Etsy Shop - ( 23rd / 1st )

Another shop that caught my eye was "23rd / 1st" run by Ms Meg who hand makes these gorgeous clutches and below I have featured two of my absolute favorites. Did you realize it's only 8 weeks to Christmas.....the shopping frenzy starts!

Click HERE to see the previous shops I have featured on my blog. I hope this is helping you with your Christmas shopping...I know how crazy that gets closer to the date.

Spooky Frontdoor

As mentioned earlier the girls finally completed the cut out bats and we fixed them to the front entrance along with the spider on the mailbox. They were so thrilled with their efforts...today we carve the pumpkins.....although I think we are late no?

The wreaths were simple ones with black leaves and skulls that we picked up at 'No Frills'. I like symmetry (almost to an anal extent) and every season we put up wreaths correlating to the season.

Click here to see what we did last year for Halloween decor in our home.

Painting was featured in Etsy Treasury for the 6th time

This is terribly exciting...Butternut Squash proves to be a favorite (for the second time) as it has been featured in another Etsy treasury taking my total features count to SIX ! yay! Thank you to the lovely Ms Tina from 123Pants for including my artwork in her treasury. Tina makes beautiful handmade cards using Sharpei markers and watercolors - please drop by her shop to see her beautiful creations.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE ENTIRE BEAUTIFUL COLLECTION

What is an ETSY TREASURY? 
The Treasury is an etsy member-curated gallery of short-lived lists of 12 hand-picked items each. Members can feature their favorite items, items selected on a theme, or just whoever they like.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FIRST COLLECTION THIS PAINTING WAS FEATURED IN 

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What would you say to an artist just starting out?

What would you say to an artist just starting out?

Build up your self esteem to the level that might seem unwarranted. This will help you ignore both positive and negative responses to your paintings. Both are usually misguided, since they come from the outside. Be your most severe and devastating critic, while never doubting that you are the best thing since sliced bread. ~Alex Kanevsky


Alex Kanevsky is one of my favorite artists and often times I find myself going to his blog and spending hours staring at the layers within the layers. I am very drawn to impressionistic art and his work is like a cross between graphic + abstract + impressionistic. His website shows how he develops his paintings and it appears to change with each layer. So much confidence in every brush stroke. 

Lab Style Decor

Via the 'Oh Hello Friend: You Are Loved' blog

I used to love bright colors....spices...you know rust reds, coral, ochres but in the last 5 years my taste has completely changed and I want everything white, white, white! White floors, white ceilings, white walls and strong pieces of furniture that make a statement against the white. The kind of furniture I am drawn towards is laboratory style...metal tables, rack style shelving, rusted lamps, salvaged wood and anything that has an industrial look to it.

So my D has been working hard to grant me my wish. He has been breaking his back removing the popcorn from the living room ceiling (I don't know why he hasn't given up yet?), ripping up the carpet, then he will install new crown moldings & baseboards and finally will paint the hall a beautiful decorator's white. We are trying out the whites and while we tested Benjamin Moore's Decorators White in 5 patches we found it not as brilliant white as BM's Polar Bear.

Then the hunt for the furniture starts - this is my favorite part.....scouring antique stores and vintage malls for just the right pieces. The above pics kind of tell the look I am going for....only thing missing is my art. Watch this space for pics of the finished room!

Abigail Breslin - part 3

Title: Abigail

Oil on canvas

12 x 12 inches

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Completed the painting today and just added the bling on the eyes (the glints in the pupils) - I love doing that....like a cherry topping on a  beautiful cake. I hope you enjoy looking at her as much as I did painting it.


I was drawn to this picture as I loved the concept...the black dress, black flowers in her hair and Abigail's strong features. She is such a pleasure to watch in the movie "Little Miss Sunshine".

Tags - Gift Labels

GIFT LABELS - TAGS

A number of people enquired about the tags I sold at the X'mas Bazaar yesterday so I have attached a pic above. I use them when gifting a bottle of wine to the hostess with my personal message on the back. Since each one is stamped, embossed and embellished by moi it always goes down well with them (and then it doesn't matter if I get inebriated at the party!) There are still 40 remaining and if you are interested do drop me a line on my facebook or my blog. They are going at 6 tags for $10 or one for $2.

