New Art

YAY! I've gotten more art done in the last couple days that I have in a long time! I'm so excited. It's nice to be on the other end of the busy train for once and being able to tune in to my creative muse is helping to clear my head. I actually think I'm becoming more inspired as I get back into the art thing. Art therapy is GOOD!
So here are things that I worked on this week. Just think, I'll be pulling out the paints soon!
I am doing a swap and needed five post cards and based on the profiles these are four of the five that I have tailored to their specific "likes". Two of the swappers love recycled paper, or interesting papers. Anyone who knows me knows that I do know usually do "collage" or "scrapping" type artwork. I love the results people get with it, but it just doesn't jive with my brain. So these two cards are what I came up with from my box of random paper "junque".














then I broke out my favorite sharpies and went to town. One girl likes crows, and I've done a lot of crow art in the past. I dreamed this idea last night and just had to see how it would turn out. I kind of like the results. I didn't do it exactly how I had dreamed it, but I was just doing a trial run to see if I liked the end product. I think I'll be trying it with other things.

and the last of my entries for tonight as it's really late and I promised myself I was going to be in bed early tonight **snicker** Another sharpie piece. This based on the fact that the person liked blues and greens. I'm always happy slapping a lot of sharpie onto a nice slice of vellum bristol! It's like a runners high. Well ok, the fumes might have something to do with that, but I don't even notice them anymore. I've been working with sharpies for far too long. So here's the piece, it's a little bit nature a little bit abstract.



I guess being completely sleep deprived over the last few day's might be a good thing. I think it's forced my brain to think outside of the box. I took on the challenge of writing a techniques feature on the Passion for Painting Guild Blog. That's going to force me to try things I wouldn't have otherwise done. I'm kind of excited about it all!

So, for now, I turn in for the night. I'm hoping to get a really nice night's sleep...though I might have to wait until Thursday for that. I'm thinking tomorrow just might be a good day for a late afternoon nap while Val's down for his nap. NIGHT ALL!

Creations from the week

Here are some things I've done this week!


Zentangle-esque bookmark. This was the first I made, then lost, then found again. I did a second to replace the first one but as always, the first one was nicest.
Well I guess looking at them both close together... they're both nice in their own way. The first one I did based around a henna design idea. I love mehndi, it's such a gorgeous artform. I've done a few images in my own mehndi style. I'm getting a bit better each time I do it.. I'd love to atually try doing it with real henna sometime, but that's a whole other beast. For now I'll stick to my sharpies.

Speaking of my Sharpie addiction: Here's a sharpie piece I did yesterday.

I did this piece intending to send it off for a swap that's due in December. I decided instead to send it to my friend's mother-in-law. She's battling cancer for the second time and going through chemotherapy again. I figured something so bright and cheery just might make her day.

Then I've been getting back into atcs again! HELLO atcs! It's been so long my friends. I was in a totoro swap and did a little white totoro atc. That's the other piece of art that disappeared a few days ago and I had to make a replacement for. So this is my replacement piece:
He turned out pretty cute I think. My other one was a bit better if I remember correctly, but i could be totally wrong.

YAY! Now all I have to do is break out the paints for the painting guild and I'll be on a roooooolllllll!

I'm running a SALE!!

Well Black Friday and Cyber Monday quickly approaches. I thought I'd take the time this year to offer a coupon and have some fun! Here's your chance to save on those fairy names and custom fairy ornaments! You have until the end of the month (if you're within the United States) to order your fairy names to have them in time for Christmas. Don't miss your chance for fantastic savings on original personalized art!

Visit ViridianMuse's Studio

SAVE 15.00 % On
All Items

Use Coupon Code:

FAIRYGOOD

during checkout.

Handmade Christmas

Custom fairy Special Order 1 down 5 more to go

I finished my first custom fairy order from last weekend today. It turned out really cute. I really love doing these, and these next few are particularly special. I'm modeling them after the girls they're going to! How fun is that?

So this is my first of the six that were ordered. I don't normally do colored eyes, but figured I'd try them out for this one. I'm letting her mom decide if she wants to keep them green, or make them black like most of my fairies eyes usually are.

