Zazzle products rock! Check out these watches.

 Zazzle has some very cool new products!  The watches have been around for a year or so, but they are newer to me.  I love making them.  There are watches suitable for men, ladies and children.  The pig above is a fun kid's watch.  It is so adorable!!!  You can purchase the piggy watch here: http://www.zazzle.com/pink_pig_wrist_watches-256299810901935454

This is a large watch featuring my purple iris painting.  This watch has a large face to really show off the art.  There are some very pretty smaller face choices too.  You get to choose the band/face for each watch face art selection.  Very cool!!!  Check them out.  Find the iris watch here:  http://www.zazzle.com/purple_iris_watch-256712483044071615

Check all my watch designs here!  http://www.zazzle.com/artbylmr/watches  With Zazzle, always look at the page to see it there is any sale going on.  Use the coupon code provided to save some scratch!!

'Oktoberfest' painting finished! 'Hacker Pschorr' brewery.

After many hours, this painting is finally done!  I posted an 'in progress' photo 2 entries down in case you missed it.  Check it out!

Flora and more flora!  It was a challenge painting all the floral garland, but I like the cast shadows they create.  I was always looking forward to the next item to paint.  I love the blue on the wheels and that was one of the last thing I painted.  I did this one on smooth Ampersand gessobord and it proved to be difficult to blend even with my favorite blending too - my fingers!   I am really happy with how this came out though.

Please share it with your beer loving friends!    Hacker Pschorr  is a Munich brewery.  This is their float in an Oktoberfest parade.  My husband was lucky enough to be in Germany at the time.  I am kind of curious to try one of their brews now.  The first Hacker brewery is mentioned in 1417, located at the corner of Sendlinger and Hackstraße in Munich so they must be pretty good.

Hacker Pschorr Oktoberfest painting Work in Progress - a sneak peek!

I found this great photo of a float during Oktoberfest in Munich a number of years ago.  My husband took the photo when he was on a business trip and I was psyched when I saw it.  He is not known for he photo prowess, but he got lots a great pics this trip. 

I have been slowly working on the wood areas and took a break to do the sign which was a challenge.  After taking a couple hours to do it, I had to look up what I was painting.  I found out that 'Hacker Pschorr' is a Munich brewery.  In the late 18th century, Joseph Pschorr bought the Hacker brewery from his father-in-law; he subsequently founded a separate brewery under his own name.  His two sons divided his estate by each taking control of one of the two separate breweries. In 1972, Hacker and Pschorr merged to form Hacker-Pschorr, but the beers were sold as separate brands well after 1975.  It is incredible that the original brewery was founded in 1417.  I guess the stuff must be pretty good!

I have made some more progress since taking this photo.  I have to get everything else done before working on the flowers since they are 'on top' of the barrels.  I hope I can do it justice!

Thanks for looking and feel free to leave me a comment to say Hi!

I just love the Zazzle watches!

I am back and ready to blog!  My goal is to blog weekly - Monday or Tuesday.  I hope you will come back to see how I do!!

First off, I am kind of in mourning.  I have been thinking about deleting my Cafepress shop for some time now and I finally pulled the plug.  It was at the point that I would almost have to start over anyway - so many new products and not happy with many of the designs I had.  I decided that for the time being I am going to concentrate more on Zazzle. 

One thing that I really love on Zazzle is the watches!

 

You can customize the style of watch - this one is geared towards a little girl.  You can buy it here:  http://www.zazzle.com/pink_pig_wrist_watches-256299810901935454

Watch for coupons and you can sometimes get them 50% off!!

 

I love this one too!  http://www.zazzle.com/purple_iris_watch-256712483044071615

This one is kind of a Monet style

http://www.zazzle.com/rustic_garden_watch-256424854655505803

I have over 40 watches to choose from on Zazzle and more to come!  You can see them all here:  http://www.zazzle.com/artbylmr/watches .  Check out my store for all the great products!
http://www.zazzle.com/artbylmr

Thanks for reading!!!

We have a winner of my art calendar giveaway!

