Busy, Busy, Busy!

Wow! This week has flown by and I have been busy every single day. I started the week off with an art marketing class, taught by Paula Cundiff.  With the economy the way it is, I feel like I need all the help I can get in terms of marketing my art. And I am not a good sales person, so this class is just the thing I need to get me motivated to do whatever I can to get my artwork out there and, hopefully, sell one or two...or three....  Paula has already given me some ideas in terms of revamping my approach to marketing my work, and you all will probably see some little changes here as I learn these new skills. 

I have been working on several paintings this week, too--going back and forth between acrylics and oil.  The portrait of Charlie is coming along--still lots of detail to add, but I'm beginning to like the colors and the "feel" of the painting. Since I did use a flash when taking the photograph--the photo was for a class I took in pet photography--I'm trying to soften the shadows so they don't have the harsh, border-like look caused by the flash.  I'm liking the color of Charlie's fur and I've added a little more detail in his eyes. They're still not where I want them yet.

I finished the acrylics painting I started several weeks ago. This is a scene from my trip to Ireland. The paint around the window was chipping and yellowed, and that is what I tried to portray in my painting. I don't think I'll frame this one because the darker color around the window, I think serves as a frame for the whole piece. 

And finally, here is what's on the easel now--a small piece, in acrylics, that I'm doing for fun. This is my daughter's dog, Mollie--who fell asleep on our end table. She seemed to fit right in with the other junk on the table, so I'm calling it "Knick Knack Mollie."  Here, I'm trying to portray the way the light from the lamp has changed the color of her fur--from a warm, yellowish white on her body, to a bluish-purple on her face.  Not finished yet, of course.  

Tomorrow is the Shelby County No Kill Mission seminar with Nathan Winograd.  I will be setting up a display of some of my pet portraits before the lecture. Maybe I'll get lucky and get a commission or two for pet portraits. Sheesh! No wonder I'm tired!                                                                                                                                     

"King" Charlie

I've been wanting to do a portrait of Charlie, my little Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. He's just the cutest little guy--and definitely has the "royal" attitude. I started this painting last night, hoping to finish it by Monday, but that's not going to happen, mostly because, once I started it, I decided to make it Charlie's "official" portrait. So, I'm taking my time with it. At this point, I've got about two layers of oil paint on it--still blocking in colors, not focusing too much on detail. I did spend a little more time on the eyes. I think if the eyes are correct, the rest of the image falls into place more easily.  When this piece is done, it's back to painting shelter animals. I also finished a still life in acrylics, inspired by my trip to Ireland. I'll post that as soon as I photograph it. Meanwhile--here's Charlie!

Paws Daily

Zora

9 x 12

Oil on Canvas Board

Contact Stephanie Allison to purchase

Website: http://www.stephanieallison.com/

"Paws Daily" is the name of my new shelter animal/art project. There are lots of these types of projects nationwide, where the artist or a group of artists creates animal portraits and a portion of the sales are donated to an animal shelter, humane society or some other animal welfare program. This is a personal project for me--something I'm doing to help the local animal shelter through the Shelby County No Kill Mission.  My hope is to create at least one portrait of a shelter animal daily (although at the rate I paint, it is more likely to be every two or three days....). I will eventually have notecards and prints available for purchase, too--but right now I'm concentrating on the paintings. This is a good project for me as it is keeping me motivated and it's good practice. Trying to complete a painting a day--even if I don't actually finish--forces me to paint more loosely and concentrate on the "essence" of the subject, so the finished piece has more of a "free" feeling to it.

This painting of Zora is fresh off the easel--the paint is still wet, so you can see a little reflection from the studio light.

Still Life with Spoon - Daily Painting

I usually try to keep Mondays free--sort of a recovery day from the busy weekend. Today much of the day was spent ordering art supplies and getting ready for a mini-seminar I'm taking on developing a business plan for my art studio.  I did manage to finish the little painting I started the other day. I am not very good at choosing titles. If it wouldn't confuse everyone (myself included) I'd probably call every thing "Untitled."  I suppose I could number them, but eventually I'd lose track and that would be even more confusing.  So this one is called "Still Life with Spoon."  It's 4 x 6, oil.
     Tomorrow it's another shelter animal portrait, and then on to a commissioned portrait. I love doing portraits!


