It's Snowing!

It snowed here in New Mexico which is kind of a big thing for around Albuquerque, they don't get much snow. Many other places outside of Albuquerque can get alot of snow depending on the year. I wanted to share my thoughts of what I thought Foxy was thinking(can you say that ten times really fast?) when she discovered there was snow in her very own backyard. You have to understand that she dearly loves snow, it makes her a joyful dog! Snickers well he prefers the beach but he'll romp in the snow if it's around. Above  is foxy's first reaction to the snow ......
Could it be true? Is it really? Why yes I think its!!!!!!


SNOW!!!!!!! Snickers! It's Snow!! It's Snow!!!(she continued barking it's snow! quite a while I won't bore you with how many times she said this)

Oh my god this is awesome! Let's run!!!

I didn't get any pictures of her tearing up the yard because she was basically a blur but she is definitely a happy dog! (until it melts)

I showed you this piece last week.

 I finished it with a few details and a snow flurry so I named it "Flurries"

"Flurries" available at www.stacysartstudio.etsy.com

Then this....

Started to shape like this....

but it's not finished yet so it has a little ways to go. I love how it feels right now and I hope I can accomplish what I want on the canvas!

Then I got to start a really large piece!

I'm going to do mostly everything I normally do on this piece but I'm going to add something I've not done before so we'll see how it comes along. This piece is going to take me a long, long, long time but I'm looking forward to the challenge!

Now, my inspiration for this week is....  Amber Alexander! I just love her style, her humor and her talent! I mean really, a cat with glasses? How could you not love her work?!

                                https://www.etsy.com/shop/amberalexander?ref=l2-shop-info-name

https://www.etsy.com/listing/61757471/book-club-cat-art-bibliophile-book-lover?ref=shop_home_active

Have a really wonderful wintery time out there this week!

It's Cold Out There!

Well, it's starting to get chilly here but I'm a big softie, since I lived on the beach for a few years and now I'm back where there will be an almost real winter! I love painting snow scenes and this week I actually painted quite a bit.

The one on the right is almost done. I might leave it alone, other than a couple of details. I kind of like the simplicity of the colors and mountains.







I finally finished this piece! I started on the tree in the back and it felt like it was dancing so I decided to add a partner to this piece and name it "The Winter Dance" . I'm a hopeless romantic!

"The Winter Dance" available at www.stacysartstudio.etsy.com

Then I started this piece and I have a plan for it that I really hope manages to get from my imagination to the canvas!

The hint I'll give is that it's going to be a wintry day.

My inspiration this week is just the cutest ever! Here is the link,

 https://www.etsy.com/shop/LilHouseOnTheFairy

These are so adorable! What an amazing nightlight! Every little fairy and grown up fairy would want one!

 

https://www.etsy.com/listing/127404182/fall-wedding-table-centerpiece-the?ref=shop_home_active

                                                            I know I'm in love!

                          I wish for you to have a really happy, week full of imagination!
  

Process

 This week I was hit by a whole bunch of inspiration so I sketched like mad! It gave me an idea to share my sketches with you. They start out as a really rough draft of what popped up in my head and then they turn out pretty close to what I saw in my imagination!

                                             Here's the sketch for "The First Dance"

the first dance sketch

and..... this is how it turned out! (It's still available, it's at a gift store in New Mexico but it might show up in my etsy store soon!

"The First Dance" available

                              This is the sketch of "Does Anyone Have the Time?"

and this is what it turned into!

"Does Anyone Have the Time?" SOLD

                                             This is the sketch of "Jungle Adventure"

and this is how it turned out...

"Jungle Adventure" available at www.stacysartstudio.etsy.com

                          This is the sketch of  what turned into my "Love" tree series

and this is one of them.....

"Love" SOLD

Here's another one.....

"Love Endures" SOLD

I absolutely Love painting my love trees. I never paint the same thing exactly, so each one is original. I don't have any right now and can hardly wait to start some more in the near future.

There was no sketch for this painting, because I started it as soon as the idea hit me. I was looking at some quilts and I just had to begin painting it! It's almost finished and it's already sold!

"The Golden One" SOLD

I hope you enjoyed seeing a bit of my process. I love seeing other artists work, I really love the diversity of art. Each artist looks at the world thru their own unique perspective and puts it on their canvas whatever that may be. There are many that have influenced me. My influences are Monet, Renoir, Van Gogh, Leonardo Da Vinci, Georgia O'Keefe, Norman Rockwell, Walt Disney, Thomas Kinkade and Bob Ross and oh so many more, as you can see, I just love art!

