Friday, December 22, 2017

Year in Review- 2017

It is that time of the year to look back at the news and stories that shaped this year 😂😁😃

1) The Sunnyvale Community Services Spring Boutique show happened this year on Saturday May 13,2017 at the Sunnyvale Community Services located at  725 Kifer Road, Sunnyvale, CA.  Being a member of this Sunnyvale Community Services Auxiliary team  I got a chance to sell all of my craftsy creations via this show for a cause. This show was a huge success this year. All the team members thanked me for increasing the publicity for this show. It was a win-win situation for all of us.  Here is a picture of all my sold items:

Title: All of my craftsy creations sold for a good cause.

2) For May 2017, Flowers were the theme at Lisa's Lachri Fine Art Facebook group. Here is my entry for this group challenge. It was painted using the iPad.

Title: Spring Blossoms
Medium: iPad Art
 Update: I would like to thank Lisa of Lachri Fine art for featuring my artwork. You can check up this video here : Video Link

3) The Sunnyvale Art Club's Annual  juried art show took place on  June 17,2017 and June 18,2017 at the Sunnyvale Public Library,CA this year. It was a memorable event for me because  not only did I win  3rd place under mixed media category, I also got to sell my original artwork. 


Selfie with my artworks!




Title: Tribute to Cecil
Medium: Pen and Ink with Colored Pencils
Price: SOLD!

4) I am thankful for being appreciated  by all of my  art club friends  for volunteering to be the Secretary of Sunnyvale Art Club for 5 years in a row now.  I will continue  to serve as the Secretary for whole  of 2018 as well.

5) The theme for September  2017 challenge at the monthly Colored Pencil Magazine was " Blueberries". Photo reference credit-- Sally Robertson ( Copyright Released). Thank you for the reference picture.


Title: Berries
Medium: Colored pencils on Canson's Acid Free sketch paper



6) Some of my Digital artworks that I illustrated  in Sept 2017. Below is a postcard that I created for an Aquarium Project. 


Postcard art  created for an Aquarium show


I illustrated this Book  cover art   -- The Call of the Wild by Jack London


Book Cover Art : Call of the Wild

7) On Sept 12, 2017 I received this news that my artwork had been selected for the Colored Pencil Hidden Treasures Volume 4 Publication this year (2017). The competition was fierce this year with a record of 837 entries.  I would like to thank Ann Kullberg who is a great Artist, Author and a Global Colored Pencil ambassador and her team of judges for featuring my artwork. Here is picture of my artwork.

Title: A Thing of Beauty!
Medium: Colored Pencils

Here is the picture of the Book where my artwork is published



And this the page where my artwork is published in the book:


Picture of the  page where my artwork has been published in this book.

If you would like to get a copy of this book, you can now get it here using this link: CP Hidden Treasurers Volume IV


8) On  Friday October 13,2017, Colored Pencil Magazine hosted Friday the 13th giveaways in their Facebook page. I have never participated in any sort of giveaways before. In-fact this  was my first giveaway ever. I won the Derwent Procolor 24 count Tin set. I was thrilled to receive this set. Here is a picture. I would like to thank Sally Robertson from Colored Pencil Magazine for hosting this giveaway. It was a fun event.

 

9) From Sep 20 to Oct 23,2017 my artworks were featured at Red Rock Coffee Shop located at Castro Street Mountain view, CA. Here is a picture of my paintings at the cafe.

My artworks at Red Rock Coffee Shop 


10) I was the featured artist from Oct 1 to Dec 1, 2017 at Pho Nam Restaurant located at 844 W El Camino Real, Sunnyvale,CA. My painting " Airavata-- The Elephant in Heaven" was on display.



Me with my artwork at Pho Nam Restaurant 
 11) The Sunnyvale Art Club's monthly club meeting took place on Thursday Nov 16, 2017. The theme for this  monthly art competition is "Abstracts". I am thrilled to  announce that my Colored Pencil artwork won 2nd place  in this competition.

Title: Ode to Picasso!
Medium: Faber Castell Polychromos on Stathamore Drawing paper
Size: 7.5"by 9.5"

12)  I am honored to inform you all that my artwork is  up at the Sunnyvale Mayor's office from  Dec 1, 2017 to Feb 1,2018. The Sunnyvale Mayor's office is located at 456 West Olive Avenue, Sunnyvale,CA.


Me with my  painting at the Sunnyvale Mayor's Office

13) I created this artwork for November 2017 monthly art challenge with the Color Pencil Magazine. Photo reference credit (Copyright Released) --  Sally Robertson. Thank you for the reference picture. I had super fun doing this challenge.

