We're celebrating, so you get a discount!

To celebrate the opening of our new studio and gallery we're having a sale in the Etsy Shop tomorrow, June 15th. Everything in the shop will be 20% OFF from 9AM until 9PM. It's a one day event so don't miss out! When you go shopping use the coupon code: studioopeningsale 

Hope to see you at the opening Thursday.
Peace,
Carlynne

Happy to be busy!

It's been a busy time in Etsy land lately! Both of these pieces above sold along with two other original paintings, a giclee and a copy of our book. I love making those trips to the post office.

Believe

5x5

Mixed Media

Remember in a previous post I had a bunch of canvas panels that I had started on? There were two with nothing but purple handmade paper glued on. Here they are finished. I just added them to the Etsy shop this week. I'm falling in love with violet and blue together. There's some more of that color combo in my future. I also want to do some more with words. Anyone have any suggestions for words they'd like to see added to a little abstract?

Purple Passion

5x5

Mixed Media

Hope you all have a fabulous weekend!

Carlynne

Stuff......

......that's undone - story of my life I guess but I see that as a good thing. It means I started something. In this case it's many somethings. Many projects are underway. Little pieces with papers collaged and texture gels added are waiting patiently for paint. These are heading for the Etsy shop when finished.

This is a bigger one - 48x36 oil on canvas. It's part of the series on adoption.

The next one in the gold sky series is also underway.

I hadn't done one of these larger textured abstracts in a while so I was in need. I have it started and I have no idea what I'm doing with it next but that's the fun of doing it.

TA DA! Something done! This one is for a special project that I'll be announcing later. This is colored pencil with mineral spirits on cold press illustration board. So, I'll keep you posted on how all these projects end up.

Go and be creative!

Carlynne

Still stringin' along

I think I spent more time in the studio this past weekend than I did anyplace else. If I wasn't painting I was prepping surfaces or sorting and putting away supplies. I even love doing that! I did take a trip to the book store though, looking through the magazines and art section just made me want to go home and paint some more, so I did.

These are a few of the many projects going right now. I'm continuing to play with string gel and since I have that fish tank in the house now I thought I'd take a little inspiration from it's occupants. I want to make a few different fish shaped stamps and have some fun. These 2 pieces are little 5x5's that will go in the Etsy shop.

Enjoy your week.

Peace,

Carlynne

New Work

This is going to be a new beach piece, eventually, trust me, it will be. I know it doesn't look much like the other beach pieces yet, but this one is a little different than the previous ones in this series. And you will get to see the process as it goes through transformation several times.







Here is a close up of the textures. The color is a little warmer than this photo, it's actually more of a soft burnt sienna. (Wow, what's with me and burnt sienna? I even drive a Toyota sienna.) It already has about 6 layers on it, including raw sienna, iridescent medium and burnt sienna.

I'll keep you posted.
Peace and love and creativity.
Kelli

You just never know

You just never know what you're going to paint on. Before it was life size horses for the Horse Fever project. Then it was a giant aluminum butterfly for Kaleidoscope. Now it's a hubcap? Artists work on all sorts of canvases, this is just another one. This is for a new art project "Landfillart is an international effort encompassing one-thousand-forty-one (1,041) artists to claim a piece of rusted metal garbage and create fine art." See what they're all about and see some of the completed hubcaps - cool! www.landfillart.org I got my hubcap in the mail yesterday so next step is to prep and prime. I'll keep you posted on the progress.

Trinity

7x5

And here we have a painting on paper! Back to a little more traditional art form. This is another oil pastel landscape that I just listed on Etsy. It's a scene from northern California, the Trinity River near my Uncle's house. I love it up there, what beautiful country! I've lost count on how many times I've painted this same scene and the piece looks a little different each time. Sometimes there's a place that just speaks to you. This is one of those places for me. Each time I paint it I go back there and visit for a little while.

Have a wonderful Friday

peace,

Carlynne

What a weekend!

