Caution Wet Pixels

My New Year's resolution for 2013, in terms of my studio business, has started this month! I am making a habit to keep my blogging up to date with the current activities about what is going on in the studio, my artistic pursuits, and my life in general! This has been something fans/friends/followers have been asking me about. The idea was there but the action was on the backbunner, as it took me awhile to learn how to effectively juggle motherhood and the studio.

First line of business, I am completely booked up with commissions for the remainder of this year and have already started booking commissions for 2013. I have been working quietly and consistently on artwork through the years but haven't posted a lot of it online. I just didn't have the time when I became a first time mother and before that, it was seen as a conflict of interest with a previous employer I had.

However, I am back with my art and photography as a full time business and have free reign to do whatever I please with my work, from posting online, to bringing life to my "dark" sided creations once again. I have been doing a lot of conceptual photography work dealing with human form and figure which comes as a relief to me. I have been keeping a lot of that type of work quiet and to myself, suppressed as it was. I have been slowly introducing this body of work into my current works, slowly, so as not to scare people!

Caution, wet pixels....paint? A lot of the work I am doing is digital mixed media pieces and digital paintings. Which has been great, now that I have an active (very active) 17 month old who is INTO EVERYTHING. Not having true wet paint around is a fabulous thing at this stage! My digital mixed media work is typically traditional artwork combined with digital or photography combined with digital work, or all of the aforementioned. Digital painting is painting done just as you would with real painting, only digitally. There are no photographs used as a foundation in a TRUE digital painting.



Work in Progress, a Digital Painting; Started as a pencil sketch and was scanned and painted using Photoshop's wet media no. 9 in various sizes and opacity and a flow set to 75%.


 

I wanted to emphasize TRUE digital painting as there are a load of photographers these days applying textures to photography and labeling that work as a "digital" painting, when in fact by digital art standards employed by digital artists, that is incorrect. A digital painting is a painting done in its entirety from start to finish as a sketch and then painted digitally using Photoshop, Painter, ProCreate, etc.

I am working on video tutorials right now and can't wait to unveil them! Production is taking a little longer than I wanted, but I am a perfectionist and must have EVERYTHING perfect before posting them publicly! They will be worth the wait for sure! 

My real life has been hectic. I have a 16 month old who is into everything and I have very little help. My sitters haven't been able to commit to a schedule or they just don't want to come "way out in the country". I have made the decision to enroll my son in a daycare, which happens to be right up the street from my house (walking distance really). It will be good for socialization and learning in general!

Also, I have been diligently redoing my websites and my fanpages. Currently my Shadow Horse Studios Fanpage is in a state of chaos, as I arrange folders and artwork! Be patient, I am only human, as much as I try to convince myself otherwise ;p

Well, bye bye for now!

Change Is In The Air

That's right folks, change is in the air...

With my photography having taken on its own identity and grown exponentially over the first year since creating a separate identity for it, I have come to a decision! One that was not made with a heavy heart but a sense of relief.  You can read more about my photography here, GEPP Blog.

What is the decision you ask? I am phasing out all commercial artwork to pursue my own work. It has always been a dream of mine but one I was afraid to make until the birth of my son. I am taking the full plunge back into my fine art. Which means,  I will be creating pieces from my heart, works that I am passionate about, and I will be exhibiting my work a lot more. This means I will also be ablt to accept more commissioned work too! Something I know my collectors/clients will love!

I am interested in the "high" art arena and not the crafty local backyard art and craft shows (though I do participate in a few of those). My long term goal is to pursue the high end galleries and exhibits. It is a reach for now as that is a very hard scene to break into.

I am working on a few bodies of conceptual digital mixed media fine art photography, in addition to a new body of wildlife art and equine art. I am pushing my digital painting techniques to the extreme. Since the birth of my son, I have been quietly experimenting with ideas in relation to the usage of the digital art medium in my studio, looking to develop a style and technique that is all my own- doing something no one else is yet doing!

I have found it too! You will be seeing a whole new "me" coming to life gradually and I look forward to showing you all what I have been diligently working on. It has been an exciting journey.

I will be blogging routinely and keeping everyone informed through my FB. I also have been working on instructional videos for Youtube to share some of my Digital Art based Fine Art Photography in addition to other art based videos.

The entire Shadow Horse Studios site has been revamped, I will be blogging about that experience as well! The shop is nearly up and running there. Loads of artwork to add still, but I do have some photography there too, and resources. I am moving all my resources to the site where they will be available for purchase, so make sure to download the freebies at my website while you can! That is not to say I will not be doing texture/resource giveaways via my FB page anymore, because I certainly will!

Well, that's about it for now!
Until next time...

Getting It Together

I have been busy managing my workload this week. I often cannot fathom how other work at home moms have time to balance a full time business from their home and manage blogging as much as they do, unless of course, they limit the amount of work they take on. But rest assured I will be focusing on this blog and my photography blog in upcoming weeks.

I will have giveaways at both blogs as well as tips and other useful information for everyone, not limited to just fine art/illustration/photography.

I encourage anyone with specific questions about how I organize my time, run my business, and methods I use to create my art to contact me. I will try to address what I can when I have a chance!

Thanks for being patient!

LynZ

Updates & Then Some...

Happy New Year Everyone! 

I am trying to make a habit out of writing in my blog at least once a month.  My New Year started off with a bang!  I have taken on a some commissions which I will be showing here and on my FB Fan page. The first two showcase horses of course! A thoroughbred jumper named Ren and a lovely older Paso Fino gentleman! That is all I will tell you for now. I will continue to post my progress along with photos soon! I am also working on another fantasy piece, a woodland elf maiden but haven't decided what medium to make her in. I am leaning towards watercolors or colored pencil, or perhaps a mixed media approach with those two mediums.

As for my Facebook New Year's giveaway, I am currently offering a custom 6"x6" colored pencil portrait raffle. All you have to do is click like on the offer and your name will be entered into the drawing. The winner will be announced at the end of January! That's it for now!

Later
L.Warren