The ‘Daily Artisan Spotlight’ is a regular feature on Mindless Pursuits intended to provide insight and exposure to the tons of talented artisans working today. Please comment and give them some encouragement and check out their work! If you would like to be in the Spotlight, click on the ‘Free Press’ link above!

What is your shop?
hi.cutie.pie (http://www.hicutiepie.etsy.com)

What is your art/craft?
Mixed media art! From the art work, I also create prints, notecards, keychains, and mini art-to-go necklaces.

Describe your style in 2 words:
Uplifting, whimsical

What is your favorite piece and why?
“We Grow Together”, a piece I created after I met up for tea with an old friend who always finds a way to inspire me. I came home that evening and let my feelings project onto a new creation. Beginning with a recycled canvas where I once painted images representing loneliness, I took my old college math notes, found papers, buttons, fabric, yarn, thread, ink & paint and covered the lonliness I once felt, with my new feelings of gratitude for the journey I have taken along with my friends. We have grown together, and continue growing in a positive direction. I decided to keep this piece. It’s very close to my heart.

where she lives…
http://www.flickr.com/photos/sonyagallardo/1095120561/in/set-72157600636911193

What is the most memorable piece of advice you’ve ever received?
It’s an oldie but goodie… “you have nothing to lose”.

I like this one for its directness and simplicity. The meaning I find in this advice is this: take a chance, take a risk, and allow yourself to be vulnerable. I have nothing to lose. I like to sit and ponder this idea and think of ways to apply this into different aspects of my life. We all like to feel safe inside our own box that we create, but when you make the effort to step up and out of that box, stretch your limbs and go for a walk, we are challenged to take long strides on the streets of Vulnerability. It’s in vulnerability where you learn a lot about yourself, about others, and about life.

What is the one piece of advice you’d give?
Make sure that the work that you do mirrors who you are. When your art is a true representation of you, everthing feels whole, complete and right. You will show pride in your work, and your work will show pride in you. It’s an energy that’s felt and that people respond to.

The Persistence of Memory (1931), Salvador Dali.

Well, going back to a 40+ hour work week last week really had a major impact on my art and crafts. I thought I was prepared for it, I really did, but I wasn’t prepared for it at all. Despite my best efforts, I have done very little painting, no sewing, and even went a day without any new original blog posts! As Pink Floyd sings, time is slipping into the future….

As being productive is very important to me, especially in light of the additional plans I’ve been working on, I really needed to whip my prioritization and time management up a notch. To begin with, I needed to determine what my priorities really are. Putting aside family (my children in particular), the priority of project-focused effort goes: Read More

Last night, for about 10 seconds, I could have made the most jaded sailor blush but after that, it opened up some guilt-free possibilities for me. What happened was pretty simple: I had two new canvases sitting next to me in my work area and put very noticeable holes through both of them when I accidentally dropped the scissors I was using to cut open a package I received yesterday. The first reaction, being a struggling artist with not a lot of money for supplies, was to immediately curse my luck and be mad about the loss of money. After that initial “I’m glad my daughters were asleep and didn’t hear that” moment, I felt liberated. Why?

Because I now had a guilt-free ability to practice some techniques on canvas! Because my supplies budget is so low, I am unwilling to practice my techniques on canvas and instead use heavy watercolor stock (which I DO gesso when I practice oils) but it’s not the same. My easel does not hold paper in any stable way so I have to practice with it lying flat on a table. Needless to say, it’s not the best solution. But with these two damaged canvases, I now have free license to practice on them and know that I am practicing on the surface I will put a final product on. It’s a nice, refreshing feeling to know I can do that. The lesson? Always find the golden opportunity in bad events. They’re almost always there, and can open new avenues for you!

Ever since I started painting again, my kids, my niece and my niece’s best friend have been asking me to teach them to paint. I’m not actually very patient as a teacher in most things, and have sent my 9-year-old to both a sewing and cupcake decorating class because I knew I’d want to throttle her before it was done due to my lack of patience. For some reason though, I don’t have that issue with painting. Read More

The ‘Daily Artisan Spotlight’ is a regular feature on Mindless Pursuits intended to provide insight and exposure to the tons of talented artisans working today. Please comment and give them some encouragement and check out their work! If you would like to be considered for the Spotlight, click on the ‘Free Press’ link above!

