To Travel in a purposeful manner towards a vague destination"
-my inspiration for painting almost all of my abstracts, including this piece, 1 of 2 extra large paintings featured below:
I rarely put my shop on sale---but for this weekend only (and today is the last day of the biggest discount) I am making an exception.
Up to 700 dollars off (yes you heard right!) Whether you have your eye on a few of my favorite paintings or classes definitely drop by my Etsy shop for a great selection of originals, prints, note cards, bookmarks and workshops!
PS-I invite you to sign up for my newsletter where I share inspiration, special deals for subscribers only, words of wisdom and other artsy business a couple times a month.
I hope life is treating you well and you are healthy, happy and surrounded by those you love!
It's been a whirlwind few months as you can probably tell by my blogging absence (something I vow to do better with in the New Year). Tons of travel, several classes and the biggest news of all, I have a new Granbaby-Elena, who was born on October 30th. I was blessed my son and daughter in law allowed me to be in for the whole birth, what a miracle!
Shortly there after, I shot a short video for a new project coming up in the new year-more details on that later, did a weekend of painting demonstrations at Art of the Carolinas last week, and now I'm rolling into working on holiday events, small art, new collections, a big article for the spring and many other special new things that are all to revealed in the next few weeks!
I know time is precious so I will just leave you today with a few highlights of what is to come. As my valued readers, I want you to be among the first to know when I have specials and new products so here is what's on the agenda!
Rest assured-I have more great events coming, lots of NEW art to be loaded in my shop, special deals and new project that expands on my year long stint as a guest columnist at Cloth Paper Scissors. Those details and more will be unveiled over the next few weeks so be sure to stay tuned!
In the mean time, thank you so much for following my art, learning creative techniques with me and for your overall friendship as support.
Questions to journal about, to question yourself with. Be honest and open with the answers. It's the only way to discover, uncover and recover-let alone move forward:
Are you interested or are you committed? Are you passionate or are you purposeful?
Are you surviving or are you thriving? Are you serving up crap or are you serving up value? Are you questioning or are you hungry for knowledge?
Do you charge by the hour or do you charge what you are worth? Are you apathetic or are you engaged? Do you make excuses or do you take ownership and do the work? Are you fearful or are you fear-LESS? Are you helping yourself or are you hoping others will help you? Are you part of the problem or are you the answer? Are you cutting edges or cutting corners?
Are you willing to take a risk or are you choosing only that which comforts you? Are entrapped or are you empowered?
What have you done today to move forward? Have you done the work or did you skip the lesson? Why you? Why not? Who else? What did you learn? What's next? How do we get there?
What do you want? What do you need? What keeps you up in at night? What are you searching for and why?
I couldn't be more excited to announce my newest online workshop, Zen Houses, is ready to launch and will be opening on September 6th! This class merges two of my most favorite styles/themes of painting: My Funky Little Houses and Zen Painting into a fun filled (and robust workshop--over 6 hours of content!),
You'll learn everything from shading, pen and pencil work, sketching, using a specialty surface along with extremely fluid paint, to create a water color'ish, sketcherly, work of art. (I make up a few words here and there...heehee).
I jammed packed this course with several projects, warm ups, and many discussions where I share insights, tips, and tricks of the trade.
Here's a few more pics to inspire you, so you can get a general idea of what you'll be doing during Zen Houses :
One of the many exciting parts of this whole process is watching my students go from a sketch to a fully illustrated painting. I mean, can you imagine going from this:
To This???
Well you can with my assistance! I promise I will lead you from start to finish and then some! My goal is for you not just to recreate my projects, but to grow and flourish as an artist beyond the class room!!!
The sale price for this fun filled workshop ends on the launch date (September 6th), but of course you can jump in at anytime as this is a self paced course.
BONUS--I will do 2 live chats & painting exercises during the first 8 weeks of the course PLUS offer a bonus video midstream of our first few weeks together.
