A Spattering - Toni Kelly

NEW Workshops

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Kelly) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 10:30:00 +0000

I am really excited about getting back into teaching workshops again. Last fall I did a paste paper workshop at the North East Arts Council and now for this Winter going into Spring I have three workshops lined up. So if you are local and are interested contact me. For that matter if you are not local and would like to book a workshop in your area let me know also.

First workshop will be a book binding class and even though these have a leather cover they are quite easy and great for beginners. I have a new page tab above for all the details.
And since I was playing with bookbinding I had some fun with this one and experimented with a Alcohol transfer on the cover. I plan on putting together a blog post just on my favorite ways to do transfers soon.

Next workshop will be a mixed media on canvas. This will be a fun one! I know everyones piece will be unique. Our emphasis will be on nature and utilizing collage, layers, texture and transfers.

And the last workshop will be on drawing backyard birds. You know by now I love to draw and paint birds. Mostly we will be working with graphite pencils and colored pencils but if you want to bring some watercolors I would not object.

All the details can be found here. Come out, sign up and lets have some fun.

Enjoy,
Toni

Downy Woodpeckers up close

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Kelly) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 15:00:00 +0000

Sunday the sun was out and Presque Isle was beckoning to me. To much time has passed since I last took my camera with me and wondered the trails on my own deep in my thoughts and watching for winter birds. Since it had snowed the day before I stayed on the sidewalk trail next to the bay area. It did not disappoint me because it seemed for every step a Downy Woodpecker was near by. And to my advantage they were low and up close not even flinching as people walked by. So I wasn't all alone. the day was so beautiful that several walkers were out in force chasing away the winter blues.

My best shots of a Downy Woodpecker came as I took a side trail off of the sidewalk down Leo's landing. With the sun at my back my lighting was perfect and this little Downy at eye level completely ignored me and went about his business as I shot frame after frame.

I was so pleased when I got home and downloaded the images. Usually I have to crop to get up close but not this time. Definitely the best images I have taken so far.

I finished my walk by rounding my way off the sidewalk to the lake side and up the beach road. Part of this road had flooded and was now ice so I decided to walk along the frozen sand. The lake side was calm and warm as the sun shone brighter there. The water fowl were all on this side with open water and a calm lake. The break walls covered in snow and ice reminded me of an arctic scene.

I love how the reflections came across the water.

Dry grass stand still waiting for Spring. And so do I. It is hard to believe that February is fast approaching. We have been very fortunate here in Erie with very little snow. We are in the snow belt, but this year has been kind to us. Not good for those who love to ski or ice fish. Perhaps next year will be better for winter sports.

Cool Facts on the Downy Woodpecker from All About Birds

In winter Downy Woodpeckers are frequent members of mixed species flocks. Advantages of flocking include having to spend less time watching out for predators and better luck finding food from having other birds around.
Male and female Downy Woodpeckers divide up where they look for food in winter. Males feed more on small branches and weed stems, and females feed on larger branches and trunks. Males keep females from foraging in the more productive spots. When researchers have removed males from a woodlot, females have responded by feeding along smaller branches.
The Downy Woodpecker eats foods that larger woodpeckers cannot reach, such as insects living on or in the stems of weeds. You may see them hammering at goldenrod galls to extract the fly larvae inside.
Woodpeckers don’t sing songs, but they drum loudly against pieces of wood or metal to achieve the same effect. People sometimes think this drumming is part of the birds’ feeding habits, but it isn’t. In fact, feeding birds make surprisingly little noise even when they’re digging vigorously into wood.
Downy Woodpeckers have been discovered nesting inside the walls of buildings.
The oldest known Downy Woodpecker lived to be at least 11 years 11 months old.

Find out more about Downy Woodpeckers here.

Enjoy,
Toni

Valentines ...because I Love You

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Kelly) — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 17:09:00 +0000

Yes it is still January but if you are one to make your own Valentine cards I thought I better share this with you now before it was to late. Last year for my newsletter subscribers I put together two pdf file kits to print cut and create cards. So if you missed that newsletter or miss placed the files here you are with an added bonus. ( links to the files are at the end of this post)

To start here are what the cards look like put together but you can use your own creativity putting them together. They do not have to look just like this.

Side note: How lucky am I to have two wonderful daughter in laws that share the same birthday! And wait it gets better...it is on Valentine's Day!

I still have to design their cards for this year yet. So there may be another set in a few weeks.

