Until I Get Organized...

Ok. It's September ninth. If you've been paying attention, that means it's nine days after I was supposed to release the new greeting cards.

Oops.

As it turns out, I contacted my local printer a bit late, and she was off to Yellowstone. Awesome for her, bummer for me. So the cards aren't even printed yet.

And, um, I haven't really finished painting them either.

So, let's see, until I get organized here are some pictures of the first two cards.

There was translation confusion on that second one. I kind of forgot to check the NIV before I started.  That may be due, in part, to the fact that I was watching an episode of Miss Marple. Thankfully, I was able to tweak it, and it's now Good News Translation. Phew.

Ok, I'm gonna paint now.

Don't worry. I will definitely nail down which translation I'm using before I start.

logical explanation

"For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory" 2 Corinthians 4:17 (KJV)

When I read that in the King James Version, I thought of C.S. Lewis.

When I thought of C.S. Lewis, I decided to go see if I could find a quote from that essay.

Then I kind of got sidetracked because I found a lot of awesome quotes by him. None of these are from Weight of Glory. But that's probably ok.

That last one is my favorite due to the song by Brook Fraser entitled, wait for it... The C.S. Lewis Song. :)

Working on the third greeting card which will be the above verse, although I think I'll do it in NIV.

I mean, well, I will be working on it. 'Cause right now I'm searching google for C.S. Lewis quotes and writing a blog post. :)

Tiny Squares Make My Heart Cheerful!

I'm so excited because I'm finally working on the greeting cards!!! Yay! For this first one I have a super fun three-color palette. It's very cheerful and bright- perfect for the verse. (Prov. 17:22a) I had a blast today doing some small things with a paintbrush, so I thought I'd show you one of them. This will be the bottom of the card, and you can see that it's marked off with masking tape.

See, cute huh?!

Might I also sneak in this comment- you can still send me your verse ideas for the greeting cards! Until August 25, in fact. So, you know, no hurry or anything... it's just that I might paint them all before you have a chance to get your verse in the running. That's all.

Did I mention that if I use your verse you get a free set of the cards? Hmm, must have missed that before. Well, there's that too. Come to think of it, you might want to send me that idea right away...

Have Brush, Need Practice

Got inspired by an art class and watching some crazy videos on YouTube. Crazy. So I tried to do a portrait, but NONE of them look like the boy I was copying! Grrr. But it was fun, once I got over the fact that they weren't what I wanted. I think I'll have to do more of this, because it was great practice. And considering the fact that all three of these were painted in an attempt to capture a likeness, (consistancy is what we're going for) I'd say I need the practice. :)



How to Hug

I've had octopus on the brain lately. (see earlier post) That's partly why I'm posting this.

But it's mostly because I think it's adorable.

Doesn't this just make you happy? Who thought of this? And why is the sea all crooked?!!!

***

Cards of the Greeting Variety

Ah, rest. Tuesday-Wednesday happens to be my mid-week weekend. That phrase doesn't make sense when you think about it, so don't think about it too hard.

I'm taking the opportunity to work on some Blue Nutmeg stuff today, which has been a long time in coming. Blue Nutmeg is kind of like a garden that has to be weeded and watered all of the time, otherwise it dies. I guess the similarity would continue considering the hours of working on a plot of ground which will produce little improvement except to the eyes of the person working on it. Good thing I like gardening.

But don't talk to me about my real garden right now because it's in desperate need of some weeding, pruning and a few more Salvia. (May Night really is the best)

Anyway, what I needed to work on was ideas for my new line of greeting cards that will be released on Sept 1! It's gonna be awesome. I have a couple verses in mind, but nothing's set in stone. So if you have any verses that you love and think would be appropriate for a greeting card, let me know!!! I'm trying to make them diverse, so I need verses for celebration, congratulations, sympathy, get-well, thinking-of-you, birthday, anniversary, graduation, etc. (I'm not sure there's a Bible verse that specifically congratulates someone on their wedding anniversary, but I'm just throwing stuff out there. It's my weekend, ok!)

I'm super excited about this! I will choose four verses and put them in a set, but I might do more sets in the future, so feel free to suggest MANY verses!

I almost forgot the best part- if I use your suggestion in the final product, you'll receive a free set of the cards when they're done!

So, you can comment on this blog post, write on my facebook page, or email me @ blue.nutmeg.art@gmail.com with your ideas. I'll be waiting!

Now, I really want to get off the computer, so I think I'm going to go paint. :)

Tidy Website, Messy Brain

Hello. Well, I spent a lot of time sometime last week (or was it two weeks ago?) tidying up my website pictures. I got the scans on a DVD, put watermarks on all of them, resized them so Etsy wouldn't freak out when I loaded them, cropped a ton of close ups, and put them on my Etsy site. Almost. Ok, so I did half of them.

Then I forgot.

Yeah. Kinda forgot that I was doing it at all, and continued on my merry way. I could blame it on a summer mindset, but the truth is, this can and does happen to me in any given season.

So, this morning, I thought to myself  "I should check on my webs- MY WEBSITE!"

And that is why I spent some time today fixing it. Done! I think it looks much nicer, plus it shows the white border that's on all of my prints now. (framing issues: solved)

Ok, that's all. You should go check it out.

www.etsy.com/shop/bluenutmeg