What is your shop?
Timeless (http://timeless.etsy.com)

What is your art/craft?
I paint. Well, I paint wooden objects like pegs, eggcups, salt and pepper shakers and lots more, and recently, I started painting and doing mixed media on canvas and wood. At the moment I’m working on some ACEO’s, so hopefully they will be in my shop very soon.

Describe your style in 2 words:
Colourful, whimsical

What is your favorite piece and why?
What my favourite piece is changes every few weeks or so, but right now I’m deeply in love with my ‘She told everyone she is a fairy’ mixed media work. The story behind it is personal and I had so much fun creating it. I hope it shows!

What is the most memorable piece of advice you’ve ever received?
Don’t listen to the negative voices in your head! I used to always get a lot of negative comments on my arty stuff in school and it took me some time to brush (pun intended) off. Once I had done that, it opened my mind and spirit to create!

What is the one piece of advice you’d give?
Don’t undersell yourself. You put money, time and lots of love into your work, your price should reflect that. You deserve it. (I’m sorry, I did not mean to sound like a shampoo advert, but you know what I mean, right?)

At some point, I suspect everyone has heard the familiar idiom: ‘practice makes perfect.’ It’s a mantra thrown about frequently for anyone attempting to learn a new skill. Frankly, I think it’s a crock, and I’ll tell you why: if you ever think your work is perfect, then give up and go home as you’ll stop growing as an artisan or worse yet, become complacent and your quality will suffer while the world passes you by. Thus, I prefer the simple statement that practice brings improvement.

When I set about to begin painting again after not having touched them in twenty years, I knew my meager skills from high school had completely fallen aside and that I would have work to do to get even those back. When I left high school, my most accomplished piece of art was painting one of those little bears with hats that used to be in the art school ads in the TV Guide so I knew I had a lot of room to grow!  Thus it was with a bit of hesitation that I invested the dollars needed to purchase my first supplies. Even harder was getting over the fear of how badly it might turn out and touching brush to canvas.

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I was watching TV with my little girls, and while they were enjoying ‘Sydney White’ I was playing with my oil paints. The use and blending of color fascinates me and I am trying to find better ways of using it. That’s actually the primary reason why I moved to oils from acrylics. So as a quick project, I painted this 5×7″ canvas of dreamscape clouds. I over-blended while softening and killed some of the vibrancy, but I still think it’s pretty. My nine-year-old has decided that it’s hers when it’s fully cured so I guess I might need to do more! What do YOU think?

Completed this morning and now listed in my fine art shop are these two 5″ x 7″ gallery-wrapped original canvas paintings of cherry blossoms. They are listed at $20 USD each, including free shipping to the U.S. and Canada as I received a very good deal on a number of these canvases so want to pass along the savings. It shouldn’t only be the wealthy who can afford nice decorative art for their homes and I think these will find very nice homes in someone’s kitchen, breakfast nook or even bathroom!

‘Peaceful Mountain River - The Oil and Oval Edition!’
Oils on Canvas - 16″ x 20″

Much as I’d love to have written about my first, it’s destruction was mentioned in the last post! After the loss of my first painting immediately after painting it and before I had a picture (I was going to take one when it was in it’s drying location), I wasn’t going to worry about painting anymore tonight. However, lying on the couch watching TV, it began to nag at me that I had promised myself that I’d have an oil painting to show at the end of the weekend and I still didn’t have one! So I got set up again and was going to repaint the original but decided I didn’t want to do that again since I had spent plenty of time earlier doing it. Instead, I decided to revisit my current favorite view: the peaceful mountain river. I thought it would be a good exercise to see how well I could do in oils what I had already done in acrylics. I am very pleased with the results.

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‘Peaceful Mountain River Two’
Acrylic on Canvas Board - 8″ x 10″

Another take on the Peaceful Mountain River, this time using bolder colors. I painted this on a canvas board as I wasn’t expecting to like it but I actually like it more than the first version I painted so now I regret not going larger! I also prefer my reflection of the colors in the sky into the water.

I submited this painting to DeviantArt and Zazzle today as a postcard and it won a ‘Today’s Best Award,’ making it my second ‘Today’s Best Award’ in two weeks! I certainly won’t complain about that!

The question is: do I sell this on Etsy or not? Since it’s an 8″ x10″ on canvas board as opposed to stretched canvas, i would imagine the interest would be even less. I also think it would have to be framed and I don’t have the money at the moment to frame it before I would try to sell it. What are the thoughts of my readers? Let me know!