Painting #60 Manet Inspiration

I’m so excited right now! We just found tickets to Chicago! This will be the first real vacation that Dan and I have taken together (without family, and besides our honeymoon), so needless to say, we’re pretty excited. No, you can’t come along…. Although I’m sure I’ll take tons of pictures so you’ll feel like you did. I’m doubly excited because it’s a new city (for me, not for Dan) full of new things to discover. I know most of you have probably been to Chicago, and some of you live there, so please, tell me all the amazing things I must do, and the best places to eat while we're there! Of course, I’ll be dedicating several hours to the art museum…

I feel like I’ve been living in a mini art museum all day. Can I just tell you that sometimes I feel artistically dry. Whenever that happens, I dash off to the library, get a huge armload of books (my arms are still a little sore) and pour through them gleaning inspiration from the masters. Today, Manet came to the rescue with his beautiful brush strokes and deep understanding of color. I fell in love with an oil painting called “White Peonies with Sacateurs”. Stunning.

After examining this painting, I went out to the garden, and gathered my own subject matter, and, whalla! “White Azaleas with Ivy”. It’s a 12x16 oil painting on Masonite, making it easy to frame, and simple to display on a stand or small easel. I just love the contrast and the dramatic way the flower seen to jump out of the scene with their glowing petals.  Because this is day #60 in my painting365 project, this painting is for sale on my Etsy Shop (or by emailing me) for $60!



Don’t forget about the give-away! I’ll be doing the drawing Saturday night!!! Make sure you enter!

“White Peonies with Sacateurs” by Manet

Painting #59 Bold Blooms

Big, red, bold, warm, and stunning: all amazing elements needed in every room. These flowers are located somewhere deep in Papua, New Guinea. I love the way they seem to be rejoicing in the sunshine! I really had a lot of fun paintings these. They are so much larger than life that it was actually a bit of a challenge. I had to get all the shades right, and make sure all the shadows and highlights are correct…. But my very favorite part about this painting is the color. I just love dramatic artwork, and red is the best color of all.

This is a 12x16 inch oil painting on massonite wood.

Check out my Esty Shop for paintings that are still for sale!  EmilyJeffords.etsy.com

AND! Don’t forget about the greatest give-away ever! This is actually a very crafty marketing scheme I’ve cooked up...

In order to win the painting you have to email at least one person, and tell them about my blog. You can enter more than once by telling multiple people! So, say you email 11 people, I’ll put your name in the drawing 11 times. I’m going to keep track of how many people you tell and then use this amazing “random number generator” to pick the winner! (It’s quite fun to play around with.)
The question is, how am I going to keep track of how many people you tell? Email your friends, family, co-workers, strangers… and tell them to check out my blog, and copy me on the email. I’ll count the number of email addresses and add that number to your tally. The more people you email the greater your odds of winning. My email address is: TheArtist.Emily@gmail.com

And here is a photograph of Painting #61. It’s a beautiful butterfly bush that we saw while at a conservatory in Columbus. It was so beautiful I couldn’t not paint it! It’s a 7.75 x 6.5 oil painting on a thick block of wood. I’ve painted the edges black, so you don’t have to frame it. It makes a great artistic element sitting on a shelf or mantle.
Let the games begin!

Painting #58 Lady Liberty

"Give me your tired, your poor,

Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,

I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

 

This is a 10 x 13 inch watercolor, depicting the statue of liberty.  What an amazing structure!  So huge and powerful, yet so welcoming and gentle.  I hope Amerca always remembers to love the unlovely. 

This painting was based on a photograph sent to me, so I'm going to give the sender the chance to buy it first.  If she doesn't I'll put it on my Etsy page.

Painting #57 Splatterings

So, I went outside with Annalisa yesterday to go for a little walk. Annalisa loves being outside. Her favorite outdoor activities are cloud watching and holding onto a flower stem and twirling it around (so cute). Thankfully, she hasn't tried to eat one yet... As we strolled around I saw this bright orange spot that kept catching my eye... so we went over to examine. There is a tiny bush hiding behind other plants and rocks that has the most adorable little bright orange roses on it. I felt a little bit guilty for cutting it to use in my painting today, but, really, what better way to use this flower! Now, it can live forever. I created a 12x16 oil painting that you can buy on either my Etsy Shop, or by emailing me! Personally, I think this painting would make the perfect wedding gift for that couple that is really special to you, (or to the couple getting married with a super boring registry. Who really wants to wrap-up and give a can opener?!) just an idea….




Also, please do not forget to enter the drawing for a free oil painting!!! I’ll be selecting the lucky person this Saturday!

It's coming!  It's coming!  check back this evening for TWO paintings at once!

Painting #56 A Little Church in Spain

If my husband in and I ever get “over the pond”, we will defiantly be going to Spain. What a beautiful country! It’s history, architecture, and culture are spectacular. I was so pleased when Elena (a native of Spain) asked me to paint this “ little church” near her home, in a town called Novelda. Can you imagine having a structure like this right down the road? I love the rugged character this church has; only achievable with year and years of warm sun.

