New Sketch & Naming Contest!

I have a new sketch to share with you all tonight! I have decided to create a series of witches with fruits and outfits based off of those fruits. Fruits are so beautiful and delicious. I find their colors, textures and shapes very inspiring, so I can't wait to design outfits to reflect that. I also have many fall and Halloween themed witches, so I thought it might be fun to fill out my portfolio with paintings featuring witches in a whole different way.

For my first witch in the series, I decided to feature strawberries! I love their pinky-red color, bright green leaves and the texture of the seeds. They are also very yummy! This cute witch, dressed in all her strawberry themed garb, is perched atop a gorgeous strawberry. I will add a background when I create the lines in Photoshop. I plan on creating a stripe design with a scalloped/lace type effect on the top and bottom with some polka dots. I should start on those lines very soon. I hope you all like the first witch in the series!

I will also be having a naming contest for her! If you would like to participate, please post your name suggestion below. You can post as many names as you like and you can also post if you've won a contest of mine previously. I always choose the name that I feel suits the piece best regardless if you have won before or not. The person that suggests the name I pick will win a 5x7" print of the finished piece! Thanks so much to all who participates. I plan on announcing the winner as soon as I post the digital line version which should be fairly quickly. I'm going to have a lot of time over the holiday weekend to work on her, so make sure to get your names in!

Weekly Wrap-Up #19!

Hi everyone! It's been a few weeks since my last wrap up, so I have a lot of stuff that I need to catch you up on!

I've been having a lot of fun in my "off" time lately. My husband took us to this awesome dine-in theater for our date night a couple weeks ago. They had tables set up in the movie theater and you got to eat while you watched the movie! It was a lot of fun and definitely an experience trying to eat and order off a menu in the dark lol.

We watched Thor which was really, really good!! I knew nothing about the movie going into it, so that's always a lot of fun. I highly recommend seeing it if you're into comic books, fantasy or if you just like a good story. I love the way they combined science and magic and the way they fought in the movie was so cool! You just have to see it to fully appreciate it. The costumes and scenery were also top notch. I've actually seen it again since then and would probably go see it again! I saw it in 3D both times, so I would definitely recommend that as well.

My husband and I also started playing a game that we used to play all the time called EverQuest. It's the original EverQuest that came out in the late 90's. It's a massively, multiplayer online role playing game were you choose a class (like cleric, mage, rogue, etc...) and play with other people to conquer monsters and other bad guys! My husband and I actually met while playing this game almost...wow...8 years ago now. And we also met our best friend through the game as well and many other good friends that we continue to stay in contact with. So, it holds a lot of sentimental value to us.

The game was released in 1999 and has evolved since then into a totally different game. They're continually adding expansion packs and changing things, so playing the real game now is nothing like when we used to play it. But they opened this special type of server called a progression server. Basically it starts out as if the game first launched and they gradually release the expansions as they originally released them. So it's like starting the game all over again! We have been enjoying it greatly and it's a fun way to spend our free time together.

Ok enough jibber jabber...onto the art! I have a lot of stuff to tell you about art-wise. The most exciting thing is, I finished a brand new painting!! I also have Giselle prints and products ready for you to buy, there's a Rosalie blog giveaway to tell you about, Creative Design Outlet has a new tube pack of mine and Uniquely Different Bags has some brand new purses out featuring my artwork!

Mina - New Original Mermaid Painting

Here is my brand new painting, Mina!! She measures 8x10" and was painted in watercolor and ink. I was thrilled to finally be able to paint a piece inspired by tattoo art. I have long admired tattoo art and felt the need to paint something that shows that admiration and this is what I came up with!

I enjoyed adding all the different tattoo inspired elements like the banner, heart, anchor, roses and the swallow tattoo on her side. I tried to keep the colors somewhat traditional to further make the piece feel tattoo inspired.

The banner reads "Return to Me." While I had something in mind when I came up with those words, I will leave it up to you to decide what they mean to you. I'm sure depending on your situation it will mean something different to each of you, but hopefully you will find meaning in it some way!

