New Year, New Name , New Place

Hi,

It has been a very long while since I posted! Some of you are friends with me on Facebook, and some are pinners with me over on Pinterest. But, since I've taken a bit of a break from selling online, I haven't posted on my blog.

Painting, however, has not stopped! I'm not sure I can call my self a "self-taught" artist any longer.
I've taken some local watercolor classes in my area and I've discovered Craftsy~ an online learning website. And, I'm enrolled in an online school (self-paced) to learn the techniques used by artist Anna Mason  (the painting above is one of the many I've painted while in her school).


I've also been researching and teaching myself techniques from the masters of ink and watercolor. I'm most enamored with Arthur Rackham. (below is a painting I did of Arthur's "alice in wonderland"...trying to figure out his technique!)

So, I'm kinda all over the place and enjoying it a lot! I'm even trying my hand at digital art! (below is a digital painting I did, which my husband called, "Night Toad" ! :)

So, with the new year, and the new techniques, I've decided to change my online presence just a bit.

Here is a link to my new website:  

Suzanne Davis Studio

 

 ( it is rough right now, but I'm working on it....add website configuration to the list of things I'm learning!)

On the new website (which is a wordpress format) I'll have a blog. Click Here to say "hi" and let me know if it is working! 

ps. I've changed my selling name on Etsy and will hopefully have some art to add in there soon!

Smart Creative Style eCourse

Monica Lee of Smart Creative Women, is offering an eCourse that might help me with my split personality....well, my split "painting-style" personality. If you follow this blog, you know that I've been painting Folk Art-style since 2007.  My new-ish blog Lilly Dew Designs is where I will offer "enchanting (or playful...haven't really decided) childhood illustrations and designs"....Hey, maybe the course will also help define my new blog/direction and I'll come up with a better description! :)

So, what to do? Not sure if I continue both styles, merge them, or stop doing one and just choose something already! I'm sure Monica's course will help with those questions and more!

Here is a link to the eCourse registration and to find out more about it:

Smart Creative Style eCourse 

TDIPT is Closing

Happy Easter! I hope you had a day of blessed reflection and celebration. We had three services at church this morning...so, after we ate lunch, it was rest time! :)

In my last post, I said I was going to try and make a skirt for myself. Well, I ended up finding a pattern that I liked so well, I made three new skirts! Two of them have the scalloped edge and one doesn't...I thought the pattern was too busy for a fancy hem! I wore one today for Easter Sunday. (Bare legs with white sandals...or is that bare sandals with white legs, either way, I was a bit chilly!).

(What I was really excited to learn was how to put in an invisible zipper....this was my first one! And, after the third skirt, I felt I had it down!)


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Tonight is update time for the month of April on TDIPT. I haven't made anything new to offer...we had Spring Break this past week, and life seems busier when we don't really have a schedule to follow. So, tonight I'll just be posting a "thank you" and a "goodbye".

To Dwell in Primitive Thymes (TDIPT) is closing its online doors in May. I joined this group the year after they opened, and have enjoyed getting to know the artists and their lovely work. We've become an online family. I know the leaders struggled with this decision, but knew it was best for everyone if TDIPT just left on a high note. So, thank you TDIPT artists who created the best primitive offerings each month, thank you to all of our leaders who worked tirelessly behind the scenes promoting our art, and thank you buyers and supporters who validated our hard work with your purchases and encouraging comments. It has been a pleasure to be in such good company.

Please stop by during the month of April. The final updates will be this evening and on the 15th of April. 

TDIPT

http://tdiptmercantile.com/

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For now, I will just sell through my Etsy shops and sometimes on my blogs. You can follow me here on Pear Tree Primitives, or over on Lilly Dew Designs.

Marching Into Spring

Nope, spring has not arrived in our part of the world.....yet! But, it is now March, and that means at least the season will change on the calendar. And, hopefully, the weather will soon change along with it. So, in anticipation of that change, I've pulled out my sewing machine to make a few things.

Lil' Petunia is ready for spring. I've made her for the March TDIPT update. Once in a while, I pull out my sewing machine and find that I get more involved in making the clothes of the doll than I really had intended. This is the case for Petunia. She is a bunny made of quilter's muslin and then hand-painted to resemble a brown dutch bunny....that was simple enough because I had saved a pattern I'd made from previous "bunny making".

Then I had this idea I saw on a Lilly Pulitzer skirt.... I just loved! A sweet scalloped hem with grosgrain ribbon finish. Cute skirt, I thought, and maybe I'd try to make myself one when I finished with Petunia. (Having only boys, I don't have any girls to sew for...not that they would wear anything I ever sewed...but, the idea of making girl's clothes is a romantic notion.)

