just a reminder....

summer is flying by....and so is this swimmingly sweet sale! 

EVERYTHING MERMAID (from compact mirrors to original paintings)...20% off throughout the remainder of summer! so, float on over to my etsy shop and pick up something special for that little mermaid of yours! :)

i think she's found her *sea*mate....

"seanmates"
11x14 acrylic on canvas

meet the beautiful brunette mermaid, Gwen...and her adoring seahorse companion, Finn. it appears after all that *sea* searching, she's finally found her *sea*mate. ;)

this was a custom painting i finished up last week for a sweet baby girl named...Gwen. can't wait for her to receive it and hang it in her nursery! so, off to Illinois she went today.

however, PRINTS ARE AVAILABLE HERE:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/186204686/seamates-reproduction

*who wouldn't want to be loved by such a super cute little seahorse...;)*

a peek into the process....

i always start by *inking* or outlining the image in a watered down version of a gray acrylic, after i've transferred the sketch to the canvas, that is. by laying down the gray outline on top of the pencil transfer, the image doesn't get lost once i begin to lay down the background layers of color.

i choose my color palette for the background (in this case pastels and different shades of white to mimic the gemstone Opal) and then i go crazy just laying down the color in various strokes. i don't blend the paint on the palette at this point, just on the canvas with the large brush so that it's a it more random...the placement of color. i usually will do 2 coats of the background before moving on to the next step....

once the background is complete, i start to lay down the underpainting of the flesh in the mermaids face and then i address all the other parts of the painting the same way....always underpainting and building from background to foreground.

for October's mermaid, Opal, i am slowly building watercolor-like washes with my acrylics. let me give some MAJOR LOVE right now to acrylics. they are my FAVORITE medium for numerous reasons. they are extremely versatile and the color pay off is fabulous! i love how they can be watered down to an almost watercolor-like consistency or they can be applied thick with a brush, palette knife or whatever you can get your hands to lay down the paint. they are build able and there is no crazy drying time like there is with oils (not that i don't love oils too....). can't say enough about them!

ok, back to Opal here....

i'm laying down washes of color first in stages so that i can go back over them with a light mix of dove gray, unbleached and bleached titanium paints to give it that opal like milky look. the trick here, as opposed to the other mermaids in the series, is that because the hair and the background are so similar, i have to make sure that Opal doesn't fade away, hence the deeper colors in the strands of hair.

afterward, it's time to move on to the jellyfish and the rest of the painting and then VOILA...the finished little masterpiece! :) hoping to have her listed FOR SALE by the end of this coming week.

speaking of, can't believe it's almost September already! THANK GOD!!! BRING ON FALL!!! and FOOTBALL!!! and for those of you who truly know me, you know what that means....PEYTON MANNING BACK ON MY TV SCREEN!!! 

CAN. NOT. WAIT.

i almost forgot....

~HaPpY AuGuSt~

love,
Olivne (the mermaid for the month...with her beautiful peridot colored hair)

she is FOR SALE as an ORIGINAL here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/124149335/olivine-mermaid-original-painting

on another august note...9 MORE DAYS TIL MY BIRTHDAY!!! :)

so ready for september....

and it's beautiful little sapphire haired mermaid named Iris.

i've had just about enough of this rain forest like humidity and awful heat we've been having for the last few weeks here. soooo ready for september, fall...and dare i say....WINTER?! i'm ALWAYS ready for WINTER, but this summer is really one for the books! so over it!

i've been sketching out the remaining 5 mermaids over the last week, with september, october and may all sketched and ready to be laid out on the canvases. february and april are the only 2 left to sketch.

still recovering from the third c-spine fusion a couple of months ago, as healing this time around is going to take longer than i would like, due to all the surgeries in a short amount of time. so, i'm trying to pace myself and work a little slower than my usual rocket speed pace. but...doctor's orders :)

going to start painting beautiful little Iris here in the next couple of days and i can't wait to pick up the brush and work with gorgeous blues and violets on this one!

welcome July....

with sweet little Ruby and her crustacean friend, Alaska.

