Award Winners

I am happy to announce that my both of my entries in the 8th annual Figurative Art Competition at the Light, Space and Time Gallery earned awards!!

The gallery received 626 entries from 27 different countries around the world as well as from 32 different states in the U.S.  Artists were asked for their interpretation of the “Figurative” theme by submitting their best abstract or representational art for this competition.  I've been doing quite a lot of digital renders featuring dancers recently, so it was natural for me to enter these two images.

The exhibition has been divided into three media categories.  Painting & Other Media, Photography & Digital and 3D Art.  In addition, there is an overall Winning Artists Category, which is the “best of the best” and consists of the ten (10) best entries comprised from the media categories.

The gallery included Special Merit awards and Special Recognition awards for outstanding art. Many of the artists in either of these groups could have easily been included in the upper tier of our winners, as their art was also exceptional.

So it's a very special honor for me to have been awarded a Special Merit award for my digital artwork, "Dance Like No One is Watching."

In addition, my entry titled "Pas De Deux" earned a Special Recognition in the Photography/Digital Art category.

To say I am thrilled to have won these awards would be an understatement!

You can see all the winning entries in all categories at this link.

#Paint Time 2017

As I was thinking about where to go with my art in 2017, I happened upon a great blog by pastel artist Karen Margulis -- Painting My World.

Two of her posts really inspired me.  Firstly, her December 30 post, Advice for Painting Growth in 2017, talks about how study and practice are the keys to artistic growth.

As I read the article I realized that these would be easy goals for me to accomplish this year.

I had been wallowing around, and getting somewhat disillusioned because I was unable to create the kind of skillful pastel painting that I see from other artists.  My pastel art was definitely lacking something and, of course, a lot of it is technique.

So I signed up for a year subscription to Art Tutor.com which has online courses and classes in everything from drawing to watercolors.

I have enjoyed, on an off, the series "Painting Landscapes in Pastel" with English artist Michael Howley.  I say "on and off" because I originally signed up with Art Tutor for a month over a year ago and let then that lapse.  However, this was the first pastel I did, following along with one of Michael's lessons.

My goal now, having found my way back to Art Tutor, is to make a habit of watching at least one lesson per week, and practicing what I have learned.

Today I watched a lesson on cloudscapes.  Here is my first, rather crappy effort. I'll do this same painting a couple more times this week and try to perfect the technique and the feel of painting clouds.

That ties in with the second post from Karen Margulis' blog, and the title of this blog post, "#PaintTime2017"

In #PaintTime2017, the idea is that one chooses one's motif, sets aside regular time each week to paint and then share the results on Karen's blog and/or social media using the tag #PaintTime2017.

In addition to the weekly painting, Karen actually challenges herself to paint each day.

Since I'm starting a new full time job tomorrow it's highly unlikely that I will be able to paint every day, but I think I can come to a compromise and give myself the attainable goals of

1. watching a lesson each week
2. practicing the lesson at least two or three times during the week  
3. posting the best of my efforts and tagging it #PaintTime2017.

It will be interesting to see my progress during the year.

Merry Christmas from Me to You

I found a great website a while back that lets you add all sorts of animations to your pictures and save them as animated gifs.  The site is LunaPic.com.  The site does not limit you to animated effects.  It actually offers a full range of effects that you might find in Photoshop, as well as a whole lot more. 

But it was the snowfall effect that caught my eye, so what better to do at this time of year than to add some snowflake frames and snowfall to some of my artwork?

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So take a break from the Christmas rush, pour yourself a mug of hot cocoa and enjoy these animations I created featuring the Christmas and winter-themed digital artwork I have made into greeting cards in years past, as well as some seasonal quotations. 

Each of the images I have shown here are available as Christmas cards on my artist website at JayneWilsonArt.com (without the animations, of course!)  I've put the direct links under each picture so you can stock up early for next year!

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“I love snow for the same reason I love Christmas: It brings people together while time stands still. Cozy couples lazily meandered the streets and children trudged sleds and chased snowballs. No one seemed to be in a rush to experience anything other than the glory of the day, with each other, whenever and however it happened.”  

Rachel Cohn - Dash & Lily's Book of Dares.

"Children Playing in the Snow" is available

as a greeting card at JayneWilsonArt.com

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Oh, jingle bells, jingle bells. Jingle all the way.

