Stormy

Up here in Vermont, the television news and weather folks have been going absolutely bonkers. I think perhaps they're a bit traumatized from hurricane Irene, but that's probably warranted considering no one really thinks about hurricanes in Vermont. Nothing has started yet except for a light breeze and light misty rain, but we'll see what the weather brings!

What it has brought already is a day off from school for the kids tomorrow. I wonder how much painting I'll actually get done! I didn't get as much as I would have liked done today, because I was trying to push laundry through and make sure we did have what we needed on the off chance we get nailed with the storm. Still, I thought I'd share my progress, since it's my Halloween kittens painting!

All sketched out

Moon and sky in (the sky is actually purple, I don't know why my phone wants to make it blue so badly.)

Started in on the pumpkins! You can see some of the iridescent paint in the reflection on the moon in this shot.

Finished off a good chunk of the pumpkins and the Jack-o-Lantern.

Finished the pumpkins! I was so excited because I was finally going to get to work on the parts I was most looking forward to!

Finished the fabric of the witch's hat, but I couldn't figure out what color to make the sash. Normally I'd go with orange, purple, or green but the painting was too heavy in those colors already.

I decided to go with a pink/maroon color, and finished off the buckle with gold and copper iridescent paint (it's a sickness, I know, but it's shiny. Who can resist shiny paint?)

I'm looking forward to painting tomorrow, although I haven't decided if I'm starting on the boot, or the kitten snoozing on the pumpkin... I'm leaning towards the kitten!

I also need to reorganize my studio space as well as painting space. I've taken over the family room, but I've been using my art desk to paint, and I really need to be standing. It's a health-thing at this point, I just don't feel good all hunched over for hours and hours (do any of you have problems with this?) So, my plan is to organize my tiny studio room, and move my easel down to the living room. I wonder if anyone will notice.

Someday, I'll have a nice, lovely, big space to spread out!

If you're in the way of the storm, stay safe! Here's hoping it doesn't do as much damage as anticipated!

Artsy Evil (Halloween Blog Party)

This is my party post for the Halloween Blog party! Welcome!

I love Halloween! I love the season, the smells, the colors, the feelings the season brings! But most of all, I love dressing up in costume. The fascinating thing about a costume is that I believe that people pick something that they identify with on some level, don't you? One of my favorites over the years has been to be the "Evil Queen".

It's my opinion that everyone should own a tiara, if only to wear around the house while in your pajamas!

Now, I know the Evil Queen is, well... evil, but in my opinion she's just a wee bit misunderstood. It takes a lot of effort to be evil all the time! No one thinks about all the work that goes on behind the scenes of an Evil Queen's life.

For starters, her household help is spotty at best! Oh sure, you have your evil minions, but when it really comes down to it, are they reliable? NO! They're evil minions! By their own definition, they're simply not to be relied upon! Well, if the minions aren't getting the work done, who is?

The Evil Queen is! Magic only gets a girl so far, you know! After that, it's do it yourself, or leave it undone. Oh, the suffering the Evil Queen must endure... I mean, the laundry alone!

Some of the evil minions even stop by to give some pointers, rather than help!

Or they're just too busy doing evil things to be bothered with simple chores!

Of course, there are the dishes to do - and we all know those potions do not come off easily!

Dusting the knick-knacks...

 Gardening...

 Terrorizing the village people... (although, this is more of a hobby, really.)

And what about those bigger household projects?

Let's not forget about the basics like coordinating household decor...

I'm telling you, it's never ending!

Fortunately, an Evil Queen does have her pursuits that are fulfilling, like painting (funny how the minions show up when it's something FUN to be done, ever notice that?)

No matter how inviting you make your domicile, you never get visitors unless they're carrying torches, pitch forks, or swords. (And you thought all the politicians knocking at your door was bad! Try having to fend these arrogant fools off every time the draw-bridge-bell rings!)

How is an Evil Queen supposed to have a social life with all this work going on? 

Well, I suppose there is always dating...

But that never seems to end well for some reason. There's always some tart that gets in the way and needs to be dealt with...

Yes, it's a lonely life for an Evil Queen. A lonely, busy life... 

But at least she gets to come out and party on Halloween!

Anyone want to bob for apples? I don't know why everyone says no when I'm dressed like this...

Dark.

