first painting of 2016...done!

silence of the snowdrops
8x10 acrylic on canvas
©the enchanted easel 2016

winter, my favorite season. meet Eyra...."silence of the snowdrops".

this is my most favorite painting i have ever done. i am a winter lover through and through and nothing will ever change that. snow, icicles, cold air, snowdrops....i love all of it. tried a softer color palette for this piece to (hopefully) convey that frosty feel that winter brings and i also tried a bit of a new technique (which i am currently obsessing over)...

MULTIPLE coats of gesso on an already pre-primed canvas. i. am. smitten. i wanted something smoother, something that didn't *eat* the paint like the very lightly pre-primed canvas did. i tossed around painting on wood but then didn't want to have to go down the road of heavy shipping rates being that the wood is considerably heavier than canvas. plus, i love canvas....painted on it since i was a little girl when i got my hands on my first paintbrush so i kind of have a sentimental attachment to it (big surprise, what am i NOT sentimentally attached to?!). anyhoo...i have found that 6 coats (yes, 6) got me the texture (or lack of) that i was seeking. applied in alternate directions (one app-vertical, next app-horizontal...and so forth) with LIGHT sanding in between...paint applied like a dream. time to start buying gesso in buckets...:)

beautiful little Eyra is for sale as a PRINT here  with other novelties featuring this lovely here.

see, winter can be beautiful...:)

*ORIGNAL PAINTING IS FOR SALE. EMAIL ME HERE IF INTERESTED.

a sweet little elephant named eli....

eli in slumberland
©the enchanted easel 2013

is what is on the table this week. actually, i started him over the weekend and am about half way done. this cutie is a SURPRISE gift for a wonderful part of my neurosurgeon's staff...who's expecting her first baby next month. (let's hope she doesn't follow my blog, or i've just ruined the surprise...). 

since the baby's gender isn't known, i decided to go with a neutral gender friendly color palette of soft yellows and a multitude of pastels. and because i'm like a child, i have to name EVERYTHING so...i named the elephant eli. could be short for elijah, if it's a boy or elison, if it's a girl. 

either way, i'm super excited to deliver this to jackie. hopefully by the end of this week! these people have taken such amazing care of me in the last three years after three neck surgeries, that NOT doing something for her would just feel so wrong.

oh, and i will be selling this piece as a PRINT as soon as i get it scanned. below are some peeks at the process of little eli in slumberland. i "heart" this elephant :)

©the enchanted easel 2013

©the enchanted easel 2013

meet mysterious little Opal....

October's mermaid. 

loving the way her hair turned out...and the cute little jellyfish, of course ;)

she is listed FOR SALE HERE:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/161701966/opal-mermaid-original-painting

go have a peek at the other mermaids in the series also listed for sale in my shop.

next up...little Esmerelda, May's mermaid, based on the gorgeous gemstone emerald. i'll be posting the sketch soon...:)

illustration friday~stir

are you wondering how this fits into the illustration friday theme of "stir"? well..."s" is for stir! AND i couldn't resist the cuteness of the elephant...sorry;)