"Red Zinnea II" (watercolor on Yupo; 8" x 10 1/2") sold

sold

I just started laying down paints on the line drawing for "Red Zinnea"; how do you like my mini, full-palette palette?

"Red Zinnea" in progress; it's almost time to paint the "air" and that is when all hell breaks loose!

Recently I sold "Red Zinnea" (see below) on Etsy.  On the day she received the painting in the mail, the buyer contacted me requesting if I could paint a little larger version for her mother who also loves zinneas.  How could I resist such a sweet request!  So the deal was made and she duly placed a commission order on Etsy.  Do you know what she did while she had a credit card out?  She bought another Yupo painting!  She told me that she couldn't help herself!

"Red Zinnea" (watercolor on Yupo, 6" x 8"; sold)

"Poppy Dreams" (watercolor on Yupo, 6" x 8"; sold)

August Newsletter

Hello, everybody!

Can you believe summer is almost over?  I hope you are all enjoying a great summer. We Virginians have been blessed with some lovely weather this year!  

I started a new, fun, ongoing series--"Pet Portraits".   If you love to see your beloved pet painted by me and shared on my blog and Facebook page, please email me at kimstenbergart@gmail.com.  Send me a picture or two, preferably taken in natural light without flash.  I will do a drawing at the end of September and give one painting away!  Since I first made the call for pet pictures last Friday, I already painted four pet portraits! I am totally out of photos at the moment and waiting for more.  Please check out my blog for the stories behind these beautiful cats and dogs.  

"Collage of Pet Portraits I"

When you are sending me pictures of your pets, don't forget to add their names, ages, breeds, and some fun facts.  And please send me more than one picture. My paintings will be as good as the reference photos, as I give every painting 110%.  I will work in oil for these pet portraits in various sizes, such as 6" x 8", 8" x 8", and 8" x 10". If you like the painting of your pet, you can buy it later.  By the way, it doesn't have to be cats and dogs; I can paint any animals.  Are you a birder?  I can paint from your favorite pictures!  The only condition is that you took the pictures yourself (because of copyright issues).

"Collage of Birds for Birders"

It was a summer without a vacation for me.  Instead, I've had a different kind of fun, creating watercolor paintings.  You wouldn't believe how exciting it is to switch back and forth between mediums. Watercolors do something oils cannot do; there are things one can do only with oils.  As I told a friend of mine, by renewing my watercolor ways, which were my first love, I doubled the fun!  I am sharing the collage of the paintings I did during my explorations on Yupo painting last month.  How do you like the collage of my July paintings? 

The paintings are available on my website or on my Etsy shop.  The prices are the same on both sites, but they offer you different ways of viewing and buying my art. Please check them out.

"Collage of My July 2013 Watercolor Paintings

My original plan for July was to do some more boat paintings, but I got distracted as you can see above!  A boat painting from June ("After Independence Day"), however, was juried into the prestigious annual landscape show at the Art League Gallery in Alexandria, VA this month!

"After Independence Day" (oil, 12"x 16"; $500)
For purchase information, email gallery@theartleague.org, or call 703-683-1780.

Exciting things happen in Kim Stenberg Fine Art Studio!  Thank you for your continuing interest in my art.  Enjoy the rest of the summer!

"Sunflowers on Hot Summer Day" (oil on linen; 8" x 10") sold

sold

No other flowers say "summer" as loudly as sunflowers.  In the depth of winter, or on a cool summer day like today, if I want to feel the hot summer sun in my heart, I just have to think of these big, bold, in-your-face, flowers.

By the way, I am back to painting oils.  You wouldn't believe how exciting it is to switch back and forth between mediums.  Watercolors do something oils cannot do; there are things one can do only with oils.  As I told a friend of mine, by renewing my watercolor ways, which were my first love, I doubled the fun!  I am sharing the collage of the paintings I created during my explorations on Yupo painting last month.  Enjoy!

Collage of my Yupo Paintings created in July 2013!

"Morning Harbor" (watercolor on Yupo; 20" x 26") sold

sold

As you know, I used to be a daredevil watercolorist.  I would occasionally pull out a full-sheet of Yupo, the  slick, synthetic "paper" with zero absorbency, let my hair down, and do the wild thing.  With Yupo, the artist has very little control over the painting process.  Paints puddle in oddest places and do their own crazy stuff.  "Red Sails" is the probably the best Yupo painting I have ever done.  I absolutely adore its drippy, watery, lyrical quality.

"Red Sails" (watercolor on Yupo, 20" x 26") sold

"Morning Harbor" is another watercolor painting on Yupo.  It depicts a harbor in northern England bathed in the morning light.  There are no puddles in the painting!  I don't know how I was able to pull it off.  I probably tried a few times to get it just right. (The Yupo surface mars easily; one cannot make corrections easily.)  If I had not told you, you would not have thought it was a Yupo painting.  It has an airy, serene, whispering quality.  Which painting do you like better?