Available Art

Monday, November 12, 2012

Know Thyself! Questions Every Artist Should Ask!

Know Thyself!
This applies in many ways to being an artist but what reminds me of this every time I paint is the palette that I use.  For years I used a handheld wooden palette that had to be cleaned right after you used it while the paint was still wet and waxed a little to keep the oil from setting in.

I had a tendency to get paint all over me when I held a palette!


 Why did I use it?  Because my first painting teacher required it for class and thought that it was the best choice.  The only reason I remember that he gave was because it was a medium value (wasn't too light or too dark) and had a warm tone.  Of course since he had been painting longer than I had been alive I followed everything he said without question.

My wooden palette will forever look like this!  I didn't clean it off the last time I used it and so it stuck!

Why did I stop using it?  After I got pregnant I stopped painting for a while but not before I used my wooden palette one last time and didn't clean it off!  So I have a palette that will have paint on it forever and ever.  I have to be honest.  I had done this once before and I scrapped off all the old paint and refinished it.  Of course I will never go through all that again.


What did I replace it with?
While I was at Laguna College of Art I bought a Masterson Air Tight Palette.  I think that might have been required but I don't remember.  I used it for a long time to store my wooden palette.  When I got back to oil painting after having my daughter I took one of my glass cutting boards and put in the Masterson palette.  Now I don't have to worry about when I clean my palette because all I have to do is scrap the glass with a razor blade and I'm ready to paint!  Another difference is that it is not a handheld palette.  So I have to have something to set my palette on because it is to big to hold.  I use an old tv tray table, it is a little bit cumbersome when I paint plein air (on location) but I would rather deal with the bulky table than a wooden palette.

Know Thyself!

Think about your personality and the way you like to paint.  Here are some questions to get you started:

Would you rather clean up after you paint or before?
Do you paint with long breaks? ie. paint in the morning take the afternoon off and continuing painting at night
Do you like to hold your palette or could you make your setup so that you can place it on a table?
Do you mind getting paint on your clothes?  (its easier for me to stay clean if I don't have to hold it)

Don't just accept what someone else has said is the best and/or only way to do something!  There are as many techniques and supplies to painting as their are different styles of painting.  The possibilities are endless so don't be afraid to try something new!





Sunday, November 4, 2012

BIRTHDAY HOLIDAY!

 Hello Ya'll!  This month is my birthday!  A couple of years back we started "birthday holiday", which means you get to celebrate your birthday for 3-4 days usually with date night, girls night, family night etc.  It all started with my lawful sister, Rachel, when she turned 30.  Well, my awesome husband decided that the month of November is going to be my holiday!  How did I get so lucky?  The picture above shows my birthday card that he gave me on November 1st (my birthday is the 21st)  Its so pretty I'm going to frame it!  Anyways back on topic, the rules for birthday holiday are:
  •  every Thursday I get to pick my favorite restaurant (he actually outlined of my favorites but told me I could change them if I wanted).  
  • This past Thursday I got a special treat instead of dinner.  We went to Maxie B's in Greensboro. 
  • 8th-Red Robin
  • 15th- Greek
  • 29th Jacks
  • Plus I get a birthday dinner on the 17th of a surprise restaurant!  
Now the PRESENTS!  I get to choose how to receive them by 1 of 4 ways.

  • largest to smallest
  • smallest to largest
  • pick each week (they are wrapped)
  • let me decide
I choose to let Brian decide!  How fun is this?  I can tell you its really fun and I REALLY needed some fun!  I will make sure I keep you all updated on my presents because I know ya'll are curious what they are going to be!  I know I am!


This is Maxie B's in Greensboro.  We had never been but had read about it in Southern Living magazine.


 They had a good 40+ cakes to choose a slice from plus cupcakes, cookies, and pie!  It was crazy!  I wanted them all!


 There is my cute little family!  Brian doesn't know that I'm taking his picture but I think Faith does!  They had a table in the front window that is almost like having a private room and we snagged it!


I picked a piece of apple cake with caramel icing. It was UNBELIEVABLE!  It was my favorite of all the ones we tried.  There are actual chunks of apple in the cake.  It was so moist and yummy I just can't even describe it!


Faith picked the Oreo cookie cake.  The icing tasted just like Oreo's!  And Faith almost ate the entire piece by herself!  Of course she ended up with tummy ache by the time we got home.


 Faith with her cake.


 My second choice (because Brian let me choose what we would both be eating since we were sharing and its my birthday holiday!)  is chocolate chip pumpkin cake with cream cheese icing!  I have to try pumpkin everything!  It was fantastic!  It was like a pumpkin punched you in the mouth in a good way!  Just kidding, it just sounded fun to say.  The cake doesn't really punch you in the face but boy does it taste good!


