Work in progress - call for feedback

Hi Everyone...

I'm posting this because I desperately need some feedback - I am not too crazy about how this is turning out and want to know what you all think.

Any thoughts or suggestions are welcome!

This is still very much in the beginning stages, but it just keeps bugging me...not sure why - too much color maybe?

Love to hear your thoughts if you have any!

Smiles

Sunday Sketches

Good Sunday Morning Everyone!  Sunday Sketches has been cancelled due to Sophia's father's illness.  Please be sure to head over and give her your support during this very difficult time.  She will need lots of support as this seems like it will be a long treatment and recovery for him.

This is the finished version of the gal I showed you last week - you can see I tried something different here and put a taj mahal type of building in the background.  This was a fun departure for me from just doing flowers.  I did decide to add in some flowers that were inspired by some red toille fabric I have.  I am loving the sepia ink pens I got recently at Michaels!  What do you think of her?

And this little gal is from a while ago, but I finally finished her and had the graphic company I work with scan her for me.  I am going to put her on lime green and hot pink t-shirts for my 'Smile Campaign'!  I can't wait to show you how the shirts turn out.

Share a SMILE with me ~ it’s free!

What do you think?  I just love how happy she looks among her flowering SMILES!!

I'd love to hear what is making you smile these days!

Lots of snow and warm cosy evenings are keeping a sweet smile on my face!

Hugs to you all and of course, S M I L E S

My new bedroom

Since we bought our home last fall, I have been wanting to do something fun with our bedroom. Once again I found inspiration at Rebecca Anthony's place! She showed some decorating pics from her new home and I was so inspired by her tangerine bedroom!

I love lots of color in my home too, so I took a deep breath, went to the paint store and picked out a gorgeous orange poppy color for one wall in my bedroom.

Then I headed off to the fabric store to look for fabrics for a new duvet cover.

I had shopped online for a couple months, just looking for the perfect cover, and never found one that was quite right...

At the fabric store I stumbled upon this collection of fabrics that I just LOVE!  All oranges, reds, yellows, blues and greens, and they remind me so much of my art too...lots of details.

The center panel here is intended for a pillow, but I used it as the center of my cover instead...                       What do you think?

I JUST LOVE THE SWIRLS AND DOTS IN THIS
FABRIC (and of course all the flowers are so ME!)

Loved this pattern and this shade of green, so I decided to add a strip of it just where the cover reaches the edge of the bed on either side ~ Helps when making the bed believe it or not!  ;-)  I also used this fabric at the top on the backside, so when the duvet cover is turned over, it shows the green against the print and looks really nice!

I am over the moon with how this turned out! (this pic is a little fuzzy, but you get the idea)

 I cannot go into this room without smiling!  Now I just need to make some custom curtains to match and lots of fun coordinating shams and throw pillows and it will be perfect!

By the way the art behind our bed is done by my very talented sister Amber!  It's extra special to have it hanging over our bed, knowing my sissy made it for me.

Don't ya just love C O L O R!

Thank you to Rebecca again for always inspiring me to GO FOR IT!!!

SMILES

Sunday Sketches

Hello Friends and Happy Sunday to you all! 

You can find more great Sunday Sketches over at our wonderfully hospitable hostess Sophia's place.  Be sure to check out all of the other participants, or better yet, join us by sketching something up and linking back to Sophia's 'Blue Chair Diary'!

This is a new gal that I am working on and trying a few new things ~ I did quite a bit of layering of a flesh colored pencil as a base and then used my etching tool to work in some flowers, followed by a green pencil to add detail and dimension.  I am not done but really like how it is coming along.

As always, I love to hear what you think and your feedback is most welcome.  Can't say enough times how much it makes my Sunday to visit all of you and share what we are all working on each week!!!

Wishing you a peaceful day and week ahead!

Smiles

xo

Featured at FAT Tuesday!

Thank you to the very talented Beth over at Beth's Artworx for featuring me on her FAT Tuesday post!
Every week she features different artists and it is a great way to showcase your work and meet other really talented artists - stop by and share!  I just love Beth's art so this is really an honor!

Thanks again Beth!

Sunday Sketches

Good Sunday Morning Everyone! 

How was your week?  I hope it was calmer than mine!

For more great sketches be sure to stop by Blue Chair Diary,

or better yet, let your creative juices flow and join us.  Just sketch something up and use dear mr. linky over at Sophia's place!

