paper size is 11" x 14" and it has some white border area. With a really nice framing job this collage will look stunning , don't you agree?" And yes, I do.

Be sure to visit George and enjoy his prolific art at:

http://georgemckim.etsy.com/
http://georgemckim.blogspot.com/
http://www.george-mckim.com/

Clues About Tipped Martini Glasses

Martini glass overturned on black metal table. So what happened? Did Miss Scarlett do it in the Library or was Mr. Plum responsible? What other clues are there? Manilla envelopes, a pile of papers with folders and brochures. Was someone going on a trip? Leaving the country?

Today, I guess was do a still-life day. I feel like I have been standing still all day. I had plans to spend two hours on a small painting, spend two hours on a craft for a Holiday sale, and spend two hours on an unfinished larger painting about poppies. It's getting dark, and I've just completed the small painting. Yay!

Martini glass empty. This acrylic painting is 6 x 8. More nformation about the painting can be found on my Etsy site, http://dreamon.etsy.com/ .

Please vote in the survey. Five more days.

November 5, 2007

One of the things people have said about my artwork is that it tends to promote mental vacations. Translation: Dreams about Art. This blog will be a launchpad, I hope, for enjoyable experiences for many viewers as I share my thoughts and paintings with you.


Who am I? I am an only child, a caring mother and grandmother, my husband’s best friend. I love my family and my friends. I love kitties. I am an award-winning artist, graduated with a degree from Colorado State University in Art Education. When I am making art, I can lose myself in it. Athletes call it “the zone.” I recognize it as a very productive segment of “lost” time. I should set an alarm clock if I have something important I must do.



What do I do? I am a watercolorist. Many times my media is 100% watercolor, but I find it fun and more interesting to be free to add acrylics or collage materials to my watercolor paintings. For a change I will also paint in acrylics. I use strong colors and try to include values from very light to very dark in most every painting, even beach paintings.



Enough for now. Here's a painting to start you thinking.