Moongirl Art Newsletter sign up is now available!

Posted by moongirl on 1:50 pm | 2 comments

Moongirl Art Newsletter Sign up!

You can now receive news about what I have been up to, my latest inspirations, early sales notifications and giveaways, freebies and much more! So exciting, don’t you think?

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Thank you and happy creating!!

Moongirl xx

Moongirl art note cards coming soon!!

Posted by moongirl on 5:47 pm | 8 comments

Art on note cards will soon be available for purchase!

I have had a lot of requests for my art as note cards but assumed that it would take me some time to make these so they kept going to the bottom of my ‘to-do’ art list.

I fulfill all art print orders myself so that means I am always scanning, fixing files and matching prints to original artwork. This must all be complete before the originals are sent to their new homes. I pretty much have this process down to a science but this note card paper isn’t the same paper that I use for prints. It is not only a different size but also has a rougher texture and is scored for folding. Often when printing from one type of paper to another what looks perfect on one paper type can print out completely different on another, especially when that paper doesn’t have a specific printing profile. So needless to say, I am relieved and thrilled that this worked on the first print run! *insert happy dance here*

Art Note Cards: Front and back views

This note card features my painting, Storm, which was purchased at the Soul Sisters July auction. The original is presently on its was to a new loving home in Yellowknife, North West Territories! I am tickled pink!

Art note cards: front view

I have added my business information on the back of the card. 😉

Art note cards: Back view

Which art pieces should become note cards?

I need to choose which pieces of art I would like for the first run of cards. I will most likely choose five different images for a pack. If you have any favourites please let me know in the comments! To view my work you can click on the Artwork and/or Etsy link in the menu, or ‘photos’ on my Facebook page. Thank you!

Stay on the lookout for these goodies becoming available! 😉

Happy creating!!

Moongirl xx

Embrace the Grey watercolour painting ready for auction!

Posted by moongirl on 10:28 am | 2 comments

Embrace the Grey may seem like an odd name for this watercolour painting. And maybe not. 🙂

But before I talk about that I will share a bit of my progress with you.

I always begin a painting with the face because this part I can see in my mind’s eye right away. I am very interested in painting lively expressions lately and two of three of my pieces for this months auction don’t have neutral expressions. I really find it adds to the piece and I will be making many more faces this way!

When I finished the main parts of the face I had to step back for a bit. I had no idea how I wanted her hair to look and had that ‘Uh-oh’ feeling. But I have learned in every painting completed over the past year or so to just keep moving forward with patience and love. It always works out in the end.

I decided to have some fun with her hair and added washes of orange and grey. I am so glad I did! She started to come alive for me. Whew!

I took a break at this point because I find if I keep working straight I tend to lose sight of what I am doing. This also gives me a new perspective on each piece so I can view it more critically and see what I need to add or fix.

From here I added some white acrylic paint and marker and really liked where she was going.

I apologize for the colour in the first two. They were taken with my phone and are a bit off. I often take pics as I go along and like to share my process and a phone has that handy camera! Taking quick pics along the way is also another method I use to distance myself from a piece so that I can look at it more critically.

I fixed the nose and tweaked the cheeks, added more white and grey to the hair and highlights. Highlights in the eyes always make them come alive.

When I was completing this piece for the auction  (which begins today!) the thought ‘Embrace the grey’ popped into my head and I laughed. I am going grey and this seemed fitting!

8×10 original watercolour and acrylic painting

Since I just finished this piece late last night I still need to flatten it out so I apologize for the odd ripple on the left side. But I am so happy I completed her in time and had to share!

The auction is from noon EST today until tomorrow at 6pm EST. There are so many wonderful pieces. Hope to see you there!

A million thanks as always!

Happy creating!

Moongirl xx

New watercolour for July auction | Monochromatic theme!

Posted by moongirl on 3:11 pm | 4 comments

I have just complete two watercolour paintings for the next auction!
These pieces will be available from July 11-12 at Soul Sisters United Art Collective auction group on Facebook. I would love to see you there as always! Of course I appreciate the bids and sending my artwork to their new homes but I also appreciate the comments and likes and loves very much as well. Thank you so much! MMMwwaaaaahhh!

