"Sunflower Pattern XV" Needlepoint Canvas

Always love seeing our Paintings produced as Needlepoint Canvas, and what a treat when stitching is completed.  As exciting as the image is when freshly printed onto the highest quality Needlepoint  mesh, they truly become awesome when stitched and framed in a classic manner.  If interested in the purchase of a Needlepoint Canvas of Original Paintings please go to my eBay listings at http://stores.ebay.com/Stitch-Your-Own-Masterpiece/  and take a look at offerings there.  

Have Canvas from several Artist friends as well, including some wonderful images by Marcia Baldwin, Della Burgus, and DawgArt by Alicia VanNoy Call, among others. 
 

Ellie Sethman Kaleidoscope Paintings Make Wonderful Needlepoint . . .

Looky, looky, how could any stitcher resist . . .

Opening Ellie love to a whole new client here, and these ladies take their Needlepoint very seriously too!  Do you know they have Teaching Cruises for Needlepoint, where the ladies learn new stitches and stitch together on deck?  

New, new, new . . . Stitch Your Own Canvas . . . Needlepoint or Cross Stitch!

Needlepoint and Cross Stitch Patterns from Original Paintings . . .
Most of these Paintings will sell, or have already sold to Individual Collectors for very nice price tags! And needless to say, they are all bear copyrights by each artist as well. But we ave been busy turning many more Original pieces into not only Needlepoint Canvas, but Cross Stitch Patterns as well. Most of the Cross Stitch is available in pdf file form for easy transport to individual buyers. Take a look at how beautifully these pieces turn out!

To be specific:

http://shop.ebay.com/designsbyvera/m.html and http://www.etsy.com/shop/veraoriginals?ref=si_shop

Vera

OMG, OMG, OMG!! Seems like I've said that before!

I am now doing Needlepoint Canvas, and not just of my own Paintings any longer! Have started to incorporate some work by artist friends into my creative Needlepoint mix as well! Lots of work to get ready, and then to produce, but such fun!!!!  Anyway, if some of you have wondered what hole I happened to fall into, clear back from way last Thanksgiving, that of Needlepoint Canvas creating, producing, and selling is it.

To be specific:

http://shop.ebay.com/designsbyvera/m.html and http://www.etsy.com/shop/veraoriginals?ref=si_shop

--BRING MOTHER NATURE INDOORS!-

Our, "Oh no Charley Brown," Thanksgiving moment!

We had invited some foreign students from University campus to our home for "A Traditional American Dinner," right? 2 from China and 1 from Rwanda. These are not exchange students in usual sense, as they do not have a sponsoring American family already, so unless they have made some friends, are mostly alone on campus during a holiday. Well, we had already had our own family Thanksgiving dinner earlier in day, with table full of people for that one for sure, but plenty of food, as we had roasted 2 turkeys, and had all of the trimmings! Right? The only hitch was that we had already carved them both as well. Carved in the kitchen, and for expedience sake more than anything else!

Well, loan and behold, the first thing our lovely little Chinese girl said after she arrived was, "Oh wow, can't wait to see that Turkey! Have heard so much about them!"

You can just imagine our faces as we had to explain that the "Traditional American Turkey" had already been carved!

Saga Of The Red Chair Affair:

"The Red Chair Affair" 24"x36" Framed     
I first learned of The Red Chair Project when a local friend emailed to ask me how I mounted my Watercolors to Canvas. He told me he had one he was getting ready for this local project, to benefit the  Orpheum Theater downtown. "LIGHTING UP BROADWAY SINCE 1922" is their tab line. Anyway, I wanted to participate as well and began work on my "Red Chair Affair" 24x36 Watercolor, even while knowing it would be a close call to get painting finished in time. My good friends on FaceBook cheered me on at every step, which is literally what pushed me forward!

But when beginning the painting I simply jumped in, as I tend to do fairly often. Not much of a planner! Anyway, had just purchased a lovely group of Oriental Lilies earlier that day, so decided to start there. Then, knew I needed at least one red chair in the grouping, so added two, just to be safe!  

Was fairly well satisfied with this first draft, however, the first thing I noticed was that height of the square container was dwarfing main object of painting . . . namely, the red chair. In setting out to correct this problem at least one means of correction came to mind. Chair legs could be lengthened and run off bottom of painting, thereby giving front chair more height, which would have been fairly easy to accomplish. But I decided instead to add a table top to that particular surface, while cutting down proportions of container itself.

I felt like adding table top worked nicely for entire piece (which was painted with coffee, btw).