Oh, what fun it is to ride In a one horse open sleigh.

Jingle bells, jingle bells Jingle all the way.

Oh, what fun it is to ride In a one horse open sleigh.

James L. Pierpoint

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"Winter Sleigh Ride" is available as fine art prints and greeting cards

at JayneWilsonArt.com

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"Snowmen fall from Heaven, 

One snowflake at a time"

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"Winter Cottage and Snowman" is available as a greeting card 

at JayneWilsonArt.com

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"I love the excitement, the childlike spirit of innocence

and just about everything that goes along with Christmas." -- Hillary Scott

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"Watching for Santa" is available as a greeting card 

at JayneWilsonArt.com

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"Christmas is not a time nor a season, but a state of mind.

To cherish peace and goodwill, the plenteous in mercy

is to have the real spirit of Christmas" -- Calvin Coolidge

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"The Snowman and the Curious Foal" is available as a greeting card 

at JayneWilsonArt.com

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"Christmas isn't a season, it's a feeling" -- Edna Ferber

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"Bridge Over a Winter Stream" is available as a greeting card 

at JayneWilsonArt.com

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"Snow falling soundlessly in the middle of the night 

will always fill my heart with sweet clarity" -- Novala Takemoto, Missin' (Novel)

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"Snowman in the Moonlight" is available as a greeting card 

at JayneWilsonArt.com

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I hope you enjoyed the wintery scenes and quotations.  Now, if you have a little time and want to amuse yourself for a while, head over to Lunapic.com, upload a photo of your own and spend a little while playing around with various effects and animations.  Or, if you're caught up in the holiday rush, just bookmark the site to go back to later, when you have some time.

This will be my last post before Christmas, so I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas, or whatever holiday you celebrate at this time of year, and a Happy and Healthy New Year.

Connecting with Local Artists

A few weeks ago I saw a notice in our local paper about a local art group, the Tomball Art League.

I was interested in learning about them because I was looking for a group close to home.  Houston is such a sprawled out city that any art event I would go to in Houston usually involved an hour or more drive time, one way.

I was a member of Spectra Artists in Houston for a while, but never went to any of the meetings as they were far away, and by the time I got home from work (often a two hour trek), there was no way I could get to them before they were over.

I didn't re-up my membership with Spectra Artists for 2016 since I wasn't working full time.

So I'm really excited to have joined up with Tomball Art League (TAL) and went to my first meeting today.

Since it's December, it took the form of a holiday painting party and gift exchange, plus everyone bought some snacks, so there was a wonderful spread of food.  

It was very enjoyable meeting local artists and after the business meeting, we were each given a 10 x 8 canvas, brushes, paints and a reference picture to copy.  And while we were painting, we also got on with the gift exchange and the white elephant exchange, which were great fun.

I got some lovely Christmas ornaments hand-made by one of the members, and my white elephant gift was some Tom Jones paintbrushes.

Here's my effort, the first acrylic painting I have done in over 30 years, lol.  

As I mentioned in my last post, I recently got my pastels out of mothballs and have been playing with them a little.  So the idea came to me to use the same reference picture we had used at the painting party, but this time see if I could produce a pastel version of it.

Here it is in progress, with the reference photo picture above it.

Here's it is, more or less finished.

It was just a quick, happy piece.  It was fun to do - I need to do more little studies like this.  I should remember to focus on what I see versus what I put on paper.  I noticed that my squiggle across the middle of the ornament is too squiggly compared wit the reference pic, lol. 

Here's a closer look at it. (As with the other pictures, you can click on it to see a larger version)

It's not great, but the more I practice, the more my observation will improve.

Happy Thanksgiving

First of all I have to apologize for the huge gap in my blogging this year.

If you know me personally on Facebook or elsewhere, you probably know that a near-fainting spell in May prompted me to go in to the ER and have some tests, just to make sure nothing serious was wrong.

I was shocked when the doctor told me that the CAT scan of my brain had indicated that I had multiple aneurysms as well as a tumor on my pituitary gland!

So this summer I have had two major surgeries, as well as extended periods of recuperation.

Art, and blogging about art, got put on the back burner while I concentrated all my energies on healing.

I'm happy to say that everything went well and I am fully recovered from my surgeries.

