Happy Thanksgiving Eve!

Happy Thanksgiving Eve everyone!!

Though I've been battling the mother of all colds since last week, I've been trying to prepare for my first S.Florida rendition of Thanksgiving as well as ready my little art shop for the weekend's sales extravaganza.

I didn't do any sort of promotion last year as I was out of the state (and therefore away from my studio) for the whole week. This year however, I am excited to be in my studio fulfilling orders and working on new projects! This will also be my first Thanksgiving as a vegetarian, so I am anxiously awaiting my first bite of a Tofurky. I am always all about the sides anyway (mashed potatoes, cranberries, yams... yum!) so I am not too worried about skipping on the turkey. AND it means I totally don't have to feel guilty about filling up on greenbean casserole. And pie.

But back to the 2012 Thanksgiving Sales Extravaganza!!

I am super pumped to be able to offer a few promotions this weekend in keeping with the holiday spirit. (Or shopping spirit I should say...)


Black Friday: 15% off any order!
Enter code 'FRIDAY12' to recieve your discount. Code goes into effect Friday at 12:00am

Small Business Saturday : Buy 1 print - get a second print free!!
Just pick out any print in my shop and head to checkout. In the 'notes' section, leave the title of the print you would like to receive for free!

Cyber Monday: Free Shipping on any domestic order!!
Enter code 'FREESHIP' and pay nothing for shipping if within the U.S.! Code goes into effect Monday at 12:00am

If anyone has any questions on the ordering process, feel free to leave a comment here or on my facebook page.
Happy Thanksgiving to all and happy shopping!

(Im off to buy more pumpkin mush - can never have enough pumpkin mush!)

Gray Wolf in ink -- Step by Step

I was out and about this afternoon and felt a *real* cold breeze. Being in Miami, one can experience the occasional "ocean breeze" which is a refreshing degree or two cooler than the current temperature, but a true 'cold breeze' is rather hard to find.

WELL I found one today :)

And as soon as it washed over me and encouraged me to bunch up my sweatshirt against my neck, my head was swimming with thoughts of cinnamon, cider, snow drifts and wet crunchy ice. So, as soon as I got in the door - I lit my 'winter' candle (from bath and body works!), put cider on the stove and started to draw out something from a colder climate.

It had been awhile since I've done a purely ink painting, so I got my trusty pen out and ready to go.

From there, I taped down my canson bristol board,lightly made a pencil sketch and went over it with my pen.

Adding the water!! I am using a #14 watercolor brush and not really paying a lot of attention to where I spread the inky water, just making sure I leave the highlights white. Here is a good place to put down some masking fluid - if I was ever good about keeping masking fluid. The goal on this pass is to complete the majority of the middle tones so everything is basically a light wash. I'll add the darker values next time.

I've started to darken a few areas, namely the mouth/nose and the area around the eyes.

Even darker! Here I am actively trying to shape the puddles of color to emphasize the volume in the skull and fur.

Woo finished.

I scanned it and did a test run of the print and it works out very well, I am very happy with this final product. Which, at the end of a run of several failed paintings is a very nice feeling.

Prints of the Gray Wolf are available on from my store!
Also, make sure to check back in a few days -- I am hoping to have some coupon codes for the upcoming weekend of shopping posted :)

From the Sea!

I've been on a sealife kick for a bit now. I suppose living down the block from the bay and being an avid aquarium fan will do that.

With the opening of my Etsy store, I've been trying to create more physical paintings that I might be able to offer for sale.

The painting on the left (Tentacles) sold recently, so I was hoping to make a few prints of it. Unfortunately, my love affair with gloss gel seems to have made this task rather difficult. The glossy brush strokes scan *terribly*. They look like little white hairs all over the image, and ruin the feeling of the painting. While it looks nice in real life, I may need to abandon the gloss texture I've come to adore if I want to reliably scan any new work.

The painting on the right (Octopus) is a work-in-progress shot, which will NOT have the thick coat of gloss gel. I had a professor at MSU who abhorred the use of gloss medium, and I may need to channel her hatred for it if I want to leave it out!

In other news, I am still working on The Sketchbook Project sketchbook. It is still in pieces scattered by my desk, easel and work table. The due date is quickly approaching, so I am going to need to spend some serious time finishing it relatively soon. I'd like to create a time-lapse video of the project too, but that will probably fall by the wayside as the holidays approach.

And speaking of the holidays, I printed my Christmas cards with moo.com again this year!

I love, love, love their paper stock. The outside has such a soft velvety sheen to it --- perfect for Christmas cards! I've got them up on Etsy in packs of 10 (with matching envelopes of course!).

With so many things to work on, I have been running around a bit crazy. In the words of my favorite Companion, "Eyes on the prey, not the horizon".

...and yes, Skyrim is amazing :)

Grand Opening on Etsy!

I've had "create Etsy store" on my to-do list for almost a year now. I finally got to cross that item of my list! I feel like I should bake a cake or something...

I'll skip the baked goods for now (had enough over Thanksgiving anyway) and go with a coupon code to celebrate instead! From now until Friday, use "OPEN2011" for free shipping on any item in my store :)