Each pdf file includes the card background and the hearts for you to cut out. Then get creative with decorative scissors, punches, ribbons and more. The bonus this year includes a png file of the background design that you can also print and use for scrapbooking or other cards.

*The background design and cards are for personal use only, and you may share the files with others but you do not have permission to sell the design*

Ok now for the links to download the card designs and the bonus paper. Have fun creating!
Enjoy,
Toni
The files: If you have trouble with any of these files please let em know.
Read me and instructions
Card one
Card two
8.5 x 11 Paper design

Vaughn ... Baby!

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Kelly) — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 16:04:00 +0000

Life changes in an instant and for me it happened December 8, 2011 when my first grandchild was born. This first month just flew by and I realized I had not blogged about my precious grandson and what joy he brings to all of us.

I just cannot stop beaming when I am around this little guy!

I know everyone says their grandchildren are perfect, and they truly are. Yes 'He is Perfect'!

Look at all the hair :-)

One month old with Grandpa.

I just want to pinch his cheeks! But my son says "No". He says he remembers everyone pinching his cheeks and doesn't want that to happen to Vaughn. Guess I'll have to sneak a couple in sometime. Shhhh don't tell anyone.

Vaughn and his Daddy at Christmas time. So proud of my son. He helps Terra with everything including changing diapers, getting up at night with Vaughn, and coming home after work and playing with the baby.

You can call me Grandma now!

Toni

Passionately Red

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Kelly) — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 01:14:00 +0000

Another Etsy Treasury! Think red, winter, Valentine! Enjoy.

Making Stars ... Tutorial

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Kelly) — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 01:09:00 +0000

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas! Ours was fantastic and the month of December was a blur with family coming home and the birth of my first Grandson. Yes I will be writing about him soon.

As for now I finally have my feet grounded and I'm ready to get back to my art and prepare for the new year. So starting with something new, yet old, Star Ornaments or decorations that can be made anytime. So bookmark this blog post for future reference.

I made these stars for a gallery this Christmas and for family. They are three dimensional five point stars. And it does not matter how long or short each point is, they all fold the same way.
Lets get started.

Using 8.5 x 11 inch card stock I printed a design and the star shape on the card stock. Each star needs two pieces cut out. At the end of this post I will have links to the star patterns for you to download.

I painted each card stock using a paste paper method. This calls for coating the paper with a clear paste such as wall paper paste and then adding acrylic paint while the paste was still wet.

If you google paste paper you will see many examples and paste recipes.

When the painted papers are dry I cut out the star shapes.

Turn the star over and from each outer point to its opposite inner point I scored a line. Each scored line will cross in the center. The fold in each scored line so the colored printed side is on the outside. After each fold, unfold then move on to the next scored line till all five lines have been creased.

Then push in the creased line between the center point and the inner point. You will end up with a dimensional star.

Each star has two sides. (front and back) Since I wanted to hang the stars I punched holes along the edge of the bottom inner point and the top outer point. This gave enough room for the decorative threads to lay.

Turn the stars over and put a bead of white glue (I used Tacky glue in the gold bottle) at each tip and inner point on one side and just the top tip and bottom inner point on the other side.

Lay the decorative threads across the star leaving enough as the hanger on top. Then carefully join both sides together lining up the points and gently pinching yet keeping the stars dimensional look.

Hang to dry. I then edged each star with some paint to help hide the parts that did not line up perfectly, then apply a coat of clear acrylic varnish for protection. Embellish as you please.

You can make these from any decorative card stock papers or ones you painted yourself.
Here are links to the star patterns as pdf files.
Star Pattern click here.
Folk Art Star Pattern click here.

Have fun! And have a wonderful New Year!
Toni

The Natural Things in Life

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Kelly) — Sat, 03 Dec 2011 15:03:00 +0000

I am so excited! I created my first Etsy treasury. Sound silly? But it was fun exploring and finding new treasures. Check it out.

Enjoy,
Toni

'Empty Nest' a watercolor on canvas

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Kelly) — Sun, 27 Nov 2011 17:38:00 +0000


'Empty Nest' 10 x 20 inches Watercolor on Canvas

On many of my walks at Presque Isle State Park I was able to witness a Yellow Warbler dipping in and out of some Japanese Honey Suckle next to the path. Carefully I pushed aside the leaves and found a nest with babies. All Summer on occasion I would take a sneak peek. I found it amazing that this little bird was raising a family just at arms length yet obscured by the dense leaves. So many people would walk by and not even notice the miracles going on around them.

