SFA and Art Abandonment

Hello everyone!

For many years I have been making little pieces of art and abandoning them around my community and in other areas as I travel.  There's something just so fun (and sneaky) about leaving a piece of art for someone else to find and (hopefully) enjoy and treasure.  My imagination runs wild at all the possibilities of where my art will end up.

Anyway, I belong to a really fun Facebook group called "Art Abandonment" which started not too long ago. This idea has really caught on in recent times and all kinds of artists are participating in our "art by stealth" approach to sharing our work.

This link is to my blog post where I show some of my original, one-of-a-kind art magnets (business card sized at 2" X 3.5") that I have been abandoning during the month of January.  My plan is to do this once a month at least.  I already have my February stash ready to go and it will end up somewhere between Kelowna, British Columbia, Calgary, Alberta and Puerto Vallarta, Mexico on my upcoming vacation.

This is SO much fun and I encourage any artist to consider checking this out as a fun way to share their art.

Cheers!
Joanna

Small Format Art Journal Project

Thank you so much, Jillian, for the opportunity to be a contribute to this great blog!  I work almost exclusively in small format mixed media art so this will be like a second home for me.

For my first post I thought you might like to see a project that I just launched today.  It is is called, "The Great Canadian Travelling Art Journal Challenge" and is a small format art journal (only about 5" X 5") that will circulate among a number of Canadian artists over the next several months.  They will each pick a page and work their magic on it.  I can't wait to see the results.

You can see how the journal came to life if you follow this link: The Great Canadian Travelling Art Journal Challenge

I will post updates as the pages are completed and the journal makes its way around the country.

Cheers!
Joanna

SFA - ACEO original watercolor - Horses in a landscape.

My first ACEO in nearly a year. "Morning Meadows" original watercolor painting. 2.5"x3.5". Autumn landscape with horses in Southern Oregon.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=290845633804

  

"Beautiful southern Oregon. "Picture Perfect" is what I thought when I woke up to this scene one morning. It was, but knew right away that I wanted to paint it. It's taken a while, but here it is. It wasn't easy. I see my flaws in it, but still shows the "Picture Perfectness" of this wonderful pastoral scene."

Art of your very own!

I'm selling originals! Lucky for most of us, they're often small.

Here's how to get one:

Browse the gallery (the deviantArt one is most complete), find something you like (I'll note there if it's been sold or given away already), and make an offer. Direct email is best (kir@metasilk.com). If I've already listed it somewhere, we may have to go through them (say, if there's already a bid on it). Otherwise, let's talk (or email).

OR

Find a listing in my Etsy shop and buy it there. Here's the shop link: http://www.etsy.com/shop/StudioMetasilk

OR

Bid on an eBay listing. Here's my eBay list: http://www.ebay.com/sch/elksdotter/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=&_trksid=p3686 (I know, ugly URL. Oh well, it works! )

Commissions are possible too (of course). I might even be able to do something small before Christmas. Let's talk!

"Not Far from Eldamar" (pen and ink)

Ink sketch of an Island (Micron pens on 60lb Caslon sketch paper).

[later] Thinking it needed more sky info I bounced an idea off @ellenmillion and in consequence tried some dotted air mist...

May print lightly on watercolor and tint that, which would also clarify the sky. And be kind of nifty. This paper is probably too lightweight for tints unless I did colored pencil.

Hmm...

As always, your thoughts most very welcome!

3 SFA miniatures (dollhouse size original paintings)

Yesterday, and today I've just completed 3 more miniature dollhouse (1:12 scale) paintings. All original watercolors from local scenes. 2" x 1 1/2" approximately. 

I've listed them on eBay - you'll find them HERE. 

 This one is "Wash Day" a very old colonial ranch house a few miles from me. 

 I also have very good news for collectors. A frame maker I have dealt with for over 10 years, who specializes in miniature frames is working with me to offer frames for these new works of mine. Anyone who buys from me will be given this contact information. When I was collecting miniatures, trying to frame them was very difficult until I found someone. 

Anyway - take a look at my 3 newest. 

"Wash Day" 

"The Secluded Garden" 

"On Hidden Pond" Anyone in the Rogue Valley happen to know where they these locations are? The valley has such a treasure trove of wonderful, picturesque places. 

~Jillian

"Mouse with Flowers" (colored pencil, matboard)

Mom had some scraps of mat board she was getting rid of, so I thought I'd try my hand at a technique I've seen Jessica Douglas [link] do some time ago. (Go see her very fabulous art, even though there's nothing quite like this in her gallery right now.)

So. Colored pencil on mat board.

Very fun! Because of the darkness of the mat, and because of the thickness/strength of the board, I had to push my nervousness with applying color with a heavier hand. Very good for me!
I don't have a mat cutter, so the other experiment was trimming away some of the red with an X-acto knife. Feh. I like it OK in the original (better than a smooth edge), but not in the digital versions, go figure.

Also, there's clearly some dust on my scanner. Whoops. Nor am I at all sure that you are seeing the colors I am, and on my laptop's LCD screen, the colors are darker and slightly more muted than in the original.

The original is about 6cm by 6 cm. Yeah, tiny! ANd that's why this image is so small—sure, I scanned it at 600dpi (the scanner whined about 1200, silly thing, though that was before I rebooted it), so I could print it bigger, but ... I probably shouldn't! (Might anyway...)

This picture sold at our local Community Art Show in May. Huzzah!