I did it! I updated my blog! Yippee!

Let me start off by saying I am sorry to all of my blogger friends. I know I have been horrible about my blog. I had to make some choices and put updating my blog in priority order. This is has no reflection on reading your awesome blogs, but it put updating mine at the bottom of the list.

Now, I have to recognize my blessings. I have been very fortunate and have been selling lots of my art to the local community. I have been commissioned for several projects and requested to fill orders on a weekly basis if not daily. Wow!!! Yes, this is a good busy. :-) Also, I have continued my work in the acting world. Aside from working my usual full time job during the day, I have been casted in several theater and film opportunities since my last blog post. I have had the opportunity to work with Page 2 Stage Productions, Ocean Troupe and others. It has been so much fun, and a wild ride! I love it! :-) Last but not least - I love my Paranormal Ghost Hunting team, Ghosts of Georgia . We have had some wonderful opportunities to investigate some very interesting places. In turn this has helped me continue to learn about my sensitive gifts. Very cool! The best result out of this, is using my sensitive gifts in my art. I can't tell you how good it feels when I hand over a painted item to a customer, and they say; "Wow, this is just what I wanted - how did you get inside my head?" Cool huh? :-)

I want to take the time to thank my wonderful Etsy friends. I am blessed to be on both the GA Etsy Team and Original Artists on Etsy. They have been my rock, and so supportive. If you sell on Etsy, please consider joining a team. You won't regret the time spent with these friends. It is a great support network and a wonderful tool to help you learn. You can never stop learning, and this is a great outlet.

If you have not had the chance to become a fan on my Facebook Fan Page - please stop by. http://tinyurl.com/kiwiarts I try to keep pictures updated as much as possible. I also Twitter, you can follow :-) Thanks for continuing to support me and encouraging me to update my blog. I will do this more often, I promise.

Now - I need your good vibes, energy, prayers - whatever you want to call it. Lots of orders to fill this week, a movie to start filming and another one to study, Two different dinner theaters to prepare for, a program to create for a New Dawn Theater Company, and I go back to work (I work in the school system). Did I mention my 5 kids and husband that are so supportive? I am so blessed!

Have a wonderful week everyone - hug your family and be good to yourself. Here are some pictures of one of my latest sales.

Hugs, Beth

Kiwi Arts Glass and Accessories Now Sold at Image Spa! Wahoo!

Kiwi Arts is pleased to announce her new Hand Painted, Eco Friendly, Natural Wood, Fashion Bangle Bracelets to her Etsy shop. Whew.....that is a mouthful! I have been planning for this new addition for a month or so. I am so excited! Reading several articles on Etsy regarding Eco Friendly products, and meeting so many wonderful artists on Etsy has lead me to this new product now available in my store. The best news is that Image Spa in Snellville Georgia has agreed to carry my Art and Accessories. They have come up with the wonderful idea of having me paint wine glasses with their beautiful Iris Image Spa Logo. They will give these wine glasses to their couples (couple's massage), and their loyal customers. I am proud to be the artist painting these wonderful glasses for them. In addition to painted glass, they will be carrying my Eco Friendly Natural Wood Bracelets. I have sanded, painted, and sealed my original designs on these wonderful bangles. They are so cute! I have to admit it! :-) My girls are so mad at me - they keep begging to wear them to school. I keep having to tell them, "No, I promised Image Spa first!". Ha Ha... sometimes it just feels good to hold out on your kids! :-) I know, I am a wicked mother!