July is most definitely one of my LEAST favorite months (too damn hot). but, Ruby surely makes it more tolerable ;)

she is FOR SALE as an ORIGINAL PAINTING (with PRINTS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST) found here https://www.etsy.com/listing/155566649/ruby-mermaid-original-painting

still recovering from spinal surgery and my hand and arm are still experiencing muscle spasms and such, but hoping to be able to get back to a full time painting schedule SOON!

missing it terribly....

on the easel today....

a beautiful red head mermaid named Ruby, just in time for July with her little crustacean crab friend :)

i'm carefully getting back into the groove after three c-spine surgeries/fusions and painting is going a bit slower than usual, but i guess that's to be expected at this stage. just grateful to be able to pick up the brush at all!

i hope to be done little Ruby in the next few days, just in time for the new month of July next monday. not my favorite month. too darn hot!!! 

but, Ruby can be my saving grace for the month ;)

beautiful little Wynter....

with her blue topaz hair, complete with a white poinsettia and some tiny little snowflakes. she is the mermaid for the month of....august? no. july? nah. DECEMBER!!! my FAVORITE month of the year!!!

love her. just sayin'....;)

she can be found FOR SALE here https://www.etsy.com/listing/153962963/wynter-mermaid-original-painting as an ORIGINAL. PRINTS ARE AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST, so please, don't hesitate to ask.

with all of this 90 degree weather ahead of us (yuck!), Wynter makes me think of cold December days and snowflakes. lots of them! :) 

a bit of "wynter" in june...

well, a December mermaid named "Wynter" that is :)

she is the latest mermaid i am working on (and just about done actually). December is my favorite month of the year. always has been. must be my *thing* for winter, snow, cold weather, Christmas...i would be happy if it was December every day!

complete with a white poinsettia and some snowflakes in her blue topaz colored hair, Wynter will be FOR SALE shortly :)

check out some of the other mermaids in my shop....as well as the photos below of beautiful little Wynter in progress.

https://www.etsy.com/shop/theenchantedeasel

© the enchanted easel 2013

© the enchanted easel 2013

another mermaid added to the series...

little garnet haired Claret.

FOR SALE HERE:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/152913951/claret-mermaid-original-painting

Claret is the next mermaid to join my series of mythical little beauties. and, the first finished painting since my third neck fusion surgery, 6 wks ago. hard to believe it's been 6 weeks already. hoping the neck brace comes off this week, as painting with it on hasn't been exactly the most comfortable of experiences. but hey, no complaints, as long as the hand works :)

working on December's mermaid next (my favorite month of all)....appropriately named Wynter, based on the gorgeous gemstone, blue topaz.

a peek of Wynter can be found in the pics below. really looking forward to painting her....:)

© the enchanted easel 2013

© the enchanted easel 2013

graceful little June....

all decked out in her pearls.

this will be the last mermaid/finished painting i post for a while, as i will be having some neck surgery next week and laying off the painting arm. for a bit...

i hope to be able to post some random sketches of cuteness throughout the recovery process, done from my couch. until i can get back to the *enchantment* that awaits at my easel, that is ;)

June is FOR SALE here:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/129689186/june-mermaid-original-painting

along with a few other mermaids that can be found in my shop.

hope to be back to painting sooner rather than later!

until then....

happy painting friends!!! :)

little olivine...

featured in this lovely mermaid treasury found here:

https://www.etsy.com/treasury/NjYwMDk4M3wyNzI0MjQxNDQ0/for-the-love-of-mermaids

i love how humbling it is to be recognized by other artists and i love the opportunity etsy provides by allowing artists of all types to share their gift with the world. 