The original of Mina has been sold and will be going to a wonderful home! But prints and products of Mina will soon be available. She will also be submitted to all the companies that I license with so that means stamps, purses, cross stitch charts, tubes and more will soon be available as well. 

 

Giselle Products are Now Available

Prints and products featuring my new painting Giselle, are now available on my website and in my Etsy store! Giselle is now available on ACEO, 5x7 and 8x10" prints, stickers, magnets, bookmarks, buttons, pocket mirrors and printable coloring pages!

To view Giselle prints and products on my website, click here.

To view Giselle prints and products in my Etsy store, click here.

 

Rosalie Blog Print Giveaway

I was recently contacted by vvb32 who runs a really fun blog. She asked if I would be interested in contributing a piece for a pirate blog giveaway. Of course I said yes! Who could say no to a pirate giveaway? Anywho, she will be giving away a 5x7" print of my pirate, Rosalie. All you have to do is visit my website, find your favorite item/print/image and post it on her blog in the comment section under my giveaway! That simple! You have from now until May 29th to enter.

To view the Rosalie giveaway, click here. 

 

New Tube Pack from Creative Design Outlet

Creative Design Outlet has released a new tube package featuring three of my newest images! This pack includes Constance, my 2nd Steampunk in my Portrait series, Giselle, my new Roman inspired mermaid and Heather, my gothic throne witch with all her winged kitty friends! You can buy them separately or as a pack at a reduced price. These are fantastic for making all sorts of custom web graphics! 

To view and purchase my new tube pack, click here.

 

New Purses from Uniquely Different Bags

Uniquely Different Bags is the company that makes all of my purses and they have some fantastic new purses available featuring my newest and most popular images! Be sure to visit my section in their Etsy shop to see all of the possible selections. Also, if there is a particular image of mine you would like on a purse, but don't see it listed, just contact their store or myself and they will make one custom for you!

To view and purchase my purses, click here.

 

Well, that's it for this week! In the coming week, I plan on starting a new piece. I'm toying around with a few ideas and just waiting for my muse to take hold and tell me which one I should work on next. I have been commissioned to paint a witch with frogs and I have a couple ideas about that one! I have also been thinking about starting a digital pinup series of my fantasy girls which would be a lot of fun. And the past couple days, there has been a beautiful moth hanging around outside my door, so I also feel inspired to paint a moth fairy. We'll see what I end up with! Maybe it will be one of those three and maybe it will be something completely different. Hope you all have a great week!

Weekly Wrap-Up #18!

Hi everyone! This past week was an interesting week because I had my wisdom teeth taken out. The dentist has been telling me to get them taken out since I was about 16 years old, but I've put it off until now because I've been terrified! There was really nothing to be afraid of though because it wasn't as bad as I made it out in my head. The worst part for me was the laughing gas they gave you before they put they put you fully asleep. It made me feel like I couldn't breathe. But once I woke up, everything was fine. I had some swelling, but not too much pain...mostly just discomfort. A week and a day has passed and I'm almost back to normal! I have some pain in my jaw when I open my mouth too far, but I'm back on normal food and so glad that they're out!

Now that those are out, I can concentrate on my art once again! Even though I had all that going on, I still have some exciting things to tell you all about. Firstly, I finished a brand new painting, I also created a new sketch for my next painting, Sweet Pea Stamps has released a new set of my rubber stamps and my artwork is now available on fabric transfers as well as fabric patches through Kat's Magical Patches!

New Mermaid Painting - Giselle

I finished up a new painting in the past couple of weeks! Her name is Giselle and she's a beautiful Roman-inspired mermaid. I really enjoyed working on this painting, because it had so many details in it. My favorite part is her hair. I love all the intricate braidwork and flowers in it. I also tried to perfect my hair technique and I think that it's where I want it to be! I found that adding straight black to the shadows really sets everything off and makes the highlights pop.

I also loved the way the columns turned out. I tried a new technique for making them look water stained. I started with tan colors, but then added a very dark purple with a lot of water to make them look like they have been stained over the years. These were also some of the biggest flowers I've painted in a long time. I work in 8x10" size for the most part, so flowers turn out to be teeny tiny. But I made these more of a focal point, so I was actually able to add specific flowers like calla lilies for example.