True Random Number Generator
Min:  1

Max:  30

Result: 16

Powered by RANDOM.ORG

Random.org chose number 16 as the lucky winner.  Congrautlations IrelandBrady aka Karen Anne Brady!!   I will be getting your calendar to you soon after I get your address!

Thanks to everyone that entered.  I hope to do more giveaways of some cool stuff this year.  Please check back for more freebies!

A new twist on the vintage Silhouette

I had an artist's reception last night for my local library show.  Lots of good food and conversation!  I love to hear what people think of my artwork and how it makes them feel.  I got many compliments on this silhouette and questions on how I did it. 

I love find and sell vintage silhouettes on Ebay.  I thought that it would be fun to do one myself.  I used black enamel to reverse paint (paint backwards) on the underside of the glass.  I then baked the glass in the oven to set the paint.  The background is a watercolor sunset done on watercolor paper.  This was such fun to do and I really want to find time to do more!  This piece is for sale on Etsy.

Vintage silhouettes were often painted on convex or 'bubble' glass.  Artists of the 19th century sometimes applied their cut or painted silhouettes on lithograph or watercolor backgrounds which bring even more attention to the regal simplicity of the shade portrait itself.   Learn more about Silhouettes here.

Inspire me Thursday!

I don't seem to be very good at doing this, but this weeks topic is cupcake! I love cupcakes and have a great ACEO that I did as a commission for a birthday gift. The info I had to work on was that the birthday girl loves 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' and that look.

Don't forget my give-away contest. Check it out here! http://artbylmr.blogspot.com/2009/08/cool-contest.html

A new LARGE piece for me!

Good Morning! At least it is while I write this. We are having some very large trees trimmed around the house today so wish me luck that I still have a house left when they are done!

I finished this large (for me) painting on 24x18" canvas. Gallery wrapped with deep sides painted for a professional look. I took a photo of one of my iris's a long time ago and came across it recently. I used it as a reference for this piece.

I am having trouble getting the colors right though inthe photo. The iris is more purple than blue-purple and the green is also less blue. Any suggestins would be welcome. I have a digital camera and they tend to 'blue' colors.

I will be adding it to my Etsy shop soon so check it out. http://artbylmr.etsy.com

New Watercolor and a frugal tip from the Cheap artist!

This watercolor was inspired by the beautiful Bellagio Hotel in Las Vegas. They have gorgeous ceiling displays and this is one of them. Can you say Vegas, Baby! The delicate paper parasols just screamed to be painted in translucent watercolor. You can find this in my etsy shop http://artbylmr.etsy.com.

Being a starving artist, I am always looking to save a buck. I was in Kmart the other day looking for storage bins since we artists have so many supplies everywhere. They have bins that stack, slide and everything else that run 6,7,8$ or more. Just next the the bins there was a pile of white dishpans that cost less than $2. I snatched some of them up. They are a good size, have handles and are solid which is sometimes better than the sides with holes.

Just a little hint from you friendly neighborhood cheap artist!
Thank you very much.

Art Show at the Oriskany Library

Everyone is invited to my solo show during the month of May at the Oriskany Library in Oriskany, NY. I am busily having things framed, writing up labels, doing a price list and other such stuff. This is my first show of this magnitude. The library manager is planning lots of promotion. She is great!

The reception is Thursday May 7, from 6-8 pm. I will provide some goodies to munch on. I plan to post some photos after I set up on 4/28 since I know most of you are not from around these parts.

Here is a new painting I did for show. It is a watercolor on 140 lb. paper. My Christmas cactus has always bloomed whenever it pleased - Easter time this year. I can't complain because even I can't kill the darn thing. I definitely do NOT have a green thumb.

A new kind of artwork!

This piece was done for a 'Green' show at the Rome Art and Community Center. I had such fun doing it! I painted the palette and the golden artist tube of paint as well as the background. I then added the items we artists often discard: flecks of dried paint, spent tubes, worn brush and some long forgotten ACEO's (Art cards, editions and originals). The canvas was a 25 cent find at a garage sale!

I used some really great glue for this called E-6000 - industrial strenght and dries clear. I love it! I can pick this canvas up by one of the paint tubes!

Artists are tasked to create a recylcled work of art as you interpret it.
To check out the show specifics go to: http://www.romeart.org/

Work in Progress Done!

