Voila!

Hello people!

On the final stretches for greeting cards, and even though it's been over a month since I said I was going to have them available, I'm still super excited! *huge grin*

All of you are so completely interested.

You see, today I started and finished the fourth in the set, and I love it. Yay! Not liking your own art is a rather large bummer, and I try to avoid it when I can.

Ok, so now I'm gonna post pictures of the third and fourth cards. I have only one of the third, and... well, today I was excited. I tend to take lots of pictures when I'm excited. Lots.

a C.S. Lewis inspiration

 preliminary sketch

background-I kinda like it on it's own!

let's see if I can come up with something to say for every photo

love the verse- it's so me!

voila!

Available... sometime. Soon.

Sometime soon.

Hopefully.

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

Cover the Sea

Meet Octavius.



He's a little bit shy and somewhat awkward when it comes to shaking hands, but if you keep smiling while he finds the right tentacle then he feels more at ease.

Like my facebook page or comment on this post to enter for a chance to win him once he's done! (you can do both-then you'll be entered twice! Make sure to include your full name in your comment.)

Habakkuk 2:14 "For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, as the waters cover the sea."

I'll be there.

Art Is Cool

Art is really cool.

You laugh.

Well, it is. To start off, the photograph is one of the modern world's most basic forms of art. How cool is the kind of technology that can take our three-dimensional world and, with the press of a button, put it on a screen or print it on a piece of paper? That wasn't a trick question. It's really cool.

Or how about needlepoint, knitting, sewing, leather working, woodcarving, pottery, metal working, architecture, writing, and advertisement? Things that are needed and useful are sometimes the most satisfying to art-i-fy. The human race, fallen as it is, cannot help but imitate our creator... by creating.

Side note: this reminds me of something my piano teacher once said. She said that back in the day, before technology and rushing and schedules, if something was worth looking at, it was worth making beautiful. I don't know if that's true in every circumstance, but it parallels my own core instinct to make things beautiful.

And, of course, painting! You knew it was coming.

Hmmm, I kind of got a little off topic.

Today, I painted Olivia as a sample for my idea. And you know what was great? I could be really particular about her face and pretty dress, because I wanted to. And I could add some stuff and be a little bit more abstract with other things, because I wanted to. And sure, the final product has a really random resemblance to the photo (weird), but that doesn't make it any less mine.

It's cool to think that God, in essence, paints all of us. Or knits us together, as it says in Psalms. (As a knitter, I can identify with that. Can you even imagine what size double-pointed needle it takes to knit capillaries?) It's cool to think that we are His art, and we are made how we are because that's how He wanted us.

Wow, all I was planning to do was post a picture and say "art is really cool."

Then I lost it.

It's All Relative

Everybody has family members that aren't actually related. Am I right?

You know, like uncles and aunts and grandparents and sisters and brothers. You call them that, but they're really just someone that you hang out with a lot and so it feels like family.

Facebook is a prominent example. I personally only have two extra sisters. (yes, I had to go look.) But some people go crazy with it. As in, the "related to" section is longer than their entire history record of status updates. Or something close.

Quick thought: have you ever seen a non-relative claim a "relation" other than sister, brother or spouse on facebook? I myself have never received a relationship request asking me to confirm that I was somebody's grandmother. Neither has anybody asked me to be their "second cousin twice removed". I bring it up because I think it would be hilarious. Let me know if you see anything like that, k?

I digress.

I have an aunt. Not really, of course. She's related, but she's not an aunt. Technically, she's my first cousin once removed... So you see why I call her aunt.

She asked me to do a painting for her daughter (my second cousin, not removed at all) of her special Bible verse, Isaiah 45:2-3. Back in October. *cough* I'm really on top of things. I'm not done yet, but really close.

It's where I got the idea to put a custom listing on my Esty shop.

So here are some pictures! I like taking pictures.

So, yeah. I put you through long, agonizing spiels about calling people things that they're not and modern social media just in order to post some photos of my currant project.

But you read it.

If you object, just add me as your great-great grandfather on facebook. That'll teach me. ;)