What a beautiful Monday it is! The sun is shining bright here, the weather is cool but not cold & the birds are singing their happy songs as loud as they can. I’ve got the windows & doors open in my art studio this morning to let all of this Natural beauty inside while I work. It makes me super happy that Spring has finally sprung! This time of year is usually when I am able to harness the energy of the fresh air & sunshine, soaking in all things Nature offers & I always become super motivated to make all of my goals a reality. Springtime is a time of rebirth, when Nature is starting to come forth & this energy always seems to carry over into my art studio. I do admit though, while one of my favorite places to be in the whole wide world is in my studio, it is VERY hard this time of year to stay focused & not just run outside at dawn (after my morning coffee of course) & frolic in the grass, hug the trees, smell all the flowers & chase the butterflies until dusk! There are so many things I want to accomplish this time of year, both in my art studio & in my gardens. So balance & focus becomes a key for me in Springtime so I don’t absolutely overwhelm myself with my “to-do” list.
This week will be a busy one for me, I have a lot to do in the studio. I am currently updating my Etsy shop for all you art lovers out there. I will be adding a few restocks of prints that are already available as well as adding NEW prints that I have never offered before. These new items are prints of some of my watercolor & colored pencil Nature art that I created in 2020. There will be about a dozen new listings so I will make sure to let you know as soon as those items drop in my shop & become available for you.
In addition to the Etsy updates I’ll be working on, I will also be working on more Art-O-Mat mini mandala paintings for the art vending machines. I always enjoy creating these, as they are tiny enough that I can bring them outside & work on them while I sit in my garden. Creating them out in my garden always brings endless inspiration for each piece & I enjoy it so much. If you are new here, or are wondering “what the heck is Art-O-Mat?”, I encourage you to look through my website. I have a tab at the top that will bring you the Art-O-Mat section of my site & it thoroughly explains what it is & gives you their website info so you can learn about them & enjoy it as much as I do.
I will also be working more on my 20″x30″ Sunflower painting this week. This piece is coming along beautifully, I am very excited & even a little bit anxious (in a good way) to get this piece to a point where I can start seeing with my eyes (& not just in my mind) what the final stage & color will all look like in the end. One of the hard parts for me when creating a painting this large is riding out what I like to call the first few “ugly stages” of the piece. Not that it is necessarily ugly at any stage, it’s just that my paintings go through many different stages before it starts to look like what I intend for it to in the end. Even though I work in acrylic paint, I still like to work in layers like the old masters did, building upon each layer with more color & detail until I get it just right. The technique is a little bit different than how the old masters achieved their final paintings because I work in fast drying acrylics & they used slow drying oil paints, but the end result is still the same which is a beautifully detailed realistic painting.
Lastly, on my weekly to-do list, is preparations for this upcoming Easter weekend. We are planning on boiling crawfish (yay!) & having my children (daughter & grands) over for the weekend for lots of Easter egg dying, egg hunts, games & lots of laughter with a tons of adventure time. What are all of you up to for the Easter holiday? Do you all have anything fun planned or are you just gonna lay low & relax?
Well, I think that about wraps up what I will be up to this week. I will let everyone know the minute I get all of my new Etsy listings up & available. Please feel free to look around my website, especially under the “What’s New” section because I will be posting work in progress photos from this week, throughout the week, & letting you know about any new art endeavors, information or goodies I get into, find or run across. I hope everyone has an amazing week & Easter holiday. Stay tuned for more Gemini Pearl Art adventures & chit chat soon. Thank you for hanging out with me as I get used to blogging & I appreciate you supporting my art. – Peace, Gemini Pearl
Gemini Pearl Art & Design 