saying goodbye

This is one of my favorites. I really had to close my eyes, breathe deeply and picture the most relaxing thing that I liked doing. I constantly question, what is joy to me ?
Well this is one of my moments of joy, and today I received an email to say it has sold. How exciting!

And then I dissect my feelings.
1)
I recieve much needed confirmation that my art is good enough, that someone has wanted it enough to buy it.
2)
I will receive money which pays back the housekeeping for frames, pastels, paper etc. I don't feel guilt at feeding my art.
3)
I feel a tad melancholy over the fact, that, I wont see this painting again, it has a new home, which is wonderful, but, it is part of me, I drew from the depths of my soul a part of me, and described my joy on paper.

I wonder if my art friends feel the same ?

Oh well, I like to think that I have a kindred spirit somewhere, and right now she is laying back with a wine admiring her new acquisition
3)

Six years on......

It seems a lifetime ago that I was able to showcase my tentative efforts at expressing my artwork. It was through these blogs that I " met" some struggling artists like myself, needing to find more information about where to take my art.  We joined forums and shared info, art shows, styles etc It certainly has been a journey, and I've tried many mediums, shown my work in exhibitions, joined and sold my work on redbubble, various galleries and had it printed on cards etc. Facebook has made it easy to upload photos of my artwork  - Wendi.S illustrations & paintings, as does Instagram - wendi.seymour
This blog was almost my art diary and I signed in tonight ready to delete it all, however it brought back so many memories of struggles- self doubt- disappointments as well as pure joy being immersed in art and I can see how very far I've come in 6 or so years . So, I'm leaving it for posterity -

High tea

I fell in love with a photo of the very gorgeous Jasmine, who was having afternoon tea. I've played with this for a while now, and just need a few tweeks and it should be done. I wanted her to have a red dress, and that has led me to a fantastic colour scheme, that I would never have thought up on my own, it was just as they say, a happy accident.

Going for a walk

I've just realised, that I haven't posted for quite a while, and must admit I get a bit sad,when blogs that I love to follow remain in a time frame, and are not added too.

I've not been lazy by any means, and have been planning, sketching, and painting a piece that I wanted to feature in the Strathdon community's art show on the 1st to the 3rd of April, at which they have given me the honor of becoming guest artist.   I've had pieces of paper lying around my home, with suggested titles for it, and I really haven't thought of much else than painting, painting painting.  I've finally thanks to my lovely workmate Esther found a name for the Painting, which is now making it easier to put the finishing touches too.......well I hope they are the finishing touches, cos Its taken its time.  In my spare time I have been designing a special picture for a card to a friend who is turning 50 soon, and then of course there is this little piece here in Pastel.  I wanted to just suggest the parents, so that is why the heads are out of the picture......I didn't draw any !!  I wanted the story to centre around the little girl, who is getting a swing from the couple while they are walking, and I wanted to try and use cooler colours than I would normally choose, without it being boring. Hopefully I will finish my acrylic piece by next week and post that here also.  Thanks for keeping an out of for my blog.

Illustrations

Well, my childhood dream has finally been realised, and I have illustrated a book. It has 40 pages and about 34 of those have illustrations. The book was written by my sister Julie Pearce, who like me , has had a dream, and a need to express that need, and as such, Wishes for you, wishes for me, was born. Its been a few years in the making, and after many brainstorming sessions, I was able to read into what she was wanting in the way of illustrations. My Daughter Emilee has designed the web site and been a wonderful advisor on many aspects of our journey in self publishing this book, and hopefully , all going well, it should be due for release on the 28th of October. I can only imagine what Julie is feeling at the moment, as I have many emotions running around my head. I hope you get to see a copy, as I have every belief that this book will be very successful. Visit the website . www.wishesforus.com

Sipp'n Sisters

I Loved this subject so much, that, I just had to give it another go. But this time, I've used pastel. I wanted to try another study in red, and I really wanted to almost silhouette the girls whilst still showing some features and making the light really glow behind them. This pastel study seems to have an emotion that the acrylic painting just didn't have.

Share Shake

I've been like a dog with a bone, painting this picture. Nikki gave me permission to paint this photo, that she took of Macey and Piper sharing a milk shake. ( copyright of course, most important to get permission) I was playing with color scheme designer.com, which I could sit and become mesmerised in the colours for hours. But I digress, sorry. Anyway, I had the photo and decided, not to choose a style, to just let it flow, but I did choose 70% green tones and 30% in the hot pink tones. Never was good at maths, so I think, o.k, I know that my percentage of pink is more than 30%, but I was happy with the outcome. My painting though worried me. It didn't show my contemporary style, but neither was it realism, so even though, people have said its "lovely" I worry that it is too birthday cardish. But I could see it in a cafe or in a kids retreat. Main thing is I loved doing it. Its a fun pic. Thanks Nik ! I've got another fun one lined up......stay tuned...