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Author: Kathy

August 1, 2011
Kathy
4 Comments

Color Is Key For Children’s Art

Posted in Musing About Art, and Reviews

Color Is Key For Children's Art

It's hard to miss all the great back to school sales! This is a great time to pick up some art supplies for your children at a cheaper price. However there is nothing more frustrating to a budding artist  than to have paints or crayons that only produce pale, faint colors.  The best children's art supplies have saturated color ie. color pencils  and watercolors that show show up boldly on paper.

Craonys

From my own experience as an artist and a mom, Crayola beats all the others hands down.  And they are still inexpensive, especially now with the sales. Crayola has done a great job with watercolors and color pencils that paint brightly with saturated color.  Their crayons are also full of color and not overly waxy.   This is a great time  to take advantage of the sales and get some great, fun, and on sale, art supplies.

July 27, 2011
Kathy
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Local News

Posted in Art Work, and Other Artist Work

Local News

For those who are local – I have new minis at the CCAA  Exton Mall Gallery.  I stopped in this morning and there is some wonderful art there! Beautiful watercolors,  pastels, acrylic, oils,  photography, and new pottery on displays.  They have a new jewelry artist whose work with stone and gems is just gorgeous.  It's definitely worth a trip to check out what is there.

July 22, 2011
Kathy
6 Comments

Starting A New Painting

Posted in Art Work, and Peeking Behind the Easel

Starting A New Painting

I've started a new painting and thought you might like to follow along from start to finish.  The first thing I do after deciding what I want to paint is think about the composition and mull over colors. Sometimes, I'll sketch out an idea to help refine what I want to do.

Once I have a mental picture of the painting, the next step is gather up the photos, sketches, and other reference material. These help me see the shapes of what I am painting.  Some artist project their references and trace the shapes. I haven't tried that –  I like the process of drawing out the picture. For this painting I am using photos I've taken of irises and relying on years of observing irises up close in my yard.

Yellow Iris

The next step is choosing the size canvas and base coating the background color. I like to paint the whole background to get rid of the white and to help balance colors and tones from the start.  I chose a dark green that will help create depth later in the painting.  After the base coat is dried, I begin sketching right on to the canvas.  I use a pastel pencil or chalk because I can wipe away it away with a wet towel.  This way I can redraw as much as I need to until the composition and the shapes are to my satisfaction.  Here's the start of the painting:

Start of painting on 9 x 12 canvas

Now comes the best parts – painting! Stayed tuned for the next step and a further peek behind my easel.  : )

July 20, 2011
Kathy
4 Comments

Moo Business Cards

Posted in Art Work, and Peeking Behind the Easel

Moo Business Cards

I love Moo cards!  I'm not an affiliate nor do I get money from them.  I just love their business cards!  Why? Because you can put a different photo on each card – as many or as few photos are you would like.  They are also  reasonably priced, good quality, and fast.  You can purchase as few as 50 cards or as many as you would like. They also print postcards, stickers, and minicards.

I like being able to quickly show my art work by pulling out my business cards when talking to people. I also think it's fun for my customers to have business cards with my artwork right on the card. If you are an Etsy shop owner, they made it really, really easy to quickly upload photos right from your shop to your cards. If you haven't heard of them – here's a link to take a look:   Moo Cards     This my  new set of cards that arrived this week.

Business cards from MOO

July 15, 2011
Kathy
3 Comments

Even More Bunnies in My Yard

Posted in Musing About Art, and Reference Photos

Even More Bunnies in My Yard

Here's one of the newest batch of  bunnies. Do I dare ask how many batches a year rabbits have?…..best not to know, just enjoy they're adorable cuteness!  These photos were taken from inside, through the window.

New babies

What is it about this planter that attracts the bunnies?

Muncing on flowers

Luckily he's so little that all his munching won't do too much damage.

Each one is different - this one has a white spot on his head

Each rabbit is a little different.  This little guy has a white spot in the middle of his forehead. It's fun to get to recognize each individual rabbit as they grow.  I probably won't paint  his little white spot in a painting because it's not very common and would distract from the painting.  Good old artistic license – keeps the painting from looking like I splash white paint on his forehead!