The original painting of Giselle has been sold and is going to a wonderful home! But, I will soon have prints and products available with her. And, I also still have the original sketch which I will be selling, so be on the lookout for that.

New Mermaid Sketch - Mina

I also created a new sketch this past week which I am SO excited about! I think this will turn out to be one of my favorite paintings that I've done. I've been inspired by tattoo art for a long time, so I finally decided to do a tattoo inspired piece. I loved creating the lighthouse, rope work, anchor, banner, heart, swallow and all the other tattoo... qualities to the piece. I placed the words "Return to Me" in the banner. I thought it was very fitting for the piece, but I'll leave it up to you to create your own story of what that means. =)

I already have a name picked out for this piece. This will be called Mina after the lovely Mina Pike. Mina recently suggested that I needed a Mina mermaid due to the all the flooding in her area lately. I think that the name Mina fits this piece beautifully! I will be working on this piece this coming week. I will definitely finish the linework and hopefully start painting. I will be posting my progress on my fanpage here.

New Rubber Stamp Set Available through Sweet Pea Stamps 

Sweet Pea Stamps has released a new set of my rubber stamps and they are on sale right now!! The new release includes some of my very newest pieces including Vienna, my Valentine's mermaid, Constance, my 2nd steampunk piece and Giselle my newest mermaid! It also includes one of my oldies but goodies, my witch tamer Chandra.

These stamps are originally $19.75, but are currently on sale for $15.50. They are available for preorder right now and will begin shipping May 1st. I have seen these stamps up close and personal and the quality is amazing!! All the details are put into the stamp down to the eyelashes. You will definitely not be disappointed with these! 


View and purchase my new stamp set here.

Kat's Magical Patches - Fabric Transfers and Fabric Patches Now Available

I recently signed a new licensing contract with Kat's Magical Patches which I'm so excited about! This company will create fabric transfers and fabric patches with my artwork on them for you to purchase. You can even sell your finished creations as long as you follow their angel policy on their website. They create the fabric transfers and fabric patches in many different shapes and sizes, so you're sure to find exactly what you would need for your project. Also be sure to join their fanpage on Facebook, because they give out lots of great prizes!


View and purchase my fabric transfers and fabric patches here.

Well, that's it for this week! Next week I hope to work on my new Mina painting. I hope you all have a fabulous week!

15% Off Everything Sale at www.aurella-art.com!

To celebrate the launch of my new website I'm having a 15% off sale on everything in my store!! Get 15% off all my products including prints, stickers, magnets, bookmarks, pocket mirrors, buttons, necklaces, greeting cards, coloring page packs, printables and ceramic tiles! Also, get 15% off original paintings AND commissions! The sale runs for a whole week from now until next Saturday at noon EST. 

Click here to visit my new website and purchase my sale items! 

 

Weekly Wrap-Up #17!

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!

30 Random Facts About Me

I was recently tagged on Facebook to list 30 random facts about me. I had a lot of fun doing it, so I thought I'd share the list here as well!

1. If calories didn't matter, I'd dip pretty much everything in ranch dressing.

2. I never watch the news or read news articles. The only thing I know about current events is reading short headlines on my Yahoo homepage. I've always been the type of person that takes on everyone else's sadness and heartaches. Watching the news will literally disturb me for weeks if I see something that upsets me.

3. I have been a huge gamer my whole life. It all started when I got my Nintendo in 3rd grade. Then I started playing console role playing games when I got my Playstation in high school. Final Fantasy VII was the first one I played. Since then, I got into MMORPGs. I started playing EverQuest and was hooked ever since. I played EverQuest for probably 5 or 6 years. Now my husband and I play World of Warcraft and EverQuest 2 mostly, though we've played many different ones.

4. My husband and I met playing EverQuest. I was a high elf cleric and he was a wood elf rogue...how romantic lol. We talked for months before finally deciding to meet each other. We knew when we met that it was meant to be, but I couldn't stand the thought of having a long distance relationship (he lived in Arizona at the time and I lived in Georgia). So he packed up everything and moved to Georgia to be with me. I couldn't believe that someone would be willing to do something like that for me and I am still thankful to him to this day for making such a sacrifice.

