The Scenic Route

 

Happy May!

It's a whirlwind in the Curry household as we count down the last month until our daughter's wedding in Bermuda, but I am taking a breather to share with you my latest stencils from StencilGirl.  The three releases are part of a collection I am calling The Scenic Route and all three stencils have been recreated from my original watercolor paintings.   Floral Carpet, Sojourn, and Solitary Tree  showcase particular moments in time that stay in my memoy from the last decade.  Along with some inspiration projects on how to use these stencils, I also included the original painting in the sample area. Join me directly here or  as I introduce the series and entertain you with a watercolor video tutorial.  It's always a pleasure designing for StencilGirl and I very much appreciate the opportunities to share my story through my art. 

  Solitary Tree         

Sojourn

                      

Floral Carpet

 

I've been very lax during the last couple of years keeping up with this blog.  I promise I am still enjoying my studio practice and do a much better job posting my art on Instagram.  My store is now on my website here. To keep up to date with new releases, go here for my low volume newsletter. 

I'll check in once again after our wedding extravanganza. 

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers, mentors, and nurturers.

xoxo

Nancy

When it Rains it Pours

My life always seems to have ebbs and flows in all areas.  They are exciting and exhausting all at the same time, but I wouldn't change a thing.  This month so far it's been flow, flow, flow.

I am pleased to be the guest artist today on the StencilGirl Talk blog.  The beauty shot of the project is to the left,  and I must say I was really pleased with changing up my methodology.  The handful of people that have been recipients of them have had layered resist but this time I used a Gel Press plate and I'm in love with the crisp color mix I got.  Below, you will see a couple I've done before.  If anyone has one they want to upload to the comments here or on the Facebook post, I'd love to see it again. 

My tumbler circa 2007

Sam's tumbler circa 2012

So this week also brought my artist story to light.  Most of you that know me know that I tell it like it is and my post was very authentic on where I've been and why I still divide my time like I do.  You can find that blog entry on the Artists Tell Their Stories blog here.  I love this blog because  it showcases the essence of who the artist is whether they are a musician, artist, photographer etc. I've enjoyed getting inside the heads of creatives that amaze me.  If you want to know when the next essay is up, you can subscribe on the blog or like the corresponding Facebook page and it should show in your feed. 

As teased on Facebook ( and reteased now), I've had prints made of five of my favorite paintings and as soon as I am able to figure out packaging in the next couple of weeks, they'll go live.  Meanwhile, I added quite a few contemporary wall/table art pieces to my Etsy. 

And finally, I am announcing classes at a new venue for me.  I'll be at Palette & Paper in Indianapolis on September 23-24.  I fell in love with the delightful owner, Mare, the store itself, and fab detached classroom when I visited in April and am tickled that they'd like me to come and premier some classes.  Come and see me at Stampaway in August or come and see me there in September!!!!

Jaunty Jillian

March has been a whirlwind.  I had two wonderful visits from my daughter, Sammi, and my sister, Gayle.  Sammi was here at the beginning of the month and we alternated our time between shopping, the Zoo, and binge-watching Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt on Netflix.  Gayle and I shopped as well, caught up on summer plans, went to see Insurgent, did some stitching and I gave her an introduction to alcohol inks.  In between those two wonderful weeks, I managed to do three doTERRA events.  Crazy busy!!!  Hot on the heels of Gayle's visit was the inaugural event at The Moon & The Maker, Kae Pea's storefront, retreat center, RubberMoon manufacturing headquarters, and FAB Bed & Breakfast.  And who better to open up the festivities, but Sunny Carvalho!!!!

I'm only about an hour from Louisiana, MO, so I took my time and took the scenic drive along the river.  There are frequent stopping points to eagle watch.  I stopped, but they were shy.  The river, however, was beautiful.  ABOVE This is my view after I parked for my overnight visit.  By the way, this space is amazing. I took some insider pictures to show you how cavernous this destination is, yet it is warm, welcoming and charming at the same time.  BELOW:  I missed a picture of the front right of the store, but the first picture is the studio, and the center and right pictures are of the expansive space that houses the boutique, local and regional art pieces, art supplies, and, of course, RubberMoon stamps.

            


BELOW LEFT:  The center hall from the back to the front. (NOTE THE TIN TILES) BELOW RIGHT:  Our class home away from home with a pub feel.  I love this room. 

 

I didn't take any pictures of the b & b portion, but it is upstairs and is just divine.  I had the best night's sleep before class today.  Everyone pitched in to make our time there perfect.  We wanted for nothing and had a terrific teacher in Sunny.  It's a rarity that I stay on task in a class, but this one was full of technique and challenge for me (faces make me nervous).  I was delighted to see how unique everyone's painting was today.  We all had our own spins to add as we created using Sunny's approach.  I can't say enough about her talent, patience, and vibe.  If she is in your area, run to the nearest venue and sign up.   It was such a wonderful 24 hours full of new and renewed friendship, art, great music, laughter, great stories, and camaraderie.  I wonder how long I'll have to wait for the next one? 

Off the Beaten Path

I leave for Stampaway tomorrow morning but wanted to get some thoughts out before I head out of town.  I am so excited to be teaching my Tattered and Torn class on Friday.  I love to put together assymetrical designs and the happenstance of the coloration techniques for the papers.  I hope everyone enjoys it.  I am also tickled to be teaching at Simply Said on Saturday morning before heading back to St. Louis.  I love to work with USArtQuest's Studio Cloth so the class will be a fun one for me as well.  What else will be fun in Cincy?  Well, that would be Graeter's and my usual trip to Jungle Jim's, the potato bar at the preview party on Friday night, and the company of my friends.I've been frantically trying to finish a new painting to take to Cincy and I am happy to say that I did finish it this morning.  "Off the Beaten Path"  seemed to be an apt name for it since it was quite a wonky piece throughout.  Though not a real tutorial, I will put some pictures up of the layers like the last one so the process can be understood.  It still amazes me how each layer adds interest and builds into the final surface layer.

I am very happy with the outcome and even happier to debut my new line of stamps on it.  It's one of the first chances I've had to really play around with them.  They still make me smile.  They are available unmounted or mounted in my Etsy Shop.  Have a great weekend everyone!!!!

Go Big or Go Home

So......... It's the absolute wrong time of the year in my life right now to try to do something different, out of the box, scary, time-sucking, but this is the time that I chose to try working on larger canvases for my paintings.  My forum turned out to be an online class called "FUNKY LITTLE CITYSCAPES" by Jodi Ohl.  Jodi embraces a whimsical style in the same vein as my own so when I saw this class advertised, I knew it was meant to be.  I think everyone in the class is having a fantastic time.  Some are even on their second or third paintings and it's only been a little over a week that the class has been in session.  That's a testament to a good class.  I took a few pictures along the way to show you some of the different layers that went into this painting.  I won't do an in-depth tutorial, but  will post the pictures so you can get an idea how much underpainting went into it to get the visual texture in the finished painting.  My inspiration was Italy and the cities that are built into the mountainsides so I chose a Tuscan palette and stuck fairly to it. We were given the option to spot underpaint our canvases so I chose to do black before I added some "noise" with crayon.

I then chose my palette, portrait composition, and painted the background with a combination of palette knife and credit card. Some white paint was added to create some interest throughout the background. I chose some of my favorite Stencil Girl stencils to help with that interest.

The next layers included sketching out the house arrangement and layering on several layers of color.

More layers of paint were added before the detailing begins, first with paint on the houses, and then with India Ink and nibs.

The final touches included some shadowing, gold metallic and black noise,  and  detailing with white Krylon Paint Pen.

"Tuscan Interlude" 12" x 30"