I'm Not Tired, and I'm Thankful for You

'I'm Not Tired'

6" x 6" oil on panel

click here to bid

Reference photo by Christopher Woo, thank you!

 

You know how right before bed time your kids profess, so ardently, that they're not tired? Yeah. That's the look this dog is giving me. 'But, but, but. . . I'm not tired!!' This dog is a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever. Quite a name, but an absolutely gorgeous dog! My son and I are headed to a dog show this weekend and I plan to get lots more canine mug shots. So far they're my favorite thing to paint with oils. Fur with thick brushstrokes is fun. :)

 

And I just want to tell all of you who read this blog, whether every single post, or just when you have nothing better to do, thank you. From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much. For your support, friendship, kindness, understanding, cheerleading, and yes thank you for buying my paintings too. :) Your feedback, and just knowing you are there motivates me and fuels what I do so much. And I can never thank you enough for that. So. . . thanks. You're all rock stars in my opinion.

 

I'll see everybody next week! Happy Thanksgiving my American friends! My husband has agreed to make my very favorite dessert, creme brulee, so I'll likely need to run about a hundred miles since I plan to eat my weight in the glorious stuff. Heh heh. :)

 

Huzzah for feasting, pilgrims, and gratitude, and not knowing how to spell gratitude but taking a wild guess anyway! Huzzah!

 

Hugs,

Crystal

Princess SOLD

Princess SOLD

6" x 6" oil on panel 

 

“Years rolled on again, and Wendy had a daughter. This ought not to be written in ink but in a golden splash.”
― J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan 

I love my three sons. Love them dearly. I never wished for a daughter, but took whatever God gave me with a grateful heart. 

But that doesn't mean that I am immune to the power of pink, and princesses, and sugar and spice. :)

Reference photo by Celynek, thank you!!

 

Keen Sight

'Keen Sight'

6" x 6" oil on panel

click here to purchase

Reference photo by Geoffrey Fairchild

I always think that when my dog looks at me, like staring and studying me, sometimes without blinking, that she sees exactly who I am. . . And she's okay with that. And that is very comforting. :) This isn't my dog, but there's a very keen perception in her gaze that makes me wonder just how intelligent dogs are you know?

Probably more than me. :)

I've been dying to try oil painting again and yesterday I decided why the heck not? So I did, and it was so much fun!! More fun than I've had painting in a long time. Sometimes to keep creatively fired up I just need to let go and do something fun, that I want to do. Even if it is an abysmal failure.

But this time it wasn't. (How bout a Huzzah for that eh?) I really like how this painting turned out. I want to do more of these small close-ups of dogs and other animals, and people too, in oil right away. I'm very excited to do another one, I can't wait to get back to painting, and I just realized today that I had kind of been dreading it for the last few weeks. Not good.

I'm still in the smitten stage with oil paints right now. It's still new, so I don't know all their bad habits yet, like chewing gum with their mouth open and what not. ;)

In other news, I have officially commissioned my very first painting. By this young artist below. 

I asked my son to paint me a large canvas for our family room and here he is hard at work. He was so excited that I asked him. Of all my kids he's the one who LOVES art as much as I do. And that is very cool.

Later my friends!

Tenderness SOLD

'Tenderness' SOLD

6" x 6"

reference photo by RajKumar1220, thank you!

When I was painting this beautiful little girl's portrait I imagined her mother bending in front of her with a clean, damp cloth in her hand. Wiping her child's face with gentle fingers so she would be perfectly clean. I imagined her mother combing her hair and brushing it back away from her face, maybe lingering to cup her sweet child's round cheeks and whisper 'I love you' to her. 

 

Maybe those things really happened. I'm sure they did, at least in some way. And I'm sure that this little girl will never forget the feel of her mother's hands in her hair, or the sound of her voice.

 

Even though this painting is of a sweet child's face, it's also about her mother. At least, that's how it felt to me. :)    

 

"The moment a child is born, the mother is also born. She never existed before. The woman existed, but the mother, never. A mother is something absolutely new." Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh

 

In other news. . . I'm back from my trip! We had a great time (although I missed my kiddos like crazy), we went to Reno, Nevada to hear one of my husband's favorite musicians, Robert Cray. Here are a few highlights from our trip:

 

 

It's an 8 hour road trip from Salt Lake City to Reno, Nevada. See how happy I am? That's because I chose the audio book we're listening to (The Adoration of Jenna Fox, which was AWESOME), I have a lap full of candy :), and hubby is driving the whole way. Heh heh. 

