Saturday, March 24, 2012

New Items in Shop! Buttons + Postcards


Buttons (also known as badges) are one of those items that's fun to trade, wear on your jacket or bag.

Brand new to my shop I'm offering a button pack featuring six different designs of woodland animals from my paintings. Woodland creatures include Badger, Rabbit, Cat and Scone, Admiral, Mole, and little fox the Bookworm.

 Decided to wear the "Bookworm" - fox reading book button today in honor of the Hunger Games.
(I loved the books and going to see the movie later. Not sure what to expect from the movie but people have said that it's a good adaption).

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Also new to the shop is the Amethyst Series Postcard Pack. 
Featuring four different designs with standard postcard back to write a friendly note to a buddy.

Visit my Etsy Shop to purchase these goodies and more! 

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

Try Try Again - Painting Redos

Sometimes I start a painting and it just "clicks". The paint goes exactly where I want and the color is right on. But sometimes it doesn't...and I just have to start over and try again.

              1st try - Original painting                                            2nd  try - new painting revisiting original idea.

That's what happened with my latest painting. I could clearly visualize the piece in my head but when I started painting, it just didn't work out. The colors didn't give that mossy misty forest that I was looking for, and my tree bark was too linear and lifeless. I thought I could save it by lighting but once I started that part I knew it wasn't going to work. So I ditched it before I spent anymore time on it.

The Wayfarers, 6 x 6 inches, Gouache & Ink on paper, © Nicole Gustafsson 2012

Here's the new and improved version that I am much happier with. The color and lighting adjusted to give that mossy forest feel, and the tree bark texture looser and rougher.

The Wayfarers (detail), © Nicole Gustafsson 2012

I used to get pretty bummed when something didn't turn out right or I wasn't "feeling it". Now I just set it aside and wait a little bit and try again on a new piece of paper. (Getting a new piece of paper helps wipe the slate clean. When I used thicker paper I would just turn it over. Try to "cover up" the existing painting doesn't work to well).

Sometimes when I post in-progress shots in real time on my facebook page people sometimes remark remark "gosh that was fast" but what they don't know is that there was a whole other painting before it that I had the feeling just wasn't going right!

Stay tuned next week for my blog tutorial on techniques and materials!

Wednesday, March 07, 2012

Is This Thing On 2 - Opens Friday at Gallery1988

Round 2 in the comedy show tribute series Is This Thing On 2: The Weird Year opens this Friday at Gallery 1988. Over 100 artists depict their favorite comedians. Right away two people came to mind that I wanted to do a piece for - Bill Murray and Chevy Chase. Little did I know that their was going to be an entire show dedicated to Bill Murray earlier in the year! I was very much excited to take part in that show and also thrilled that I could do Chevy Chase for this comedian show.


And what is it about Chevy Chase that I love? Well let's see, spending every Christmas watching National Lampoons Christmas Vacation comes to mind, and then there's Chase's role in Caddyshack (one of my top 5 movie loves), and the loads of characters he has brought to life.


Chasing Chevy Chase
7.5 x 12.5 inches
Gouache & Ink on paper
© Nicole Gustafsson 2012

*Update* This painting is now available for purchase online: here

Inspired by Chases film appearances in: Caddyshack, National Lampoon Vacation, National Lampoon European Vacation,  National Lampoon Christmas Vacation, Funny Farm, Fletch, Fletch 2, Memoirs of the Invisible Man, Spies Like Us, Three Amigos


Chasing Chevy Chase (detail) © Nicole Gustafsson 2012
Chasing Chevy Chase (framing view) © Nicole Gustafsson 2012

Show opens this Friday, March 9th from 7 - 10pm at Gallery 1988 (Melrose) LA, California.


Also worth knowing is that "WEIRD AL" YANKOVIC is going to be there hosting the show at the opening reception. So awesome.