Makes a nice gift tag for X'mas gifts too.

A Hint Of Spring - SOLD

Title: A Hint Of Spring

Oil on hard board

7 x 7 

SOLD

Thank you to the wonderful people of AT&T for being so appreciative and generous of my artwork. I wish all of you luck in your $$ goal towards the charity. What a superb effort from everyone!! 

Christmas Bazaar

I was invited as a vendor to the AT & T Global Services Canada Co Christmas Bazaar in support of United Way York Region. It was my first such experience and I had a great time. It was wonderful interacting with the people, explaining my art and finding out more about their choices. I took along all the handmade tags and my oil + watercolor paintings and prints. It was well worth the effort as I managed to sell 60 of the 100 handmade tags as well as a painting. I had gone with no great expectations as it was my first sale but from expecting nothing me thinks we came away with alot.

A shout out to my friend Eva for inviting me.......thank you Eva! Hope you guys do it again next year.

Etsy shop - Brigite

As I mentioned earlier, every week I will feature one of my favorite shops on ETSY giving you great ideas for Xmas gift shopping. This is BRIGITE and she makes the most gorgeous felt flowers by hand. I have a huge weakness for all things made of felt, and felt flowers are such an easy way to dress up a denim jacket or sweater. The above three are my favorite with the cinnamon one being top of the list. 

Adam - 12 x 12 gallery canvas

Title: Adam

Oil on canvas

12 x 12 inches

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This painting was done from another pic from the Urban Weeds blog, Lisa really takes good pictures. I was drawn to this photograph as he had quirky glasses and I loved the beret. Just realized this is my second painting of a guy in a beret.....whats with me and berets! 

At school, after weeks of working on the cast drawing on rough paper I finally transferred it to good paper and will be working on the rendering this wednesday. I missed last mondays class due to Thanksgiving and that has put me behind my class - not liking it. Anyways I plan to go in for an extra class this week to make up. 

Abigail Breslin - part 2

What's on my easel today?

Been working on this painting from the sketch I did earlier of the lovely Abigail, and its been a good three days of  working on the shadows and eyes. I stopped looking at it today as I am tempted to keep adjusting and I fear I will just mess it up. So tomorrow will start work on the hair and rest. I think my attention to detail is what draws me to portraits...getting the shape of the eyelids just right, the length of the lips, the shape of the eyebrows.......I really do enjoy doing portraits. Do drop by the blog in a few days for the completed painting.

What is Coach thinking?

When we first got Coach in November 2009, he would follow my 10 yr old daughter everywhere. Then a few months later he started following me everywhere....waiting outside the washroom, at my feet, on the armchair next to me.......D thinks he has 'imprinted' on me! :)

Most times when I am at my workstation he will come up behind me and give this soft woof (to let me know he is feeling ignored) so I pick him up and put him on my lap for a few seconds then send him off to his cushion. Today I picked him and he proceeded to climb on the table and promptly go to sleep in front of my laptop.

I don't know what goes through this dog's mind - maybe he thinks "she spends so much time at this table....it must be important to her so I will be there too!??"........who knows!

What do you think he's thinking????

Perception Is Everything

This story was shared on Etsy and I want to share it with you...

Perception is everything:Washington DC Metro Station on a cold January morning in 2007.

A man played six Bach pieces on a violin for about 45 minutes. During that time approx 2 thousand people went through the station, most of them on their way to work. After 3 minutes a middle aged man noticed there was a musician playing. He slowed his pace and stopped for a few seconds and then hurried to meet his schedule.

4 minutes later:the violinist received his first dollar: a woman threw the money in the till and, without stopping, continued to walk.

6 minutes:A young man leaned against the wall to listen to him, then looked at his watch and started to walk again.