She's got the most gorgeous red hair and I'm hoping I've done well in capturing the beauty of it in all it's fiery red auburn gloriousness. Most of the time when I do red headed fairies, they're cartoon-y red and funky. I like it that way, don't get me wrong, I think it's fitting with the whimsical style of my art. This one is an attempt to make it a bit more "real"


She's also got silver lined shoes! That's new in my fairies. I don't know what possessed me to give her silver soles, but I did it. I'm now thinking over the multi-colored names I've been doing and wondering if I should just start making the names in all one color, or just straight black so they really stand out. I think the multi-color is fun, but it tends to not POP off the page like I'd like. While the fairies are the central art, the name is what makes it special. I think I'll pose this question to my fb page and see what the consensus is on which people would prefer.

Finally some creation time!

Things are starting to hit a predictable ebb and flow here. Valor still has his days ( like today) where napping seems almost non-existent and I'd been up most of the night with him. Days like today are when the art time comes in and soothes the stress or anxiousness.
Thankfully I've got a lot of custom fairies to work on. I'm hoping once I get them all colored in, the pencil sketches are already done, I'll be able to draw some more sales from the 6 I just had. More variety in names, and coloring I think will help.
Here are the pencil sketches, granted they're really light. They turned out really cute! The fun thing is, of the 6 images, 4 are modeled slightly after darling little girls. The hair styles and skin coloring, once colored in, will be a perfect match. I also like customizing the colors to match the girls favorite colors.
Here's a few close up shots of them:

VALOR ARRIVES!

We've been awaiting our little man for many months. My pregnancy was a beautiful experience! Other than having extra testing and monitoring due to an existing health condition I truly had a wonderful, problem free pregnancy. It was a true joy, from the very beginning when we found out to the very end of it all. I did 12 hours of labor after being induced and ended up not making any progress which resulted in a c-section. It wasn't the way I wanted things to go, but apparently nature had other plans. It was exhausting, thrilling, and at some moments disgusting (I ended up vomiting about 5 times, including once on the O.R. table NOT FUN) The end result was well worth it all!

Baby belly and the gals!

Here's a picture of me, my mother and sisters and sisters-in-law.

The Artist's Continuum Chunky Book Project

The artist trading card group I hostess is starting out a year+ adventure into Chunky Books. We tried to do a small book with just a few members involved and it turned out so tiny it should be called a thin book. We had a good time doing it, but it was a bit disappointing when the end result is only 4 pages long. So we've decided to do a continuous chunky book. We're doing a round cd shaped book that we're going to continue to add to over the year. We're picking a color every couple of months and then have a month to get our pages done and put together. The first time we're getting together to punch the pages and start out the book is in November. This is mainly due to the fact that the baby is due next month and I want to be sure I have plenty of time to get into a routine with him before I start crafting regularly again. I'm very excited about this new creative venture and hope it turns into a great project and group.

I'm still working on finishing things for the gallery before the upcoming birth too. They've been minus my work for so long that I hope I haven't lost my place. Things around here have been incredibly crazy and insane, but I'm trying to bulk up on lots of wares so that they don't run out right away.

FInally back on the creative trail!

Well it's happened finally. I finally felt up to doing some creative work on fairies and getting stuff ready for the gallery. It's been so long since I've felt like doing anything. Since November when my mother-in-law passed away I've been feeling a bit dark and heavy and creative things, while part of my daily life, only kept me occupied for minutes at a time.

Now I'm back to working on fairy ornaments and getting them ready for the gallery. With this big batch I did in the last couple of days I just might have enough to keep some for the online venues and I can refresh my stores finally! The fairies are still a work in progress but at least I'm doing something constructive finally! It sure feels good. After this I have to tackle my sweater animals. I've got a stack of fulled sweaters just awaiting a bit of personality and then they too can head off to the gallery! They sold out of my last batch in a few weeks and have been wanting more for awhile.

New Fairy Name Art..

YAY! I've got new name art in the works. These are turning out so adorable. I cannot wait to work on more and come up with some boy themed art as well. Here are the two names completed last week. I've got about three more in the works and will be posting them as well. I feel the single fairy is much more adorable than the older versions I'd done with simple block lettering and a scattering of fairies. These just seem to have so much more personality! I can't wait to have people request more so that I can get to work on them. I'm hoping some people will go crazy and get ones with funky colored hair not just your standard blond, brunette or redhead.



These were made for a set of twins. What fun! I can just imagine them in their room.