5. I'm afraid of sleeping in a house by myself or being alone at night. On the few occasions my husband has had to go out of town for work, I stayed over my mom's house.

6. Even though I hate being alone at night, I love having time to myself during the day. I love to go to the movies or out to a restaurant by myself.

7. Dealing with the death of my cat Jax was one of the hardest things that I have ever had to cope with. She was gone for a year and half and I still found myself crying over it occasionally. It wasn't until I got my new cat Willow a few months ago that I felt my heart finally mend.

8. I cannot fall asleep at night without either reading a book or watching TV. If I try to just lay there and go to sleep, I will lay there for hours. My mind is constantly running at super fast speed. I have to trick it to turn off by reading or watching a show. And it has to be a show like a documentary. The Universe is my favorite thing to watch while falling asleep.

9. I am a very frugal person and rarely buy something that I don't absolutely need. I haven't bought new clothes in over six months and have worn the same winter shoes for two seasons now and will probably continue to wear them until they fall apart. Flip flops are a whole other story though!

10. Even though I love art, love looking at art and admire so many artists, I don't have a single piece of art hanging on my walls. Actually I have nothing on my walls. I have plenty of artwork and photos to hang up, but I have just never gotten around to doing it.

11. I am probably (ok not probably, I -am-) obsessed with Harry Potter. Not Harry Potter the person, but the whole world of Harry Potter. I love the books, movies, theme park...everything! I have read the books and watched the movies more times than I can count. If I could live in the world of Harry Potter, I would. And my love of painting witches comes more from Harry Potter than anything else.

12. I take turns eating everything on my plate and I will have one bite of everything left on my plate for my last round. Say I'm eating a breakfast platter at IHOP and it has pancakes, hash browns, eggs and bacon. I come up with an order, usually pancakes first, then hash browns, then eggs and then bacon. I take one bite of everything and continue in that manner until I get down to my last bite. And I will have one perfect bite of everything left on the plate! My husband always makes fun of me for it and tries to take my last bite of bacon to screw everything up.

13. I find it really difficult to be brief (as you can see from this list). It always seems to take a lot of words to get across what I mean and even when I use a lot of words, I sometimes feel like my meaning is not getting across. That's why I never got into using Twitter. I could never think of anything to say in the amount of characters you're allowed.

14. I have a big fear of forgetting to pay my bills! I keep a super organized spreadsheet of when my bills are due and put confirmation numbers for all of my payments. I look at it and my bank account all the time to make sure all my bills are taken care of for that month. I don't even have that many bills and don't know why I'm so fearful, but I just am.

15. I hate the sun! Sometimes I think I'm a vampire. But overcast days are my absolute favorite type of days. And if it's raining or thunder storming? Even better! Sunny days actually make me grumpy sometimes.

16. I have absolutely no desire to own a home. It just seems like way too much work to me and with the way the housing market is right now, it makes me not want to even more. Even though I feel like I'm supposed to one day own a home, because that's what normal people do, I just don't want to!

17. I own a teeny tiny two door cranberry Toyota Yaris and it is one of the best things I have ever purchased! I love that it's so small. It almost feels like I'm driving a golf cart. I also only fill up the tank once a month! And I drive probably about 30 minutes or more a day. It's fantastic.

18. Sometimes I think I should be a vegetarian, because certain meat really grosses me out. But I don't think I could give up hamburgers, chicken fingers or pepperoni pizza.

19. I don't ever cook even though I really enjoy it! I just never have time to make anything with how full my days are. Occasionally, I will make a steak dinner for my husband, but usually we survive on frozen meals, sandwiches and tacos and I feel really guilty about it.

20. I have always slept on my right side curled up in a ball. I broke my collar bone on my right side a few years ago and had to learn to sleep on my left side. It was really difficult.

21. I don't like when people buy me flowers. Even though I love looking at flowers, I just really don't like dealing with cut flowers. They always die and shed their petals everywhere. You have to change the water or it gets stinky. My cats try and eat them. It just seems like a lot of money to spend on something that you can only enjoy for a couple days.

