Lessons learned

Day 29 of 30 paintings in 30 days

Today I want to share somethings I have learned while selling art.  This painting is an example of one.
      1.  Before you list a painting to sell, make sure your significant other will not mind.  This painting is called "Shadow 2".   When I was boxing up "Shadow 1"  my husband was a bit upset...found out he really liked the painting.  So I ended up painting one just for him.
      2.  When you are getting ready to box a painting that is sold, make sure it has the hanging wire on it.  Yep I has sent at least one out forgetting the wires on back.
      3.  When you do remember to wire up the back of the painting, make sure the picture is right side up.  This one is for my friend Janice,  your picture is on the way but it may be upside down....sorry :(
     4.  When you have an internet sale always confirm the client sent you the current address they are at.  Yep that has happened to me too.  If you use paypal there is a note on your sales status that says address confirmed....good idea to check and see that the note is there.
     5.  If you are reusing a box for shipping,  make sure any old labels or barcodes are covered, so it gets to the correct location.  This one I haven't done, but know someone that this did happen to.

   Just thought some of these tips would help.  Thanks for reading.
Mary
Schiros-art.com

only 4 days left

Day 27......

oil on canvas  "Violet Shadows"

                                                                 Available 

     I feel like I got one right!  Had this set up to paint for a few days, and went into my studio just when the light from the window cast such beautiful shadows.  I started painting like there was no tomorrow, I just wanted to capture the natural light a quickly as I could.

Mary

Still time

12 x 16 inches, oil on canvas

Day 26.

    I have to smile as I post this.  I just finished this up, and my husband made a comment after looking at it.  He ask; your doing that daily painting challenge this month?  I said yes.  He said; You have a few more days to go?  yes.  He smiled and said;  you may get it right yet.  The man is my biggest critic and biggest coach...got to love him :)

Mary

Schiros-art.com

Winter Plein Air

Day 25 of 30 paintings in 30 days

the start.....

the finish.....

8 x 8 inches Acrylic on canvas

                                                                               Available at DPWs  Painted this little view in my backyard.  Various animals leave interesting tracks about the base of tree near my bird feeder.  Decided to do a little plein air painting from the comfort of my sun room.
Great view of the yard yet warm enough no coat or gloves needed :)

   After that I spent a great deal of time on a site artiscreation.com  learning about color pigments.
If you have some time to kill, got to check this site out, great way to learn about color.

Mary

Pink Sunshine

Day 23 of the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge...

10 x 8 inch, Acrylic on canvas,  "Pink Sunshine"

                                                              AVAILABLE AT DPWS

This was fun, for one reason it is January in Michigan, and I was in need of something cheerful.
Also this is painted on a canvas I did some pretreating to, for the last 30 in 30 challenge.
There is a Youtube video on how to prep canvas with alcohol and acrylic paint.  The video has a cameo appearance of one of my cats too :)

Happy Painting
Mary

Forget the brushes

Too lazy today to deal with brushes.  I wanted to paint, but just could not deal with the idea of clean up.  So Palette knife time!

Acrylic,  16 x 12 inches, "Texture of Sun"

                                                 Click to Bid

 A couple of times I was almost tempted to grab a brush, but resisted.  Glad I did not, love the texture this one has.
  Oh and this is day 20, of 30 paintings in 30 days, (yesterday I forgot how to count, should have post as day 19)

Mary
Schiros-art.com

Loosening up with acrylics

Day 20 of 30 paintings in 30 days...

18 x 24 inches, Acrylic on watercolor paper,

                                AVAILABLE AT FINE ART AMERICA

   After a couple days of intense oil painting I really needed to loosen up.  There is no other media more perfect for loose painting than acrylics.  Still playing with the night scape views, love the neutral blues and violets to get the night look.

Mary

mbs-art.com

Introspective painting

Day 18 of 30 paintings in 30 days......