Wow, it's early. What am I doing here? My "amazing hubby" - that's his name from now on - had to go on a trip this morning so I got up to see him off. I couldn't go back to sleep so here I am. My brain is trippin' from all the projects I'm working on at once. That's not a bad thing, not at all. It's exciting to me. My problem is I want to work on them all at once, so yesterday, I did my darndest to do just that. Up top you see the start of a new acrylic piece in the earth series (coming to a gallery near you - if you live in Ocala or possibly Jacksonville).

This is a little 5x7 oil pastel with colored pencil. I'm starting a series of these mini landscapes for Etsy so look for those soon.

Some of you remember this one - Prairie Light - from the book. It was project 6. It's now listed on Etsy.

Yesterday was one of those days - I was having such a good time in the studio, the energy stayed up all day and I got a lot done, not only painting but computer work and even a little organizing. Amazing Hubby will be gone all day so guess where I'm headed? What a weekend!

hope you're having fun,

Carlynne

Textures R Us

You may be wondering what these photos are and why I am wasting time and valuable Internet space with them. Well, by way of introduction, let me say that I discovered something about myself last weekend. While at the Artist Within event on Saturday evening (refer to previous posts for more info), I found myself looking down at the floor in the lovely bathroom/locker room of the golf clubhouse. (We did not have Italian tile floors and carved wood lockers when I was in high school.) Knowing that I look down a lot at tile, the textures, the colors, the veins, the value nuances, I realized that if I were not an artist, I could sell tile. It would probably be more lucrative, too.

Anyway, I am finally admitting that, as an artist, I not only cannot get away from texture, but I am drawn to texture of all types in many different places. I have decided that I am just going to hand it over to my higher power and give in to the need for texture in most everything I do.

So about these photos. One of our students brought back some slate roof tiles from Canada all the way to Florida in her car. Did we not teach this woman well, what is important in life and car space???? Anyway, thanks to Lea, I have a lovely piece of slate to play with. I have no idea what I will do with it but I am looking forward to finding out, and I will definitely enjoy the process. I wanted you to see what it looks like before I start. I will update you as it proceeds, and suggestions are always welcome.

Oh yes, I know what you are thinking, roof tile!! What's next, painting on saws? Can Elvis on black velvet be far behind? Don't worry, not going to happen. Although velvet has a wonderful texture and I love the colors of rust on metal, hmmmmm.........

Peace and love,

Kelli

Pretty Tree

Hi All,

Just had to share this with everyone. This is a photo of the poinsettia tree at St Paul's United Methodist Church in Ocala, FL. It is something I look forward to and is one of the highlights of every Christmas season for me.

I am trying very hard to not get stressed this year about what I need to get done and instead, I am focusing on the things I really enjoy about this time of year. The food, the music, the people, the fun times. I hope all of you have a very joyous and relaxing holiday.

Peace and love,

Kelli

Beach Series #48

5X5

Hi All,

When I was a child, I thought my Mom was weird. When I asked her what she wanted for Christmas, she said, "All I want is a little peace and quiet." Well that was a really odd thing to want for Christmas from a kid's point of view. Of course as an adult, I understand what she was saying. As a very young widow with 6 small children, her life was working anywhere from 1 to 3 jobs to put food on the table and then trying to meet her children's other needs. She had little time for things like napping or reading the paper. When she went in the bathroom, one of us was usually standing at the door waiting for her to come out or pounding on it to get immediate attention. Of course she wanted peace and quiet, wouldn't you?

The first time my daughter was old enough to ask me what I wanted for Christmas, I immediately thought of my mothers reply and knew that was what I wanted too. But my desire for peace extends beyond my own life. Yes, sometimes I want to be alone, and I often want silence, and I feel like I never have enough of either one. But more than that, I want peace for the whole earth. I want to wake up one morning and hear that peace, instead of fighting has broken out all over the world, and for at least one day not have to worry about bombs, and refugees and children maimed and dying, and soldiers not coming home. Not have to think about graves and families torn apart. Not worry where the next terrorist attack will strike and change the world forever. Not have to wonder who will make the next nuclear bomb. What a wonderful world that would be and what a wonderful Christmas gift for us all.