I do have one more procedure to go, which will take place in early December.  But luckily it's a minor procedure and the down-time should be minimal.

What better time than Thanksgiving for me to give thanks to the team of doctors at Baylor College of Medicine and St. Luke's Hospital in the Houston Medical Center for taking such great care of me and getting me through this?

I would also like to wish you all a wonderful Thanksgiving, filled with family, friends, and the things that make you happy.

My "Autumn Farm Scene" is available as fine art prints and greeting cards on my artist website, JayneWilsonArt.com

I'm getting back in the art groove again, and I've even got my pastels out of mothballs, so I will be sharing some artwork with you soon.

Until next time...

Award Winners!

I'm thrilled to announce that I have received an Award of Excellence and three Special Recognition Awards in the "18th Annual Collage, Digital & Mixed Media Juried Online International Art Exhibition.hosted by Upstream People Gallery of Omaha, Nebraska.

The winning entries were selected by the juror Laurence Bradshaw, Professor Emeritus of Art at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, U. S. A.

Here is what Professor Bradshaw had to say about my work: "'JAYNE WILSON of Tomball, Texas is a star digital artist as seen in all her works. These were all created using digital models, textures and lighting in the digital program DAZ 3D.

The piece "Vintage Photo Studio" shows a very handsome woman sitting comfortably on a period chaise lounge sofa. The overall warmth and tone of the picture adds to the vintage character.

Her "The Indian Pony", another digital rendering on canvas, is very handsome. The brown horse's head with the spotted body of the horse is something that rendering helps to create and here it works quite well.

"A Night on the Town" captures a handsome rendering of a woman and man dressed to impress. The background really sparks the awesomeness of the two together.

Also, "White Horse in the Forest" shows her talent with the beautiful horse center stage with the scraggling tree limbs which is a nice contrast to the smooth body of the horse. And the little gentle birds add a lightness to the mood."'

I would like to thank Professor Bradshaw for this recognition and for his kind words about my work.

The exhibition will be featured online during May, 2016 at www.upstreampeoplegallery.com and continue indefinitely in the archives section of the website.

Additional information may be downloaded from the virus-free links below:

The Indian Pony - Award of Excellence - http://bit.ly/21I06Lg

Vintage Photo Studio - Special Recognition - http://bit.ly/1WgCCgU

A Night on the Town - Special Recognition - http://bit.ly/24AYuIi

White Horse in the Forest - Special Recognition - http://bit.ly/24DyXej

The Easter Bunny Song

Oh, the Easter Bunny’s coming, she’s the one I long to see.
She’s got eggs in her basket, she’s bringing them to me.
I’m looking out the window and I hope she gets here quick,
I need marshmallow bunnies and a little chocolate chick.

Oh, I love Easter Sunday and it comes round every year
Right now I’m so excited cause the Easter Bunny’s here!
The Easter eggs are lovely, with swirls on them because,
The Easter Bunny paints them with her little furry paws.

We’ll take the eggs and hide them, all up and down the hill,
And I’ll go back to find them with my little brother, Bill.
We will pile up all the goodies and I’ll eat all I can take,
And then end Easter Sunday with a big old belly ache.

Oh, the Easter Bunny’s coming, she’s the one I long to see.
She’s got eggs in her basket, she’s bringing them to me.
I’m looking out the window and I hope she gets here quick,
I need marshmallow bunnies and a little chocolate chick.
I need marshmallow bunnies and a little chocolate chick.
I need marshmallow bunnies and a little chocolate chick.

Easter Bunny Song courtesy of Nana's Corner

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My little Easter Bunny design shown above was created in Vue and is available on greeting cards, postage stamps, stickers and more in my Zazzle store.

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I'm very fond of vintage graphics and one of my favorite websites these days is the Graphics Fairy - a resource for DIYers and crafters and features over 5,000 free vintage images. I highly recommend the site if you like hand making cards and other printables.

Here are some vintage Easter images shared from The Graphics Fairy.  I hope you enjoy them.

"Easter is meant to be a symbol of hope, renewal, and new life." ~~Janine di Giovanni

"What is the real purpose behind the Tooth Fairy, the Easter Bunny and Santa Claus?
They seem like greater steps toward faith and imagination, each with a payoff.
Like cognitive training exercises." ~~ Chuck Palahniuk