7 x 5 inch oil

Today I thought I would see what I could do with some left over oil paint, a very small canvas, and a one inch brush.  I was also thinking about the idea of a self portrait.  So I started working on a face, not necessarily mine, just a face.  But as I started painting it I realized it looked a bit like my self as a young girl.  When I was young, people teased me about being too pale, even having a ghostly look.  It really bothered me as a kid, so often I would try my hardest to get a tan, ending up with either some freckles or a heck of a sun burn.  Now that I look back at that I realize what a waste of time it is to worry about what others say.

   Interesting how painting can bring back so many memories and thoughts.

Mary

Schiros-Art.com

Blushing Roses oil painting

Day 17 of 30 paintings in 30 days....

"Blue Blush"  Oil,  7 x 5 inches

Click to Bid

Experimented with a pink and blue color combination for these roses, really pleased how it turned out.   A small little beauty :)

Mary
Schiros-Art

Daily painting

16 x 12 oil on canvas "Under the Rose"

   Finished and really happy with how it turned out.  Setting up a still life with a busy back ground was a challenge but worth the effort.  Painting from life (no photos) I am finding more and more enjoyable.  I think as an Artist, one learns much more about seeing and painting when, what your painting is physically in front of you.

Mary
Schiros-art

WIP

For day 7 of 30 in 30 painting challenge I am sharing the process of my still life.

Stating to get some color going here.  Hopefully Thursday I will have a finished painting to show...
we will see.

Mary
Schiros-art

WIP Still life

Day two of my current still life.  Starting to define some lights and darks.

But I also did my daily painting for the 30 paintings in 30 days.  I rarely work on just one painting at a time.                               The beginning....

The end...........

Palette knife painting, oil on canvas panel 10 x 8 inches

Mary

Schiros-art

Beginnings and Endings

Rule one of Schiros-Art......always have something to work on.

day one under paintings

I did my daily painting, but also started a painting that simply can not be finished in one day.
This still life I plan to layer, so working with oils, it will take a while.  But I thought I would share the process as I go along.

But to warm up I did do a small daily painting, that counts for day 5 of the 30 in 30 challenge.

8 x 10 inch oil on panel
Two Pear

Even stopped to get a photo of the first step in painting this one...

Mary

Schiros-art

Day 4 of 30 paintings in 30 days

"Evening Reflections"  Oil on canvas panel, 10 x 8 inches

                                                                                                Click to Bid

      Today in Michigan we have snow and ice, and temperatures dropping quickly.  It was a very good day to be inside with nowhere to go.
      As a way to forget about the weather I painted where I wanted to be.

Mary
Schiros-art

Ink and oil painting

"Night Watch" oil on canvas, 14 x 11 inches

Decide to try something different, an under painting in ink.   After playing around with ink yesterday, I used one of the ideas and painted the outline of the cat in ink on canvas.  After it dried started putting down some layers of color in oil.

First layer of paint after ink dried.

Think I like this technique, plan to try some more.  Maybe next time letting more of the sketchiness of the ink lines show.

Mary

Schiros-art

Thinking with ink

Day 2 of  #jan30in30
     Today I am just thinking and planning with ink.  A little 14 x 11 inch ink paintings that will be an idea for another painting.  There is a spontaneous flow to ink off a sumi brush that, at least for me, always inspirers a need to do more.

Mary
Schiros-art

"A Stand of Blue"  Oil, unframed, 14 x 11 inches

           
    Today starts the 30 paintings in 30 days challenge by Leslie Saeta.  I have been doing these challenges from the very first one, even have a separate page on this blog with post from the challenges.  So I decided to keep going and do this one.
    The game plan for this month is simple, play, paint, and play some more.  Each day I will do a painting, it may be a finished work, or simply and idea that may get worked up into another painting. I plan to share them all, either as a main part of my blog or as a general posting on the 30 paintings in 30 days tab.
    Today is a finished work in oil on 300 lb arches watercolor paper that was pre gessoed.  This started out as a test of 2 new tubes of paint, an umber and a new brand of cobalt blue, but quickly progressed to a finished work with additional colors of yellow and orange.  What I like about this one is the vase has a sassy look to it.  Looks like a lady with her hand on her hip ready to tell you what you don't know:)
Mary
Schiros-Art