One of the other things I love about these bracelets are the cute little tags I have tied to the bracelets. They are made by ClaudiasCreations on Etsy. They are made out of homemade recycled paper, colored a sweet little pale green, and embedded with wildflower seeds. What a great idea!! After you purchase your bracelet, and the frost is sure to be over, you can go plant your Eco friendly wildflower tag under a small layer of soil. And yup, you guessed it - up will come wildflowers!! I can't think of anything more clever and more natural to put on my wood bangles. I am thrilled! Thank you Claudia. Please stop by ClaudiasCreation Etsy store to see more homemade paper products. http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=21808930

To celebrate Image Spa and Kiwi Arts' new relationship, Image Spa would like to give you a 10% off coupon on any Spa Services. I recently had an unbelievable facial from Image Spa, and let me tell you - They are the bomb! When you walk in this family owned spa, you know you have walked into high class. The smell is delightful and soft. The lighting is perfect, and the sound of water dripping down the rock wall automatically puts you in a state of relaxation before you have even started your Spa treatment. Image Spa offers a variety of services. For more information go to their website at http://www.imagespa.net/

If you would like to take advantage of this coupon - Please print it off by blog - and let them know Kiwi Arts sent you! :-) Enjoy! It is on me! LOL! :-)
http://www.imagespa.net/specials_imagespa.html


Thanks for taking the time to visit, and please stop by my Etsy Store to see the new additions. More to come soon!

Georgia Featured Artist!

Yippee! I am the featured Georgia artist on this site. Please go visit - Great article! Thanks Jyl! Also, make a comment on the feature and you will be entered in the blog give away contest.

Thanks again Jyl for such a wonderul post on my Kiwi Arts. I can't wait to see the other GA artist you feature. I am honored to be among them! :-)
Beth
www.thepost-itplace.com

New Additions coming to my Etsy Store - Sneak Peak

I have been painting like crazy trying to get some really cool wood bracelets painted and delivered to Image Spa. They are going to carry my bracelets and wine glasses with their logo on them for the customers. I am painting bracelets for my Etsy store too. Keep checking, and I will have them posted soon. I am really excited about the addition to my store. For one, I think I am going to tap into a more affordable price range for those of us that want a little piece of handmade art, but can't spend a ton of money on it. Second, I am creating a more Eco friendly art piece and having fun with it. I decided to use natural wood bracelets, and process the entire design, paint and seal myself. Then I am going to top off my Eco bracelets with a natural handmade wildflower seed tag. I got these tags from a wonderful artist on Etsy who makes her own paper - I will post more about this later. But when you receive the bracelet or buy them from one of the local places I have my work, you will also get this precious tag that contains plantable wildflowers. You can wear the art, and give back to nature at the same time. I think they are going to be so cute! I hope you love them as much as I do. So, stay tuned! :-) I am attaching 3 pictures. One of them, is my last painting, second one is one of my artsy fartsy daughters. She loves to take mood pictures in my studio, with just the right light and in from of my art. I think she is so cute, so I had to show her off. Third, my work in progress so you can take a sneak peak.

Tomorrow, I am will post a link to a local blogger that has done a front page feature on myself, and is featuring Georgia Women and their craft. Stay tuned! :-0

Thanks for reading, please leave a comment.
Beth

Painting in the Snow in "Hot-Lanta!" Looksie!

Can you believe it? How lucky am I to be spending a snowy Sunday at home painting in my sun room with windows all around me, and all I can see is SNOW! Yes, this is Atlanta! It has been snowing ALL DAY! It has been several years since we have seen snow come down like this. It is so pretty! I had to take some pictures and show you. I also took some pictures from my perspective as I paint in my studio. Wouldn't you just love it? It was so peaceful today. It looked like the trees had their branches stretched way out as if they were begging for more! I could even imagine little tongues sticking out as they tilted this way and that way, trying to catch every snowflake. It was an amazing show!

Atlanta has started to become more of a tropical area with Georgia being a more tropical state. But today, it felt like the old days. It was more like North Georgia, and more beautiful than I can describe. I can remember the days when I would walk to school in the morning and I could feel the ice crunch under my little feet. It was always like this the first month of school. I can even remember going back to school shopping and buying sweaters, coats, long pants and tights. It was always so much fun. Going back to school shopping always meant winter would be coming, and we might get snow that particular year. It was something to look forward to because it meant a day out of school when we needed it the most. The timing always seemed to be perfect.

