Painting of the Day - Bottle Bush

"Bottle Bush"
(watercolor. Image Size 5" x 7" matted to 8" x 10")

Painted en plein air this morning! :)

I have listed this on ebay for 7 day auction. After that it will go to my Etsy store.

Click Here if you would like to go directly to the ebay listing.

April 2012 Newsletter & Nibblefest

My April newsletter is here.  You can click this link if you'd like to read it, or scan the QR code below.

It's also Nibblefest time again on ebay. This month's theme is "Reptiles."  All Nibblefest auctions are created around a monthly theme. Each artist is limited to three works of art. Each piece must start at $0.99.  :)

Here are my three REPTILE entries:

"Under the Sea Brown Turtle"
Click here to go directly to ebay auction.

"Under the Sea Red Turtle"
Click here to go directly to ebay auction.

"Under the Sea Green Turtle"
Click here to go directly to ebay auction.

Thanks for reading. Have a great weekend! :)

Etsy Shop

So, I set up a new Etsy shop today. The focus will be mostly prints, notecards, and gifts, but I plan to offer some original work as well. Unlike eBay, Etsy is a fixed price shop, not an auction.

Here is the link.  Jennifer Love Artwork


Right now there are some butterfly and ballerina prints available. I'll be adding other items as well. :)

The Daily Onion!

Did another little onion painting last night. My "models" are sprouting! :)

"Bright Onion" - watercolor on YUPO  ©2012

Put up for aution on ebay. Painting is about 5"x7" and matted to fit 8" x 10" standard frame.
Click here to go to the auction link  "Bright Onion"

Still LOVING the effects of YUPO support for my watercolor. So fun!
Have a great day! :)

Happy clients!

I love it when my clients are happy with their painting commissions. Here is a photo of the piece that I recently painted as a commission this past February. My client purchased it as a gift for a friend and has just finished getting it custom matted/framed, but loves it so much he asks "Is it wrong if I want to keep it for myself?"  :) Ha ha! Not wrong at all!  I am so pleased when I have a satisfied client! :)

Fruity YUPO and Bright Spring Color ACEOs!

So, I started this little painting in February in the Marian Dunn workshop. My first try at using YUPO as a paint support material. What fun, vibrant colors!

YUPO is so unpredictable...you never know exactly how the colors are going to pool and dry. Because it is plastic, the color does not absorb into it (like on paper), so the color stays on top and as vibrant as it is in the mixing tray.

With that in mind...like Marian says...once your YUPO painting is dry, "Don't sneeze!" You have to handle these paintings carefully and get them protected in a frame. If the surface gets wet, the paint will run.

I LOVE bright colors and so had lots of fun with this painting! I named it "Bright Harvest" and it will be up on auction on ebay starting tonight about 6pm Pacific time (7p Mountain/8p Central/9p Eastern).

I will definitely be doing more "fun with YUPO" in the future!

"Bright Harvest" - watercolor on YUPO  ©2012

The painting is 8" x 10" - matted to fit 11" x 14" standard size frame. :)

I normally sell 8"x10" paintings for $135, but am starting this ebay auction at only $16.99 with FREE shipping. Here is the auction link for "Bright Harvest" 

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It is also ACEO Theme week. This month's theme is "Baby Birds"

Here are my two little ACEO auctions (both starting at only a penny!).

"Yellow Chicky Chick" - Watercolor pencil - ©2012

Here is the auction link for "Yellow Chicky Chick" 

"Blue Peep" - watercolor pencil - ©2012

Here is the auction link for "Blue Peep"

In case you can't tell, I am soooo ready for SPRING and SUMMER and fun, bright colors. :)  Have a great day!

Julie Rogers Watercolor Workshop - Making Paintings "Sing" with Warms and Cools

This has been a crazy, busy week. But, I was fortunate enough to be able to take a couple days off work to attend another mini-workshop sponsored by Utah Watercolor Society. This workshop was with Utah artist, Julie Rogers, who does beautiful work in watercolors and pastels. When you look at her paintings, you can see her mastery of using warm and cool colors in her composition to create a dynamic whole. They are just beautiful.

My goal this year is to take as many workshops as possible...partly because it just gives me some uninterrupted painting time, but also to help me be more aware of the tools and techniques I use in my paintings (rather than just painting by instinct, and then wondering why some pieces turn out lovely and others not). With Kristi Grussendorf, I learned some techniques for creating focal point and drawing a viewer into the painting. With Marian Dunn, I set up a new palette and really started to investigate how different colors work with each other, which colors are useable for glazing and which will stain. I also learned a lot about mingling colors and dropping in colors in my washes - and mixing my own greens! I also had fun experimenting with YUPO paper.  :)  Now, with Julie Rogers, I learned about warm values and cool values within color groups, and how to choose the proper shadow values for different lighting and "rules" for the amount of warm vs. cool in your composition. And....edges MATTER! (Of course they do. :))

Certainly, I am far from perfect at any of these things. But, I feel so much more knowlegable about the techniques I employ and the "tools" I am using in my paintings (from paint choices to brush choices to paper choice).

Here are some paintings I started in this week's workshop and finished up at home this evening...or I guess it's early morning now! :)

These first three are cropped from a larger painting I started on the first day of the workshop. Ultimately, I did not like the whole. But, there were sections that I really liked. As always, I believe in CROPPING! Never be afraid to crop! :)

Now I have three little paintings that I quite like. They each work as a painting on their own, but also make a nice little trio together.  They are simply titled "Fall #1," "Fall #2," and "Fall #3"

Fall #1  3" x 3" - Watercolor  ©2012

Fall #2  3" x 3" - Watercolor  ©2012

Fall #3  6" x 6" - Watercolor  ©2012

Fall grouping:  #1, #2, #3 together

As you probably know by now, one of my favorite places in the whole world is Arches National Park near Moab, Utah. So, on day 2 of the workshop, I chose to try a different viewpoint of Delicate Arch (rather than straight on like I usually paint it). Here is the little painting I started (and finished some details at home). I have titled this painting "A Different Delicate."

"A Different Delicate"  10" x 9" - watercolor  ©2012

What makes this Delicate painting particularly different for me, besides the vantage point, is that I did not do a pencil sketch before making this painting. I basically "drew" the entire painting with my paintbrush, blocking in the sky and background areas first, trying to leave white space for where I wanted the arch to be located, and then blocking in the arch and other details once the background had dried. It's an interesting process, and not my usual. But, the colors came out nicely and, while not perfect, I liked how the painting ended up. :)