The Art Every Day Month Challenge

I decided to participate in the Art Every Day Month challenge from Leah @ Creative Every Day While I've been creavtive a little bit each day, it's only been a little wee bit. Since my mother in law has been in the hospital it's been a bit of a whirlwind. I don't even know which end is up currently. I work all day, go to the hospital afterwork, and come home to cook dinner at about 7:00. It's been tough, but to keep myself a wee bit of sane, I need to create. I need to create daily anyway, but the stressful, awful times are when I need it most.

Yesterday I completed a little octopus amigurumi to send off to a swap partner. I'd already sent off what should have been the complete swap of two amigurumi ornaments, but for some reason my little ami bird flew the coop! I found her days afterward on my desk...long after the package had left my hands and started the trip to Mexico. So I figured I'd get her packed up and sent off, but she needed a traveling companion to keep her company and make sure she stays in the envelope this time! So, of course an octopus came to mind! What other creature could hold a little bird in place, one with 8 legs should be able to do it! Here's the octopus:

This is Ollie...at least that's the name I've given him...his new owner might have a different name for him though :)

Today, November 6th, is when I'm going to buckle down and really start posting about my jaunts through Art Everyday Month. I really look forward to making a dent in some creative time, and getting my creative things back in order. Can I consider "creating an organized crafting space" part of Art Every Day Month?

The Artisan View - Avalon_Studios on Artfire

Today's interview is with Athena of Avalon_Studios! In Avalon_Studios, you'll find all kinds of wonderous jewelry. From natural stone, to metal charms I'm sure you'll find something that tickles your fancy! I'm personally quite taken with these fun rock and roll earrings!



So without further ado, here's Athena!




Name: Athena

Location: New York

Artfire Link: http://www.artfire.com/users/avalon_studios

Blog Link: http://avalonny.blogspot.com

What got your started in your craft? I started out making gifts for friends and family when I couldn't afford to go and buy presents for birthdays and holidays. It eventually turned into a year round hobby.

Where do you find your greatest inspiration or sparks that creative muse? So many things. My kids are probably the best inspiration. I also take inspiration from nature or art that I've seen.



Are you Formally Taught, or self-trained? I'm self-taught. I learned almost everything through trial and error and hours upon hours of reading.


Any advice you would like to share with other artists? Do what you love no matter what you think others may think of it. If you aren't doing something you totally love you'll never be happy with the end result.

What''s some weird, fun, random fact about you? I'm a huge nerd. I like role-playing games and the latest technology (when I can afford it LOL)


What is your studio/creative space like? I recently marked out my own little work area in my living room. It's a tall bar-like area held up with shelves. You can see pictures of my room make over on my blog.


Do you have a favorite piece of art you created? I think my favorite piece so far has been my Medallion Pendant. Using the natural materials and blending them together was fun and it was interesting to see how they fit so well together.

Something New is coming!

Greetings all! I've been so inspired by all my creative friends online that I've decided to do some Artisan Interviews on my blog here. Every other day, I'll be highlighting my favorite Artisans from all over!

I feel this will be a great place to get to know some of those artisans who have inspired me, become close friends, and who's items I just go loopy over. There's going to be lots of eye candy to ooo and ahhh over! So prepare to be wowed!


"The Artisan View" Will be starting here in a few minutes. If you are a shop owner and would like to be part of my Artisan Spotlight, drop me a line! Once I receive your answers you'll be put into the queue for the blog postings. Along with this posting will be a twitter, facebook and plurk announcement. Hopefully it'll bring your shop some extra exposure, and business.

New Ideas and less time to create.

Greetings all! It's been so long since I posted i figured I'd best take some time to pop in and revive this little spot of creativity. I've been under a lot of overwhelming time constraints lately dealing with an injured family member and trying to keep up with everything else I normally do. Art and my close friends have been my link to sanity. I've been trying to prep for an art show at the end of October and that is starting to weigh heavily on my mind. I've got a few things in the works, but just don't know how I'm going to have enough time to get enough product done. Three things a night (if that) over a 30 day period does not an art show stock up make.

I'm trying my darnedest though. I've spent the last few days searching for things to turn into pin cushions. Here is the resulting first trials of this venture.