 

 

Since we don't gamble or drink there was (surprisingly) not a whole lot to do in Reno. So we spent some time trying to hunt down a present for our oldest boy at the outlet malls (which were pretty posh in my opinion). The Yankee Candle store was especially memorable, when Brodie (handsome hubby) picked up a candle called "Whiskers on Kittens" then gave me a sly look and said, "I can guarentee you that's not what that smells like," which made me laugh so hard I nearly dropped the candle I was holding. We got out of there fast. :)

 

 

Brodie asked if I was willing to take this poster out of the display and get it for him. Heck yes, I said. But they had already taken them down before I got a chance to sneak one out. :( Bummer.

 

And the concert was seriously amazing. I'm not much of a blues fan, but I do like Robert Cray (thanks to Brodie). And it was incredible to see him play. His hands moved crazy fast on that guitar and you could just FEEL how passionate he was about his music. It was inspiring and awesome.

 

It was a fun week, and I think we both needed a chance to de-stress, but I sure was glad to get back in Utah and especially to hug and kiss my kids. That's the longest I've ever been away from them and I was a wreck the first day or two!

 

Hope all is well with you guys. :) I missed you!

 

Huzzah!

 

Shimmer - sold

'Shimmer'

4" x 4" colored pencil on paper

sold

 

I never get tired of the endless fascination of little children. I see it in my own boys every day, even now as they get older and are long passed the toddler stage. There is still so much innocence, and wonder in everything they see.

 

Children are my very favorite subjects. Which I'm sure comes as no surprise, but it's only been recently that I've realized it's not only my own children that are my favorite subjects, but all children. I love painting them. I don't know what else I can say other than that. Words seem to fall a little short.

 

I'll be out of town for the rest of the week on a vacation with my husband and won't be back until Sunday. So no paintings will be shipped until Monday November 12. And I won't be answering any emails until then either. :)

 

I'll miss visiting your blogs. :( But I'll catch up with you when I get back. Thanks for stopping by everybody. Huzzah!! Till we meet again!

 

Reference photo by Fennec Cooper, thank you!

 

Of Wizards, Life, and Love

'Wizard in Training'

10" x 14" watercolor on paper

not for sale

 

I hope you all are having a fun holiday! It's one of my favorite days of the year, and not just because of all the sugar and treats. ;) Those of you who have been hit by the storm have been in my prayers, I hope you are well, safe, and whole.

 

And in honor of this holiday full of magic, and witches, and wizards (including my very own darling wizard above), I feel the need to pay tribute to Harry Potter. (Yes, again.)

 

“Dumbledore watched her fly away, and as her silvery glow faded he turned back to Snape, and his eyes were full of tears.
"After all this time?"

"Always," said Snape.” 

 

 

Me too Alan, me too. :)

 

Me and the boys just finished reading the entire series and it was so fun to share that with them. And a little sad for it to be over. Reading this amazing series, my most favorite books ever, has convinced me that some of the best magic in this world is found with words, images, paper, and imagination. And that people, no matter how flawed, are good, and brave, and kind.

 

If you're a Harry Potter fan, through and through, then you must watch this video if you haven't seen it before. I got chills, and yes even shed a tear. There is good in this world. So much good, even amid trials and sorrows. Harry showed me that. :)

 

 

 

Have a Happy Halloween everyone! Hold your loved ones close and be thankful that you have them for one more day. :)

Sentinel - sold

'Sentinel'

6" x 6" watercolor on paper

sold

 

This little guy really got to my heart. I don't know if it's his big dark eyes, or the way he's tentatively peeking around the corner, but I love him. This painting was a little bit of a departure for me too. . . In a way. I thought I'd layer more colors in the background to give it more of the look of aged wood, but I loved the movement and texture in that first wash so much that I left it as is. Sometimes less is more you know?

 

I feel like I just repeated the exact same lesson that I learned with the horses in the post before this. Ah well. Sometimes it takes a few tries to knock it in my noggin. :)

 

Reference photo by Pommekiwi (who sadly is no longer on flickr for me to link to), thank you!

