Day 3 - Still Life... No Direction

 I stumbled upon this book in my studio bookcase...

I never did attempt oil painting: too stinky and I am VERY sensitive to chemical smells. Besides the paint odor, there was the addition of harsh smelling turpentine for cleaning paintbrushes. No thanks! Instead I ventured into acrylic paints on canvas... then acrylics on archival linen paper--most of my paintings have been created this way in the past. Back in the realm of painting again, I decided to try watercolor paint on watercolor paper = I LOVE watercolor paper! It absorbs the paint and dries fast... another reason I didn't pursue oil paints: they take too long to dry. I prefer to complete paintings in a day and that's another reason I paint on a smaller scale... like my daily journal posts.

One thing I did find appealing in the "Keys to Oil Painting" book, it does a step by step exercise... (These are my words-not what they teach) Begin with a sketch. Put down foundation colors. Begin layering other colors for interest and perhaps depth and lastly add details. I like to use pen ink to bring out details.

I believe everyone needs to do their own thing here and there... put your own personality into the art you create!

As you can see from the book's finished product: I went rogue with brilliant shades of colors and interpreting what should be in the painting: two varieties of grapes, bread, onion or a fig, a pomegranate and cheese!

What will inspire my journal post tomorrow?

I'm thinking it might be some things on my balcony... but who knows!

Day 2 - In My Room

My orchid is blooming! I have NEVER had an orchid that bloomed after the first time (at the time of purchase or gifted) and to be honest I usually toss out the plants when the flowers die. This time I decided to keep the plant... just to have greenery in my bedroom... and then two years later... SURPRISE!

Soooooo pretty! Perfect! thing to capture in my painting journal...

What will inspire my journal post tomorrow? 

I have no idea!

Day 1 of my 365 Day Challenge

What better way to keep up on blog posting than to challenge myself... sooooo I purchased a watercolor sketchbook to create a lifestyle journal... paintings of things that surround me or inspire me... I often see a painting just waiting to come to life looking in my garden, looking at photos, looking around while out on a walking adventure... even looking at food, coffee, etc etc... my list could go on forever...

Day 1 of my 365 day challenge...

This is the 8.5 x 8.5" journal I plan to fill and more will follow! I can do this!

I hopefully I keep all of your attentions... Soooo... let's show my first painting titled Cafélicious. I often talk about painting at a café table in Paris: my daydream! That seemed like the beginning of my story... journey... and Cafélicious is my invented café for a book series that I absolutely LOVED writing. I wish the café was real! I would sit there every day and bring you these blog posts...

This painting shows everything I need to create my journal post: reader glasses, paint brush, mechanical pencil, 0.1 ink pen, eraser, of course the journal itself... coffee is a must in may art studio... and these are the watercolor shades I used to paint.

What will inspire me tomorrow?

Happy Friday!

I read a few other people on Instagram saying they were going back to blogging... I love hearing that! I have to remember to blog more often... Just getting back into painting... I'm trying to get in the swing of things again... uploading art to my computer and then to social media and my Art Shops... it seems blogging has been pushed aside... oops! I will attempt to be better while painting my heart out: I'm so HAPPY to be back to the art world!!!

 

Hope YOU are doing what makes you happy! 

Enjoy the weekend!

NEW Prints and Original Art in My Shop...

MT ART SHOP is OPEN with NEW art and some of my older artwork... available as a 5 x 7" frameable art card or customized set of (8) 4 x 6” frameable notecards... and many of the cards are available as original paintings (until they are sold) “CONTACT Fifi” about custom orders and original art in MY Etsy ART SHOP

Sooooo much more in my Shop… pop over to take a peak!!!

Handpainted Bookmarks in the works... Some available NOW!

 LOVE painting bookmarks... so FUN to look at on reading breaks... escape into a book... escape into a painting... These ONE OF A KIND handpainted bookmarks have been uploaded into 

my ART SHOP

Pop over and grab one... sooooo FUN!

ART SHOP

A Trip to the MOCA Gift Shop...

 In January a fun little walking adventure in downtown Los Angeles changed my life. Architecture and the MOCA (Museum of Contemporary Art) Gift Shop inspired my return to the ART world. Simply buying a sketchbook... I caught the creativity bug!

Some doodles here and there... I was hooked...

Sketches came together... 

my Arc de Triomphe drawing and my Cafélicious trays... 

and then I applied PAINT...

This original artwork will be available soon... only one! but it will be available as a frameable art card. I will be back to announce when my ART SHOPS: ETSY  is up and running!!!

LOVE LOVE LOVE

painting again!!! 

I'm Back to Creating ART...

Excited to be creating ART again... is blogging still a thing? My first post back deserved a new banner... some great oldies to create a collage... 

Currently uploading NEW ART to my ART SHOP

ETSY SHOP

Stay Tuned... 

andddd Follow Me on Instagram to watch videos of me painting ARTWORK 

 

Ready to Read...

If you haven't already started reading some of my standalone series... NOW is the time since these first books of each series are on SALE only 99cents each...

PURCHASE NOW

Set to interview Matisse expert and curator Pierce Marten in a Chicago loft, freelance art writer Julia Van Rothfelder is mistaken for an artist's life model.

Finding herself reclining nude posing for a handsome casually dressed curator, nothing like what she had imagined, a well-groomed man in a business suit enters the artist loft.

As Julia surveys the two men standing before her, she wonders...

Who is the new man?

Who is the man behind the canvas?

And better question, why am I nude?

***

PURCHASE NOW

MONDAY: Tall, Dark & Aromatic (Hookup Café, #1)

When a sinfully gorgeous man enters Cafélicious, the owner, Pansie, is consumed with his beauty and although she thinks he might be homeless, he has captured her heart without even knowing it. Basil, the man in question, is instantly smitten by Pansie and makes it his mission in life to woo her with his poetry and charm. Could it be that he is the man for her at the so-called Hookup Café?

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Logan “Shark” Hammond, forced into an early retirement and leaving his SEAL team behind, isn’t ready to walk away from serving those in need.

Maya Bexley, a strong independent actress, is being forced by her agent and the studio producing her latest film to keep quiet about being terrorized.

When Logan is assigned to protect Maya, he quickly earns her trust and vows to do whatever it takes to allow her to live in peace—with him, if he has anything to say about it.

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PURCHASE NOW

Ireland Dumont loved her life—single with not a care in the world, running her own online concierge company. On the edge of ultimate success, her parents stepped in and arranged a proper groom for her to marry. Giving over to their request, she heads to Vegas to celebrate her last days of freedom.

Meeting a handsome stranger was not on her agenda.
Accepting his marriage proposal was the perfect addendum to her agenda.

Jensen Callum needed a wife for his new business venture with a company that prided themselves on being a family-owned operation. His old playboy status was about to be nipped in the bud by his parents when he returned home from his business trip to an arranged marriage of their doing.

What will happen when Ireland and Jensen’s families find out that they arranged their own marriage venture that wasn’t in the grand scheme of things?

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HAPPY READING!

Fifi