Creatures of the Night!!

One of my vintage magic posters from my vidadesigns etsy shop was recenly featured in an ETSY TREASURY! This is a great collection from various artists. If you have a moment please click on each of the images in the treasury to increase our ranking. Who knows, maybe we will even make it to the coveted FRONT PAGE feature. Please click on the CREATURES OF THE NIGHT TREASURY to give it some love! This link will only be active through Sunday the 9th!

Thanks to MuseSilkPaintings of etsy for putting together this great feature!

FERNS ARE MAJESTIC PLANTS

…continuation from my Deep Lake Trail hiking adventure.  

On my hike I took pictures. I took lots and lots of pictures. I think I now have a few hundred images of ferns stashed on my computer for future inspiration.

I have this great fascination with ferns. I like them. I like all types of them. I like to touch them and look at them and admire all the details. I think they have a beautiful balance of visual qualities.  I feel a new painting in the works!

The ones in these pictures have a brown color stem in the center. It almost looks like they are flowering. Is there anyone reading who is an expert on plants/ferns?  Maybe this will require some research. I am intrigued!

 Here is a link to the American Fern Society. Honestly there is something for everyone in this world!  :)

Inspirational and Rejuvenating Camping/Hiking Weekend

Solomon (he's my main man for those of you that don't know me yet!) and I took a super cool nature hike this past Sunday while we were camping at Yankee Springs Deep Lake Campground. I brought the camera. Our pace was drastically slowed because of my picture taking craze. I seemed to be called by all the plants and animals and couldn’t stop shooting pics.  Good thing we weren’t in a hurry.  

Before we went camping I had been inspired to start painting again.  I had put the brushes down and the paints on vacation while I have been working with some paper crafts for the last few months.  It seems like the painting bug has bitten again. It is never gone for long!  I am hoping that some of these new images will be a strong inspirational base for a new series of nature inspired abstract paintings I am planning to start soon.  

I will share more of my hike pictures and some new sketches for the paintings as am I able! 

Peace Friends!

- Rachel

My Art Room Gets a New Look!

Five years of creating in the same room had turned my little art studio into a big art mess and a pack rat den.  Here are some before and after photos of a much needed purge. Many of items were recycled. Lots of stuff went into storage.  The dark blue walls got three coats of cheerful paint. Dark green carpet was swapped for a smaller rug.  Most of the facelift was free! I invested money into some paint and the rest was just time and energy to sort through years of art stuff!!

I am thrilled with the transformation. It is amazing how clutter can slow you down drastically.  I have spent lots of time sitting peacefully and creating in my new space!!!  Yippee!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

the T word - TWITTER

I am learning how to be really popular on the internet. Wow! Who knew there are so many ways to connect to thousands of random peeps. It is kind of cool, scary and strange all at the same time.

I have been learning (slowly) how to get virtual friends on twitter and how to use those friends as an audience for my etsy VidaDesigns and Racheljasmine websites. I have no idea if the whole thing is really working or if I am totally wasting time in a huge black hole. But - I am giving it a shot.

I read a really great tutorial on the etsy forums about how to use twitter for business purposes. (OH - that sounds so stuffy and formal! Gross!)

Anyway - give it a shot and check out the link: etsy forum post on twitter

You can follow me on twitter if you want. We can be friends. Don't worry. We can still be friends even if you are not a twitterer. :)

Click here to see my twitter pages:

racheljasmine

vida_designs

Oh I have let a month slip away without staying true to my blog!  Oh well!

I have some pictures to share of a recent treasury I put together - "Majestic Mountains".  I find the mountains so peaceful and also very inspirational.  

If you are a fellow etsian, please follow the link and give some love for these great artists!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=48680

BEST OF THE WEST - West Michigan that is!

Hello! Please check out these great handmade goodies from MICHIGAN. These artist are my team members! We are an awesome group of artists supporting each other!  

You can check out work from some of the Etsy West Michigan Team members at the following link:

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=44086

THANKS FOR SUPPORTING HANDMADE ARTS!

Putting It All Together - A Work in Progress

Last night - 12:30 am – I found myself sitting at my desk doodling instead of sleeping.  Here is what I made: four small illustrations with watercolor, marker & ink.  They were originally part of one larger piece but I cut it up!! 

I am in the process of deciding how to put together these four pieces. (Or maybe I will just let them work as pieces on their own).   Here are some of my layout options.  Please feel free to comment with your thoughts!  

I love a good critique!!  I will blog later about the final product!

CREATIVE TO-DO LIST. Not an oxymoron.

The next time you need to write a to-do-list, you can make it an art project!

 

I had lots of ideas swirling in my head. I wanted them out of my mind but not to be forgotten.  If I write down my ideas I seem to get some relief from having to think too much! 

 

I was in need of a good list but also in the mood to be creative and colorful!  So – I did both at the same time!!

 

Here is my ENORMOUS, colorful to-do-list!

 

I will update with images of my progress as I tackle crossing out each colorful line.

Have I ever mentioned that I love sharpie markers?  I like Prismacolor markers a lot also.  They are much more expensive though, which makes them a little less practical to have a multitude of them.

Searching for Spring

Today was a bright and sunny day. It was cold but the sun was encouraging.  

 

I took a walk this evening excited by the soft light.   I was searching for inspirations. 

Over the last few days our snow has been melting. I went in search of signs of spring and found only remnants of the summer and fall waiting to be reborn this spring.  They are hopeful for the warmth and rebirth!  I too am watching and waiting!

ETSY WEST MICHIGAN TEAM TREASURY!

Please check out our team treasury that is featured on Etsy through Monday the 9th of February.  Thanks to the wonderful curator, LaShelle, for putting together such a great team treasury.  PURPLE PASSIONS! 

PURPLE PASSIONS OF ETSYWMI:

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=38200

LASHELLE'S ETSY SHOP:

http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6036277

Sick on the Couch = SKETCHING TIME

A fun and productive afternoon on the couch!  Here are some new warm ups and experiments! Both are 8"x8" on textured paper.  I also got out the sewing machine to add some details before I started drawing.  I used pencil, oil pastels, colored pencil, thread, and sharpie marker.  The second drawing I also used a golden, clear drying, black speckled medium.  I was having FUN!

Oil Pastel Research

I have an interest to vary from my normal acrylic painting.  I have been pulled in the illustration direction.  I have been having fun experimenting with lines designed drawn instead of painted.  With that in mind I want to experiment with oil pastels.  I dug through a box of art supplies that haven’t been used in years and found an old case of oil pastels from my college days.  Needless to say I need an update. 

Does anyone have a recommendation on a quality oil pastel that is affordable?

If there is anyone else interested in learning more about oil pastels, here is a very informative website I found while researching.

http://www.explore-oil-pastels-with-robert-sloan.com/oil-pastels-reviews.html

INSPIRATIONS

Sometimes I like to wander through ETSY-land letting my mind go blank until I find an image that stuns me.  

I am drawn to work that is abstract, colorful, bright, edgy, provocative, highly textured and dramatic. I love the way that a work of abstract art could inspire and move different people in completely distinct ways.  Abstract work is always totally open to personal interpretation.

I was excited to get a space on the ETSY treasury so I could put together images of some of my favorite pieces of abstract art.  Here are some of my favorite images that I just keep coming back to.  For me, these are like eye candy for the art lover!  I just can’t stop looking.   These are my inspirations and a tribute to my fellow artists.