Floating Feathers Giveaway

I am so thrilled that my "Floating Feathers" print was chosen to be included in Canada's July Issue of Style at Home magazine! My print appears on page 118, in the workbook section titled "Best of the Canadian Etsy-verse". To celebrate, I am holding a giveaway. The lucky winner will receive three archival prints of their choice from my shop!



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Earth Day 2013

I am so excited to be participating in The Artisan Group's "Earth Day Gifting Event" this year.
What a great opportunity to get my artwork in the hands of some savvy, A-list, eco-conscious celebs!

Yes, all of these folks will be receiving 2 (yes, 2!) of my original watercolor feathers. I went a little nuts and thought I'd paint two each). Haven't brushed up on your celeb name-game lately? Here they are:

Those being gifted with The Artisan Group's Earth Day Gift bag:

First Row: Woody Harrelson, Ted Danson, Sting, Sheryl Crow, Rachel McAdams, P!nk, Orlando Bloom

Second Row: Natalie Portman, Mark Ruffalo, Malin Akerman, Leonard DiCaprio, Kate Bosworth, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Josh Hartnett

Third Row: Jake Gyllenhall, Hayden Panettiere, Ginnifer Goodwin, Emily VanCamp. Edward Norton, Daryl Hannah, Courteney Cox

Fourth Row: Cameron Diaz, Barbra Streisand

 Fifth Row: Alicia Silverstone, Adrian Grenier

My plan was to paint feather studies from Birds of Prey. Raptors are protected birds and some are "species at risk", (which is pretty much endangered, in my opinion)
I had been rolling around the idea of somehow "giving back" to the birds. After all, I never started out painting with a focus on birds, it just...kind of happened. I felt like donating to a Raptor Centre would be a good option. I visited the Mountsberg Raptor Centre, met with Amy Fennell, the Raptor Centre Lead, and was so blown away by what they do. Mountsberg is currently home to 33 protected birds of prey. With 4 staffers (One Full Time), they rely heavily on volunteers and donations.
I included information on Mountsberg with the feather studies for Earth Day, in hopes that maybe something good could come from it. I also decided to donate 50% off any of my Raptor related prints sold to The Mountsberg Raptor Centre.

The Original watercolor has been sold. Prints available here

Here are a few progress shots of some of the Earth Day feathers.

Let me just say, finishing those 60 feathers felt awesome!

If you are interested, I have made an instant archival quality collection of prints of a selection of the  Raptor Feathers that were gifted to the celebs. 50% of the sale of these will go to Mountsberg. :)

Raptor Feather Collection

Wondering what else was included from my The Artisan Group members? Wow, you are going to be blown away! So much talent.

Look HERE to see what's inside those packages

Earth Day Giveaway

This year I have so many Earth Day plans. One of these is to celebrate Earth Day by participating in a great Giveaway with some of my fellow TAG members and their shops. SariBlue organized this and I was so happy to be asked to participate. The giveaway co-ordinates 11 eco-friendly artisans with 11 ways to win. 
Please enter the giveaway for a chance to win some gorgeous items. The rafflecopter has all the info on how to enter and we all appreciate your support. Please feel free to share this with your friends! I will be giving away a small collection of Raptor Feather Prints. (More on those, soon! ;))
If you click on the arrows beside the photo in the giveaway below, you will be able to see pictures of all of the amazing items included. I wish I could enter, myself! LOL
Good Luck!! 





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"Little" Collections

Why do we collect things?

I was looking around my workspace today and I seemed to be surrounded by small collections. It got me thinking about the connections we have with THINGS and why we collect them.  

Feathers

Feather Collection

Well, it should come as no surprise that I have a collection of feathers. This is about three years in the making, of found feathers and gifted feathers, which is pretty amazing. :) I love each one! 

