Illustration Friday - Worn

I've been wanting to join 'Illustration Friday' for a while now, and finally did. The word for this week is 'worn' and this is my interpretation. It is a small mixed media drawing in my art journal.

The first idea that came to my mind for this weeks topic was a young woman worn out by life. It was only after I finished, that I noticed what the collage paper used on her dress said. Very appropriate :--D

Back to Art

Hello everyone! This is just a quick update. Shining Star is one of my last folk art paintings, finished a couple of weeks ago. The second one, is still unfinished as I can't stand her face! so will have to redo it.
Tonight I finally got off my lazy butt and attempted to finish a background I am working on in one of my classes. I'm already behind in the lessons! (I'm taking Julie Prichard's Layer love to improve my backgrounds, and because it's fun!)

I just finished a coffee and the biggest biscotti you have ever seen, so I feel a bit sluggish. Darn those sugar cravings! I couldn't just have half, no, I went to the freezer and removed the other half. This is a short update because I am going to be walking my parent's beagle tonight, they are on vacation for 2 months, so I am the lucky one who gets a very energetic 8 month old puppy. Maybe I can burn off those calories, lol!

Thats it for now, I'm putting on my running shoes, and preparing to be dragged behind a super hyper dog, help!!

Sweet Caroline, the Raccoon

Last night me and a friend went to visit one of her relatives, who had raised a raccoon by hand since it was a baby. Of course it now lives in the wild, however,Caroline the raccoon comes by the house every night after dark, to enjoy the treats left out for her. She is a playful little critter, and after she ate her peanuts, she proceeded to wrestle with my pant legs, play with the dogs, and stuck her face right up to mine! I had this tiny fear in the back of my head saying what if she bites my nose, haha! but she didn't. We fed her marshmallows that she loved, and I got to snap a few photos as well. What an interesting experience! Her hands are just like a human's and she showed no fear when she saw us strangers.


She loves to get belly rubs :-D


Then when driving home a little after midnight to the city we live in, would you believe a raccoon ran across the road in front of us? what are the chances of that?

I thought I'd mention that some Etsy sellers are having a Treasure Hunt on Monday, in which you may be able to win some ACEO cards. I am not part of it due to timing issues, but I think it's a great idea. Take a look at Pam's blog here on Monday: http://alwaysartistic.blogspot.com/

Red White and True

Here is my latest little yankee girl. I think I am still sad at selling the one I did last year, lol! or maybe it's the fact that I love all things Americana. There is another one coming soon, that I planned out in my sketchbook. I find it strange that as much as I may love an idea I have sketched out, it could take days or weeks to sit down and do it. And yet, the minute I put paint to canvas, I don't want to stop until it is done. I wonder why the resistance?

Maybe I should re-read 'The War of Art' by Steven Pressfield , which I would highly recommend to any of you artists, or writers who may find yourself blocked. He said something that rang true for me, that the thing that you most need to do is the thing you resist the most. I know exactly what that is for me: anatomy. I dread studying this, and keep postponing it, even though it must be done if I expect to become a better artist. I made a promise to myself that as soon as the weather gets better here, I will take my sketchbook and instruction books outside, and get to work.

I will never be a realistic artist, it's not my style. I love whimsical and folk art too much! But any time you improve yourself, it can't help but show up in your work.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this, as I have discussed it with a fellow artist and friend. She disagrees with me, and says to throw away the books and learn by doing.
Do you think it is better to jump in, paint, and let your art go where it wants to? Or do you like using books and classes to learn new things?
I believe your style evolves by 'doing' however, I also think it is always a good idea to be aware of certain techniques that you will only learn from other sources.
What do you all think? Feel free to share your favorite books too :-)

Carnival love

As I mentioned in my previous post, an old friend came to visit, and instead of going for lunch then heading for the mall I had something else in mind...

Since I was a child I have loved traveling carnivals. I remember how excited me and my best friend Christine would get when they were in town. The two of us would walk downtown and spend the day there playing games, eating cotton candy, and enjoying all the rides. Our parents had no fear of letting us go anywhere ourselves back then, times were different. I am so grateful to have been a child of the 70's, when you didn't have a cell phone attached to you at all times, and your summers were spent outdoors playing with your friends, not instant messaging them.
Here I go getting carried away again, lol!


