Picture a Day - Day 344

I have been a bit remiss at sharing all of the my latest and finished paintings and pendants with everyone here.

While it was easy to fall into the "Oh I'll just put it on twitter quick, get instant feedback and call it good" habit I also swear part of the problem was that I never had any good pictures.

Yesterday I finally decided no more excuses so for most of the day I trucked my pieces around trying to get as many good pictures as possible and then editing said photos before finally listing them in my stores.

I listed three different pendants (I actually have a fourth but it needs a few touch ups before its ready for its closeup) and one huge painting (okay huge for me, I swear some people will paint the side of a barn and ship that).

One of my pendants is for that nerd in your life who likes wisecracking and bad movies.
Another was back to the simple, a silhouetted raven about to take flight on stained wood.
And that big painting I was talking about? Well it's my 16X20 of a foggy forest walk. What still kills me about this painting is that it's all in black and white (and I swear it is, no color anywhere near that sucker) yet depending on where it sits on the wall it looks like it has a bit of a color sheen.
Now for the exciting news even though I still have more paintings I finished and listed to share.

All that stuff up there sold in under an hour of being listed!

Okay so I had a pretty good idea that the foggy forest was going to someone after a twitter back and forth or 10 but I had no idea she also planned to buy a few pendants.

And another shocker, someone also came in and swooped up the raven pendant. In fact the only one I still have in my shop was the third one I added yesterday.
It's my winter scene, for those yearning for some snow before the icy doldrums of January beats it out of us all.

And despite traveling into someones cart for a little bit it's still available for sale for the low low low low price of $6. (The more I think about it too, it'd make a cute gift tag for Christmas as well).

I also waited til today to list my dancing couple painting. Here's hoping it has as much success as my trees.
Hurray for one hell of a good painting sale day. I'd like to pretend that it's just up and up from here but well let's just say I'm starting to see the writing on the wall more and more at Etsy. (Maybe if I did paintings of owls wearing cowls).

But for now I shall revel in my small victory for a day. I always revel small victories with a small feast made up entirely of small foods and half danced by small rodents.

My pendants have been weirdly popular (I really thought they'd just disappear through the jewelry cracks never to be seen by anyone) and I was just wondering if there's anything you'd like to see on one of these bad boys?

Is there anything in my repertoire of paintings that you could see people wanting to wear around their neck? Or anything you'd want to give to someone else?

Guess the Painting

When I'm not cleaning, trying to get better (work you stupid white blood and T-cells!), or watching all the unfolding drama at Etsy I've tried to get in a few paintings here and there this week.

I've had an idea in my head for a while that I've wanted to put down onto canvas. It was actually from before Halloween but well one thing and another. You know how it goes.

The first step was getting the background just right.

For the fun of it I snapped a picture as that was drying and thought I'd let you all take a guess as to what I was gonna get up to.
Really, take all the time you need.

What would I do with that strange choice of shades and weird smokey background?

Nope, got all the time in the world. Do de do.

Oh and while you're deciding here's another painting I'll be putting up for sale soon. It was an idea for something I tried for a friend, wasn't quite their taste so it's going to the highest bidder.
Okay times up.

It's a foggy forest!
I have no idea where the color comes from in this second pictures, it was all in black/white/gray I assure you.
While my husband was busy KOLing last night I just cranked out a bunch of trees in various depths and shades and have my first ever ready to sell 16X20 painting.

What do you think? It needs a few more additions, some extra branches but the life of the painting is mostly there.

I've got it hanging on my painting wall right now and I swear it almost follows you around the room. Or maybe I keep expecting a ghost to pop out from behind one of the trees.

My First Two Pendants

Sorry that posting has been a bit sparse and random so far this week.

The puppy and I are still feeling out "Okay if I sit in my office at the computer will the puppy stay in the living room napping or sit at my feet whining the whole time because she doesn't like being in here?"

Plus the whole getting sick thing. That's always a bit of a bummer.

But earlier this week I did get a chance to list two pendants I made this weekend. And I finally feel well (and the puppy satiated) enough to share.

This was the first one (which you'd already seen before):Which actually sold in under 10 minutes.

