Heart jewelry or trinket box

Heart Jewelry or Trinket box

© 2011

one of a kind, hand painted and designed

available HERE or HERE (do not purchase in both places as there is only one available)

Back from the land of the flu... 

I have always enjoyed designing hearts. Perhaps it is because of the symmetry. They are almost like faces in that way, yes?

If you haven't been following along, many of these trinket boxes were painted during my "paint everything in sight phase" of the winter of 2011. This was when I first acquired a real studio with running water and space.   The rest of the series is view-able HERE. 

And because of my procrastination and having too many creative irons in the fire, it took me this long to post them. Better late than never, right?

This one was the second in the series after the treble clef box. I think Valentines Day was in the Que in terms of "next holiday"... 

Here is a view of the top of the box:

I have a few more boxes to list, then it is back to telling you about my latest birthday cards!

links:

MY WEBSITE

MY ETSY ON-LINE STORE

MY ARTFIRE ON-LINE STORE

recovering from the flu

It's been at least a week of mostly naps peppered with magazine reading, t.v. watching, book reading and laptop social networking/forum reading and posting. These are activities I don't indulge in very often, but they work wonders for getting your mind off of how crappy you feel.

Last night while watching a movie on TV, I took a turn for the better and hope to be posting again in the next few days.

Meet Pam of Epicetera!

Arrow Head Necklace

by Pam of Epicetera

available in her Etsy shop HERE

I just love that one! The incorporation of an arrowhead into a piece of jewelry. Here is another stunning necklace made by Pam (looks like a modern painting, doesn't it?):

Citrine Nugget Necklace

by Pam of Epicetera

available in her Etsy shop HERE

Pam is located in the southwest. She gets inspired by searching for gemstones in remote places. 

Disney Productions bought some of her items to use in their movie production of "Tiger Town." Pretty impressive, eh?

She loves making one of a kind pieces and designs which show a lot of artistry. 

Her Etsy shop is HERE. She also has a great blog where she talks about "everything you always wanted to know about gemstones" (amongst other topics): look for that HERE.

She also has a website! You can go HERE to see that!

Here are some more pieces by the talented Pam:

treble clef trinket box

Treble Clef trinket box
hand painted by moi
© 2010 (available for the first time)
available through my Artfire on-line store through THIS LINK
or through my Etsy on-line store through THIS LINK

Here is a view of the bottom of the box:

Another view looking inside:

My other trinket boxes can be viewed HERE. I thought I had painted all of the trinket boxes in the winter of 2011, but this one must have been painted during the holidays (I was painting a group of these for family and someone from the family likes treble clefs, so this must have been an experiment before I painted a custom one). 

This one may be my favorite. I certainly put the most work into it!

I probably won't be painting any more of these trinket boxes for a good long while as I have so many other projects I'd like to pursue, so they are probably an anomaly for me, a one-time event in my art career.

other links:

MY WEBSITE

MY ETSY ON-LINE STORE

MY ARTFIRE ON-LINE STORE

dove trinket boxes

dove box

(trinket or jewelry box, one of a kind)

© 2011 (but listing for the first time)
hand painted

available in my Artfire shop through THIS LINK or through my Etsy shop through THIS LINK

dove box version 2

(trinket or jewelry box, one of a kind)

© 2011 (but listing for the first time)
hand painted

available in my Etsy shop through THIS LINK

As you can see, I decided to list boxes that were similar all on one blog page. Makes it much easier! The dove in the first listing is bigger (and probably more spirited too). 

These were done during my "paint everything in sight phase" during the winter of 2011. I'm listing them for the first time on-line (it has taken me so long because I prefer to make things than list them -- a character flaw of mine which I am trying to remedy!). 

If you want to see more of my trinket boxes, go HERE.

other links:

MY WEBSITE

MY ETSY ON-LINE SHOP

MY ARTFIRE ON-LINE SHOP  

Peace, Christmas style trinket box

painted peace box in light yellow

© 2011 (but first time revealed on-line)

hand painted trinket or jewelry box, one of a kind

4.75" long x 2.75" in width and 1.5" in depth (i.e. 12.065 cm long, 6.985 cm in width and 3.81 cm deep)

There is only one, but I am listing it in two shops simultaneously and hope that no one buys them at the same day, hour and minute. It can be purchased through my Artfire on-line shop through THIS LINK  or through my Etsy on-line shop through THIS LINK.