One of the great benefits of living back in New Mexico again is that there are artists everywhere! There is amazing art all over the place including wind art! Today my inspiration is Lyman Whitaker who sculpts amazing pieces that use wind. I know you'll enjoy looking thru his amazing pieces here in his web-site!  Enjoy!

http://www.whitakerstudio.com/index.html

                              I wish for everyone to have a happy, creative week! 

  

Signs!

                 This week I've been slowly working on this piece I told you about last week.

Then it became this.....

                                            and then I didn't like some of it so it became this

I'm still working on it. This one is slow because of all the details, plus I have slowed down in my  productions since we moved back here to the desert. My kiddo is feeling better and is spending alot of time with friends, which means I am too. I figure that he will soon be moving on and doing his own thing so for now I'm not going to worry about how much I can paint, I'm going to really enjoy him and his friends. I am still painting! don't worry! For me it's like breathing, I must paint! Just a little slower for a little while.

I painted this little painting as well. Our son has serious breathing problems and perfumes/fragrances will make him sick and sometimes make him stop breathing.

   

A few people on facebook and google+ said hey! I want one of those! so it gave me an idea! We have a porch that covers the front door which will protect it from the elements. However, for anyone else I'll be painting this for I want to make sure it won't get damaged from rain or snow or whatever, which means for the next couple of weeks I'm going to search for some wood I can reclaim to create a sign with. I used to paint on wood all of the time because it's what I could get my hands on. In fact when I started painting on canvas it took a long time for me to get used to it! I might begin to add a few signs to my etsy shop! We'll just have to see!

My inspiration this week is....... Nancy's Voice

This is the link to the shop on etsy

https://www.etsy.com/shop/NancysVoice#

This shop is there for the sole purpose of supporting anyone who is dealing with domestic violence. It's run by Nancy's daughter and her story really is heart rending. She lost her mom Nancy to domestic violence and now speaks out and I believe the more we talk about it the more likely we can help anyone who is trapped in a cycle of domestic violence.   Thankyou for speaking out!

                                                           Have a really great week everyone!

I get distracted so easily!

I hope everyone had a wonderful week! I was super busy trying to catch up after our little road trip. I got distracted with a couple of projects. Then I got sick, ooops! I've struggled with Chronic Fatigue syndrome for quite a few years and once in awhile I crash, and well, I crashed! so I haven't done much with painting at all. Time to rest up and recover so I can paint again soon! In the meantime here's one of the projects that distracted me!

I found this bench at the local good will for $29! I knew exactly what I wanted to do!

I began with dark brown paint.

Here's another angle.

Then I began layering it with thinned white paint. It took four layers.

In between each layer I sanded and scuffed it where it had originally been scuffed and

this is the finished project!

Another angle.

I'm sure you noticed that our bed is currently on the floor. I have a whole other project planned for that! but, I must have patience!

My inspiration this week isn't a person or animal. It's the places I've been. Everywhere I go I see things that I could put onto my canvas into my silly little world.  When I paint I don't copy pictures I've taken, but there's a  snapshot that stays in my head. Sometimes I forget that snapshot and am reminded of the idea I had when I go over some of my photos I've taken over the years so I thought I would share with you some of the things I've seen.

Folly Beach South Carolina

Smoky Mountains Tennessee

Albuquerque New Mexico

Sullivans Island south Carolina

The Grand Canyon Arizona

Baltimore Maryland

Washington D.C.

Blairsville Georgia

And, so many more...... I am grateful for my travels. I'll try to include some pics of our travels in this blog as I post every week!  

I wish for everyone to have a lovely week ahead!

It's All Fun!

Now, I get to tell you what this painting meant! I know that I've mentioned how much I enjoyed painting it. It's a tree family of course! The mom and dad are intertwined giving each other strength, comfort and love, their limbs curl and wrap around their son and baby. I placed the baby in the middle because their older son is the kind of kid who will be protective of his baby sibling. You can follow each of the limbs as they wind around and see how they are all woven together. I was so happy when they opened their painting and their older son knew immediately which tree he was. It made my day!

not available - it's a gift

After all of that excitement I turned back to my little easel and started something new. This time I decided to play with some golden/bronze leaves. Here's where it's at right now.

