Hidden Caribou Airbrush Painting

This painting took a lot of time to design. It's based on several photos I took in Alaska. We were always looking for caribou in the landscape. In this painting there are 5 caribou, and a ptarmigan. Can you find them all?

Airbrush Painting: Hidden in the Redwood Sorrel

I had a photo which I took some time ago, of redwood sorrel and bedstraw, two plants which are found on the redwood forest floor. I thought it would make a nice painting, so started to sketch and soon all the animals entered into the story. The painting is about 5 by 6 inches.

Hidden Ptarmigan Airbrush Painting

When I was in Alaska, I almost stepped on a willow ptarmigan sitting on her nest. Two people ahead of me stepped right over her without seeing the bird. But my foot was coming down too close, so she fluttered up and away only a few yards, then trusted to her cryptic coloration to keep her hidden.

Using the photos I took then, I did this painting using the airbrush. It's 5 by 7 inches.

ArtFire Collection: Front Page!

This collection was featured on ArtFire's front page today! The curator of this says, "The twelve days of Christmas was a challenging collection in trying to find a tangible item for each of the twelve gifts. Hope you find something you'd like to give from an Artfire artist during the next twelve days!"

Twelve Days of Christmas

Curated By: SteiderStudios

ArtFire.com

Handmade Gifts

Heron ACEO and a Raven too

 I sold the other Raven ACEO (2.5 by 3.5 inch card) so made another. I put some hills in the background of this one. And the lively Heron just can't decide which of the many fish to have for lunch.


Raven and Heron cards are at ArtFire though they might not be these exact ones. 

Raven and Dodo ACEOs

I've added two original little art card paintings 2.5 by 3.5 inches to my ArtFire studio, one of a RAVEN, and the other a DODO. Though I will make more of these approximate designs, each one is painted individually and so will be a bit different. It will be fun to see how they develop. I hope to have a lot more designs eventually.

What animals would you like to see?

Curious Fawn Art Card

Curious Fawn

I've just added another art card to my Artfire Studio, Curious Fawn. This one is also from an airbrush painting. Previous cards were printed on photo paper, this one is printed on an art paper with the look and feel of fine watercolor paper. It has no sheen at all so it looks more like the original painting.

It's a card size known as ACEO (art card editions and originals) sized 3.5 by 2.5 inches: a miniature work of art to collect, include with a greeting card, or frame.

Selling Art Card (ACEO) Prints

Ground Beetles
Doe and Fawn
Fawns







I'm excited to now have a few tiny prints of my airbrush paintings for sale in ArtFire. These are known as ACEO which stands for Artist Card Editions and Originals, always 2.5 by 3.5 inches. They are a great way to collect art on a budget or with no wall space. Also they make nice enclosures with gifts, or as a little gift included with a greeting card.

The ones I'm selling are open editions of my original paintings. They're printed on photo paper and sell for $4 each. The next ones I print will be on Somerset Velvet paper which is much like watercolor paper; it's a bit more costly so the price will be a bit higher, but still under $10.

Sale Items on ArtFire

I've added some carvings to my section ON SALE at ArtFire. Most of the sculptures are $44; these are selling at a considerably discounted price of $30. I like to make some available at a lower price so people on a budget might be able to afford them. There are others on sale also.

• White-headed Woodpecker
• Eastern Towhee
• Three-toed Woodpecker
• California Quail - Female
• Chestnut-sided Warbler
• Horned Grebe
• Red-necked Grebe

Wrapping Orders 2

This shows my hand painted paper wrapping a carved animal, and in the box used to ship it. Usually it's padded with reused clean newsprint paper (unprinted) which has been salvaged from orders I've received. The box is very sturdy and strong, and good for shipping 2 animals. I tuck in a little brochure about my work, and a business card.

Bear and Fish Sculpture Featured!

My Bear and Fish sculpture, "Stream of Consciousness" was featured in the blog, C Ryan Jewelry Art. It was also in the Collection which C Ryan made on ArtFire called "Here Fishy Fishy" with lots of delightful fish.

Wrapping Orders

I wrap each carving in tissue paper which I've painted, spraying paint through a stencil which I cut. The stencil is red in the photo, and includes such animals as: turtle, rabbit, some kind of bird, skunk (or is it a squirrel?) hummingbird, snail, rattlesnake, bird of prey perhaps a bald eagle, and snake. As you can see, I spray different colors so when you order several animals you get an assortment. The airbrush itself is the silver object.

In a later post I'll show the wrapped animal and how it's packaged into a nice box for shipping worldwide.

A Walk in Trinidad

We were lucky on a walk to Elk Head that the rain held off. The ocean was beautiful and I caught a splash of a big wave in this photo. Later we continued walking to Trinidad Head (in the background). It started raining but not enough to soak. Nice cuppa coffee after in the cafe. What a beautiful place this is!

Mute Swan Included on Etsy Front Page.

This Etsy Treasury was featured on the front page of Etsy on the evening of 11/16/2010.
 

 'Seven Swans a Swimming....' by efinegifts

Thinking about the 12 days of Christmas...the seven swans would make a very nice gift!

ShadedMemories $23.00	taraville $25.00	maimiesmerchan... $	VintageFiligre... $
BalletArt $	TheArtNouveauS... $	narcise $30.00	MySeriousSide $35.00
GreenAcresCott... $	GypsyGraphique $700.00	theblackapple $16.00	SandraHealy $44.00
DeborahShop $	ArtByAfton $20.00	scottsterling $250.00	CarolSchiffStu... $74.95

Generated using Treasury HTML code generator by Whale Shark Websites.

Airbrush Painting: Stone Lagoon

Several years ago I went for one of my favorite hikes on the California north coast. A friend and I walked from Dry Lagoon to Stone Lagoon. I took a photo along Stone Lagoon, and today made a 5 by 7 inch painting from it. 

Holiday Studio Sale - 1

I don't do craft fairs these days, though I used to do quite a few through the year. My business now is almost entirely online at venues like Artfire. But last year a friend who had just built a studio for her silk screening business decided to celebrate by having a studio sale, and invited 5 other women to be part of it, including me.

That was a success, and so we're doing it again this year. Two of last year's participants had other commitments for the dates, but that works out well, since Beth's studio is not so empty as it was last year, being full of her equipment. It will be perfect with 4 of us.

We took a few photos to use for a postcard. I let the others with tripods take the official photo, here I'm including one I snapped quickly.

The sale will be December 11 and 12 in McKinleyville, CA.

Artfire Collections: Oct 29-31

• "Give Thanks....Happy Thanksgiving", curated by bayahta, includes Wild Turkey. Of course!
• "Autumnal Dreams", curated by ViridianMuse includes Red Squirrel
• "Cheetah Frenzie", curated by BackyardWildlifeHabitats includes of course, Cheetah, and lots of other cheetah themed items.
• "Magical black cats", curated by studiostitches includes Black Leopard. One interesting thing about this black leopard is that spots are faintly visible through the black coat.