The theme for this month is Monochromatic. For both pieces I used one main colour and added Paynes Grey and water to change the tones of the hue.

For the first piece I used Daniel Smith Quinachridone Rose as my main hue and used Paynes Grey as my shading hue. In parts I do admit I used the grey straight and in other parts I used the rose as a glaze over the grey and everything in between! I am generally not a fan of ‘pinky’ hues but, gosh daring, I just love this one. (sorry for the potty mouth!) 😉

Many times I have incorporated acrylic paint into my watercolours to use as highlights but I usually do this in the form of a paint pen, most often Posca Pens. I do love me some Posca! This time I decided to use Titanium White straight from the tube with my fingers or a brush to create broader highlights. Of course, the areas of white lines and the circles of her cheeks are my Posca Pen. I have a range of Posca colours but I use the white the most so when I need more I buy the three-pack.

This is Rose, after the colour, get it?… She was a joy to create but a bit of a challenge as well in keeping within the limits of the monotone theme. I have to say, I love her eyes. I have not painted many eyes as I usually leave them in pencil when I am using watercolours. That part was a challenge but I am always up for a challenge. The long neck and the long nose line will remain. It’s how my girls roll…

8×10 watercolour and acrylic monotone original

I used the Posca Pen with my second piece to separate chunks of hair and for some little highlights. I also used a white Prismacolour Premier pencil on the blues of her hair for highlights. I love those pencils! They are so soft and vibrant. YUM!

I used Daniel Smith’s rich Phthalo Blue for this piece and Paynes Grey again. I went outside of the monochromatic theme a bit with a little Daniel Smith French Ultarmarine to warm it up a tad and Golden’s QoR Teal. That teal is just so beautiful! You can see it in the cheeks and a bit of the body.

This is Storm. She is not happy! Mother Earth is not always pleased. But she is always beautiful in her ways.

4×6 watercolour and acrylic original

I am hoping to make one more piece before Tuesday, fingers crossed! Toes too!

Thank you for visiting and perhaps I shall see you at the auction. Of course, many thanks to those of you who comment and subscribe. It makes my heart smile. I am working on getting a newsletter in place so stayed tuned!

Happy Sunday and happy creating!!

Moongirl xx

(did you see the full moon last night? oh what a lovely site!)

Art Journal Sketchbook time means no excuses

Posted by moongirl on 11:28 am | 2 comments

I’m happy to have had yet another successful auction at Soul Sisters United Art Collective last week! I have been busy packaging my original work to send to new homes and using small spaces of time to put my art journal sketchbook to good use.

Packaging original watercolour and acrylic paintings

I’ve been enjoying getting back to having some fun art play in my art journal sketchbooks. I am working on filling a page everyday. Truth be told I am not succeeding on the ‘every day’ aspect but I am creating more often. When I find I am not in the head-space to make ‘sell-worthy’ art I delve into my Stillman & Birn sketchbook instead. It feels good to just play and see what happens without wondering if something will be good enough to sell when complete.

Having fun in my art journal with watercolour splashes and pencil portrait

I often break out my art journal sketchbook during out evening family reading. We all love to read together and for the duration of the Wings of Fire series which my boys absolutely love and have read more than once, my husband is the official reader. There are many characters involved in this series and he is best at creating fun voices (and remembering them all!) for each character. The boys love it and it gives me time to listen to the story and create at the same time. Idle hands, not good.

This is a great time to practice drawing faces. I feel I haven’t quite found my style to a T. I’m still working on eyes and mouths and noses. The face, really. I love drawing the long nose line, the long necks and limbs with tiny fingers and toes, but the facial expressions and details are still a work in progress for me. Right now I am really enjoying just playing around with somewhat realistic faces and seeing where it takes me.

The theme for auction next month is Monochromatic. I have a few ideas for watercolour and acrylic pieces. One of them may be something simple like this. I have to remind myself that simple is good. I scroll through Pinterest and find so many wonderfully simple yet beautiful works of art. It is so very inspiring! I have them all squeezed together in one group on my Pinterest account and think I need to do a bit of breaking it down into more cohesive subject matter. But alas, to scroll through so many varied pieces and see how others create brings me joy.

