Available Art

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