And now for something from the other half of my art-world!

"Turning a Blind Eye"Prints, Only

I started off as a surreal painter, but I don't visit it as often as I likely should. Sometimes, it's hard to remember that the world has changed from when I first started offering my paintings for sale. Being in rural Vermont meant that my surreal style was... an acquired taste. I loved it, but the truth was that most people here just wanted a picture with a cow in it. That's perfectly fine, but it isn't great for my surreal artworks.

Now that the world has grown smaller, and we can reach so many others outside of our little literal physical circle, there is more breathing room in the art world. Sure, there are a lot more voices too, but at least there is a place for you to be heard!

One of the thrilling things I have been asked to participate in is a publication called THRICE Fiction. It's a short-fiction magazine that offers free digital copies (you only have to pay for a physical one, if that is your preference.)

I was contacted, and told "dark". Oh, have I got dark in spades right now! "I got'cha daaahk right here, baby!" I have "dark" leaking out my freaking fingernails. But I haven't been painting it. I'm not sure why I need the nudge to set aside my usual offerings, but I did. Again. I started and finished the piece "Turning a Blind Eye" yesterday, and I have another work on my easel now.

What is interesting is that up until this point, this week has been a total failure. Everything I tried to paint or sketch out was total junk. Nothing was working. But I've been pretty frustrated too. My mother had a stroke last week and another attack this week, my children in the middle of all that got something resembling Chicken Pox (foot and mouth, perhaps?) I just couldn't seem to do anything right. I realized I was just extremely angry, about everything, anything, and nothing was working to alleviate it.

This did. Having a painting temper tantrum helped. I've tried painting other things, but it's not the same. Getting angry, or sad, or whatever and painting something to reflect that? It helps.

I have a major backlog of paintings that are half finished. I need to finish them. And I will. But for now? I'm all about the dark.

It's a Wet, Wet, World!

I finished the mermaid that I started yesterday. I took a few more pictures along the way, so the process can be seen. It's a little weird to look back at it and see where I was going with it:

So I started here with the cool frame I found, and drew a mermaid for it specifically:

Popped in the background:

Started in on the underpainting (scary purple alien fish!):

Worked on the tail:

Blocked in the body:

Finished highlighting the skin, and added some scales and a face:

And then finished her up!

And popped her into the frame, and voila!

I decided to list her, which I decided to call Ruby, on Etsy instead of my main site. Mostly because I'm selling her with the frame, which is sort of a new experience for me. The frame is very heavy, owing to the solid resin (although at first I thought it was metal, because it's THAT solid.) I really like the idea of these neat frames with the panels, but we'll see if anyone likes that or not. Since I cover shipping, I'll probably take a major hit on the shipping.

Anyway, I enjoyed creating something for the frame instead of finding a frame for what I created. It was a nice little switch-up! And, I think I've burned myself out on mermaids for a little bit (I know, two is hardly a burn-out, but still...) Time to get some of the commission work out of the way, and see if I can't clear out some of the holiday backlog in my studio too.

So much to do! I appreciate all the suggestions on gesso and sanding. I'm definitely going to look into it. I need a smoother surface for my details than these medium tooth panels provide!

Still Swimmin'

The mermaid I posted, Selena, sold pretty darn quickly. So, I think that's positive feedback on the mermaids! With that in mind, I was looking at some of the frames I managed to pick up and one of them is just begging for a mermaid:

I mean, there are shell patterns! If that doesn't say mermaid, I don't know what does! So, this morning I sketched out a little one on a 4x6 canvas and stuck it in the frame to gauge how it would look:

I think I'm on the right track! It's funny really, I've always picked out frames to suit a picture, not painted a picture to suit a frame. However, I was lucky to pick up a couple recently that I just loved, so even if I didn't know what would go IN them, I knew eventually something would! I'm a little hesitant on how heavy the frame is. If I'm able to sell it, shipping is certainly going to be tricky (on the other hand, I might finally get to use those flat-rate boxes from the post office and feel like I'm getting my money's worth! Usually I make my own boxes, because it's so much cheaper to ship by actual weight! Of course, if that's true I might experiment with decorating the outside box too like so many of you wonderful artists do. I admit, I've been taken with that idea ever since I saw Castaway, and Tom Hanks hung onto that box with the wings on it.)