So far so good, now for a suitable background. Wanted to start dark, so of course black popped to mind! What else? So, maybe think about giving a slight oriental feeling to the area as well. Red, right, already begun in color format and needing to be carried into other parts of painting as well. So ok, red lines, red markings went in, made with red oil pastel crayons, that my black watercolor would leave in place without running off! 

But I did not want to be going too dark too quickly with my black, so only a first wash was applied.

Everything from there was mostly pulling facets of the painting together. I added an upright plate sitting behind lamp base in order to carry some key colors up from the rug, added a brown edging to black area to suggest edge of an Oriental Screen, deepened shading on scarf, lampshade, etc., and gave suggestion of crack in a stucco wall background.

After that was a matter of signing it, mounting onto hardboard, and selecting a frame.

"Last Blossoms Of Summer": 24" x 30"

Original Watercolor on 140 lb. Cold Press Arches Paper. Varnished and Mounted on 7/8" deep Stretcher Bars w/ Canvas, with black Floater-Frame .

This combinations makes a solid, stable Original Painting, which is protected against UV Fading & Moisture, making the painting itself stronger than either oil or acrylic. With this method of mounting, the beauty of Watercolor can more than compete with other media.


WITH BLACK FLOATER FRAME:

Part 2: Finished Painting--Lessons Learned The Hard Way

"Sunflower Morning"  12" x 36" Watercolor mounted on Gallery Wrapped Canvas.                                        

Finished...Notice how I camouflaged the area where the Butterfly had been removed. The difference here between saving a painting and needing to start totally over lies in being fast with ingenuity, and  the ability to camouflage. For a successful camouflage, placement within overall painting is key. Because this work is long and narrow, the placement was a natural for adding a spot of dense background into offending area. However, had it been that same size area, say, closer to the bottom, my problem would have been a great deal more complicated. 

Adding another Sunflower in the spot would have been out, as it most certainly was here! Why? Well because the bruised and firmly washed paper would not have taken paint in the same way, and with the same precision of placement already applied in Sunflower blossoms. Therefore something totally different  applied here was being called for...  Had offending area actually been lower, I probably would have place the  stone wall much lower in composition, and gone from there. 

This is both the value and the pitfalls of following your muse while Painting, rather than going through all of the steps of planning, sketching, using a layout, etc. as one approaches every new piece.

Part 1: Lessons Learned The Hard Way

Part 1:
Ok ladies and germs, as a used to was stand-up often said, I mounted my paper before painting this time. On a 12" x 36" gallery wrap no less! And yes, predictably, half way through the composition, I do not like the painting! Ok, again, because of an earlier 'experiment', which is detail in a previous blog, all is not lost, I can soak and remount with paper in order to start fresh. But, also predictable...IT WOULD HAVE BEEN SOOOOO MUCH EASIER IF I HAD NOT MOUNTED IT BEFORE I STARTED PAINTING!!!!!!

And that is my 'rant' for the day. Aren't you glad you were able to join me in this?

So, lesson learned here, paint before mounting onto gallery wrapped canvas, thus saving your valuable and limited time that is allotted for painting, money, and temper!

 

 Here is the painting in progress run-a-muck.  Have already washed out offending butterfly that just did not fit in. Am not really sure that I like where any of it is going, but will invest a little more time, and paint while longer before using Gesso over the whole painting and giving up!

Texas Girl Paints Her Texas Sunflower's:

"Texas Sunflower plein air painting in my yard today!"

                                          

Just had to share this one with everyone, as most of you know that I paint lots of Sunflower's as well. This is a Texas girl's idea of plein air painting, can you believe it? Her name is Nancy Medina, and for the nor-artists among you, plein air painting means painting outside, or right on site, as in landscapes. But this is taking it to the um-tee-nth degree, I'd say for sure!

Way to go Nancy! Hat's off to plein air!

My First 9"×12" Watercolor Mounted on Canvas:

Well, my idea was that by painting on a smaller format, I might be able to accomplish a Painting A Day, which I have always admired!

Dream on, right?
First of all, this image is too dark and does not do painting justice. That said, I just cannot say that I really enjoyed the process of painting as I normally would. That right there will stop me from painting further pieces of this size. Of course, to be fair, I had already stretched and mounted the paper here onto Gallery Wrapped Canvas, which made a difference in size right off of the bat! But found that the size made selective glazing more difficult as well, and may have been trying to make up for lack of size by adding way too much information.

So, it does seem that 12"×12" will be as small as I go. Now, need to work on being able to paint one of these in the space of one day. Will not included mounting time in there however, which will help.


BLOSSOM TIME
9"×12" Watercolor on Paper Mounted onto Canvas.

