It's Spring! And I Have A Raging Case of SpRING FeeVAH!

 Dear Lovely Blog Readers...

I have SPRING FEEVAH!

SALE SALE SALE!! 40% OFF ALL ARTWORK!

I'm being a total loveable(?) SPAZ (by the way, that pic of me above, erm, sista's lost alotta weight, so, being brave posting an older pictsy of yours truly)....anyway, I'm a spaz because I've been painting up a storm non-stop, only coming up to breathe, eat, and work (the kind I'm forced to do, boo!!)

As a result, I am taking my work these days in a new direction. Bigger direction. And stylistically different, as well.

Which means I have a whole lot of stock that I would love to send to new homes.

THEREFORE  A SALE MY DEARS! 40% off ALL ORIGINAL ART in my Etsy Shop. Coupon Code: SPRING2013. I would very much love to send these beauties off to wonderful homes, thereby making much needed room for bigger canvas, and ultimately tubs of gesso. Yes, I've graduated to TUBS my friends.

Some works you might be familiar with....

COYOTE. Howling. Spring is definitely here!

Original Art 6 x 6 canvas, acrylic - 40% off!

CUTE OWL! Beautiful colors. Perfect for a home office, or nursery

Original Art 8 x 8 wood canvas, 1.5" deep - 40% off!

Animals! Wonderful gift idea for the animal lover in your life.

Original Art 3 x 9 canvas - each sold separately - 40% off

I am gearing up to restock my shop with my latest works. I can't wait to unveil and show you what new directions I'm taking the creativity into. VERY EXCITING.

And Messy.

'The Birds' Painting - Unfolding

I photographed the progress of another large painting I just finished last night.

Discovering it's a lot of fun to document the progress of a painting - to be able to see how it all unfolds.

(Above) 18 x 20 Canvas. I started a painting, but it wasn't going anywhere, so I re-layered with some gesso, and did a few scribbles to start the process.

(Above) I had an image in my head of what I wanted to paint - but! As we all know, most of the time the end results are WAAAAAAY different to what was originally in our heads! I wanted to experiment with dark pigment (Payne's grey and anthraquinone blue). I LOVE the blue! But it's a 'stainer'. This is serious pigment that loves to be handled with care....

(Above) After the initial layer of color, I begin to incorporate the background with interesting patterns, lines, circles, and whatever I feel like doing. The hard part is to not think about it too much. I find if I think too much, I start feeling heavy around the shoulders and miserable. So, I just GO WITH IT.

(Above) Whew! Two layers completed, now the outline of the 'image' in my head. Okay, more like the subject in my head...I knew I wanted to paint a bird (or two). The inspiration for this painting brought to you by the raucous bird song of Spring in the marsh across our house, accented with peepers. I LOVE this time of year!

(Above) Once the design is committed, I start to add gesso to the background, blocking out interesting patterns. I used bubble wrap for some texture.

(Above) The birds are coming alive, and they definitely have something to say. At this point I don't have any concrete plans on colors. I just go with it.

(Above) Starting to see some major progress. I like the flow of the painting at this point, the the echoing of lines, circles, and colors around the canvas. My interpretation of the great joy Spring infuses into our feathered friends.

(Above) Ooo! Almost there! I find this stage of the painting process to be the most difficult. The painting is nearly done, but it still has 'something' that needs to be done to it. Sometimes that 'something' isn't always available, and usually at this point I'll put the painting to rest over night, or for a couple of days until it speaks to me again. In this case, I let her rest overnight.

This is the final piece before I signed and glazed it. I LOVE how it turned out. Granted, nothing like I initially thought it would, but that is part of the excitement of painting.

For this piece, I used Golden acrylics, Liquitex soft acrylics, gesso, black / white China pencils, and oil pastels.

This painting will be for sale shortly! If you're interested, please email me for pricing and details. UPDATE: Painting now in a private collection. No longer for sale.

Tonight, I finish a couple more pieces. Slowly building a cachet of paintings that will hopefully be displayed around town locally. 

Thank you for visiting!

Do you have any paintings you'd like to share??? Please comment and link below!! 

Letting Go and JUST PAINTING!

Sweet Obliteration - Mindy Lacefield

I want to share this awesome YouTube vid of artist Mindy Lacefield (Tim's Sally) who documents so perfectly the artful process of letting go and having fun with painting.

This is what I'm working toward - putting the 'eff back into F - U - N.

ENJOY!!

Here's What's Going On

Acrylic on Canvas

It's been an interesting year so far. I'm taking my art in a new and exciting direction. Basically, I'm working on much larger canvas.

But more importantly - you know all that stuff that blocks your head when you're creating that says, 'hey, think my collectors will like this?' which inevitably hinders a painting because now you're no longer painting for exploration of your True Artist Self - you're now painting for profit.