I worked a little on the watercolor yesterday (in between taking my son to the doctor. The poor guy either has the chicken pox or something like it.)

As you can see, I finally figured out how to get the moon more to my liking. I started in on her dress and then realized I was messing it up, so I set it aside. *sigh* The best thing to come out of this watercolor is that it's making me rethink some traditional painting techniques too, and I'm better for it! The downside is that I'm frustrated, almost constantly. Although, maybe that's my being frustrated with my life, and it translating to being angry with my artwork. I also got a call while I was in the middle of working on this that my mother had a TIA (mini-stroke) and was in the hospital (she's pretty much fine, though.) So, there are definitely a lot of things going on.

I must be stressed out, because the idea of getting out of my pajamas today seems like a bit much. I think I'll just go paint a mermaid or work on my kitten Halloween crew. It's been a while since I messed with them!

Swimmin' with the Fishies!

Yesterday evening I managed to squeak out my mermaid finally!

"Selena"Acrylic, canvas panel, 5x7
Side shot, so you can see the iridescent paint!

I was worried there for a little bit. Nothing seemed to be going right, as I had said earlier. The funniest thing was that I had under-painted it in violet, and people (my husband in particular) really have a hard time seeing past that to where you're going with your piece. I learned a long time ago not to show anyone the underpainting as it tended to worry folks.

Even so, when *I* am worried about something turning out, having someone looking over my shoulder at the purple alien with a fish tail and giving you one of those looks is NOT helpful. I mean, I love the man to pieces, but seriously!

Anyway, I'm very happy with how it came out. Plus, now that I have figured out a few things, I want to try a couple more mermaids. I want to change some things, develop some things. This one took far too much time, given what I'll sell it for, but I think I can do better. I KNOW I can do better with my speed on this. I see more mermaids in my future!

In particular, the iridescent paint works unbelievably well with the fish scales and lighting up her hair (which means I can do it in any color hair as well, since I have pretty much everything in iridescents... It's a sickness at this point, my addiction to the iridescent paints.)

My only main complaint this time through is that the canvas panel is no where near a medium tooth. It's extremely rough and uneven, which probably added to my frustration. I really prefer a smooth surface. I have some clayboards (might be too absorbant?) and wooden panels around here somewhere, I really ought to pull them out for this. Especially since I picked up some fabulous frames for a panel. One in particular is white with a shell pattern (sort of) in the heavy metal edging, it's just begging for a mermaid! I'll definitely be painting one for it after this!

I'm going to be posting this one for sale tomorrow, so we'll see what kind of reception it gets!

Pushing On Through

One of the most annoying things for an artist is to sit down to work and then find the flow is just all wrong. I had one of those days on Monday. Ugh!

Granted, my son was home sick (he has a really good case of the flu going) and my daughter called and came home with it too (although not as bad.) Perhaps that is what unsettled my flow. Whatever it was, things did not go as planned.

I had decided not to work on my watercolor, and instead focus on my Halloween Kittens painting and a mini-canvas mermaid. Instead, I somehow found myself working on the watercolor first thing. I'm not sure how I even got there! I think I must be so frustrated at it, that my brain is approaching it like taking a swing at it, trying to beat it, rather than "OH boy! I wanna work on that!"

Not the best approach to art, I know. I know. I eventually set it aside after getting to this point:

Now, I am noticing some problems I am having when the paper buckles (it's a hotpress block, but it still ripples a bit), because it tends to do it across her face and that makes the errors in structure (at least as I envision her face) even more glaring. I'm beyond frustrated that watercolors are of a more permanent nature. One mistake really can ruin the entire composition. Honestly? I'm aware I probably should have tossed it out, but I'm relearning a lot of techniques I used to use but haven't in so many years. That is leading to other ideas that hopefully won't end in disaster. Also, who knows, maybe I'll be able to fix it enough that it's not a toss-away piece.

I'm going to keep some of the yellow glow in her hair, I rather like the lit-up look to it. So anyway, a ways to go, and I'm not happy with the moon so I'll likely take a swipe at that next, along with everything else.

Then, after getting mad and setting aside the watercolor, I pulled out my canvases. Instead of working on the kittens, I went for the mermaid panel, because that was supposed to be fun! Fast and fun! Fun and fast! Dagnabbit!

