My Art and the Freedom it Gives Me.

Among the various pieces of art that I offer on my website and on eBay you will find one little gal who is becoming quite popular. It seems there is an almost "invisible" segment of our society - that consists mainly of older and sometimes chunky women.

Not long ago, I had a weight problem and it came to my attention that people simply ignored me. They didn't want to see me. It was pretty lonely, I'll tell you that! Through the years I've managed to get my weight down to where it should be and I'm controlling it. A magical change took place. People noticed me again. Instead of looking the other way, they now look directly at me and smile! I'll never forget those years of feeling I was invisible. Because of that I came up with a little character I call LuLu. I mostly paint her in the collectible ACEO size of 2 1/2 inches by 3 1/2 inches (about the size of a playing card or baseball card). The best thing about LuLu is her attitude. She is completely uninhibited (although she shows nothing she shouldn't) and dedicated to fun and laughter. LuLu has been very well received and some are avid collectors of her cards. I'm so proud of her - for she does all the things I've never been able to do and she carries herself with great pride.

The painting pictured went to a collector in Belgium and was also featured in our local newspaper. LuLu also has two videos on YouTube, both in thumbnail below. You might even catch sight of LiLy - LuLu's elusive best friend.

Lily can usually be spotted by her red hair and she seems to wear a lot of leather...

Since everyone on the site (and off) seem to be interested in stars I want to let you know that stars have fascinated me all my life. I even paint stars. I love to make imaginary star nebula - you never know - you may be floating around out there and actually come across something like this. Anyway, this is my imaginary star nebula - The Fire Dragon (recently sold):



More Autumn!
Fresh off the easel this is Autumn Path 3. Its 11 X 14" on studio wrapped canvas and needs no frame. Available right now on eBay under my ID: ms*patricia:

A few weeks ago I took a bus tour that included an afternoon at the newly renovated Griffith Observatory. For those not familiar, please google the observatory and see what a beautiful place it is high up on its solidary hill and surrounded by beautiful cityviews. As I walked thru all the exhibits and just took in the atmosphere, an idea began to take shape. I turned to my friend and said "I have an idea for a new painting." She couldn't imagine what it would ...planets? skies? No, it was the passage of time and how the old is thrown out to make way for the new. Here's the painting as it is right now...half completed. I'm open to suggestions..always. So feel free to comment.


"Passage of Time"

To explain a bit about the painting, the background was done using a two inch Hake brush and a mop brush to soften. I'm very pleased with how it came out and may use the same technique on other skies in different colors. The greatest thing about painting is in using your imagination. Here, I used a German protractor to make the different sizes of dials and gears. I know...by now you're shaking your head and saying the old "I can't even draw a straight line"....well....neither can I :-) There are rulers for straight lines - for painting what you need most is imagination and the willingness to try.

There's a patch of sunlight on the upper right side. I take pictures of my works outside and this morning happened to be particularly sunny :-)
12 X 24" Acrylic


Latest photo - not finished yet but getting there :-)


"Passage of Time"
Finished! :-)

What are ACEO's (Art Cards Editions & Originals) - something that was born on Ebay from the suggestion of a seller and now has reached over 2,000 members strong.

What are they? 2 1/2 X 3 1/2" original paintings, prints or mixed media. (that's about the size of a playing card or baseball card). Its a wonderful way to collect original works of art that can be framed and hung in groupings (many stores now carry frames to fit this size) or placed in albums - there are vinyl pages available for baseball cards that are perfect for ACEO's. They can also be put into magnetized clear plastic holders and placed on your fridge or anywhere else that you wish.

At any given time thousands of ACEO's are up for sale globally or listed on auction sites.

I have many of these ACEO's on display on my website - all for sale reasonably priced and with a low shipping cost. The site has a Paypal shopping cart - an easy way for most buyers to pay.

For example I've sold a couple of hundred original LuLu ACEO's - some for less than $10.00 right on Ebay. I've sold over 2,000 of them since they became a hot item. Get into this great new collectible hobby. Check out my website:

http://www.watercolorsbypatricia.com

So much to do and so little time to do it. This year I am determined to spread out the items that I've been selling. I used to sell exclusively on eBay but that is no longer the best path to take. I sell on Webstore.com, Etsy, Bonanza, Yessy, Artsyhome and have a store on Zazzle. I no longer make these pendants but thought you would like to see what they look like. I have another lens that shows step by step how to make them.

and this one comes in a trinket box. I found a number of these boxes in my local 99 cent store:

I lead a fairly busy, though kind of isolated, existence. I'm a painter and often get caught up in long days of painting. I sometimes paint 10 to 12 hours a day and just about every day. The few times I do go out I'm kind of shocked. I'll purchase a hamburger and automatically be given the senior discount. I'll come out of the market with bags and someone will ask to help me to my car. Why all this attention? I don't feel any older than 30 and I can probably help that nice lady with HER bags to her car. Well, when you take a close look in the mirror and the face beaming back at you is one of a tiny, gray haired and slightly wrinkled senior well past 60 it is quite a shock! Like "who is that"? "can't be me"....."oh...it IS me". :-(

So, I can kind of see why old Dracula covers his mirrors. Your outside should always be neat and presentable to the public....but your INSIDE has to stay young and fun-loving and caring. War paint will only go so far...then its personality that counts! I've seen some absolutely gorgeous people - beautiful on the outside but very old and very very ugly on the inside. Think about it and I bet you can come up with a few names of people you know who fit that description.


"Autumn Path"

Someone asked about this painting. Autumn Path was sold about a year ago. Its a 14 X 18" Acrylic on studio wrapped canvas. All my paintings these days are either acrylic or watercolor. Thanks for asking and I hope you enjoyed seeing it.

PASTEL

If you haven't tried it - do so. You can play with them just like a kid. I use mostly "stumps" paper wrapped pencil shaped objects that I can push the paste around with. I also get my fingers in there and work with those too. Unfortunately, I don't do much with pastels - I use them only outside and wear a mask because I'm allergic to the pastel dust....but they are a great tool with great results:



This one was sold years ago and went to a lady in Germany. I have a few professional prints on my website of this if anyone is interested.