I know this took way to long. I had some other projects going on so I would sneek this in here and there. I still may do some tweeking, but it is essentially done. If you scroll down for previous posts you can see some 'in progress' photos. I also included the reference photo used to paint from.

I think I still may lighten up some flowers/leaves faceing the sun and adjust one of the window mouldings for perspective, but you can get the idea! I just noticed that I didn't finish the pumpkin stems - OOPS! So I still need to do that.

This one was a challenge! I had to darken the values of the entire piece from the photo so I could keep the magenta color without going too pink in the light. I also kept the hanging petunia looking more alive than the photo. Let's just pretend it is earlier in the fall when they were healthier.

Thanks for all your kind comments on this as I went along! I need to take a better photo too - the colors are so much better in the painting.

Inorganic Incandescence

Wha What? That is what I call my first real abstract painting! This one just glows. I used Cadmium Orange in the warm colors and WOW - do they ever Pop! I hope to throw some more abstracts in now and then. It was fun to do! I have this in my Etsy VAST sale section here:

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5381568&section_id=5528741

The Visual Artists Street Team is having a holiday sale so search for 'Vast Holiday' on etsy for all the sales.

Title: 'Inorganic Incandescence'

Medium/Support: Golden Acrylics on Gallery wrapped 16X20" canvas.

Original: Yes. Only one available.

Signed by the artist: Yes.

Certificate of Authenticity: Yes.

Rmember the 60's

I wanted to use some of my favorite memories for a still life and this is the result. I had the lava lamp in my room as a teen and always used my my Panasonic Panapet radio when ruining my skin suntanning before we knew about the dangers of the sun. I had many sunburned backs while laying on a hill on our farm where noone could see me - just me and my Panapet.

The best of the 3 is my 'Lost in Space' Robot that my grandfather got me from the Grand Union he worked at, believe it or not. He surprised me with it and I treasure it now that he is gone. These little babies go for big bucks on ebay, but I just can't part with it.

This is a 9 x 12 watercolor still life. I am selling prints on Etsy because the original has been accepted in a juried show for the Central NY Watercolor Society. I was so psyched when I didn't hear from them - which meant that I got in. Woo Hoo!! Get a print here: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=14389856

Thanks for reading!

It is done!

Here is the finished balloon painting! I promised I would post when it was done. I am so pleased with how it came out. If you check 2 posts down you can see an 'in progress' version of the painting.

It is for sale on Etsy here: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=11602193

New painting!

I am really proud of this one. I took the reference photo from a hotel window in Vancouver, BC Canada. A storm had just passed and the sky was a very wierd color with 3 rainbows. This is a mood setting piece - kind of eerie and uplifting at the same time. You also get the Vancouver skyline to boot! The lighting is kind of surreal and I tried to capture it as best as I could.

This is an acrylic on Canvas (12 X 16) and it is for sale here on etsy: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=10326604

New Website and Bunny is done!

Hello - I finished the bunny for my husband, finally! I am selling 8 X 8 prints in my etsy shop here: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=9378064

I am happy with how he came out. What do you think?

I have also been working on my very own website. Check it out here: http://www.artbylmr.com/

I am so excited. Freewebs made it very easy and affordable.

I just seem to have no time between painting, Etsy, blogging, Ebay, garage saleing, auctions, but that is what it is all about isn't it? I know everyone is so busy with kids, work, house upkeep. Just don't forget to stop and smell the flowers so to speak ( that would be hard to really do here in northern NY right now:) Touch base with someone you have let drift out of your life and you will feel great for it!

Camping and Colored Pencils

I hope everyone is enjoying their summer. I spent last week at the family camp in the Adirondacks. The weather was a mixed bag. We had some sun for canoeing and hiking and some rain for reading and art.

I usually take my colored pencils to camp since they are easy to transport. Here is the offering from last week. We had guests most of the week so there wasn't much time for art.

This little tiger looks so cute and a little sad. I think he is looking for his mom.

Colored pencils are not just for kids anymore. Check out this site for great colored pencil artists.

http://www.fabcolorpencil.com/