Gone surfing

Yay! I'm back online. I've only been offline for a few hours but that's enough to send me over the edge sometimes. Normally I consider myself a fairly level headed, even tempered sort but when this connection that's supposed to be connected 24/7 in actuality is connected 20/7 I get really PO'd. What does that say about me? Am I obsessed with this thing? Have we become so dependent on it that our lives come to a screeching halt without it? Kelli and I were talking about this just the other day. It's amazing how much computer time we have to put in order to make our fine art worlds work. Gone are the days of spending most of our hours at the easel. Of course we have to put in the time painting but we have to put in just as much at the computer in order for the rest of the world to know that we did the easel time. Am I whining? Just a little bit.....I feel much better now that the Internet is working again and I'm very grateful that I can log into blogger, facebook, myspace, twitter, linkedin, etsy, paypal, youtube, the bank, the local news etc, etc, etc.....................


While I'm surfing here's the latest from the easel, although it's not literally from the easel considering it's too small to fit on one. This is one of the 5x5 series and it's mixed media on panel. It's acrylic, collage decorative paper, wire and tumbled stones on a textured surface.

Feeling peaceful and wishing you great connections,

Carlynne

So many layers, so little space

Passage 64 (detail)

Here I go again with the textures, just can't help myself. This is a portion of the painting, you can see the rest on Etsy when I get it posted later today. I think I'm trying to see just how many layers I can add to an itty bitty 5x5 panel. This particular one has prepared paper, 3 different gels, wire and of course acrylic layers in between. The gels I used were natural sand, glass beads and string gel. So much fun!

Peace,

Carlynne

Look With Your Hands

Passage 62 (close up)

This is a close up of a piece I just posted on Etsy. I need to do these close ups even closer I think. It's nearly impossible to convey texture in a photograph! I love texture, I want to run my hands all over some pieces. As a matter of fact Kelli and I nearly got ourselves kicked out of a gallery once for not being able to keep our hands off the work. Now why create something with such luscious texture and then not let people touch it? Yeah, I know....protecting the artwork. As an artist I get that but I want people to touch these little creations. Interacting with it is part of the process. Pick it up, run your hand across it and feel it go from silky smooth to wrinkled to sandy to rough to bumpy. Sometimes it's OK to look with your hands.

Peace,

Carlynne

Brush Mileage (Addendum)

Hi Again,

In my blog earlier today, I titled it Brush Mileage and forgot to finish that thought before signing off. (Too right brained today, I guess.)

I had come across the phrase "brush mileage" on an artists blog prior to my post and it really stuck with me. When I decided to include it in the post, I went back to find it and give credit where due. The problem is that I came across 4 artists using the term on their blogs with no credit to anyone. Apparently great minds do think alike. What occured to me is that brush mileage is artists' "due diligence". It's how we do the investigation, put in the time, pound the pavement, beat the bushes, get the info. Brush mileage is our work and it is what shows results in the end. Period.

Once again, Peace, Love and Creativity to you all.
Kelli

Brush Mileage

Hi All,

We are both now on Facebook and Twitter if you care to "follow" or "be a friend." I had always thought that I had no time for such "frivolous activities." It is enough on my plate just to keep up with a blog, a new Etsy store, and all the email from friends, family, students, etc. That is plenty of online writing and maintenance for me. However, I soon discovered that social networking sites are wonderful places to get your name and your artwork out there and for free!! We have met old friends and brand new friends on these sites and created much interest in the work. Now it is leading to sales. What artist wouldn't like that?

Once set up, your page is easily maintained with little time required. If you choose to do this I have a few helpful hints for you:

1. Do put up as much personal info in your profile as you feel comfortable with. Potential collectors need to be able to get hold of you. It is counterproductive for a business to hide their contact info and if you are an artist, you are a business. Think about whether the info you are giving is any more personal than what people can find about you in the phone book.

2. Link all your sites together. If you don't know how, find someone who does know and will help you. (Thanks Carlynne.)

3. Keep up with it with regular updates. Let people know what you are doing as often as possible. Tell them your thoughts and give the back story behind the artwork, but be brief.

4. Put up photos and most importantly your artwork on a regular basis. No one, I repeat, no one wants to see a blog/website/network page for an artist that has no pictures!!!! (Sorry, just one of my pet peeves. Aren't artists visual people?)