So I asked my friend if she would mind if we stopped by the carnival for a bit, and she agreed. I took my camera since this was the perfect opportunity to get some reference photos for possible artwork. My pictures didn't turn out that great, thanks to some huge dark clouds rolling in, but at least a few turned out ok. It was nice to walk around and see all the bright gaudy colors of the rides, and see children enjoying themselves. Then we did what big girls do, and headed to the mall, haha!

It is now Sunday night, and I had a busy weekend. Not much time for art, although I managed to finish one folk art painting. I just got back from the movies, where I saw 'Drag me to hell'. We expected it to be a scary movie, instead it was a comedy, although I'm not sure it was supposed to be. On the way home we stopped at a video store, where I found the first season of 'The Tudors' for $12!

Then I checked my blog and see that I was given 'one lovely blog award' by sweet Carole
at Art Plus. As with the other blog awards I've received, I don't feel right picking who to award these to. There are too many worthy blogs, and I can't choose, so I will graciously say thank you for thinking of me.

Quiet Friday Evening

This is crazy. I should be cleaning my house, since a friend of mine will be dropping by tomorrow. Instead I went online, and of course, found more interesting blogs to read. Does it ever stop? You people out there in blog land are extremely creative, and fascinating, I can't help but get caught up, almost like I know you. I figured I may as well write a blog post since I can't seem to get off my butt.

Today the rains finally stopped, it felt like forever, but it was only a few days. I took my camera to work, and snapped some reference photos of flowers. There is a greenhouse there, and in the summer I like to sit inside on a bench surrounded by tropical flowers. It's a wonderful peaceful place, somewhere to get away from everything and everyone for a bit.
Does anybody know what the yellow flowers are in the photo here? I should have photographed the whole tree but I didn't think of it at the time.


Tomorrow an old friend is visiting, and I will spring a little surprise on her. Normally we go for lunch, then the mall, but these days the thought of being inside a mall just depresses me. Besides, I can't spend any money, since I went a little crazy with my art supplies. oops!!
Anyway, I won't tell you what I have in mind yet, because I plan to take lots of photos, and blog about it afterwards, so it is a surprise for you too. She will think I have lost my mind, lol!

Meet the Bee Girl

I seem to work better under pressure. In my previous post I wrote of how I was stuck on a painting, unsure how to proceed, and gave myself two days to work on it. So I sat down yesterday, and let the painting go where it wanted to, and here is the result. I wanted to create art that mentioned the alarming rate of bees dying. I used to buy honey regularly from a woman until last year, their entire population of bees died, and they won't be replacing them. Anyway, that is the idea behind this painting. If you are wondering, that is not a sun on the right hand side, it is a big sunflower with a sad face, lol!

Now I am off to watch the Bachelorette, got to love reality tv :-D

Sunny Days are here!!

Today was meant to be a work on art day, but the sun streaming in my windows beckoned me.
I was sitting on my computer since I woke up, trying to catch up on various classes and art groups that I am a part of, and could feel my stress level rising. It was becoming too much, trying to participate in groups, update photos, and so on....
Oh, and as if I didn't have enough to work on, I went and joined another online class last night! Yeah, so who is to blame for my stress? :-)

So I took a little break, and sat in the sun, with my folder of art ideas. The goal was to organize myself, so that I would know what to work on today. There is nothing like a little sunshine to melt the stress away :-D

I've been working on a new painting which I started two weeks ago. I haven't touched it since then, because I am afraid of making a wrong move and ruining it. I know this is not what art is supposed to be about, and that we should enjoy the process and not worry about the end result, but I can't seem to move forward. The last time I was stumped like this was 2 years ago with my Frida's Day of the Dead painting. It took me 2 years to get back to it, change it's direction, and it ended up being my most popular print.

I have no desire to put this one aside for two years, so I will just jump in after I finish my blog post. The painting you see with this post is a sneak peek of the background. Now let's see what I can do with it :-)


*******I thought I'd ask this question here, even though it has nothing to do with art...my father is 70 and he has what appears to be rosacea, even though I have read the info, and it generally happens to light skinned women under 50. If anyone out there could suggest any natural remedies it would be greatly appreciated. He has had laser a couple of years ago, but it came back worse, and the creme the dermatologist gave him burns, and it too made it worse. I gave him coconut oil to try since it is anti inflamatory. Symptoms are, red blotches on skin, especially on his cheeks and nose, and acne. I feel bad for him, he is leaving for a 2 month vacation, and his skin looks awful. Thanks everyone!

