Tag Archives: Whimsical Art

Bitsy says have a sale! Yes, art to pay the vet bills!

So poor Bitsy has broken her leg and had to have serious surgery. First it was the ER and a cast, but that didn’t work so off to an orthopedic surgeon for a plate and pins and circlage wire to heal her mysterious break (she won’t tell us what happened). We have been tending her day and night and thought she was on the mend, but the vet bills have mounted and she now is now sneezing and has a fever. Back to the vet again. This time more x-rays and a broad spectrum antibiotic.  I am having a cart sale ( cat + art) in hopes of making a dent in her vet bill. I am listing a few of my works at prices that will never be this low again. And Bitsy, well she is our baby and we sure want her to get well soon.

First picture is of Bisty resting in bed and the second is today waiting for the vet.

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Please take a look and consider buying a painting with more than one purpose. Each work is $150.00 and since I can only add one Paypal button at the bottom of my page, please either email me at susanmedyn@cox.net with which one you are interested in and I can send you an invoice or add a note next to your information via Paypal on which painting you are purchasing.

 

blue pink bird

Oh No, Not To A Grecian Urn!      SOLD!  THANK YOU CAROLINE!

Oh No, Not To A Grecian Urn! is inspired by the  Cycladic creatures that were on the amazing vases we saw at the Staatliche Antikensammlungen in Munich.  We had an intense museum filled visit there prior to going to the opening in Poland.

These creatures want to party and are ready to dance under the summer sky. The blue background is not lighter on the right-just photo quality picking up the light. This is a 7″ by 5″ Ink and watercolor on Aqua Board, lovingly made.

 

elephant talk ©

Elephant Walk  SOLD! Thank you Rosemary! 

Sometimes I want there to be lots of interaction going on with my creatures but in this painting I decided to let the creatures speak for themselves. I hope you enjoy the tamed wildness of sea anemones intersecting with jungle creatures and giant sized poppies. Did you notice those cut little marsupials hanging down? And it is even framed in a wood shadow box frame!

 

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WHAT BIG EARS YOU HAVE!        SOLD!      THANK YOU HEATHER!

This is a beautiful new 7″ by 5″ painting that I am adding into today’s blog. I loved the owl starring at the cute mercat like bunny. This painting was just finished and normally would be selling for $250 like my other works of this size but in my Bitsy vet quest, it is here framed in a black frame (which makes it pop right out) for $150.

 

The World Goes Round and Round

The World Goes Round and Round

 The World Goes Round And Round!   SOLD!    THANK YOU MARY SUE!

Well this speaks for itself. This little aqua board is 6″ by 6″ and framed in a maple shadow box frame. The background is painted gold, although that just doesn’t translate well into a photo. My Bitsy world seems to be going round and round to the vet.

cat in poppies

Hide and Seek!                      SOLD Thank you Jill and Donald!

This is Arthur, Bitsy’s loving little buddy who is so confused right now. She loves to sit in the grass and watch the birds. Since Bitsy broke her leg there is no more life outdoors for Arthur. He is actually going a little nuts because of it and is very puzzled by poor Bitsy’s cone and shaved skin. Arthur is also framed in a black shadow box frame.

Are They A Couple?

Are They A Couple?

I think by the cats smile we can be pretty sure they are going to get along fine. This is a 6″ by 6″ Ink and Watercolor on Aqua Board glowing with color.

To all my blogging and animal loving friends, I would love if you would share this post. The more people who see this, the closer we get to keeping up with Bitsy’s bills. And of course she loves you all!

P.S. If  you would like to help Bitsy but can’t afford a painting check out my card page…I don’t have them all posted there but I promise you 6 lovely ones for the price of  5.

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GOSSIP!

What are they thinking ©

 

SOLD

 

Oh my, so much to talk about, so much going on. Just like in high school. Even my creatures can’t keep from gossiping. The red horned guy is asking if the elephant is going out with the Slouch, but his friend doesn’t know. I can tell you though, all the little cats and snakes know the answer. What do you think?

And, goings on….

I am  again participating in  South Coast Artists Open Studios this Saturday and Sunday July 21st and 22nd from 11:00AM until 5:00PM .