5. Tell people where they can go to buy your work.

6. Accept other artists as friends.

7. Say no thanks to "friends" who want to join your network just so they can sell you something or are looking for relationships.

8. Keep your network informed of events you are involved in: art exhibitions, workshops, books and articles published by you or about you, interviews, awards and other recognition, anything and everything going on in your art career/life.

Good luck with your networking and have fun with it. (Sorry this list is not an even 10, but it's all I have right now).

Peace 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

I just don't know.....

Wow, I just don't know what happened to the colors on that last post. The colors are really off from the original. I tried to post again from my computer with a different file and I got the same result. Oh well....

Passage 53

The colors on this piece are much better, thank goodness. This is a little piece done with collage, acrylic texture gel, copper wire and stone. It's 5x5 for 25.00 and now available on Etsy! Let me know what you think.

Peace,

Carlynne

Mixed Media Workshop

One Missing

by Carlynne Hershberger

To all you mixed media artists and all you wannabee mixed media artists, we are teaching a workshop in Cloudcroft NM that you will want to attend!!

The piece shown above (One Missing) is a mixed media piece that Carlynne will be demonstrating during the workshop. Over the course of 5 days (that's five whole days with us!!!) you will work on three different projects combining colored pencils and several other media. This piece uses colored pencil, solvent and gold leafing and combines several techniques. (And although it's very pretty, the color, as seen here is not quite accurate. Don't know why it published this way!) For another project you will use colored pencil, watercolor and acrylic paint. It's a great chance to take your colored pencil work to the next level and/or learn how to combine several media.

The workshop takes place in the picuresque little town of Cloudcroft in the beatiful mountains of New Mexico July 27-31, 2009. For more information, go to the Cloudcroft site http://www.cloudcroftart.com/. And keep watching this blog for more info and another piece of artwork to be demonstrated at the event.

Peace and creativity,

Kelli

And the point is....

This is the last one of these little watercolor pencil pieces. I only did 3 but I'm wanting to do more. Of course now I'm involved in another series on canvas and have about a dozen of those going. I used to be able to work on one piece at a time and now I have to have multiple things in progress. Does anyone else out there change their working habits over time? Through the years my style has loosened up quite a bit and as I progress and evolve, the way I work changes too. I also find myself working in series now. Working on multiple pieces in a series helps keep the ideas going, one painting will generate an idea for another in the series and it flows better. The downside to all this is some mornings when I walk in the studio I'll stand there and think....geez, which one do I work on first. I'm pulled in different directions. I do a little bit here and a little bit there and at the end of the day it doesn't look like I accomplished much. Well, maybe I have been getting a little bit done. The evidence is piling up around me.

Have a good weekend and Happy Mother's Day

Carlynne

PS: in case you're wondering, these 3 pieces were of the St. John's River in Jacksonville. They currently reside at Fogle Fine Art in Jacksonville.

Painting with another point

Here's another piece done with the watercolor pencils. I've done 3 of these so far and right now they're with my gallery rep in Jacksonville - Fogle Fine Art.

Wishing everyone a happy, creative day. Find your joy and spend some time there.

Painting with a Point

This is a piece I did with watercolor pencil on paper. It was loads of fun to do. This particular technique is quick and it ends up looking very painterly. I dip the pencil point directly into water and then scrub the color on with the side of the wet pencil point. Doing it this way puts down a nice thick layer of color. I guess it's about as close to working with impasto strokes as you can get with a pencil point. As I'm sure you can tell this was done from a satellite image, can you tell where it is?

Carlynne

Altered Books and then some

Hi everyone. Well Kelli got us back in the blogging groove again. It had been quite some time for both of us. Since the last post there's been family gatherings, holidays, painting, meetings, a new year rung in, home remodeling, family reunion, babies birthing and thankfully lots more painting. No wonder we haven't blogged much.


What you see here is one page out of many from an altered book I'm working on. This is only my second altered book. The first one I did was for a family member. Since doing that one I was intrigued with the process so decided to make one just for the heck of it. Well that has now turned into an entire series of works based on the theme of women and body image. The book is almost done and the ideas have expanded into many canvases. Once in a while I'll post a peek at the new stuff. For now I'm going to keep working on the book and canvases for as long as the ideas keep flowing.

Peace and presence,
Carlynne