Something's Fishy......

....today's feature is an ACEO - colored pencil on black suedeboard. Largemouth Bass coming in for the hook! It is available for sale for $8.99 in my Etsy store

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=10473542

Happy Easter!

I hope all of you are having a Blessed Easter. My plan is to go to Mass this morning early (hence the reason I'm on line at 6:30 in the morning!)

So today's feature is a china painted porcelain mug with a very whimsy Easter Bunny holding a painted egg. She's so foofoo that I imagine that she painted her egg after painting her nails. :) The mug is 3 1/2 inches high and 3 inches in diameter. Dishwasher & microwave safe.

She is available in my Etsy shop for $5.99

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=10183145

Things I'm working on.....

....but not yet listed in my shop. After I return from vacation I'll put them up.

I'm doing a series of margarita glasses with the recipes on the foot of the glasses. They are painted with Folk Art Enamels and have been baked in the oven so they are semi-permanent.

That means you have to hand wash them! Do not put them in the dishwasher!

Anyway I haven't decided on a price. Most painted glasses like this range from $18-21 per glass. I personally think that is an exhorbatant price so my glasses will likely be $15.

So I spoke about a vacation. I will be abroad (I just love that word--never been abroad before) from March 24-31. My shop will be on hold during that time.

My daughter and I are going on a church pilgrimmage with 40 people (3 priests, one deacon and the rest lay people) to Rome and Assisi. I may have access to a computer so I may be blogging but likely not on this blog.

If you want to read about my travels visit my travel blog: http://heylucy1.blogspot.com

Because it's spring....

....and the daffodils are popping up in my garden...no flowers yet but I'm hoping soon they will look like this!

This is a piece of handpainted porcelain. Size 4". Porcelain itself is a leaf design with raised veins.Painted on the porcelain is a single yellow daffodil.

You could use it for a tea bag holder, spoon rest or you could put your rings in them. Very versatile. Dishwasher safe.This piece of porcelain is a piece of art to treasure. Time has been taken to carefully design this piece. It has been handpainted and fired many times in a kiln to an approximate temperature of 1400 degrees to obtain the beautiful finished product. Because each piece of porcelain is handpainted, no two pieces are exactly alike

It is available for $8 in my etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=6532556

Holy Thursday Post

Today begins the Tridium for the Catholic Church-the three holiest days of the year leading up to Easter Sunday. Holy Thursday commemorates the start of it - the remembrance of the final meal Jesus ate with his friends. Good Friday, the day Christ died on the cross to save us from sin. And Holy Saturday when Christ rested in the grave.

Today's Feature will be an ACEO "Lamb of God"in recognition of the start of the tridium. Painted in Watercolors, this ACEO is available on Etsy in my shop:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=10182697

A Wednesday Highlight - Porcelain

My Daughter Jackie say's I should feature a piece of porcelain so here goes. Today it's china painting. This is a porcelain trivet painted the traditional china painting method. Each piece of porcelain is fired multiple times as the colors are intensified with each painting. This trivet can be used for a hot plate or as a decorative piece, hung on the wall. It is $14.99 and available for sale in my Etsy shop:

http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=8822584

I've been Tagged???? Not sure what this means:
Cora says I must tell 5 things about myself that most people (at least my online friends) wouldn't know. Then I am to tag 5 more people! This is hard, as I've done it before, but I'll do my best to come up with another 5 things.

Here goes:
1. I am going to Italy the day after Easter on a church pilgrimmage.
2. I learned to ice skate on my brother's ice hockey skates--with no stops and I'd fall to stop.
3. My mother ran over my dog with the car when I was little.
4. I learned to swim by being tossed off a pier with the words, "Swim or drown". I swam.
5. I burn jello

I tag: Suzie http://cackleblossums.blogspot.com/ , Jackie http://mrtlovesme.livejournal.com/ ,

Kay Butler http://therusticcottage.blogspot.com/ , Angela http://thecountrycellar.blogspot.com/ , Tammy http://rockriverstitches.blogspot.com/

Today's Feature an ACEO

I'm ready for summer and I figured some of you might be too!

So what is an ACEO...some call it an art card.

ACEO stands for "Art Cards, Editions and Originals". These cards are always 3.5 inches by 2.5 inches which is the size of a trading card. Cards will be sold either as originals or editions. Make sure you know which you are buying! If it is a print it should say so, and it should be numbered and signed, usually on the back.

Art Cards were intended to be traded! In the past artists would swap these trading cards. It was difficult for the public to obtain these cards. Now you can bid or buy the fun original pieces of art. You can obtain these little precious pieces of art from artists from all over the world in different mediums and of different subjects and in all style of art work from Realism to Abstract and everywhere in between. Frame them or trade them. These are collectable and now very affordable.

Today's featured ACEO is an acrylic called Tropical Night. It's available at my shop on Etsy.com for $8.99 http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=10320417

Nynet Nynet Nynet.....

...that's what my Russian Icon teacher said today. She didn't like my lines on Mary....not symmetrical, all icons are symmetrical...so I redid parts of it. Then I began laying in the first layer of colors

The paints are pigments mixed with egg tempera. The first layer is very dark. Each subsequent layer is smaller (coming up like a pyramid) and lighter, until the last layer is the whitest.

I know that this doesn't look like much but trust me, that's the way Jesus started out too!

Icons are painted on prepared board. There are many layers of gesso and also a layer of fine linen underneath. We pray before starting any work on an icon. After it is finished they they need to be blessed by a priest on the altar.

So here is what I did today in class. She says do not worry about the drip of color (red) as we will cover it with blue the next time.

Class is every other week. The next one I will be in Italy so I won't go back for a month! :( Be patient all good things take time.

Today's Work --- My Icon Class

I have been taking an icon class every other Monday in Gaithersburg at a Byzentine church. My first icon was of Jesus. It took about 8 months to complete.

Now I'm working on Mary & child Jesus. I am in the beginning stages so as I work on it I will scan it and let you see how it's going. This is the second step. The first is to do the line work. The next step is shadowing the lines.


After Class today I will scan the next step in.........stay tuned folks!

To Blog or Not to Blog....

....that is the question? So many of my crafter and artist friends blog. They tell me, it's the thing to do, the place to be.....be seen girl, they say. Well I AM a chatterbox or that's what my Mom always told me so maybe I will be good at this!

So who am I, what am I, what do I do? Hi, nice to meet you I am Joann Y Wheeler of Pasadena, Maryland. I am retired and working part time on contract back for my former employer. I have a wonderful husband of 32 years and 2 grown children in their 20's who I am very proud of.

My passion is painting. My joke is I will paint on anything, stand still long enough and I'll paint you too! I am a decorative painter, a china painter, a watercolorist. I enjoy pastels and colored pencils and drawing of course.

Over the past year or so I have gotten into painting miniature art, ACEO's. Sell my things on Etsy.com....come visit my shop jywheeler.etsy.com Here's one I really like

I hold memberships in the Society of Decorative Painters, Chesapeake Bay Decorative Painters, International Porcelain Artists and Teachers, China Painting Artists of Maryland.

On Etsy I belong to a team called Old Farmhouse Gathering....search for OFG for all the beautiful Primitive and Cottage style things from these talented women. I lean towards the cottage side of "the gathering".

I also belong to a group called the Designing Artists Women's Group. This group is a very talent bunch too, mostly painters, our friendship formed as a result of an Ebay Group called AOTC-Artist of Trading Cards. Many of these ladies do more than just ACEO's. Some do larger pieces of art. We also have some who do religious art, photography and even poetry. Please search for DAWG on ETSY.com you will not be disappointed.