Throwback Thursday – Katie Jeanne Wood

Awwesome

If you see lots of little birds flittering around my blog soon, it’s because I’ve got a humongous stash of bird paintings that I will be releasing into the wild. There are 100ish that need to be scanned, photographed, and edited in photoshop. They require all this attention before they can be listed, and eventually fly off to their new homes. I’ve given myself a March 31st deadline to get the photography part of it finished. Not sure if I’ll get them all listed by then. We’ll see.

The chickadee bird painting above is framed, and awwesome!! This guy is so cute.

With the frame it measures 7.75×7.75 inches
Acrylic on chipboard
comes with a white hand painted wooden frame
and includes shipping.
Oh yay! Now I’m talking, eh?
Available here

floral paintings from a few years ago
#throwbackThursday

Her Favorite Wool Sweater
Gouache & acrylic portrait painting
Available here

I was so saddened to read about Ram Dass’s passing on Monday. I’ll always hold a special place in my heart for him, and will continue to learn from his teachings and stories.

“Love everybody.”
I truly think he did.
And we love him in return.

gouache & acrylics

Perfectionism is just fear in fancy shoes and a mink coat.
― Elizabeth Gilbert, Big Magic

Blue Ray
Prints are available here

farmhouse style
abstract art journal page

I’ve been thinking a lot about making changes in the new year, and I’m already implementing those changes behind the scenes.

Cottage chic
pink abstract painting
I Promise You
Small to large prints available here

farmhouse style
abstract art journal page

Hope you’re having a wonderful holiday season. If you’re looking for a good deal on art, I’m having a clearance sale in my Etsy shop. I’ll be adding more every day until I get my studio a bit more manageable. Need to make room for new art coming next year.

Good Luck Charm

Love Child
Acrylic mixed media portrait painting
Wayback Wednesday

I’ve had this painting around for a long while. I’m going through a phase right now where I want to revise allll my old work, even if I like it, and I do like this painting. At first I was just going to fix her wonky eye, but then I thought, nah..this painting has been sitting on the shelf too long. It’s time to change it, and make it brand new again.

Every human has four endowments –
self awareness, conscience, independent will
and creative imagination.
These give us the ultimate human freedom…
The power to choose,
to respond,
to change.

Stephen Covey

I get tired of seeing my old work after a while, tired of trying to market and sell it. Sometimes I just have to face the music..not all my paintings are going to sell, no matter how much I like them.

Now that I’m combining my portraits with all my other work, I need to be able to show a portrait and a floral side-by-side on a page or a wall, and have them look like they belong together. I want to bring old paintings up to speed.

I’m going for a refreshening reboot. In with the new, out with the old.

The entrepreneur always searches for change,
responds to it,
and exploits it as an opportunity.
Peter Drucker

I’m working on expanding my color palette a bit. My favorite color is pink, but I’m starting to get the urge to bring more colors into the mix. So, for this painting, I used a purplish blue for the shadows. I know I give purple a hard time, but I’ve always liked using it as a shadow color.

I added a little bird on her head because why not? There was plenty of room up there for something, and I’m crazy about chickadees.

I spent several days, probably over a week, on this painting, glazing in wet layer upon layer. Letting the paint dry between each layer. Here’s a closeup shot of those layers.

A fresh new face deserves a new title, also. I named it Good Luck Charm, which I think suits the work better.

You can buy this piece directly through me by clicking any of the photo above or by clicking this link.

Story Hour – Throwback Thursday

Story Hour
9×12 portrait painting on canvas

I painted this one back in 2012. It has been revised since then. I think it used to have an orange background, and maybe red & blue shirts with a brown table? I can’t remember, but the colors kinda clashed, which was normal for my paintings back then.

I hadn’t made friends with the color wheel yet. We were acquaintances, but it wasn’t a deep or meaningful relationship like it is now. If the color wheel walked into the room, I basically nodded my head in its direction, cordially, of course, but didn’t pay much attention to it for the rest of the day. I also hadn’t started carrying the bible from room to room yet, and wasn’t studying it like I do now. In other words, I had no idea what I was doing. lol

Of course, I adore the pink and gray now.

This painting would be great to hang in a quiet area of your home as a reminder to kids (and parents) that NOW is the perfect time to study or read. C’mon kids, put the phones down.

Click any of the images to go to the listing.