So many beautiful patterns

Some North American Blue Jay feathers

I read "The Beauty of Life: William Morris and The Art of Design" a few years ago. It was the first time I had encountered his well-known quote which was given in his lecture "The Beauty of Life" delivered in 1880; 

"Have nothing in your houses which you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful"

I wish I could live by those words, unfortunately, I have a lot of editing and downsizing to do before I get there! (This includes some ugly, but useful second hand furniture amongst other things.) 

Handmade Lampwork Beads

These lampwork beads have taken up residence on my desk. They're in a little glass bowl and I look at them every day. I pick them up in my hand and admire them often. They were each handmade by the artisan Christel Wille and I treasure them. 

Antique Buttons

I purchased a jar of buttons at an auction years ago. Recently, while going through them with the kids, I noticed there are some real beauties in there. Knowing nothing about buttons, I make up stories in my head about where they came from. The black ones, some sad mourning Victorian woman. Are some of them faceted glass? Black Jet? 

I have this one hanging on my pin board. How cute is that?!

Treasure! 

I think many of these are made from mother-of-pearl. 

Shells

 Is there anyone who can walk by a perfect shell on a beach and NOT pick it up?!

Pinecones

It's possible I am part squirrel. If I see a nice pinecone, or acorn, I have to pick it up. The kids have  apparently the same affliction, and there are larger pinecones in our mudroom along the windowsill. At the mall the other day, I noticed some HUGE real pinecones decorating the Roots store window. I had to restrain myself from going in and asking what was to become of those pinecones when they redecorate. Come to think of it, I may call the store yet. It would be a shame if they threw those away.

Smooth Stones

Cars...

Well, we pass on the idea of collecting to our children. Not only is there a "stick collection" at my front door, a "rock collection" in the back garden and all along our window ledge in the mudroom, there are "collections" of toys all over the house. 

Is collecting a good thing? Are hoarders considered "collectors"? I suppose there's a limit to a collection, when you stop admiring something for what it is, and want it just to HAVE it.

I hope you enjoyed a look at a few of the things that I enjoy. What do you collect? 

Original Art Giveaway!

Two Mallard Feathers

To help celebrate my participation in the CMA Awards official gift lounge, I am offering a 20% discount in my online shop www.jodyvanb.etsy.com by using the coupon code COUNTRYMUSIC at checkout. Those who purchase anything in the shop, from now until Nov 1st (Country Music's Biggest Night!) will be entered into a draw for the above painting, unframed. The original watercolor of two mallard feathers is almost identical to the piece I sent to be showcased at the CMA Awards gift lounge!

85 of my feather studies will be showcased & gifted to the biggest names in Country Music backstage at the CMA Awards ( CMA’s Facebook page: CMA Country Music Association) Watch LIVE on Nov. 1 at 8p/7p Central on ABC.

Local News Articles

My feature spots in some local papers this week. Very exciting!

I've been learning a lot from my fellow artists and business people in The Artisan Group, so I recently took the initiative to send some information about my work and my upcoming shows, to some of the local papers. I had three interviews in the last two weeks, which turned into three "feature" articles and one mention in the local papers!

I would like to thank the reporters who responded to my phone calls, and who wrote the articles:

Thank you to Tom Wilkinson for the article about my participation in "Art in the Village".
Thank you Katie Mueller for answering my plea for last-minute photos!

Read the article

Thank you to Amanda Moore for the great article with more mentions of Art in the Village. Many people who came to the show in Jordan today, mentioned that they saw the article and that was what made them come out! :)

Read the article here

Thank you, especially to Angela Scappatura. Angela returned my message, set up an interview and came to my house (twice! LOL) She was amazing. I was so nervous about doing the interview. She was so easy to talk to - - I really had nothing to be anxious about. Then  - whammo! I open the paper and find this fab BIG article, which I hope will get some more people coming to the Art by the Lighthouse Show on August 4th and 5th in Niagara-on-the-Lake!
She included a link to my on-line shop (Thank goodness!) and added info about The Artisan Group!

Read this article HERE

So - - here's what I've taken away from what's happened this week.

Self-promote by using the media to your advantage.