Finished Watercolor Mounted On Canvas: "Lillies & Cups"

This Still Life has been a great deal of fun to complete, actually much to my own surprise! This is not where I had intended to go at all! Just shows you where the Painting itself can lead if you are alert enough to follow.

I had intended a clear vase, with lots more foliage going on in negative painting. This background was intended as the first layer for more glazes to follow. However, with a little help from my friends, the Painting spoke to me, leading in a very different direction. Have to admit, I was almost too stubborn to listen.  

Am simply not used to so few areas focus competing for attention in one of my pieces, with so much quiet space overall. But also must admit that I do like this work quite a lot.

"LILLIE'S & CUPS" Watercolor
18"X24"X3/4" Gallery Wrapped Canvas

CLICK HERE TO BID

Watercolor on Art Board Work In Progress: "Tiger Lillie's"

"Tiger Lillie's" in progress. This is as far as I had gotten before leaving my studio to visit with some friends. Then ended up taking a nap, and getting table ready for dinner. When I did walk back into my studio, faced with this still in place on my work table, it struck me as really cool. Even hesitated for a while, thinking that perhaps the piece was, in fact, finished! 

But no, have come to my senses and realize that my original direction was correct, and the painting really needed more. Guess I was temporarily blinded by the yellow halo! LOL!

Another New Method To Mount Watercolors: "Lillies & Blocks"

This is an 20x30 Archers Art Board. This art board is Arches paper on rigid, archival backing. The paper is mounted on white, acid-free, archival conservation board, making the board durable, rigid, and easy to work with.

Now, I am going to mount this archival board onto an 18x24 Gallery Wrapped Canvas, which I am using strictly because this is the size I have on hand! In other words, yes, I will lose some of the painting, which I hate! However, I would hate waiting a week or so for delivery on the proper sized canvas, not to mention additional cost. Since 20x30 is not a standard size traditionally offered in Canvas, I would have to pay extra, and wait longer, for special order delivery.

The initial mounting will be the same as with mounting of paper. However, additional steps will be much different, and will take photo's as I go. Suffice it to say that this is a work in progress, which will be posted over a period of 3 to 4 subsequent days.
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STEP 1: FULLY MOUNTED WITH A NICE TIGHT WELD.
This means being very sure to have your weights extending well over edge of Canvas below in order to make sure paper welds tightly clear to all corners and edges.

I used the same Golden's Soft Gel, straight from the jar, that I use for mounting watercolor paper. The main difference is that I do not flood this back board as I do the straight paper. One reason to not use as much water is because this board will not soak water up as does the paper. The board would only get over wet, and perhaps even soggy rather than saturated.




STEP 2: CHECKING THE WELD
This is the time to find and fix any edges needing help. It small areas along outside edges are not tightly welded to canvas simply add a touch more Golden's Gel, pushing it into cavity with a paint brush. Flip painting back onto clean solid surface, face down, and add some weights along affected edge. The weld will mend in 4 to 5 hrs. I usually give it plenty of time to dry, just in case.






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STEP 3: GETTING A CLEAN CUT
Box cutter, fresh sharp blade . . . this will not be as easy as a one stroke cut here, but should not take more than 3 good, firm passes either. If any edges simply refuse to get close enough for a clean finish, use rough sand paper to smooth down until all edges are even.

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STEP 4: PAINT OUTSIDE EDGE. . .& FINISHED

The mounting went wonderfully fine, no problems to report to watch out for. I did have find painting the very outside edge of the Art Board. The slowdown was in painting this was, however, due to my own oversight. I had let myself run out of artists tape and could therefore not place it over outside of my painting, right along on top of cut, before attempting to apply paint. The Art Board leaves a narrow strip of white where it has been trimmed, and without the artists tape to protect the painting, it becomes a slow task of applying Acrylic to outside edge of canvas. But I did it!!! Just would have been much easier with tape.

How Strong Is It? No Really . . .

Just for my own information I soaked one of my mounted watercolor paintings in a bathtub of water, and left it floating on top overnight. Not even a smidgen of paint soak off into the water, nor did any of the paper loosen from the canvas.

So, I then drowned it totally with water, filling the back side with water as well. The entire canvas was weighted down and under water, again leaving it overnight. This time, paper did begin to bubble up from off of canvas backing where it was beginning to loosen. But it took the water actually penetrating through the canvas, back to front, for paper to move.

This photo is what was left of the original watercolor paper, which had been mounted onto Gallery Wrapped Canvas, after I worked at stripping paper off. And believe me, it did take work . . .