Just a quick update...

I had planned to update my blog for the last 3 days now, and something has always come up. It's been a wonderful 3 day weekend for us in Canada. I had high hopes of getting lots of art done, but unfortunately was not able to. Am I the only one who feels time slipping away??

I did manage to change the look of my blog though, the checkered pattern on the side seems to suit me better than my last background, and I updated my music player. So if you scroll down a bit and look on the right hand side, you will see my new oldies playlist (I just realized how silly new oldies sounds, haha!). I can't help it, I love older music! If you do too, click the play button, sit back and enjoy :-D

Lately I have been working more on my ACEOs - for those who don't know what they are, they are little artworks on paper no bigger than a playing card. The above painting of a momma cat and her kittens is an ACEO. I finished it yesterday. Also when looking through my Photobucket album, I found this mermaid ACEO I sold a long time ago. I thought it would be fun to show it.


As I sat down earlier to finally update my blog, I had a call from a friend who lost her sister's dog. She had just left my house with him, when a large dog, not on a leash, scared him. He bolted free of his collar and leash, and she was frantically trying to chase him. She called us, and we drove around for hours trying to locate him. He is a sweet little dog, part jack russel terrier, and is not from the city. I was praying we would find him before dark, but no luck. What a sad way to end the evening, all I can think of is this poor little dog all alone in an unfamiliar area. I am hoping for some good news tomorrow. People are basically kind , so hopefully someone will see him and call the humane society.

I guess that's it for now, the other things I wanted to blog about will have to wait. The stress of worrying about a lost pet left me too exhausted, I know you animal lovers will understand.

*****Update: I am happy to say that my friend's lost dog was found sleeping in someone's back yard, completely exhausted, but safe :-)

Happy Mother's Day!

I wanted to wish all the moms out there a happy Mother's Day. I hope you are treated like gold today. I am so grateful to have my mother close by. As the years go by I appreciate her more. It's funny, because I never thought I would get to this stage. We didn't get along when I was younger, but now I see why she was the way she was. She and my father retired several years ago, and I am happy that they now have more joy and peace in their lives. Within 2 days of arriving in Canada, not even able to speak English they both went to work in order to support us. I was almost 3 at the time. After many years working in a factory, in a horrible environment, my mother is finally able to relax, tend to her garden, read, and walk the new puppy.

I applaud all you mothers out there. It is without question, the most difficult job in the world. Bless you for all you do.

The painting on the right is one of my favorites. I painted her in the bleak month of March, when I needed some pretty spring colors. I am finally getting around to listing her. She looks like a Blythe doll because that was my intention. I am a huge fan of Blythe, and Pullip dolls, and own a few. I will be doing more paintings based on my beauties in the future. Yes, famous last words, haha! I have planned out another American girl painting, since I miss the one I sold last year. This one will be better I hope :-D

have a great day everyone!

Some thoughts about copyright

I wasn't planning on writing a post on copyright but felt compelled to do so. Just to make it clear, this is not about any particular issue or person, these are just my thoughts over watching what has been happening in the art world the last year or so.

With the internet, and our access to so many art sites, we are becoming paranoid about what we can and cannot paint. We are so fearful that we may be accused of copying an idea that someone else had, that we go out of our way to change our art until it becomes unnatural to us. If someone has added stripes to a folk art angel, we are afraid to add stripes to our folk art angel in case we get accused of copying them. I am not talking about blatant copying of an artist's work, obviously that is copyright infringement and should not happen. But a true artist wants to find their own style. They will take what they learn from classes and books, and put their own spin on it.


There is nothing that hasn't been done before. For instance, I created a series of ACEOs more than a year ago with a very specific subject matter and style(I won't give details here). These can be found online so I can prove when I did them. Last month, I saw 2 separate artists with the exact same idea as me, and one even used the same title I used for their series. One is a hugely successful Ebay artist, and I would never accuse her of copying me! Of course her skill level is much higher than mine, but the point is, nothing is truly original. I do not for one second think she was surfing the net, came across my amateurish art, and copied it. It was simply a co-incidence. She came up with the exact same idea as me. Now what worries me is if I continue this series which I plan to, someone may start harassing me and accusing me of copying her!!! Holding our cards side by side, you will know which ones are mine, and you will recognize hers easily, but she came up with this idea a year after I did mine. So what do you think of this little problem? If we have to constantly worry about stuff like this, we will feel stifled, and lose our love of creating.