Bleh!! Yick!! That will KILL any natural unveiling of deeper artistic wells. 

Here's some down home brutal honesty for you: I have turned my back on all the Internet Artist trappings. Yep. I am no longer stalking my favorite artists, or reading up on their incredible lives, or whatever. I went Cold turkey. Why?  Because that kind of obsessive 'following' detracts from me as a creative. Instead of discovering who I am as an artist, I'm taking all that lovely energy and putting it into discovering who THEY are as artists. And while I love my favorites (and love discovering new faves) I now have a 'relationship' agreement in place.

Acrylic on Canvas

The agreement allows me to find and oogle over new artists, and to visit my favorites and oogle over new works, but it stops there. And while I love to know more about favorite artists - their backgrounds, what drives them, etc. - it's too much. And for me - frankly, that's the way it has to be.

Taking a big huge break and just focusing on the paint in my studio, and how it lands on canvas.

Oh, and did I mention I've been in one hell of a bad mood the past two weeks? I don't know what it is to be exact - the constant over cast skies, rain, basement flooding twice in one week, strangely fluctuating temperatures? Who knows. Or perhaps it's a mid life crisis. I haven't figured it out yet, but I can tell you that working ALL THAT out onto canvas without thinking about 'making a living' from my work has freed my fingers up to play - and has really lead to some interesting new discoveries! It's really exciting so I'm going to honor this special time, and enjoy the process.

I can't wait to share with you new paintings. Now THAT makes me happy!!

What are you up to these days? Are you going Cold Turkey on anything? 

This Week! Interview with the Lovely Artist Karen Hoepting

I discovered Karen Hoepting's work on Etsy. I like to browse Etsy and look for inspiration. When I stumbled upon Karen's  bright representational artwork, my heart skipped a beat, and my stomach galloped all over the place - it was love at first sight! What can I say other than Karen's work is rich with color and beautiful animal expression with a heaping serving of  creative design, and exquisite use of color which permeates each of her unique pieces. And yes - her work also had a mouth watering affect on me. As unladylike as it may sound, I will happily admit that I drooled while looking through Karen's vast array of artwork. I am so very pleased that she also agreed to an interview as well! Please join me in discovering what makes this beautiful mouthwatering artist soar...

Artist Karen Hoepting

Hi, Karen! Tell us about yourself, and your art journey.

I grew up on a small and humble livestock farm. From childhood, I was an animal lover and I loved creating. I did a lot of drawing back then, and I remember wanting to draw the animals I loved (horses mostly, although we only had cows) as realistic as possible in my attempt to honor them. I never turned into much of a realist, but as it turns out, the animal loving, art loving, and the country just never quite left me.

  

I think I would have been happy in some kind of veterinary career, but I was just too left brained for it, and I dropped calculus in grade 10.  Art was interesting and comfortable to me, and the more I learned about it, the more it seemed to fit.  I attended the University of Waterloo which had a relatively understated art department, but I became an artsy-fartsy anyway and emerged with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in 1997. I remember the professors told our graduating class: “We are the only faculty in this University that does not promise you a job when you get out of here...”  

So my then boyfriend (now husband) and I moved to Toronto, acquired two dogs and three cats (our first “children”). I waited tables, walked our dogs, and I painted. I was happy, in love and surrounded by animals, so my paintings became really colorful and increasingly happy. I was able to quit waitressing and paint full time when I began an affiliation with an art distribution company that sells art to galleries. I’ve never had a solo show, but my work has been sold in various galleries all over Canada, the US, the UK and Japan.  One of my career highlights has been through my affiliation with a Japanese art print company.  For several years I have had the opportunity to meet my loyal Japanese customers through their unique art print signing events. (That is how I acquired all the art prints in my Etsy shop)

I now live in suburbia with three kids under age five and an aging (and dwindling) pet population. I attempt to balance family and the artisan life, but I’m always losing the battle of the messy house. It is a bit of a circus around here, but it’s my circus. 

How do you get inspired? I know I struggle with my muse almost weekly. It’s par for the course as a creative person. How do you work through bouts of creative block, or when your muse is on hiatus? Creative block is a reoccurring problem.  Of course I would rather just watch some trashy reality TV than deal with creative issues. But whether it’s a lack of ideas issue or a problem working out the kinks of a difficult painting, I find you just have to put that pencil to paper.  Put that brush to the canvas and work it out. “Thinking” about it without acting leads to procrastination. I have been guilty of that on more than one occasion. 

Creating backgrounds are one of my favorite parts of creating a painting. What is your favorite part of the process when creating a painting? I love the satisfaction of finishing a painting. I never struggle with knowing when a piece is done, so when I’m in the homestretch, that’s when I’m the happiest. It feels like that final burst of speed at the end of a marathon. (I’m guessing here, because I don’t actually know much about marathons)

What are some of your favorite supplies and tools to use in your paintings? How do you decide what to create? Where do your ideas come from?

