Jennifer Love Artwork BLOG

It's Nibblefest time again on ebay! :) Search NFAC to see all the great entries by great artists. This monthly art contest always gives new meaning to the words "artistic license" as you browse the many interpretations of a theme. This month's theme is "Mushtrooms." At first, I wasn't plannig to enter for December. It has been such a crazy busy month at work and home. But then, as is typical more often than not for me, I had a little glimmer of inspiration at the very last minute. So, here is my little interpretation of the theme....with a butterfly spin of course! :) You can click here to go directly to my ebay auction if you wish. This is an ACEO (size 2.5" x 3.5") and is done in watercolor and ink. The Nibblefest auctions all start at just $0.99 each, and the winners are determined based on the number of unique bidders to your auction. Thanks for checking in on my blog today! Happy Holidays to each of you. :)

My apologies to those of you who follow my blog. I have been a blog slacker in the past few months! Now, December is here...and a time to reflect on the things that really matter in your life, things you are happy with, and things you want to do better on. In my defense, my blog slacking (and art slacking for that matter) have been due to family issues. Myself or one of my kids or my husband have been sick from one week to the next, literally since mid-September. So, I have been paying more attention to my family, trying to get our household running and organized (yeah, right - like that will ever happen), and trying to get my kids well, myself well, my husband well - and still keep up with work at this busy time of year. Crazy!!  Unfortunately, the time and attention to my artwork and my blog have paid the price. But, I can't say I'm sorry about it. While I wish I had more time in the day to paint, think wonderful "artistic" thoughts, and blog away...the reality ...

It has been one crazy summer...and now Fall is coming and the crazy hasn't died down. I am still alive! For those of you who read my blog regularly, so sorry I haven't been "regular" in my posting this summer. Now that our summer vacation is over (Yellowstone National Park and Mt. Rushmore...lots of fun!), and the kids are settle in new school/daycare, it is time for me to get into High Gear to get illustration work done! Meanwhile, here was a little ACEO I did for the September ACEO Theme Week on ebay (the theme was "Old Houses").  The auction did not sell during theme week, so I have now listed the ACEO at my Etsy shop here . For those who are unfamiliar with an ACEO - the acronym stands for Art Cards Editions and Originals. It is any small work of art that is the size of a baseball trading card (2.5" x 3.5"). A great way to collect some original works of art when you are low on cash or wall space. :) This one is titled "Red Roof, Bl...

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!

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...

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 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" 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...

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...

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

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...

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...

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"

As you may already know, I love to travel. My husband and I especially love Moab, UT and Arches National Park. However, we also have a great love for Northern California and the Redwood National Park. Truthfully, we actually like Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park better, but the entire Northern California coastline is full of beautiful Redwood trees, from the Avenue of the Giants all the way up the coast to Crescent City, CA, where we stayed on our honeymoon. Actually, the "honeymoon" was a vacation we took seven months after we were married - but we still count it! :) Besides being an easy drive to Redwood trees, hiking trails, and beautiful, awe-inspiring scenery, Crescent City has lovely coastline and, during July, Crabbing from the docks. I found this such an interesting sight to observe - fishermen tossing colorful round nets and baskets off the dock to catch rock crabs. I got some great photo shots with my camera, as well as wonderful Redwoods pics. Unfortunately, it wa...

I participated in this month's mid-month ACEO "Interpretations" challenge on ebay. The mid month challenge is for each artist to create their interpretaion of the same photo reference. Here is my entry " Spirit Island Sunrise "  the auction starts at just $0.99 and ends on the 17th. :)

Beautiful Saturday! We ran errands and gave the yard some much-needed love today. While running differrnt errands and taking care of tasks that needed to be done, I took my camera on a mini photo safari to capture some of the beautiful Spring blooms that are happening in my yard (roses) as well as around the town (Bountiful, UT). Roses, Iris, Poppies. My Peonies are also just starting to bloom! Spring in Utah brings such beautiful flowers! A trip to Lowes resulted in the purchase of a lovely Gardenia that I will be planting in my yard as well. Mmmmm....LOVE the smell of Gardenias! Here are some of my camera shots from today's photo safari. (Perhaps we will see some paintings from these shots soon!) Happy Mother's Day weekend to everyone! :) Purple Iris in my back yard Rose in my front yard - on a bush I started from a clipping off one of my grandmother's beautiful rose bushes Rose in my front yard Rose in my front yard Rose bud i...

May is already here! The 1st of the month always signals the beginning of ACEO Theme Week on ebay (search ACEO TW for all entries). This month the theme is butterflies, so of course I had to submit something on THAT theme!  Click here if you would like to go directly to my ebay auction for "Spring Monarch." This auction is starting at just $0.99. :) ACEO is an acronym that stands for Art Cards Editions and Originals. They are mini paintings the size of baseball trading cards. Quite popular among artists and collectors alike! A great way to collect original art - especially when you don't have a lot of wall space! I also listed some matted prints of my other butterfly paintings to run this week as well. :) Click here (or search Jennifer Love Artwork on ebay) to see all my current auction listings. Also, don't forget to check out my Etsy shop periodically. I am trying to list some new things each week to keep it fresh! And, my larger (and some smaller) ori...

"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.

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! :)