Tuesday, October 30, 2012

my art at franklin's pumpkinfest

 HI THERE!
well, i did it!  my very first outdoor festival!  selling my wares....and i DID!  sell some stuff, that is!  to my delight and surprise, i sold 8 paintings and a stack of doily items!!  WOW....and the very best part of the whole day...listening to the wonderful compliments to my artwork and really hearing those compliments...
 i don't take compliments well and i was fearful of hearing some kind of criticism...fearful of so many things .....but yunno what...not one negative comment all day!  and oh!  to have someone like my work...get my work and to buy my work!!  wow...that was fun indeedy!
 the weather was not good.  my partner, mark porter of mark alan artisan woods and i started setting up at 5:30 a.m. in the dark, cold, damp air....the sun never showed itself....  mark was so easy to work with....he designed and built the wood framing just so that i could hang my art....i could never had done this without him...thank you, mark!!  he sells wonderful handcrafted wooden bowls, jewelry boxes, frames, cutting boards, and trays...his rustic barn wood frames really compliment my paintings.....and his easy going style put me at ease (some what).
 it was lots of fun to see my paintings all hanging together in one place as a collection...i know the importance of having a cohesive collection and so i displayed mostly fall and wintery types of paintings...people seemed to truly gravitate to my ball jar paintings and cows and horses.
 it is important for me to keep my paintings authentic and these images are what i see around me everyday....it is what i know.... living here, in quaint franklin, tn.
that's me and my friend mark..
in our booth, at the beginning of the day...
you can't tell by the picture, but i was apprehensive about what was to come...oh boy...i am always really nervous trying something brand new...i was super cold too....by 2:30 in the afternoon, with a nervous tummy, no food or water, most likely dehydrated and the cold damp air creeping into my bones, i had started to shiver.....my hero hubby, mr. dan rescued me with a cup of hot chocolate, my Uggs boots and "hot hands" to put in my pockets....he made me eat a sandwich too and i started to feel much better....being out in the elements with my art may not be for me....not sure i'll do it again...i am still absorbing it all...but my biggest fear....fear of people liking my art...liking me...well, that fear is gone.
~poof~
like actress sally field said while accepting her academy award, using a very surprised tone,
"wow, you like me, you really like me".

erin

Tuesday, October 23, 2012

wet paint

 just sharing a few diddy's that i have been working on...
whilst rocking out to "the civil wars"  and the new "mumford and sons" albums...
i have struggled to get the colors correct on my photo's....these are too pink...but i am tired.... and in the interest of doing more art...i am posting these less than perfect images....and moving away from the computer.  
 i tried to capture the pretty light coming through the ball jars.


 i have been dying to try my hand at some mixed media works and so including some of my cow photos into these paintings was lots of fun!



o.k.....back to playing in the studio for me....

erin

Friday, October 12, 2012

hand painted doily pumpkins

 happy autumn days, my friends!
i wanted to share some of my hand painted pumpkins with you...
 inspired by the pumpkins featured in the latest issue of Country Living magazine... where real doily's are glued to plastic pumpkins...
i decided to try my hand at painting doily designs using a Sharpie Paint Marker...just like i have been using on my Doily Rocks (see three posts ago)..... 
it's rather like "doily's R us" here at my house...what with my Doily Rocks, Doily Bowls and NOW Doily Pumpkins...sheesh.....
a friend of mine has even been teasing me and saying, "put a doily on it", no matter the subject we are talking about....
she is funny and i love her.





these are just some of the pretties that i will be selling at the Franklin Pumpkinfest on October 27th.
i will also be selling some of my art too....which i have been working very hard on....i have many paintings, which i can not wait to show you.....i just have not had the chance to photograph them yet....
with my fall gardening chores (hey, it's my job), regular walks in the woods (mandatory at this time of year, the leaves are starting to change!), art, art and more art....i find it difficult to keep up with my blog right now...so please bare with me....there just doesn't seem to be enough time in the day right now for everything i want to do!   
do you ever feel that way?
i sure hope so, because it is actually a great feeling.... to be able to do all of these things that i love to do.... and i am getting excited about selling some of my things....in fact, i have been getting so many e-mails inquiring about my art, that i am seriously thinking of opening an Etsy shop...it will have to wait though until november when i have more time to look into it. 
so, lots goin on here.
hope you are keeping busy too.
if you sit still long enough,
 i may put a Doily on you too!
erin


p.s.  just in case  you are wondering....i purchased the plastic pumpkins at michaels craft store, on sale at 50% off....painted them with shades of gray paint that i had on hand....and used a Sharpie paint pen to free hand the doily designs, i bought the pens at 50% off at michaels too.

p.s.s  you can always find coupons for michaels crafts stores in the paper and also on line.

p.s.s.s.  i rarely pay full price for anything at michaels.

p.s.s.s.s  i try not to pay full price for anything, anywhere!