I've been working hard and have had these great opportunites, but haven't used the media to my advantage...until this week. I had a show today and have a show next week. I figured I could present my work appearing on CSI and a few of my Celebrity gifting opportunites and mention I had a couple of shows coming up. Perfect small story.

I don't know if I'm just an idiot, but I realized - - You need to take the stories to the reporters. How else are they going to know about you? You have to be your own cheerleader.

The worst thing that could happen is they don't call you back, right? Right.
3 out of 5 reporters did call back, and I received some great articles from those interviews.

Hard work pays off.

Most importantly, I am very blessed to have such supportive family and friends.
Thank you all so much!!!

The Art in the Village show was a success today. Beautiful weather, Gorgeous location, wonderful artists and great turnout. If you haven't made it to any of the Niagara Nights of Art events, I urge you to check out the next one. They are FREE. Show your local artists you support them, learn more about them and their work as they engage you in many different ways. You will be happy you did!

Inspired by Nature

A nest, woven onto the branch 

I'm going to share with you some of the wonderful found treasures that have found their way to me. I am so grateful to everyone who has put aside feathers for me, and other wonderful finds!  This beautiful little nest is from up North. Mike's Aunt and Uncle own a property with a lot of bush. Uncle Tref was out cutting firewood this winter and found this abandoned nest for me. I'm so amazed how it's constructed. Birds are incredible!

This nest includes birch bark, pine needles, wasp nest and possibly spider webs?!

Another little nest,  found Robin's eggshells, dead bee, hummingbird nest with sparrow eggshells

A dead Bee I found in my grass, three Robin's egg shells, found this Spring

Beauty!

A painting I did, inspired by the speckled eggs and sparrow feathers

The tiny nest above was found late summer, last year on my parents' property. It is made mostly of dried grass and dog hair, which is kind of gross, but kind of marvelous. I'm thinking it belongs to a hummingbird - - but, I'm not certain.

I found the three speckled eggshells last year, after a big Spring storm. These were blown out of a nest somewhere in a large Bridal Veil vine that has enveloped my neighbor's fence. I believe they belonged to a small sparrow.

The above abandoned nest was found by my Dad in Cottage Country. It seems to be made similarly to the one found by Uncle Tref. Mainly pine needles, it also has birch bark and pieces of cedar woven into it.

One of my old Robin nests, full of acorns, their caps, seed pods and pinecones

The partial woodpecker wing I found on the street

My woodpecker feathers print

Lake rocks

Small sticks made smooth by the waves

We've been on a few trips to the beach this Spring. There has never been a trip to the beach when I haven't brought back a smooth stone or piece of "sea glass". The last two trips, I have remembered to bring two bags. One for myself, one for the boys. I'm thinking of trying my hand at painting a few of the smooth stones. I haven't painted rocks since I was a kid, so I'm thinking I'll do it with the boys one day, as a fun little "art project".

The smooth sticks, or driftwood, I just find compelling. They feel so lovely in the palm of your hand. I like to imagine they've been floating on the lake for years. I wonder what kind of trees they came from, how big the branch was when it first found itself cast off from the land. 

A real beauty of an Owl feather, found and sent by Wally. :)

One of my Owl Feather studies

I have a few owl feathers in my collection now. They always remind me of my Great Grandmother. We grew up calling her "Daddy's Nana". I actually never really thought about her real name until I was older. It became one word, Daddiesnana.  Auntieshirl and Daddiesnana lived in a great apartment in Toronto. I loved wandering around, looking at all of the little treasures on their shelves, in the different rooms. There were little owl figurines in the one room, and my Dad had carved an owl on a box for her when he was younger, before us kids were around. She kept that box by her bedside. I always wondered what amazing, cherished things were inside. 

Something I'm playing with 

Not Working

A couple of months ago I purchased a bunch of little vases that I thought would be interesting to paint with some of my feather studies. After I prepped some, I painted this blue jay feather. I soon realized I did not like it! I much preferred the contrast of the stark white against the coral colour. They're in my mud room at the moment. I still have a few more to paint. What do you think?