Good thing I had a second one to put up. So this is my first big foray into jewelry. A simple tree pendant that's hand painted and only costs $5.I really like making them and have a few more waiting in the wings. Some I'll sell and some I'm thinking will be part of a Thank You for people who purchase larger paintings.

If you'd like this Tree with blue background you can go here to check out the rest of the details.

What do you think?

Picture a Day - Day 332

Well, this is it. Today is my last day at work. I guess I'll spend most of the day packing up all the random stuff I've accumulated here, clean up a bit, and bid a tearful goodbye.

Yesterday my labmate, boss and a few other people in the department took me out to Olive Garden where I proceeded to eat way more Italian food than one person should ever suffer (I am not a huge meal eater, I'd be a lot happier being free to graze throughout the day. As you can imagine Thanksgiving isn't anything all that special to me).They also got me a card with a cute puppy on it, a gift certificate to Michaels (which I'll be amazed if it lasts a week. If there's one gift certificate I'm sure to use it's one to a craft store) and my labmate knitted me a few pot holders.

Stiff upper lip and all that, but it kinda feels like one of those relationships where everything seemed perfect, everyone got along great and the mesh was good. But the timing was off, so we have to go our separate ways.

But I've been wading in depression enough this week. Time for something a little fun.

I've been working at home on sketching out skeletons. Some because I want to work and understand more the human body and various poses and some because, dude, skeletons are awesome.

My first was just a straight on coming at you skeleton. I think he just looks cute as hell for some reason.I had a hell of a fight with the ribs and my hatred of fingers and toes goes without saying, but I liked the way he turned out for the most part.

Now onto something a bit more of a challenge. Let's try a skeleton that's moving around a bit. He's sort of a play on Baron Saturday with his top hat dancing to a beat.
Or possibly someone trying to ice skate missing the all important skate part and about to fall on his bony rear end.

Because no one should ever go without for Halloween, if anyone is still hunting for an avatar for the spooks and goblins this Saturday I made a couple from my skeletons free to share.

It isn't anything too fancy, but I like the clear lines and the simple black and white. Makes it seem a bit more fancy than I could ever really be.

They're both in the 150 px and smaller range, so it should hopefully fit in most places.

Feel free to take one or both and use them all you'd like. I'll just call it my Halloween treat to the masses and write it off on my taxes. How much do you think a black and white av is worth? Two cents? Maybe a Nickel.

Happy Halloween everyone. Tomorrow I'll have tons of pictures of our home haunt if anyone's curious just what we did to our front lawn.

Til then, it's never Halloween (or day before Halloween) til I hear this song at least once.I did the Mash, the Potato Mash. It was a culinary smash.

Happy Halloween!

Picture a Day - Day 331

Creativity can be a cruel master (I figure creativity must be male. How else to explain all those Renaissance paintings where the woman just can't quite figure out how to work a shirt and half of her is spilling out).

It waits in the grass watching with slit eyes for the perfect moment to strike. Usually as your hands are both full, a pot on the stove is boiling over and a small child is very unhappy with his current Fisher Price distraction options.

And when you're sitting at your desk, pen in hand, creativity nips down to the bar to knock back a few with insomnia and procrastination (Don't worry, they'll be back just as soon as you're getting ready for bed).

So I've come to accept that when the creative bug strikes I best grab ahold with both hands and hang on for dear life.

Last night creativity smacked me upside the head with a crowbar and made sure I'd lose all feeling in my left hand for half a day.
It started simply enough. I have two wedding dresses that need some representation in the artistic realm so I sat down while watching the Simpsons and sketched out the first one.

My husband took the puppy on her required daily walk and just as they came back in I finished up the last lines.
I put the dress on my table and went out to the living room, but creativity still wiggled around at the back of my brain.

The puppy was satiated with a bone, so I figured what the heck and I picked up the dress painting I'm giving away and sketched that out. The bride also wants her veil and bouquet included so I had a bit of a challenge ahead of me.
But that still wasn't enough for me. Oh no, creativity tugged on my arms pulling me deep into the well of productivity.

So while half listening and singing along to Nightmare Before Christmas I created a second pendant.
Yes it really is just the size of a quarter and yeah it is completely hand painted. It's a little different from my other simplistic white tree on wood stained background but it could certainly be a conversation starter should anyone like it (hint hint hint)

And that's a little glimpse into what can come out of my room when I get into just the right creative mood (just be happy I had to go to bed otherwise there could be a half finished 16X20 taking up space in my room).

