And the Winners Are...

Thank you to everyone who let me borrow their brain cells and suggested titles for my "Name These Paintings" contest.

I can't tell you how much fun it is to read all the entries as they come in! You are all a creative bunch!

So without further ado... here are the winners...

The winning title for painting #1 is

"Pearfection" submitted by Len Murtha. Thank you Len!

The winning title for painting #2 is

"Waiting for the Party" submitted by Kathleen Probst. Thank you Kathleen!

Len and Kathleen, please email me your mailing address and let me know if you would like a pack of note cards or a small sketch as a thank you for your winning title.

Thank you again to everyone who helped me out by entering your suggestions! A great title can make the difference in whether a painting sells or sits in inventory. And in the end I had so many good suggestions it was tough to choose.

Need to Borrow Some Brain Cells

Sometimes titles for my paintings come easily either while I am working on a piece or shortly after I finish it.

Other times the portion of my brain that is responsible for titles locks up tighter than a bank vault.

I seem to be going through one of those bank vault times.

So I've decided to turn to the creativity of the masses. Many brains are better than one, right?!

I have a couple of pieces that are languishing in no-name land. I've tried to give them titles that would at least move them up to lame-name land, but they turn their backs and refuse to answer when I call.

This is where you come in! You can save my paintings from the agony of going through life with a lame title!

The paintings below both need cool titles. If you would like to help out them (and me), just shout out your title suggestions in the comments or in an email. Be sure to include the painting number so the title gets assigned to the proper piece. It would be a shame if Frank went through life known as Sue. ;)

As a token of my thanks for your help, whoever comes up with the winning title will receive your choice of either a pack of 8 note cards or a small sketch*. The winner will be announced here on my blog in next Thursday's post.

Now it's time to put on those thinking caps and let the fun begin!!

No-name painting #1

watercolor pears

©2011 Stacy L. Rowan

No-name painting #2

watercolor cupcakes

©2011 Stacy L. Rowan

The small print...
* The titling contest will run until Wednesday, April 25th at 5pm EST. If the winner chooses the sketch as their prize, the size and subject matter will be determined by me.

Easter Visitors

This year we had a couple of special visitors arrive for Easter. We picked them up on Saturday and they will be staying with us for two weeks. My kids could not be more excited.

sleeping chicks sketch 01

graphite in Moleskine cahier sketchbook

approx. 3" x 4"

Our "guests" are actually two chicks which we "rented" from a local farm. The farm provides bedding, food and a box along with the two chicks and instructions for their care.

Our chicks have been named Ginger and Momo - short for Mozart, because she started singing as soon as she was put into my daughter's hands. They are very cute chickies, all fluffy and round.

Not only are the chicks cute, but they provide me with a unique sketching opportunity, of which I plan to take full advantage. You can see my first three sketches in this post.

sleeping chicks sketch 02

graphite in Moleskine cahier sketchbook

approx. 3" x 4"

I started with some sketches of the chicks sleeping in order to familiarize myself with their forms. When asleep they are relatively still so long as I don't make any noise. Ginger is a curious one and the slightest noise will have her opening her eyes and turning around to see what is happening.

With two sleeping sketches under my belt I tried one of Ginger eating - another activity which keeps her still for at least a few seconds.

sketch of chick eating

graphite in Moleskine cahier sketchbook

approx. 5" x 2"

During my next sketching session I will try for a sketch of Momo. She is a little more shy but seems to be getting braver.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
On a different note, I am super happy to report that the first edition of my email newsletter was very well received. I am currently working on the May edition. If you are interested, you can sign up to receive it here. It will be arriving in inboxes around the world during the first week of May.

Sketching Eggs

sketch of eggs

approx. 8" x 7"

water soluble graphite on paper

Working some more with the water soluble graphite pencil, last night I decided to sketch some eggs. Well, actually it was one egg sketched from three different angles.

What better sketching subject than an egg on a beautiful spring night the week before Easter?

I really liked how the dry sketches looked, so in the end I only wet the one at the top. In fact, so far that is the only negative thing I have to say about this pencil. I enjoy the look of the dry sketches so much that it is difficult to decide if I want to finish them with the water brush or not.

(The lines emanating from the top egg aren't really there. The scanner picked up the shadows from the slightly wrinkled paper.)

How Art Captured my Imagination

sketch of art cabinet*

approx 9" x 8" graphite on paper

People often ask me how I got started in art. I was first introduced to the world of art as a kid.

My father graduated from The Philadelphia College of Art (now the University of the Arts). In our basement was a large storage cabinet from his college days. I remember looking through the drawers and finding all kinds of treasures – charcoal and graphite pencils, old sketchbooks, pastels - it was a wonderland!

Occasionally my dad would take out his sketchbook and draw.  I was amazed at how he could make the object he was looking at appear on the page. And I wished I could do that too.

But I didn’t spend much time drawing as a kid. I do remember coloring a lot. But I also liked to do other kid stuff like ride my bike and play outside and watch TV and read.

After graduating from college and starting my job as a chemical engineer, I wanted to try a new hobby, and I wanted it to be something that was very different from what I did all day at work.

A creative hobby seemed to fit that bill. Remembering the cabinet from my parent’s basement, I decided to sign up for a drawing class at a local community college.

I loved the class from the very first night. Although I didn’t know then that I would someday sell my work, I did know that creating art was something I hoped to do for a very long time.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
* The sketch above was created mostly from memory. I did find an image of a cabinet online that seemed similar in style to the cabinet my dad has but the one in the picture was much smaller. Looking at my sketch now, I'm not sure dad's cabinet is this deep or that it has legs. I will say that as a child this cabinet seemed HUGE to me.