Red Spotted Newt

The idea of drawing a newt has been on my mind since the summer of 2009. I tend to want to draw wildlife that I have an attachment to, and newts certainly have a special place in my heart. When we were little, my brother and I would walk along the dirt roads in Alstead hunting for newts. We would carry a plastic bucket & slowly check the roads for the orange beauties after a rainstorm. Newts always seem to come out after it rains.

I have to admit that I did not take the reference photo for this drawing. I did try to photograph newts during the summer, but I could never zoom close enough to capture the perfect picture. In my head, I kept seeing the newt face-on, crawling on rocks. So, I scoured morguefile.com and found reference that ended up fulfilling the composition in my head. Photoshop helped me fuse background and subject photos together to create the best reference.

The drawing is rendered in soft pastels on smooth, white vellum. It is 8 x 10" in size.

Chesterfield Library Exhibit

On July 20th, I am hanging a new art exhibit at the Chesterfield Library in Chesterfield, NH. I've named the exhibit, "It's Raining Cats, Dogs, and Frogs". This seems appropriate, considering the wet weather that we have been tolerating lately. I would much rather experience a shower of dogs than rain any day!

The exhibit will feature my charcoal and pastel drawings of cats, dogs, frogs, and other critters. I hope that you can find time to view the exhibit and purchase a drawing or two... or more. Each drawing in the exhibit is available for sale and a price sheet is included at the library if you are interested in buying a piece (yes, yes you are!).

The address of the Chesterfield Library is:

524 Rt. 63,
Chesterfield, New Hampshire 03443

Taking The Leap In The Current Economy

Every once in a while, I'll be in a conversation with someone when the topic of how I took the leap into art will come up. It seems that there are many people out there that feel imprisoned by their 9-5 jobs & fantasize about pursuing art or another passion full time. The current state of the economy also makes this transition even more of a challenge.

I am not an authority on the matter, but can only relay my own personal experience. I would never have been able to take the leap into art full-time without another line of income. I am fortunate that my husband has a steady full-time job and supported me in my decision. It was a tougher leap than I anticipated. Because I was working from a bare-bones budget, I had to really research marketing and promotion to grow my business. There are many helpful books to help you get started. I will write about them in a future post.

Everyone's situation is different. I have found that adding a steady office job to my daily routine has helped me grow my art business substantially in the current economic climate. When I left my previous job, I never really thought about returning to work for a company, but it has been the greatest blessing. Having a steady source of income has helped me buy better materials and afford more promotional events than before.

My operating budget (pre-day job) was on a shoestring. I could afford basic materials, but found that I was having trouble affording adequate promotion and marketing tools. I took advantage of every free and low-cost marketing tool that I could think of, word of mouth being the best tool for reaching custom portrait clients.

With my day job, I can now contribute more to my family income and also afford to take part in more art shows. The more art shows that I have attended, the more local patrons that I have been able to reach and networking connections that I have been able to make. Art shows boost word of mouth advertising exponentially.

To get back to the point of this post... Do not underestimate the value of additional income. I encourage anyone who is interested in pursuing an art career not to wait. Start researching the business of art while working a day job. Build your art portfolio in your free time. Don't wait until the right moments come together to start pursuing your passion. You can take the leap at any time. The choice is not black and white in nature.

Introducing... Hershey (and other new news)!

Wow, it's been a while since I've posted artwork or random musings on my blog. In the time that I've been away, life has sort of completed a 180 degree turn. A month ago, all was quiet on the art front. I was a bit unsure of which direction to follow in my downtime. I was offered a fantastic job at MoCo Arts in Keene, NH. MoCo is a performing and visual arts company that holds fun & inspiring classes. I am a Front Desk person part-time and absolutely love my day job.

I am still working on portraits and giftware. It is my passion and is not going anywhere. I will be printing a new design for spring in the coming weeks. My bunny portrait will appear on cards and magnets. It's the perfect time, with Easter on it's way!

Also... we have a new addition to our family. We adopted a 22 month old chocolate lab named Hershey! Hershey found us through a co-worker of my father's who was fostering him. He is absolutely sweet and gets along perfectly with Sasha. We are still working on introducing him to the cat slowly. He's absolutely polite and ignores her when we are holding her. However, once she is loose, he is very interested in placing the chase game. We've read up on how to introduce a new dog to the family cat and are taking our introduction slow and with patience. Molly, in the meantime, is enjoying her vacation on the top floor of the house and is spoiled with extra kisses and love.

I've posted some pictures of Hershey above. There will be more posted in the future (and of course lots of portraits)! Hershey is my first labrador retriever and I am loving every bit of his personality!

: )

Mia

Goofy

This adorable fellow is Goofy, a black and tan coonhound mix. Goofy's portrait was one of my Christmas commissions. This portrait was a delightful distraction from the December ice storms! I finished drawing Goofy just before power was restored to my studio in Jaffrey. I had taken my portrait commissions on the road with me to NY, which was a savvy decision. Had I left them to work on in NH, it would have been days before I could finish them (due to the power outage).

Goofy is drawn in soft pastels on smooth, white vellum. The finished portrait is 11x14" in size.