In addition to our intensive warm ups, you will complete 2 mini paintings and 3full size paintings, and if you so chose, I give one final assignment for the truly ambitious. That's a ton of content for this low price, honestly you will get your money's worth out of this course!!!
I hope you will join me and over 100 students from around the world for Zen Houses!
For more info and or to register, check out my class page by clickingHERE.
Even if you can't join us, please help spread the word! I am giving away, yes giving away one of my sample pieces featured in this course titled, "Home is Where you Are", a 10x10 on gessobord. The giveaway is open to everyone, but shipping expenses would have to be charged if one of my international friends happens to win.
How to put your name in the hat?
Simply comment on this post and tell me where your home is and why do you consider it your sanctuary...after all, we are all searching for peace and a sense of calm, hopefully our homes are where we find that first and foremost.
If you are so inclined to share this post so that more people can hear about my class, please link to it and come back and comment again for a second entry!!
Drawing will be held on September 6th, 2017 PS...please leave your email in the comments so I can reach you if you win.
Good luck, and thank you so much for all your support and encouragement!!
xoxo
Jodi Ohl
PS....one more announcement: some of my creative and friends and I are having an auction this weekend online to raise money for Hurricane Harvey victims. 10 of us are all donating a piece of art for the auction and would love for you to support the cause by placing a bid. The auction starts 7pm on Saturday, the 9th through 11 pm. Highest bidder at the end of the auction wins. EZ peezy. You do need to join the event to participate which you can do so by clicking HERE.
This is the piece I am contributing, "Beach Road", which is a 10x10 original painting that I used for a sample during this workshop.
Thank you so much for your support! We need to pull together as a country now more than ever!
Friday Favs on Monday because that's how I roll lately!
Perhaps in 2017 I will make it my mission to do things on time :) Usually I am Johnny on the spot with deadlines and keep up with my to-do list but lately I've become that girl, that artist who is perpetually chasing her tail. With that said, I've been chasing my tail with tons of good things so I'm not complaining at all! I just feel bad not being able to keep up at times and letting people down. Okay enough...off my soap box because that can be a slippery slope..hahah!
Before we get into the art supplies recommendations for today--check this out! My first e-book lesson on lettering published by Cloth Paper Scissors is now out! I'm scheduled to do a total of 3 for them over the next few months and couldn't be more pleased with how this comes out. The best thing--it's under 5.00 and includes a little video showcasing one of the lessons!! Check out a little preview here!
Alrighty...let's get to my Friday Favs on Monday artsy gifts recommendations! I wanted to share with you some really affordable pan watercolor palettes that would make great gift items along with several other additional goodies to go along with the palettes. I don't have all of these colors but I do have the Tropicals and they are fantastic! Under 20 dollars, awesome compact metal pan, and great colors--what else could you want? Maybe the other things on today's list! :)
Along with your watercolors, picking up a journal to play with is a also a wonderful option. While the Dylusion's journal is not a watercolor journal you can still use it for studies is my personal favorite for assorted journaling techniques. Teflon sheets are great for mixing paints and keeping your surface clean. I have 3 or 4 of these and it's made clean up a breeze in my studio!
Neocolor II crayons are so versatile that I can't imagine painting with out these puppies. I use them to draw with, shade, write, and play in my journal. They write over acrylics, yet can be blended with your finger or activated with water for more intense color. Did I say MUST HAVE?? Seriously!
Lastly watercolor pen brushes are your on the go must have for art journaling, urban sketching and more! The well conveniently stores your water so there's no mess or carrying around cumbersome water containers when you are on the go!
Finishing us off today is the Micron 6 piece pen set--I love me some pens and this brand is one of my favorites to use, especially with watercolors. I love to make lines and scratchy doodles over top of my pieces...the Microns will help you do that. Check it out in action:
So there you go...some great gift items for you or the budding watercolor/urban sketching artist in your life!
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BIG NEWS--I'll be back a little later today with my PWYC sale! Yes it is late...lol....see the above message with every excuse other than my dog at my PWYC post ;) It's neither her nor there...but it will be HERE in a few hours!! Stay tuned and be sure to come back because its very time sensitive and there are several items that have limited quantities!
