Back to work

I'm back to work on the canvas mats.This is the first for the pet food mats. It measures 12"x 19". This was taken before the polyurethane was applied (because of glare) so the colors are actually much brighter (with the poly) than you see here.
Friday I'm going to go meet a photographer who had an ad on Craigslist offering printing services (on canvas or paper).......he can print 44"x 40' long (if you'd need that). This is him...
Mr. Bruce Kravetz. This photo was borrowed from KaliDurga's flickr site. You must visit Bruce's website and read his history, and check out his insect photos...they are gorgeous! They reminded me of dancers or actors in the theater....check em out here. I'm looking forward to meeting him. I'm also hoping to learn more about how to take photos of my work that would allow them to be enlarged, my eyes kind of glaze over when people start talking pixels etc. I'm not going to abandon the 'paint' printing process that I've used in the past, but I'd like an alternative for pieces that don't require a fine art presentation. Matter of fact I'm still waiting for the results of my latest painted print of this:
I was hoping to hear something by now....how it turned out?.....when to expect it? Where are ya Joe?
Ok...I guess there's still enough time left in the day to crank out another mat........or?....... check out the pages of a book I just got in the mail.
I was inspired by a ring I bought at a thrift shop a couple of days ago....remember spoon rings?
I haven't worn jewelry in years because of my work, but I fell in love with this ring. It looks as though it were made from a baby spoon or maybe a salt spoon, it's very delicate, I wear it on my pinkie. I did some looking online and apparently these rings are still popular, there were a lot of jewelry sites for artists making them.
Anyway, I was inspired by it to look into new creative things to try and what I liked about this book is that it starts you out with the basics, and no soldering, all cold-connecting. I don't want to invest in too much equipment knowing my propensity to not always stick with something for too long.
Ahhh.......its snowing :-)

Still Helping

Today is help clean up the old apartment day. Tomorrow I can get back to painting.
Look what I scored though :-) while helping with the move, an old Davy Crockett toy chest.
It was going to be left behind and I couldn't let that happen. It's not in the best of condition but still manages to evoke those warm, fuzzy, Leave It To Beaver feelings of the fifties.

I spent yesterday preparing canvas mats for artwork, but the artwork will have to wait.....
I'm off to help my friend move her sister into a new apartment today.

Cherrios...the wise choice

I finally had a chance to finish up the mouse mat today
and started putting the polyurethane finish on the three that are completed. The colors aren't showing true here, its a pretty blue background with a chocolate stripe/border.
I'll start a new one tomorrow.
OK....I'm in a silly mood today........look what I found at the supermarket today....... a Valentine potato :-)
You're right........ I need a job bad....lol.

Straight Paint Job Today

Nothing special, just a regular day of straight painting some kitchen cabinets. Cabinets were typical 70's dark wood that just stood out like a sore thumb,
so I pulled a shade of pale blue from the counter top and brighten them up....also added some cool little Ikea knobs which helped give them a more updated look.
I love the old ceiling in this apartment....the original from the 20's.

Played Hooky

I did get a mat started today, but ended up playing hooky about half way through the day, spending time and money at Ikea....I love Ikea.
Tomorrow another break while I help a friend out by painting her sister's new apartment kitchen cabinets.

Another Floor Mat

Painted another floor mat today for the Etsy shop.
I'd like to step it up a bit and try to get two designs done each day that I'm not working outside the studio.....I confess to still feeling a bit frazzled since the Florida trip/work and I'm admittedly moving a little slow since getting home.
I'm not really sure how well things sell on Etsy, most things seem to be priced really low (IMHO), so my items may not do so well in that venue. I am though thinking that this is also a good way to create a lot of product for the coming summer/fall season of art shows. I've never done 'shows' before, but I'm thinking I might enjoy it......anyway, I'm thinking about it.

Cat Mat

Spent the morning on Cat Mat #1 for the Etsy shop.
I found this canvas on ebay, its a non-skid canvas. It has a rubber coating on the back side, I bought a large roll of it. This is where you can find it (when available).....bookmark it cause its near impossible to find this shop just doing an ebay search.
I have mixed feelings about the canvas....one, I like the non-skid element of it, but it has a really heavy texture, so you need to use several coats of polyurethane to make cleaning it easier. Then again, because of the tooth I also want to experiment using it for wall hangings. I'm thinking it would give the artwork a more woven (tapestry) appearance because its hard to make a clean line when painting on it. The other positive about it is that you iron the hem....no tape....no sewing.....lovely.
This is the back of the mat.
I've penciled in a line for the width of my hem, cut the corners, and have started to iron it in place. I've already primed the right side, so I've used a towel between the canvas and the iron.
A nice clean corner
Right side up, looks good.
I've sketched in the cat, taped out the border and filled in a background color.
And voila! One finished Cat Mat.
Off to see if I can find some usable small dog pictures to use for the next mat.

Forest Mural (Missing Chapter 1)

I just got an email from Anne...thank you Anne....giving me a heads up that a chapter (chapter 1) was missing from the Forest Mural DVD. Don't know how it happened, or when, but if you received the DVD with the missing bit, please let me know and I will email you a Quicktime movie of that chapter...so sorry...how embarrassing.

Here's the missing Forest Mural chapter if you'd just like to view it here. This is part of the DVD series for the beginning mural artist. Sort of hard to see in this format (so small) but it may be enough for some of you to 'get it'.

