565 Postcards

posted by Deborah at 10:29 PM >0 comments

posted by Deborah at 9:55 PM >0 comments

Red Flame

These images were created by using up some old collage papers that I had created several years back. I printed out a giant sized print of my Red Flame painting from my Deco series with the plan of making a large scale wall collage. Alas, this plan never made it to the Do It Now list, and has been residing in my collage bag for about 4 years. Since it was highly unlikely that it would ever get finished, I have been using the pieces as collage papers.

On the above postcard, you can see what the original Red Flame painting looks like as a completed image. The printer colors are different because two different machines were involved, but you get the picture.

posted by Deborah at 6:16 PM >1 comments

525 Postcards

There isn't much more that I can say about this Postcard Project that hasn't already been covered in the blog or by video.

posted by Deborah at 2:37 PM >0 comments

475 Postcards

The Secret was discussed on Oprah again today due to so much viewer response from the Feb. 8th show. It was a good discussion and once again I learned even more information.

posted by Deborah at 8:19 PM >0 comments

posted by Deborah at 6:54 PM >0 comments

Mercury in Retrograde?

Not again? Is it just me, or does it seem like this happens about once a week? Sigh. I'm not one to go along with all of these astrological implications and as much as I try to allow myself to 'let things happen' as some people advise...I simply can't do that. I believe in taking action. And my idea now is to take LOTS of action and outcreate this temporary state of stagnation. More outflow and production seems to be in order, so I'm working like a fiend.

posted by Deborah at 6:45 PM >1 comments

Merman

Judy's suggestion for me today was to change the 'shadow' color that I was using on his face. There was too much contrast between it and the orangey/brown color of his skin and it was bothering me. I think I like this new color much better!

Poor Judy didn't know why I had his hair standing up on his head until I explained to her that he is a Merman and he's underwater........ Sometimes Judy and Larry just don't know what to do with me because I'm not painting like other people in their class. It's very cute.

Well, I'm going to leave him the way that he is now. I don't want to get too involved in the realism end of things because this isn't a realistic painting at all. No, duh? I'll be posting him on eBay later tonite and we shall see what happens there.

posted by Deborah at 5:11 PM >0 comments

450 Postcards

Finally reached the halfway point on the Postcard Project and getting these sent out to my snail mail list. As you can see from the image here, I took my original Puppet drawing, made a postcard of that with an image from a magazine featuring the scissors and made a copy of that. Next I created a postcard with that image and put it onto another card with the model appearing death-like. And then using that image to create another one with an illustration in the background.

It's an interesting combination. I remember 20 years ago we had a Polaroid camera and shot series of different people holding up pictures of people holding up pictures........it was hilarious. We had so much fun doing that and it was 'trippy' at the time and we thought we were so 'high tech'........now it can all be done on a computer and scanner with ease and any combination of images that one could imagine.

Today is another oil painting class and I hope to have some new ones completed by the end of today. I've had the above Merman painting partially completed for months now. I've been experimenting with my brush strokes and I looked at some of Harley Brown's pastel portraits with unusual colors on the faces, so I tried it with my oils. It's not working. I need to get some help and advice from Judy today in class, so this fellow is going with me.

posted by Deborah at 8:40 AM >2 comments

California oil painting

I'm calling this one California because it reminds me of certain locations there that I was fortunate enough to view when I lived out there 12 years ago. Northern California is a magical place for me and I have many, many pleasure moments connected to that area. One day I would like to own a home there of my very own.

The combination of the mountains and the ocean is an unbeatable mix. I had lived in Colorado for 17 years and grown very attached to the mountains, but there is no water there. Down here in Florida, we have miraculously beautiful beaches and the ever-present Palm trees, but no mountains.

I have been working on my Florida series for over a year now, and there are 57 paintings in that series. Who knows? I might just embark upon a California series next......

posted by Deborah at 6:46 PM >0 comments

420 postcards

posted by Deborah at 1:41 AM >0 comments

posted by Deborah at 1:39 AM >1 comments

390 postcards

That's right! I have returned to the Postcard Project once again. I noticed that I was getting a lot more traffic in my eBay store and more sales from there than before and the only thing that I could attribute that to was all the postcards that I had mailed out last month with my newest website address on them. Debcoart.com is directly linked to my eBay store.

What is interesting about this is that none of the people that bought things from me out of the store were on my mailing list previously. BUT I know from many years of direct mail experience that it's the marketing and promotion that causes the activity in some magical way. It has something to do with the outflow of the promo pieces that cause more attention to a particular area. I don't know the exact mechanics of this, I only know that it works.

In one of the businesses that I had previously, I used to do 2,000 postcard mailings each and every week. People used to think that I was crazy doing that many postcards every week, but we used to have our business booked solid for 6 weeks in advance so something was working. I had a much larger marketing budget back then than I do today, so I get a much smaller amount of direct mail going out. But the magic still works!

posted by Deborah at 1:11 AM >1 comments

Monday in the studio

Again today I was moved to thinking about how LUCKY I am to live the life that I am living. It's like magic at times, and I look around in disbelief at how fortunate I am. Out of the blue, a friend of mine has decided to create an auction template for me free of charge!

Not only is she creating this customized template for me to use on my auctions, but she's compiling step by step instructions with pictures showing what will be on my monitor screen as I learn to work with this feature. She's using me as a guinea pig, since I am a complete blithering idiot when it comes to anything html. She plans to refine this technique and then sell it to others for use.

All this because I sent her a copy of The Secret some months ago at a time when she was having some difficulties in her life. She loved the DVD and this is why I was lucky enough to get this wonderful gift from her. I have been wanting to have a great auction template for nearly 2 years and could never figure out how to do one. Hooray!

I had so much fun in the studio today doing the initial sketches and underpaintings on some new oils!!!! This is my favorite part of the painting process and I'm looking forward to the day when the middle and finishing steps are as much fun for me as these beginning steps. There is no greater joy than finishing up a painting and putting it out there for the world to see.............

posted by Deborah at 6:48 PM >1 comments

Sunday in the studio

This is a sampling of the oil paintings that I currently have in progress. I have some others, too, but this is what I photoed today. I know that I am not yet ready to move into the Alla Prima style of painting, so I am going to start several paintings per week and work on them in layers as they dry. Alla Prima painting is done in one sitting.

I rely upon drybrushing a lot. That means that you take a dry brush and put paint on it without using any thinner or liqufier, and you make your strokes across the canvas or paper. I like to do this because it adds so much more dimension and I'm especially fond of the lighter colors being brushed over the darker ones. They look so cool!

I want to learn to use this Alla Prima technique, but for now I am focusing on too many other things. For instance, what I commented upon earlier about the 'lost edges'...they basically disappear from the painting because you have a dark blending in with a dark or a light with a light. That type of thing. I'm practicing mixing my edges in my work this week in order to add more interest to my paintings.

posted by Deborah at 5:07 PM >2 comments

Vino

Here is the 9 x 12" oil painting that I completed yesterday. I am calling it Vino. I had so much fun creating this painting! It's whimsical, brightly colored, fun and I got to practice my edges.

I found out in class yesterday that a really good painting possesses all 3 types of edges: sharp, soft and lost. So I incorporated all of those into this painting. I might make some changes to this one in the future, and then again I might not. We shall see. For now, I'm very happy with this little guy. It makes me happy just to look at it.

posted by Deborah at 9:32 PM >1 comments