10 minutes:A3 year old boy stopped but his mother tugged him along hurriedly, as the kid stopped to look at the violinist. Finally the mother pushed hard and the child continued to walk, turning his head all the time. This action was repeated by several other children. Every parent, without exception, forced them to move on.

45 minutes:The musician played. Only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace.He collected $32.

1 hour:He finished playing and silence took over. No one noticed. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition. No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written, with a violin worth $3.5 million dollars. Two days before Joshua Bell sold out a theater in Boston where the seats averaged $100.


This is a real story. Joshua Bell playing incognito in the metro station was organized by the Washington Post as part of a social experiment about perception, taste and people's priorities.

The questions raised: in a common place environment at an inappropriate hour, do we perceive beauty? Do we stop to appreciate it? Do we recognize talent in an unexpected context? One possible conclusion reached from this experiment could be: If we do not have a moment to stop and listen to one of the best musicians in the world playing some of the finest music ever written, with one of the most beautiful instruments ....

How many other things are we missing?

From this thread on Etsy

My painting got featured in an Etsy treasury for the 5th time - yay!

It is so thrilling to get featured in an Etsy treasury and it has happened again...for the 5th time. The lovely Ms Angela from the PINK DILLO shop featured my "Caramel" painting in her treasury aptly titled CHOCOLATE COVERED CARAMEL. Angela sells beautiful handmade cards and embellishments - please drop by her shop to check out more of her beautiful creations. Thank you Angela! 

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE ENTIRE TREASURY AND MANY OTHER BEAUTIFUL ONES

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Wednesdays........

At ARA, wednesdays is our live model drawing session. Every wednesday we get a different model who changes their pose every 1 hour, but starting yesterday we will have the same model for the coming 10 weeks in the same pose. This allows us to really get into the pose and develop the drawing. So how much did I complete yesterday - about -3%....yes that reads -3%...your eyes read right! I just about got some markings on the paper and was able to do the ghost lines for the knees - all in 3 hours. Prof says some of us will not even complete our drawing in 10 weeks - I can see why now!...measuring takes forever. I hate this.....just like I hated practicing the scales when I was learning the piano at age 10....I want to just get to the end where I am drawing like one of the super-drawers in the class.

Latest brags about the school are:
- DeGrassi High's next episode will feature some of the students drawings and the school will appear in some scenes
- One of the students was commissioned to paint Brian Mulroney's portrait which now sits in CasaLoma.
- One of the professors and 4 students are winners on the Bravo TV show "Star Portraits".

Etsy best buys

Aside from my store being on ETSY, I also love it for the various handmade goods sold by the other talentend Etsy folks. So I thought I would feature one of my favorite stores each week giving you a gazillion ideas for Xmas and Birthday gifts.......so my first favorite store is ARTMIND:

Cold

Sad

Mean

Cursed

They make little ceramic odd looking statues with very clean lines. I love the subtlety of the emotion - especially the above four which are my absolute favorites! Do check out her store for more of her lovely work - I can certainly see a dozen of these lining up a pristine white shelf. And her packaging is delightful too! Seriously, if I wasn`t into art I would`ve definitely been a ceramic artist. Maybe my next life.

Panel Holder

With a 7 x 8 panel in place  

In January 2009 I had made a resolution to complete 100 panel paintings and proud to say I did complete them in August 2010. There is so much I learned from the process and so many ways I have improved. Anyhoo back to the subject - I needed a panel holder so the panel would be positioned more at eye level than on the easel ledge. D modified this design from another blog and created one that worked perfectly for me.

It was one of the main reasons I was able to complete the 100 paintings so all thanks goes to my husband who has backed up all of my crazy plans from day 1....Thanks babe!

You can view the entire post at his blog here.

Pondering

Title: Pondering

Oil on hardboard

8 x 8 inches

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This is a painting of our dear friend Ranjeev. A bunch of us had gone out for lunch to one of our favorite haunts in Dubai - Ravi Restaurant famous for its Nehari and rotis. D was clicking pics of us and Ranjeev decided to look 'intelligent`by striking this pose. He always had his wool beret on even in 50c weather.  