P.S. Because it's Thursday and the day I update my lab notebook and basically check out and soon become unemployed here's a little puppy hug.
Puppy Hugs everyone!

Introverted Jewelry?

I have a new idea and I need some opinions from you guys.

I like creating my huge paintings that go over fireplaces and all, but what I really like is sitting down with my nose pushed close to a canvas creating incredibly intricate and fine details.

This works best in my wedding dress paintings as the details add up to a better picture of the entire dress and I keep the size small anyway so they're more cost effective (or some other random economics words).

So how do I incorporate my love of fine details with say a much cheaper way someone could get a piece of art from me?

I decided I'd try my hand at making pendants. This is the first trial run which is just a simple white tree painted on a wooden disc I stained about the size of a quarter.
I just have to add a little eyelet at the top so it can hang and then it's pretty much ready to go.

What do you think? It'd probably cost somewhere in the $3.50-$4.50 range for a hand painted pendant.

I'm just not sure if I want to jump headfirst into Etsy's already over bloated jewelry section. While it's a little bigger than a scrabble tile and actually hand painted as opposed to a picture glued onto a piece of wood I'm not sure if it's super appealing.

I'd be doing a lot more than trees, just other ideas and paintings that I like. Simple colors and probably more silhouettes.

What do you think? Would you like something like this a simple hand painted wooden pendant?

Tree in Winter

You may remember my Autumn Tree that was a fairly simple one tree with a nice background and a bit of leaves on the branches and ground painting. I sold it last week.

In fact it looked quite a lot like this:I loved how it turned out so much I've decided to try and create the same idea for all the seasons. Sort of like Monet's haystacks but with less farm yards and more trees.

I've been working hard on the background trying to capture that grey/blue/white sky color you see in winter and used a layering affect in the ground so you can just see some dead grass poking up through the snow.

Then it was just a simple case of adding a tree and some snow on the branches.
When I get good light and time I'll be putting this one up on Etsy as well for sale so it won't have that "Oh crap it's 9 at night and I really want to share it on my blog tomorrow. Snap a fast picture with the flash and call it good" look.

What do you think of my winter tree? What's your favorite season for possible foliage induced decor?

P.S. If anyone's been wanting a wedding dress painting of mine but can't afford it right now there's a contest going on at That Wife where you can enter and I'll make one for free. On fancy canvas and everything.

I'd love if anyone still with a wedding blog could maybe pass on the contest info to your followers and the like. I fear that I'm getting further and further away from the wedding crowd as it's almost been a year since my own wedding (oh crap! I only have two days before my anniversary! I better think of something fast).

Reminder: Super awesome giveaway

Just a little reminder from your friendly neighborhood spider-lady that you have til Wednesday to get in any and all entries for my huge 16X20 painting giveaway.
In case anyone forgot, I'll be creating something completely custom for the winner and documenting the whole process on my blog (mostly because I thought it'd be kinda cool).

I even dug through my old photo archives and found a painting I made for a coworker that I never shared with you.There are tons of other examples of my work at my main post.

Three easy ways to enter and get those numbers up:

1. You have to leave a comment (or if you'd like to remain anonymous send me an e-mail) so I know that you seriously want to be in the running for the painting.

2. Be a follower of my blog on my facebook fan page to get another entry.

3. Follow me on twitter, also helpful as I'll have Re-tweeting chances for more entries as well.

Just a few more days and then random number man will pick the winner, so keep entering for your own little piece of custom art.

Drac's Place, take two

I loved my castle in the mountains painting so much I decided to (in between prop class and popping Benadryl to a puppy who will not stop playing with bees) sort of recreate it.

It's a little smaller and instead of using a nondescript random castle I decided to go through the internet archives and look for the real Dracula castle.

So I give you my interpretation of Vlad the Impaler's Wallachia home.If you'd like your own little piece of Vampire lore with nary a Twihard in site, go here to visit my store.

I fear I am hitting the end of my Halloween run of paintings and am looking more towards winter and other projects.

So if you're hoping for a snow covered tree, or just a handful of trees, or something really blue stay tuned. I got a few wild ideas knocking around in my little brain.

