Hi everyone! Another week has come and gone. We've had unseasonably chilly temperatures and a lot of rain here lately, but I'm not complaining! I hate the heat, so the longer we have these cold temperatures, the happier I am. I am so not looking forward to 90 degree super humid days.
I've been busy at work doing a lot of art stuff of course! This week I have a lot to show and tell you all about. I have finished the Photoshop lines on my new Giselle roman mermaid piece and have inked them on the final watercolor paper as well.Creative Design Outlet has released three new images of mine as tubes! I have another original sketch for sale. New postcards are on the way and I have an original embroidered hoop art to show you all. And finally, my new website is almost complete, but I'm trying to flesh out my links section, so there will be more information about that below as well!
Giselle - Roman Mermaid - New Painting
I have been diligently working on my newest painting, Giselle! I have finished the digital lines in Photoshop which will be available as a rubber stamp and a coloring page sometime in the future. Then, I transferred the lines to my watercolor paper and did the final inking. She's all ready to be painted now and I will definitely have some work in progress pictures to show you all very soon!
New Tubes - Creative Design Outlet
Creative Design Outlet has released three of my images as tubes this past week! It's a pack of three mermaids which is perfect since spring is here and summer is right around the corner. This pack includes Vienna, my Valentine's mermaid (but hearts and pink are fun year round!), Juliana, a pretty mermaid with sunflowers, and Emmy, my rainbow mermaid! If you enjoy using Paint Shop Pro or Photoshop to create digital graphics for Facebook, websites, Myspace, etc.... you should really check out Creative Design Outlet! You can use them for many things as long as they are for personal use only. Definitely a very fun and affordable way to use my artwork to make new creations of your own.
To view and purchase my new tube pack click
here.
Original Sketch on Etsy - Amara
I released a few new sketches on Etsy this past week. A couple of them have sold already, but there is one new one left I wanted to tell you all about! Amara is available in my Etsy store as an original sketch. Amara was my Art Nouveau inspired mermaid. The original is already gone, but you can still own the sketch that the painting was based on! She is only $30 and also comes with an ACEO open edition print of the finished piece.
To view and purchase my Amara sketch, click
here.
New Product Prototype - Postcards
I've noticed that postcards are becoming super popular! They are definitely one of my biggest sellers in my Zazzle store, so I really wanted a way for you all to purchase them directly from me for those that prefer to purchase directly from the artist. I decided to offer them in 4x6" size which is a print size previously not offered by me. I thought this might be fun so that you can either purchase them to be used as postcards or you can purchase them to collect my prints!
I know that 4x6" is often a preferred size for smaller prints, because you can put them in any standard photo album. My postcards will have rounded corners which I just love and they will come in sets of 6 (3 unique images - 2 copies of each). They have a full color image on the front and a faint line drawing of the image on the back. I am currently still testing them. I sent a few through the mail to see how they hold up, but they should be available very soon!
Original Hand Embroidered Hoop Art
In the past, before I started selling my art, I loved to do crafty things like needlepoint, cross-stitch, crochet, etc... I really missed doing things like that, but could never find a way to fit them into my schedule. But this past week, I thought of a way to combine my art and needlework to create a unique, one of a kind, original piece of artwork to hang in your home!
What I did was print out my fairy, Arden, onto cotton fabric. Then I placed her in a 6" natural wood embroidery hoop and hand embroidered various details with floss. For Arden, I chose to embroider the flowers in her hair and mask. I used a very pale yellow color. Then to add an extra special touch, I sewed in orange seed beads in the center of each flower.
To finish off the look and to make her ready to hang, I tied a black satin ribbon onto the screw on the top of the embroidery hoop. I also tacked down the fabric in the back, placed a heavy backing board to cover up the back of the stitches and signed and titled the back.
I really hope you all enjoy this new creation! I will be making more very soon and would love to take any special requests for any of my images you would like to see as original hand embroidered hoop art.
To view and purchase my Arden Hand Embroidered Hoop Art click
here.
Link Exchange
My new website is almost complete! But there are a few sections that still need to some work. One of those is the links section. In the past, there have been people I have promised links to, so please let me know if you are one of those people so that I can add your link on my new website! Also, if you currently link to my existing website or would like to exchange links with me, I would be more than happy to do so. Just send me a link to your website and/or any banner that you would like to use. Also, I would love to promote the blogs/websites of those who use my rubber stamps, tubes, cross stitch designs, etc...! So if you'd like me to link to you, please let me know. You can email me at nikki@aurella-art.com send me a message through Facebook. Thank you so much!
Well, that's it for this week! In this coming week, I hope to paint, paint, paint! Even though my husband is building the website, it has still taken up a lot of my time creating custom graphics or helping with the overall layout. So I'm hoping once it is up and running, I will have a lot more time to paint! I will be working on Giselle all week and probably thinking of ideas for my next sketch. Have a great week everyone!
