Sunday, May 17, 2009

My paintings - Twittering In The Trees



I made this folk art style acrylic painting. April/09
It's called "Twittering In The Trees".

I donated it to B.E.A.K.S's silent auction.
It depicts early spring in the bright green grass, while the cool blues and white hint at the chill, which is still in the air. The 3 walnut trees are still bare, although the buds are starting to swell.




I recently made a tree stencil (to use to make a clay wall hanging), and thought I'd use it for the trees in this painting first. I did paint over them and make slight changes, as the texture of the wood board has an impact on how the stencils worked.

There are also many steller's jays randomly scattered in the picture. I made 3 rubber stamps of crested birds (steller's jays) to stamp them onto the painting. Again the rough texture of the wooden board prevented the stamps from giving me the effect I wanted, so I painted each bird as well.

By doing this painting on a scrap piece of wood, I had more obstacles than I would on a prepared canvas. That's part of the fun, running into problems and solving them:)
Yes, sometimes I just enjoy painting on wood more than canvas. (Plus it's usually recycled=free).!

Meanwhile, I've recently joined "Twitters" (not yet sure why) and the steller's jays are returning from their winter grounds, and are starting to show up here at my home. I can often see them in our walnut tree & hear them in the trees around our yard.
I think I'll go and watch them...
Angie



June7/09
UPDATED:

Yesterday I stopped in at the mall to see the silent auction, and
the bird-related artwork.
There sure are some really nice paintings there!
In particular, there's one of a blue heron that caught my eye,
and I wasn't surprised to see that it was painted by Shirley Miller!
She is a lovely lady and a talented local artist. I would love to have one
of her pieces, so I bid on it, but I know there's no way I'll get it for $30.00

I did check on my painting (of course) "Twittering In The Trees".
I was pleased to see that there were already 4 bids!
I had estimated it's value at $50.00 and it's almost there!
The BEAKS organizers had a couple of appraisers value each piece,
and I was thrilled to see mine valued at $100.00!
It just shows me that I under-value my work.

Anyhow, this is the 1st day of my VACATION!!!
I've got a load of greenware firing in the kiln, and lots of packing
and preparing to do, before we drive to Vancouver Island on Tues.
Cheers!

Update: July 16/09
Ok, so now it's July 16 and I suppose I should let you know that we had a wonderful
holiday, even if it was short. We had to take our truck 'cause my car broke down, (long
story, don't want to go there even now, 'cause it's in the shop...yet again!)
Good thing we took the truck though! I found a used kiln while we on the island, and it
wouldn't have fit in my car. Needless to say, it's in better shape than mine, now to just fill it
and try it out!
As for the silent auction, what a blast!
I showed up just before the bidding ended, so I was able to purchase the blue heron painting!
It was a steal!!!! and I'm thrilled to have it!
The lady that purchased my painting came at the end too, to make sure she got it, as she really
liked it. I forced myself to say Hi & let her know that I was the person that painted it. She was very pleased to meet me, the artist, which is a title I still struggle with.
I tend to be shy about my work, so it takes a lot of effort to promote my creations. It's
something I really have to work on... any advice would be helpful!!!