Title: Fall Leaves
Medium: FC Polychromos, Derwent Procolor Colored Pencils and Markers used only on the ladybugs on Strathamore Drawing Paper

14) I created these holiday tags at the Sunnyvale Library on December 11, 2017 at the Adults craft night hosted by the Sunnyvale library,CA

Holiday Gift Tags

This will be my last post for 2017. I wish you all a Happy Holiday season and a Colorful 2018.

"If you truly love nature, you will find beauty everywhere."-- Vincent Van Gogh







Monday, November 27, 2017

I am Published!

I am over the moon and super excited to share that my artwork "A Thing of Beauty!" has been published in " CP Hidden Treasures - Volume IV" US Magazine style Publication. The competition was fierce with a record of 837 entries this year. 

Here is the Youtube link: https://youtu.be/34g5RZWOo3M


You can now get this book here: https://annkullberg.com/produ…/cp-hidden-treasures-volume-iv

Title: A Thing of Beauty!
Medium: Colored Pencils

" A Thing of Beauty is a Joy Forever"-- John Keats

Tuesday, September 12, 2017

My Colored Pencil artwork has been selected for Publication-- Colored Pencil Hidden Treasures Publication released by Ann Kullberg

The competition was fierce with a record of 837 entries this year.  

I am honored and happy  to inform you  all that   my  Colored Pencil artwork has been  selected for the Colored Pencil Hidden Treasures Volume 4 Publication this year (2017). I would like to thank Ann Kullberg who is a great Artist, Author and a Global Colored Pencil ambassador and her team of judges for featuring my artwork. 


Thank you!!  😍☺😃😊


Tuesday, July 25, 2017

How to get into the mood to create art

 As artists, sometimes we are just not in the mood to create art or  just do anything at all. Here are some tips   that have worked for me to help you get started towards working your project:

1)  Clutter/disorganized house or studio affects  my mental state of thinking  and it does not get me into the mood of  creating art. I get lost in a cluttered environment.  So I would take a break and clean my house, de-clutter  things around my house and studio.  Dust the house, re- arrange  the closet, dispose unwanted stuff so that everything looks organised and clean.  For me my studio is a table with a couple  storage drawers . Although someday I wish I could have my own art studio!  I would organize my art supplies into their right containers rather than just lying around in the table. Donate art supplies that I no longer use to charity or to  my  crafty friends.  Keep supplies that I may not use for that particular project into my storage drawers. Arrange my sketchbooks so that there is some order.  For me my iPad and styluses are like my art supplies because I use them as tools to create art. Apart from creating art digitally I do work in other traditional mediums as well. I have a protective sheet to protect my work surface so paint does not seep through. I would change that and maybe put on some bright colored  decorative paper to get into the mood to draw.

Disclaimer:  I am not saying that you cannot create art in a cluttered environment. In fact some  artist's do create beautiful masterpieces in a cluttered studio/home. All I am saying is that it just does not work for me.

2) If you have access to an art club or an art meetup or even an art show like the art and wine festival, then I would recommend that you to go there because most artist's are happy to share their art techniques with you. You get to meet with the artist and learn about their art process and help you spark your own creativity. 

3) For me while creating art I need to have some music to get into the mood. New age music is my favorite genre and it is always playing in my iPod. But sometimes listening to the same music genre over and over again can get you bored which in turn may not help you to get in the mood to draw. So I would change the music genre  to  Zumba workout songs/dance hits , Pop music or  classical hits.  Because after all change is good!

4) Lately I have been listening to podcasts and audio books a lot. This has helped me get into the mood to create art. Recently I discovered this website-- Librivox  which has tons of audio books for free. Currently I am reading err listening to "Sea Wolf" by Jack London. Recently read online that audible is a good website and has tons of audio books. I have not tried that website yet but will do so in the near  future. If you are listening to a book on audible.com, I would love to know what book are you currently listening or which one got you interested. Do let me know in the comments section below. 

5) If you live in big cities ,then visiting  an art gallery can help you get into the mood to draw. I visited the newly opened SF MoMA recently. I saw lots of contemporary abstract artist's artworks. I got to learn about the artist, their art style and their artistic process from the friendly docent who is also an art teacher. This helped me  to stay inspired and get my creative juices flowing in.

6) Visiting a book store or your local library and reading about art, reading about famous artists , looking at their artworks, learning about their artistic  journey can get you in the spirit of creating art.

7) For me visiting  an art supply store is like being in  paradise. I love checking out  ( and also buying!)  the  arts and craft supplies, what the store has to offer and I  can spend many hours  just browsing around the store. A visit to an art supply store  motivates me to start creating art. 

