Two More AI Gems!

I decided not to include these two alcohol ink paintings in yesterday's post because the photos were not recent. The one of the leaves is from last year. I loved the graphic nature of the branch on the road.

"Fallen Branch," 8" X 10" $175

In fact, this same branch is part of a paper litho print that I did last year,

("Whispers of Fall," 10" X 10," mounted on cradleboard is currently available at Stifel & Capra for $95.)

"Hollyhock Dreams," 11" X 14" $295

This painting is the second one that I have done using the inspiration photo of grain stalks (sorghum?) in Clovis, NM. The first one that I did sold very quickly and was in a different palette. I love how different days reveal different inspirations.

Do you see the resemblance? Which do you prefer?

If you want to know more about the method I use to paint these, I wrote about it here.

My Month of September Paintings

I was really excited about doing the 30 in 30 challenge in September. I planned ahead and was much more prepared than I had been when I spontaneously committed to the challenge last January. I saw no reason why I would not succeed.

Instead of reading all of my reasons why it didn't work out so well, you could just go read Lillian Connelly's post at It's a Dome Life. She pretty much wrote what I had planned to. I did not fall ill during the challenge, but life definitely got in the way. School begins after Labor Day where I live, so that coupled with EVERY organization that I participate in having meetings, board meetings, etc., etc. AND beginning September 10th my daughter got a part in a musical that rehearses 17 miles from our house (read 45 minutes in DC traffic) and you can see that I needed to have painted far, far ahead to make this work out. I did paint in my car a few nights, but to be honest the novelty of that wore off quickly.

What good things did I learn?

1. I experimented with some fancy sample watercolors that I had been wanting to try.
2. I learned that my children may be teenagers, but I am not in a place in my life where I can take "a month off" from my job as COO.
3. Beating myself up about not completing the challenge is just silly. Leslie said it was supposed to be fun. When it quit being fun, I knew I had to reassess.
4. I need to paint more often that I have over the summer. The only good thing about super cold weather is fires in the fireplace and the desire to stay inside to paint.

Besides the 30 in 30 challenge, I did paint a large commission painting in September. (Yay me!) I've also done some work on a large piece and some jewelry pieces for a show next month. I had a big clearance sale of some prints too. Sometimes, I just want to do too many things in a finite time period.

I hope that you enjoyed seeing the works that I did paint. Thank you to everyone who clicked "like" on my Facebook page and especially to those that clicked "share." The more people who see my work, the more potential there is that someone will fall in love with a piece and make it their own.

Congratulations to Jennifer Cantu who won my contest connected to the challenge. I was not surprised that she was randomly selected as the winner, because she faithfully shared so many of my posts with her friends!  I do not know which painting she will end up choosing, but if you have your eye on one, you better snap it up on my website ASAP!

Artists: Do you do your own framing?

I was back at the framer today to pick up the last two frames for Art:(un)Vale'd. Not counting the time it takes to go get the frames and glass, it takes me at least an hour to cut the mat and get it all put together properly and the dust cover and hanging hardware attached.

Doing it myself helps to keep the overall expense down, but I'm starting to wonder if I should just charge more for my paintings and let the framer do it all. I could have created two paintings in the last two weeks in the time I've spent framing. That seems like it would be a better use of my time.

I would love to hear from other artists who do works on paper. Do you do your own framing?