New Trail Adventures

I was able to take a solo trip out west in January, back to Las Vegas. Besides some much needed r&r my main reason for going was to get back out on the Red Rock trails I love so much! So I planned for weeks before the trip which trail I was going to tackle. A big help for me was this fantastic Red Rock trail hiking site, www.birdandhike.com . Finally, my trip came and I headed out to Red Rock around 8:30 AM. Drove on the Scenic Drive about 7.5 miles to the Willow Springs Picnic area where one of the trailheads started. My trail quest for the day was the White Rock Hill Loop. While I saw the trailmarkers that said the trail was rated "difficult", esp. the direction I was starting. Of course, I thought, "well, how difficult could it be?". I finished the trail four and half hours later and six and half miles underfoot, I understood the "difficult" rating!!

But the views and the time out in the backcountry was so, so worth it!!! I am so hooked, I can hardly wait to get back to trek another trail. So now it's time to share all the pics I took. A lot of pics were taken during my rest periods, when my thighs were screaming that I would be in some serious trouble if I kept going without a break, mainly through the uphill portions! This trail was mostly either uphill or downhill, with a few flat areas just enough to give enough rest to keep going!

Pics are in the slideshow on the right side!

Merry Christmas Eve! Special Paintings for Family

Like most folks, these last couple of weeks have been really hectic for me. I didn't even manage to send out Christmas cards this year, *sigh*, so sorry I did that. However I think I have redeemed myself with the latest art project completed! I wanted to make something different for my nieces and nephews this year. I normally take the easy way out and just get gift cards to WalMart or Target, which for the most part I did this year again. However, I decided to present the cards in a gift of their own, a "gift within a gift" if you will.

The idea came to me to make small paper decorated cowboy boot sleeves with a themed card that fit inside. I made three pair that I put up for sale in my Etsy shop but did not sell. Again, *sigh* (oh well, there's always next year!). So I decided, why not make a larger size that a regular gift card could slip inside? And, why not decorate it with a small painting of an individuals likes? And the gift card boots were on their way to being created!

So the next step was to discretely find out what each of my nieces and nephews enjoyed and then create a representative painting. Luckily, through the help of my sisters they directed me to what I should look for. My oldest nephew enjoys fishing, the other nephew enjoys dragons (which I remembered from his wedding theme), two nieces enjoy wine and one niece enjoys cooking. With this info, I went to a few websites I use for reference pictures and was able to find suitable photos to use. I was a little stuck for the cooking reference, so I used a collage of different photos to come up with a "cooking" theme. I hope my niece "gets" it and doesn't think I'm the strange old aunt! And here are the results:

Each boot shank is large enough to slip in a regular size gift card with a small envelope. I hope they keep these boots as a keepsake. I am going to tell them that if they just want the gift card and not the boot, I'll take the boot back! (I put a lot of effort into these). I also personalized each boot on the back with their name and the year. But these guys are all old enough to be appreciative of a family member's efforts just for them. It was fun and good artistic exercise for me, creating miniature paintings in still life, fantasy and realistic styles.

Today is the busiest day of the month for me but I never forget why Christmas day is here for us no matter how tired or busy I get. Hallelujah, He is born!

Catching Time

As usual I let my blog time slip away. Thanksgiving came and went, very good, good meet with the family, ate too much great food and drove too far. But hey, it's all worth it in the end.

I've got some art projects in the fire, so to speak. I'm hoping to do a WIP on these. I've decided to do a western wildlife bookmark painting series, focusing on three magnificent creatures: Eagle, Bear and Cougar. I plan on creating one animal montage on each bookmark. Somehow the need came to me about painting something other than horses. It's good practice and a good challenge.

