Cyber Monday Deals On Etsy Store--Handmade Gifts and Fine Art!

I've been planning on releasing lots of new things on my 

Etsy store for 

Cyber Monday!!!! 

Limited Edition Prints

 

 

 

Items to look forward to:

• Original Paintings in Digital Transfer, Acrylic and Oils
• Subscription Art
• Limited Edition Drypoint Print Originals
• Custom Fine Art
• Sets of Notecards with Fine Art Prints

Fine Art Originals

Want to save a bunch on these 

awesome handmade items?

Subscribe to my newsletter for a special Christmas Newsletter Bundle! 

Subscribe for this coupon!

In this bundle, you will receive:

• A printable sheet of hand-painted gift tags
• An article with unique gift ideas and where to find them! 
• A coupon for my Etsy store for 20% off your ENTIRE purchase in my store.

SUBSCRIBE

The Process of a Hand-pulled Drypoint Print from a Plexiglass Plate

This is the story of an experiment of hand-pulling a dry-point print with oil paint and a acrylic sheet as a plate.  

I had this charcoal sketch that  I liked, but the fixative I sprayed on it  came out in globs and ruined the canvas. So I took pictures of it and am experimenting with many techniques of transferring and printing. 

This time, it's drypoint.

I taped an acrylic sheet to the top of a print out of the charcoal sketch so it wouldn't move while I was scratching the lines I wanted. The image itself is designed to be 8"x10."

This is part of the mark-making in progress.

Here is the finished plate on a black paper background to check the linework.

This is the inked plate and the oil paint I used to ink it. I learned from a few failed pulls to mix it with a bit of paint thinner first. 

I also used a dollar store squeegee to wipe off most of the paint at first, and paper napkins to clean up the edges--but not rub over the lines, if possible. 

Here are a few failed pulls. I also used a paper with too much texture, and it didn't get in the crevices.

I tried acrylic paint too, but it was my technique that wasn't working.

Here are my successful pulls!  For the scope of this project, I used no cloth under my brayer rolling pin, and instead also rubbed it with a smooth glass lid as well, and it it really worked.

 





This is my favorite print right now. I think I will try to make 5-7 altogether, and mat them to put on Etsy as editions!!!

Paint Tube Still Life Painting for Sale on Etsy

For Sale HERE!!!

5 Ways to Support Your Artist Friends When You Have Little Money

So, you have little to no money, but you have a struggling artist friend and you want to help? 

No worries! 

There are plenty of things you can do! 

Here's 5. 

 

 

1. Share!

Whether you can afford your friend's art or not, letting people know about their work is one of the most important things you can do. Facebook, Twitter, any social media, and especially word of mouth. Maybe you know somebody that knows somebody. We love that.

2. Prints

Is there an original you absolutely love, but just can't afford your friend's price point? The price point is there for a reason, and you want your artist friend to get their fair price. Why not ask for a print? Maybe it can be smaller than the original too, but you can support them and get in on the action yourself!!

3. Subscribe

Maybe you're not completely into art yourself, but our subscriber numbers can get us really excited, and is a simple way to know what's going on in our artsy brains. Don't forget to share it if you do find it fascinating!

4. Attend and Bring a Friend

If you really want to support your artistic friend, put your miles where your mouth is and attend gallery and show openings- and bring people with you! We want to pay attention to you, but may be closing a sale. And your friend might like to share our art too.

 

 5. Commissions and Trades

Maybe you can arrange to do their dishes or trade something like car maintenance to give them more time to do the arting. Or, if they are willing to negotiate, commission smaller pieces from them.

Update of a Work in Progress.

I painted this first one when I felt guilty and rather discordant inside. There is a distinct style that was emerging from it.

And this is the painting as of tonight. More rendered and dimensional. I want to put back some of the colors into it.

The Poor Artist's Etching/Drypoint Process

Actually printed with acrylic paint!

I'm cheap. I didn't realize how fancy etching was until I looked at a few
YouTube videos and saw what in the process I was missing.

But I love the line quality in etches, so I'm not giving up just yet.


 I got a tiny block of lino to practice on. It's two sided, so there will be another tiny etching to make next.

Tools of the cheap trade:

After cutting and scratching out the shape on the lino with my knife, I used my finger to push paint into the crevices. I used a dollar store squeegee to get the extra paint off.

I did soak the paper a bit too.

To make the pull I put down a clean sheet of paper to protect my wood floor.
Next, I placed my lino plate on it, and put my damp watercolor paper on top of it carefully.
On top of the damp paper I laid a terry washcloth, something nice and squishy and fluffy to push the paper down. Then I took my rolling pin (brayer) and went over the pile from bottom to top with the most even pressure I could manage.









I peeled off each layer carefully and this is my result!

I even took two pulls from the one inking.

This is addicting. I want to do more! I'd like to work on tightening the lines that print, which might work with a thinner printing agent anyway. I'd also like to try multi-color and two-plate etching, maybe an ecorche.

Feeling Discordant in Painting and Life

Painting in progress

I dropped the ball, very badly, on a class yesterday. I still feel horrible about it, and it's affecting my art even though I can't do anything about it.

I called the one student  I had let down, but I let my managers, and the corporation down too. And myself, because it's just not like me to be that un-conscientious. If I could do more to fix it I would, of course. I do love the opportunity to teach, and understand that if something of this magnitude happens again, I may no longer have that opportunity at the company. That's understandable; even though I don't do it on purpose.

So, it leaks into my art. Discordant colors and brush strokes. Strangely, it's working for the art, and presents a voice by itself. One I hope I can develop without the guilt and sense of inadequacy that has accompanied it so far.

Paintings for Sale on Etsy-- Great Christmas Gifts!

A chromatically shaded still life painting of apples! I used purples and blues for the shadows instead of browns or complements, which works well with yellow and orange apples.


You can find it for sale on my Etsy  store here:

Buy me here!

Painting In Progress: a Still Life of Bottles in Acrylics

So, here's a fun piece I'm working on. I've laid the bottles out in blues, and don't know if they will stay that way. I will probably use a retarder medium later for blending help.

I don't know how photo-realistic I will make it, because it looks kinda cool the way it is.

New Time Laspe Painting Video on YouTube of Landscape.

I put a new video up on YouTube! The painting is for sale, and I will have a link to the store soon.

Here's the LINK.

And pictures of the final product.