I am stop # 11 on this wonderful tour. 77 artists are opening their homes and studios to visitors this weekend. For a brochure and map, click here. Down the page a little ways you will see the link for the information and directions to my location. Please come visit and see my new work.

And I am in the Little Compton community center Juried Summer Art Show opening this Friday evening. http://www.lccenter.com/

As well as a wild 3 person exhibit at DeBlois Gallery in Newport, RI that goes through the month of July.

And….I have new work at The Art Stable Gallery, Westport, MA along with 7 other artists.

And if you are in Poland…well stop in and see my work at the Szyb Wilson Gallery. More on that trip in another post.

But most importantly I have some wonderful new works for open studios so I hope you will come on down and see the beauty of this area and the wonderful art being shown this weekend.

I am off Route 24 South if you are coming from the Boston area.

Exit 5 in Rhode Island which is Tiverton/Little Compton.

Go south off the exit for 2 miles to Nannaquaket Road. ( right next to a beautiful pond )

Right onto Nannaquaket and a right to 90 North Court.

Blue South Coast Artists signs lead the way!

 

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Here’s Looking at You! and Gicleé Give Away

Heres looking at you © 2013

This was quite the challenge to work out as I wanted to stay with purples, oranges and browns.

Was able to put a nice wash of gold on the background.

Which creature would you like to be ? Any reasons why?

Please consider signing up for my blog and I will randomly choose a winner of a gicleé of one of my works matted to 8 1/2 by 11.

Learned today that I can significantly lighten Higgins waterproof permanent drawing ink from aqua board if I use soap and hot water.

I am interested to see how the painting will look with much lighter outlines.

Would love to have you follow my painting journey and be sure to let me know which creature  you would like to be.

This is a 8″ by 10″ Ink and watercolor on aqua board, varnished and framed in a shadow box frame.

To purchase click here:

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Elephant Walk

elephant talk ©

Sometimes I want there to be lots of interaction going on with my creatures but in this painting I decided to let the creatures speak for themselves.

Although my work  looks “childlike” to most eyes, I spend a long time on composition and work out color values on paper copies before I watercolor my painting.  I often do my work on aquaboard and varnish the finished work rather than use watercolor paper. I can go through 10 to 20 revisions of my drawing before I ever get to the inking stage.  Once I do ink in my paintings, I am using the old fashioned technique working with a crow quill pen dipped in indelible ink.  More on my process and intent in the next post.

Today I hope you enjoy the tamed wildness of sea anemones intersecting with jungle creatures and giant sized poppies.

SOLD

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Sheepish and just hanging around.

Sheepish ç 426-2013

I love painting dramatic imaginary foliage and poppies so here they are combined with a family of creatures.

This painting is getting framed in a beautiful maple floater frame. This is the style of framing I did for 8 paintings I mailed to Europe today.  (Ask me about the complexities of that task!).

This is on top of being woken up at 3:31AM by my cat Arthur who jumped on my head 5 times, swatted his tale on my face and cried repeatedly. I thought maybe he saw an animal as the light was pouring in from the full moon, or we hadn’t left the basement door open but when I got up to investigate,  just sat at the head of the bed crying. My phone is right nearby and I had the sound turned down to one notch. At 3:39 my 86 year old mom called me from the hospital. She had been taken there by ambulance after falling.

Sometimes I know things are just coincidences but I have been reading the book Making Rounds With Oscar that my dear friend and amazing artist, Kelley MacDonald lent me. This is the story of Oscar the cat at Rhode Island’s Steer House Nursing and Rehabilitation Center who goes and curls up next to patients destined to die within hours in spite of what doctors state or predict.

I am not saying Arthur is an Oscar, and my mom is already home, with a small fracture in her neck and a few bruises but thankfully nothing more. He is a smart and intuitive cat who came into my life when I most needed to have a kitten to help me refocus my energies on joy and playfulness. And he woke me up in time to see my phone light up and be there to talk to my mom when she really needed someone to help her talk to the ER staff.

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Arthur is in orange, Bitsy the calico.

And if you know of anyone who might like to sign up for my blog, I am giving away an IPhone 5 cover with one of my wild leopard paintings on it to one of the next 5 people who sign up for my blog. So, please pass this along if you think someone might be interested.

