Sunday, January 29, 2012

Butterfly Freebie

Playing around in Photoshop and created a page of graphic butterflies. Here's a freebie for you to use however you like. :o)

Happy creating!

Best... Canace

Friday, January 27, 2012

Okay.. I admit it... I'm totally hooked

On Pinterest that is....  (Notice the button on the right)
I'd heard about Pinterest a few weeks back from Janet and I thought "That's nice." and immediately dismissed it as yet another time consumer. Then last week, for whatever reason, I decided to have a look and see what it's all about. Oh boy... I'm a dedicated pinner now!
What a great place to see all sorts of images... all the things that you like most... and pin your own images that other people may re-pin to their boards. It sounds rather simplistic and mundane.. at least it did to me at first, but once you get set up and start looking around it becomes a generally 'feel good' place where you're surrounded by all the eye candy you could possibly want to see and be inspired by.

My question is..  and this is part of the reason I resisted at first...

How in the world do you keep up with it all?! The last thing I needed or wanted was yet another site that would consume my time, yet I see so many familiar faces and know that they are on countless forums, twitter, facebook, linkedin, they're blogging, networking, shopping, selling, creating...  How do you do it? Do you have everything tied into your iPhone/iPad and watch it all day long?

There must be a science or an art to keeping up with it all and if so I haven't a clue what it is. I just stop in occasionally and try to catch up, exercising a lot of discipline to get off and back in my studio.

So... I truly would love to know....   How do you keep up with it all???

Have a great weekend... pinning...

Best... Canace

Wednesday, January 25, 2012

F F F ! ! !

FORGOT FREEBIE FRIDAY!


I really do try to remember to upload something each Friday... really I do. You know how it is when you get working in the studio and the whole world just disappears.

So sorry... 

This gorgeous little octopus is part of a Dover collection. I thought I'd do some variations of color for you to choose from.

Enjoy!







Best... Canace

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

It's Steampunk and it's BEAUTIFUL!

You have to see for yourself... . this is an incredible Steampunk Apartment in the Flatiron District of NYC.

I want it! Hmm... how can I raise $1,750,000 real quick?
Enjoy the tour.. I can't get enough of it!

Best... Canace

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Where in the world is Seth Apter???




Is he dining with aliens in the UFO Capital?


Or is he looking for treasure in the Shawangunk Mountains?


Maybe he’s been kidnapped by the Biffs in the Mid Hudson Valley??? *




Answer: All of the above!

 Okay, truth to be told, we the Biffs are not aliens, but Pine Bush, N.Y. is considered the UFO Capital of the world. You can read about the Pine Bush Phenomenon here. And no…. we didn’t kidnap him… he voluntarily got in the car. He did however treasure hunt in the Shawangunk Mountains on his way to Ellenville, N.Y. to lay out his plans for his soon to be released book promotion and one man art show at the Gallery Link in the Ellenville Library Museum. The reception will begin at 6pm on March 26th.

Seth with Asha Golliher (Ellenville Gallery Link) discussing his show
Seth and Asha planning for his artwork

Seth and the Biff (Janet)





 


 Seth's new book,
The Pulse of Mixed Media: Secrets and Passions of 100 Artists Revealed  is scheduled for release the end of March and I for one have mine on pre-order.



Description courtesy Amazon.com:
Listen closely...can you hear it?

Can you hear the voices? Thoughts, insights, confessions from the creative community sharing ideas, trading secrets, venting frustrations; asking and answering questions such as, "What color rarely shows up in your work?" or "How do you express vulnerability in your art?" Or "What is one current trend that you wish would go away?" As artists, we are curious by nature and there is a longing to see inside the hearts and minds of artistic souls of our own kind. That is the beat of our lives - The Pulse of Mixed Media!



After Ellenville, we released Seth to the aliens and saw him on his way. I wish I could have captured the priceless look on his face when we told him we were off to New Paltz!



Now do you want to see where we went and what we saw?!  (Seth, don’t look)


Janet and I went to our favorite antique shop at Water Street Market in New Paltz.
Here are just a few treasures that we saw while there... 
This gorgeous dental cabinet is still haunting me

Who has too many printers trays? Not me!


Lucky day! Janet got her '7' and I got my '3'

A few of these followed us home


This beautiful book press is for you Seth


LOVE these!

What a great shop.. what wonderful treasures.

Time to call it a day and head home.
Last word from Seth said he was hanging with the aliens, so a good day was had by all.


I hope you enjoyed your day with us.. have a great week!

All best,
Canace 

*Biffs = Janet and Me

Thursday, January 5, 2012

Something a Little Different

Recently I decided to re-visit an old love of mine.... oil painting. I'd turned my back for the past 20 years in favor of the excitement of mixed media art... finding landscape painting rather boring. I'm not totally sure why, but for some reason I needed to smell the paints and play with them again. So I've taken a few shots of the progression of a painting.. my first in 20 years.
 Those of you who know me know that the Hudson River flows through my veins. I was born here and have lived in the Hudson Valley all my life. (Long time btw) So, I decided I'd paint a river scene.

This is a very basic outline of intention with a light wash in the sky:




Next I decided to make the sky a bit more dramatic .. then added the mountains:
I still didn't like the sky all that well so fussed with it some more, then added the reflections in the river and a few rocks in the foreground for depth:
A few bits of grass and a small island and I called it finished:


 And now it's framed:  (Looked like it took about 20 minutes to do didn't it?)


It felt like visiting an old friend to paint in oils again. I'll just add it to the plethora of mediums to use now and again.

I hope you enjoyed the process.
Best... Canace