new work and new series

New painting in my Etsy shop, Harvest Moon.

Harvest Moon in progress.

Like birthing a child, some works of art can be a lot more laborious and complicated than others.  My latest piece, Harvest Moon, was one of these works.  It was as if I was working in slow motion the entire time; everything just seemed to take twice as long.  Like any other work, I had to get over that hump, but that marker was pushed much further into the creative process of this painting.   The most difficult section of this work was, surprisingly, the water.  I had initially painted some natural ripples in the water.  Ultimately, I didn't like how it looked with the green zigzag, so I painted over the waves. 

The painting came out a little more linear than expected, but I am very happy with the finished piece.  I like that it has a retro Atari vibe to it.  Pong anyone?

close-up of finished painting

And I normally keep the sides of my wood panels natural, but I went for a darker look with this piece.  Think wood paneling on an 80's station wagon.  Yes.

After a great experience [albeit challenging] with the 30 works in 30 days project, I wanted to start another series.  You may remember the box of vintage note cards I scored at an estate sale last year.  Some of them are handwritten and others typed, but all of them have something to do with plants.

I like working with vintage and found objects.  There's already a story there that I've now become a part of.  And I love the idea of making treasures out of ordinary or expendable objects.    

I don't have a timeline or a number of completed pieces in mind for the vintage note card art series.  I figured I would get to at least 20 and see how I feel.  I priced the pieces at $25, which I think is fairly reasonable for small, original works of art.  Overall, a series like this is more work than one large painting, but if it means the start of a one-of-a-kind art collection for a buyer, it is well worth it to me.