From this to this...

Since returning from the Outerbanks, I've been painting like a mad woman.  See, a break does do one good.  As does having lots of deadlines to meet but we'll stick with the inspiration as the reason for my majorly productive week.

First things first this week though, I had to start with cleaning my studio.  It may not look spic an span but if you had seen it before....oh my....it was a pure t disaster area!

...and just for giggles, here's my studio when I first bought the house and had a feature in Cloth Paper Scissors, "Studios".  HA.  I am not sure I"ll ever get back to that pristine state!

See that ladder over to the right...at one time it housed all my art supplies.  See the very first picture to see where I'm at now....at least where I let you see!! :)

I do love all the shelves, it couldn't have worked out better for me in that aspect. Looking at this picture makes me long for an even tidier studio but at the same time, I'm so much more busy with projects than I was at the time I had this picture taken. It had to have been back in 2009 or 2010 before I left the bank (in October 2011).  Since that time I've gone from having 3 online classes to 10 going on all at the same time, 2 galleries and shops to about 13 or so, and many other projects like articles, special videos for partners,  workshops and retreats and so on. So ya...having a messy studio or a full studio rather isn't a bad thing. I'm grateful for having things to keep me busy and very grateful for the continued inspiration coming my way to keep me moving forward.

Speaking of inspiration...I wanted to share with you one of my latest paintings from start to finish.  Nothing fancy, just a slide show of my work in progression.  I use some of these techniques in several of my classes and will be featuring a portion of the process (and a whole lot more) in my in person class at Art Is You in Stamford, "Mermaids and Maidens"

Take a look to see how I went from this...

 To this......

It wasn't easy..and I made a lot of changes along the way..but I love how she came out.  Portraits take a lot of time.  Some artist spend months on them and others can knock them out in a day or so. I'm somewhere in between.  I love adding depth with color and texture and layers upon layers of paint.  

I used a variety of materials including Golden and Matisse acrylics,  stencils (some that I am working on for a special project for Jerry's Artarama.. hey rumor has it we may even be working on some videos for them as well.shhhhhh!!), inks by liquitex, charcoal, paste, neocolor ii crayons, and then final paint layer using Silk Acrylics and Primary Elements from my friends at Splash of Color.

So there you have it....a peak at a bit of my process, of course during my classes I really go in depth and walk you through all the stages and give you lots of tips about products, how to use them, when to use them, practice exercises and more.   I hope to see you in one of my classes, either online or in person.  Until then,  take your time, don't be afraid to make adjustments, play with color, let your imagination go and enjoy the process.   This painting was completed over the course of 3 days or so, so keep that in mind if you are doing this your self.  Patience. Patience. Patience.
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Don't forget, my Mother's Day special ends in just a couple of days! Come take advantage of my sale over at Creative Workshops!