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Rose of Sharon

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Early this summer, I planted six new flowering bushes in our yard - four lilacs in the front yard, one lilac in the back (to replace a butterfly bush that had died last year), and a Rose of Sharon (which is in the hibiscus family). This Rose of Sharon is called "Freedom" and is supposed to turn out a red blossom. I planted lilacs from the same nursery a few years before and they took about 4 years to grow big and give us blossoms, so I knew that we would be waiting a while on these bushes. But, surprise for us this week...the Rose of Sharon is already blooming! :) The flowers are actually more of a pink color than red (probably due to the different acids in our soil). They are beautiful flowers and I am so excited!

Busy, busy - fpartists on Etsy and more!

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So, I have been busy, busy, busy getting to know the ins and outs of Etsy. Trying to keep my shop looking nice, renewing listings, creating treasuries. I even started my own treasury team for fine artists on Etsy (fpartists). You can find us on FaceBook at  https://www.facebook.com/fpartists  and on Twitter at @fpartistsTeam ( https://twitter.com/fpartistsTeam ) if you want to see some of the great Etsy treasuries being created by our team of talented artists! The point of creating treasuries is to feature one item from 16 different shops on Etsy (not including your own shop), all centered around a theme. People will search through treasuries in Etsy for things they like, but Etsy also features various treasuries on the front page of the website (one per hour). So, if you create a beautiful treasury that gets selected for the front page, you not only get good exposure for all the shops and items in your treasury, but also exposure for you and your shop since you are the person who cr

ACEO Theme Week - July 2012 ~ Beach Critters

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So...I know I did Sea Turtles for Nibblefest a few months ago. But, I just enjoyed them so much that I decided to take the opportunity to do another one for the ACEO challenge this month. I was also having a brain cramp trying to think of "cute" Beach Critters that I wanted to paint. The only "critters" I could think of were sand crabs and little sand bugs...none were really appealing to my painting sensibilities - so, here is a little turtle for the collection instead. True...turtles aren't really "critters" either. But, I figured since they come onto the beach to lay their eggs in the sand, then it qualified as "beach-ey" enough. :) Here is my offering for ACEO Theme Week July - Beach Critters: "Beach Crawler" Click here to go to the ebay auction. ACEO is an acronym that stands for Art Cards Editions and Originals. The only rule is the size, which is 2.5 inches x 3.5 inches (6.4 x 8.9 cms) - just the

Nibblefest June 2012 - "The Big P"

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Nibblefest - June 2012 This month's theme: Birds (and other Feathered Friends) I thought a peacock would be a fun subject...especially for summer. Peacocks always remind me of gardens and the zoo...and other fun summer activities! This particular guy is so confident in his ineherent appeal to "the ladies" that he doesn't even feel the need to spread his feathers. He struts around the grounds knowing who's boss! He's "The Big P!" Click here if you'd like to go to the ebay auction (auction ends on June 27th). :)

King of Yellow Heart returns home

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"King of Yellow Heart" has returned home after an extensive year-long tour of Utah's schools and libraries with the Utah Arts Council traveling watercoler exhibition. Here is an excerpt from the UAC email I received upon return of the painting: "This show is always a popular one with our schools and libraries around the state and we are sincerely grateful that you participate in our program. This past year your piece traveled to Weber State Library Blue Peak High School Canyon Rim Elementary North Elementary in Cedar City Fillmore Elementary Manilla Elementary The children especially love the pieces when they travel to their schools and are always sad when we take the exhibit down and drive the art away. They become very attached."   I am very glad that the painting returned home in good shape, undamaged, and was part of such a nice exhibition that brings art to school children in the state. Emphasis on the arts as a crucial component o

"Zoomed In" - ACEO Theme Week June 2012

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It's here again! ACEO theme week on ebay. The theme for June 2012 is "Zoomed In" which I thought would be a fun theme to participate in. Since I have been so inspired by the Spring flowers in bloom this year, I decided to do a couple of "zoomed-in" ACEOs based on some of the flower photos I have taken recently. The first one, "Eye of the Lilac" is based on one of the beautiful light violet lilacs I found blooming in Bountiful in early May. Luckily, I was able to take several shots of these beautiful flowers - some close up. Made for a perfect setup for the ACEO. :) The second entry, "Soft Rose" is based on a lovely pale yellow rose that I took photos of after a hair appointment. Just outside the door and across the parking lot from my stylist's salon, there is a lovely little rose garden at the business next door. The day of my last appointment, their roses were blooming in beautiful colors and they had also just watered, so I was abl

May 2012 Newsletter

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Click here or scan the QR code to read my May 2012 newsletter.  :)

Creating a Kokopelli

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This month the Nibblefest theme is Elements. We are usually limited to three entries per theme, but since there are four elements (Earth, Air, Fire, Water), we could enter up to four as long as each entry represented a different element. (Nibblefest is a monthly art contest on ebay. The participants each create artwork around a monthly theme. Each auction must start on or after the 20th of the month, and must end on the 27th of the month; and each auction must start at only $0.99. Search NFAC or ART NFAC each month to find the Nibblefest entries) I've been thinking about creating a series of Kokopelli paintings for a while, but hadn't formed in my mind exactly the path I wanted to take on that journey. (As you may already know, I love the Moab, UT and Arches National Park. If you ever go to Moab, you will see Kokopelli everywhere!) So, when this theme came up on the Nibblefest list, I decided it might be a good time to turn "thinking about it" into "doi

Book Review: The $100 Startup

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This book was mailed to me recently with a request to read it and provide a review. Typically, I keep my blog posts related to my art pursuits and art-related topics. But, this book actually kind of qualifies in that arena. Since many full-time artists I know are trying to find ways to generate more income to support themselves and their families, and many part-timers are also looking to find additional revenue streams or to find a way to be able to work as a full-time artist, I thought the book might contain some useful information. So I decided to give it a read. Here are my thoughts on The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future . (This is the review I posted to Amazon.com) "This book was quick and easy to read. I found the information to be useful and I appreciated the personal examples of businesses in a variety of industries from mattress sales to map makers to consultants. I felt that there could have been a li

Floral Photo Notecards

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I have just loved so many of these floral reference photos that I have taken in the past week! Beautiful spring flowers! I definitely intend to make some paintings from the shots, but I also decided to make some notecards with the photos themselves. Three different ssortment sets of cards are now available at my Etsy store . (Click the links below if you would like to see them). :) Pretty Poppies Ravishing Roses Lovely Lilacs Here is a pic of the set of Pretty Poppies notecards with envelopes. (Glossy print photo is approx 3.5" x 5" and the cards are approx 4.25" x 5"