22. Me and my husband are homebodies. We don't like parties or going out that much. Our favorite place to be is at home with each other.

23. I am not a big music person. I don't listen to it all that much and it generally gets on my nerves unless I'm in just the right mood to listen to it which is not very often. I'm pretty picky about music too and like a lot of soundtracks like...you guessed it...Harry Potter and I'm also really big into the Twilight series soundtracks. I think they're fantastic. Most of the stuff they play on the radio, I don't really enjoy. There may be a song or two on the radio that I like here or there, but when I find a song I like, I listen to it so much that I get sick of it and don't want to listen to it ever again.

24. I am a HUGE worrier. I worry about literally everything. When I say, type or do something, I always second guess myself and worry that it wasn't the right thing to say, type or do. I feel like I live my life in a constant state of panic and wish that I could be more confident about my actions and not worry all the time. I think that's why I enjoy art so much. When I'm able to paint, it's one of the few times during the day where I can just lose myself and enjoy the here and now.

25. I don't think I could survive without my husband. He is my soul mate and is everything to me. He is my life.

26. Naps are one of my favorite things in the whole world. If I could take a nap every day, I definitely would. My favorite part of taking a nap, is being able to lay down and know that I don't have to do anything for the next few hours (yes, I take long naps lol). Those 15-20 minutes while I'm watching TV, waiting for sleep to take me is absolutely bliss.

27. I cannot stand to sit around without a blanket on my lap. Even during the summer, I make sure the air is low enough so that I can comfortably have a blanket on me at all times.

28. I change into my pajamas the second I get home. It doesn't matter what time of the day it is, but I will put on my comfy fleece pants and sweatshirt. I can't stand being in regular clothes (jeans, sweaters, etc...) when I'm just hanging around at home.

29. I love going out to eat! I enjoy the whole experience of going to a restaurant and having a yummy meal cooked for you while spending time with people that you care about. Then, I love when they clean it all up too! If I wasn't concerned about money or eating healthy, I would eat out every night for sure.

30. I am proud of what I've accomplished so far in my artistic career, but no matter how successful I become I will still feel like I'm not good enough. But I don't think that's a bad thing, because I'm a very stubborn person. That "not good enough feeling", pushes me to become better and better and I think that's how I have been able to accomplish what I've accomplished so far.

Weekly Wrap-Up #16!

This week was very productive and fun! I got a lot of things done art-wise, but also got to do some fun things in my personal life. This Wednesday was date night for me and my husband. We are trying to have a date night once every 2-3 weeks and we alternate who plans them. This week was his turn! We started out by having a nice dinner at Dave & Busters which is half restaurant half huge arcade. Their food is really good! I had the BBQ pork sliders with cole slaw...super yummy! After dinner, we walked around the mall a little, had ice cream (Cold Stone - Cake Batter w/ Cookie Dough...ooooh yeaaah) and browsed around the bookstore. The bookstore is one of my favorite places! I love looking at all the books, but I only wish I had more time to read. I've actually switched to books on tape just because I have to multi-task and do artwork while listening to a book! But I still absolutely love bookstores.

After that, we went to see the new movie Red Riding Hood! I was super excited to see this movie. I think it had one of the best trailers that I've ever seen. The one shot in the trailer when she's walking up the snow covered mountain and her long red cloak blows in the wind is just so gorgeous. I don't want to give away any spoilers, so I won't say too much. The movie didn't quite live up to my expectations, but it was fairly entertaining. I'd save your movie money though and wait for it to come out on DVD. Just my two cents! But all in all, we had a great night and of course I always love spending time with my husband!

On the art front, I've been super busy as always. Production on a new website for my artwork is underway, I also have a brand new sketch to show you all, I have started offering Daily Etsy Specials, and I have a brand new Facebook Fan Page!

New Website for The Fantasy Art of Nikki Burnette

I have had my website for about...wow..almost 3 or 4 years now. I knew that it was time for an overhaul and a redesign. I've outgrown it in many ways and also wanted to change the look. I have heard of Weebly for quite some time, but was recently inspired by fellow fantasy artist Kristin Palmer to actually give Weebly a try! By the way, check out Kristin's gorgeous website and her beautiful artwork!