Canadian Bride's gorgeous wedding dress painting

I had the joy to get to paint not only Krista's wedding dress but also her hubby's tux. (Or as he put it, made some ghost people).

I do love getting to do blog friends dresses more than my average stumbles in from Etsy just because I've gotten to know them a bit better and feel more secure offering different ideas.

Anywho onto the two paintings. Krista wanted a background of where they got married instead of my more standard one color and of her dress of course (no sneaking a couple cows past her).
This is her hubby's tux.
And even though I don't have a picture of the two of them side by side, the lake and grass line actually leads from one into the next so they look like they belong together instead of me just randomly picking a few lines out of the air and hoping I don't paint the dress on accident.

I really like how the dress turned out with all the folds and shadows and the subtler beading.

If anyone out there just stumbling across this blog would like their own wedding dress painting, you can check out my store here or just e-mail me and I'll work something out with you.

Later today I should have some other exciting stuff to edit in here, maybe. So just keep hitting refresh to catch it.

The biggest Painting Giveaway in history!

I was promising exciting news last week, taunting you with words and youtube previews of hilarious videos. Now its time to pull back the curtain and reveal what's on the shiny pedestal.

A free 16X20 Painting!

That's right, I'm giving away a nice sized 16X20 painting. But it isn't just any old painting I have kicking around in storage.

No, I am offering that if you win my contest I will work with you to create your own 16X20 painting based upon what fits your tastes and decorating themes.

It could be a lovely nature scene of a lake:

Or a bright green forest:If you're big into my trees, I could create something like what hangs over my own mantle in any color you'd like.
Or a tree silhouette with a flock of birds than hangs over our bed.
If you're just looking for something more mood setting, there's also my castle in the mountains theme as well.
Or I could work to create something completely different than what I've never attempted before. It's fully up to you and what you'd most want on your wall. The sky's the limit.

I've done something like this only for close friends and family and as a thank you to everyone out there I'd like to offer a custom 16X20 painting for one of you.

I have never sold a painting this size before but it's easily a $60-$70 value.

That's nice and all, but just how does one go about entering. There are numerous ways to get your name in the running.

1. You have to leave a comment (or if you'd like to remain anonymous send me an e-mail) so I know that you seriously want to be in the running for the painting.

2. Be a follower of my blog on my facebook fan page to get another entry.

3. Follow me on twitter, also helpful as I'll have Re-tweeting chances for more entries as well.

One week from today I'll close down the contest and let Random Number pick the winner.

If you'd like your own Sabrina stamped piece of wall art, just leave a comment and if you have any neat ideas for what you'd want your painting to be please share.

Or if you just can't wait or stand the excitement check out my shop and see if there's anything there you'd already like.

Dracula is In

While I love the tree painting I did way back in June that hangs over our mantle it gets a bit dull staring at the same thing over and over again.

And with the season nearly upon us, I've wanted something to put the house in a more festive mood. My husband and I first talked about getting a cheap canvas print of a haunted house with a cemetery and hanging that up, but I thought about it and realized I could do it and a lot bigger.

Then the haunted house turned into a haunted castle, and a haunted castle moved to the mountains and got a job as a travel agent.

This is our new Halloween Mantle Painting.And of course because it's a huge 18X24 painting there's a lot of detail missing in this overall shot.

Here's a close up of the castle.
And the moon actually has some darker spots to it giving it a moon like appearance. I swear it isn't just one yellow blob.

Whatcha think? I love the color contrasts of the sky so much I'm thinking I might to do that with a graveyard in front and put that in my store.

Anyone interested in a halloween painting?

The Autumnal Equinox is upon me

I was busy like a beaver this weekend (which made the vaccine boosters our little girl got a welcome reprieve as she slept most of the weekend away). I've been watching the etsy showcases hoping for something halloweeny.

While it's too early for the witches and warlocks they are; however, hosting an Autumn one which I pounced on and booked two spots for this week and next. This all means one thing, I needed more autumn paintings fast. (Etsy is a weird place sometimes with obvious cliques and unwritten rules. I should write about what it's like just selling on there).

