my new website!

Well, the Children's school auction was a success and I'm happy to say that my paintings did well. If only I could make that much money when I get to keep it!
I've been waiting for these professional photography lights that I ordered so I can FINALLY get good lighting and take better photos of my art. Unfortunately, after I had set up everything in my studio for picture taking, I realized that one of the light sockets wasn't working, so I had to return them yesterday. I promise I will get better pictures of my art and stop apologizing about the quality of my photos.
I have got my website up and running! It still needs a little work, but eventually, my blog will switch to that address.

Here it is! [drum roll]
art-by-erin

Thanks to my friend, Kat, for setting it up. I gave her pieces of a drum set that I had as payment.

In other news, I also set up my etsy shop! art by erin the great.
This needs some work too, but I have some ideas that you might want to tell me is crap or brilliant. I wanted to sell my gnomes on there.
1) do you think that $10 is the right price for adorable gnomes?
2) I was thinking of doing custom acrylic animal portraits on velvet. This example was a gift for a wedding present.3) Acrylic family portraits using the birds of a feather idea, this example is a detail from the painting I did for the Chilren's School:

4) customized water color/ink nursery rhymes like I did for Extreme Makeover:Home Edition:

5) Of course I would try to sell my regular oil paintings, but the last idea was this: I have a knack for finding 4-leaf clovers. I was thinking about framing them and putting them on my etsy shop.

What do you think about these ideas, peeps? lemme know!

Oh, and here is a cute story about Kiel. She was pushing one of those popcorn toys around the house. Every once in a while she would scream and cry and I'd run over to see if she was okay. I could not figure out what was upsetting her. Finally, after the 3rd breakdown, I realized that she was terrified of a piece of fuzz stuck on one of the wheels. I had noticed it earlier, but did not think that it would be so scary to a 19 month little girl.

Auburn vs. Alabama

Here is a custom painting for Quinn. He loves underwater animals and sports. Auburn,(Quinn's favorite team), is pictured here, about to make the winning touchdown against their rival, Alabama.

Underwater Football Game
Oil on Canvas
20" x 20"

Detail:

Birds of a feather and the playground tree

Here are the two paintings I made with the Pre-K class for the art auction for the Children's School. This one was inspired by the tree outside of the classroom that the children play under by the playground. The kids helped me glue on the button flowers on the bottom. There are two details of the buttons following this image.
oil on canvas
4' x 4'

detail:
detail:

This is my favorite one! I drew birds for each of the 23 students. They colored them with colored pencils. They are so colorful and beautiful. I don't remember coloring that well at age 4.
acrylic on wood
12" x 48"

detail:

detail:

Collaborating with kids was a challenge, but I am pretty happy with the results. The auction is March 26th. Can't wait to see how it goes!

Birds of a Feather

I have been helping The Children's School with their Pre-K art auction projects. So my idea was to have the little tykes color some birds drawn on butcher paper with colored pencils and I attach the birds onto a painting of a power line in the sky. It goes with my theme of Nature vs. Manmade and includes the children's talent as well. The other painting will be an oil painting of a tree inspired by a tree painting their teacher, Jean, liked. Instead of using a palette knife to make a textured foliage, I am having the kids glue little mirrors in the tree. I'm excited to see how they turn out! I haven't done a collaborative piece since college. Here is an 8" x 8" mock up I made for the bird painting. I used my sister's family to color the birds and then gave them the painting!detail: sorry it's such a bad picture.

Laron Jr

I can show you the images since the episode has aired! So here they are, if you weren't able to get a good look on the show.

It goes: Little Laron Jr. couldn't be cuter
Eating his Christmas Pie
He put in his thumb
and pulled out a plumb
and said "what a good boy am I!"

Mr. Mailbox Man Goes to Work

Here is the video of my 2nd children's book. J.R. and I wrote a song for it last night and recorded it on garage band. Enjoy!

My art on ABC!

Hey everyone, I'm happy to announce that my art will be on ABC's Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. I made 5 ink/watercolors for a nursery. The episode will be airing this Sunday 12/12/10, if you want to check it out!

cheers