P.S. Painting I used for this test had already been ruined during process of painting. Just decided to mount and test for the purpose of seeing how strong these Watercolor's mounted onto Canvas actually are.

Newest Mounted Watercolor: "LILLIES & LILAC'S"

This is an Original Watercolor Painting on 140 lb Arches Watercolor Paper mounted on 1.5" deep Gallery Wrapped Canvas, which is the latest custom method Watercolor presentation.



"Lillies & LiLac's" 12"x12"x1.5" Watercolor
CLICK ON TO PLACE BID

Save The Dals: Letter Of Thanks

We are pleased and honored to have received this letter of thanks from Save The Dals organization, which relates to donated funds received from sale of Painting, shown here as well. This is a heartwarming story of a man and his dog. . .

Years ago I had Painted this Dalmatian, named "Fiasco", but immediately lost contact with his owner, Mr. Bradly Kathol, who was known by my neighbor at the time, but neither of us at that time knew his name. And then we moved . . . and though from time to time I would use the Painting in shows, it never sold. Then the economy turned bad, and I was ready to place the Framed Dalmatian up for sale once more, at a much reduced price. However, something in the back of my head kept nagging . . . find his owner! I had even talked with my prior neighbor, who still lived on our old street, but no longer saw the same man walking his dog on our old block!

So I turned to our local newspaper for help. They placed an image of my Painting in that next Sundays newspaper, along with the story of the lost Dalmatian owner. It did not take long and I received an email. Mr. Kathol's brother had seen the Sunday paper and recognized not only the dog, but the carpet on which Fiasco was laying in the painting!

Local artist seeks owner of dog in painting
Does this dog look familiar?

Wichita artist Vera Dennen is looking for the dog's owner, whom she met in 2004 or 2005.

Dennen said she met the man while he was walking his dog in the 4100 block of English.

"I had seen him walking his dog several times by our house," Dennen said. "It was such a beautiful, striking dog, I asked him for a picture and asked would he mind if I painted it."

The man gave her a photo of the dog and his contact information, which she lost, Dennen said. She has since moved to another part of Wichita.

Dennen would like to find the dog's owner so she could share the painting with him and provide him a print.

"This work was not solicited by the man walking his dog, so am not concerned with a possible sale here at all," she said. "If it was my dog, I think I would like to see it."

If you think you recognize the dog in the painting, e-mail Dennen at vera@veradennenstudio.com.

—Diane McCartney
Read more: Click Here To Read Paper
Anyway, it tuned out that Fiasco had passed away two years before, and the very grateful owner insisted on paying for the already framed painting! I was just sooooooo very happy that my beloved Dalmatian Painting had finally found the home where it belonged, that nothing would make any sense but to place a full price donation in the hands of Save The Dals, for their wonderful and extensive work in behalf of this breed.

And here is their letter of thanks, which I shared with Mr. Kathol.

Collaboration between V & V: "Red Moon Rising"

"Red Moon Rising" 3 canvas 18"x 24" each

CLICK HERE TO BID

The very first collaboration between the two V's! What fun this has been. I had painted the blossom's and tree, but the painting seemed to lack 'punch! On a whim I passed it on to my daughter, Veronica, saying ". . . try your hand at saving it!" Which she did! And quite beautifully as well, I might add.

Not too bad having realism in painting and a flare for the abstract living under one roof. Plus, Veronica's husband, Cory, has become quite the one for coming up with innovative names!

Veronica Strikes Again: BLOCK PARTY

"BLOCK PARTY"
2 Canvas Acrylic: 36"x24"x3/4" & 18"x24"3/4"

CLICK HERE TO PLACE BID

When this girl of mine paints a winner it really comes across strong. I am loving these coming from Veronica's Pool House Studio . . . maybe it's the sound of lapping water that so inspires her! LOL! I know that I still miss the sound of lapping waves in early morning. Got so spoiled living on either coast (and I do mean 'right on' either coast), nothing like the sounds of surf when just waking up.

Anyway, we are placing this one on eBay as well, and really do not expect it to be there very long at all. Unless I really, really miss my guess, it should be gone in first 10 days of offering! Will be interesting to watch anyway . . .

Veronica's Newest: Along Memory Lane

"ALONG MEMORY LANE"
2 Canvas Acrylic: 36"x24"x3/4" & 18"x24"3/4"
CLICK HERE TO PLACE BID

For someone who has not been painting on a regular basis for a period of time, Veronica is has been quite prolific of late. Am excited to see new Paintings turning out from her own private studio! She has turned our pool house into a studio where she can even throw paint without worry of what she might hit besides the canvas! Must admit that I find myself with a slight touch of envy!