8)  So what  do you  do if live in the middle of nowhere? Today we are living in the age of smartphones, tablets and  smart watches where everything is a click away. I would look online for inspiration.  My favorite website is the Museum of Modern Art , New York -- moma.org/collection. This website has tons of information of modern and contemporary  artists.   I like  looking  into the artist artworks, reading  about them and try to understand what elements worked so well for them and make them work for me.  Another favorite  website of mine is the Google Arts and Culture website. This website features content from over 1200 leading museums. There are tons of articles to get you motivated. 

9) Sometimes I would just pick up my coloring book and start coloring without worrying too much about the end result. This helps me get  in the mood to start my own art project. If I don't like the pages in my coloring book I would check up Pinterest  as they have tons of coloring pages for free  and I can start coloring right away. 

10) Another way to stay inspired is You Tube. Today lots of artists host live stream's in their you tube channel. I feel inspired just by watching them paint/create art. Or I would paint along with the artist just for fun and learn a technique or two which not only energizes me but  I can incorporate it onto   my own art  project. 

11) Sometimes if I don't want to look online for inspiration then I would look offline for inspiration. I mean  like checking up local TV listings for inspiration. My current favorites are Painting with Wilson Bickford, The Beauty of Oil Painting, Landscapes through Time, Gary Spetz's Watercolor, Painting with Paulson, Wayland's Art Studio, Painting Wild Places, Make it Artsy by Julie Fae-Fan Balzer and of-course Bob Ross TV show-- The Joy of Painting. Although I don't paint in Oils I like watching the show as I can use the artist's  art process/techniques  onto  my paintings.

So do you have a favorite method to get into the mood to create art? If so I would love to hear your tips on how you would go about getting into the mood of creating art in the comments section below. 

If you like articles like this  then please consider subscribing to my blog because every time I  put up a post, you will be the first to know. 

As always Thank you for your time and your comments. Your comments make my day.

Links Referenced:




Audible books-- http://www.audible.com/














Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Sunnyvale Art Club's 2017 Annual Art show at the Sunnyvale Library

The Sunnyvale Art Club's annual art show happened this weekend at the Sunnyvale Public Library. This was a juried show. Name of the Judge: Jose Luis Andrade. He is an instructor at the Arthub academy located at Saratoga CA. Website: http://www.arthub.academy/jose-luis-andrade

Show dates : June 17,2017 from 12 noon to 6 pm (Saturday) and June 18,2017 from 12 noon to 5 pm (Sunday) at the Sunnyvale Public Library  665 West Olive Avenue, Sunnyvale, CA 94086.

This show was a memorable one for me because not only did I win 3rd place under mixed media category, I also sold my painting -- Tribute to Cecil. 

Here are some pictures of the show:

Note: I won 3rd place for the Tiger painting seen in the picture and I sold the Lion painting seen here (Tribute to Cecil)
Note: Tiger painting details:
Title: Tiger,Tiger, Burning Bright
Medium: Pen and Ink ( Mixed media category)
3rd place winner under mixed media category

Lion Painting details:
Title: Tribute to Cecil
Medium: Pen and Ink with Colored pencils  ( mixed media category)
Price: SOLD !

These are only 2 paintings that I entered this year for the show.

Selfie with the judge of the show: Jose Luis Andrade

Here is a close up picture of my SOLD  painting:

Title: Tribute to Cecil
Medium: Pen and Ink with Colored Pencils on Watercolor paper
Price: SOLD !

Here is a close up of my Tiger painting

Title: Tiger,Tiger, Burning Bright
Medium: Pen and Ink
3rd place winner under mixed media category


Some more pictures of the show and  fantastic artworks of other art club members are below:

Note: Visitors admiring artworks 

Visitors admiring artworks 

Artwork of Angelo Lopez

Art Demo by an art club member-- Mat Coutney  outside the Sunnyvale Library


The judge giving his critique on artworks


Beautiful artwork by Cathy Ordonez


Beautiful paintings by Lavonne Carrick

Diana with her beautiful paintings


Suzanne with her stunning animal artworks and also a wildlife enthusiast
Some pictures of art club members who worked behind the scenes to make this show possible:

Club members discussing logistics on how to display artworks! 


Photographing artworks -- Barbara Wilson with Lavonne 

Setting up panels to display artworks


This is how it looks after show set up.


Picture of postcard created for the show by an  art club member

Show postcard for 2017

I thankful for being a part of this vibrant art community. And I also thank everyone who worked towards making this show a success. I would like to specially thank Suzanne who is a  superb wildlife artist and a wildlife enthusiast for purchasing my artwork -- Tribute to Cecil.  Thank you again.


Update: I came  to know that we had about 1000 visitors who attended this show that weekend.

"Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much." -- Helen Keller 




Thursday, April 27, 2017

You are invited to the Spring Auxiliary Boutique at the Sunnyvale Community Services


I would like to invite you all to the Sunnyvale Community Services Spring Boutique happening on Saturday May 13,2017 9 am to 4 pm at the Sunnyvale Community Services--- 725 Kifer Road, Sunnyvale CA 94086 ( between Wolfe & Fair oaks)

100% of proceeds benefit Sunnyvale community services. 

Website: Sunnyvale Community Services

This event is hosted by the SCS Auxilary.

This year I am a part of the Auxiliary team and you can find some of my origami  greeting cards, minion themed pencil pouches and cell phone cases.

Here is a picture of the my contribution to the Boutique


Title:  My contribution to the Spring Boutique Items for 2017

Update: I came to know that the show was a success and fun. I sold all my items pictured above.


Here is the postcard of the Spring Boutique.





In other news, the Sunnyvale Art Club had its monthly meeting on April 20,2017. The monthly competition theme was " Flowers". My painting won 3rd place at this show. After doing an iPad painting of waterlilies , I wanted to create a traditional painting as well. So did this one with a combination of watercolor pencils and colored pencils polychromos. I used 140 pound cold pressed watercolor paper for this one.

Here is a picture:

Title: Monet's Waterlily
Medium: Colored pencils and Watercolor pencils on watercolor paper
Size: 9.5" x 7.5"
I thank you all for your time for visiting my blog. I will leave you with a quote from Claude Monet for you to ponder on.

"It took me time to understand my water lilies. I had planted them for the pleasure of it; I grew them without ever thinking of painting them."-- Claude Monet


Friday, February 24, 2017

Feliz Cumpleanos !!

Feliz Cumpleanos to Creative Jayu's Blog as we are celebrating its 7th birthday today.  I created this animated gif for this occasion. This is done using an iPad only.


Title: Feliz Cumpleanos
Medium: iPad Art

After that I got hooked and created more animated GIFs. So here are some more done using the iPad.




Title: Minions !

Below animated GIFs are my very first animated GIFs

Title: Its a Beautiful Day!

Title: Hello there!

This painting below is for the Feb 2017 Facebook group Art Challenge. This is at Lisa's FB group at Lachri Fine Art. The theme for this month's challenge is " Things in Trees." I used my own reference picture for this challenge.

Here is my entry for this month's art challenge

Title: Two is Company
Medium: iPad Art

Update: I thank Lisa for featuring my iPad art seen  above  ( Two is Company) for the Feb 2017 art challenge. Here is the video link Feb 2017 Art Challenge 


 The painting below is for Colored Pencil Magazine's monthly challenge. This challenge is for Nov 2016. Photo reference credit -- Sally Robertson ( Copyright released). Thank you for the picture.

Title: House Guests!
Medium: Colored Pencils on Canson's Acid Free Sketch paper
The painting below is for Colored Pencil Magazine's monthly challenge. This challenge is for Sept 2016. Photo reference credit -- Sally Robertson ( Copyright released). Thank you for the picture.

Title: Needle and Thread
Medium: Colored pencils on Canson's Acid Free Sketch paper, Ball point pen for numbers

The painting below is for Colored Pencil Magazine's monthly challenge. This challenge is for Oct 2016. Photo reference credit -- Sally Robertson ( Copyright released). Thank you for the picture.

Title: Indian Corn
Medium: Colored Pencils on Canson's Acid Free Sketch paper
I created this  quick doodle ( see below) for the BBC ( Blue Blotch  Challenge ) challenge that takes place at the " The Mobile Artist Collective"  Facebook group. This is done using an iPad.

Title: Fishing Anyone?
Medium: iPad Art
Apps used: Procreate

I took part in Kathryn Costa's Mandalafest 2016. Here are some of my mandalas I created during the class.

Title: For Mandalafest 2016
Medium: Colored pencils


Title: Mandalafest 2016
Medium: Colored digitally using the iPad
The painting below is inspired from the book  -- Enchanted Fairies.

Title: Enchanted Fairies
Medium: Colored Pencils only


For Lisa's FB group challenge for March 2017 the theme is Water or something to do with it. Here is my entry

Title: Waterlily
Medium: iPad Art
Apps used: Paper by 53 and Procreate

Update: I would like to thank Lisa from Lachri Fine Art for featuring my Waterlily painting. Here is the video link for you to watch--  March 2017 Art Challenge


Painting below is entry for Color Pencil Magazine monthly challenge for Feb 2017. Thanks to Sally Robertson for reference picture ( Copyright Released)

Title: Feathers and Butterflies
Medium: Kohinoor Woodless Color Pencils and Butterfly Stickers on an acid free drawing paper.

I thank you all for hopping onto my blog. See you soon with another blog post.

" Keep your face to the Sunshine and you cannot see the Shadows."