This is a sketch I am playing around with - I am trying to figure out how to do darker skinned women, but it comes out very grainy with my colored pencils, even after using a blending stump...So I will have to keep trying!

Looking forward to seeing what everyone sketched this week!

In case you missed my post this week, here is last week's sketch and how she turned out:

If you are interested in how I finish off my pieces and get them ready for the printer,

you can read about that here.

Wishing you all a wonderful Sunday and a relaxing week to come!

Smiles   :-)

Creative Process

My dear friend Ces asked me a little bit about the process I use in getting my pictures ready for printing on canvas.  If you've followed my blog for a bit you know I use colored pencils, indian ink, colored ink, and some applique flowers in my work.  When I finish a piece, then I have to decide what kind of border I want to put around it.  I was quite excited to learn from my Print shop that they can scan any paper, fabric, etc and digitally place it behind my work, thereby 'framing' it.  You can see the finished piece below.

This is probably not news to those of you that are super-graphic savy, but I have absolutely no idea how to do anything in photoshop, so I was really excited with this concept.

I found this piece of handmade paper in an art supply store and knew it would be a perfect background for my purple gal.

The finished scan is printed in Gicle on Canvas and gallery wrapped so it is ready to hang on the wall.  The super cool thing is the 'Matting' extends all the way around the edge to the back of the canvas!

The graphic designer I worked with was also able to insert a small border between my finished piece and the border to ofset it.  I think it really makes it stand out.

Love the hot pink border around this one!

The finished canvases are fairly large, but I can order them in a variety of sizes.  I can also have these printed on fine paper for someone that may want to frame it instead.  The canvases or prints can be shipped without being framed in a tube, making it that much easier to ship to a potential customer.

I have had several people suggest a card set of these too, so that is an idea to think about.

Just for fun, I printed each one of these on 4"X6" high gloss photo paper and then laminated them for the kids to use as bookmarks.  That's also a really great way for me to show someone my art without having to lug a canvas with me.

So figuring out how to finish these off has been a fun creative process for me!  Having a gallery interested in representing me is even better!

I know I love it when I get to share in the creative process of all of you wonderful artists.  I hope this was a fun way for you to see how my work evolves!

Smiles!

'Lady in Red' Complete

Yeah!  I am finished with this lovely lady.  I am so excited with how she turned out!  If you click on the image, you will see that I used sepia toned pens (brown ink) for the flowers done without color and for most of the dot work.  I really like these new pens!  Now I am off to the art store to pick out the border that will be used around her.  I will have some finished canvases to show you all soon. 

Love to hear what you think!

Smiles

Work in progress "The Lady in Red"

Just couldn't resist showing everyone how my "Lady in Red" is turning out.  I am using an etching tool for the flowers, the hair, and the leaf detail and love how it is turning out.  I am also laying in a soft yellow background and the combination is soooooo beautiful!  Can't wait to hear what you think!

Smiles

Sunday Sketches

                                                                                             

 Hello Everyone!  Happy Sunday to you all.  Here is my fourth finished gal in my series of five.  How do you like her?  I am really looking forward to seeing her on canvas.  I went to a local art supply store and bought some homemade paper that is a yummy shade of purple and has a great crinkled texture to it.  I plan on having it scanned and then use it as a frame around this piece before it is printed on canvas and stretched.  I am getting so excited to see this series of five finished!  Can't wait to show you them all in one post.

This lovely sketch is a possible start for my fifth and final gal in this series - the color for this one will be RED, my favorite decorating color (you will find shades of red everywhere in my house).  I think this sketch may be too docile for a red theme though so I am still trying to decide...what do you think?

As you can each week, if you head over to Sophia's place, our lovely hostess will provide links to some wonderful and fun sketches.  Be sure to stop by and check them out!

Looking forward to visiting all the other participants.

And thank you to everyone that takes the time to leave a comment.  I just enjoy hearing your thoughts, feedback and suggestions so much!

Smiles and have a great Sunday!    

Most recent work in progress...

Hi Everyone!  This is the fourth in my series of five gals - She's obviously my Purple gal...haven't come up with a name yet (any suggestions are welcome:-) Still have some background detail to add, and a bit more color but so far I really like how she is turning out.

Have gotten two canvases back and I just love them.  I will take pics and post them soon - I can't wait to share them with you all!

Do let me know what you think...I love to hear your wonderful ideas and feedback!