Inspiration is all around me. Animals are my subjects, but the feelings and stories behind the art are from my life. Thoughts, dreams, conversations, people I know.  It has been brought to my attention that the eyes of the animals I paint resemble my own eyes. I don’t do that consciously, but I think it’s true and that the animals are at least partially self portraits.  

Could you share what a typical day of creating looks like for Karen Hoepting? At the moment, I only get two real work/creating days a week, when my four year old twins are in school and my two year old goes to part time daycare. The peacefulness in the house on those days is absolutely golden. It feels like the spa compared to the usual chaos at my house. So it’s the best possible time to be creative. I sketch little thumbnail sketches to give myself a basic compositional idea, but all the detail, color and “decoration” decisions are made during the painting process. All that comes to an abrupt halt around 3:00pm when I have to go and pick up the kids. 

What are some of your future goals as an artist? Do you eventually want to show your work in galleries? Or conquer the commercial world with licensing? I’m so in love with the artisan life - the simplicity of creating something beautiful with your hands, and then selling it. I want to do that forever! I would love to dabble with other creative things someday, like sewing, screen printing, paper arts and even cake baking/decorating. Children’s book illustration is another dream.  

What is the worst advice you’ve ever been given? I pondered this question for a long time, but the truth is I can’t remember getting any terrible advice (at least not art-wise). I can only say that I’ve been one of the rare fortunate ones who avoided heavy criticisms and judgments about my chosen path. Although I can attest that there were a few who were “pleasantly surprised” that I managed to sell some paintings after all... 

What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?

Tell the truth.  

In life and in art. 

(Your truth anyway...truth is quite subjective)

What advice do you have for new artists?

Always work from what is dear to you.  

Don’t be afraid to take risks with your work.  You can always paint over it (:  

And be honest.  

*****

For more information on this wonderful prolific artist, please visit:

Karen's Etsy Shop.

Join her Facebook Page here

More information on Karen, and where to purchase her work here and here.

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Thank you Karen for your wonderful interview and your exquisite art! I am a fan for life!

Are you a visual artist or sculptor and looking to be made a fuss of, and get some exposure? Email me at alisasteadyart@gmail.com if you might be interested in being a featured artist on my blog!

I Quit My Day Job with Founder & Editor-In-Chief of Noobsource

It Is With Great Pleasure To Welcome 

'I Quit My Day Job' Guest Writer

Christopher Brimmer, Founder & Editor-In-Chief of Noobsource

For this series, my goal is to attract writers who have successfully blossomed their creative business endeavors into a full-time gig, and give those creatives an opportunity to share their stories. I also look for writers / entrepreneurs who are at this very moment working toward the end goal of establishing a business, born of passion and commitment, and turn it into a thriving success. Christopher Brimmer is an example of such an entrepreneur whose life long passion for games has lead him to be the founder of his own company, Noobsource. Christopher is a true inspiration, and sets the precedence of how to take a passion and make it work with dedication, commitment, and a 'no quit' attitude. 



Christopher Brimmer

Living the Dream.

Where to begin with this story. Ever since I was a kid, I enjoyed video games. I can vividly remember my first trip to the Pin Pan Alley arcade. Hours of plunking quarter after quarter into these monolithic gaming machines gave way to vivid dreams of scaling iron girder mazes to rescue a pretty girl. It was a life-altering experience for me.

As the years progressed, I took to spending my time learning about how these games worked. I would dabble in making small games here and there and kids in the neighborhood would end up coming to me for advice on what games to play. It was a pretty cool feeling and I was proud that people actually valued my opinion.

During my 20s, I began my career path in the IT industry as a network administrator for a prominent law firm in Milwaukee. I hated every day of it, but it paid the bills and helped make my wife's dreams of becoming a nurse a reality. Sure, I would continue to play games but the days of playing all weekend long with friends had come and gone.

Workstation - Christopher Brimmer

As I was closing the book of my 20s, my wife was finishing up her schooling to become an RN. She wanted to thank me for supporting her and asked if I was still interested in going back to school. I definitely was and we made plans for me to finish college and get a degree in teaching.

Then we found out we were expecting our daughter and I chose to put my plans to go to school on hold. During that time I switched jobs to become the IT Director of a small manufacturing business in the area. The position offered job security and an atmosphere that was family-friendly. Over the years though, I still wasn't satisfied with what I was doing.

My wife, noticing that I was sincerely not happy with my career, asked me what I wanted to do and so I took some time to think about it. I considered going back to college, but I really lost interest in becoming a teacher anymore. Over the holidays that year, I attended a New Years party and the discussion about games came up. I was excited to converse about the gaming industry and other really were interested in my point of view. At the end of the party, a friend said, "You could be one of those game reviewers. You ever think of writing a blog?"

