Good News & Thank You

Study of Pears, 8x8 Oil on Canvas, Etsy

NEW ETSY SHOP

Holy Smokes, what have I got myself into now?!  I already feel like there is not enough time in the day and now I've added a whole new platform to learn for selling my artwork on.  

Dont get me wrong I'm really excited to be on Etsy.  I signed up in 2008 and just let it sit there which was good because apparently they have made a lot of changes but I'm grandfathered into some of the "old ways".  Whatever.  It's all I can do to figure out some of the basics.  The Etsy hand book is like a rats nest of do's and dont's.  On top of that, they have forums and teams and groups and so on.  You can really get lost in there.   I can really get lost in there.

But I have several paintings listed and already made a sale which made my day.  Rather than pester my customers to leave reviews (beyond the thank you note), I am at their mercy to help me out in that area.  That is, if you are happy.  If not...  please get a hold of me so I can fix that.  I want happy, elated, WOW'd customers.  :)

After all, many of my customers purchase my artwork from an online image having never seen the painting in person and that is real trust.  I am grateful for that and wouldnt want to do anything to damage that trust.  

via GIPHY

I think about it in the studio when I'm finishing a painting.  Again when I'm varnishing it.  And again when I'm backing and labeling it.  I think about how it will be received.  I'm ALWAYS thinking about whether I would hang it in my home or give it as a gift.  

SO --  For those of you who have purchased from me, thank you.  Thank you for trusting me.  Thank you for your kind words to me upon receipt of the artwork.  Thank you having faith in me.  It has molded me into the artist I am today.  To push myself to better prep work, better brush work, better palettes, better compositions for elegance.  Better artwork for your home (and mine).

Thank you for your patronage.  

Sincerely,

Lori    :)

Original Oil Painting Stormy Pansies

Storm Watch, 12x16, Oil on Canvas

When they are fresh, I paint as many pansies as I can before burn out.  As usual, I focus on light.  Where I want it and how much do I want it there.  It should be noted , I am supremely influenced by our weather here in the PNW and that may have (did) influence my palette and consequently the light.   Early spring can be that way around here.  Wet, stormy, drizzly, cloudy, windy.  Little if any sunshine.  Maybe enough to mow the lawn once a week if I'm lucky.

All that said, when I was midway through this painting I began thinking about Edgar Allen Poe's The Raven....  Once upon a midnight weary...  and so on.  With all that and it being relatively dark outside even at noon, due to the storms, this was the result.

Frankly, it's one of my favorites.  :)

Original Oil Painting Poof Pansies

POOF, 10x20, Oil on Canvas, $855

If you've ever had baby powder you know what Poof is.  Give the container a little squeeze and watch the atmosphere haze up.  In creating the glow around the pansies I was preoccupied with that memory.  Essentially, I was poofing baby powder with paint - not literally, of course, but that was certainly my mindset.  :)

Creating a glow or atmosphere or mood - that's foremost in my mind when I'm painting.  When I first started painting I was all about painting "things".  Paint the apple.  Paint the pear.  Whatever.  All that gave me good practice with some essential elements such as paint, medium and brush handling.  

But the more I learned, the more I learned I needed to learn....?  Yep.   

Concept is everything at this point.  Sure, I try to start with a good representation of my subject but once I have that established ( to my liking) you might be surprised by my next move.  

A bigger brush and edge obliterating.  Yep again.  Once I have my elements in place (speaking as a general rule of thumb, not exclusively) I find hard edges that need softening or even all together losing completely and go at it with full abandon with brush in hand and no holds barred.  Followed closely with color smooshing and, conversely, dashing pieces of paint in contrasting temperatures for effect.  Some thick paint, some thin paint...  VOILA!

Sometimes, I just think the painting is better off left alone.  That is rare though.  

With POOF  I mingled a little this and a little that but focused on getting that powder explosion behind the pansies.  I really had fun with that.  

How much is too much?  How far can I go?  If I dont overplay it I havent gone far enough.  The end.  I overplay.  It's what I do.  

I dont take a lot of risks these days.  I get my taxes done on time, I dont eat any grapes on my way to the check stand, and I use cruse control on those long rural roads.  HOWEVER,  when I'm in the studio, 

"I am the master of my fate, 

      I am the captain of my soul. " 

(Invictus BY WILLIAM ERNEST HENLEY) 

Whatever happens, happens.  I'm the author of success as well as failure.  It's all on me baby.  :)