Please enjoy looking at my pictures, and the not so much progress being made to the dance painting. I took a break this weekend to go and see two different plays I had friends in. They were wonderful! Now I am ready to start a new week and get back to work.

Tonight I am going to add the OAOE Team tag to most of my work on Etsy. Hopefully it will help unify us as a team. We are the Original Artists on Etsy Team. I updated my shop bio as well. The front page of my store should read a little differnent now.

Have a great week, and thanks again.
Beth
Kiwi=Arts
www.kiwiarts.etsy.com
www.kiwiarts.artfire.com

Dance Painting getting better - part -1 (forgot to show you first sketch!)

OK, so - the painting is getting better. Please leave me comments - Good, Bad, or Ugly! I learn so much from all of you, and your opinions are very valuable to me. I actually have fun with it! :-) It feeds me and helps me finish the painting. I hope to be done tomorrow night after work. So, three days working after work is not too bad I guess. I realistically probably only dedicated 2 hrs of working time a night on it, if you take out all the interruptions. I did not get to start on the painting tonight until after playing mom taxi for most of the night - and then the President's speech. I probably could have done without the speech, but I felt like I needed to listen so if I need to say something negative or positive to someone about it, I would know what I was talking about! LOL! I hate it when people speak up, but don't know what they are talking about. Don't you? Drives me crazy! My favorite line is......."I voted this way or that way because this was how I was raised, or this is what my parents do.". Or even better - "I did not vote because it is a waste of time, but whoever elected this President was crazy." Aghh!!! So, I guess I keep up with politics so I feel like I can make an educated opinion rather than talking from my rear end.

I almost forgot - I did not show you my first sketch that was approved by the buyer to start this painting. So, you can see where the painting started from. Now, If I can concur my fears of some areas of this painting, add the rest of the dancers, and finish fine details - I will be done! Hopefully my customer will be very happy! If she is not, you will see it on Etsy later - ha ha!! :-)

Hugs to all! Happy Wednesday! Already half way through the work week! Yea! Can you believe it? This weekend I am going to go see two different plays my dear friends are in with my paranormal investigation team as a group outing, then one of my daughter's orchestra concerts, and finally paint, paint, paint for the rest of the weekend! Sounds fun huh? I love weekends!!!

Beth

Dance Painting (taking too long?) - part 1

Ok, so I have worked ALL day on this one painting I have been commissioned to do. It is only a $50 painting. The specs were given to me, so it is taped off at 14x20, and the color palette she would like me to use was given to me as well.

So, I am trying to stay in this same family of the color palette, but I am not doing so well - ha ha! I still have several dancers to add to this painting, lots of flowing material and gowns, and as you can see, I am not getting anywhere too fast! I figure by the time I am done with the painting, I might make $ .02 an hour! LOL! :-)Oh well - it is a challenge, and I love a challenge. I spent much of my time with the negative space, and texture. Even though, she has a specific color palette in mind, I still wanted her to be able to see the richness of color in the negative space behind her color choices. I am afraid if I stick to her colors, it will be very flat when I am finished. This is no big deal, I love building the paint. I don't think this painting will look anything close to what it looks like now.

The things I want to fix in this painting already.......... The one dancer's face in this painting. I hate faces! I don't do them well at all. I don't want the reader of this painting to be too distracted by the face of this dancer, and not looking at the movement and grace of the dancer instead. It is more important to show movement, soft flowing material, and to be able to hear the music by the time it is finished. I am thinking of swooping her face out, a little more abstract. What do you think? The other thing I need to finish.........I started off with some great transparencies, but I added too much opaque over my transparencies. I was scumbling over the texture, and I did too much. I lost some of that really nice rich color you could see through her gown. So I am trying to figure out how to get that back. Once you have used an opaque, it is hard to do much more. I figure I can add some transparencies back on top of the opaque, so I can add more color and tints to the fabric of the dress.