This one is not part of a series, at least not now (and doubt it will ever be as I want to devote my time to more ambitious projects). It was part of my "paint everything in sight phase" during the winter of 2011. I painted it just after painting 4 for Christmas presents for family members (Christmas 2010, that is -- we are going back!). Each present/box had my family member's name on it. Afterwards  I thought I'd try one for the general public.  For all intents and purposes, I guess it is a Christmas box.

As for my other art that I am known for -- I realized that taking pictures of all of these boxes and trying to list one a day is very, very, very time consuming. Wow! I miss doing my art and am getting ever so slightly depressed from not doing it. It seems like just at the point I get done with pictures and listing, I have to pack up cards for one of the shops I'm in or I have to go grocery shopping or something gets in the way. I'm not used to this! Argh!

But I also realize the necessity of clearing out my studio too as the boxes have nowhere to live at the moment. They are all sitting on top of my sewing box and every time I need to get into it, I have to take stacks and stacks of boxes off of it. Well, not just the boxes, but other painted objects on top of the boxes as well (you'll see eventually what I'm talking about). And I need to sew, so they are becoming a nuisance. Hopefully a beautiful and worthy nuisance to someone else!   

  

other links:

MY WEBSITE

MY ETSY ON-LINE SHOP

MY ARTFIRE ON-LINE SHOP

painted butterfly box in light grey

painted butterfly box in light grey

© 2011 (but first time revealed)

hand painted trinket or jewelry box, one of a kind (4th in the series of 4)

4.75" long x 2.75" in width and 1.5" in depth (i.e. 12.065 cm long, 6.985 cm in width and 3.81 cm deep)

There is only one, but I am listing it in two shops and hope that no one buys them at the same day, hour and minute. It can be purchased through my Artfire on-line shop through THIS LINK  or through my Etsy on-line shop through THIS LINK.

This is the final butterfly box in the series with this particular template. I like it the most out of the series (I just feel it is more refined than the others).

You can CLICK HERE to see the rest of the series of butterfly boxes.

other links:

MY WEBSITE

MY ETSY ON-LINE SHOP

MY ARTFIRE ON-LINE SHOP

painted butterfly box in purple

painted butterfly box in purple

© 2011 (but first time revealed)

hand painted trinket or jewelry box, one of a kind (3rd in the series of 4)

4.75" long x 2.75" in width and 1.5" in depth (i.e. 12.065 cm long, 6.985 cm in width and 3.81 cm deep)

There is only one, but I am listing it in two shops and hope that no one buys them at the same day, hour and minute. It can be purchased through my Artfire on-line shop through THIS LINK  or through my Etsy on-line shop through THIS LINK.

As stated above, this is the third in the series (the rest of the series in HERE). Even though I used the same template, you can see that I changed the right butterfly so that it has stripes in its wings instead of the amorphous colors in the previous two boxes. I like it a lot more.

It struck me that I should have just blogged about all 4 boxes instead of listing them here one at a time. So, in the future I will do that, though most of the other boxes I'll be listing just have a one of a kind design. 

I will list another butterfly box tomorrow and then begin listing other designs.

other links:

MY WEBSITE

MY ETSY ON-LINE STORE

MY ARTFIRE ON-LINE STORE

painted butterfly box in french blue

painted butterfly box in french blue

© 2011 (but first time revealed)

hand painted trinket or jewelry box, one of a kind

4.75" long x 2.75" in width and 1.5" in depth (i.e. 12.065 cm long, 6.985 cm in width and 3.81 cm deep)

There is only one, but I am listing it in two shops and hope that no one buys them at the same day, hour and minute. It can be purchased through my Artfire on-line shop through THIS LINK  or through my Etsy on-line shop through THIS LINK.

This box was actually the first one that I painted in the series (even though I listed the mint one first -- the mint one can be viewed HERE and was actually the second one in the series ... or if you want to see the whole series, you can see all four HERE -- when I have them all listed, of course).

The right butterfly has a little less bright yellow in it than I put in the mint green box. I used the same template for all four boxes, but for the first two boxes, I wasn't entirely happy with the right butterfly, so you'll see that it changes for the last two boxes.

These four boxes will be the only ones I'll make with this template. In fact, I don't know if I'll paint any more boxes. I enjoy them, but I have many more ambitious projects I would like to accomplish. I painted these at a time when I was just happy to have a real studio, with its own running water and cupboards, a big work table (i.e. not my dining room table) and room to move around. I went a little crazy painting everything in sight, including things for my own house. Some day, perhaps I'll show you some of those too, but for now, I have a lot of boxes to list.

other links:

MY WEBSITE

MY ETSY ON-LINE STORE

MY ARTFIRE ON-LINE STORE

painted butterfly box in mint green

painted butterfly box in mint green

© 2011

hand painted trinket or jewelry box, one of a kind

4.75" long x 2.75" in width and 1.5" in depth (i.e. 12.065 cm long, 6.985 cm in width and 3.81 cm deep)

There is only one, but I am listing it in two shops and hope that no one buys them at the same day, hour and minute. It can be purchased through my Artfire on-line shop through THIS LINK  or through my Etsy on-line shop through THIS LINK.

