Bumpass Hell

I recently took a short trip to Lassen Volcanic National Park in northern California, where I did a lot of hiking, my usual vacation activity. I hope to do some paintings inspired by the scenes seen.

One fascinating place visited was a volcanic hotspot, Bumpass Hell. Instead of hiking there the usual route, I ascended the longer path from King's Creek. I was fortunate to arrive there early enough in the morning (not that early, about 10) that I had the place entirely to myself.

Grizzly Bear and Fish sculpture

I sold one of these carvings of the Bear and Fish which I call "Stream of Consciousness" so have started work on number 13. But I do have a finished one, in my Artfire studio which is finished. Grizzly Bear and Fish #12.

My work has been slowed by a back injury which renders me unable to sit for very long. But I hope to soon be healed and back to work.

Nature Note Cards

Here is a collection of my recently created note cards. These are about 4.5 x 6 inches and come with envelopes of course. They are all reproductions of paintings done with an airbrush. I hope you enjoy them!

Note Card Collection by SandraHealy

Curated By: SandraHealy

ArtFire.com

Turkey Vulture New Design

A collector of my carvings requested a Turkey Vulture. I don't always make the sculptures which people request, but am glad I did this one.

More photos of Turkey Vulture are in my ArtFire studio.

Feeding Canada Goose Chicks

After a visit to a friend in Oregon, I was inspired to a painting of her feeding the Canada Geese in her back yard, and included her cats and turtle. There's a river with dunes on the other side. A beautiful place.

It took a lot of sketches and thinking before I was ready to paint.

Trillium and Friends Painting by SandraHealy

Trillium and Friends, a painting just finished and consisting mainly of dots. It was done with an airbrush and is about 5 by 7 inches. I count 7 animals, am I missing anyone?

The trillium is inspired by some photos I took of this flower in "my" backyard redwood forest a week ago. A couple years ago, one appeared for the first time, which I felt represented a recovery from the area having being logged twice.

Why the Woodcarving Life is painting not carving

I tried a few paintings on a whim late last autumn and it was fun, but Christmas was coming so my focus had to be on painting animal carvings not pictures. Then after the holidays it was time to restock my diminished inventory.

So here it is April, I've reduced the size of my Etsy shop, my ArtFire studio is well supplied, and I even have some extras. To complete the scene, it's the Slow Time of Year. Not many sales.

What a great opportunity! So I'm painting!

Friday is my first show of my paintings, and I'm nervous and excited about that. Wish me luck!

Small Paintings

These are some small paintings, each about 3 by 4 inches. I cut stencils of quail, raven, and heron, which I can reuse for different paintings, and then I improvise the background. They are primarily done using an airbrush, with a few additions. The airbrush gives a nice soft and dreamy look.

                                               

I am hoping to soon move these into my ArtFire studio for sale.

Previously I'd painted some art cards, the official size of which is 2.5 x 3.5 inches, which I find altogether too small for an original painting, though it's fine for a print. So these are a wee bit bigger. The painting is 3 x 4, but each is on a paper 3.5 x 4.5 so there's a 1/4 inch white border around, making them much easier to mat and frame. 

A New Carved Squirrel

old squirrel design

I'd designed a squirrel a long time ago, but decided it was time to make a new shape. This is a Douglas Squirrel. The 2 photos with the forest background show the new design.

Painting: Five Animals Hidden at Echo Lake

I mostly painted this 5 x 7 landscape with an airbrush on multimedia artboard, but also used art markers and colored pencil. In this painting of Echo Lake, you'll find a circle of 5 animals.

Artist Statement

I've been working on an Artist Statement for an upcoming artshow. What do you think? Any and all suggestions are welcome! This is just an idea... I've edited it with some minor changes...


ARTIST STATEMENT

We are Sandra Healy's animals and as usual she has dragged her paws about writing an artist statement, so we are doing it for her. We used to just include wood animals, and enjoyed her hands holding us while carving and painting, and  we anticipated traveling to new homes around the world.

But now we include some new friends! Sandra has applied the skills, used for airbrushing our delicate patterns, to create some flat paintings. We felt somewhat jealous of the landscape paintings which left us out, so when she wasn't paying attention, we sneaked in, hiding in the leaves, blending with the dunes, becoming like the trees.

When people look at a landscape in the real world, they can't see all the life that is hidden there. Sandra's new paintings express that, and we animals are so pleased to be there, and hope humans enjoy searching for us.

Echo Lake Hidden Animals Painting

My latest painting, Echo Lake in the Trinity Alps of northern Califoria. I <think> it is finished. Size: 9 x 12 inches.

Sculpture Featured on ArtFire Front Page

My Bear and Fish sculpture was featured on the Front Page of ArtFire. It's a lovely collection called "March is Pisces Time".

March is Pisces Time...what sort of fish...

Curated By: Foret

ArtFire.com

Fine Art Paintings

Artfire

I enjoy selling on ArtFire, because it's a friendly place, the seller tools are great, it aims at the whole internet of shoppers not just at people shopping that site, and there is a lot of conversation between the administrators of the site and the sellers (and buyers). They have a monthly fee (currently about $10) but no fees to list, and they don't take a percentage of your sale price. They also encourage links into and out of the site, for instance to a blog or website.

Become an ArtFire Pro with this link and get your 3rd month free!

Hidden Animals in the trees

I'm starting to work on another hidden animal painting. So far I just have a few sketches and thoughts. Can I really turn trees reflected in a mountain lake into animals?

Painted Backgrounds

My latest painting venture is to paint backgrounds for my carving photographs. It's an interesting problem, since product photos have to show off the item, while the background is, well, in the background. So the paintings have to be fairly light, and not too detailed. It's been fun! I do need to paint more habitats.

Here are 3 examples of different painted backdrops, and a Blackpoll Warbler in the forest habitat.