Is it Monday already?? Why yes it is! I hope you had a glorious weekend full of fun and adventure! Mine was action packed, lots of arting of course, some time with friends doing holiday activities (holiday carriage parade, lunch out, shopping), Christmas tree shopping and decorating with the boy, and watching Hallmark movies about sums up my weekend! Haha :)
This week is going to be so fun and full of artsy goodness, I can hardly wait! On top of being my Birthday week Month.....(hey when you are my age, if you are going to have a Birthday it might as well be a month long celebration, right)....this week I'm participating and hosting a few BIG events!
Here's a little synopsis:
1. Monday, December 12th through Tuesday Morning, December 13th, I am the featured artist in the 2016 Handmade Holiday Auction hosted by Stephanie Gagos. I'm the final artist to wind up this thrilling 14 day event! I couldn't be more excited but I have to tell you it's a little intimidating, especially after seeing all the AMAZING work featured by the other artists went before me. I mentioned this on Facebook last night that it's really scary to be in such a vulnerable position. What if no one likes the work I am featuring? What if no one bids? lol I deal with worse case scenarios in my head but at the same time, when you create art or anything from your hands and heart is something so personal you can't help but to feel a little vulnerable. I wouldn't have it any other way though. It's through this path that my life has been enriched by the 100's if not 1000's of people I have met since I started my career almost 10 years ago. (I've worked for myself for 5 years this October). If you would like to check out a few of the 30+ work I'll be featuring during the auction, check out this video. I'd be honored if you joined us, whether you want to bid or not--just drop by and comment and say hi! I appreciate your support.
Here is a link to the Facebook Auction Event: Click HERE.
*note, to bid on an item, look for a post that says Auction and simply leave a comment. Stephanie will be uploading work throughout the day with some items ending this evening and some ending in the morning.
2. The next item on my agenda this week is my 3rd annual Pay What You Can Sale in celebration of my Birthday! This is a super fun event I've been hosting for the past couple of years which features many items of mine where you can place bid on that particular item based on what you can pay. It's a great way to get a deal for the holidays if you've been eyeing one of my pieces up. This year I will be featuring work in the following categories: Prints, Originals, Package Deals, BOOK package deals, Online Classes, and a couple of Buy It Now options at a set but reduced price.
The sale will go live tomorrow, December 13th at aroud 12pm EST and run through Friday evening, December 16th.
Actually---I am going to postpone the sale for a few days and run it through Sunda, December 18th...The auction is going so well, that I think I'm going to be busy most of the day tomorrow packing orders! WHOOOHOO!
If you would like to place an offer, there will be a form to fill out on the post. You will be able to write in your offer as well as discuss any other particulars about that item or your situation.
In years past, I've had several patrons make offers for items they couldn't afford all at once but could make payments so that is something that I will do again this year. Sort of like an artsy layaway:)
The only thing I ask is for you to not place offers for items you have no intention on buying. Last year was sort of a mixed blessing, I had a great turn out but only half of the people paid or even bothered responding back to me when I accepted their offer or had a question. It was a little frustrating but I had many that were so happy and genuinely excited to get a deal, it made me want to give it a try one last time. Sorry just had to put a little 'housekeeping' rules out there :)
Be sure to come back tomorrow afternoon and check out all the items for the PWYC, in the meantime, hopefully I'll see you at the 2016 Handmade Holiday Auction!
Other Mentions--in case you missed this post, grab a special coupon code for Creative Jumpstarts 2017 before it ends soon!
Speaking of coupon codes- here's a great one for Life Book 2017 as well!
That's it for now...I feel like I have another blog post in me today to tell you more news! LOL I'm on a roll lately!
Final words, as my title of this posts mentions--Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained......don't be afraid of standing alone on the stage, in the path to becoming a shining star, great at what you do, and on the road to following your dreams, you'll have to take risks and be a bit (or a lot) vulnerable for the world to see. Without taking a risk, you will never know what you are truly capable of!