Have a great Labor Day weekend, y’all! I can’t believe summer is ending already..it seems like the party just got started. I think the days of 100+F are over. We’re down in the 80s, and 90s now, and losing daylight quickly..have you noticed? It’s getting dark around 8pm now, instead of 9. Yikes, the ber months are coming! Ready or not! (I’m not!)

patience
for some reason every time I look at her shirt,
I think I spelled it wrong

Don’t forget I have a new video coming out on YT on Saturday. I’ll be painting this art journal page.

I got up at 5am to finish editing the video..after not going to bed until after 1am. Oy. Being an artist can be a curse at times..there is never enough time to do all the things, even when you work around the clock. I’m not complaining..just a wee bit tired, but it’s a happy tired, until my head hits my desk with a loud thud, anyway. lol

What I’m reading this weekend. Only 153 pages, so it should be a fast read.

Hey, I hope to see you over on 30 Day Creative Gathering FB group on Sunday. 🙂

Summery Beach Paintings

Throwback Thursday
Beach Day

Since summer is winding down, I thought I would post these summery beach paintings before it’s too late. If you’re a big fan of summer, you can keep the season, and your childhood memories alive all year by hanging these paintings on your wall. Click any of the photos, and it will take you to the listings.

I also want to let you know that there are mystery grab bags available in my Etsy shop. Let me decorate your walls for you. All you have to do is pick how many paintings you’d like to buy from the drop down menu, and I’ll shuffle the deck of 4x4s, and randomly select artwork for you. That way, it will be a surprise to you, and me, both. 🙂 Sound fun? I think so, too!

This listing is for black and white 4×4 portraits. There will be more listings available soon for other artwork.

The value of this package far exceeds the normal price of my 4×4 paintings, which sell for $35-$125 each. Please do not message me requesting specific paintings in your mystery bag. If you knew what you’re getting ahead of time, it wouldn’t be a mystery. 🙂

I also want to apologize if you’ve come to my website lately, and noticed the blank front page. I updated WordPress, and Genesis (framework for WP) a few days ago, and just noticed that it wiped out my entire front page. I fixed it last night, so everything should be working now.

This morning I updated Woocommerce, which is how I’m running my online shop, and now EVERYTHING is messed up on in my dashboard. UGH. Good thing I learned html back in the day because my “Visual view” is completely whited out..all I can see is the html code or “text” page on my blog posts now.

Anyway, I’m not going to cry about it (too much :D), but please bear with me as I try to fix all the eff ups these updates have caused. Arrrgggh!! Have a million things to do, and really didn’t want to spend the day like this, but what can you do?

The 3 sisters – Throwback Thursday

the 3 sisters
Prints are available here

I had an entire blog post written about a painting I revised a couple weeks ago. I had the photos shot, and edited, including the high resolution photo I use for making prints.

If you know anything about editing photos, it takes anywhere from 15 minutes to 4 or 5 hours to edit some photos. The darker the background, the more teeny tiny dust particles have to be edited out with the healing tool.

Just as I was getting ready to schedule the blog post for tonight I noticed glaring mistakes in the finished painting. :/ UGH!! All that work for nothing.

the 3 sisters
Prints are available here

Once I saw it, I couldn’t unsee it, and I knew every time I looked at the painting my eye would go right to the mistakes. Knowing me, I’d beat myself up for not taking the time to correct it. So to avoid that, back to the easel it goes.

That little mess up left me without a post for tonight, so I’m posting the 3 sisters, which I revised a few weeks ago. I don’t think I’ve posted these ladies yet, and if I did, not too recently..I hope.

If you like nice candles, and who doesn’t, I highly suggest you try Benevolence Rose Gold candles. I have all three scents, and each one smells so lovely..I honestly don’t know which one I like the most. These soy candles last a long time, and are definitely worth the price.

Side note: I bought a $5 candle at the dollar store, and completely wasted my money. I only lit it twice before it died on me..the wick was super short, and kept flickering out whenever I tried to relight it. Never again. There’s a big difference between Benevolence, and cheap candles. I’d much rather pay more for something that lasts a long time..had these a month, and use them every day. There’s little sign of use.

A list of 150 FREE business classes online

Words to Use is a helpful site if you’re like me, and have trouble describing or talking about your artwork sometimes.

I hate to be a quitter, but I gave up listening to the 500 greatest albums according to Rollingstone Magazine. I’m not finding many that I like or want to listen to. I looked through the list, and there are many on it that make me cringe at the thought of having to sit through an entire 30 to 40 minute album. My idea of greatest hits is different than Rollingstone Magazine’s picks. I’d rather just choose my own songs, and not feel forced to listen to stuff I don’t like.