 This is the view from our table.  I loved the ambiance of this great little place.  They have really gone all out and paid attention to detail for the ulitmate experience.  Now if we could just replace all the Starbuck's with a Maxie B I would be in heaven!  Brian even decided he was going to buy my birthday cake from there too!  Its going to be a whole month of CAKE!!!!! 
You can find Maxie B's on Battleground Ave.
2403 Battleground Avenue
Greensboro, NC 27408
Phone: 336.288.9811

And they have the best hours!  A lot of bakeries close before dinner but this one stays open nice and late!
Mon-Thurs: 9 am-10:00pm
Fri-Sat: 9 am-11:00 pm
Sun: 11 am-10:00 pm


Tuesday, October 23, 2012

Wedding Blue


Don't you just love blue glass?  I don't know what it is about blue glass but I think it is so purty!  Its interesting painting it too.  In most of my paintings I layer colors to mix them but with blue glass I pretty much only need French Ultramarine! This painting is currently listed on ebay here!


Lucky for me my mom still has a few roses blooming so when I went out to her house I cut one to bring home.  It has certainly been interesting finding an endless supply of flowers.  I think you all will start seeing a lot more pansy's and mums in the coming months.



 Doesn't that yellow background just make the blue pop?



This photo really represents the blue of the bottle.  I have a hard time getting the camera to get the blue right and the other colors too.  It seems its one or the other



Of course some of you may be wondering why its named wedding blue.  Its because this is a bottle from my uncle Bill's wedding.  It was a gorgeous wedding and their wedding party color was this beautiful blue!  I just loved it!  And it was such a happy occasion that I wanted to put some of that happiness in a painting.
This painting is currently available on ebay.  You can place your bid here!  All of my auctions start a one penny! 

Tuesday, October 9, 2012

Collector at Heart


Hi my name is Amber and I'm addicted to glass!  Early on in my life I felt like I needed to collect something.  I think a lot of us go through that.  
I collected:
  • Comic books
  •  Baseball cards
  •  Snoopy and his gang figurines (now I limit that to Christmas time)
  •  Swarovski crystal figures (I only managed to get one of those $$$$)
  •  Dishes
  •  China (and yes there is a difference between dishes and china) 
  •  Handmade Pottery
  •  Shoes
 And I'm sure if I sat here long enough the list could go on and on.  But do you know what I have found has been something that I have always collected?  Glass.  More specifically glass bottles.  Which is why I have a never ending supply of bottles for my paintings!


It all started when I was a kid.  Our neighbor was a junk collector.  What he really liked to collect was bottles.  He would comb the county looking for bottles.  I, of course wanted to join in on the treasure hunt.  I can remember digging in the woods under the leaves to see what I could find.

There were all kinds of little bottles with slime inside that smelled like molded cheap perfume that my mom would never let me keep because there was no way she could get them clean.  But my prized possession was a large Horlick's Malted Milk jar.
My mom was shocked that I had found a bottle so big after Moose (our neighborhood "treasure hunter")  had lived there for years and gone digging in those very same spots!


That milk jar was the beginning.  Now I have 30+ bottles displayed around my home.  I would probably have more but I'm refuse to pay an arm and a leg for a bottle, it ruins the hunt.  Part of collecting is the fun of the find. Going down to the local department store and buying something from China takes all the romance out of the bottle.



Bottles need stories.
  • What were they used for?  
  •  How many fun dates did it send a newly wed couple out on making sure the bride smelled of sweet honey?  
  • How many sick children did it help see through the night?  
  • Or maybe it was just sugar tabs touted as the new miracle cure!


So what is it that you collect?  What treasures do you seek out?  Have you even figured it out yet?  Are you like me and it just kind of snuck up on you while you tried to collect other things?

Of course I can't right about glass and not show you my infamous milk jug (above). It used to collect change, until we moved to a plastic society.  For years it sat on top of my tv stand as an antenna holder but this year I found something truly worthy to fill it with.  Seashells....that I collected :)

Monday, October 1, 2012

Flower TBD (found out its called a Cosmo)


I almost always do my drawing in light blue Carolina blue.  I'm really not sure why other than I just like to.  Maybe subconsciously I just want to give my Duke fan of a husband a hard time!  (for my readers who don't know Carolina and Duke go together about as good as shredded wheat and coleslaw which is another story all on its own!) 


I don't mix my colors on the palette.  I much prefer to mix my paint on the canvas.  I have worked with pastels for years (they look like chalk sticks but they are actually tiny sticks of colorful joy!) at first I had the hardest time mixing my pastels on paper but once I got the hang of it I LOVED it!  Now, I've just applied the same ideas to oil paint.  It gives the paintings depth and movement when you mix on the canvas


I loved painting this bottle.  It made the most beautiful shadow.  Just looking at these photos and writing about it makes me want to go and paint it again!


Isn't it purty?  


A close of of the bottle shows how I like to paint with texture.  I love the feel of thick paint going from my brush onto canvas or in this case board.


Finished Product!  
To be named soon! Once I figure out what type of flowers those are!  Leave a comment if you know what they are :)
Original Oil on Board
11.5"x14" 
Item # 9-I-12
$88

Friday, September 28, 2012

Antique Bottle


I started with my Carolina blue drawing and started laying in color


 I love painting flowers in bottles and I have a little bit of a habit of  collecting bottles.  One of my favorite places to get them is Gibsonville Antiques.
If your ever in Gibsonville, NC you should stop by and check them out.  They have renovated an old mill and it looks fabulous!



