However, I wont lie and tell you that everything went smoothly.  I was completely out of my element, I’m not used to painting landscapes, and a few pieces ended up in the garbage.  I had a difficult time loosening up, and I had to push through to the end of some seriously rough paintings.  But in the end I find that I would do it all again.  I learned a ton, and had a great time doing it.

This afternoon was the reception for the show.  Which was a big success!  One of my pieces won Third Place and I sold a piece!  The amazing thing about the piece that sold is that I nearly gave up on it, in fact I ended up cutting up the original painting and putting it back together into a three-dimensional piece.  Unfortunately, I didn’t get a good photo of it before it sold, but I did manage to snap a photo with my cell phone.

As usual, I will try and scan and upload images of the pieces.  Which reminds me that I have some pieces at Framations Gallery that I never got photos of either.

The event was a successs, I met a lot of great people interested in the cause; including the person who ended up bidding on my pet portrait.  I also met another artist that showed an interest in my Skeleton Puppy series and Pet Illustrations.  I really enjoyed her piece in the show and when I got home I visited her website, which I found pretty inspiring.  I can’t explain it, but something about her work brought me back to my art school days.

To help advertise PetIllustrations and help a needy cause I’ve decided to donate 10% of the commissions I receive from Framations or MAAL (Missouri Allianance for Animal Legislation) to the MAAL organization.  In addition I will be auctioning off a Pet Illustration for charity at the Works of Arf Show opening on October 8th.

Oh, and before I forget, I have also signed up for the St. Charles Plein Air Competition October 1st-11th, with the judging and show on the 12th.  I’ve never really done one of these events before, but I’m looking forward to it.

The only downside is that in the rush of things I completely forgot to photograph a couple of my new pieces before taking them to the gallery!  I could just kick myself!

I also received my first pet portrait commission that I will be posting on www.PetIllustrations.com and mailing out later today.  I haven’t launched my online marketing plan, in hopes that I get a few more local orders to ‘test’ the ordering process, but I should be starting by the end of the week.  Wish me luck, and again I am open to ideas!

I got an idea for a new painting series that will allow me to branch off from the architecture series I’ve been working with for the last several years.  It’s been a while since I had a series concept that I was excited about.  We’ll see how that develops in the months to come.

Lastly, I’m hoping to start on a new piece, possibly for the gallery, to seal the end of my “Artist Block.”  It may or may not have something to do with the new series idea.  Oh, and with Halloween, my favorite holiday nearing, I might be doing something related to that, time permitting.

We have an outline of the story nearly complete (the ending is a little rough), and three pages written so far. Which equates to about one third of the story completed. I’m really happy with the progress so far. Co-authoring with Jesse is working out great!

I’ve also started research for the illustrations, though that usually takes the longest because I have to be picky and find the best reference possible. I’m looking for inspiration for the main character, Joanna. I really want her to be original, but I need to find reference of little girls to get the structure and basic features correct. I haven’t really drawn any children before, and that’s a challenge in itself because their faces are so different from what I’ve done before.

On another note I’ll be at Framations for the Spring Art Walk this weekend. I don’t have any work in the actual event, but I’ll be hanging out at the gallery for the event.

“…we fed him a banana last night, and he fell asleep in the palm of my hand. We put him in his basket outside on the back porch for the night and this morning, he was still curled up sleeping in there around 7:30am…”

As I looked at the images and read about him, I kept thinking how adorable he was. So small and vulnerable, but also brave and sweet. I wondered about his courage and what made him unique; before long I was thinking up a story about his life and how he came to be there.

This week I submitted some pieces to the Lake St. Louis Artist Associate Spring Show. This is the first time I’ve submitted work in one of their shows; and I managed to take a peek at some of the other work submitted. It was all top notch, so I’m really excited to see it all at the reception this weekend.

In other news, I got a call from Amy at Framations yesterday asking if I’d thought anymore about making prints of the pieces in the PAB Show because she has two potential buyers. She asked me if I could have some by next Tuesday so she could send them at the Kansas City Art Expo. Apparently, some of the people from MAAL will be there, and are willing to help sell them for us!

I have everything ready to make prints of the “Skeleton Puppy Series” and “Scenic Puppy Mill” already, and today I’m going to try and get a better capture of “St. Bernard Rescue Dog” before his new owner comes to claim him, so I can make at least 8×10 prints of him. Wish me luck, he doesn’t photograph well. If everything goes well, prints should be ready to purchase at Framations by next week.

When I made my way through to Amy she told me that the Puppy Skeleton series had already sold! I was shocked, and I couldn’t believe it. Then shortly after that she introduced me to some people that were interested in buying prints of the Puppy Skeletons; and I was absolutely speechless! I’m afraid I was pretty stunned awkward with all the attention throughout the night; I really hope I didn’t look too retarded.

The crowd didn’t diminish all night, as people continued to swarm in I did my best to work my way around the room. About an hour later Amy summoned me over to meet another couple, who as it turns out were purchasing “St. Bernard Rescue Dog.” Amy predicted that by the end of the night all my pieces would sell; and they did! The third one, “Scenic Puppy Mill” sold later in the evening to a jovial lady; who seemed positively thrilled to buy it.

I couldn’t be happier that the night was such a success, but at the same time I’m a little sad that I have to part with my babies. I never really expected them to sell, but my husband took me to see them on Sunday to say goodbye.

As promised below are some of the designs I’ve been working on for Oak Leaf Artist Guild website header. I wanted to go with bold colors in a Fall color scheme to reflect the colorfulness of the artwork while still keeping the namesake ‘oak leaf’ in mind.

Please keep in mind that these are working examples meant to show direction rather than finished product. The square symbol to the right of each design is the placeholder I mentioned in a previous post for a logo. I have been working on a real logo for the guild as well.

I’m not sure if I mentioned it, as things have been so crazy lately, but during the last Oak Leaf Artist Guild meeting I was voted onto the board as Website Coordinator. Actually, it was more that I accepted the job, than got voted in.. but saying I’m on the board with OLAG just sounds better.

I’ve already presented some of my ideas to the guild, but I’ll expand on that tonight at the Board Meeting. I’ve been working on some designs and concepts to show, as well as talk about content, layout, and possibly using a new software that my husband discovered called Drupal. If we can get it to work, I think it will really allow us free reign on options, features, and flexibility to build and maintain. I’ll try and keep current on this project as well.

Meanwhile, I’m still working on “The Look of Love” piece for the show, I’ll try to post some images of my progress tonight after the meeting if time allows.