 

Listening to: The Black Keys

Watching: The Vampire Diaries (tis the season)

Reading: Outpost 

Snacking on: baby carrots (blargh)  

No Words Required - sold

'No Words Required'

6" x 9" watercolor on paper

sold

reference photo by the amazing Elizabeth Sescilla

 

A new addition to my 'Smitten' series of love, and this is the first non human one. :) This is 'Son of Lloyd' (the grey stallion on the left) romancing one of his mares. Special thanks to Elizabeth for the use of her reference photo, she take gorgeous photos, of gorgeous horses, and is so generous to share them with me. Thank you!

 

I wanted to emphasize the dreamy mood of this painting by using a background that simulated sunset colors. At first I was going for less variety, but then my brush and instinct took over and my brilliant idea got left behind in the thrill of the watercolor wash! ;) Love it when that happens.

 

And thanks so much to fellow artist Maria Reichert for the title! I posted a WIP of this on facebook asking for title suggestions and I loved what she came up with.

 

In other news this morning when I woke up it was oddly very bright outside. I got out of bed and looked out the window and saw the cause of all that brightness. Snow!!! All over the ground. Can you believe it?

 

Craziness.

 

Littlest Cook was very excited about this.

 

 

After we dropped his brothers off at school we came home first thing and built a snowman, followed by another snowman after he decided to smash the first one to smithereens, had a serious snowball fight (he won), made snow angels, then came inside for hot cocoa.

 

I'd say it's been a pretty good day so far. :) How about you guys? Huzzah for snow before Halloween! ;)

Tempest

'Tempest'

8" x 10" watercolor on watercolor board

click here to bid

Lately I've been feeling just on the verge of an artistic block (don't even get me started on my writer's block which I've been suffering from for the last ten months. Argh. Double argh.). Which always makes me anxious. I don't know what's worse the actual artistic block, or the fear of an approaching block.

So, with the help of my Facebook buddies and the DPW weekly challenge (paint a sky), I decided to do something totally different that I've been wanting to do for a long time. A drippy, wet into wet, watercolor sky painting. And I did this with no drawing which is a first for me. :) I get a little panicky if I don't have an exact plan mapped out ahead of time. Which is great for accuracy, but at times feels a little stifling.

I'm really happy with how this painting turned out, and I feel so excited to paint again. I think I want to paint lots more skies from now on. It was so much fun.

Now my faithful blog family, what do you do when you start to feel blocked? Any advice?

Thanks for stopping by everyvbody, I hope you are all having a rockin' good Monday. :)

Hugs,

Crystal

listening to: Passion Pit 
watching: BBC's Sherlock (which is AWESOME)
reading: The Carrier of the Mark
snacking on: mini peppermint patties

Under Cover - sold

'Under Cover'

6" x 9" watercolor on paper

sold

I was so struck by this sweet baby's sparkling eyes and full lips. I also love the little spot of sunshine on her forehead and shoulder peeking out of the shade.

 

I used to think that the eyes were the most difficult part of a portrait, and now they are my favorite part. Discerning the variety of colors and values in skin tones is much harder in my opinion, let alone trying to paint it!

 

And here are a couple of shots of the crafts me and little Cook have been up to this week.

 

Black Halloween cats made with his handprints (found this idea on Pinterest) :)

 

I've decided to do preschool at home with him this year instead of sending him to a preschool. I want to treasure every single minute with him before he starts kindergarten next fall. So we spend a good part of every day trying to find something involving learning and fun. Yesterday we went on a leaf hunt. :) He was so proud of all the different kinds of leaves he found. It's days like that that make me realize, yet again, how lucky I am to be a stay at home mom and experience things like this with my kids every day.  

 

Some of our Halloween decorations the boys and I have been setting up everywhere. Most have been made by them over the years. :)

 

 

The kiddos are out of school the rest of the week for fall break so things may be quiet here on my end for a little while. Hope you all are doing well and enjoying this gorgeous fall weather while it lasts. Huzzah!

 

Reference photo by Gustavo Jeronimo, thank you!

Solemn 2 - sold

'Solemn 2' - sold

7" x 10"  watercolor on paper

 

This was a special request for one of my good collectors. This version is a little larger, and slightly different, mostly because of the nature of watercolor and the semi-impossibility of recreating those spontaneous effects in the background. But also because I think I've grown as an artist in the year since I painted the first 'Solemn.'

