White-washed layers have been consuming my painting time.

Sketchbook pages, ideas, plannings. For the new year and now. I keep playing around with variations of a sketch of this one woman….

Bits.

I found the loveliest roll of 1940’s wallpaper along a driveway, discarded.

Last Saturday I went for a snowy walk oh so early in the morning. So cold but I got to see the sun rise over the silvery trees!

Another brooch from tinyhappy. So lovely…not only because of the teeny-tiny artistry that goes into each one, but because they are made with real wool felt and hand dyes threads. These little touches really make them so uttely amazing!

I am so excited for this new year! I have some exciting art news for you that I can’t wait to spill!
Happy Holidays Everyone!

and walking in the dreamy woods…

But first I would like to say that I just put a larger, ORIGINAL drawing (11″ by 14″) of “From Within” in my shop.

It’s a darker version, similar to this one, from a few post’s ago, with the birch trees at night. Yes, I sketched a third one! I wanted to try her without the ribbon around her neck. I am so happy to offer it in my shop (and it is so hard for me to let it go)

I’ve been thinking about wildflowers and all things green and lush (yes, very unfall-like of me). I pulled out one of my favorite found embroideries and hung it on my wall. I’ve been thinking about it ever since I received this package. I took photos of the queen annes lace embroidery and posted them here last year, but I just love it so much, so here’s more!
Beautiful detail.

And knowing that winter will soon be here I have been adorning my windwsill with this and that, summer memories and other things, found.

The sandy bottle was a wash up at the beach. It’s very old! The other, smaller bottle I found in the early spring during a walk through the woods. Did you know that the frost pushes old bottle and other discarded items up out of the ground in the spring?

I have been painting too. This is a piece in the earliest of stages…just the underpainting and I’m sure it will change and morph into something totally different. But the concept will stay the same for the most part. The raw umber scribbles you see in the right hand corner are actually a grove of willow trees with a piano in the middle. I imagined a procession of birds soaring out of it.

The leaves were in their glory over the weekend! They are now falling. To everyone in the northern hemisphere, enjoy the remainder of autumn bliss !

Actually, I feel I can get finer detail, the paints just slide like butter and do not dry on the brush as I work. And for other reasons too, which I don’t feel like getting into. There will be many, many layers and glazes over this base. The composition is flipped, and she will have a fox instead of the fawn. It’s big with lots of little detail and it will be awhile. Now its time to put this aside to dry and sketch up some new things.

Stay cool!
]]> http://sarahblankstudios.com/blog/2009/08/10/work-in-progress-2/feed/ 7 http://sarahblankstudios.com/blog/2009/07/25/a-snippet-of-a-work-in-progress/ http://sarahblankstudios.com/blog/2009/07/25/a-snippet-of-a-work-in-progress/#comments Sat, 25 Jul 2009 16:44:53 +0000 Sarah Blank http://sarahblankstudios.com/blog/?p=550 Painting detailed scenes of honeybee stories as of late! Here is a work in progress, a small snippet of a much larger scene…

I am so, so excited about this piece! I’ve been working secretly on it for some times and I can’t wait to put a print of it up in my shop. Despite the heat and beautiful weather, tomorrow will be spent in my painting room finishing it.

Vermont has left me totally inspired. My eyes kept roaming the countryside looking for honeybee keepers, which were all around. It was a coincidence that this painting was in progress before the trip.
Also, we went to the most magical folk art museum which has left me completely in awe and inspired too! I will post some photos of my favorite things from that very soon too. I hope tomorrow!

And….

Telling a tale (though paints) of two girls at the edge of the woods. Way up in the trees there are ghost birdies. The gals still need a bit more work but I am so excited about this one!
Thanks for visiting me here!

and some progress photos…
sketch on ampersand panel in sepia colored pencils:

A sort of underpainting for her face and a completed, cloudy (and very dreamy) backdrop:

painting:

I am going to finish her this morning and then move on to a larger painting that tells a tale of missing honeybees.

A close up:

The rest of the day will be spent painting and listening to the soft rain outside my window. I have sooooo much artwork to do!