Instead, I struggled. I felt like I just couldn't find my groove. I have NO idea why. But... ARGH! I kept pushing, kept forcing. I knew I needed to just get SOMETHING to work, otherwise the day would feel like a total loss to me. Late, very late into the day, I hit on what I wanted to do for her scales using a multi-layering thick technique, and I was able to finish her tail and most of her torso:

Now, the light was bad because I snapped this late at night with just my LED clamp light, so the reflections are all wrong. But, you get the basic idea. It's finally going in the right direction. I'll probably be able to finish it soon. Unfortunately, my lack of groove means that when this painting is done, I'll have spent probably 8-10 hours on it. *head*desk*head*desk*

And therein lies my problem. I am simply not a fast painter, and I cannot figure out how to speed it up. This is my career, and I'm slow as molasses! It's a problem. Although some of that problem seems to be rooted in the fact that I don't paint the same thing over and over. I think I'll do another mermaid and see if it goes any faster, to sort of test my theory.

Anyway, at least something went right. It was a frustrating day at the easel! Here's hoping the next day is better!

Holidayaholic

I'm in a very Halloween mood this year. Actually, I'm in a very holiday mood in general this year. This is actually a relief, because last year I totally failed at it. We were ripping out floors, and working on other house projects, as well as life stuff, and when it all came down to it I was rather apathetic about the holidays. That is not who I am. I am a holidayaholic. 

When the winter holidays were almost upon us, I had the refrigerator in my hallway and no floor but plywood (we were installing new wood floors), and I barely got a tree up before the big day. Well, I'm making sure that does NOT happen this year. Oh, no, it will not!

The holidays, for me, kick off on October 1st. Now, I admit I didn't dive in and decorate with my family like I usually do. I was working hard in my studio and trying to get paintings and prints shipped out, and my site updated, and, and, andandand.... And my own mother had to come over to help my daughter go Halloween crazy.

It's helped having the decorations up. While I was into painting Halloween paintings, I was still missing something. But I can feel that spark starting to build!

Although, it might just be panic; I also agreed to a Halloween party for my kiddos. My daughter is too old to Trick-or-Treat. I'm one of those mean moms that said no once she was in 7th grade. I believe the treating is for the younger children, and the olders tend to get caught up in the tricks and forget the purpose. Not my daughter, but if I feel other's shouldn't let their teens out to be cruel to the little kids, then I should do the same by keeping mine off the sidewalks too. When my son was about six years old a group of teen boys jumped out from behind a bush, grabbed him, and screamed in his face. My son was terrified and crying, and it ruined the entire experience - and yes, if I could have gotten my hands on those kids, they might be missing limbs (I was more concerned with comforting him, but part of me wishes I had confronted them. A BIG part of me.) We tried taking him treating the next year, but he was miserable. They literally ruined Halloween treating for him, forever. 

So, we've done parties and such here and there since. I think it's been two years, but this year it's on. Green white chocolate fountain? Check. Eyeball cake? Check. Wormy treats? Check. Mom wondering if she's going to survive a houseful of kids 11-15 years old... ultra-uber-duber-massive-CHECK!

We're going to do Halloween right this year!

And on the blog front, I'm going to participate in my first blog-party-hop... thing! Here's the invite/announcement if you're interested:

Brush Balance

On friday, I set my computer work aside and got back to my easel. Well, eventually I did. It really is a tough thing, when you get going on one side of the brain or the other (painting vs running numbers and other computerish work for the business), to switch back. For me, the transition is a tough one!

Still, all this computer work had me feeling a bit down, and so it was nice to finally get some fun work in!

I decided to work between a few pieces. I'm still working on the watercolor:

It's starting to come together, but it's been so long since I worked with watercolors, a lot of this is trying to remember how I did things. Or, frankly, just muddle through with a lot of "Oh... well.. that didn't work at all, now did it?" One of the things I hate about watercolor is that there are no do-overs. I messed up and had too strong a pigment on my brush? Well this paper is sucking it down, so too bad for me! Now what? It is a bit of an adventure for the same reason though. I don't have all the colors I need in watercolors, so I am using diluted acrylics as well (those, I have just about EVERY color.)

