Warercolor Pencils and Christmas

So I'm dabbling in watercolor for the first time since elementary school. I got inspired while watchung Project Runway. There is a girl on there with the same name as my daugter , Anya, which was cool to me since her name is so unusual. Anyaway, there was a quick scene where Anya was packing up her stuff and I saw a pack of colored penciles labeled "Watercolor Pencils".  Why have I not heard of these or seenthem in the arts and crafts store? So I did a little "You Tube" research on how to use these babies and learned it's a beatufiful combination of drawing and painting. Well, i ended up buying me a small pack of pencils just to try it out before I forked over 40.00 for the bigger pack to see how I lked them. The imiges below are two designs I'm working on for Christmas cards. My designs are going towards fashionistas in winter. I love how they're almost cartoonish. I know I keep jumping around to different mediums but I love the challenge.   Any ideas for some fashion forward wintersnow bunnies? I'd love to hear it!!                                                                                                 

Edible Finger Paint!

So you want to introduce finger painting to your toddler but don't want to bring in the regular finger paint in the reality that they will put it in their mouth and everywhere else. Well, I'm happy to tell you there is a solution! Edible finger paint and you probably have everything in your cabinet.

Supplies You Will Need: 

• Plastic Containers (One for each color)
• Water
• Food Coloring
• Clothes that can get messed up
• Large towel, newspaper, or a large garbage bag to put under everything

These are the plastic containers I'm using. We're only using primary colors today!





 Flour and Food Coloring

1. Put 2 tablespoons of flour in each container.

2. Add enough water to make a paste. If it's too watery, just add  a little more flour. Too thick? Add some water. You'll get it right eventually!

This is about the right consistancy.

3. Add some food coloring and stir until blended.

This is Anya in her messy clothes wondering why she can't touch the dog after fingerpainting.

Anya enjoying painting! It's her first time doing this.

Her finished masterpiece! Will be on sale at my Etsy shop for $500.00. lol

Anya had a blast fingerpainting and I didn't have to worry about her if she decided to put it in her mouth. She also enjoyed her bath afterward!

"PaPa's Getaway" - Painting in progress.

This is my painting in progress titled "PaPa's Getaway". The reason I titled it "PaPa's Getaway",  is because I was told this lake cabin was built by my great grandfather, PaPa Judy, as a place for him to go and fish. Little did he know it would become much more than that. Growing up, I remember packing up in the van and heading to the lake. The van we took was the type of work van where there were no back seats. It was a work van large enough to put tools or a lawnmower in it if you needed. So it would be me, my two sisters and our dog rolling around the back, it was comical. Remeber, this is a time when you didn't have to wear seat belts.

I remember going to the lake every Summer and Spring celebrating birthday parties, Easter, or just going to hang around and swim.  My grandfather, Poppy, seemed to always be the one grilling out hamburgers and hot dogs. We would be swimming and laying on the dock all day until we would hear the dinner bell. Literally, we had a dinner bell.  We would all cram into the little cabin and eat our lunch only to go right back into the water! We had a pontoon boat for a while but they always seemed to break down. Though we didn't have a boat, it didn't take away from the time we spent at the cabin. 

I could spend all day telling you about the memories I had down at the lake cabin. I have about 1,000 more things I could go on and on about.  I didn't realize the impact this little cabin had on people until it went up for sale and everyone on Facebook lit up my aunt's pictures with comments.

Upon hearing about having to sell our cabin, I decided to paint it to remember all the work my great grandfather put into it and to remember all of the great memories he built for us.  Everyone is so sad to see it go, but we will always have our special memories to keep.

Arts and Craft Show Ideas and Sexy Aprons, what?????

OK, so here it goes again.  My whole post just got deleted. Don't you hate it when that happens?  So I have some ideas for my arts and crafts show I'm doing next year.  I believe your booth display is just as important as the items you're selling.  You want to get people in your booth and keep them there.  So I'm going to use the colors pink and black again or Tiffany blue and black so it's not too girly.  Also I was shocked that I didn't see any artist doing their craft in the booth when I went to a show here in town.  So I'm going to bring my easel, canvas, paints and brushes. Hopefully this will bring people in my booth and get them more interested in buying my art.  I will definately be selling prints no question.  Also, I am trying to think of a completely different way to display my work than the norm.  Also, I ran accross this shop on Etsy called Dot's Diner.  She sells the cutest retro 50's style aprons.  Normal art aprons are bulky plastic things or just plain ugly.  So I'm going to save up and get one of these sexy little numbers! I'll probably wear capris under them with a tank top. I don't want to offend anyone at the show. lol!  I know you're thinking "Wont you get paint all over it?  I'll probably get a little bit of paint, but overall I'm a pretty clean painter so I'm not too worried about it.  Also, I think it gives it a little bit of character.  Below I have listed some of her items that I adore. Go visit her shop at http://www.etsy.com/shop/dotsdiner .