Just a little off topic, but for all you artists out there that are wondering how to get a website, Weebly is a FANTASTIC resource for you! It is 100% free. They have an upgraded version, but I don't think it's super necessary and I haven't gotten it yet, though I may in the future just to support such a wonderful company. They host all your pictures and will even give you a domain name. I promise I'm not a Weebly employee, but I have had many questions from artists just starting out and accomplished artists about how to set up and maintain a website with a shopping cart. I now know where I will be sending everyone who asks from now on! They have many features that my old website company didn't have that I was paying $20 bucks a month for! It's super easy to use and maintain. I just can't wait until it's all done so I can start using it more frequently!

But, I digress, my husband is currently helping me build the website and adding my hundreds of product listings! I am working on creating a lot of custom graphics to tweak the standard website templates they have to make it a bit more custom and special for me. I am loving the way it's shaping up and cannot wait to show you all! It will be much easier to navigate and find what you're looking for. Plus, everything will be 100% up to date and will hopefully stay that way.

For now, here's a little teaser image! Oh and here's a link to Weebly for those who are interested.

New Roman Mermaid Sketch + Naming Contest

This week, I also created a brand new sketch for my next painting. I have had this image in my head for awhile and it was finally time to draw her out. I love all my paintings to be very different, so drawing mermaids who are fairly limited to the water can sometimes be a little difficult. I always try to think of new and interesting places to put them! A Roman Bathhouse popped into my head and thought that would be perfect. I had so much fun designing her Roman mermaid clothes and the intricate flowers in the vase on either side of her.

I am also having another naming contest for her! Just visit my Facebook page here and suggest a name under her photo. The person who suggests the name I pick will win a 5x7" print of the finished piece! I will announce the winner of the naming contest when I post the finished digital lines which should be later on today or early next week, so get your names in quick if you want to be considered!

Daily Etsy Specials

I am having a Daily Etsy Special!! Well, hopefully daily (no guarantees), but it will be very frequently! I announce my Daily Etsy Specials on my Facebook page, so make sure to join!

Here's how it works:

Every day on Etsy, I significantly discount ONE item for around 24 hours. The special will run roughly from 5:00 pm EST to 5:00 pm EST the following day. Each time I start a new daily special, I will add a photo on my Facebook page with a link to that product so that you can easily see what's on special for the day.

If someone purchases the item, I will relist it at the same discounted price until 5:00 pm EST the following day. If you don't see the item in my store, it means that I haven't had a chance to relist it. You can always message me during the daily special time period to lock in your order if you're afraid you won't be on to purchase when I relist it.

There are no substitutions! The special is for that image and product type only. For instance, if a Rona Pocket Mirror is on sale, you can't get the special price for a Bryanne Pocket Mirror, only Rona.

To view any specials I have currently, just visit my Etsy store! It should be the first product in the "Featured Products" at the very top of the page. Or you can search "sale" in my store. If you have any questions at all, please contact me!

Facebook Fan Page

Join my new Facebook Fan Page here!

In all honesty, when I set out to get started on Facebook, my intentions were to make a Facebook Fan Page and not a personal page for my artwork. I made the page and started to get things set up, navigated away from it and could not figure out how to get back to my fan page! I was so frustrated, I just gave up and made a personal page lol. They've made things a lot easier now and since my friend space on my personal page is quickly filling up, I decided to make a Fan Page for you all to enjoy as well!

I plan on maintaining both pages, but it's best to join my Fan Page even if you're a member of my personal page just in case that changes in the future. If you're at all interested in my art, I'd love for you to come and join me! Thanks so much. =)

Well, that's it for this week! In this coming week, I plan on finishing up a commissioned logo painting. I was commissioned to paint a portion of the logo and then combine it with some existing elements I already have and add text to create a finished logo. I hope to show you all that after I'm all done! I will also be working on my Roman mermaid piece, continue working on my website and hopefully squeeze in some time to work on the vinyl products I told you all about last week. Have a great week everyone!