Noobsource - Home Page

Then it clicked. Why couldn't I write game reviews? I would spend most of my time giving the same opinion on a game to multiple friends, so why not put that advice in one place for them to read? After talking with my wife about my idea, we worked out an agreement on starting this Endeavour. She agreed to help budget time to play games and review them and in return, when things became successful, she could have a title in the company. 

I was excited at the prospect of success. I would be living every gamer's dream of being paid to play games! Reality has some different ideas for me though. In order for this to become a profitable enterprise, I need to attract a large amount of viewers to my site. For me to do this successfully, reviews need to be frequent and on schedule because the Internet is a fickle beast. If you take a week off, your viewers will simply go elsewhere and rarely come back.

Article - Noobsource

Right now, my blog is still in its infancy stage. There are high moments such as when one of my reviews gets noticed by the publisher of that game which attract viewers to the site. Then there are low moments like finding out that your great idea for a feature on your site is already being done and you have to figure out how to re-brand that feature. Through it all, I have had a great support structure of family and friends encouraging me to keep working on it because they see that I am genuinely happy now doing something I was meant to do.

While I haven't quite reached the point of quitting my day job, I've taken those first steps towards that goal. If you ask anyone who has started their own business they'll tell you; taking that first step is the hardest part. So for everyone reading this blog and wishing they could get their great dream idea off the ground, I challenge you to make a go of it before you regret letting the opportunity pass you by

Noobsource Info:

Web: http://www.noobsource.com 

Faebook: http://www.facebook.com/Noobsource

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Noobsource

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Thank you Christopher, for inspiring those of us who are also in the process of building businesses we are passionate about! Having a great support system and network is key to a successful business. Congrats on Noobsource, and its outstanding progress!

**If you know / or are someone who left their day job, or are actively pursuing a full time creative business (or dream), and would like to be featured on my blog for this series, please contact me: alisasteadyart@gmail.com**

Interview with European Visual Artist Amelia

European artist, Amelia, will delight your imagination with her soft whimsical paintings of animals, cake, and blue rooms. And her enigmatic presence will leave you wanting to know more about this shy artist who creates in her cottage. I am an adoring fan of Amelia's art, and was eager to have her interviewed for this series. A graduate of Wroclaw School of Fine Art, Amelia lives in Poland's beautiful, lush country side - just a few miles from the closest store that sells chocolate! Her paintings evoke a sense of childish wonder, and her use of color and composition will make your toes curl.

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Amelia - In her country side studio

Hi, Amelia! Please tell us about yourself, and your art journey.

My name is Amelia and I live in a house by the woods, 4 km away from chocolate (that is from the closest store with chocolate in it - which is my weakness). I don't really know how to talk about myself, so I paint and my paintings will tell you a lot more about me than I ever could.

How do you get inspired?

I think from everywhere. I love antiques, vintage stuff, country interiors, nature, animals, fashion - all of it you can find in my paintings. 

Bunny - 10 x 10

How long have you been painting in your current style, and do you use other mediums outside of acrylic?

I actually don't remember. My style sort of came naturally. I prefer acrylic painting because I have a small studio in my country home and those paints are very ‘practical.’ 

What is your favorite part of the process when creating a painting?

Creating backgrounds is one of my favorite parts of creating a painting. It all begins in my head when I think about new painting - what will it look like and in what colours. This is my favorite part of creating.

Squirrel 12x12

What are some of your favorite supplies and tools to use in your paintings?

I love my old brushes and the texture of the canvas.

Where Amelia Creates

Your paintings have such a lovely, soft quality to them. How long did it take you to develop your style of painting?

I develop my style all the time. I learn something new every time and think my style is developing as each new painting is created.

Dog with Mustache - 16 x 16

Could you share what a typical day of creating looks like for Amelia?

My schedule changes with the seasons. In the winter I have a lot more time for myself and my art. In the summer, I'm over consumed with the garden. So every day is different. But I always try not waste any time and fill my days with things that important.

Still Life French Interior - Print

What are some of your future goals as an artist? Do you eventually want to show your work in galleries? Or conquer the commercial world with licensing?

I am a very shy person. I love my life in the country side and selling on the internet on Etsy is the best way for me.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?

Believe in yourself, even it is difficult for you.

What advice do you have for new artists?

I think you need to believe in what you're doing, and then others will follow.

Thank you Amelia for taking time to share your art and your process with us!

Amelia sells all her artwork and prints in her Etsy Shop.

You can also find her blog here.

Are you a visual artist or sculptor and looking to be made a fuss of, and get some exposure? Email me at alisasteadyart@gmail.com if you might be interested in being a featured artist on my blog!