The delay is because I’ve been BU-SAY doing all sorts of neat stuff like, putting together work for two art shows, going to Maui and San Francisco, not to mention raising my baby girl. However, at 20 months, she’s not much of a baby anymore.

So, I wanted to get back into this and I decided to show some things I have been working on, as of late.

First, we have a sketch with watercolor and paper of San Francisco….
I plan to turn this into a painting, it won’t be exactly like this, but this is the longest time I’ve had to plan a painting in months so I’m thinking it going to be be pretty sweet.

a preliminary sketch for a painting I am planning

And next, we have a gift tag that I made for a family member’s bridal shower that uses, more paper, watercolor, and, of course, the Cricut Wedding Solutions cartridge. I thought I had no more need for this cartridge, but alas, here were are.

gift tag for a bridal shower using paper scraps, paint, and the Cricut

The reason I am so happy with this tag, besides the fact that it turned out really nice, is that it came from paper scraps that I have hoarded over the past year. So, I learned something today, hoarding paper scraps, is ok.

And, this is what the tag looks like, on the bag.

Well, that’s it for today. I’d like to say I’ll be better at this, but all I will do is try. -Gia

This week, I was informed that I am in the top 20 entrants from the 250 received in the Daily Painters.com, “Who Will Be The Next Daily Painter?” Contest.
Please go to the website link below and vote for me.
Thank You in Advance!
-G

Here’s the link….
http://dailypainters.com/blog/contest

Encaustic and mixed media on panel: 6x6

Well, I must be honest, I didn’t know this one was going to come out like this. Really, I posted this yesterday and it was mostly purple, had to lose that because I was bothered by the yellow on the bottom not hanging with the purple on the top. So, I brushed an Indian Yellow pigment stick across it and it warmed up nicely.

I am running out of my nice blocks of encaustic paint, but I have some ordered that should get here next week.

In Utah, to my knowledge, our art supply stores do not sell encaustic paints. They sell powdered pigments, and the ingredients for wax medium, but no pre-made paint blocks. So I order them online from either R&F or Dick Blick and they arrive within a week. Not too shabby but not horribly convenient either. So, I have the pigments on hand just in case I run out and I will surely document the experience of making paint if I have to do so.’

And now, it’s off to the swimming pool for me YAY!!

-G

So, yesterday was quite, um,  as old Whinnie the Pooh would say, “blustery.” So I didn’t have any Bee friends hanging out with me in my garage, and I had the door up a crack. But no buzzing. So I guess they were afraid of meeting the same fate as their friend from before.

This painting was looking a little cold, mostly pale blue greens leaving it kind of icy. So, this morning, I rubbed R&F’s Indian Yellow Pigment Stick across it to give it this beautiful green hue. LOVE LOVE LOVE IT now.

In Etsy Shop news, I ordered the pendant trays from The Paper Studio, this morning and will be listing pendants of some of these little paintings as soon as I get them complete.

To all of you in BloggoLand, Have a wonderful day.

-G

Encaustic and mixed media on panel 6x6

At first, I wasn’t sure how I was going to use the watercolor drawing I had done for this painting, and then the greens and pinks just sort of happened and now I LOVE IT. I think I’ll be making this one into a necklace to go in my etsy shop.

The bottom part, as usual, is watercolor and it is inspired by a trip my husband and I took with our two best friends to Mexico in 2008. We went on a snorkeling expedition, and Trevor has this underwater camera, he took some fantastic pictures of the reefs, but I forget the name of where we were. It was loads of fun though.

Yesterday, I was out painting with the garage door up, it was such a GORGEOUS day here in SLC, that I just couldn’t bring myself to close the door, even though there were two big bees swarming around me. Well, one met an unfortunate end in the vat of wax medium that was simmering on the tool chest next to me.

I am developing a lot of little paintings right now and I’m seeing them fit into places I’ve been and found quite beautiful.

Laguna Beach is at the top of my list of beautiful places. My family has gone there for vacation in the summer three years in a row and this June will be our fourth. This place is so beautiful, water, rocks, trees and flowers make it a great inspiration for me each time I go. And, it’s been the inspiration for these two 6×8 encaustic paintings:

encaustic, oil and paper on panel 6x8