Its been a while since my last blog post…..you know how it is this time of year with so much going on in the garden, the new puppy entertaining me at every turn, company visiting and new ideas bursting forth into bloom in the studio!!! I have so much to catch up with you all on, but will take it, one “announcement” at a time to keep things easy to absorb!
FIRST IS THE NEW WEBSITE…CLICK IMAGE ABOVE TO ACCESS
Starting with images of the most treasured moments of your beautiful companion animals ,I will custom design a unique masterpiece to honor that special bond between human kind and the creatures in your world.
TEXT BELOW IF FROM “THE PROCESS” PAGE OF THE WEBSITE
Combining traditional paint techniques and digital manipulation ,the artist creates from the facial expressions backwards. Sandra truly believes that the soul and life of the painting is in the eyes ,so those must be right to be able to continue the creation process.
One common misconception about digital art is that it is a “push a button and it’s done” medium. While computers are powerful tools, they are unable to mimic the skill, eye and attention to detail of a true artist.
A painting such as this requires days or weeks in front of the computer layering color over sketch , many times using an actual photograph as the basis for the design concept.
Unnecessary elements need to be hand removed with a “paintbrush or eraser” and new details in all cases are added with Sandra’s signature artistic finesse ….one gentle brush stroke at a time.
Once the basic painting is near completion then the tweeking begins . For instance bringing forward the main subject by pushing back the backgrounds as well as final touches such as adding in a puppy’s favorite toy ,are especially important in personalizing your special portrait
It’s is a time consuming and eye crossing medium that rivals Sandra’s traditional “brush on paper” watercolors in complexity ,while allowing more freedom to create with her limited vision.
YOU WILL FIND MORE INFO , PRICING and DETAILS ON THE SITE
Most of my commissioned portraits will also be featured in my ZAZZLE store on art cards!!
. Your best friend could be a STAR!!
NEW IPADIO PHONECAST TODAY…SEE SIDEBAR OR BELOW IN POST
What fun we are having here with our new girl Gracie and enjoying every nanosecond of her puppyhood. It’s amazing the life she has added to our household and to see old Meg and Lillian interested in Gracie makes it even sweeter. Be sure to see in the video hub at the bottom of this post, the NUMEROUS iphone vids I’ve done of Gracie this week. She is such a smart baby with such an easy going disposition
As I work in the garden and watch Gracie grow, I often take a few minutes to sip a cup of Lemongrass tea I brought home from Thailand and swing on my freestanding bench swing. Right now the Japanese maple towers over me full of fresh new leaves and teeny red flowers which the hummingbirds adore.
I took this photo above between downpours. The sky was electric blue with huge puffy clouds above
Gracie had her 10 week birthday this week so I decided to do a photo shoot in black and white and put some of the cutest images to music on this short birthday video (above) !! Click the arrow to start and turn on your volume
Gracie with Happy Feet…..what a joyful feeling to run like the wind!
A Scrub Jay has discovered Gracies outdoor exercise pen with it’s random kibbles of spilled food. I’ll have to remember they like this stuff to draw them closer for photos in the future
More puppy bliss
My garden helper walking away with the fish pond hose
BELOW IS A PEEK AT MY GARDEN ON A SHORT VIDEO….COMPARE TO PIX THIS SUMMER WHEN YOU CAN’T SEE THE PATHWAY
I hope you all have a delightful and safe Easter weekend. I have a number of pendants almost done and ready to list for Mothers Day gifts as well as batik handbags with pandas , moonbears and chows!!!
Also is anyone interested in more bead combos. ??
Big hugs from the Miller family!!
HAVE A SAFE AND HAPPY HOLIDAY WEEK EVERYONE!!!!
CLICK THE PHOTO ABOVE TO WATCH THE PROGRESSION OF MY GARDEN FROM 1/09 till TODAY
Its hard to believe how fast this year is whizzing by and how much the garden has evolved since the beginning of the year. The photo above Steve took of me today from across the street. To the left is one of my banana tree clumps and I’m surrounded by the stars of the August garden……..my cannas. Diana….these are your red cannas you gave me years ago from your Iowa soil….. and they are still going strong. I thought I lost them last year but they were just resting I guess!!
Above is my new arbor Felix built for me this spring…photo taken the day it was finished in March. Now you can barely see the structure through the jungle out there.
Steve, totally getting into the garden spirit this afternoon
Actually Steve really enjoys the produce that comes from garden and his Negrone Black fig tree I bought him 2 years ago is finally producing a bumper crop!!!! How exciting to go out and clip a fig or two off the tree and serve it with a great wine and some mild goat cheese and grilled kebobs . Many a summer evening we call that “dinner”…YUM!!
Here is one of my hibiscus coming into bloom. A smaller flower but it ‘s just packed with buds
I’m gearing up for our trip to Egypt, Turkey and France which is creeping up VERY SOON the end of September and have gotten into a BIG BOLD BOISTEROUS jewelry mood from looking at jewelry designs in the Egyptian jewlery history books!! OMG I’m on a roll with a lot of African and Egyptian designs in store the next two weeks…….AND more Bindi Birds too!! Keep up to date on available designs by making sure to sign up for the GRAFFITI GOSSIP UPDATES
This stunner above is of African influence containing many handmade beads from our Botswana journey. I wore it this weekend out to dinner to test how it would wear, and HONESTLY…EVERY woman who walked by me said “I LOVE YOUR NECKLACE”. Now that was the best feeling I’ll tell ya!!! It is very striking I must admit and light weight as well.
THE NECKLACE WILL BE LISTED ON THE WEBSITE THIS WEEK. MATCHING EARRINGS TO GO WITH IT
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BELOW…My regular blog visitors know about my latest ZAZZLE additions already, but for those of you who haven’t seen all the new designs and mens’ ties, swing on by the TEAHOUSE MARKET to see what I’ve been up to!!
When we are abroad in Sept/Oct, I will be showing you all where we are ….LIVE …..via GRAFFITI GOSSIP , FACEBOOK and TWITTER. Wooooooo Hooooooooooo you will be coming on this vacation right along with us and can even help me pick out beads and souvineers!! Hoping like heck to take a hot air balloon ride over the Great Pyramids with you too!!!
So until my next newsletter which will most likely be in 2 or 3 weeks (things are coming at us fast and furious!!) I’ll sign off for now and wish you , my friends, a beautiful August full of melodious Cicada songs and sweet Summer Harvests. Thank you one and all for your continued friendship , blog comments and purchases !!
BIG HUGS, Sandra!!!
And don’t forget to add me as a friend on FACEBOOK!! I’m always on there updating whats new in the studio on a day to day basis on my wall.
