Four Down & One to Go (I Think)

I finally finished painting number 4 after starting over 3 different times. I guess for some reason, I hit a block and just couldn't get past a certain point, and once I did do that, I HATED the way it turned out, and so I would start over. Any way, I finally got it to where I kindof like it. I'm just still not that sure, maybe it's because it's not what I first intended, or maybe it's just that I'm my own worst critic. Either way, I think I miss counted on my post of my previous painting saying that it was number four, but this one actually is. I will post some pics of a few of my art journal pages tomorrow.

Have a good evening!
Stacy

Free Collage Sheets

I have been taking Pam Carriker's wonderful Visual Journalism 101 class. I have to admit, I have never kept up with an art journal like I should. I have started and stopped I don't know how many times, but not ever consistently. After taking Pam's class, I am totally hooked! I work in my art journal a lot now - daily, sometimes even several times daily. I see now how important keeping an art journal is as an artist, and just for myself. I have always been an artist for as long as I can remember, and my background from college is "Professional Writing and Literature." As you can see with all of that put together, it's really ridiculous that I have not embraced this concept until now. I have already made several discoveries and future artistic plans in the few short weeks that I have been doing this.

Since this has all been going on, I have been creating lots of collage sheets for my journals and work instead of just printing things off as I need them. I thought I would share a couple of them with you today for everyone in the class as well as you wonderful readers of my blog. I will also be sharing these from time to time, so check back often, as I am sure I will do this quite a bit.

Gotta add my little "disclaimer" ~
All that I ask is that you use these for your personal artwork. Just please don't sell these in your own collage sheets or as single images.

Enjoy~If you create anything with any of these images, I would LOVE to see what you come up with!

I will be posting some of my pages this week. My camera is giving me problems right now, and even Photoshop can't fix it. I may have to revert to just scanning them in. I've about got my husband ready to buy me a new camera! WhooHoo!!

Happy Creating!
Stacy

I Really Did Do It....

I have now finished the 4th of 5 paintings that I have to finish for an upcoming gallery show. I was actually in an "artist block" mode and decided to look to my favorite artist for some inspiration. I have loved Monet's work since I was a little girl and I can always look at some of his paintings and immediately feel inspired. I love his water lilly paintings and I owe him credit for giving me the inspiration for this piece.

Onward on to my announcement of what "I really did do".... Earlier in January, I made a promise to myself and everyone else that I was going to have my Etsy shop up and running by the end of the month of January. Well, I did - I actually got it up earlier last week, but just haven't had a chance to make the announcement here until today. I still have some tweaking to do, but it is up and going, and I made my first sale within a few minutes of having the store up! You can click on my link on the sidebar if you'd like to take a look. If you do, let me know what you think.

I am in the middle of finishing my 4th painting and as soon as I am finished I will upload it as well.

Cheers~
Stacy

Passage of Time

I have been very busy working on my paintings for an upcoming gallery exhibit. This is my latest creation that I finished last night. I have already started the next one - getting closer and closer to having them all completed way ahead of schedule. I have several other projects that I need and want to work on as well but for some reason, I just can't seem to let myself start anything else until I get all of these paintings completed. Normally, it's not uncommon for me to have several projects going at once so that I can move around to each one as I feel inspired. This is different for me. I think it is partly because lately I have been on an artistic high - meaning I haven't hit any artist's blocks in the last few days. That tends to happen to me from time to time, but I might as well "make hay while the sun shines." Can you tell I'm a Texas girl? How much more yee haw can you get? I grew up in a small town and my grandparents owned a large dairy where my Papaw always said that phrase - especially when he really was working in his hay field!

Tuscan Sunset

This is a piece that I finished yesterday. Although I have never been to Italy (it is my husband and I's dream vacation) this is how I imagine it. In my "dream" of looking out of a beautiful Tuscan balcony, the golden sunset casts a warm glow on the landscape around me. O.K. back to reality - this is one of several paintings that I am making for a gallery exhibit coming up soon.