In case you are wondering what this has to do with the artwork at the top of the page, I realized this morning that what I like about the beach is the peace. I like the quiet and the smell of the sand, the sound of the waves and the birds, the feel of the wind. The lack of obligations, phones ringing and stress. The beach is all natural and not man made. Before man there was peace. Total peace.

Love and peace to all,

Kelli

Just Checking In

Lonely Palm

12X12

Kelli Money Huff

Hi All,

Just a note to say hi and stay in touch. Can you believe it's November already. It's still warm here in Florida and I am so ready for cold weather.

This piece is one that I finished a few weeks ago. I was experimenting with realism over top of textures. You know I just cannot get away from those textures. I used almost every type of acrylic on this piece; heavy body regular, Interactive slow drying, and Galleria flow formula. I think it's great to be able to mix them. You know I can't get away from mixed media, even when it's all acrylic!!

Peace and love,
Kelli

And the Winner Is........

And the winner of the copy of our book, Creative Colored Pencil Workshop is........ (drum roll here) Kelly Jackson of I Have a Notion (cymbals here). We drew her name on Monday the book went out this afternoon (see how efficient I am?). Congratulations to Kelly (what a nice name) and please visit her at

www.IHaveA-Notion.com or
http://IHaveANotion.blogspot.com

Being a sewer, I was very interested in her site and she has the most wonderful things for sewers and even some things for non-sewers.


And guess what???? We are winners, too!! We received an email from Lisa at Etania Gems & Jewelry that we have won her drawing for a pair of sodalite and fresh water pearl earrings. What a thrill, of course we both have two ears, so I am not sure how that will work. This may be the only thing that could ever end our friendship. However, we do not hold Lisa responsible, so please visit her site and look at her gorgeous jewelry, and I do mean gorgeous:

www.etaniagems.com or
http://etaniagems.wordpress.com


As if all that were not enough to make this a very successful weekend with the Fall Business Women's Online Expo, we also had a lot of new people visit our etsy shop and our blog. So many wonderful comments, our heads are spinning. What a nice community of women. We are both so glad we did this and are looking forward to the next one.

I wish all peace, creativity, free art books and wonderful jewelry,
Kelli

Fall Business Womens Online Expo Booth #21

Pumpkin #2

5X5

Carlynne Hershberger

Leaves #3

5X5

Kelli Money Huff

Welcome to all who are on our blog for the first time to help us celebrate the Fall Business Women's Online Expo! We are honored that you took the time to visit with us considering all the choices you have available to you. Thank you and we hope you will like what you see and will return. Please tell us what you think.

We are Carlynne Hershberger and Kelli Money Huff. We paint, we teach, we write (well, OK, we also eat, sleep and eat a little more, too). We are experimental artists who mix our media all the time. We are very busy and by working together we cut the chores in half for each of us, so we can spend more time painting.

The two pieces you see above are examples of our 5X5 mini's, each one an original painting on canvas board. These are from our new section titled, Autumn. We have greatly enjoyed this little jog from our more abstract work and are looking forward to painting new things for our other seasonal sections. Watch for Winter, Spring, and Summer sections to pop up at the appropriate times.

We are thrilled to be a part of the Fall Business Women's Online Expo and are looking forward to visiting as many sites as possible. As you work your way through, be sure to comment as often as you can, it helps all of us to give you what you want. When you comment on our blog, or make a purchase in our Etsy shop this weekend, you will be entered into a drawing for a signed copy of our book, Creative Colored Pencil Workshop. We are running other specials just for this weekend event. Our original mini paintings are selling very well and for this Saturday and Sunday, we are including a mini easel for free. And don't forget, no shipping on the painting or the easel.

These mini easels are unfinished wood and look great with the mini paintings just the way they are, but you can stain or paint them to match the artwork if you wish. Don't forget us for you Christmas and Hanukkah shopping; mark our blog and Etsy shop and come back for more specials in the future.


