My Greeting Card Shop

Thursday, November 15, 2012

For the Love of It

 

by Clint Watson


I've often seen masterful works by "amateurs" and truly horrible schlock by "professionals." In fact, I don't think an artist can achieve true mastery without working for the simple love of creating... as amateurs do. I've occasionally met those who are in it mostly for money and their work is usually... lacking. [...]

Read the rest of this article at:
http://faso.com/fineartviews/51424/for-the-love-of-it

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Monday, November 12, 2012

Free giveaway by Stephanie Samos

 Just wanted to share this blog post with you so you can get on the free giveaway on Stephanie Samos' blog. Here's the link.

the not so everyday blog of an artist: Blog Giveaway: Spark and Inspire:    Spark and Inspire in the studio Oh my gosh! I am SOOO excited this week!!! I'm hosting a blog giveaway of one of the most ...

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Praying Polar Bear Print Sale

 Having a sale on Praying Polar Bear.  Buy a 16x20 stretched canvas print for $60.  You save $12.23.  Hurry, because there's a limited amount of prints available at this great savings.  Sale lasts until Friday, Oct. 19, 2012.
Just click on the link below.
http://fineartamerica.com/weeklypromotion.html?promotionid=96027


Saturday, October 13, 2012

Sleeping Buddies Original Oil Painting

After doing Praying Polar Bear I got an idea to do a baby polar bear with a little mouse cuddled up to him.  So I turned the adult polar bear into a cub with my magic paint brush...ok, it's not magic, just thought it sounded good.  added a mouse and there we have Sleeping Buddies aceo.  Oil on card stock. 
Soon to be listed in my etsy shop.

Thursday, October 11, 2012

Praying Polar Bear Original Oil Painting

This is an 12x16 inch oil painting of a Polar Bear with his front paws together as if he were praying.  Reference photo by my daughter, Jessica Thour.  Copyright 2004.

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Black Swan

First off, I am delighted to say that my Mr. Peacock painting has sold!  What a nice feeling that is.

This next painting is called Black Swan and it is a 6x8 inch oil painting on canvas panel.  If interested, it can be purchased through my etsy shop



Here is one of the many products available in my zazzle shop with the Black Swan image.  That shop really keeps me busy.

Friday, July 6, 2012

Mr. Peacock Original Painting

 Mr. Peacock 11x14 oil on stretched canvas
Can be found in my etsy shop.

I love how he turned out, especially the tail!   It's been done for a few days, except something was missing.  That's when I added the blue on the bottom left below his tail where it dips and the bit of green above the dip.  That tied the sky and grass in.


This is my daughter's bunny, Moe.  He lives in her room and we keep the cage door open and he has the run of the room.  We are able to do this because he is litter trained and is a good little bunny.  Before we had free range of the room, he use to dig at the carpet (not good) until I took a big Yellow Pages phone book, opened it and left it where he likes to dig.  The room is bunny proofed to keep him safe.  We leave her bedroom door open, but he stays in her room and is too scared to come out.
 It's not easy to sneak up on a bunny while they are sleeping.  But I did and managed to get a picture.  I know, it turned out a bit blurry, but I caught him sleeping!

This is the second shot I took, and as you can see he is now awake, looking at me like, "Hey, I'm sleeping here, do you mind?"

hugs,
Brenda

Monday, July 2, 2012

Peacock and Peahen Portraits

I have been busy painting a lot lately, and it's been great!  Here are my latest two paintings.  They are both 5x7 oil on Masonite board prepared with 4 layers of gesso

in my etsy shop

in my etsy shop.

Did you know that the peacock is in the peafowl family?  The male is called a peacock, the female is a peahen and the babies are called peachicks.  This is something that I recently learned while catagorizing my Beautiful Peacock photo in my photo zazzle shop!
Beautiful Peacock Gel Mousepad
Beautiful Peacock Gel Mousepad by brendathour
Create your own personal mouse pads.

I have two more paintings that are just about ready to post, just have to do some final tweaking.  One is another peacock and the other is a Black Swan.
Hope your summer is Blessed,
hugs,
Brenda

Friday, June 22, 2012

My Hero the Sailor

I have wanted to do this painting for quite a long time, and it means very much to me.  This painting, My Hero the Sailor is in fact a painting of my dad back when he was in the Navy during the Korean War.  I am very proud of my dad and love him so very much.  He is a strong man of God and a wonderful roll model.  He has always been there for me and my family.  If I could have hand picked my dad, I would have picked this man.  Love you dad!!!

Thursday, June 21, 2012

Little Red Betta Fish

Here's my finished Little Red Betta Fish painting.  I had him almost done quite a while ago, just for some tweaking that I finally got around to.  He is a tiny little painting, only 3x3 inches for $25.  If interested, you can find him in my etsy shop.
He also is in my zazzle shop where you can buy gifts featuring this Little Red Betta Fish.

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I would love to hear your comments.  Hope you are having a wonderful summer! : )

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Little Blue Betta Fish

Here is my Little Blue Betta Fish painting.  Painted with acrylic on a 3x3 inch canvas.  
Available in my etsy shop.

I really enjoyed painting this one with all the pretty colors.  I think the next one I do will be a red betta fish.  I already have the canvas sketched out and ready and I am excited to start.

Have a wonderful day,
Brenda (luvs2paint)

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Mongo Betta Fish


 I painted today, and here is Mongo Betta Fish.  It is 3x3 inches in acrylic.  Mongo is my daughter's fish and he lives in his fish bowl on the wall unit in the living room.  I have been taking pictures of him without the flash.  It's so much fun!

I thought I'd show you the sketches I did quickly this morning.  I plan to do more Betta fish paintings in different colors.  

Saturday, April 14, 2012

Blue Froggy Original Painting

Blue Froggy
4x4 inch stretched canvas
You can find it in my etsy shop for $40.00 US

Blue Froggy is latest painting.  We went to Sea Life at the Mall of America to take some pictures for my paintings.  Wouldn't you know it, when I tried taking pictures I found that my battery was dead.  Bummer!  I was able to take some pics with my cell phone, which isn't very good.  So even though I can't use any of them for my Photo Zazzle Shop, they are good enough to zoom in and use them as reference for my paintings.

 We decided to take a Behind the Scene Tour, and it was just my husband and I and the tour guide.  I learned and saw some really cool things.  Did you know that an octopus has to be in a secure tank, because they have the intelligence of a 3 year old, and can lift off the cover to escape.  Ya, one did.  The fish in the next tank started disappearing, and they discovered that the octopus they had there at the time, let himself out of his tank, crawled out and across the floor to the other fish tank.  He proceeded to have a snack and crawled back to his tank and put the lid back on.  Unfortunately they didn't have any octopus there when we were there. 

Have a safe and awesome weekend!

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Springs Morning

Here's my latest finished painting.  It's created with pan pastels and a bit of colored pencil.  I love how the butterfly turned out.  It's 9x8.

Soon it will be in my zazzle and etsy shops.