]]> http://sarahblankstudios.com/blog/2009/07/07/sylph/feed/ 4 http://sarahblankstudios.com/blog/2009/03/08/welcoming-march-with-open-arms/ http://sarahblankstudios.com/blog/2009/03/08/welcoming-march-with-open-arms/#comments Sun, 08 Mar 2009 14:15:46 +0000 Sarah Blank http://sarahblankstudios.com/blog/2009/03/08/welcoming-march-with-open-arms/

clockwise, from right:

? work in progress
? stack of Christie’s auction catalogues with a cover drawing by Matisse that’s inspiring me to pieces
? Grandma’s wedding China with a faded floral design that is, well, inspiring me to pieces!
? rose fabric snippet that I collaged into my sketch book the other day (snip snip goodbye roses)
? colorful, loose tea cans that are just so pretty (and perfect for holding things!)
? a beautiful white fox that my hubby brought home last week from an estate sale. He knows my style so well.
Clearly I need a bigger table!

Please excuse the absence. Work schedule changed and for the next few months I will be very, very busy with other obligations. In the little free time I have I’ll be taking some quiet, creative time out for myself to sketch and develop new ideas. It seems during my busiest work months the most ideas surface!
]]> http://sarahblankstudios.com/blog/2009/03/08/welcoming-march-with-open-arms/feed/ 3 http://sarahblankstudios.com/blog/2009/02/08/wrapped-up-in-books-and-paints-and-treasures/ http://sarahblankstudios.com/blog/2009/02/08/wrapped-up-in-books-and-paints-and-treasures/#comments Sun, 08 Feb 2009 23:17:54 +0000 Sarah Blank http://sarahblankstudios.com/blog/2009/02/08/wrapped-up-in-books-and-paints-and-treasures/ ???PAINTS???

I have been slowly but surely painting away. Here’s some work in progress from a painting from weeks ago. Getting all the details down…work in progress still.

I added some golden harp-inspired embroidery on her hat.

And remember the feathers that my father found from this post? Initially, I thought that they were from the American Goldfinch (which has such a pretty song!) so I added them to the painting (birds still need to be tweaked, but have a peek).

It turns out (with the help of my awesome readers) that the feathers are from, almost definitely, the Northern Yellow Shafted Flicker.

So the story is slowly unfolding in paint. I hope to finish this tonight, and as soon as it is dry it will be offered as a print in my shop.

???TREASURES???

I was quite sick the last couple of weeks, but I managed to find some amazing treasures. Attempting to de-clutter has put most thrifting efforts to a halt, but sometimes it’s a real mood-lifter.

Vintage maryjanes, broaches, a silver locket on a chain (for me this time), little hair combs and white gloves with red polka dotted trim, and a sweet embroidered bag perfect for springtime.

Of all my treasures from last week, the most inspiring was a bag of faded, multicolored, wide silk ribbons, all hand embroidered with women’s names. We can’t figure out what they were used for. The embroidery also includes their home town and state after their name. Here’s one, which I pressed and put on display. I’ll show the others later.

???BOOKS???

I love the cover of this book, from 1905, which is a real treasure too!

More books…I have a giant, deckle-edged watercolor album that has been capturing my treasures as of late. I make these pages for myself to use as reference, for inspiration, to record my findings, and as a catch-all for all the little things I find. Otherwise, the boxes and baggies pile up and are impossible to sift through! So I guess it’s a process journal of sorts. I watercolor-wash it’s pages with subtle color and glue in little fragments of things I find on my travels and treasure-hunts. I don’t put too much care into the pages…I love to keep them loose and free as I don’t want to attempt to make this an an end product. Just a journey, recorded. The only rule I have for myself is everything has to be genuine and found either on the ground or in a thrift or antique shop, given to me, etc. Today was so nice and sunny I decided to snap a few pictures and share (along with my personal collection of vintgagey necklaces). Private inspiring things…why not?

The little chick-a-dee necklace above is from Found and Made.

Absolutely in love with this lace collar. I have two. Sometimes it’s hard to paste things down so it helps when there are duplicates.

I found a roll of old wallpaper on a rainy day walk. Thank goodness for my umbrella! I just love the pale yellow roses on the grey polka-dotted background.

Little notes on pretty blue scraps.

And finally, has anyone read this book? I have been meaning to read it for a long time. I read “The Lady and the Unicorn” by the same author which was interesting. Anything Historical fiction floats my boat. Last week I found a copy in the thrift shop and I couldn’t resist. I didn’t see the movie due to the fact that I wanted to read the book first:)

Thanks to all who entered the giveaway! There’s still time! It ends Monday at 8:00 pm eastern time.

And from yesterday’s photo of the tree-adorned hallway is the outside of the cottage, photo taken from an insanely quaint curved bridge made of fieldstone…

A victorian riverside cottage that was redone in the 1930’s (two amazing aesthetic eras in my opinion!)
that we were lucky enough to step foot in! Crazy beautiful!