Christmas Blooms  10 x 10 encaustic on wood

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays 

from Karen Minton Creative! 

I just wanted to say thank you to all my collectors and new buyers this year. It's been an amazingly fun year and I hope to bring you much more in 2013.  I'm working on diversifying my business, creating print options and expanding my encaustic practice into larger sizes and bigger bodies of work. My most recent and exciting news is that I was accepted into the Mission Federal Juried Artwalk  on April 27th and 28th! I'm going to be working hard this spring to create a beautiful booth filled with artwork that I hope will touch everyone who can come see it.

May you all have a blessed holiday season,

Karen

The Great Christmas Giveaway

That's right, just in time for Christmas it's a fantastic

The first drawing will be for this original encaustic painting.

Rolling Hills 8 x 8 Encaustic on cradled wood board

The second drawing will be for this hand painted Christmas ornament 

featured in my last How To post.

I will draw for the winner on Dec. 12th. Make sure you provide a way for me to contact you in your comment. I will announce the winners here and on my Facebook page.

Contest Guidelines,  Please READ

Do one or all of these things then leave a comment here or on my facebook page telling me what you did. If you don't leave the comment I can't put your entry in.

1. Pin any photo of my paintings from this blog or karenminton.com to Pinterest with a description/title and "by Karen Minton" credit. Each pin gets you an entry!!! Pin as many times as you want
2. Share this giveaway on your Facebook page, blog or other online network. This'll getcha 5 entries!
3. Subscribe to this blog (add your email to the subscribe form down on the left). 1 entry.
4. If you are new to my facebook page, "Like" it. (only new likes will be entered this time).
5. Get a friend to "Like" my Facebook page. 2 Entries

Boost your chances of winning! Get 10 extra entries if you buy a painting from the works for sale page on karenminton.com.

Good Luck my friends!


*** If Winning contestant's shipping charges exceed 15$ they will be required to pay remaining shipping, if declined a new winner will be drawn***


And the Winners are: Jen Hess Mouat for the ornament and Amelie Dawson for the painting!
Thanks everyone for entering, sharing, pinning, liking and spreading the love!

Using paperclay

Tools you'll need:

Paperclay (from Amazon)

Gesso

Cardboard

Scissors

Sculpting tools

Acrylic paint

Slowblend medium (optiona but nice to have)

Paintbrushes (nice tiny ones for painting little details and a mid sized one for the paperclay)

Polyurethane varnish, satin (optional)

Hanging tools (eye screws, u shaped nails curved wire etc). 

Ribbon, yarn, string or fishing twine to hang it with
Glue
water


Step 1. 
Gesso a piece of cardboard, let it dry, then pencil out the shape you want. Cut it out. Take your paperclay and roll a long strip out to fit the piece.

 Step 2. 
Take a sharp sculpting tool and score the inside edge of the paperclay roll and both ends. Add a little water to the scored areas by running your paintbrush over it.This will help it stick together.

Step 3.
Join the paperclay to the cardboard by using a sculpting tool to smooth both sides of the paperclay roll to the top and bottom of the cardboard. Go over it with a dampened paintbrush to stick the clay to the cardboard if it gets too dry. Don't get it too wet or it will take longer to dry.

Step 4.
Finish the design. For this one I used a pointed sculpting tool to draw little textured
swirls into the clay. I went go over it with a dampened paintbrush to soften the texture. Remember
not to over think it or try to get too detailed. All the little bumps and cracks will add to the charm of the finished piece and you're not trying for a machine made look here, it's supposed to look hand made.

 Step 5.
Add your hanging tool. Reenforce it with glue. Other options are to glue the hanging wire/yarn/string to the back.

Step 6.
Let the piece thoroughly dry, then gesso the whole thing.

Step 7.  (Optional)  
Paint an undercoating. I like to use an orangey brown, or light orange. Make sure to get that color into all the deep cracks and divots as it will peep through later. The deeper the undercoating color the darker your piece will appear when it's done. If you want it really light and bright then skip the undercoating entirely.

Step 8.  
Paint your painting, the best part :) I've done scenes I think will be meaningful for the person I'm giving it to. Another idea would be portraits of your family, favorite pets, places or things, important dates, messages or names...

Step 9.  
Paint the frame part with a nice shiny gold or silver. Then you can varnish the whole piece after it dries to make it a bit more indestructible (I'd do that for a magnet, skip it for an ornament).

Step 10. 
Sign the back, attach the string, hang and enjoy. 

Then go make more because they're so adorable!

Next post is the Great Christmas Giveaway!

It's going to be crazy good!

 

Waxy Days of Winter

 It's winter in San Diego so it's something like 60 degrees outside right now. The tree outside my studio door is doing this...

 So awesome. 

So anyway, after a long break from painting (a sick kid and a holiday will do that to you) I'm itching to get back in the studio. Today I busied myself getting Christmas projects in order, prepping wood boards for painting and finishing up this big tropical commission.