So, hoping it is "age appropriate", I'm going to attempt to make an A-line skirt and create a template for the scalloped hem line...all before Easter. (I'm going to use the pattern for skirt D, with an invisible zipper!) Wish me luck!

For now, please visit Lil' Petunia on my TDIPT page: Pear Tree on TDIPT (She comes fully dressed!).

A Place to Call My Own

*The painting is sold (thank you!),... but I'm researching printers at the moment and will offer prints/note cards when I find one that makes me happy!

January didn't start out the new year "sickness-free". But, maybe we are done for the year and have had our quota?? :)

We all shared the germs for sinusitis, bronchitis and I had pneumonia (cause I have to out-do everyone! Lol),...and just a few days before we all got sick, my sweet and clever husband created a place for me to paint! So, all I could do is look at my new painting table from my bed and think of things I wanted to paint. But, now that we are all over the sickness....I've painted my first "masterpiece" on my new table!!

As a "recap", I've painted in and on some interesting places over the years:

* The kitchen table- (not that interesting, but it sure gets old clearing off all my "stuff" when we have to eat!).

* My bed- we rigged up a large board to place on our bed for me to paint, but that was really straining on my back, having to hunch to paint!

* The car- well, not while driving. But, yes, I used to take all of my paints in plastic tubs so I could paint while waiting for my boys at appointments/school, etc.


But now.........

I have a place of my very own!! While it doesn't really qualify as a "studio", it is my place to keep all of my supplies, my drawings, ideas and paints! I'm so excited to have this space! And, it is cute to boot! :)

My wonderful husband made the dry sink many years ago and when we moved to our current home (over seven years ago), the only place the dry sink really fit was in our bedroom. And, now it has another purpose! In it I now store my paper, drawings, reference and research books for inspiration, ideas, lists, etc. On top, I'm storing paints, pencils and paint brushes...and whatever my "current" project is at the time.

The table addition my husband added to the dry sink has dowels on the end and these simply slip into holes he made with an extra piece of wood that attaches to the dry sink. So, the table portion isn't permanently attached.  I can remove it,  if I ever need to or if I no longer want to paint...WHAT? That will never happen! :)

 My first creation on the new table was for Lilly Dew Designs.
You can check out "A Winter Coat is Like a Hug" over on my other blog.

And then, I painted something for the February update on TDIPT -The hand holding the bouquet of flowers at the top of the page. (something simple, but sweet...remember I was sick! lol).

You can follow this link to find my paintings for TDIPT:

Pear Tree on TDIPT

Happy Painting!

A Happy New Year

In proper new year fashion, I stayed up to ring the New Year in last night. We usually go to bed MUCH earlier, and no, there was no "partying" going on :) It was just me...in fact, I stayed up after everyone else was in bed!

...my reason? To paint! I was painting A Token of Love until two this morning. And, yes I slept in! :)

You can also view Presidents George and Abraham in silhouette on my January update on TDIPT.

Pear Tree on TDIPT

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Another "New" year item to tell you about: Do you get the publication Early American Life? If you do, and you have opened the "new" January issue to page 62, you'll find an article entitled: "Commissioning a Portrait". And, if you read the article, you'll see my name! I was honored to be interviewed by Greg Lefever for the article he wrote about portraits of the past and present.

And, WOW, what talent my humble art shares on those pages! Thank you EAL! :) Not only placed in the company of the present-day artists whom I admire, but a thrilling thing for me was to be on the same page as Ammi Phillips! (Yep, I'm a little weird, but that was a BIG deal!)

Now, I think it is time for my nap, so I can feel re"new"ed! :)

~Happy New Year! ~

Christmas Catch-up

Well, it's about time! Our family has experienced much this year, (snippets can be read on the post below).  Hopefully, 2013 won't be as "exciting"!

In 2007, my husband asked for some original artwork for our church's Christmas Eve program. So, for five years now, I've painted something original for Christmas. It is a "joint" effort, my husband gives me "ideas" of what he would like to see, and I have to "execute" them. lol!

Here is this year's artwork~

~2012 Mary and Babe Sketch~

~2012 Mary and Babe Painting~

(as you can see, I didn't really stick with my original drawing when I painted this one!)

Wishing you a Wonderful Christmas with family and friends. May your time together be a Blessed time of celebration. From our family to yours, Merry Christmas!

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A look back on Christmas covers past: