Artist Studio Day and WOYWW

Welcome it's Artist Studio Day at The Smartest Artist and What's on your Work Desk Wednesday hosted by Julia Dunnit, two wonderful blog hops to share in what's happening in the studio or on the work surface!

My current Hand Torn Paper Pet Portrait commission is still under wraps as my client is giving it as a present and we can't risk the surprise being ruined, so you only get a tiny peek at one little corner of my desk :)

The jelly bellies have absolutely nothing to do with the hand torn paper portrait I am creating.  They are just my snack.  Why all pink you ask?, Because I ate all the white ones of course!  Yes, I adore white jelly bellies; toasted marshmallow, coconut, cream soda, and popcorn flavored....YUM!   What's left are cotton candy and bubble gum which I still like, after-all I did custom mix the bag,

Since I can't share my newest work with you yet, maybe you'd like to see a cover I created for my Facebook page displaying my hand torn paper pet portraits.

I've spent even more time on this week starting my newest blog "The Smartest Artist"   After years of my artist friends asking for tips/tricks and suggestions as to how I sell and book my comissions a year to a year in a half in advance. I finally decided to share the sales and marketing techniques I use via this new blog.

Here are links to  a few of my posts I hope you'll stop by for a visit! 

What is the Smartest Artist?
http://thesmartestartist.blogspot.com/2013/09/the-smartest-artist.html

10 Art - I - Facts - How to "Be" an Artist

http://thesmartestartist.blogspot.com/2013/08/10-art-i-facts-how-to-be-artist.html

How To Write A Winning "About" Page  
http://thesmartestartist.blogspot.com/2013/09/how-to-write-winning-about-page.html

Branded
http://thesmartestartist.blogspot.com/2013/09/branded.html

If you are an artist or crafts person looking to increase your art sales, please come subscribe to the blog and join our group on Facebook  The Smartest Artist Collaborative Group    this group is a place for artist to collaborate and help each other succeed! This group is all about positive interaction and sharing ideas, thoughts suggestions toward becoming successful, selling artist! This is an open group invite your friends!

Thanks so much for stopping by!   I can't wait to see what's going on in your studio space today!

Feeling It

Feeling It...

I've always been obsessed with texture and can often be seen running my hands along everything as I walk by. The love of texture might only be eclipsed by my love of paper. I can spend hours browsing, touching and even smelling paper. This fell in to a natural relationship with Chigirie -- creating art with hand torn, hand made, textured papers.

I am an avid supporter of rescue animals and often feel compelled to create portraits of dogs, cats, horses, owls etc. My very first hand torn paper piece was a dog portrait I created for a rescue fund raising event. This led to a steady commission base business of creating pet portraits from hand torn paper.

People are often excited when they see my work first hand as it has dimension and texture, they can not only see their pet, but feel their portrait too.

Thanks for stopping by, I hope you enjoy your time visiting my gallery of hand torn paper creations.

Caleb's Portrait in the Background and a photo of Zoe for the next portrait being created ......

Zoe in Hand Torn Paper

Jack in Hand Torn Paper

Sophie in hand torn paper

Ollie and Sophie in hand torn paper

Hello to my What's on your Workdesk Wednesday (WOYWW) and Paint Party Friday Visitors!

Here's what I'm working on this week :) A portrait of sweet little Maddie

WOYWW BLOG HOP Julia Dunnit over at Stamping Ground.
PPF PAINT PARTY FRIDAY BLOG HOP  Kristen and Eva Paint Party Friday

WOYWW July 18th, 2012

Hello Dear WOYWWers!   Welcome to my studio for another What's on your Workdesk Wednesday.  I am late to the party today and it looks like my post will be in the 100's which doesn't bode well to having many visitors, but alas life has been crazy busy lately!

I wasn't able to play last week, heck I barely had time to breath.  I was out of town on Wed-Friday, my DS turned 13 and his birthday wish was to go to the Great Wolf Lodge.  This is a huge indoor water park and it wouldn't be a typical choice for Summer but this years weather has been all over the place, really hot one day, very cold or rainy the next.  It ended up being the perfect choice as it was gray and 61 F on the days we went and would have been miserable at an outdoor park.  He brought his best friend and they ran each other ragged while I got some much needed down time with my darling hubby!

The Great Wolf Lodge  was the inspiration for the piece I am working on right now and what is on my desk.

After seeing the  very cool wall sconces they had I decided to do a howling wolf Chigirie (Torn Paper) piece.  I've created the wolf from real wasp nest paper, I posted about it in my last post http://artstudio33.blogspot.com/2012/07/wasp-nest-papercool.html  It was a little difficult to work with because it is very fragile but I love the striations it has and it took well to gel medium.  Here are is an earlier step.

Another reason I was so crazy busy last week, a delivery date for a commission I was working on got moved up by a week and put me in a bit of a frenzy as I was going to be gone 2 1/2 days and was losing 9 days I had intended to work on the project....ahhhhhg!   I finished it literally an hour before I had to deliver it but I was extremely happy with the results so maybe the pressure to work faster isn't the worst thing as I tend to take a long time to finish my pieces.

Here was the result, this is Henry as a lightly pop art Chigire (Torn Paper) Pet Portrait

This week has started out fantastic from a full time working artist stand point as I just finished the commission on Henry.  I sold the inspirational piece I did to benefit Pit Bull Rescue to the right of Henry yesterday and I received 2 more commissions this week.  I'm so happy that the work has been coming in at a steady pace.



Thanks for stopping by.  I'm hoping to get by to visit lots of you over the next couple of days because I finally got an Ipad and now I don't have to be tied to my desk to visit...YAY!   I have dental appointment this morning after I drop my DS off at Innovative Performance Camp (Impromptu Acting) so I plan to spend those waiting room minutes starting my rounds.

Thanks to the wonderful Julia Dunnit at Stamping Ground for hosting this wonderful peek into each others artistic lives.  I can't wait to see what you are all up to!

What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday June 27th WOYWW

A great big hello to my WOYWW friends.   Thanks for stopping by you fabulous snoops!  

Today my desk is mostly clean, I say mostly because even though I washed it off and scrapped it with a credit card to get off the worse lumps and glumps of glue and paint many affectionately stay around and that's just fine by me.

Off to the left is a WIP.  I drew a cat and cut out a stencil from Mylar notebook divider I had lying around.  Then I flipped over a 9 X 12 canvas that had been stretched over a wood frame and adhered interesting bits of paper and some rusty bolts I had salvaged.  Anyway that's as far as I've gotten with it.  I haven't decided the final direction or color, I just knew that I wanted the salvaged bits to be sort of a shadowbox behind the silhouette of the kitty.  I'll post it again as it comes further along.


My proud accomplishment of the week was completing the Chigirie (Torn Paper) Pop Art Pet Portrait commission that I've been working on for weeks.  My client squealed with delight and superlatives, there is such an amazing sense of satisfaction when a commission goes over so well.  You always hope your vision and your clients will meet in a happy place.  This particular client was so fantastic because she completely abdicated the project to my discretion, a truly joyful experience.

Anyway here is Zoe:

I've been fortunate to have a steady stream of commissions and have another waiting in the wings, this is Henry.

Doesn't he have the most delightful face? My new client also wants the Pop art style.  I'm looking forward to working on it but today I'm taking the day off and maybe tomorrow too as I like just a bit of time to clear my head between each piece that I create.

Hey all you U.K. friends, are you excited about the Olympics starting in your country soon?  Anyone live nearby?  How fun!

As always a very special thanks to our host Julia Dunnit from Stamping Ground for hosting this fabulous peek into each others lives.

What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday WOYWW June 13th

Welcome to another WOYWW, What's on your Work Desk Wednesday.

My Chihuahua Bean says:  Happy Wednesday Amigos!

I've spent most of the week working on Zoe,  a torn paper pet portrait commission that I received from another artist who lives in Michigan.  I always feel immensely flattered when another artist commissions me.  I have great respect for the gorgeous work she creates.  I'll have to post some pictures sometime soon so you can see her lovely work!

Also on my desk are 6 ATCs I created and one of them was promised as a prize to last weeks commenters.  I'll announce the winner a bit later in this post.

Here's my desk:

I stood on my chair for this one, taking life and limb in hand since my floor is wooden and my chair is on casters....whatever was I thinking!   Anyway, I'm safe and sound and here's the snapshot.   To the Left is my Zoe Portrait work in progress.  The first t 3 layers have been put down, (about 14 hours.) Final shading and layer touch ups are next and then Zoe will get adhered to a cradled birch frame and lastly painted effects to complete the project.  I should have the completed work to share with you next week (I hope!)


Center are the ATCs for my winner to choose from and just behind that are some scraps of junk I found on my walk that will eventually become part of one of my mixed media pieces.  

Here's a couple of close ups of the work on Zoe:

WIP

Zoe WIP

and here's a close up of the ATCs

and who is the winner of their choice from this group of Art Cards, you ask......drum roll please.......random number generator activated.....counting......double checking....okay we have a winner:

Princess Judy Palmer

Judy please email me your mailing address and let me know which card you would like:

Left to Right
1) Losing my Marbles - Acrylic on canvas card
2) Fat Cat - Copic
3) Bird Tales - Mixed Media
4) The one that didn't get away - Mixed Media
5) Mad Hatter - Copic
6) Bowls - Copic

After Princess Judy picks I'd like to offer next choice as a thank you to Julia for her amazing hosting efforts and then I will draw numbers to give away the remaining to all of you wonderful ladies on the list from last week.

A lot of you were asking about my crazy reading glasses with the lights on them.  I bought them in a Rite Aid.  They were around $24. They have batteries that are supposed to have a 50+ hour life to them and are replaceable.  They are not any heavier than my regular reading glasses.  My Son says I look like a dork in this picture...LOL...I'll embrace dorkiness for a good pair of reading glasses that have lights!...but my Son said post a non dork picture too so here it is as well!

Well thanks for stopping by to visit my studio today!  I can't wait to see what you've been up to.  No idea what I'm talking about, well then click on over to Stamping Ground and meet our delightful host Julia Dunnit and join the fun!

What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday? WOYWW June 6th

Hello my curious, nosy and delightfully wonderful WOYWW friends!

I'm knee deep in paper this week getting ready for the next sweet pet portrait commission that I am working on.  Zoe is a gorgeous black labrador and her Mom and I decided that she has the perfect face to be a Pop Art Pet.  I'm so excited to get to work on this project!

So here's my desk at the very first step which is choosing all of the delicious papers I'll be using in Zoe's Portrait:

As you can see I have 2 computer monitors on my desk to keep track of all my artsy endeavors.  I love having two monitors and being able to compare things side by side or work on 2 applications at once.  Lucky me, I used to be President of a private technical trade college.

Here's a close up of Zoe and the Papers.  Also you can see a complete Pop Art Pet Portrait I created with inspirational messages for inventory and as an example for my clients.  He's sitting here for inspiration as I work on Zoe.

and here on the right side of my desk is a fabulous vintage Door lock I found at Raven Antiques this week and a tool I bought at a garage sale along with a small board from a "free" bin.  Oh yeah, my crazy reading glasses that have lights on them, I don't know what I would do without those!

Close up of Caleb a prior Pop art Pet when he was in process.

Thanks for stopping by to take a peek!  I can't wait to nose around your studio!

I screwed up last week when I posted my name on the list and didn't put in the asterix after my name to participate in the ATC trade, so I am going to pick a random person to receive an ATC from me from today's comments.  If you are interested in receiving an ATC from me, just ad "ATC Include Me" in you comment and I'll use a random number generator to choose a winner.

Also I'd love it if you'd stop by and like my Facebook Studio Page too and I will donate a $1 to Animal Rescue Shelters, here's a link  https://www.facebook.com/pages/Robin-Panzer-Art-Studio-33/231107300246708

That's all for today my dear friends.  Thanks for stopping by!  Thanks as always to are most wonderful host Julia Dunnit at Stamping Ground.

Paint Party Friday June 1st and WOYWW May 30th, 2012

Welcome to my friends from both WOYWW What's on Your Workdesk Wednesday !  Happy 3rd Anniversary and my friends from Paint Party Friday!

It's been a crazy, busy, whirlwind world lately and the ups and downs have been a bit of a roller coaster ride!  I'm one of those people who emotionally stay on a very even plane but I have to admit May has thrown me some dips and mountains.  It seems like all news is either really exciting or very devastating.

Here's one example of the good, the bad and the ugly this May: I lost a dear Aunt this week to Lung Cancer.  She fought a good fight and she will be greatly missed. (That's the bad and the ugly.)