Dream Journey  Commission 32 x 64 acrylic on canvas

Also I am putting together a fun "how to" post for artsy Christmas gift lovers, which will be followed by a nice little giveaway.

And while I'm at it, here are a few more photos of recent work:

 Love Blooms 18 x 24 Encaustic on wood

 Budbreak 8 x 10 Encaustic on wood

  closeup: The Old Farm 8 x 10 Encaustic on wood

 Hija 16 x 20 Encaustic on wood 

Lost Garden 11 x 14 Encaustic on panel

Thorny Roses 8 x 10 Encaustic on wood

 Everything's Rosy 10 x 10 Encaustic on panel

New Painting

Reoccurring dreams  18 x 24 Encaustic on deep wood panel

Large format images

Here are a few large format images of pieces that are in my work for sale gallery right now

Also, I lowered the prices on most of these babies because I know a lot of organized folks are already getting their shopping done for Christmas and I dare say an original work of art makes a truly unforgettable Christmas gift! I am offering the landscapes and sunflower through the website only until Dec 1st, so don't wait if you want to buy them (this is because I am taking all my goodies off to the gallery after that date).  Click on the images to explore.

 Flathead Valley 8 x 10 Encaustic(SOLD)

 Los Olivos 8 x 8 Encaustic

Lost Beach 8 x 8 Encaustic

 Rolling Hills 8 x 8 Encaustic

 this image shows the deep cradled board I used for "Rolling Hills" and Los Olivos"  I love the natural wood look.

Proud Sunflower Encaustic 12 x 16

Side View of Girl with the Blue Hair  18 x 24 Acrylic on canvas

 

Detail of her face

And there's the painting in the background of a recent party. Aren't we all looking fabulous? :) The flowers on the dress are a pattern I am developing in other work, here's a sneak peek...

 Detail of the Blue Haired Girl's dress

 Detail of the encaustic version (needs work, but I like it)

Rainy day

Sent these two pieces off to the Persimmon Gallery today.  I uploaded them in a large format so you could click on them and explore the texture a little.  

 Orchid 8 x 10 encaustic and mixed media on wood

white flowers 8 x 10 encaustic on wood

Today was a rare rainy day in San Diego. While Gertie slept and watched the raindrop patterns on the pool, I relished the cooler temps and mostly just stayed inside and took the opportunity to experiment with mark making, fuse random colors, and do little odd jobs...

 Oil sticks... so smooth to work with

 deep fusing

Isn't this one interesting?

Daniel captured this one of me fusing away, Gertie's such a good studio dog.

I think my next post will be about all my works in progress I have going right now. I have so many ideas they are all bubbling out in different sessions. I should probably try to focus in a bit but it's tough to resist an idea when it sparks up.

New Encaustic

wildflowers 8 x 10 Encaustic

I've been busy doing a series of red-vase-white-flower obsessed still life encaustics lately. This little beaut is headed up to the Persimmon Gallery very soon. I will be posting a few more once I knock out the photo session. Photographing encaustics is a bit difficult. One must wait for the perfect overcast conditions and light to be able to capture them without glare, and even then it takes experimentation to get it right. Thank goodness for digital cameras.

In the meantime, I have had a pretty great month getting back into the studio, getting some commissions started and some summer sales, times are good so I'm thinking of sharing the love a little, stay tuned for a Giveaway I think... more on that later. 

So I saw Florence and the machine last night, and she rocked,  what's more is she inspired... she wore the most amazing full sleeved velvet trimmed maroon backless gown and ran around in black slippers like an exuberant ballerina, all the while nailing runs, vibrato and sustained notes. What an amazing woman. She is so statuesque and interesting looking, I was definitely creatively inspired to paint her!
So if a bunch of art nouveau style red headed figures start popping up in my work you'll know why.

Paintings for Sale

I now accept credit cards and Paypal

 I've made a works for sale gallery on karenminton.com. You can buy them either by contacting me at benskigurl@hotmail.com or you can click the buy button and make your purchase through paypal.

 Another thing that's new here is an email subscribe button. Sign up if you want to get an email letting you know I've posted something new to the blog.

Recent work and the Art San Diego fair

                                                         Mustard in the Old Vines   8 x 10  Encaustic on wood


Back in the saddle again! I spent most of last week getting into the rhythm of Jolie being in school, working in the studio in the mornings and afternoons free (the studio gets crazy hot in the afternoons, a situation which I believe will get much better in a few months), what a life this is shaping up to be! This week will be a bit different however, because I am working at the Art San Diego contemporary art fair over in Balboa Park. I'm going to get the inside scoop on what it's like to exhibit and sell art at a serious art fair, something I'm considering applying for once I get my next body of work finished. It looks like there is going to be some amazing art there so I'll try to take some pictures  and post them over on my facebook paintings page.

                                            Mixture, San Diego setting up their booth


Update 9/12/12
Art San Diego was amazing! There was incredible art, the folks that produce the show are awesome, and it was a great experience to volunteer for them. I put a few pics up on my facebook page but it barely scratches the surface.