 

My palette isn't quite the same and I think my observational skills have gotten better too. This painting was kind of a challenge, but in the end I was really happy with how she turned out, especially her eyes. :) And my collector was happy with her too so that makes everything worth it.

 

Meanwhile, on the homefront, me and littlest Cook are getting ready to make caramel apples and cute Halloween crafts involving handprints and black cats. I'll try and save you an apple but I'm not promising anything. :)

 

Reference photo by the awesome Steve Evans, thank you!

Without a Care - sold

'Without a Care' - sold

6" x 6" watercolor on paper

When we went to the farm a few months ago I saw this little girl and only managed to get one shot of her, and it was this one. I loved the light in her hair and her messy little braids. She was so darling. I remember watching her mother gently try to smooth her flyaway hair several times and the little girl leaned into her touch every time. It was very sweet.

Sometimes I daydream about what it was like to be small and taken care of by my mother. To not have to worry about anything, knowing that I was safe, and loved. To be completely carefree and just focused on the moment. Now I think I need to call my mom and tell her I love her. :)

Carefree and happy are what I wanted to express in this painting, as part of the Daily Paintworks challenge for this week to express emotion. And I wanted to try and do that without a direct look into the face. I think her far away expression helps a lot.

Now I must get to work on some commissions that need attention. Play time is over, back to work!

All Things New

'All Things New'

5" x 7" watercolor on Ampersand Aquabord

$100 plus $7 US shipping

 

I've spent a lot of time lately going through my stash of photos and organizing them (Ha! no really, I'm trying), looking for that one image that shouts at me to paint. I found some of my youngest son when he was a baby, and then some I had taken of him just a few months ago and I was shocked to see the change in him. He is so grown up now (that's not him in the painting above just in case you're wondering). Makes me a little sad. He's my baby, my last, and it's hard to see him grow up so much right before my eyes, although the new changes are fun too of course.

 

Then I found these photos I took of my darling nephew over the summer. He was about a year and a half old, and he had that look of wonder at everything he saw around him. And his beautiful brown eyes are what called me to paint him. I have a few other shots of him I will be painting too. He was such a great little model. :)

 

Now about this aquabord. I've been wanting to paint with my techniques in watercolor on a surface that won't need framing behind glass, and also bigger. I envision a certain wall in my home with three 24" x 24" portraits of my boys, on cradled aquabord with out glass or frames. So, here I am trying aquabord again.

 

And I liked it a lot better this time. I think I'm getting the hang of how this stuff works. And the best part is that the finished painting still feels like 'me'. Where as when I paint with acrylics or oils it feels like I'm trying somebody else's clothes on that don't fit quite right. I enjoy oils and acrylics for a change of pace, but they don't feel like me. At least, not yet. Maybe one day I'll feel differently.

 

One tip I found useful for using aquabord is to use a very wet brush with mostly water and not a lot of pigment, and gradually build up color that way. Which actually is how I paint with watercolor on paper too. :)

 

Until Thrusday! Huzzah!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hidden in Plain - sold

'Hidden In Plain Sight'

5.5" x 7" watercolor on paper 

SOLD

Last year I had this idea that I was going to paint a big series of myself (because I'm a cheap model, I work for free) in a bunch of different masks. I was so excited. And then I started painting my first one. It was a close up of just my eyes and the mask. After that first one my excitement kind of. . . left.

It is wicked hard to paint yourself. It feels like the worst kind of narcissism to think that I am important enough to be painted, by my own hand no less. It feels like getting dressed up to go to the prom when you're actually just going grocery shopping, and you're a thirty year old woman who is just way too old to be getting dressed up for the prom.

I couldn't shake that feeling. I don't like looking at myself for a long time. So my project got set aside. Until now.

Because it's Halloween time (Almost! Chocolate, sugar, zombies, ZOMBIES!!!) and I love Halloween. :)

It also helped that I was wearing a mask so I could pretend that it wasn't actually my face I was painting, but some random blonde woman. He, he. :)

And now I shall end this entirely too awkward blog post, in this entirely too awkward way of telling you I'm going to end this blog post.

I think I need some chocolate. . . Huzzah!!