Leaves, new color way

“Leaves 2″, ©Jill Rosoff 2012, 12″ h x 6″ w

This experimenting I’ve been doing these days with leaves is fun.  As much as it is about the shapes of the leaves, negative space and wet-in-wet, it’s also about color combinations.  This one started as orange and blue leaves first, and I added the alizarin crimson and yellow ones as I developed it.  It’s become about the primaries plus one secondary.  Hmmm!  

This piece is now for sale via my shop on Etsy.  I have a pre-Christmas special on both my Etsy Shops to celebrate Small Business Saturday through Cyber Monday, November 24th – 26th, 20% off everything in my shops.  Just use the coupon code Thanksgiving12 during the checkout process.   For my paintings, notecards and reproductions, go to RosoffArtworks.  My silk scarves are available in BloomingSilks.  

Support artists and their handmade work on Small Business Saturday!

Small Business Saturday, November 24th

Art supplies (and some plumeria, too)

“Plumeria”, ©Jill Rosoff 2012, 6″ x 17 1/2″

“Hi, my name is Jill and I’m an art supplies-aholic.”  Someday, somewhere I’m going to be someplace where I’ll introduce myself like this.

Yes, I love art supply stores.  LOVE them.  Kid in a candy shop love them.  They are a world of possibilities, tools and supplies that look so fun, so interesting that usually my imagination goes on overload after awhile.  These days its a really like a treat to go to a good art supply store, there are good suppliers online and I usually know what I need to get.  It’s wonderfully easy to order and have the supplies arrive at my door, or get specialty items I need directly from companies that specialize in products, say, for painting silk scarves.  But a really good brick-and-mortar art supply store is hard to find anymore.  There used to be three great stores I would go to, and now there’s just one left.  >heavy sigh!<

So the other day  I went to the art supply store, and as I walked inside I was immediately sideswiped by the huge table-full of watercolor brushes on sale for ONE DOLLAR EACH.  I kid you not.  Right there, right as I walked in.  Now, I’ve spent my fair share on lovely sable brushes for watercolor painting.  But these were right there, tempting me.  And it was a one-day !Surprise! sale to boot.  What did I do?  I surrendered, just a little.  Actually I got them for students who needed to fill out their brush selection.  So I felt a certain sense of justification, even care-giving for them, so they could take advantage of a good deal even though they wouldn’t actually be there.

I went primarily to make a list of specific supplies for students signing up for a new watercolor workshop I’ll be giving at Orange Coast College in October in the community education division.  I spent almost 2 hours there, sorting through to recommend the supplies they’d need: watercolor papers, paint colors, brushes, palettes, so I could make  recommendations on the supplies list I made up for the workshop.  When I finished with those, I looked  for whatever new things I could use for painting and printing new designs on silk scarves  for the fall and the holidays.  Dangerously fun.  And coming soon.

About this painting:  I started this piece after returning from my vacation/music workshop in Maui in June.  I have always loved Hawaiian slack key guitar, its soul soothing, and found this workshop where some of my slack key favorites were going to be the teachers.  So off I went, lugging my guitar, my small traveling paint kit, and a camera just in case (!) something caught my eye.  The great little place we stayed had plumeria trees growing right outside the door of the rooms, so we would sit on our little patio in the mornings with our coffee, with the trees framing our view of the ocean.  A visually and aurally delightful few days.  It didn’t suck at all!  

New scarves, new events

Poppies scarf #27, yellow and orange poppies, on habotai silk.  ©Jill Rosoff 2011

Big week!  I had a meeting at the Muckenthaler Cultural Center in Fullerton, CA, with the woman who runs the gift shop and they are now carrying my scarves.  Yay!  The Muck (as they’re known around here) has an exhibit that opened this week on Korean textiles, which is pretty yummy.  So if you live anywhere nearby, are at all interested in textiles and fabric art, or are looking for something lovely to do, its a terrific exhibit, and the gift shop has some great scarves for sale1

I also have 17 of my watercolors hanging  at the Environmental Nature Center in Newport Beach, CA for the month of February.  This lovely oasis of nature sits next to the sports fields at Newport Harbor High School.  Originally unused land where dirt was deposited from grading for construction at the school, it has been shaped and nurtured for years and is now a center that ” provides quality education through hands-on experience with nature.  The ENC’s 3 1/2 acre outdoor classroom displays 15 native plant communities that range from a desert, to a freshwater marsh, to a redwood forest.”   I’m showing pieces from both my “Blossoms” and “Tapestri” collections, all with floral subjects of course.  The ENC is located at 1601 16th St. in Newport Beach, and my paintings are hanging in their gift shop “Nature’s Gifts”.  They are open M-F from 8 am – 5 pm, and Saturdays from 8 am – 4 pm.

Last but not least, this new scarf is now available at my Etsy shop, along with more scarves, small paintings, notecards and limited edition reproductions.  In case you want something for your Valentine? 

In time for the Holidays!

Busy Busy Busy, 13 1/2″ x 10″; Sunflowers, 11 1/4″ x 10″; Icelands, 10″ x 14 1/2″, Orange Poppies, 1o” x 16″.  All dims are HxW.   Paper is 12″ x 18″.

TA DA!   The reproductions you all selected are now available on my Etsy shop.  These signed and numbered, limited edition prints are $35.00 each, or $125.00 for a set of four.  

But! just for the next two weeks, they are specially priced at $30.00 each, $110.oo for a set.  And when you buy the set, all of the prints will be the same number in the edition.  Order by December 17th for standard delivery before Christmas!  Overnight is available for orders made up until the 22nd for an additional cost.

And by the way,  I want to thank all of my blog readers, for reading my blog and especially to those who have subscribed, I appreciate it.  And to all who participated in the selection of these reproductions, I appreciate your responding!