Tonight's Painting: Echinaceas in a Purple Vase

At tonight's painting workshop which I will be teaching at Michaels King of Prussia store, we will be enjoying the image of that lovely flower called Echinacea (also called Purple Coneflower).

Tea can be brewed from the roots, leaves and stems of this plant, which is known for its immune strengthening powers. The roots have the most potency, but I usually simply use some of the stems and leaves to brew my own. the flavor of the tea is delicious!

In tonight's class we will be learning the steps involved in creating an image similar to this one.

Interested in joining us? Click on the schedule tab above. I have just posted many new dates for workshops and free demos.

Echinaceas and the New Yahoo!

I am not happy with the new Yahoo! Mail!
Are you?


The way I see it, I am too busy to have to go through a learning curve often to see how some company has changed their ways. For instance, I usually go to the Acme because it's the store I know like the back of my hand. (I was so upset with them about a year or so ago when they changed everything around for no apparent reason! Luckily I was able to get used to it fairly quickly)

So, I have several active email accounts. My Yahoo! account I have had for a long time. This is I think at least the third time that they have asked me to get used to a "new" yahoo. Supposed to be faster. So far: NOT! In fact, it seems slower. Supposed to be easier, NOT! In fact, my opinion so far? I HATE IT!
One thing that was nice with the old Yahoo: when I had a slew of emails and scanned them for the most important or urgent ones, I could quickly click to turn on the red flag which was positioned to the immediate left of the email listing. (between the box that gets checked to delete or move or whatever and the subject line)
Guess where it is now? Allllllllllllllllllllllllllllll the way over to the right hand side. I never see it! A flag should be something you see right away or else, what good is it??!! I think I may just have to make more use of my other email accounts for the sake of time management and my sanity!

That's all the rant I have right now. I just had to vent. Now I have some painting to do.
What do YOU think of this new yahoo?

BTW
I hate the idea of posting a blog post with no picture so what you see here is a totally unrelated picture!
My front yard garden echinaceas are in full bloom right now! (I hope that my next floral painting workshop will have these as a subject.)

Demo this weekend

This Saturday morning.
July 16, 2011
Come to the Conshohocken Michaels store to watch me paint!
I will be doing a free demo from 10 till 12 noon.
Will show you how easily one can paint an image by taking a class!
(I painted some echinaceas last night. Turned out not-so-bad!)

Painting Workshop Schedule for July

I have gotten a bit behind in my painting workshop scheduling. Due to many factors, I can't yet tell you when I will be teaching in the Conshohocken store this July. I hope to have something in place by the end of today.
The King of Prussia location is set for the usual schedule: Wednesday evenings at 630pm.
JULY 13-STILL LIFE
JULY 20 - LANDSCAPE
JULY 27 - FLORAL

Benefits of Blogging (Artists)

I was recently asked by a fellow artist about my blog. More and more artists are learning that having a blog is important. Here is my blog story.
Thanks to Alyson B Stanfield, I have been blogging since the Fall of 2006. I started my blog using Google's [free] blogspot, soon after attending one of her art marketing seminars, where she taught me the reason and value of artists having a blog. One valuable lesson: Blogging enables one to talk about one's artwork, which makes it easier for [art-buying] folks to find you through Google searches. Just posting images is not sufficient, because Google searches WORDS, not IMAGES!

For instance:
I could post this image and Google would never find it.
But, suppose I post it on a blogpost and talk about how it is a picture of a black labrador, a beautiful dog with a sweet disposition, which belongs to my friend Cathe. I state that the medium is acrylic. I mention the size of the canvas. Maybe I talk about how I also accept commissions from other people who may want to order a painting with their pet's image. I might talk about how I changed the background of the painting to include green leaves.

Now, we have something that Google can work with. I have a chance to be counted when someone searches for words like the ones I have indicated with  bold italics. See where I'm going with this?

I highly recommend checking out Alyson's website. She has a blog too, as well as online classes, a book... I encourage you to visit her online. Even better, check out her weekly e-newsletter (like I have); you can sign up to receive it by clicking here Reading her weekly newsletter is a great way to learn a little at a time, in digestible bites.

Another day, I will share a related story about her seminar and how I was able to attend for free!)

*If you choose to purchase something from her, I may receive a cut. Please know that I wouldn't share this unless I had absolute faith in her knowledge and capabilities.