First I wanted to make a new pin up witch to go with my other. This one is a lot sexier than the flapper and oh how the hair drove me bonkers.
Actually it's kinda funny, I am terrible at breasts. I always do a lot of erasing the bodice when it comes to wedding dresses and I think I redesigned hers at least five times. Definitely more of a leg woman.

The other painting I made is actually one of my largest at a 12X16 and was a lot of work. I wanted to try my hand at a tree that was a lot more subdued from my usual bright color silhouette pieces. Almost taking a page out of an old children's book (I keep thinking Winne the Pooh should be climbing the branches after a honey pot) I created this autumn tree.
And now that I have a larger autumn profile comes the hard choice of which one do I pick to be displayed in the showcase?

Which do you like best? The new witch, the new tree or one of these old ones?

Harvest Moon:Flapper Witch:Or my original trees:Which do you think would pull in the most customers?

Bond, Invisible Bond

Way way way way way back -- we're talking like months here people -- I got an etsy convo from someone asking about my prices and what I do exactly with the wedding dress paintings (surprisingly common really. Thinking I should have all that info tattooed on my forehead for easy access). Didn't hear anything from her after that and I figured it was another person who got cold feet deal.

No biggie, I've had it happen a few times as I'm sure just about every Etsy seller has.

So imagine my surprise when last week I finally get a response back. Her dress on an 8X10. Easy Peasy (note not easy peasy when I am in the middle of making it only when finished. I have a very short memory).I think I'm getting quite a good grasp on the folds and shadows. It helps when I really dig the dress too. Off the shoulders just always feel so romantic and fancy ballgown party with Cary Grant to me.

Happy to have gotten it done rather quickly so I could turn my attention to a little scarecrow in a spooky field (and before all my downtime hours would be devoted to a certain comic book civil war) I e-mailed off pictures to the buyer.

Then something very strange happened. She asked if I would ship two items together for free. I said yes, thinking oh maybe she wants like say the Witch I did (which is still hanging around wanting a home). Nope, she wanted another painting done of her husband's tux. Not since Megan's way back in March have I done any groom wear and even then Kelly's was really the last tux.

I was a touch worried. After all, I've had all this dress practicing and learning over the past 6 months but I've only done two tuxes. What if I can't come up with something cool.Yeah I don't know what I was worried about either. I love male clothing. It has such a blocky straight line look while women's is supposed to be soft and flowy. So while guys is straightforward "here's what I got what's it to ya?" the brides is hidden shadows, lost folds of fabric and curves.

I remember now why I love the one I made of my husband's so much. While I know the groom tux painting will never be as popular I sure hope I get a lot more to do (luckily I have another waiting in the wings of a fellow bloggers wedding but I shall say no more til canvas ground has been ground has been broken.)

Which look to you like more? The invisible bride or the invisible groom?

Introverted Painting

I've been wanting to do this for a while but one thing or another keeps distracting me, but finally thanks to a nice and easy blog template I have my own Introverted Painting Gallery:

Introverted Painting

I've included every single painting I've ever done and posted about including all those early shall we say misfires.

It's amazing to look back through all 75 paintings in 9 months and watch the growth I've taken and also the moods I was in.

There was the early landscape phase, then the birds in trees with the wild colors for backgrounds, and now I seem to have settled on a black tree in front of colored background or Halloween for now.

Of course interspersed throughout are the wedding dresses which I also categorized for easy viewing.

Big thank you to you all who have bought, encouraged, inspired or accepted my paintings. There's no way I'd have this kind of portfolio without you. I'd have hung my paint brushes up somewhere back in March.

I'd work on a nice list with links and all but all that HTML and blog posting has my back a little angry at me right now, but Linda if you have a good picture of the one I made for you I'd love to add it.

Thanks again, and please go have a look. It's at least pretty funny to watch the transitions and change or at least to finally have enough ammo should anyone ever need to prove I am criminally insane when it comes to the use of blue.

The Scarecrow is Watching

Bones and skeletons have never bothered me.

Ghosts are just a slight annoyance that you can easily distract with a tasty snack and then zap with your proton pack.

Zombies are easily escapable with the liberal use of a golf cart and cricket bat.

But there is one Halloween Monster that sends shivers up my spine. The dead all seeing eyes tied up on the pole drill through me cataloging my every step. And worst of all if he does start chasing you there is a good chance he could chuck corn cobs at you.