I don't know if this painting will come out well or be a waste, but I do know there are some effects in watercolor that I just love. For example, the outlining of the big tree? I kept darkening the edges and I love how it pushes the white forward. Granted, in this painting that's going to disappear a bit when the bark goes in, but I was thinking ahead to maybe a snow queen... this sort of effect, and maybe just whites and blues with a little color on the queen herself. I think that could be really lovely!

I'm also working more traditionally (for me) on my Halloween kitties in Acrylic:

As you can see, I've got the background in, and the moon as well. What you can't see is the lighter bulk of the moon, in certain lights flashes pearlescant blue, because I overlaid a light wash of it. My goal this coming week is to finish this kitty painting, and also a mermaid one I mentioned earlier (I have some underpainting in, but it looks like a complete mess right now.)

Oh, and I also managed to pick up some really pretty frames that can take a small panel (4x6 and 5x7) and I'm trying to figure out what to paint for them!

It feels good to be back in my studio!

Com...' Putering

In some exciting news, I canceled my Alice in Wonderland show for 2013, and released my series to the public for sale. After my last post, I think it was clear I was doing some business-soul-searching, and I'm confident I made the right decision. All the paintings have sold, except one. I know I need to get moving and continue on with the series, but there is also something freeing about letting the show go. It would have been a mistake, plus now I can do Alice paintings but also some of the Fairytale ones I've been dying to get started on!

The flip side to being able to create art when you have an art business, are the weeks you have to spend chained to your computer or spreadsheets instead. Tomorrow is Friday, and I'm sorry to say that I haven't had a paintbrush in my hand even once this week.

Frankly, it's depressing me. Blah.

On the other hand, I did get a lot done besides selling the Alice series. I shifted my print and shipping business over and partnered with Fine Art America (I'll still offer personally signed prints when I do exhibitions and shows - basically wherever I am in person, but for online sales this was the way to go.) What's good about this, beyond being able to offer quality prints of my paintings in multiple formats, is that I can also offer my fine art photography as well. When I was running Kyra Wilson Photography in tandem with Kyra Wilson Studio, I kept them separate. After shutting down KWP, I had all these wonderful prints that I used to sell, and no venue in order to do it.

I was a little amazed to see how many I could find to offer on a quick pass (almost 80), and I know I have more to go through. I really did a lot, and I know I plan on still taking photographs going forward. There are some things that are just meant to be in photographic form! (And then maybe turned into a painting!)



So, I'm pretty excited to be able to offer my photography prints once again! I've also been working on cleaning out and fixing my Zazzle store, but it's still a bit of a mess as of yet. The products are there, but I haven't quite figured out how to get my store to display correctly. I may be burned out today on it, it's probably time to walk away! Either that, or I've become Zazzle-impaired. My head is just stuffed to overflowing.

I was able to get my white rabbit (Tea Time) prints up in my print shop,


but I also am offering a different version of the print. I don't know if any of you have seen storybook illustrations from antique books, but this looks just like a bunch I have seen:




Isn't that cool? I ordered a print of it for myself (and one of the regular ones, since the original will be shipping out to its new owner. I'm a wee bit attached to it.)

Anyway, after running numbers through my accounting spreadsheets, and online rearranging and all sorts of programming and web-editing? I think I'm fried. I need art therapy. Tomorrow - I shall paint!  PAINT, I say!

Duh Moments, and U-turns

Sometimes you have to repeat a "Duh" moment multiple times in order for you to grasp the point. Or, at least I seem to need to. It'd sure be great to be one of those people who totally "got it" the first time around and made changes accordingly, and always moved forward on the right path. Instead, I seem to be one who revisits past dead-ends, you know, just to make sure.

I recently picked up my work from a shop about two hours away. It was at the urging of a friend who was also showing there that I contacted them in the first place. It's been a while since I branched out locally, and I thought why not? But the reason I stopped showing locally was that I just don't seem to sell locally. Tourists come here looking for artwork that features cows and barns. While there is nothing wrong with that sort of artwork, it is not my sort of artwork. I sell well online, and even overseas, but I don't sell well where I live.

So on last Thursday when I went to pick up my artwork and prints, I wasn't overly shocked that nothing had sold (they're a sort of souvenir art shop.) I just simply don't fit with the Vermont image. I can shake that off because sales on the home front (online) have actually been pretty good, but it's made me rethink my strategy for next year.