Do you have any crative ideas to display art in an arts and crafts show?  I would love to know!

Enjoy - Finished My Painting!

So this is more of a design/realism painting.  I think you call it figurative realism?  I'm not sure.  With this particular painting I mushed together different Mucha prints.  For example the girl's left arm is from a different Mucha girl holding a different cup.  It's a cup I found in my pantry, more elegant than the beer cup in the original.  The girl's hair is different than the original, the original had her wearing a headband, so I painted her some fire red hair and tossled it up for that morning look.  I wanted her to be looking at something, so I peppered some butterflies here and there.  The design that is framing her in is probably one of my favorite parts.  Mucha rarely had symmetrical designs which is something I love. I hand painted every line. No measuring, no ruler. Just my hand, a tiny paint brush and my eyeballs.  All I gotta do is take a really good picture of it without a glare and put it up on Etsy!  If you want to visit my shop you can go to http://www.thesketchyeasel.etsy.com/  or if you want to see all my artwork you can go to my facebook page at   http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/The-Sketchy-Easel/195620920486042  Don't forget to "like" me when you're there!!

I hope all is well with you

Ashley

A Work IN Progress + Arts and Crafts Shows

Ok, so I started this painting before I left for GA over the weekend.  I got pretty far when I got back. Especially after the Casey Anthony trial ended, which BTW I'm pissed about the outcome.  Anywho, This piece is close to being done. I've got a nouveau border to paint around her and some butterflies along with touching her up.  The border is going to be incorperated along with her and what she is sitting on.  Confused?  You will see when I'm done!

So my previous post was "To craft show or not to craft show", or something of that matter.  Over the weekend my husband and I were talking in the car and this came up.  I told him how I would like to do it but it was going to be more money than I will probably make, but I like doing them and it's good for publicity.  Well, he then made a good point. He said "I don't care if you make any money off of it. You like to do it, right? You enjoy it? I don't make any money off of fishing, but I spend money on it because I like doing it". So that's that....I'm going to do it next year!  I'm going to try and kick it up to high gear and get a lot of paintings done.  I plan on entering the Lazy Daez show here in NC. They have to accept you first so *fingers crossed*. 

Here is my newest "work in progress".......

Mucha in Winter - My Little Back Room Studio

Are you a procrastinator?  I'm usually not, but when it comes to this piece, I most definitely am. I started this painting in 2007 in college.  It was the end of the semester and I was done looking at it. It looked mostly finished so I still got an "A" but nothing up to my standards.  You artists out there know what I'm talking about. You have a piece you have been staring at for weeks and just get so sick of it you need a break before even looking at it again.  Well during this break I have managed to get a new boyfriend apart from my previous 6 year relationship, get engaged, married, move to North Carolina, back to Georgia, have a baby, then move back to North Carolina.  Now I'm here and finished it in our little spare bedroom in our apartment.  I'm hoping to have my own studio when we get a house. If you're an artist, I'm curious as to where you do your art? 



Monday, Monday

Good morning everyone!  I'm excited to start this blog and am hoping for some followers!  I plan on doing a giveaway here soon and want to start promoting other shops from Etsy.  I think it will be more effective though if I get some followers, don't you??  haha.  So that's what I'm doing at this moment along with finishing up a painting I started about 5 years ago in college.  It was one fo those paintings that you start and get so sick of because it's just not turning out the way you want it and the semester was almost over, so you scrap it for the time being.  Well i decided to pick it back up and am more excited about it now than I was when I started it years ago.  It's turning out fantastic!  I can't wait to share it with you guys!

So another week means another shopping week.  I clipped my coupons out and am ready for Harris Teeter's souper double coupon week!  My husband and I just moved up here from Georgia about 2 months ago and we never had a Harris Teeter.  Although I have to say grocery prices are higher up here than back at home.  This Sunday I went on a diaper run at CVS.  I got a big box of Pamper's diapers, jumbo Huggies pack of diapers, Big refill bag of Huggies diapers and two boxes for Cheez-Its for 27.00!  I saved 46%! 

Do you coupon??  What deals have you found??