I speak, of course, of the scarecrow. That cute little adorable fall decoration your grandmother puts up every year from Hobby Lobby to remind everyone it's autumn. But oh that scarecrow has a dark side, when you're not looking the lovable smile transforms into a sneer, the floppy arms and legs bend and cruelly twist and the button eyes take on an eerie red glow.

So what's one to do when they have a deep fear of something? Make a painting of it of course.
If you click on the image you can see it a bit larger but you really have to see the detail on the scarecrow. Far away he could almost look lovable but when you get close the shivers start up.
It still needs some touchups but this painting was kicking my butt the whole weekend as I had an idea of what I wanted but it just wouldn't cooperate and get out of my head onto the canvas. Then all of a sudden it just came together.

My favorite part though are all those little eyes in the field. And when the lights go down the eyes all light up and glow. (Best use I can think of right now for glow in the dark paint)
Whatcha think? I'm thinking I might just keep this one.

Is there any of the big Halloween monsters that you have an irrational fear of?

Harvest Moon

One night while sitting outside trying to encourage the puppy to do something other than lay on the grass and chew on sticks I looked up and saw the full moon a golden amber color hanging low in the sky.

With the gorgeous purples and oranges I just had to try capturing it in acrylic, especially before I completely forgot about it and was buried in another horde of wedding dresses.

I'm not quite ready for Etsy with it as I couldn't get a really good picture yesterday thanks to crappy weather and exhaustion on my part (upset stomachs do not provide much repose for one). But this is my take on the Harvest Moon:I really liked doing the moon and should try a few others. I've actually got some glow in the dark paint that I want to incorporate in a sort of artistic but still fun way (I have a few neat ideas I promise, nothing too 80's tastic. Well maybe a little).

What do you think?

I'm really digging all the autumn stuff I'm churning out, but I have to take a little break this weekend as I got a convo from someone I talked to back in April for a wedding dress. (I wonder if the one alchemy I already paid for will ever send me her pictures so I can make the painting? I think this was back in March).

And when I have that done, and another Halloween idea I may finally try for another tree with some more color. I'm not sure if I should wait til the Autumn pair sells or not, but I think the witch needs a companion on her flight through black and white land.

Is anyone interested in more fall painting stuff?

Edited to add: I just got an Etsy convo from someone telling me I should charge more for my paintings. Maybe I just don't have the capitalistic spirit but I really don't want to be rich or famous. Sharing a little bit of this wacky stuff I get into with the world is perfectly fine with me. The whole store was just set up to support my new hobby and I'm completely happy that way.

I promise that no matter how popular my trees or other paraphernalia are I will not raise the price (wedding dresses may change if I suddenly have brides beating down the door -- as highly unlikely as that is -- however as they are a lot more work).

Haunting Autumn

Hello!

Is anyone out there? Oh you mean we can still all be on vacation? Damn it! Why doesn't anyone ever tell me about these things.

*Starts to pack up her stuff*

Ha ha, good one.

Well maybe a few new paintings will pull some of you out of the woodwork (okay who I am kidding, no it won't. But at least I'll have tried).

I've been working like a little beaver on paintings. It's a strange case where I have a million ideas but not enough time to really get it all done. I'm always afraid that if I pause from painting inspiration will drip through my fingers and evaporate into a mist.

So while my husband took care of our little girl I sequestered myself in my room and created two new fall/Halloween paintings.

The first one is more of my trees. It's a bit larger than the previous ones so I included two trees instead of one and I really wanted to capture the fall colors behind them. An autumn sunset.
If any of the tree fans are floating around it's available for sale right here.

My other painting is something sort of different but still the same. I created a very simple black and white foggy moon feel for the background.

It has a very old Hollywood black and white era feel. To round that out I created a different kind of silhouette based upon an old pin-up:I was trying for more of an otherworldly yet still elegant feel. Something on the order of a subtler Halloween decoration that doesn't scream out at you.

I was slightly tempted to keep the witch for myself but I eventually decided that it was probably better to put it up in my store so she's also up for sale.

What do you think of my two Autumn paintings? I've still got one sitting at home that needs a little more work so expect the last of the Labor Day three later this week.

Do you like to decorate with certain seasonal colors or just keep things a more neutral palette?