Something new in our Etsy shop is our book, Creative Colored Pencil Workshop (North Light Books, 2007). We are offering free shipping on all book purchases for this weekend. Save money and get a book signed by us. We can personalize if you email us with your name. And the best news is that every customer who makes a purchase from us on Etsy as well as every visitor that comments on our blog for Saturday and Sunday, will be entered into a drawing for a free book. Good luck to all.

In case you didn't know, we offer weekly classes on Monday and Wednesday at Red Swan Paint and Art Supply in Ocala Florida. See how hard our students work? There is a lot of laughing going on in our classes, but our students learn a lot, too.

OK, time for you to move along the Fall Business Womens Online Expo list, now. Thanks for dropping by and do come again.

Kelli and Carlynne

Spring Has Sprung, Fall Will Fall

Leaves 1

5X5

Kelli Money Huff

Hey All,

I am feeling good with the slight hint of crispness in the air here in Florida. Believe me, it is very slight. Today was predicted to be 94 degrees and I feel every degree. But I digress, this is all about art. I am missing the autumn leaves this time of year that I loved in Michigan where I grew up. I only miss snow on two days a year, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. However, I really miss the colors of fall throughout this entire season. I devour magazine photos of wilderness roads with their golds, oranges and wine colors. Recently an online photo of the Upper Peninsula nearly brought me to tears. And that is why I created some small pieces with brightly colored autumn leaves. Check out our new section on Etsy called Autumn.

I wish you Peace, Love and Color
Kelli

Photo phobia

Beach Series #49

5X5 acrylic textures

Hi All,

I know I seem to have it all together to everyone else, but shocking as it may be, there are some things I am not good at, and some things I am downright afraid of. (I am pausing here to give you a chance to absorb this stunning news.)

You know how artists hate to market their work, well that is not a fear to me as much as it is an annoyance. and a dislike. My greatest fear, well, maybe not my greatest, I mean there is the fear of having the next painting turn out to be crap and then the fear of putting your work out there, and then the fear of sounding stupid in an interview and don't get me started on the pictures they take of you and publish in magazines, books and newspapers. OK, sure, there are a lot of things I am afraid of in this career I have chosen, but I digress. The one I am talking about today is my PHOTO PHOBIA. Technically I think that means fear of the sun or light or something, but for me it is fear of taking photos of my artwork. This is really hard!!!!

All my life I have had a problem understanding the whole f-stop thing, even when I was young and my memory was good and I could still learn new things. You know, the aperture gets smaller as the number gets bigger and the light must be compensated by the yada-yada-yada-yada.... Whatever. I have tried, I really have. I've taken classes, I've practised, I even have a very supportive husband, Greg, who once drew a really good diagram to explain it to me and help me remember it (I am a visual learner). It really helped, but I didn't retain it.

Anyway, fast forward to today. My creative partner (in books, teaching, blog, Etsy, blah, blah, blah) Carlynne Hershberger had to learn to photograph our artwork for our first book(Creative Colored Pencil Workshop). I say "she had to" because if we had depended on me to do it, our publisher would still be waiting and I would be under my bed in the fetal position sobbing and mumbling to myself. You remember how in the old days, artists used slides to enter competitions and also to publish work in magazines and books. Well, ours was chosen for publication just about the time that digital photography was getting really big. Our publisher, F & W Media, gave us the opportunity to be their first authors to do all of our photos digitally. Carlynne was magnificent (we do tell each other periodically that we are brilliant or genius, but magnificent is a new word that we have not used before.) She acquired a new camera (Canon 20D) and learned to use it with very little help from me, although I did read the manual aloud to her, but the translation from Chinese was not very helpful.

Carlynne became wonderful at it and we both benefited from her expertise. Well, eventually I had to learn to do my own. So when we started our Etsy shop, she did the beginning photography to get us started and then she gave me a lesson in doing my own. I had nightmares before we got together to do this. I thought about checking myself into a hospital and having a triple by-pass instead. I needed a root canal, but didn't have the money to pay for it. My other alternative was to change my name and leave town with no forwarding address. But, being the responsible person that I am, I did show up. She was so kind to me (I get teary just thinking about it now) and she gently lead me through the steps and then I realized it wasn't nearly as bad or as hard as I had thought. In fact, I knew right then, that I had nothing to fear but fear itself! (At this point, there are angels singing and a ray of strong sunlight beating down on my head.) I would like to take a moment here to thank, not only Carlynne, but the person who invented digital photography.