It's still in the what I call the growth stage. I always start with an idea of what I want but it develops as I paint it. Many times it transforms into something I didn't plan so I've learned not to state exactly where it's headed! I still have this one on hold. 

I have it hanging on my wall so that I can look at it as I pass by to ponder what will happen next. I have a good idea of what I'm going to do, I just need the right motivation to sit down and work on it. That's one of the things I love so much about having a corner to have studio space in, I can spread out a little and am under less pressure to finish a piece, since I can hang it on a wall and think on it a bit!

My inspiration this week is my dear friend Karen Shackles! She is an artist with her camera and can capture the most amazing things. She's on fineartamerica and here is a link to her page there. http://fineartamerica.com/art/all/karen+shackles/all She is privileged to live high in the rockies and gets to see amazing sights every single day. I love that she shares her talent of capturing incredible images with us! Thankyou Karen for constantly inspiring me!

  

New Trees and New Plans

"Hope" available at www.stacysartstudio.etsy.com

I play with my trees all of the time. This is one(on the right) of the my oldest styles. I've always loved the way trees stick no matter the circumstances. They can grow thru almost anything that is adverse. As you've no doubt noticed I like using them in almost all of my paintings and I make them twist and turn. I make them have hearts for leaves, I have them give a message, like the one on the right. I painted this one when I was reminded of some painful things that my son went thru when he was being treated for Leukemia  because a friend of mine was caring for her mother who was battling breast cancer. I don't know what it's like to have the disease but I do know what it's like to care for the one you love with the disease and this is how I felt about it. You want to take the disease into yourself so that your baby doesn't have to endure it, but you cannot so you must be a strong tree and hold him up, give him hope, love him with all of your heart, protect him when you can and give him strength when he doesn't have any himself. Also it feels bleak, like a cold winter but, there is beauty in winter as well and just like a real winter, spring always comes afterward. So there is always hope. That's why I painted this tree this way.

                             Then I painted this style tree. It's a happy Mom and Dad with a little one.

"Family Tree" available at www.stacysartstudio.etsy.com 

Do you remember when your big son was little and he would hold onto yours and his dads' hand so that you both would swing him in the middle? That's where this tree style came from!

Next I started trees in love! You know that feeling of love, where you give each other strength, devotion, safety, compassion, tenderness? Two people become one.

"Love" 2 sold 

Then I started playing with the limbs and how they were shaped. I named this one "Lace" because that's what the limbs reminded me of.

"Lace" available at www.stacysartstudio.etsy.com

Then  I began painting tree families for friends as gifts and I have had so much fun doing tree families. This is the latest that I've done.

not available (it's a gift)

After doing this last painting I decided to do a whole lot more of these. I love the freedom of making those limbs go into curly ques! I will be doing more tree families in the future and I'll be making them available to purchase as commissions. That way you can tell me how many people are in your family and their ages and something about your family so that I can incorporate something specifically for you in the painting. Also I'll offer it in different sizes so that different budgets will be included.    So! There you have the many trees of Stacys world! These are the things that reside in my head! 

I began this post talking about my little man battling Leukemia, well he's 18 now and is an amazing, funny, most entertaining kiddo! Which brings me to my inspiration this week. My boy is my inspiration and always has been. You can read about his story on my other blog. www.chemicalfreeliving.blogspot.com  He constantly amazes me with his kindness, foolishness, humour, compassion and strength. He struggles with the result of the treatment he received for Leukemia so he is home bound quite a bit and has learned to be pretty technically savvy which is a wonderful thing for mom!(the technically savvy part) Since I have no clue about these things! We are starting a new project together. Many people have asked that I offer cards in my etsy store but I've struggled to get that set up in a way that I feel that it's good quality and a reasonable price. I'm taking a couple of paintings and giving them to him to change the dpmi or whatever it needs so that they will print out in good quality. This will probably take a few months, (mainly because I'm slow) I will also be working on a few paintings that I will keep to use for prints only.    

Also I've mentioned before that I wrote a childrens book when my Avery was a baby and had planned on working on the art for that. Well, I didn't get far but there were technical things that I had to work thru with my untechnical(yes I know probably not a word) brain. I haven't given up on it tho and this winter when I hibernate I will be painting my fingers away! Avery will be putting up with his untechnical mother and help get it ready to be a book!

New trees and new projects! Isn't life grand?! Have a great week everyone! Don't forget to hug the ones you love!