Sunday, November 16, 2014

Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Unique Christmas Gifts - Come shopping at Rachel's Studio!

I've added some features to my newer listings on Etsy, and am working on changing all my listings.  Now, you can choose different sizes and types of prints, including poster quality, giclees, digital files (with which you can make ANYTHING, from wallpaper to clothes to unique prints).  Come check me out for your Christmas shopping : )  For the month of November I'm offering my social media followers BOGO on my $25 prints!  Just message me and say you saw my BOGO offer on my social media.  Click on the picture to peruse my Etsy shop.


Where can you follow me on social media?  Let's count the ways!

Snapchat - rachelsstudiodc
Instagram - rachelsstudiodotcom and travel4zen  

Monday, September 29, 2014

Work in Progress of a Tabby Cat

Here are some commissions I'm working on...








 
 
 
 



Monday, September 01, 2014

Holstein Cow Art - My newest print offering

Here's my latest painting that I'm going to offer as a print on Etsy.  It's a Holstein Cow : )  I luxuriated in unabashed studio time on Labor Day - normally I work so I took advantage of the day off to get a bunch of art things done.  It's such a luxury to have a whole day to putter about in the studio.




Here's a close up:



Sunday, August 31, 2014

Saturday, August 16, 2014

Artsy clothes - clothes and purses with my paintings on them!

I'm so excited about putting my art on clothes and bags - I got a ton of good feedback on my facebook account. I wore my dress to work yesterday and got a lot of compliments : )



The eyes are a bit awkward, lol.  I just redesigned these with the face lower and smaller so stay tuned : )

Monday, August 11, 2014

Watercolor Painting of New York City's Museum of Natural History and more news

I haven't written in quite a while. I'm very active on Facebook - you can friend me at www.facebook.com/rachelsstudiodotcom and also as rachelsstudiodotcom on Instagram. My travel blog is travel4zen.blogspot.com, and travel4zen on instagram.  I have lots of other accounts on twitter and pinterest, so if you search for me you'll find me!  And of course there's learnwatercolor.blogspot.com and my youtube channels www.youtube.com/user/travel4zen/videos and www.youtube.com/user/rachelsstudiodotcom/videos

Below is a painting I've been toying with over the years, and I think it's finally ready to see the light of day.  I like to play with blurred images of people in motion, and I think there is something poetic about this scene - a living human, himself ephemeral, observing taxidermy Gemsboks in New York City's Museum of Natural History.  There's all sorts of symbolism in this image, which I will allow the viewer to ascribe themselves.


I've started a new weekly schedule.  Every Sunday I list a dollar auction on eBay.  Here is the link for the painting below...



And for the nitty gritty for those of you interested...It's been a crazy week - my summer is officially over and I have started back at my 9-5 job as a school social worker.  Last week's focus was getting food out to needy families and finding resources for school supplies.  Next week will be back-to-school meetings, more meetings, and more meetings.  

With my art, I've been trying to post more on my Instagram account, which is rachelsstudiodotcom.  I'd love to see you on there!  I also have a goal of painting for a competition, so I need to figure out a good subject and decide which competition I'll enter.  I'm COMPLETELY overwhelmed with commissions, which is a good thing.  I've been sharing progress on Facebook, so friend or follow me there if you're curious.

I have some fun things coming up too.  In December, I'm attending Art Basel in Miami, something I've wanted to do for a long time.  If anyone has Miami/Art Basel tips, please do share!  I post my travel pics on Instagram at travel4zen, so I'd love to see you there too.

I'm having so much fun with these dollar auctions - and some are busts and some have been great, but I think what I like best is the behind-the-scenes interactions I have with art lovers all over the world.  So feel free to email me or say hi online : )

If you'd like to watch me paint, check out my blog at www.learnwatercolor.blogspot.com.

How is your summer going?  Thank you for visiting my blog : )

Sunday, July 27, 2014

$1 Auction for an Original Landscape Painting of Saluda River in Saluda Shoals Park, Columbia South Carolina

As a thank you to my wonderful buyers and online friends, I'm offering this original watercolor of Saluda River up for a $1. I hope everyone has fun bidding!

 Click here to bid!



Tuesday, July 08, 2014

New Watercolor of Arles France

I've had so many commissions lately, I haven't had time to paint what inspires me, but after working on this over a year, I squeezed some time in to complete it.  I've never been to Arles; this picture was taken from google street view (which I can spend hours on).  I got the idea from participating in the  Virtual Paintout  blog forever ago.  Van Gogh was a big fan of this town, btw : )  As usual with my originals, before I post them publicly, I offer them to the highest acceptable bid in the next 48 hours.  If I don't get one, I'll post it on Etsy.  Prints are also available in any size.   Email me with your highest bid if you're interested in this painting!


The Amphitheatre is the 20th largest Roman amphitheater in the world. Converted into a fortress to resist the invaders during the Middle Ages, soon a village was built inside until the authorities finally decided to destroy the houses and restore the building as it was during the Roman time.



Van Gogh spent a year and a half in Arles and completed many paintings under the bright light of the Provence sun. He rented the Yellow House and spent a lot of time there with his friend Paul Gauguin. There, he painted Sunflowers and "Self-Portrait with Bandaged Ear" after he got in a violent fight with Gauguin. 

Sunday, March 02, 2014

WIP Leopard original watercolor painting

Here is the progression of my latest watercolor "Giovanni's Leopard"  11x14". If you would like to 'watch me paint over my shoulder' visit learnwatercolor.blogspot.com!

I start with the first wash after I apply masking to the eye highlights and whiskers.


2nd wash.  The more of the tones you can get in during the first wash or two, the better!


Time for some dots!  I wet the paper then used very thick black paint to create soft edges.

Here I added some eyes.  I treat eyes as paintings within paintings.  I work in several layers; wet in wet first to get the color in, then wet on dry when I put in the pupil.

More details added here



The final painting!