First Mural Offering

This is my first 'mini' mural offering on Etsy ($600.). It measures approximately 5' wide x 6.5' high. (sorry it's showing a little dark here).
Its intended to be hung and framed directly on the wall in a child's room. What I like about this, is that its appropriate for a wide age group. Its not so baby-ish that you'd have to put it away in just a year or two, but yet it does have the fuzzy elements with the squirrel and rabbit that allow it to work in an infants nursery. I'm not a real fan of exaggerated or cartoon-ish depictions of the real world when it comes to presenting art to children.
It is a 'painted' print of an original mural I did a few years ago.
I've mentioned this company in a previous post, Cat Studios. They are a company located in West Palm Beach, Fl. where you can have prints made, but not just with inks.....you can have a print made using actual paint. This is the print being made.
I've had a couple of works copied this way, I love that it's paint on canvas, not ink on vinyl or paper or even ink on canvas. And although you do have to go back and do some hand detailing to bring back some of the detail, and take note, the colors will not be exactly the same as the original, I love the process. Not to mislead, the original painting was actually much brighter...wow...way brighter.
And although you can go back and brighten up the print by hand, I like the way this print came out. The softness and moodiness of the colors and some of the edges give it a more ethereal feel. Its difficult to see here, but I have retouched some elements of the mural.....the butterflies for example are actually brighter than they're showing here and appear to pop off the mural. I also removed the miniature birdhouses that were hanging on the skinny tree in the foreground.
What most artists use this resource for 'IS' for underpainting, you can not expect an exact copy of your work using this technique and it works best with larger paintings.
My second offering from the mini mural collection I'm thinking will be copies of this...
And I'm hoping to be able to offer it in different colors. How fun to have a painted print, hand retouched, of a mural that you know is hanging in a 30 million dollar mansion.

Etsy Shop

I started working on creating a shop on Etsy this morning....lots to learn. I've just moved my MuralClassesToGo DVD's over there so far, but over the week will be adding some new handpainted items as well.....some mini murals for kids rooms, and some handpainted floor mats. Opening the shop has inspired me to do some painting of my own, and what looked to be a not so great situation, actually is.........I've got the time to do it :-)

With Florida Behind Me

It feels so good to be home. Not sure I'm up to doing that again any time soon, if ever. Instead I think I'll put my focus on 'here'.
That said, at the moment there are no job prospects here, and that's worrisome since I am my only source of income. So I'm considering doing some more DVD instruction.......I'd love some input on that from you......ideas? suggestions? making them better? themes?
A couple of months ago I took the Tropical DVD and began adding to it.
I added this seagull at the bottom and another bird in flight at the top. I've yet to edit the video having put it aside to work on other projects, so it'll be a week or so before this one is ready to release.
I'm also working on putting an Etsy shop together, thinking I'll move the sales of the DVD's over there. I'm also thinking of painting some things to sell through Etsy...... floor cloths, maybe some smaller hanging murals for kids?
I started playing around with small floor mat ideas a few years ago. I've had this one at my kitchen sink for a couple years now.....love it. You find yourself being careful not to step on kitty.
It actually inspired a custom order when I had a copy of it for sale on ebay. This client had five cats.....these are them.

Had some ideas for some fun place mats for pets too.
All of these and more (haven't forgotten the growth chart idea) will go up on the Etsy shop, along with maybe some DVD instruction on how to make them??? They will all be custom painted when ordered.....no printed copies.

Big Disappointment

Well, I found out today that they hung the elevator mural on a wall outside of the elevator. It was a big disappointment for me.
True, it will probably be seen by more people now, but its a shame it couldn't have been worked out (for the elevator shaft). Lesson....always insist on seeing the specs for the project and always take your own measurements. They'll be framing it in bamboo. How bout that chandelier? Crazy uh?
So now they are looking for something else to put in the elevator shaft. I suggested having a print made from maybe one of Frank Mckinney's photos taken on trips to Southeast Asia, maybe have it printed in a sepia tone....found a few large format printing companies online that I passed on to them. I also recommended a company, Creative Art Technology that makes large scale prints using paint (not ink) if they wanted to just make a copy of the original mural and have it sized so that more of the artwork would be visible within the confines of the elevator cabs framed glass walls........but the original was hung already so that was not an option.
Oh well, gotta let it go.
Tomorrow I go finish up at the restaurant and head home hoping the weather isn't too bad on the drive up......heard some noise about snow, and its been a long time since I've driven in icy conditions.

Two Days Off

Another two days free while they prepare to knock out the wall tonight and ready the new framing for me to paint on Tuesday. It'll be a long day Tuesday, but my final one on this project. I also forgot that I have the new bathroom to do, and I've convinced them (I think) that carrying the tone on tone palms into the restroom would be the quickest and most economical treatment. Then the main mural walls will have been dusted for me and I'll be putting a coat or two of polyurethane on for protection. Then, that sign that I painted in the new section is also in the original restaurant and that needs to be painted out....they're putting a 60" flat panel tv on that wall. Like I said....looooong day.
I will post pictures of the final 'look' before I leave. Meanwhile I think I'll just soak up some of that infamous Florida sunshine before heading back to my part of the world.....16 degrees in Narberth, Pa this morning.

No More Pictures Of This One

Not going to be posting anymore pictures of this project.
Suffice it to say I added a few more elements and tomorrow will do the tone on tone work. They should be ready for me to do the touch up work (from tearing down the wall) on Tuesday, maybe (hopefully) even on Monday. I'm pretty ready to get home.