So, what have I learned from this experience? That I am not stupid, or old or have a bad memory? No, that is not what I learned, in fact I may be all those things. But I did learn that fear is of the unknown, once it becomes known, the fear can disappear quickly. It was my mind telling me I could not do this, in short I was not good enough. We are all good enough, we just have to tackle our fears head on. And if you are an artist, you need to learn this fast, because unfortunately, our art lives are filled with possible phobias (this post, paragraph 2, lines 3-7). I wish I could give the author credit, but cannot remember where I read one of my favorite quotes: If you are not frightened and depressed, you are not growing as an artist.

Love and peace to all,
Kelli

Esty Again!

Hi All,

When I waxed enthusiastically about Etsy yesterday, I didn't mean to imply that my first two sales on Etsy was the first time I had ever sold artwork. On the contrary, my first sale was a portrait commission for the Kellogg Foundation in 1984, over 20 years ago. I remember it well as it was a difficult assignment for various reasons, not the least of which was that the person who's portrait I was doing was deceased and I had no good reference photos. Most of my artist colleagues can identify with this. That started my love/hate relationship with commissions which has now turned to just hate.

What thrilled me about Etsy was several things:

1. It was easy!!! (Especially for me, due to the fact that Carlynne is our geek.)

2. We have only been on Etsy for about 2 weeks and have had 6 sales!

3. My stuff had only been up for a little more than 2 days and I sold 2 pieces!

4. Everything I read on the Etsy help info says that you must be patient waiting for your first sale, it takes time.

5. I had never sold anything online before!

So, why were we so special? Was it just good luck or really good work or something else? Well, of course I like to think that it was just really good work. And maybe it was. I also think that the prices were right for the economy. We have two price points right now in our Etsy store, $25 and $200. In good economic times, $200 is a great price for original art on canvas. In this current economy, it is the $25 pieces that are selling.

Our plan is to post good quality, original artwork at affordable prices. We want our work to be obtainable by people of modest means. Does that mean we will not sell larger, more expensive pieces? Are you out of your mind? But I believe that we will always have smaller more affordable ones even after the economy improves. And we do enjoy making the smaller pieces.

Above I have shown one of our 5X5 pieces on canvas board which sells for $25. It is displayed on a miniature easel (not included in price.)

So, visit our shop at hershbergerhuff.etsy.com when you can and be sure to let us know what you think.

Have a peaceful, loving and creative day.

Kelli

Validation

Hey all,

Last Saturday morning I awoke to the news that two of my 5 pieces on Etsy had sold after being listed only 2 1/2 days!! I was over the moon.

As artists we hear compliments all the time, "Oh that's beautiful," or "I just love that." And even sometimes a few of these, " Well you can decorate my house anytime," and "I would be happy to store that for you." (I have said some of these things myself.) But there is something really special about the feeling you get when you sell something. Sure it helps pay the bills and for an artist that is really important. But I am talking about how it feels.

OK, here's my confession: the two pieces were only $25 each, but it felt like a thousand each. I call it validation when someone plunks down their hard earned money to buy your artwork. It is the highest of all compliments and I will never be jaded enough to not be thrilled each and every time it happens. So, my thanks to Elisabeth, you made my day.

One of pieces that sold is pictured above. It is a 5X5 inch piece from the Beach series with acrylic texture sand medium, super heavy gesso and mica flakes.

Wishing you peace, love and creativity.

Kelli

Grand Opening!

Passage 54

In case you hadn't noticed there's a widget off to your left that says Our Etsy Store with a link. We finally set it up and now pieces like the one above are available for sale. I'm not sure just how grand this Grand Opening is since there's only 3 pieces on the shelf so far but we'll stock up soon. As the paint dries we'll be shooting and uploading so be sure to stop by periodically.

Hope everyone is having a lovely weekend!

Peace,

Carlynne