As Summer came to an end and leaves started to drop in the Autumn air the nest became more visible and empty with just a few yellow and pale green leaves hanging on. Upon inspection the nest was tightly woven out of fine grasses and other light materials forming a small bowl shape which made for a cozy home indeed.

This painting was especially fun to create. I worked from one of my photos for the Yellow Warbler and was able to bring the nest into my studio to sketch and paint. For the background colors are what I see in late Autumn, they are rich, earthy and at times vibrant. Since the painting is on canvas I used the DS watercolor ground as a base for my watercolors. I am still very pleased with how this ground works.

Here is a view when the painting was about 2/3 done.

Masking fluid was used to mask out the warbler, nest, branch and leaves so I could be free to paint the background. The watercolor ground and canvas makes it easy to soften edges from the mask.

I think you can look forward to more paintings of nests. They are such a comfort to me.

Have a great day!
Toni

Happy Thanksgiving!!

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Kelly) — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 06:00:00 +0000

New Prints and Etsy Special

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Kelly) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 15:33:00 +0000

In time for the holidays! I now have prints of my Letter to Chloe Series available in my Etsy Shop. You can purchase individual prints for $25 each or the a set of all four prints for $80.

Each image is 8.5 x 8.5 inches
All of my prints are printed on archival fine art paper using pigment ink.

Original artwork was created on Lama li paper from Nepal utilizing my original designs then painting over the design with watercolor.

During the 2010 Fall Migration I was excited to discover warblers stopping in my back yard to feed on a Cedar Tree. It was quite by accident that I saw them as I took kitchen scraps out to the compost but there they were busy feeding and hopping from one branch to another. I began to think what would these little travelers write if they were to send a postcard back home to their Summer grounds.

The meaning of Chloe: Means 'Green Shoot' or 'Verdant And Blooming' in Greek. This was an epithet of the Greek goddess Demeter. So I chose this name to represent the the green fertile summer grounds these birds travel back to in the Spring.

Prints are packaged in a clear bag with a hard backing for protection and will be mailed in a hard photo mailing envelope through USPS. Allow 3 - 10 days for receipt of purchase.

Juvenile Black-throated Green Warbler - Letter to Chloe 1
Female American Redstart - Letter to Chloe 2
Male - Wilson's Warbler - Letter to Chloe 3
Female - Yellow-rumped Warbler - Letter to Chloe 4

Also take advantage of my Holiday Special of Free Gift Wrapping and Free Shipping in my Etsy Shop. No need to worry about a code for the Free Gift Wrap but for the Free Shipping use...
Coupon Code: FREESHIPPING
Once you add to your shopping cart be sure to click on Apply Coupon Code

Thank you for all of your support!
Enjoy,
Toni

Birds, birds, birds everywhere (on the net)

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Kelly) — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 17:28:00 +0000

Are you participating? If not then my blog is a good place to start collecting birds. Just click on one of the birds you see flying around and click collect.

I love seeing these little ones fluttering around and wish I could keep them for awhile but the contest ends November 7th. So start collecting.

My updates:
This has been a busy month for Don and myself. We took a trip to Hawk Mountain this month which was awesome. We stayed in a Yurt in one of Pennsylvania's State Parks and will definitely do that again.

My daughter in Law is pregnant and expecting in about a month so baby stuff has been everywhere for us.

I'm working on workshops and commissions. Soon I will be coming up for air and something more to post. In the meantime I'm birding the net! yes a time stealer but oh so fun.

Back soon, enjoy!
Toni

From the Past ... Painting on Canvas

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Kelly) — Sat, 01 Oct 2011 23:47:00 +0000

Tonight I am gathering materials for a demo I am giving on Wednesday evening on using clear gesso, acrylic medium, and DS Watercolor Ground when in my search for older material I came across images I took when I painted John Muir. This was done in 2005 and that was how long ago I started to experiment with watercolor on canvas using clear gesso and acrylic medium mix. It was my second major piece using this method. I found another piece I had done in 2004.

I was wondering if I would have enough info for the demo but after tonight I know I will have plenty to share.

I thought I would share with you my images from the John Muir painting in progress which I still have. There are quite a few and you might want to click on the ones you want to see closer. And if you think that was not enough here are links to the old blog posts. August 13 2005 and August 14 2005

Enjoy,
Toni

My Web Site ... Part 3 the finale

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Kelly) — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 15:21:00 +0000

Lets talk about the web site posts. You can treat the posts as part of your web site like a page or as an update to news or new art work release.

First of all if you go to layout and click on post edit you will see several options that you can display in each post.

I unchecked everything so my posts will look more like a page than a blog post. So you see you have several options just right here to choose from if you wish. And don't forget to save your options.

Next the post layout, as you can see from the first image the post appears to be in two columns. First if you simply want the text to wrap around an image then when you add the image and click on it you see that you can size it as small, medium, large, extra large or original size. Then you can indicate placement and selecting right or left will give you the text wrap. If you do a text wrap the text will stretch full width once it is past the image.

Note: For a more pleasing and easy to read post with text wrapping place your image on the right side. I did this on some of my pages. The eye finds the next line easier when there is a straight edge to read from.

But if you would like two columns in your post you can one create a table in html or apply this script.
Go to Template Designer-Advanced-Add CSS and add this code.

.post-column-left {
float: left;
width: 45%;
}
.post-column-right {
margin-top: -5px;
float: right;
width: 45%;
}

Now you can adjust the percentage and margin if you like. Here is mine.

Now when you write a post or page you need to apply this html in the edit html section.

<div class="post-column-left">
<--Content To Display on Left Side of Post-->
</div>
<div class="post-column-right">
<--Content To Display on Right Side of Post-->
</div>
I wanted to use this for two reasons. One so all the text about the art work would have a clean left edge even though I have the text on the right side. And two so I would have two columns on the portfolio gallery pages where the thumb images are on the right and the large image is one the left.

So now I know you want to know how I did the image rollover. I found this script a few years back when I was coding my web site for use on the Apple web hosting and MobileMe. Since this code is a google jquery it plays nice with blogger. First thing you need to do is apply the jquery in the html template. Go to templates and then to edit html. First thing you want to do is save the template before you start to add any scripts. Then find the </head> tag and just before it add the following script.

</script>
<script language='JavaScript'>

</script>
   
   <script charset='utf-8' src='http://ajax.googleapis.com/ajax/libs/jquery/1.2.6/jquery.min.js' type='text/javascript'/>
   <script charset='utf-8' type='text/javascript'>

    $(document).ready(function(){

        // Hide all large images except the first one
        $('#imageContainer div').hide().filter(':first').show();

        // Select all thumb links
        $('#thumbContainer a').hover(function(event) {

                // Hide all large images except for the one with the same hash as our thumb link
                $('#imageContainer div').hide().filter(this.hash).show();
            },
            function () {} // Because the hover method has a mouseout state we need to define too
        );
    });

</script>

And if you are not splitting the post in two colums than add this style script after the jquery and before the </head> tag

<style>

#imageContainer         {width: 450px; /* height: 450px; */ margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; overflow: hidden;}
    #imageContainer img     {margin-bottom: 0px; display: block;}
    #thumbContainer         {margin-top: 15px; margin-left: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-right: 30px;}
    #thumbContainer img     {display: block; float: left;}
</style>

You can make the #thumbContainer img float right or center. and also adjust the image container to the pixel size you want.
Now the to set up the large images and thumb images in your post or page so go to html in post or page and set up the lagre images like this

<div id="imageContainer" align="center">
<div id="image1">
<img alt="Image1" height="450" id="image1" src="https://Your image URL" width="450" />
<br />
Title of image<br />
Description</div>

<div id="image2">
<img alt="Image2" height="450" id="image2" src="https://Your image URL" width="450" />
<br />
Title of image<br />
Description</div>
</div>

Add as many images by repeating this section and renumbering the images placing the code between the blue divides.

<div id="image1">
<img alt="Image1" height="450" id="image1" src="https://Your image URL" width="450" />
<br />
Title of image<br />
Description</div>

Now the thumb images go next

<div id="thumbContainer">
<a href="#image1"><img alt="Thumb1" height="50" hspace="1" id="thumb1" src="https://Your image URL of the thumb image" vspace="1" width="50" /></a>

<a href="#image2"><img alt="Thumb2" height="50" hspace="1" id="thumb2" src="https://Your image URL of the thumb image" vspace="1" width="50" /></a>
</div>

Add as many images by repeating this section and renumbering the images placing the code between the blue divides.

<a href="#image1"><img alt="Thumb1" height="50" hspace="1" id="thumb1" src="https://Your image URL of the thumb image" vspace="1" width="50" /></a>

Adjust the image height and width as you wish. I created all my large images in a 450 pixel square. If the image was not square then I added white space to make it square. and all my thumb images are 50 pixel square.

My large images were placed in the left column and my thumb images were placed in the right column. If you are not using columns then the thumbs will show below the large images.

All my images are hosted in picassa web albums and everything is set to viewing only if you have the link. The albums are not public.

Since I started this web makeover Blogger has implimented a new service which works great for gallery viewing. So if you find the above rollover images to daunting there is another solution. Simple add all your images to a post or page then size them all to small and place them in rows. When you click on an image a lightbox appears with all the thumbs below to click on for viewing. Blogger is catching up with Wordpress and I'm loving it.

Good luck and I hope you found these last three posts helpful in making a decission about using blogger as a web site.

Enjoy,
Toni

My New Web Site ... Part 2

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Kelly) — Fri, 16 Sep 2011 09:00:00 +0000

Sometimes I just cannot let things rest for awhile. I was still after a certain look for my web site so I kept tweaking it. Searching for just the right scripts and codes I needed. At last today it all came together. So here is the home page now.

On the right side is now a little bit about me along with a photo. The right side is the sidebar where you add widgets or some people call them page elements, and I was able with the right code to just show the the bio on the home page only. It is hidden on the other pages. My post pages show the rest of the sidebar widgets.

And as we all know blogger allows you to make pages and usually all the sidebar widgets show up there also. Today I finally found the right script to hide the sidebar on the static pages.

So lets get started on where you can find the correct code to do this. First you can pick what page or post you want a particular widget to be on and be hidden on the rest. I found the code and instructions here. If that site isn't helpful then try this one. Blogger Plugins.

Next I wanted to remove the rest of the widgets form the homepage and the above links can help with that. I am using a total of five widgets in the side bar. Two of them show on the homepage and four show on the post pages.

I wanted to remove all of them on the static pages and found this site very helpful in supplying the right code to remove the sidebar and expand the content area. Be sure to scroll down on his site. Don't let the header fool you.

This should give you something to explore for a few days. Next post I will talk about the posts and how I was able with CSS make the posts have two columns.

My New Web Site Part 1

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Kelly) — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 15:51:00 +0000

In my last post I said changes were in the making. Since I had my web site hosted on Apple's Mobile Me and Apple is now switching over to iCloud and web sites will no longer be hosted I had to make a change. Change can be good! Because now I have my site hosted for free!

All I pay for is my domain name which BTW I changed from kellyinkstudio.com to tonikellystudio.com . I believe in the divine power of God and being guided so while I was investigating a new host for my site I ended up reading Blogger Buzz and came across this blog post about turning a blogger blog platform into a web site. After reading this post and going to the guest blogger's web site for more info I realized I could do this! And best of all Blogger encouraged it in Blogger Buzz.

So lets get started on what you could do to have a web site for artists starting with the header.

You can hide the navigation bar that you see in a blogger blog that is at the very top of the screen by going to template design, advanced then add css and add this code
#navbar-iframe {height:0px;visibility:hidden;display:none}

The template I used was Simple in white. Because my header image created the look of my name overlapping the background I had to change the padding of the content inner to
.content-inner {padding: 0px 0px;}
which again I added it in the template design, advanced then add css and add this code which then moved the posts and the page navigation to the edge. So I then changed the margin area of the page navigation with

.tabs-inner .widget ul {
background: transparent none repeat-x scroll 0 -800px;
_background-image: none;
border-bottom: 1px solid transparent;
margin-top: 0;
margin-left: 30px;
margin-right: 30px;
}

And the post padding to

.main-inner {
padding-top: 5px;
padding-left: 25px;
padding-right: 0px;
padding-bottom: 5px;
}

*Now keep in mind you do not have to change these margins or padding if you have a different header image. I just needed to adjust to reflect my header image.*

Lets move on to the footer.

The bottom of blogger templates have an attribution to the template designer. This can be removed with the following code also in template design, advanced then add css

div.feed-links,#Attribution1{display:none;}

Using a page element you can add your own attribution and copyrights. Once the top blogger navigation bar and the template attribution are removed (hidden) you can then use the rest of the template designer to pick your template, layout, adjust width, pick colors and backgrounds. Again I had to adjust margins and paddings to reflect my header image.

Once you have the above finished go back to the blogger dashboard and then click on layout or page elements depending on if you are using the normal dashboard or blogger in beta. On the page element layout you can now easily add a Favicon that will show up next to your domain name and any other page elements you would prefer. Below is what I used.

Post element: I made it so only one post shows and by clicking on the post edit element I un-clicked all the post page options.

Since I still wanted people to be able to share or pass my info along I used 'Share It' in a side page element

Labels: Make sure you use labels and label your posts for better web search rankings. So when I added the label element I changed the name to 'Art Categories' also you can edit this to only show specific labels.

Email updates: I chose to add this just in case people would rather receive updates by mail when I add a new piece of art work.

Tomorrow I will talk more about the post set up and some Jquery I added to the posts. In the meantime start thinking about he look of your site and be sure to check out the site examples given in Blogger Buzz or go here for a more in-depth post about using blogger for web sites.

Enjoy your day!
Toni

Changes ...

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Kelly) — Mon, 29 Aug 2011 20:05:00 +0000

will be coming soon to my blog and my web site. Actually more to my web site. Since Apple will no longer be supporting web service I need to move my site. Between working on a commission (below) and other end of summer garden to do lists I have been slowly re-making my site. I hope to have everything done and up by the end of this week.

It has been awhile since I have done a more formal lettering project.

Peaches are in season now and if you are looking for some recipes check out my other blog Soup Night & Other Delights and the post 'A Peach of a Post'

I'm still enjoying the birds in my yard and soon the Orioles will be leaving along with the Hummingbirds.

A beautiful male Oriole!

Splish splash taking a bath

We did make it to the County Fair this past week. Now I have more than enough photos of Roosters and Hens.

It was from a photo such as this that I did this painting in 2007. Yikes I cannot believe it has been that long.

Ok so I have my work cut out for me. I'll post when the new site is up and running.
Have a wonderful day!
Toni

'Birch Stand'

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Kelly) — Tue, 16 Aug 2011 20:30:00 +0000


	'Birch Stand' Watercolor and Collage on Gallery Wrapped Canvas

If you follow your intuition and trust your creative muse what wonder and excitement awaits you while working on your art and oh the creative end can be a delight. If you check out my previous post you will see the beginnings of the art piece. Each step of this piece helped me discover new ways of working with watercolor on canvas. Like for instance the bottom design was lifted out using a wet doily.

The foreground tree trunks were cut from Lama li paper and coated with clear gesso before I glued them to the canvas with matte medium. And the three golden diamond shapes are also Lama li paper.

On Monday I delivered the piece to a jury show and got the call on Monday evening that it was accepted! Ah relief! The exhibit is a private one at Erie Insurance Exchange here in Erie. Although the exhibit is private it will have a large viewing audience.

Now to tackle a commission that has been waiting to get started.

And for more viewing pleasure here are a few photos of a Giant Swallowtail that made a visit to my Garden.

Enjoy!
Toni

Letting intuition flow ...

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Kelly) — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 15:20:00 +0000

WOP no title yet.

... and responding to spontaneity. I've been having this vague image popping into my head for some time now. It has never been complete in my vision but yet desperate to come out. I purchased this 16 x 20 gallery wrap canvas months ago. Actually that is when this vague image started to develop. I suppose I could even go back to when I did a sketch of Birch trees in March of 2008! Check it out here. A stand of Birch trees always seem so organic and abstract when I see them on Presque Isle. There white trunks weaving their way up among all the green in Summer or resting against the snow in Winter.

So working with three colors, DS Quinacridone Gold, DS Cobalt Teal Blue and DS French Ultramarine the vision is starting to emerge and will be my weekend project!

In the meantime in my garden I am still putting out Grape Jelly for the Orioles but several other birds have taken a liking to the jelly. Earlier this summer the Robins were fighting over it. I have had Cat-birds on occasion come to feast. But what has surprised me lately are the House finches have discovered this delectable treat.

Yummy

Don't forget to wipe your mouth off. Birds do that you know.

Going in for more!

Yes there is room for two!

Have a great weekend everyone!
Toni

Julie's Book

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Kelly) — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 20:30:00 +0000

When my friend Julie asked me to letter a favorite song that was meaningful to her and her nephew it posed a problem. What? How could I even think that! You see her nephew had just graduated from high school and was moving to Hawaii to study Oceanography at the University there. She wanted him to be able to take it with him but how would you keep such a memento safe on this trip. Carry-on is limited now and packing in luggage or with the shipment of school stuff would not be easy. So I suggested a book that had a few reminders of home and their relationship. A book he could journal in and sketch about his first year in Hawaii. Here is what we did....

The Cover was made from Thai Unryu paper with a touch of Lama li paper. Lake Erie beach glass was glued to the cover.

The pages were made from Zerkall Nideggen paper and Mix Media paper from Canson. The first reminder was a feather. This was from a Yellow-shafted Flicker and was glued down on the third page so openings were cut into the first two pages so the feather could lay safely and nestled somewhat.

The song was Bob Dylan's 'Forever Young'. We chose three parts of the song to be lettered on a translucent vellum and they were placed between three of the six signatures of pages.

On the inside back cover was an envelope with an insert of the whole song typed and printed. Then as a reminder of the handmade quality :–) my book plate listing the papers used and the type of binding.

It had been awhile since I made a book so it took me three times longer than I thought it would. but for my friend it was worth it. She was the one who gave me the bird cage to capture my little Bonnie Blue two years ago. And Bonnie is still with me. I do hope some day to see what sketches Julie's nephew filled the book with. A true treasure I hope.

Enjoy!
Toni

Barn Swallows, the fix and finish

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Kelly) — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 20:30:00 +0000

Barn Swallows

The Barn Swallows are finished and ready for the exhibit coming up at the Stonewall Gallery. But I had to do a little fix first. Here is where you are going to love the new DS Watercolor Ground. If you loose to much of your white or mess up and area you can paint over it with the ground and repaint the area again.

Before the fix.

The top photo is I before I added the ground. The ledge the birds were sitting on was getting flat and I had lost some of my white area. I touched it up with the DS Watercolor ground, see photo below, and then finished the painting which is at the beginning of this post. Now that is something that cannot be done on paper with watercolors. If you have not already done so you can check out the beginning of the painting in my previous post.

After the ground was applied.

I hope this gives you some inspiration to work with the watercolor ground on canvas.

Enjoy,
Toni

Enjoying the Process

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Kelly) — Mon, 25 Jul 2011 15:18:00 +0000

The other day I was starting to feel as if my work did not belong in the art group I belong to where I live. Most of the members are focused on the abstract, and work large. I mentioned this to my husband and as my biggest supporter he made me realize that what I create was my statement and what I love to do. I love nature and and when I paint birds, flowers, etc. I love the process of watching them come to life.

Sometimes it can take me an hour or more just to work on the faces of birds. If they look like they are coming alive I know I have captured their personality. I think as artists we need to not feel intimidated by the work of other artists. We need to know who we are and feel comfortable with what we do. Someone will come along and say "That is a great piece!" and make you feel good inside for what you do.

As you can see this is a gallery wrapped canvas which I coated with DS Watercolor Ground
. I am using only two watercolors to paint the Barn Swallows with and they are DS French Ultramarine and DS Quinacridone Burnt Scarlet. It is amazing the color variations you can get just from these two colors. this piece when done will be in an exhibit titled 'For the Birds' at the Stonewall Gallery in the Campbell Pottery Store.

Enjoy,
Toni

Letter to Chloe #4

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Kelly) — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 20:30:00 +0000

Finally you say! Yes I'm done with Letters to Chloe Series. Finished number 4 last week and they are all framed and waiting to be hung in a show opening the end of July. The NPAA Bienniel Exhibit opens July 28th.

For this last piece in this series I used an Italian telegram in the background and addressed the letter in Italian to go with my Female Yellow-rumped Warbler that passed through my back yard this Spring. This was a fun collection to work on. I loved being able to incorporate my design borders, computer skills, and painting into these four pieces. You can see #1, #2 and #3 here.

As for my work schedule I was going to try and stick to ... well it kind of fell apart. BUT I am not giving up. I am eliminating the things that hold be back and I plan on getting back on schedule.

Next up on my drawing board are a pair of Barn Swallows for an exhibit in August at the Stonewall Gallery at the Campbell Pottery Store. This show is called 'For the Birds' and part of the proceeds from this show will go to help Tamarack Wildlife and Rehabilitation Center. A place near and dear to my heart.

Enjoy,
Toni

4 NEW PRINTS in my Etsy Shop

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Kelly) — Mon, 11 Jul 2011 18:02:00 +0000

Letters & Lace

Giclee Print in my Etsy Shop

I am excited to offer four new prints in my Etsy Shop. These four originals were done for the NPAA Scholarship Event at the end of June. Members from this art group created original works on 8 x 10 canvases and each patron who purchased a ticket to the event received one of these originals on canvas.

Taking Flight

Giclee Print in my Etsy Shop

The four pieces are mixed media collage. First I coated the canvas with DS Watercolor Ground and then painted the background with watercolors. Elements were then printed out, birds and butterflies were hand painted, and designs were transferred to the canvas.

Song in Your Heart

Giclee Print in my Etsy Shop

Each print sells for $27 and 10% of the sales from these four prints will continue to fund the NPAA scholarships for graduating seniors accepted as art majors to an art institute or college.

Thankful

Giclee Print in my Etsy Shop

And now I am busy creating and getting ready for two exhibits coming up at the end of July.
The first one is the 'NPAA Bienniel Exhibit' opening on July 28th at the 1020 Holland St. Gallery.
And also the exhibit 'For the Birds' opening August 13th at the Campbell Pottery Store.

Summer is slipping by so get out and enjoy!
Toni

Song in my Heart

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Kelly) — Mon, 13 Jun 2011 20:30:00 +0000

Song in my Heart - 8 x 10 mixed media on canvas

Don't you just feel like singing when you see this! I hope so. This is the third piece for the scholarship event coming up. I have one more mixed media piece to do yet and a watercolor piece. I'll try and take photos of work in progress for the next one. I do have the background done on it so it is not to late to start photographing the rest in progress.

I'm making strides on cutting back on group organizations for now. Once I get done with the scholarship event that will be it for awhile. I'm looking forward to being able to breath and create art.

Still lots going on in the garden so will save those photos for later. For now I am enjoying this cooler weather we are having. I know it will not last long.

Reminder once all the pieces are done I will be producing prints of this series of work.

Enjoy!
Toni

Garden Creation from my Son!

noreply@blogger.com (Toni Kelly) — Thu, 09 Jun 2011 20:30:00 +0000

Welded holder for wine bottles used to hold cut flowers in the garden. You may want to click on photo for a larger view.

So to keep you from guessing my son made me the holder for the blue bottle! And I LOVE it!!
He recently acquired a MIG welder so I promptly told him what I wanted and he said no problem. Out of rebar and steel he fashioned the holder for me. I am so excited over this. Now every time a flower stem breaks from a storm or just from birds landing on them I can keep them in the garden as cut flowers staked where ever I want them. I have two for now and will have him make me some more.

With this one he curled the prongs more. We are experimenting. :-)

After he was done I sprayed them with an outdoor primer and then with an outdoor yellow paint.
We are thinking of making them to sell so any thoughts you have would be great! Since then he got a book on welding home and garden items. Ready, Set, Weld!: Beginner-Friendly Projects for the Home & Garden Lots of wonderful ideas in the book. Can you see me grinning. I love it when my boys get creative.

Ariel view of my back yard from my studio window.

In the meantime I'm still struggling with keeping my schedule. I like being part of groups like my art group and audubon and helping with the wildlife rehabilitation but I have taken on to much. I have finally realized when I volunteer it takes up to much time. I am so torn as to what to do but I think I need to say no to them at least for now. I need to build my art career and earn an income.

My Lilac bush was loaded with flowers this year. It was awesome and Don just loved it. He is a romantic that way.

Foxglove is blooming now.

I have all these wonderful flowers blooming and I have not picked up my sketchbook for quite some time. I'm the only one who can make the change and I know it. I'm still determined and I will make art happen.

My sister gave me Lupine last year and they are beautiful!

So thanks for sticking with me. Listening and just for being there. Hugs to you all.
Toni

A Spattering - Toni Kelly

*NEW* Workshops

Downy Woodpeckers up close

Cool Facts on the Downy Woodpecker from All About Birds

Valentines ...because I Love You

Vaughn ... Baby!

Passionately Red

Making Stars ... Tutorial

The Natural Things in Life

'Empty Nest' a watercolor on canvas

Happy Thanksgiving!!

New Prints and Etsy Special

Birds, birds, birds everywhere (on the net)

From the Past ... Painting on Canvas

My Web Site ... Part 3 the finale

My New Web Site ... Part 2

My New Web Site Part 1

Changes ...

'Birch Stand'

Letting intuition flow ...

Julie's Book

Barn Swallows, the fix and finish

Enjoying the Process

Letter to Chloe #4

4 NEW PRINTS in my Etsy Shop

Song in my Heart

Garden Creation from my Son!

NEW Workshops