              
                   

Finally! I'm Painting Again!

I've been in a bit of a painting slump these past few months, which is why I started surfing various artist websites, etc., hoping to get motivated. It's worked, and I'm especially enthusiastic about getting involved with the daily painting movement. I'm still struggling with actually completing a daily painting. But I'm definitely trying. It took me three days to complete this painting of Sammy, a dog at the Shelby County Animal Shelter, but it's finished now. My plan is to display it on March 6, when Nathan Winograd comes to Shelbyville as a guest speaker sponsored by Shelby County's No Kill Mission. If it's sold, proceeds from the sale will go to the No Kill Mission. Here is the completed painting: 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

    "Sammy"

     9 x 12

    Acrylics on Canvas Board

    Contact Stephanie Allison  

I am also working on a small piece right now, for my daily painting.  It's a 4 x 6, oil.   After working with acrylics, I keep forgetting that it takes awhile for oils to tack up--so I keep pushing paint around--which means it's not going to be finished till tomorrow. So it'll be a painting every two days!

       

                                 

Wednesday = Hump Day

Spent the entire day in the studio, something I should be doing much more often. But you all know how life gets in the way. However, thanks to the snow, I had a free day today and tried to make the most of it.  I decided to start on my new project: Art for Shelter Animals. I still need to speak with the No Kill Shelter, but my plan is to do a series of portraits of some of the many animals housed at the shelter. I haven't worked out all the details yet, but I'm thinking I might give the paintings to the shelter, and let them do what they want with them. Sell them, auction them, or keep them. Or, I could have a show this time next year, and auction off one or two pieces...I don't know yet.  But the other half of this project is to get back to daily painting--so these portraits will be small, nothing bigger than 9 x 12.  I haven't had much success at completing a painting a day--two days is the record for me so far. But having a daily or semi-daily deadline forces me to work quickly and loosely--which is the way I like to paint anyway. Now I hesitate to post this, because it isn't finished, but here is the first shelter animal portrait work in progress. 

This is Sammy.  The painting is in what I call the "ugly" stage--everything has been laid in and now I'm working on details and fine tuning, adjusting the colors.  The eyes still need work. This is in acylics, on canvas board. 

I really love doing portraits--animals or humans. I've always been fascinated by faces.  Doesn't this little buy look happy? It's a shame he's stuck in a shelter. Maybe by painting some of these beautiful creatures, they will find forever homes.

I'm hoping to finish this tomorrow and move on to the next one: a kitty cat!

Another Snow Day

It seems like one snow day blends into another lately, and cabin fever has set in. I couldn't remember whether today was Monday or Tuesday.  There was about a foot-high snow drift in front of my garage door this morning. Not a big deal for me, hailing from upstate New York--but it did require some shoveling to clear the area and keep the door from bouncing back up every time it hit a chunk of ice. I got to use my 4 wheel drive setting for the 3rd time this winter, though it took me a few minutes to figure out how to engage it, then disengage it. That's what happens when you don't use something very often. Unfortunately, after all that effort, I got to my destination only to find no one was there! So as not to make it a completely wasted trip, I made a quick run to the grocery store, then spent the rest of the day in the studio (yay!) doing busywork. Yes, I should have been creating but I am still researching marketing strategies and getting sidetracked by other things like learning to put a watermark on my photos and artwork. Watermarks can be added automatically through some programs like Photoshop, Picassa and Flickr. The latter two do it automatically when you upload to your web albums, but Photoshop--at least for me--is a lot more tedious. I suppose it would help if I dragged out the instruction book, but, being one who wants instant gratification, I opted for the "add text" solution in Picassa. Instant watermark--well, sort of. 

I admit watermarking hasn't been a priority with me until recently. But a friend asked me about it the other day and I got to thinking that it probably isn't a bad idea, even if some of the images I'm "marking" can still be downloaded by anyone who wants them badly enough. At least I feel now like I've done what I could to protect my work.

So here are two of the sketches I did for the Shelby County No Kill Mission Cookbook, which will be sent to the printer this week, I believe. When it's available for sale I'll post a link where you can get a copy. I understand there are over 200 recipes in it (not to mention one or two sketches by yours truly...)  I enjoyed doing these little drawings. It's nice to get away from the larger pieces and do something that's fairly quick and fun.  I love keepin' it simple!