Air Stream lust.........

So D and I have always wanted an Airstream.....last year at a vintage sale we were seconds away from committing to an aluminium skinned 1960s Airstream 25 feet land yacht with original fittings BUT our practical brains stopped us (seriously practical brain realized we don`t have a garage so where the hell would we park it!)

Anyway every time I see an Airstream I start drooling again...imagine turning up to an art show in an airstream that holds all my art......swoon!

Wanderlust is a vintage store that sells out of their vintage trailer............makes me so jealous. But seriously is she not the cutest thing ever!

Fall Days

Giclee Print of original oil on canvas painting

Title: Fall Days (8 x 8)

Epson Somerset paper

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Did I mention how gorgeous this Epson Somerset paper is - it feels like stiff watercolor paper with a textured surface. This is one of my favorite paintings as I like the concept of the portrait with the big floppy hat - something about it feels very old-worldly. The printer did a phenomenal job of color matching and his customer service was superb. So happy I found a great Giclee printer...worth the search! 

What's on my easel.....

Sketch of actress Abigail Breslin 

Working on this sketch from a magazine...still have to work on her left eyebrow a bit more me thinks. The thing with painting is you can go on and on tweaking it here and correcting it there and one gets obsessive about it - and then finally I have to say 'Stop'. 

Stop and move on Lynda................same goes with life. 

Newsletter from the 70popes studio

I have just sent out my most recent update through the 70popes newsletter which covers my new etsy banner, new prints in the shop and so much more. For my third issue only it came together quite nicely. I have sent it to everyone who's email addresses I had but should you not have received it please leave me a message in the comments section of my blog or on my facebook.

Just back from the printers and my new prints are drooooool worthy! the somerset paper is so delicious yummm could just bite into it. Can't stop touching it...........gotta get me some gloves. It's turning into an addiction! Lynda stop!

ARA The Academy of Realist Art

Survived.....and completed 4 classes at the ARA and am so pleased with the school. They teach the fundamentals of drawing and painting over a 2 year program. We are given a series of exercises to complete from an image of a cast drawing starting with the construct, articulation, contour and finally the rendering. I am now on round 2: Articulation and I am to measure every point and reproduce it as an exact copy. And guess what we use to measure...not a ruler, not a tape, but a knitting needle. Our charismatic Professor Fernando says it trains the eye to see better rather than relying on rulers. ``I keel you`` he says if we don`t get it right!

Mondays are the days we copy from the Bargue plates and wednesdays is live model gestural drawing. The gestural drawing is done using comparative measurement.

It took me months of on line research and several studio tours to finally find ARA with a program that taught in the old masters tradition. I even contemplated places like OCAD, Sheridan and TSA, only to find students of OCAD and Sheridan studying with me at ARA as their establishments do not teach fundamentals that are taught here. I am so damn pleased I found the right institution for my start....if not it could have gone so wrong.....so very wrong.

So below is my first exercise - part 2 - articulation and homework is reproducing all the lines without shading in.

...so back to work for me...lots of homework to complete! 

Halloween 2010

Plans for this year 2010 

2009 decor – mice on flight of stairs

Every year the girls and me make decorations for Halloween so this year we want to replicate the ``bats on front door`` idea and we have cut out the bats and added glitter to them. Last year we had done mice on the steps leading to the bedrooms. The girls are very creative (like moi) and love it when I plan art & craft activities for them. They have very busy minds and need to be engaged in something if not they gravitate to their Phineas & Ferb shows......frown!!!

Will post pics after we adhere the bats to our front door.

Etsy Treasury - featured for the fourth time

Double woohoo!! I got featured for the fourth time in an Etsy Treasury created by the lovely Sue of Oceanaire Dreamer who makes gorgeous hand made jewellery. She has titled the treasury `Imagine One fine autumn day, You, Lake Como & George Clooney`- isn`t that adorbs! and so unique!

What makes me double excited is that I uploaded the `Vespa`painting only yesterday in the etsy shop and it got featured today! woohoo and woohoo again!

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