How on earth do we get around this?

Let me repeat again, this post is not about any specific person. I only wrote this after seeing discussions over the last year about copyright.

Good Lord this is a long post, forgive me!

(the painting of Dorothy and Toto is one of my older works, I need to get back to that series soon!)

***UPDATE: After reading some comments, I'm afraid my post wasn't very clear. I was not complaining that someone copied me. As far as I know, no one has done this.
I have no problem with people copying other artists when they are learning, teachers tell you to do this. So you new budding artists out there, practice practice practice! learn from all sources, but make it your own. If you work on it enough, you will see your own style developing. Just don't copy one artists style completely, and try to sell it off as your own, this is where you will get yourself in trouble. I'm not an authority on this, so if you have any questions, please check out copyright laws. I promise no more confusing posts from me :-D
blessings,
betty

And the winner is.....

Drumroll please...................

the winner of my giveaway for any print from my Etsy shop is :

Quelleheure4!

Thank you so much everyone who participated, I wish you could all win!
I will be doing more giveaways, so just keep checking :-)

Time for a Giveaway

Hello bloggers and friends! I haven't updated in a couple of weeks as I have been working on other things, including some art. Nothing new to show, but I do have a few projects on the go, including a mermaid ACEO that is almost finished.

Today I hit a milestone, 100 followers!! YAY! So I thought this would be a good time to tell you all how much I appreciate you. Every one of you means so much to me, my fellow artists, bloggers, and readers. I read each one of your comments, and thank you for your friendships. Even you silent readers out there are awesome! :-D

So I would like to have a little giveaway. What is the prize? How about I let you choose any print from my Etsy shop?
I thought this would be fair, since everyone has different tastes.
Everyone is eligible to win, you don't have to do anything special, simply leave a comment on this thread. For those without blogs make sure I can reach you by leaving an email address. I will draw a name on April 30th, and contact the winner.
Good luck, and thank you again for reading my blog!

**************
Another thing I would like to mention, this has nothing to do with the giveaway, but I came across a thread on Etsy started by a woman concerned with the rapid decline in bird populations. I happen to be a huge bird lover, and looked at the petition she linked to for the National Audubon Society. I thought I would add a link here for anyone who loves birds and would like to add their name to the petition:
http://audubonaction.org/campaign/birdsandclimate
There is also a video from the CBC's 'The National' you can watch that talks about it in more detail : http://rawstory.com/rawreplay/?p=372

What a shame for the future generations to grow up not knowing the joy of birds. I'm afraid it's happening to our honeybees as well :-(

Here come the Sugar Bugs!

These strange looking little bugs with girls faces have been so much fun to make! I named them sugar bugs, because I thought they were too cute!
It has been a while since I painted some ACEOs -for any of you who don't know what these are, they are tiny works of art, the size of playing cards (2.5" x 3.5"). They are quite popular, and very collectible.

After working on my girls painted on wood, I needed a break, and these characters came about when I was drawing in my sketchbook. I drew the faces, and for fun, added these bug bodies. I forgot how much fun it was to work this small. If you haven't tried ACEOs, go for it! There is lots of info on the net, or just ask, I would be happy to give you more info. Be warned though, once you start, you will get addicted. I have now finished 6 of these sugar bugs, and want to get back to doing my mermaids. It never ends.... :-D

Alice and the Cheshire kittys

yes, kittys, as in more than one...look inside her basket and you will see two smiling cheshire kittens, and the proud papa peeking from behind her dress. What the heck, I have painted so many girls over the years carrying their tiny pets, so why shouldn't Alice have some too?
Sorry for the poor picture, I had to photograph it because my stupid scanner is a fraction of an inch too short.

If you haven't worked on wood, you don't know what you are missing! I love woodburning, and painting goes on so much smoother than on canvas. I have seen some artists work on watercolor paper, but I have found it difficult to paint on paper. The brush seems to drag, and feels dry all the time. I will have to do a bit of research to see how to get around this.

I know a lot of you love art supplies just like me, have you heard of Pan pastels? Oh my goodness, I really want these! I want them all! they are so pricey though...Click on the 'techniques' and check out the video. Smooth like butter! Right now I have a shelf full of various pastels, which I have rarely used, and yet, a new product shows up and I'm dreaming about it. No wonder I'm running out of room, lol!