Social Artworking

Soon I will start offering paint nights using paint and designs from Social Artworking.  I picked the designs from this particular company because I thought the designs were fun to do and look at.  I am available to do paint parties at your location.  Cost per participant will be $35.00 which includes all supplies.  If this is something that you are interested in doing with your friends, please contact me at lisabwiertel@gmail.com and we can talk further.  I have included some of the fall designs that I would like to offer.  I would love to know what you think.

Thanks for stopping by!

"New" Refurbished Scanner

This weekend we are supposed to be getting a really bad snowstorm here in Virginia.  I was so excited to receive my "new" refurbished Epson V37 scanner yesterday.  I have all weekend to play with it while I am trapped inside my warm home.

I have been wanting to get a scanner for a long time but I could not find one that I could realistically afford.  I have been doing research on and off for the last few months.  I ended up finding a deal on Ebay through Epson on the scanner I liked for only $59.00 and that included shipping!

I thought I would do my first scan tonight on a painting that I did earlier in the week.  Below I wanted to show you the difference between taking a photo with my point and shoot camera and scanning it with my new scanner.

I am really pleased with how the scan turned out because it is more accurate than the original photograph of I took.  The painting is much softer than the first photo and you can see this in the scan.

So....if you are on the fence about getting a scanner, go out and get one. I don't think you will be disappointed.

I don't have any paintings to add to my 30 day painting challenge.  That is the bad news but the good news is that I have the whole weekend to spend in my studio to create some new work.

Thanks for looking!

"Sam's Flowers", Acrylic on Gallery Wrap Canvas, 8"x10"

"Sam's Flowers", Acrylic on Gallery Wrap Canvas, 8"x10".

This painting was completed not too long.  The original intention was to give it as a wedding gift to a couple that got married in September.  Things were a little crazy for me late August through October so a bunch of things got put on the back burner.

I had learned that the bride's favorite flowers are lavender hydrangeas.  However in my mind I remembered it as pink hydrangeas.  So I searched and searched for pink hydrageas.  I ended up going to a florist who I was able to purchase some from for a photo shoot.

It was at this point, that I rechecked my source for the information on the bride's favorite flowers and realized that I had misunderstood.  Ugh! I was pretty much burnt out from my search for the pink ones that I didn't want to start a search for lavender ones!

I don't make it a practice of changing out a color of a flower on the reference photo but I looked at it as a challenge at this point.  I worked consistently on it and finally finished the painting.

I ended up liking the final painting so much that I included it on my 2017 Art Calendar.  Order yours here!

BTW-the bride and groom just recently received their gift and they loved it.

Thank you for stopping by my blog,

#urbansketching

I just got done  visiting my family in my hometown of Buffalo.  I always bring my art portfolio every place I go so I was excited to see that an Urban Sketching event was taking place in downtown Buffalo.  Living where I live in Virginia, I don't get the opportunity to urban sketch.  I don't think there is a building more than 4 stories tall where I live!  I was lucky that our busy schedule here allowed a free night to join up in this.

In the effort to spend more time with my children I brought my 8 year old son Joseph along.
Being a homeschooling mom sometimes makes it difficult not to make time spent with your children always a "teaching moment".  I have been trying to spend time just "hanging" with my children and not having a goal for what we are doing.  Since my older 2 were going to be back at my parent's home alone I didn't want to saddle them with watching their brother.  Sometimes they fail to feed the kid!  I brought my tablet with "Angry Birds" on it for Joseph to play on while I sketched.

The location for the sketch was Lafayette Square in downtown Buffalo where it's showpiece is the Soldier's and Sailor's Monument in the Center.  Joseph and I walked around the monument with my eye scanning something that would be interesting and not too difficult to draw.  When we reached the front we met Dana who is the organizer of Urban Sketchers of Buffalo.  She said that she was going to draw the monument.  Joseph pointed out City Hall and told me that I should draw that so we parked ourselves down on the monument steps to start.

The city was busy and people came and went through our area.  At one point, a group of girls dressed in prom dresses posed near the statue.  I guess maybe a prom was happening at the hotel across the way?  I got to work on my drawing.

Joseph took a hold of my camera and went around snapping some photos.

Joseph wanted to also sketch which I encouraged as it left me to work on my drawing with him by my side.

 A little more than an hour later, I started to get tired.  It was getting a little rough trying to keep track of all the windows on City Hall.  Joseph was also getting hungry.  Here is my drawing:

I think I will work on it more when I get home.  Not exactly sure how I will enhance it but I want to fix a few things.  Joseph finished his sketch as well.  His work is below.  He took a little "artistic license" and drew some platypuses flying across of City Hall.

Joseph's urban sketch of City Hall

I enjoyed my night of urban sketching and I am hoping that I have the opportunity to do it again in the future.  To find out more about urban sketching, please click here.

Thank you for stopping by to look at my blog!

Results from the 30 Day Painting Challenge!

I have had some people ask me about the results of my 30 day painting challenge.

I put all the paintings that I completed from November 25, 2015-December 25, 2015 above.

I was able to complete 16 paintings over the 30 days.  My original goal was 30(one a day) but I realize how hard it was to complete this while doing it(especially during the Christmas season).  Some of the paintings I "started from scratch" while others were paintings that were in corners of my studio that needed to be finished.  Two were commissions for Christmas presents that were obtained once I started the challenge.

I am happy to say out of the 16 paintings, 11 of them no longer live with me.  They were either sold, commissioned or given as gifts.

I am going to do the challenge again but I am definitely waiting a year before I do it again. My life is very hectic right now homeschooling my children to try to attempt it before then.

Thanks for stopping by!

"Snowfall", Mixed Media on Canvas, 8"x8"

Click to bid(8"x8"in.)

Day 8 of my 30 day painting challenge!

I have had the actual canvas for "Snowfall" painted for awhile.  I wasn't sure how I wanted to finish it or what kind of bird I wanted to put on it.  I have a lot of canvases in my studio which are in all stages of completion waiting for some inspiration for me to finish them.

The materials I used on this piece are a lot! I painted the canvas with acrylics and added vintage music sheets and rice paper for the background.  I glazed parts of the canvas with an iridescent white paint which gives it a little sparkle and sheen.  The cardinal and branches were drawn in Primsmacolor pencils on mixed media paper.  I then went back in and repainted the berries with acrylic paint.

Hope you are enjoying my work!  Thanks for stopping by!

"Habanero Harvest", Acrylic, 5"x7"

Click to Bid (5x7in.)

This is the first painting of the 30 day painting challenge that I am doing. It might be a strange time to start a painting challenge with Thanksgiving and Christmas but this is a good time of the year for me to do it. Things are a little laxer around the house so I am able to get some things done.

This painting was inspired by the bumper habanero crop that we got over here. My 13 year old son wanted me to grow a habanero plant because he likes hot peppers. This was the one plant that went crazy this summer. Now I have all these habaneros and I don't know what to do with them. My son wants me to make a spicy sauce. Can you believe that it is November 25th and this plant has finally died in our garden?

Shipping is FREE to US addresses. Painting is 5"x7" painted on wood panel. It is painted all around the edges and will be signed and ready to hang. Also can be framed.

Thanks for stopping and taking a look,