A purple monochrome portait in my art journal

Between creating art to sell and packaging pieces to be sent off to new homes (it’s hard to let them go but it’s good too, you know?) I am enjoying the sketching process. There are no excuses for not creating. A sketchbook is the perfect tool to use for those wee bits of storytelling time when I just want to listen but feel the need to ‘art’.

Preparing more original watercolour art to mail

Do you  have an art journal sketchbook? I have too many to be truthful! But the only way to fill them up is to use them, right? I will be sharing more sketchbook work here to keep me in line. Ha!

Happy creating!

Moongirl xx

Today’s Auction Pieces: watercolour and acrylic paintings

Posted by moongirl on 12:50 pm | 2 comments

Oh my I have been so busy painting that I haven’t blogged in a bit!

Today is auction day! I have been painting like crazy in my ‘spare’ time and have completed four pieces! I am so thrilled. Geez, I even dream about painting now! I know I usually post pictures of my process too but that would make this post far too long today! (Sorry!)

Auction begins in about 10 minutes (!) and lasts until 6PM EST tomorrow (except for the mini auction which ends at 4PM tomorrow) at Soul Sisters United Art Collective on Facebook. How exciting!!

Below are my four pieces available for purchase. It will be difficult, as always, to see them go, but I know they will be going to loving home – and I don’t have the room – ha!

Nyx and Hemera

Watercolour and pencil on 8″x10″ cold press paper

Lunamoth Girl

Watercolour and pencil on 8″x10″ cold press paper

Maiden, Mother, Crone

Acrylic on 12″x12″ stretched canvas

Moonchild

Watercolour and pencil on 5″x7″ cold press paper

Come on over to the auction site to comment your likes, loves, or even to bid! We are a group of ten artists and every auction we invite a guest artist too! There are so many beautiful pieces that I am always inspired! Hope to see you there! xx

Happy creating!

Moongirl xx

My new art space makes room for more creating!

Posted by moongirl on 1:00 pm | 2 comments

How exciting, right?! I am very happy to now have an entire surface upon which to create. For years this has been my art table which is the same one I used in art school years ago!

Somehow, I managed to paint using this small bit of space on my art table. Table is in the corner of our dining room. We live in a 100 year old house with limited space. Add homeschooling into the mix and all of the books and miscellany that goes along and there is even less free space. All my sketchbooks are on the back right of the table and many of my supplies on the left, in the cart or under the table. A girl’s gotta do what a girl’s gotta do to create!

Here is how this change came about:

My youngest son’s keyboard died so we replaced it with a full-size one. The only place it would fit was where my art table stood. My art table wouldn’t fit anywhere else and I wanted to get rid of my computer cabinet too. It felt closed-in and too dark.

We emptied out my computer cabinet that sat to the right of my art table (the other side of the window you see above) and gave it to a friend. We now share a computer space in the office upstairs. Yes, we moved in together!

Here is a picture of what my computer work space used to look like in the dining room. What a crazy, suffocating space! Now all my computer work is done upstairs in the office and I get more work done with less distractions, like making a tea, folding laundry, snacking…watching the backyard birds at the feeder…My new art space is where my computer cabinet was and I love it! I now have an entire surface upon which to work! I asked some friends who all have the same art table how they like it and they gave it great reviews so I picked one up for myself. Thank you, Michaels.

I can easily angle the surface if need be and a ton of supplies won’t crash upon the floor! My sketchbooks are stored below a bench that sits at the window and the rest of my supplies are in drawers below the table or in the cart. The last thing I did was string a fancy line on the wall as a holding space for inspiration. I now hang my works-in-progress here to see what is needed next and when they are complete.

This piece shown was in the latest Soul Sisters United Collective Auction  on Facebook and will be making its way to a wonderful home filling up with original art!
I am very grateful to be able to send my original pieces to their new homes. The kid in me who always drew is very happy!

Now I have more space to create and our dining room looks bigger! I love purging and now I have friends with ‘new-to-them’ furniture ! All my energy centres feel lighter. Plus, we cleared out a bookcase in our bedroom to become my meditation and yoga space. Happy chakras!

And happy creating again! Yay!

Moongirl xx