I decided to paint this church (I keep wanting to call it a cathedral…) in watercolor. I think watercolor paint plays up the texture of the stones, the crevices, and all the other details in the architecture nicely. This painting measures 10.5x15.5 inches. Elena, I hope you and your family enjoy this painting for years to come!

I spent some time today gardening. Well, no, I can’t really say that… I spent some time trying to revitalize our sun-room with a few plants. The last set of plants definantly died beyond all hope. So, I decided the only way for me to stay on top of them is to become emotionally invested in their survival. I’ve tried simply remembering to water the dear things… doesn’t work. I spent about an hour gathering lovely little finding from our yard, and transplanting them into pot to be moved indoors tomorrow!

The give-away countdown is getting more and more exciting!  Make sure you enter to win a free oil painting!
Also, stop by my Etsy shop.  There are some great deals on lovely paintings there!

Painting #55 Quince Blooms

Before I started college, I had never heard of Alex Powers. I was introduced to his work sometime during my sophomore year and it became slightly infections… in a good way. As you can see from the paintings I’ve added at the bottom, he loves suggestion. You know exactly what’s protrayed, but can’t really see it, at least not in much detail. …Incredible. I also love the way he treats backgrounds! As an artist, I know all to well, how exasperating a smudge in the wrong place, or a messy section can become. But Alex... he doesn’t worry about those things… in fact, I think he embraces and exaggerates them!

The painting I did today was inspired by Alex Powers’ artistic “less-is-more” mentality, and the amazing way he uses negative space (the shapes created by looking “through” the object). I decided to play up the negative space by using blue and gold shades to kind of wrap to branches. These branches are the lovely Japanese Quince Flowers we had growing in our yard… making their last appearance on my blog for a while. Next spring, I’m sure they’ll be bake again!

You will also be very pleased to know that I’ve reached a new mile-stone in this project! I’m now painting larger paintings!!! This painting is 12x16 inches, oil paint on massonite wood.

You can buy this painting on my etsy page: EmilyJeffords.etsy.com or by emailing me (if you're local).

Don’t forget to enter the contest to win a free painting! I’ll be picking one very fortunate soul on May first.
Also, I'm still taking commission photographs!  Right now, I can garuntee it will be competed by mid June. Email me your photos!
 

Painting #54 They Were All Yellow

There are few things as wonderful as lemons. They’re yellow (one of the greatest colors ever), have a great shape, are indispensable when cooking, smell fabulous, and look great in paintings!  One of the sweetest memories I have of my great grandmother is going out to her back yard and picking lemons, grapefruits, and oranges right off the huge trees that provided the much loved shade. Her whole yard smelled like citrus. So beautiful…

Ok, I have to confess, something. I really don’t want to part with this painting. Sometimes I get attached. BUT… I also want someone to love it and enjoy it every day in their own home! So… I’ll sell it. Just do me a favor: take a photograph of it in your space and send it to me! I’ll miss it! This is a 6x8 oil painting called “They Were All Yellow”.

You can buy this lovely painting on my Etsy shop: EmilyJeffords.esy.com
The give-away is ending soon! Be sure to tell your friends about my blog to enter the contest!

And because today is so warm and sunny, and because I have a slight crush on the color yellow today, I put together this collection of yellow items I love. Let me know what you think!

The yellow clock I’ve been eyeing for about two months now… created by Uncommon,  A beautifully simple photograph by Lynda Naranjo,  Two sweet paintings by one of my favorite local artists, Annie Koelle,  A gorgeous note card (what fun to send or receive one of these!) by Amanda (another local artist), at the Wooden Letter,  A Lovely mocking bird painting (painted on a block of wood!), and, the ultimate party décor (or if you’re like me, every day home décor): a string of handmade, vintage garland, created by Kristina Marie

BLOG AWARDS

My blog has bee featured on the Blog Awards website!

Yippy!

Painting #53 Yellow Limes

I'm a firm believer that kitchens need a little love too.  In fact, when I design my own kitchen, I'm going to have a wall to feature a huge painting.  I spend so much time in the kitchen that it has to be beautiful!  In the mean time, I’ve created paintings that are completely perfect for “normal kitchens” (those without a huge display wall and spot lights… although, it would look great there as well)… I love yellow and green paintings because they are a great accent color; bright, cheerful, and they coordinate with most color schemes really well and add that little special pop. I must tell you that this painting is one of two that I painted to go together (although they don’t have to be a set). The second one, which features lemons, will be posted tomorrow! They are both 6x8 inch oil paintings on canvas. I especially love the brush strokes in this painting. It looks so luscious. As you can see, I’ve painted the edges so you do not have to frame this “Yellow Limes” painting, But… if you feel so inclined, a black frame would look great and make the colors stand out beautifully! I leave that to you expert eye.

I have listed them on my etsy page! Hurry, I have a feeling these two paintings are going to go fast. They’re darling.

Be sure to enter to win a free oil painting in eight days!

And with that… I’m off to dinner with my wonderful husband and darling daughter!