I'm not really sure if I'm going to carry on with the clear ones. I'm not sure I like the way they turn out. My friend however like it more than the others. I did five more last night, and will be posting pictures of those later. I've got a huge batch of fairies in the works, but I've got to split them between the show, the gallery and my artfire/etsy shops. I might just split them between the gallery and the show for now and worry about the websites later. However I fear missing a lot of good holiday shopping.

These are two postcards I did for an all pink postcard swap. It was fun working in shades of only one color. A bit of a challenge...but I think they turned out pretty neat.


Ok, it's off to do a bit of photography this morning and then get to some serious art work.

A few new ACEOs

These were done for a recent swap of Things with Wings for art 42

I had also done two bird cards to go with this, but didn't think to scan them before popping them into the envelope. One was a crow piece, and one was my little bulb headed birds with long spindly legs.

Watercolor Cards

Working on fall cards....breaking out the watercolor as it's been so long since I really "played" with it. These are for a swap via swap-bot. I love how they turned out, especially because i hadn't used watercolors for awhile, other than quick background washes and easy fill for aceos.

So I had to do something fall themed, without being Halloween. I LOVE the fall for the brilliant colors in the leaves and figured that would be an easy way to edge into blending colors again. I then moved from there to the purple martin migrations. This turned out kind of neat, though not exactly what I had in mind.


I then thought about the lovely gourds and pumpkins I so love during the fall. I think there's nothing more lovely than a centerpiece of freshly fallen leaves and harvest gourds. Natural and wonderful!


I figured the envelopes needed a bit of beautifying so I did some simple leave designs for the two leaf and harvest cards.

And a quick purple martin over the tree tops



Quite a satisfying artful evening. Hopefully I'll have plenty more of those to come. Now it's off to bed with me since it's now nearly 2:00 am. I've reverted back to night owl status since being on vacation. Monday is going to be HARD!

I've got myself prints now! WHOOT!!

I found a place to get prints of my aceos...or my larger art on aceos without much hassle of setting up the layout myself (what can I say... I'm lazy and slightly computer illiterate) However, this place seems to be the way to go. I figure if I can make enough money from fairies in the next few months I'll be able to offer a free fairy aceo with each sale next year. :) The bad thing is I'd have to limit it to one striking image (or two as I can get double sided printing) so I'll have to really think about it. They did a great job with the things I sent them. They're photo paper prints right now, but I'm going to try the upgrade next time to a thicker stock which will make them even more "print" like. I'm still going to keep my eyes peeled for other printing venues as I'd love to find affordable printing for larger versions of my artwork.

Here are the prints I'm currently offering in my artfire and etsy shops:
"My Blue Days"

"Carmine Bee Eater Trio"


"Basking Cat"


"Gaia"


"Blue Throated Bee Eater"

Now taking custom orders for Fairy Names

It's about time you say! Finally the fairy names are up in my etsy shop, and my artfire shop available for purchase! Here's just one of the ones I've done.

It's ANOTHER TREASURE HUNT!

If you missed it last time, be sure to check it out this time!!

Have you ever been on a Treasure Hunt? Now is the perfect time!



A group of sellers has hidden a picture of a treasure chest in their shops. All you have to do is find the item with the picture and you can receive the special that they are offering.



Sounds simple, right?



To make it even easier, I’m going to give you the links to the shops and tell you what special they are offering.



These specials are going to run today, Saturday June 6, from 10:00 am EST to midnight.



In each shop’s announcement, you can read more about the special they have running and how it is going to work



Happy hunting!!

ViridianMuse
Find the treasure chest and get 10% off the item and free shipping!!



MNHPhotography
50% off item with Treasure Chest



VanceStudios
50% off item with Treasure Chest



SpunSisterDesigns
BOGO at 50% off (equal or lesser value)



SheDesignsJewelry
Free bracelet with purchase of item with Treasure Chest



newhopebeading
25% off item with Treasure Chest



AccessoriesbyGottJoy
30% off the item with the Treasure Chest



GottBeads
30% off the item with the Treasure Chest



KraftyLady
25% off plus free shipping on item with the Treasure Chest



Angelas_Adornments
20% off and free shipiping for the item with the Treasure Chest

I've been digging through old files....found some good stuff! :)

My very first experiments with photoshop. I was realllllly green at this point (as if I'm not still a novice) but I think this was pretty cool!More photoshop play. I just loved this image of my nephew and thought it would make a great card image. This was for a blue swap as well as the x-ray floral above.