Well, this is part 1. I will post again with more pictures soon. Thanks for looking. I hope to finish after work tomorrow. We shall see after getting home, then transporting all my teens to where they need to go, and cooking dinner. I wish I could stay up later and work on it. I hate going to bed with that unfinished feeling.....

Everyone have a wonderful week! Stay warm, dry, and happy. Keep positive thoughts with you night and day. We will have so many good things to write about at the end of the week. I can't wait to hear them all!

Hugs!
Beth

Cool things to show off and be proud of!

Ok, first of all, I know I am really bad about keeping up with this blog. I am making it a goal to keep up. I wanted to share a couple of pictures of the wedding gift I made for one of my really good friends. It turned out really cute. Her wedding colors were black, silver, w/splash of red! Lots of sparkles too! So, I painted one of my really HUGE Martini glasses with a abstract look (this is her style). Painted little silver/black rocks all around the glass/bowl. They were very artsy with the directional strokes, making them look really round. Then I followed down the stem with some red/black/silver/sparkle polka dots on the stem. The bottom of the glass (on the underneath - so you can see from the top) was a cobble stone look with splashes of red. Then I sealed the bottom with a basic shiny black and wrote their names/wedding date - and of course, I signed Kiwi Arts in RED! LOL! Then I bought some little silver pebbles (perfect silver) and filled the glass, and put little white floating candles on the rocks. This way she can add water, and light the candles for a perfect center piece. Or as my friend pointed out..........she can fill the glass with vodka and olives! The two can share a HUGE martini! LOL! :-) Here are the pictures, and I threw one of me and one of daughters that went to the wedding with me. We are both friends of the bride. Well she dances for her as well.

Then I had to show you my new business cards!!! I am so excited! Thank you so much Uniquefavors! They are unbelievable two sided, glossy cards - designed by Uniquefavors! http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5417266

The best part is my really awesome "Kiwi" ring made by Diffraction! How cool is this ring? And it goes with Kiwi Arts! Who would have thunk it? I can't wait to wear it tomorrow! Now when people ask me why I am wearing a Kiwi ring........as if they did not know by looking at my Kiwi Arts decals on my car, and all of my art work that says Kiwi Art - I can had them a card! Yea!!! :-) Advertising at its best! :-) Here is the link to Diffraction. She is so talented! Take a look! http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5874408

Ok, night all! I will post again soon.

Please send your good organization, time crunching, vibes my way. I am still trying to figure out how to get all of this side stuff done while being a mom taxi, and working full time.... sheez! But I LOVE it!!! Did I mention I LOVE IT? I really do!

Hugs to all!:-)
Beth

Yea! It has been a successful day for Kiwi Arts and Peters Path! Christine and Rhonda w/Peters Path have a clothing line and are part of a huge show in Savannah GA this weekend. They carry my art work. I painted these special wine glasses just for Savannah from the famous cemetery statue. If you know Savannah, then you know this symbolic statue in the cemetery. My understanding is that Peters Path was on the local news this weekend in Savannah twice! Sales were great for both of us! A few of my painted glasses, including both of these special ones made just for this show sold. Apparently the show goers liked my St. Patrick's Day glasses and some of my painted bracelets sold as well. I will find out more when Peters Path returns on Sunday. Way to go girls! Thank you for taking my Kiwi Arts! :-) Now, all I need are some Etsy sales, and I think I will be on the road of feeling a little more successful.

So, my next project? Hand paint my new natural wood bangle bracelets I bought off of Etsy, and get used to the natural elements of wood. Paint two full size paintings that I have been commissioned to paint, paint a special wedding gift for a friend, and paint more inventory for some local stores and theaters here at home. Whew! I will start tomorrow! :-) Thanks for reading!

Hugs!! Beth, Kiwi-Arts