Part of my strategy when I reorganized my art business over a year ago was to work in a theme, build up to a show, and then move from there on to the next theme. At first I had planned on one major show a year, and I knew people were looking forward to it with plans to come in from out of town even. But then I realized that I was painting slower than I anticipated because I was actually reaching a new level with my paintings. OK, time to adjust... a show every two years! Yeah, that's the ticket! That was the new plan.

Except that picking up my stuff last week made me finally ask the question of whether having a show here, in a state where my work does not sell well, was a good idea after all? It's unlikely that I'm going to build a following here. My customers are across the globe, and it just seems that perhaps a show here in Vermont was not a well thought out plan after all.

Oops.

Realizing all of that has put me into a serious funk. It's a bizarre feeling to sell three paintings in the same week that you pick up other work from a venue and find you have sold nothing. I had a split-personality art week. On the other hand, could the universe have made it any more clear? What works is extremely obvious, as is what does not. There's no waffling here, no grey area to argue about. I'm thankful for that!

Once I started rethinking the show, my first thought was "I wonder how hard it is to have a virtual art show? Is that even possible? Do people do that? Doesn't that sort of circumvent the whole idea that you can meet people and so on?" So, without much effort, I stashed that thought for something to revisit in the future. I don't know how I'd go about doing that anyway.

Alright, so what if I took my art on the road to cities with a higher population where I know some of my customers are near and did a show like that? Expensive. I'm not that successful yet, to be able to take a show on the road like that. Maybe someday.

But what about art fairs? The art fairs I have done, specially art focused (not agricultural fairs, or town festivals, or farmer's markets, etc) I have done reasonably well at. In my opinion, I was not even properly prepared for those shows either, so not bad considering.

The art fair idea has merit, and I'm going to follow it up (and figure out how and where I should be doing these shows is a whole new challenge.) I'm also going to be releasing my current theme of Alice in Wonderland for sale as I complete the pieces, rather than hanging onto them as I was for a big show. I feel it's the right thing to do for my business overall, and I already have several excited collectors who are happy about this development.

While I was reworking this show-strategy, I also looked into a few other business decisions, ran the numbers, and realized I have to do almost a complete u-turn on at least one as well that I should have caught much earlier. *face-palm* Suddenly I went from just happily painting along, to a huge to-do list that I find completely intimidating. Of course, I find my laundry completely intimidating too (I'm not entirely sure, but judging by the production levels I may have six children I don't know about, and possibly an extra husband or three.) I know well that a big list is simply a longer journey, and that every one begins with a step, and then another, and another.

My journey is just taking an unexpected turn!

So, anyone want to come over and do laundry with me?

Pumpkins!

I'm in a world of pumpkins lately! I have pumpkin spice creamer, pumpkin spice bagels (better than you'd think they'd be), pumpkin pie candles (I don't even like pumpkin pie, and this smells so good that I want to roll in it) and more!

I finished two mini-paintings featuring pumpkins:

Set, Etsy Exclusive $45 (including shipping)

$30 (including shipping, Etsy exclusive)

I have to tell you that these mini-paintings, some of them are the size of chocolate bars, and that's apparently all I can think about when I'm working on something this size!

See?

Also, I'm in love with mini-stretched canvases, because they're just too darn cute. I want a basketful, just so I can play with them.

And I also started in on painting a mermaid I sketched out:

This one being part of my intent to finish a small panel every day. And no, I didn't finish it yet. 

As well as the watercolor of the witch:

Witch watercolor, in progress

I don't know what I think of the watercolor yet. I started on the body and face because I figured if I screwed up that, I'd know it was a loss. Normally I'd start from the background, but there you have it. I think I want to give her a glowing effect, but I have a long way to go on it. (Her face is fuller than I figured on too, but perhaps it'll look less so after more of the painting is filled in.)

With the small panels, what I have realized is that perhaps my goal should be to finish a few every week (instead of every day) because 1) I don't have that many panels, and 2) I need to work on other things too. Also, life has a tendency to intrude. This week, I have had a child home every day from school sick. I also had to run to orthodontist appointments, and soccer practices (I coach too), and drama practices, and... *sigh* 

Life is a balance, and I'm working on it. It's simply an issue of time. And needing to clone myself. A couple times over.

Anyone figured out how to do that yet?