as for little olivine here, i am so emotionally attached to this little mermaid. i mean art for me is always an emotional attachment. i sometimes wonder if you have to be another one of *us* to really understand that. that feeling of if you can't paint/draw/create, that you can't survive. that is how i feel every single day of my life and i live and breathe to do it and i do it to live and breathe. without it there is nothing. not for me anyway. no amount of money or anything/anyone could take it's place. it's not only a part of me...it is ALL of me. 

with that being said, when little olivine sells, i will shed some tears for sure. bittersweet ones, knowing that she will be making some little girl very happy. besides, she can't live in my studio forever...and she's always in my heart because that's where she came from to begin with :)

such a sap, i know...

speaking of mermaids, i'm still working on the whole series, just having some neck and arm pain right now so trying to take it easy a bit. which is something that does not come easy for me.

illustration friday~swim

somewhere deep beneath the aquamarine waters of the sea, a gorgeous mermaid named beryl and her little fish friend, pisces, swim and frolic together endlessly :)

FOR SALE HERE:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/122800801/beryl-mermaid-original-painting

just a peek....

beautiful little Claret....

sweet little June....

lovely little Citrine....

mysterious little Opal...

at some more mermaids i'm sketching out....

my heart has completely been stolen....

by beautiful little Olivine, the mermaid for August.

am i biased because it's my birthday month? no. really. i swear. there's just something about her that pulls at my heart strings. i don't know. but i'll let you know when i figure it out...;)

she is FOR SALE HERE:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/124149335/olivine-mermaid-original-painting

AND PRINTS ARE AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST at the above link.

Beryl, the mermaid for March is also FOR SALE in my shop:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/122800801/beryl-mermaid-original-painting

looking forward to doing the rest of the months. next up i believe will be little Citrine, the mermaid for November...

check back SOON for the sketch....:)

painting the final layers...

of little Olivine, the mermaid for August. based on the birthstone peridot, Olivine is painted in bright and lush shades of yellows and greens.

nothing left to do but her little tail, the shell in her hair and some bubbles, of course...;)

on the table this week...

sweet little Olivine mermaid, for the month of august....MY month and MY birthstone...the peridot. LOVE these gorgeous yellow-green gemstones. 

i've been terrible at blogging for the last week because i have like three projects going on at once and i really want to do all twelve mermaids within the next couple of months.

and i will...;)

meet little beryl...

and her little fish friend, pisces, of course ;)

she is the fist in a series of mermaids based on birthstones for every month of the year. i chose my favorite gemstone first, the aquamarine. funny, considering i am the biggest PINK fanatic there is. however, i have always been completely entranced by the beauty and serenity of the aquamarine. just a breathtakingly BEAUTIFUL stone!

ok...back to little beryl here...;)

the ORIGINAL painting is for sale here:

https://www.etsy.com/listing/122800801/beryl-the-mermaid-original-painting

and PRINTS ARE AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST. message me through the link above and i can surely accommodate you.

can't wait to do more of these little beauties....

a whole sea full of mermaids....

 one for every month of the year!

that's what's up next!

i thought it would be fun to do a series of paintings of beautiful little mermaids, based on the gemstone of the month.

i always think it's interesting (and inspiring) to see how other artists work...their creative process, if you will. here's a peek at mine...

from tiny little thumbnails to the sketch outline to a little bit of *coloring* (because i like my sketch books to look pretty) :)

from there i will trace my sketch directly from my sketchbook and then transfer it to my canvas, so that the painting remains as close to the original sketch as possible.

can not wait to start paintings these beauties! :)

ahhh...sisterhood:)

meet hannah and her little sister ashley! they LOVE the fish pond...and each other:) hannah used to be one of my students a couple of years ago (she is the gorgeous little blonde girl in the pic below). ironically, i also went to high school with her mom...small world! this sketch is for hannah's birthday painting, which is at the end of april. her and her sister love the fish pond as well as the yellow daylilies that can be found there as well. i love little ashley's red hair and freckles so i can't wait to start painting this!