(one of my reference pics for the next project, copyright free and public domain)

Another activity I've become involved in is my local Etsy group Ft. Worth chapter of Etsy Texas Crafters. Recently there was a meeting in west Ft. Worth where I met some fine and excited artist and crafters. It was a small turnout, but I felt like a pioneer of sorts. I really enjoyed the folks who did turn out and we all are in agreement of helping to support one another in our Etsy endeavours!!! One gentleman was kind enough to blog about our meeting and took some wonderful pictures! Check out the blog here: First Ft. Worth Etsy Meeting

Hopefully, I can get back to working on my art, this week has been very busy at work! One day, one day.......

Continuing with the Etsy shop promotions

Just a quick note, at least to keep the blog current! Here are the list of more etsy shops up for promotion highlighted by www.neatostuff.com.

Thursday- www.purpledaisyjewelry.etsy.com

Friday- www.maryzoom.etsy.com

Saturday- www.threadedgoodness.etsy.com

Sunday- www.uniquegarden.etsy.com

I feel so strongly about supporting individual artisans on Etsy. There is something so unique about one of a kind handmade items. Plus it's nice to know that my gift was not made by child labor in a third world country!!

I should get another batch of shops to promote next week. I am working on some real unique gift cards for my Etsy shop, hopefully I will get those all listed this week. I'm starting to feel the crunch ! More thoughts next time!

More fine Etsy store promotions

So here are two more Etsy stores for consideration as part of a promotional deal I've signed on with www.neatostuff.com . (once again I'm a day behind, *sigh*)

Tuesday- www.craftilycharms.etsy.com (wonderful handmade charms)

Wednesday- www.norakaren.etsy.com (does some fine work with a peacock theme on clothing etc)

I do want to just slip this bit in, one of my etsy store items was selected for an individuals Treasury selection!! Woo Hoo, a first for me! Check it out : http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=20659

Sharing the "Wealth"

I'm learning fast that if my art career is going to be successful, esp. through Etsy, I need to learn how to promote, get the word out there in internet land. Luckly, I am not alone, there are lots of other enterprising artist who are in the exact same boat as me. Finding a good avenue to devote my limited blog time to is another matter altogether. Recently, there was a post on Etsy board about a marketing website that would promote one store a day on their website banner for FREE! If you signed up, all you had to do was simply plug the Etsy stores on your own blog and Etsy store. Simple enough, huh!

Shamefully, I am behind in getting these stores promoted. But I'm doing my part now, below area sample of the fellow Etsy artists stores I've signed up with. Please check them out, there is an artist out there who will blow you away with talent AND is affordable!! From last week here are the stores I needed to promote:

Thursday www.randomscraps.etsy.com
Friday www.gogokioko.etsy.com
Saturdaywww.Elladean.etsy.com
Sunday
www.babymakesthree.etsy.com

So for today, here is the store for promotion:Monday- www.paintingsbyjude.etsy.com

And of course the website so kindly offering this cross promotion is www.neatostuff.com, which offers all kinds of gifts for women, kids and men.

There, I feel better now!!! I am having fun checking these sites out too!

WIP New Horse Action Painting Finished!

And it's finished! So you can see from the color sketch in the previous blog post I just really didn't add anymore color to the horses and riders. But I decided to add a bit more to the background. I added sepia and more yellows to indicate the dust flying especially on the center sliding horse. I also added more yellow and a cobalt blue "ribbons" behind the center horse to account for the energy of action around the horses and riders. I used the technique of wetting the tip of the pencil and then rolling the wet pencil tip on its side to lay the ribbon of color for both the blue and yellow. I then took a slightly damp brush over certain sections for some slight blending. Here are some closeups:








Compared to the more detailed paintings I normally do, this painting took only half the time to complete. I almost feel "lazy" to call this painting finished!! But I'm happy with it, very good exercise for me artistically. I may do a series of action horse events like this, with cutting horses or jumping horses or something!



Oh, I've titled this painting "Reining Riders Trio of Dreams".


This painting will be available for purchase in my Etsy Shop very soon. Now it's time to make more horse themed Christmas tags for my shop, already sold one set of eight! Yipee!