The good:  Remember that Torn Paper Pet Portrait I did of the adorable Pomeranian Samson.  Well I didn't recognize her name at the time of the order but it turns out the woman that ordered it was a Hollywood Actress, Dreama Walker and she gave me rave reviews, how cool is that!!

"Robin is an exceptionally talented, collaborative artist. So happy to have found her. Love her work and the way she did my Samson."


This is Dreama and Samson:

And of course what you're here for; What's on my workdesk today?  It's a bit of a crazy angle standing on my chair looking down and to the right.  I've been working on another painting in my Primitive/Folk Art Wild Horses Series.

WOYWW May 30th

Wild Horses Series on Display

Finished Work "Colt" 4th in Series

First I drew the colt and cut him out of paper.  Then I traced him on the stencil and re-drew him to simplify
his form and lend to the more primitive/folky style of the series.

This was a Vintage Wooden Kitchen Sign I picked up at a garage sale.

Partly painted with Gesso with a paper towel pressed down while wet to give textures.

Next the stenciled colt I created was laid down and painted over with Mars Black Acrylic.

No pictures for the final steps which were sanding and brushing with gold and copper infused fluid acrylics by Golden

Here are a couple of pictures of the other paintings in this series:

Sunset Wild Horses

Sunset Wild Horses

The Colts

Well I've inundated you with pictures and art today.  Thanks so much for stopping by!  One last picture, this is Tootsie Roll, a torn paper pet portrait commission that I finished this week.

Tootsie Roll Torn Paper Portrait - Allen Commission

Thanks for stopping by and sharing my art and crazy May!  Want to take a peek and some of the most wonderful, inspiring art and craft desks around?  Then check out WOYWW hosted by the most wonderful Julia Dunnit at Stamping Ground. 

Here for Paint Party Friday?  Well a special thank you to the wonderful host Kristen and Eva!  I'm sharing the two events this week since what I have to share applies nicely to both of my favorite parties.

WOYWW April 25th

Oh Wow, am I happy to be back to What's on your Workdesk Wednesday!   Where have you been, you might ask?  Well I wish I could say traveling the world or some such wonderfulness but in honesty I've been down with a bad case of eye strain which caused me to have some terrible fits of vertigo!  My normally stable world has been topsy turnvey.

Fortunately, some rest and very little screen and art time has given me back my balance.  Now I'm in the midst of  catching up on the 4 commissions in my queue.  My desk is a lovely mess which makes me happy because it means I'm working again.  Here you can see I've just chosen the papers I'm going to use to create my torn paper pet portrait of Tootsie Roll the painted horse.

A happy accident in the sun beam that hit my desk so perfectly that it looks like it's emanating from Tootsie's eye....a special horse indeed!   The light has all but washed out the distressed Journal cover that I am working on and I don't have time for more pictures so that will have to remain a surprise until I have time to get back to it next week.


I'd also like to share the photo of the flowers my 13 year old Son surprised me with yesterday.  He sure knows how to make his Mamma's day!

Also, this is a mixed media piece I finished the other day, all from recycled bits and bobs.   It is the first in a series of affordable original art I am creating for my Etsy shop. "Face the Sun" because then all the shadows fall behind you.

Face the Sun 12 X 12

Thank you so much for stopping by for WOYWW!  I'm so looking forward to visiting you abeit a bit slowly and in small intervals while my eyes continue to heal!

Please stop by and visit our wonderful hostess Julia Dunnit at Stamping Ground for her most fabulous WOYWW blog hop!

WOYWW March 28th

Hello fellow Wednesday blog hoppers.  It's time for another WOYWW hosted by the fabulous Ms. Julia Dunnit.  My desk is nice and tidy today after I spent an hour cleaning up all the little pieces of paper from creating Samson.

The little fellow is not quite done yet, tomorrow he'll get a bit more body contouring and I'll lighten his forehead a bit but he's close to completion.  His canvas, a cradled birch frame painted in beiges and distressed inked with squares is already for the little darling.

He was a delight and a challenge to create!

Here's what my desk looked like a couple of days ago before I started this lil fella

I don't have any photos while I'm in the thick of it, I'm always to sticky with gel medium and paper scraps to snap a photo.

I hope to finish him in time for Paint Party Friday.

Thanks for taking the time to stop by and peek at my studio desk!  I'm off to visit the other wonderful artist and crafters to see what they are up to.

Wanna check it out?  Just visit Stamping Ground for a list of participants!