This painting is 9″ by 12″ on aqua board, varnished, framed and going to go to a new home.

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Monkey Business or How to Eavesdrop!

new 6 by 6

This painting has gone through several revisions over the past few weeks. I was pleased with the drawing but have darkened and lightened some areas to make a more harmonious painting. I continue to be in the poppy business.

It has been a very busy few days. I am trying to get work ready for several shows and have encountered those old framing challenges. I have several at the framer and am changing frames I originally was going to use by sanding and varnishing them.

I also hosted a meeting for South Coast Artists, an artist group I am part of on Thursday. There was such great energy at the meeting it felt like a party.

We have begun gardening and I planted 7 rhubarb plants in the lower 40. It is my favorite fruit for pies and I am hoping these plants take off and give me years of pies. I used Skype to chat with my daughter tonight who is in Hawaii for work. Now that job has some wonderful perks. She is staying at Waikiki Beach. I wish I were there. I could use some warm weather.

This painting is 6″ by 6″ and framed in a shadow box frame. It is for sale for $250.

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Flower Jungle and Joy

FLOWER JUNGLE C 4:14:13

OK, I hope you smile. This is my way of making someone happy. Art gives me joy and joy is happiness.

I have spent several days working on this picture. It took quite awhile to work out the patterns and colors. Swirls and spirals always intrigue me and I like to see them in my paintings. The bunny is offering flowers to the elephant and my cats are hanging out in the tree.  I often add a Mother Goddess to my work. She takes care of overseeing each little world. This time she is communing with the flowers oblivious to the curious cats and the animals paying homage to the wonderful elephant. This continues to fit in my jungle series although the creatures are tamer. I do love the color combinations and the sky full of poppies.

flower jungle pic CLOSE UP

Here is a close up of this curious constellation. And we did not get to see the Aurora Borealis here due to cloud cover. My former office mate lives in Fairbanks, Alaska and I would love to see what the sky is like there. I also hope to go back to Iceland to see the Northern Lights (which we did not see when we were there both times we went).

If anyone out in the world of painting is working on aqua board, I would love to hear how you are framing them. I have searched the internet, watched videos on framing them and haven’t quite come up with a good solution. I am going to try a suggestion by Kelley MacDonald  and see how it works. I will have to get more creative on the best way to frame a flat varnished board in which the painting goes right up to the edges.

This is a 9″ by 12″ Ink and Watercolor on aqua board. It is varnished and framed in a black and maple shadow box frame. This painting looks really lovely and is for sale for $600.00.

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Petting the Human!

PETTING THE HUMAN ©

When I drew this, I began putting my usual suspects into the painting rather than some of my more recent jungle creatures. Painting the background on aqua board is challenging. I find I need to work with all the strokes going in one direction. I must be sure the paint stays wet enough so the background stays even. On this painting I worked in the background first. I decided what colors I wanted to work in and painted out a few color combinations on xeroxes of the outlined drawing. Once satisfied, I began to work on this 8″ by 10″ painting.

Mr. Gray Pants and Purple Polka Dots remind me of cartoon characters.

This painting is framed in a maple and black shadow box frame. To purchase click here.

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The bunny part of a new work.

NEW WORK PART OF

I have been working on a few pieces, taking time out from each to let them sit before I continue to work on them. I haven’t finished any recently as I have been moving in between them but thought I would post part of a 9″ by 12″ work on aqua board.

Thanks to all who signed up for my blog. I have a winner from the last 20 blog followers.  It is a lovely woman who bought my photo through Etsy. Well that is a nice surprise.

I love seeing the April daffodils and the early white forsythia blooming in our yard.

Happy Monday to all.

 

 

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Petting the Human

petting the human1©

I am working on a new piece with some of my imaginary creatures. I have figured out the color scheme and am doing something I haven’t done before. I am painting the background in first. This is the most tedious part of painting on aqua board as the strokes all need to be in one direction and with the same consistency of color. I look forward to posting the finished piece later in the week.

Happy Thursday to all. Yesterday it was breezy all day and then last night the north wind blew for hours. I hope everyone stayed warm. We lit a fire which kept the house very cozy.

 

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