Garden Blooms

While I've been painting in the studio it appears that flowers have been continuing to bloom on my back porch. I have this beautiful, full blooming pink Dahlia to walk past each time I come into my back door.

It would appear I am not the only one smitten with this beautiful plant. At least this little bee stayed very still and allowed me to snap some really good photos of him. I actually think the below photo would make an excellent painting some day. Hmm.....food for thought.

On my front porch I have Impatiens growing up all over the place, from pots as well as very large planters made from old fence posts that now sit in my front yard. Impatiens are one of my favorite annuals, I love how their beautiful and colorful blooms continue throughout the summer and fall and how they spill over the pots and planters they are in.

I cannot forget about the Coleus, I love these plants.......I have some on my front porch at the moment and snapped quite a few close up shots of their leaves....I have to admit, I think Coleus leaves would make a wonderful abstract painting at some point. That is what I had in mind anyway, when I took the below photo.

Next time I'll show the new Hummingbird painting I just finished. Right now it is drying and taking a bit of a rest before it gets photographed for my website. Happy holidays to everyone!!!!!

Nectar.....Fresh From The Studio

A week ago I just finished a new acrylic painting, "Nectar" on 2 -1 1/2" deep gallery canvases.

Nectar has a mystical and I think, magical deep blue background.

The painting of course would not be complete without the silhouette hummingbird.

Each canvas panel measures 11" x 14" for a total size of 14" x 22"". The sides are painted a solid black to coordinate nicely with the painting and go easily with any decor. This contemporary painting was so much fun to create....I plan to work on more in the future.

I'm in the tedious process right now of transferring all my fine art and pendants over to my new Ruby Lane shop: www.rubylane.com/shops/artfulcreations . You can find Nectar in my new shop as well as some of my other work. Once the transfer is complete, I'll be selling paintings and pendants solely from that site and will be linking directly there from my website. In the mean time, yet another contemporary hummingbird painting is getting ready to fly out of the studio...I'll try to show that piece next time.

Romantic Country Magazine.....

I was proud to find out a few weeks ago that my "Sweet Spring Bluebirds" emu egg jewelry box would be appearing in the favorite finds section of "Romantic Country" magazine, summer 2009 edition. I'm excited to say the magazine just came out and I was able to pick up a couple of copies at a nearby bookstore.

You can click on the photos to read the caption and view larger images.

It was very exciting to send my egg away in the mail to be professionally photographed for the pages of this beautiful magazine. Thanks go out to Fifi, the Editor In Chief of Romantic Country, who was so sweet to work with and did such a beautiful job on the photos.

Next time I'll try to post about what has been going on in my painting studio these days... I hope everyone is enjoying some wonderful June weather.

Beautiful Spring Inspirations......

I know last time I showed photos of the spring bulb show at the NY Botanical Garden, I focused on Violas and Tulips. This time I thought I would share all the beautiful garden vignettes they had set up.....so many beautiful flowers, arranged for the most picture perfect photos. (for a more up close look at the displays, click on the photos to enlarge them).

I hope you've enjoyed all the Hydrangeas, Delphiniums, Foxglove, Daisies, Dogwood and Allium just to name a few.

I've got some new pieces completed and ready to get photographed in my studio, I'll be showing those soon. In the mean time, enjoy the beauty that is blooming up everywhere around you.

Serenity......

I've gotten so drawn into the look of the multi-canvas paintings I've been seeing that I'm feverishly working on a few at this very moment. This painting is aptly named "Serenity" and I hope brings some peace and contentment to those that view it.

Painted on 1 1/2" deep gallery canvas, the painting continues all the way around, to all four sides of each panel.

Serenity is painted in acrylic on (2) 6" x 8" gallery panels that come together to create one vision. Red poppies are surrounded on all sides by the blue ocean and soft white cloudy sky.

I think that multi-canvas paintings have such a modern, contemporary and just plain updated cool look. I'm halfway through my next multi-canvas painting..."Nectar".... Hmm, any gueses as to what that might be?? You'll have to wait and see.

This painting is now listed in my ETSY shop: http://www.artfulcreations.etsy.com/ .

Butterfly & African Violets Painting Pattern Packet

I'm happy to announce the creation of my very first painting pattern packet, Butterfly & African Violets. It was a project that took many many weeks and like most other things in life, turned out to be more of a challenge then I expected. I'm so pleased with the results though and I hope this tutorial will be the first of many to come.

This pattern packet is dedicated to a wonderful blog reader of mine who is also a budding artist. She gave me the idea and motivation to come out with my first painting packet as well as being the inspiration for the subject matter itself. Thank you La Rae from PA!!!

This pattern packet teaches you everything you need to know to create the Butterfy & African Violets you see pictured. The painting was done on a 6" x 8" gallery canvas but the pattern included can be inlarged if you wish to paint it on a different surface.

The tutorial comes with 18 full color photos as well as 17 instructional pages that can be printed out if you wish. It is available in two forms....an e-mailed PDF file or a CD-ROM, whichever you prefer.

For more information or to order, click on the widget in the top left hand column of my blog and it will take you directly to the website page it is listed on. I hope anyone who purchases this packet will show me the results of their work as I would love to feature their artistic creations on my blog.

Dudley In The Sheets

The most amazing piece of artwork arrived at my doorstep this past Saturday, this gorgeous portrait of my little Dudley. This beautiful painting was done by the very talented Linda O'Neill over at Abby Creek Art: http://www.abbycreek-art.blogspot.com/ .

You might remember some months ago, I took these photos of Dudley on laundry day. Every time I bring the sheets downstairs, I always throw them in front of the basement door so that the next one to go downstairs can load them into the washing machine. Dudley very frequently makes a bed in the sheets until they are brought down to their final destination.

Linda used my laundry day photos as the inspiration for her pet portrait.

Linda signed, dated and titled this 8" x 8" gallery canvas on the back side. If you haven't seen Linda's beautiful work before, stop by and pay her a visit, you will not be disappointed with her very expressive dog portraits that always capture the beauty and personality of her subjects. Thanks Linda....I will always treasure this piece of artwork from you!!!!