Antique Bottle with Rose
 Original Oil on Board
$27
10-I-12
*If you are interested in collecting this piece please see the ordering instructions on the right hand side of the blog.  Thanks!

Sunday, September 23, 2012

Hawfields Community Days







I know some of you have missed me because I have been out of the show loop for a while but today I got back in the game! Thanks to all my fans that stopped by! What do you think of my all new setup? I am absolutely in LOVE with it! Did you know that I take credit now? I'm trying to make it really easy to own an Amber Cauley original. So easy in fact I'll give you my kid for free! *grins* If you see something you love shoot me an email at ambercauley@yahoo.com. Oh and cross your fingers that its still there because they aren't sitting around for long!




Monday, September 17, 2012

Charleston SC

 Super Yum Yum Yummy!  While on vacation this summer we went to a fish place we saw on Man vs Food.  And let me tell you it was fantastic!  My mouth waters every time I think about it.  I'll never be able to eat at another fish place again!  If you are ever in Charleston SC look up Bowen's Island.  (thats actually the name of the restaurant)
Thats fish, shrimp, crab cakes, hushpuppies and french fries on that bad boy!
Thats my super hunky honey chowin' down!


Anyone else think he looks like a zombie about to eat my face off?



Of course no meal would be complete without dessert!  On our way back to the beach house we stopped at one of my hubby's favorite places from his childhood.  Ye Olde Fashion Ice Cream Shoppe. We ordered the "Pig Trough"!  The menu said pregnant ladies get a free pickle when they ordered it!  Its six scoops of Blue Bell icecream the size of a ladies softball with 6 toppings, 2 bananas, whip cream and 6 cherries!  


I really did think I was going to puke!  Brian and I ate the whole thing!!!


Charleston, SC  totally a thumbs up!

Friday, September 14, 2012

Beach plein air




I don't know why I didn't post this before!  It is a pastel painting that I did while on vacation back in July.  I had all these high aspirations of running every morning and painting everyday.  Well, I took a vacation from both!  Apparently I love to shell and didn't know it.  So I got up every morning to pick up seashells.  I did feel guilty about not painting so I did one at least :)

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Happy dance!

My daughter started kindergarten!  Which means more studio time!  Yippee!!!  So I did my happy dance this morning and picked some roses and drank a whole lot of coffee!  To all those out there that said I would cry when she started school.....you not know me so well! (said in Mr. Fudd's voice, don't ask me why Mr. Fudd I'm too busy doing my happy dance!)  I'm thinking about setting up this Saturday at Gibsonville's downtown greens, every Saturday they have a farmers/crafters market.  Would you come if I set up?!?   :)


Thursday, June 21, 2012

Girls day at the beach

Last weekend my sis and mom in law grabbed the girls and whisked them away to the beach for a day trip! It was so much fun I think we'll do it every year. You know any time I go some place I'm gonna have to find some place good to eat...and this time is was a fun place called "The Seawitch Cafe". The food was outstanding! We had the best fried pickles I have ever eaten. They used Claussen pickles...I never thought I would defect from my home state's Mt. Olive pickles but in this case I was happy to switch sides! They also had the best fried shrimp I've ever had. The breading was crisp and light not greasy at all. It was so not greasy it was weird! Fantastic food, our waiter was a little spacey but nice so I give it a 5 out of 5 star. My sis in law rated it a 5 star also! So next time your at Carolina Beach stop by The Seawitch, its right down the street from the boardwalk.

Fried and boiled shrimp and fried pickles! YUM!
The awesome bacon cheese fries 

The girls at The SeaWitch Cafe


Rach and Sue at the end of the line
After dinner we went to Britts for donuts.  I couldn't believe the line we had to stand in to get donuts!  The line never got any shorter the whole time we were there!


Making donuts at Britts
It was kinda cool to watch them make the donuts.  He used long sticks to flip them and take them out.  They looked like really long drumsticks.  After they were done he would have probably a dozen on the stick and they just drop them in a white paper bag.
White bag donuts
I've heard people rant and rave about these donuts, and Rachel was really excited to eat them (shes had them before)  so I was looking forward to these donuts all day!  The verdict?  I think that people that eat these donuts and stand in line for them summer after summer are all the victims of VACATION EUPHORIA!!!  It was fun to go and participate in something that has been apart of Carolina beach for so long BUT I can honestly say it was the worst donut ever.  Faith named them the "crappy donuts" as in "you didn't bring home the good kind (we also stopped at Krispy Kreme) you only brought home the crappy donuts?!?!"  Sorry Britts but I'm going George Washington on ya, I can not tell a lie! :)


At the end of the day we were sun tingled (slightly burned) and had full happy bellies, what more can you ask for!  I can't wait for next year's girls day at the beach!  Have any of you had the "pleasure" of eating at Britts?  Leave comments if you think I'm totally off my rocker or I hit the nail on the head!