Never Hurts to Laugh – bald man laughing portrait painting

Never Hurts to Laugh
On sale now
Reduced price
Acrylic portrait painting
bald man laughing
#Throwback Thursday

This is the portrait I painted when I needed a bit of humor in my life. Hopefully it will bring someone a smile every time they see it hanging on their wall. 🙂

Happy Throwback Thursday, and August 1st, y’all! I’m hoping that by the time this posts it’s pouring rain here. We could use it to cool things down. It was 101F last night at 9pm, which is just so unacceptable. If I was in charge of the weather that never would happen. lol 😉

I got my two custom portraits finished, and mailed off. I’m thinking I need a break because it was pretty stressful working under a short deadline. So, to relax I’m gonna kick back, and watch something tonight on Netflix..which means, I’ll be taking a nap on the couch if you need me.

Saturday or Sunday, I’m going to show you what the lovely and talented Mrs Miller (aka my bestie) sent me in the mail, so stay tuned for that. Omgosh, I cried when I opened the box. While I was being all emotional, Miss Sweet Pea kitten stole it from me because she LOVES when her auntie sends her lovely handmade items..that little stinker. 😀 This is why I can’t ever have nice things. 😉

Have a great evening. I’m off to go get into some trouble, and by that I mean, paint for a few minutes before I end this workday.

PS: Sheila, your website is down completely for me now. I keep trying to visit you, but can’t. 😢🥺 I keep wondering how things went with your surgery.

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It’s Your Turn to Fly – Throwback Thursday story time

It’s Your Turn to Fly
Girl wearing a masquerade mask and her bird painting
Throwback Thursday story time

This is one of a long series of girl and bird paintings I started in 2010 after my mother passed away. It began as a vision I suddenly had of my Mom feeding little chickadee birds out of her hand when I was younger.

She said if I was still and quiet, I could feed them, also. I wanted to hold those tiny little birds in my greedy little mittened hands soooo badly, but I was a hyper little thing. I didn’t have the patience to stand still long enough for them to land on me.

I remember dancing and prancing in the deep NH snow, wearing my white coat with black snowflakes on it..the one with the little white fur hood. I was about 34 years old, and I was getting more frustrated by the second because I was unable to make my dream come true. haha! Just kidding..I was about 3 or 4 years old, and I would hop around, impatiently, all agitated. Mom watched me from inside the kitchen, and she kept encouraging me to stay calm and quiet. It never worked for me.

Aww..maybe some day I’ll be as patient as my Mom once was, I can only hope. In the meantime, I’ll have to live vicariously through the girls I’ve painted, who have no other choice, but to stand still.

I think I’ve painted 18 of these girl and bird paintings. This is the only one painted in acrylics that I have left, if I’m not mistaken. You can click any of the images to purchase the painting directly from me. There is also one in oils available here.

I’m not sure if I’ll be painting more of them once these have been sold. Sometimes, I think, of course, I’ll keep painting them..how can I not? Other times, I think it might be best to let the series end here. It’s had a good long run.

I have kept the first one I painted in the series, and will never sell it. It’s titled Be Still, Child, and she looks a lot me when I was about 12 or 13. Although the original is mine to keep forever, I do offer small to large prints of it here.

I hope you’re having a great Thursday. I’m so grateful that you stopped by. xo

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PINK art journal page – a realized wish

Wayback Wednesday
Art journal page from 2002
A Realized Wish

I still have this book, and it smells of beeswax, which I used to put down thickly on my art journal pages back then to keep the pages from sticking. I mostly use Dorland’s wax now, which doesn’t need heating..you can rub some on your page or painting with a paper towel or use a palette knife, and it doesn’t yellow. If you use a paper towel, be sure to wear gloves. Dorland’s wax is tacky, and doesn’t wash off your hands easily. I don’t like the feel of it on my skin, and you probably won’t either.

sold
Handmade
little pink bunny book
with a sideways heart
from 2008

Beeswax smells great, but it needs to be melted, and spread about the paper/canvas with a little craft iron. The beeswax I have is yellow, and it tints my artwork the second I put it down. I guess you can buy white beeswax, but if I remember correctly, that also yellows. Don’t quote me on that. It’s been a long time since I’ve used it.

You can use either wax in your work as a finishing layer (if you don’t have or want to varnish) or to keep art journal pages from sticking. If you’re going for an old rustic look, beeswax works great. If you want a non-yellowing look, then I suggest using Dorland’s.

The present changes the past. Looking back you do not find what you left behind.
― Kiran Desai

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