Moving to WordPress...

First of all, a belated happy new year to everyone! I hope you all had a happy holiday and that 2013 brings you all that you hope for.

Location, location, location. That is what it is all about, right? I am excited to announce that this blog is moving in with my Olliff Studio website which is now located in a lovely new WordPress location. My dear friend Angela Holden has helped me by building the site. Angela is super savvy with WP.  I am very pleased with the results and it will be easier to have it all in one place. Unfortunately I was not able to move Musings followers over so you will have to re-subscribe at that location. I hope to see you all there! As always, a big thank you for your interest in my meanderings in the art world.

Too many irons in the fire... or why I need to clone myself.

Sometimes I wish I could clone myself. I need several of "me"to keep up with all the things I want to do. Or more hours in the day. Mostly it would be nice to have an extra me to do the cleaning and cooking so I can pursue the creative stuff that is supposed to be my job now. Anyway, lately I have been dividing my time between keeping the Etsy Shop going and feeding my yarn/knitting/spinning addiction. And as if that was not enough I have decided that I need to dye my own yarn. For those that are curious here's the latest in some of those endeavors...

I am really having fun with these little guys and frankly surprised myself that I have not ditched the project due to its immensity. 

In the spinning department of Olliff Studio I have been improving my consistency and learning the differences in spinning various fibers. Alpaca spins very different than wools and I even tried "spinning in the grease" (spinning un washed wool right of the sheep) and learned how to Navajo ply which is a lot of fun. 

Merino/Tencel I picked up in a lovely little shop in Piedmont

Spun & plied

Alpaca/Silk from a shop in Oakland called A Verb for Keeping Warm

half a hank spun

About 200 yards spun and plied

After I finish spinning the chocolate I am hoping I have enough to make this:

It was meant to be. The pattern is called "Deb"

Dyeing is not as productive as I would like. I finally dove in and did a little but it is intimidating… 

First dyeing attempt (sorry the lighting was bad)

I took all the bits of merino, alpaca and silk in the previous image (minus the skeins) and spun them end-to-end.
Not much yardage but it was fun to see how they spin. 

Oh...and then there is weaving. I have a small table loom that has been in storage for about 30 years. I think I wove a stupid wall hanging on it and then lost interest but I'm really glad I still have it because I suddenly have the urge to use it. More on that later. 

See why I need to look into cloning?

Lunar Leanings and Lake Lola…

I have noticed lately that my most popular work on Etsy (that is the ones that get the most "favorited" or put in the most treasuries) are the ones with either the dramatic skies or that contain the moon. I am fascinated by the moon myself and love gazing at the night sky on a clear night. It excites me to see the huge orb rise in the east and peak through the trees in our backyard. So, this has been my focus lately. That said, it is difficult to come up with new "moon" paintings because it is dark out and you really can't see that much of anything else. Silhouettes are fine but again, there is a limit in my mind. I came up with Moonrise on Lake Lola a couple of weeks ago. At first it was a beach-type scene but then I realized that it wanted to be a lake. After brainstorming titles with daughter Karin and grandson Colin I arrived at Moonrise on Lake Lola. While I am sure there is a "Lake Lola" somewhere, this particular one is fictitious and purely mine. You see, to my grandchildren I am "Lola". The short version of why is that a friend who is from the Philippines called me "Lola" shortly after I first became a grandma. "Lola" is grandma in  the Tagalog language of the Philippines.

I hope you enjoy your visit to "Lake Lola". Stay as long as you like. It's a peaceful place, the weather is always perfect and reservations are never needed.

"Moonrise on Lake Lola" 14 x 20 watercolor on Arches 140# CP

Catching up

I just realized that it has been awhile since I posted here. I've been pretty well occupied with painting and knitting. The painting is going well and new stuff will be up soon I promise. I've been working on several paintings that I started after our Yosemite adventure but they informed me that they needed a nap so instead of ripping them from the boards and binning them I let them have their way and you know…I think they were right! I've also been slowly working on the ACEOs of the state flowers. Going alphabetically I have Alabama, Alaska and Arizona done. I will give you, my loyal followers the first look here. 

In other news I sent off the two prints to Honolulu to be included in the set department of Hawaii Five-O and received word today that they arrived safe and sound. Phew! It's like sending my kids out into the world. 

Today I was pleased to find that my work has been mentioned in a lovely blog called The Watercolor World! Thanks to Tanya at Galeria Surreal for that. 

Feast or Famine

I seem to be painting in waves here. No pun intended. Here are two more that were completed yesterday and luckily Don was in the mood to shoot them last night.

"Summer Storm" Watercolor on Arches 140# CP (11x17)

"Summer Storm" is inspired by another image from our 2007 trip to England. Same road as Greener Pastures. The trees behind the barn were not planned but as is often the case with watercolor, you get happy accidents. At first I was upset that my sky appeared to be marred when the green field bled into it but now I like it.

"California Edge" (Title pending)

If I'm going to be honest I have to tell you that this one started out a lot larger. I intended it to have Bixby Bridge on the left but for some reason it was distracting and didn't seem to fit with the natural coastline and led the eye away from the water and cliffs. Funny thing, that. The bridge IS awesome though. We will always refer to it as the "Bronson Bridge" because it was used in the ancient and short-lived TV series Then Came Bronson starring Michael Parks in which he drove his motorcycle across it in the opening credits. It's located on the Big Sur highway and is quite impressive—just not so much in my painting.

I'm a little behind in listing new work but these will also be added to my Etsy shop.

Off the Grid (not me but the painting)

So today I changed my cover image again...(after all I need to keep it fresh) with a painting that I have not added to Etsy yet. I was not sure it would be popular because I have a lot of similar paintings in my "Island" series. Well I was wrong. A bunch of people like it and I put out a plea for a title since I was out of ideas. There were lots of great suggestions but the one I liked best came from Jessica, a dear and long time family friend whom I adore. Jessica had several good ideas herself but this was my favorite.
So next up in my shop will be…

"Off the Grid"

Well, I finally did it...

Started this blog that is. It took me all day to set this thing up (I am a noodler). I look forward to sharing my artistic inspiration as well as news of my Etsy shop. You will find out about upcoming sales events (such as the 20% off Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale) here too. 

Bear with me while I get the hang of this though...blogging is new to this girl. ;)

Without further ado here are three of my latest paintings:

"Golden Gate"

(16x20 on watercolor canvas)

This is my first attempt at using watercolor canvas. It is very strange stuff. It is both horrible and wonderful at the same time. The horrible aspect is that while painting on the surface I find myself wanting to pitch it through a window. It doesn't behave in the same way as the Arches watercolor paper I have used for a gazillion years. However, it is forgiving in that you can virtually wash off any "uh ohs" and start again. I have found that I should not judge it until it is dry because like all watercolor painting, it has a mind of its own and sometimes knows what is best. I'm not abandoning Arches though it is fun to try something new now and then.

"Bonding at Bellows"

(9x14 Watercolor on 140# Arches)

This painting and the one below were commissions. I don't normally like doing commissions because I have to love the subject matter or I can't do it justice, but in this case I did love the images. The client is giving these to his wife for Christmas. This one is the beach where they were married hence the title.

"Poipu Perks"

(9x14 Watercolor on 140# Arches)