Action in the Shop!

I have really been neglecting my Etsy shop for the last several months. Not renewing my listings, not listing new items – poor thing! I have finally given my shop a little action – some new cards are now listed! And I will list more soon – I promise!! Click here to purchase a card.

The painting on the cards is one that I made for a show featuring the work of many Calgary artists. We all used a 2′x 2′ base, and the themes were “music”, “wine”, and “the colour red”. When I first made the painting, I had forgotten the “music” theme, but it seems to have come out anyway; when I posted it to Facebook, I had many people comment that it looked like a rock concert, and they could see guitar frets! We had the show opening at Wine-Ohs in Calgary last week.

Studio Tuesday!

You may have noticed (or maybe not) that I haven’t been blogging much in the last 4 months. We were having our house renovated, and it was, overall, a great experience, but left little time for blogging. Anyway, I now have a real studio, with electricity and everything!! Here are a couple photos from downstairs – you may notice how white it still is. I was having trouble breaking it in, but finally did it today – there are now paint drips on the walls and floor!

While we were out of the house, friends of mine graciously lent me their basement to use as a temporary studio space. This is the painting that I gave to them in gratitude for their generosity!

Here are a few paintings that left my studio space last year, without me talking about them. I made the first one for my friend Harold at Gorilla House. When I arrived that night to give it to him, a woman who was visiting GH fell in love with the painting, so I sold it to her and made Harold the new one you see below the first!

Here are a couple of paintings that are hanging around the studio – they are looking for new homes, but I have yet to make listings for them. If you are interested in any, just let me know.

It’s Strange but I like it!

I’m so glad to be back in the swing of things – I’m painting more regularly and really enjoying it! I am finding today’s composition to be a little bit odd, but sometimes odd is good. So I am embracing it and as usual, enjoying creating color explosions!

Today’s painting is up for auction on my Facebook page, so please head over there to bid! The auction ends tonight at 9 pm MST.

Inspire at Triple Flip

I’m so excited to show you my art on a bodysuit, made by Triple Flip!! Triple Flip is a Canadian clothing company, with roots right here in Calgary! The clothes are bright and bold, and they have a special focus on fit, which is really important for the preteen years; anyone with preteen girls knows how hard it can be to find clothes that fit properly, are age-appropriate, AND look good.

Over a year ago, the company asked me if they could use this painting to create a bodysuit:

Here it is… how cool is this?! I love it!

Photo from Triple Flip.

Photo from Triple Flip.

Spring Painting!

Happy Spring, everyone! The sun is shining and apparently flowers are popping up. I haven’t seen them yet, so I painted one instead! This painting is now up for auction on my Facebook page. Bidding ends tomorrow, Thursday, March 21, at 8pm M.S.T.

Painting in … New Zealand!

Remember this tutorial I posted back in 2011? I had no intention of writing a serious tutorial, but I thought it would be a fun way to show how I paint. Turns out, it’s my most popular blog post, ever, with almost 10,000 views. I am still stunned by how seriously people have taken that post! And happy!

Most recently, a group of students at the Kokatahi-Kowhitirangi School in New Zealand used the tutorial to make their own paintings. The class was led by their teacher, Megan McLellan, in the process. Megan and I went to high school together (and used to take the same bus!) and we have been connected on Facebook for several years.

Here’s a photo of the students and their paintings:

I feel like a proud mama!! I hope they all had fun with it (I see smiles – good sign)! One of my greatest wishes for children is to enjoy the process and have fun with art!

It’s a colourful day!

Last night I chose to dance, rather than go to Gorilla House. It was a wonderful night, but I did miss painting! Painting at Gorilla House is such a different experience that painting in my studio, so I decided to bring a bit of that energy to the studio: I made two paintings in two hours.

I had lots of fun making these, and although the color palette is the same, the energy is very different (to me). Sticking with the Gorilla House theme, I am auctioning both of these paintings on my Facebook page today. The auction ends tonight at 10 pm MST, so head on over!

Studio Tuesday

Here are some recent works in progress!

I worked on this one today. I’m feeling like it’s almost finished, but I am going to let it sit for a bit, and see how I feel about it next time I head down to the studio. I know that when I am not completely sure, it’s probably not done. On the other hand, when I leave a painting for long enough, I sometimes get used to how it looks, and it becomes done (like the one on the ground in the photo, with the squares!).

How do you know when you are done?

Painting my guts out

I did, and here’s the result:

I went dancing last night, instead of painting at Gorilla House, so I was kind of missing it!

This painting is up for auction on my Facebook page, today only.

Gorilla House Live Art 28 (Wordless Wednesday)