Today's progress...

Even with family in town visiting and little ones running around, I still managed to get a lot of work done today. I just thought I'd make a quick post to show you some progress on one of my paintings. It feels like it's taking forever but I have been working on more than just this project.

This piece has been a challenge for me as I am not used to including a figure in my mandalas.  All in all though, I think it's turning out ok! Still needs a lot of work but it's coming along! I really can't wait till this one's done :)

I like how her "locks" are turning out ;)
I hope to have another post for you tomorrow, good night for now!

Creative Colour Challenge...

Hello again!

This last week I have decided to step out of my shell a little further and join my first blog challenge! Yay! It's Louise Gale's "Creative Color Challenge", where you create one painting/collage/etc per week for 5 weeks using only one assigned colour plus black and white.  It sounds like fun and I can't wait to get started.  I'm used to painting with a multitude of colour so this will definitely be a challenge. I am anxious to see how it goes :)

Click to see if you're up for the challenge!

Well, off to do some more painting! I'd just like to leave you with this thought that has been on my mind lately.  Though I have been discouraged at times with the challenges that have come along with this new path I'm on, the support and new friends I have met have been absolutely amazing and so encouraging.  Who knew there was such a fantastic creative community out there - all over the world for that matter.  I feel fortunate and happy to be on this journey with you and this is just the beginning. I appreciate the creative soul in all of you, thanks for following and checking out my work :)

My Sunny Weekend

This weekend I decided to take a break from my current projects for an afternoon to sit in the sun and paint purely for fun and the sake of painting.  It was great, except for the sunburn I got but at least we finally had weather worthy of a sunburn!

The object I ended up painting was my patio door stopper (of all things to paint, I know, lol), just a big heavy rock I found by our recycling shed.  I loved it the way it was but felt it wouldn't hurt to add a wee bit more character and colour to it! Plus, I haven't painted a rock in years, I felt like a kid again! :)

Here's a shot of the fruits of my Saturday afternoon labours:

Pretty simple and straight forward but I love it! :) The writing on the sides states a couple of my favourite quotes:

"Earth Laughs in Flowers" - Ralph Waldo Emerson
"I perhaps owe having become a painter to flowers" - Claude Monet

Between working full time this week, trying to finish multiple paintings, re-branding considerations and trying take and post new photos to blog with, I have had no time to really connect with my new creative community.  I've been quite absent from the online/twitter/fb world for the most part. Hopefully you are all still out there somewhere creating like crazy! I'll be checking in with you guys tomorrow, I can't wait to see what everyone's been up to!

Well, that's it for another weekend! Hope your weekend was as good and relaxing as mine was! Back to the grind tomorrow! :) Good night everyone!

Some "Creative Biz" Updates!

Hi again everyone!

Finally getting back in the swing of things since getting back from vacation in Nelson, BC.  It was great by the way, nice to get away from the city life to something more simple.  There are a lot of "artsy" people out there and it was nice to hang out and check out some of the local art and farmers markets.

Below are some ads that really caught my eye painted directly on the sides of buildings everywhere, I love them, so colourful!

I also thought I'd give you an update on my butterfly mandala in case some of you were wondering.  I've been set back a bit with the week off but I am making some slow progress with it.  It's a bit bigger than I'm used to working and there's a lot of detail to fill in... so far so good though:

I've also taken some chances and made some progress for my creative biz! First off, I now have a flickr account and have uploaded a couple of images. (http://www.flickr.com/photos/whitevioletart/) I also finally opened up an Etsy Shop (mywhitevioletart.etsy.com) and have listed a couple of things today.  That feels pretty good. More to come there too, just need to take some more quality photos!

Next thing on my agenda is to create a logo for my site... the one I am using now is the first mandala I ever created.  It has great sentimental value for me but it isn't very fitting artistically or colourwise... work, work, work... it's never ending is it ;) So watch for updates to the look of my blog, my fb pic, etc... wish me luck!

Thanks for stopping by and enjoy the rest of your day!

Coffee Shop Bloggin'

So I woke up this morning dreaming about painting! That's like torture when your away from the studio and have no where to create and paint! Needless to say, I had to sneek away from the hotel room to the coffee shop across the street for a little drawing time! This is what I came up with...

Not so bad, just needed to do SOMETHING creative! It felt good.

Until next time!
Enjoy your weekend everyone!