I painted a lot of trinket boxes in the winter of 2011. I had always meant to list them in one or both of my on-line stores, but never got around to it (as you might be able to tell, I enjoy painting and making things a lot, lot more than photographing and listing them). Better late than never, yes?

These are hand-painted (not decoupage or decals), so they are painstaking (and also cost a bit more because of that). They are coated on all sides (including the inside) with a layer of glossy polyurethane. 

I'll try to list as many of these as I can in the next few days as I also have a backlog of greeting card designs to show you too.

other links:

MY WEBSITE

MY ETSY ON-LINE STORE

MY ARTFIRE ON-LINE STORE 

Arrival of the Hummingbirds

Arrival of the Hummingbirds

© 2012

original watercolor and ink painting on Arches Watercolor paper

10" x 15" (size of painted surface)

I may have prints in the future; this is set aside for an art show in my area for now

This rounds out the fourth (and final painting and largest -- at least for now -- of the series). If you haven't been following along, the rest of the series is HERE. The theme is "farm animals in the garden" and the reason for focusing on this theme has to do with personal experience: I grew up in the country next to a farm. Sometimes the farm animals would break through their fencing and be in my parents flower garden eating everything in sight.

This is my favorite one out of the series and it reflects my style the most. I wish I could have taken more time to do more elaborate paintings like this one for the series (and perhaps will in the future). I like the fantasy-like aspects of this one, the big flowers, the hummingbirds coming in for a landing... it seems to tell a story (which is what I like my original paintings to do). 

I actually used the same sheep model from the previous painting, but prefer how the wool is depicted in this one over the last one. Watercolor paint just has a magical way of translating the texture of wool that I couldn't quite capture with acrylic paint. 

As for the "Rooster in the Garden"... I had to change that to "Hen in the Garden". Jim, my significant other, pointed out that roosters have a much bigger crown than hens. Unfortunately, when I submitted the art work to the art show for jurying, the old title was part of it. Now they'll know I don't know my farm animals (**wince**)!

other links:

MY WEBSITE

Sheep with Lillies

Sheep with Lillies

© 2012

acrylic on panel, 8" x 10"

If you are following along, you know that this is the third in the series of "Farm Animals in the Garden". The other paintings in the series can be seen HERE and you can read why I started the series from THIS BLOG POST.

I have been listing the present 4 paintings from least favorite to most favorite (and I have also realized that it corresponds to how long I worked on each piece: this one was worked on for a longer period of time than the last two paintings: about 3 long days total).

The originals are being juried for a show in my area, but I may have prints available at some point.

other links:

WEBSITE

Hen in the Garden

Hen in the Garden

© 2012

7" x 9.5" (painted surface)

watercolors and inks on Arches watercolor paper

This is part of a series featuring farm animals in the garden (to read the whole scoop as to why I am depicting farm animals in the garden, get the details from THIS BLOG POST). The rest of the series is through THIS LINK. This is the second original painting in the series even though it was the last one I painted. But for the purposes of this blog, I am listing them in terms of least favorite to favorite... which is to say that I like this one more than the first previous one I listed on this blog for the series. 

As I was explaining to Karen Anne, one of my readers (and a wonderful artist in her own right), I tried to produce 4 paintings in 2 weeks. One of the paintings took 10 days because the background needed so much work (but in the end, it is my favorite one). Then another painting took 3 days. This left only one whole day (and late into an evening) to paint 2 more paintings. This is one of the "quickie" paintings. 

This time for the border, I used a saturated blue ink instead of watercolor. The borders in both of the "quickie paintings" translates more like a solid blue color rather than the mottled blue that you see in the scans. Perhaps at some point I will take a picture so that you can see what I mean. Not sure why it doesn't scan well -- the bumpiness of the watercolor paper?  The background behind the hen is a subtle wash of turquoise with a little bit of yellow up towards the top. It was so light that it got washed out when scanned too.

I will try to list these more frequently now that I have submitted my work for a show deadline.

(please note: because of so much backlog and delay of listing my new work on this blog, my website won't be updated for awhile). 

other links:

WEBSITE