On May 3rd and May 10th, I set up a booth on each day to display and sell my artwork. Both days seemed to be a little slow on foot traffic, but even with that and weather issues I still was able to go home with a good amount in my pocket. The Seahawk pictures are still doing really well. And the greeting cards were doing very well also. I'm really looking forward to a weekend with good weather and lots of customers. I have lots of work and many suggestions from great people who visited me these last two Saturday's. Thank you everyone for all the support.

I did notice that children loved to stop by and look at my pictures, which helped me realize that maybe instead of doing art classes which I want to do here soon. I can help host painting parties for kids.

I would bring all the supplies for the children to the location of the party and just charge a per child fee. If you would be interested in doing this please send me a message and I'd love to get a party booked. The first customer to get a booking will get a great rate of $10.00 per child and this will be for a one hour session. After that first session the per child rate will go to $15.00 per child. This will include the paint, easel, 8 x 10 canvas, apron, brushes, drop cloths, and clean up. Again just send me a message if your interested.

The image below is of the Hot Air Balloon's just blowing up for the Balloon Stampede, but the wind and weather kept them from taking off.

Back in early February of 2014, I ran across a Craigslist add for the Walla Walla Farmers Market. The Farmers Market, or WWFA for short, was having a poster contest, and the winner of the contest would get to receive a free vendor spot for the season. I decided to enter the contest and the below images is where I began. I first went through the web site and found an image and I started to paint it. Well, I finished and presented it to the manager of the WWFA and she said it would not work. I painted a picture of the Farmers Market old location. I missed this detail, so I went ahead and started over.

I asked the manager for some pictures of the new location at the fair grounds and through all those pictures I created the painting below. I went through lots of critiquing, but it all final came together and I entered the final draft. Glenda the Manager for the WWFA, said really great things about it, the only issue was I had to wait about 6 weeks to find out the results. Well, on April 11, 2014, I received a call from Glenda and she told me that I had won the Poster contest. I was so happy. I started to cry a little. I agreed to be at the WWFA Market on May 3, 2014 for their first opening day of the 2014 season to sign posters. I am so grateful for this opportunity and I appreciate all my friends and family encouraging me along the way! Please check out the Walla Walla Farmers Market this year! http://www.gowallawallafarmersmarket.com/ Thank you! 

I created this piece last night while watching Frozen. It's 6 x 8 and I used chalk pastels, charcoal, and pencil to create it. It's simple but brings a great message. I love Jesus with all my heart and I'm thankful everyday for him being a part of mine. Prints are available on my Fine Art America site. Just click the link. May you all have a blessed and wonderful day. My art continues... 

Today I'm adding 4 more piece's of art work to my collection. I finished all of them with in the last week or so. I'm really enjoying the spring weather and being able to paint the fresh new colors of spring. It's really helping me with my light and dark studies. I will be posting all of these on my Fine Art America account. On this web site I'm limited to only 10 items to be shown and between this and the Fine Art America site I can add more items. I'm still building my portfolio and hoping for some sales to come along. I am thankful for all the attention to my web site and all the help my family and friends have done to help.

This piece is titled,

"The Bridge to Pasco"

This piece is a 9 x 12 inch plein air acrylic painting on canvas board. This painting is of the bridge going over the Columbia River going towards Pasco, WA. I painted this at Howard Amon Park in Richland, WA and it was the most gorgeous day. I spent about an hour and half on it and spoke with a local photographer who had really nice things to say about the piece.

This piece is titled,

"Cherry Blossom's"

This piece is a 8 x 6 inch chalk pastel drawing on fine art paper. It's spring time and all the tree's are coming alive. I love spring time and I hope it's here for a while before the hot temperature's come along.

This piece is titled,

"Windy Cable Bridge"

This piece is a 9 x 12 inch plein air acrylic painting on canvas board. This is showing the cable bridge between Kennewick, WA and Pasco, WA. I was on the Clover Island peninsula near this little light house. It was a nice day when I set up, but after several wind gusts and an easel fall out. I was done with this in an hour. The wind was changing the light so much it was fantastic to watch but very frustrating to paint in. I can't wait to try it again, minus the wind of course.

This one is titled,

"Scarred and Proud"

This is a 8 x 6 inch pencil drawing on fine art paper. I had a request a few weeks ago for a lion with scares that is proud of the scares it had.

Today I received the most wonderful comments from a man that lives in Richland, WA. He saw my add on Craigslist and left me a note on my web page. This is what he wrote;

I'm sorry but your art is extremely bad. I believe it would be in your best intrest to stop making "art" and find a real job. Don't keep lying to yourself. Your art is very poorly done.

The whole survey was very negative and as an artist I get this, it happens. As all people who work and follow a trade we do need some feed back to get better. Now as for my style of art and what I like it's really hard for me to change that, but there are all kinds of styles and I'm sure this man has an eye for something far different from mine. This last Sunday in church, this very thing was brought up. The whole if you can't say anything nice then don't say anything at all bit. To just be kind to one another. I replied to him in a nice way, I stated that I'm following my heart and following Jesus. I just felt like I needed to get this off my chest.

On March 5th, 2014, I completed a drawing that really brought a lot of emotion out of me. I've always wanted to draw an Angel, but every time I tried in the past I failed, either the wings weren't right or the figure was wrong. But this time I think I got it right. See one night my fiancé Tim, asked me to draw an Angel. I told him I would try. I though on it for a week or two but still never really could come up with a concept. One of my greatest tools for creating my pieces of art is getting books from the local library. And about 2 weeks ago I checked out a book called "The Vatican All the Paintings", by Anja Grebe and this book was so inspiring. One day I will be seeing these wonderful paintings in person, that is on my bucket list. First I must give credit where credit is due. The masters of art it self, Michelangelo Buonarotti, Raphael Sanzio, Leonardo Da Vinci, and so many others were huge influences in this piece. But here is where I came up with these images for my drawing. I wanted to show a kind Angel, but I found a picture of the mother Mary that I felt was perfect. The piece is called "The Madonna of the Cherries" by Federico Barocci, this piece shows the Mother Mary sitting to rest with a toddler version of Jesus by her side. I loved the way her face was so calm and so loving. I also found some help from these piece's, "The Virgin and Child Appearing to St. Francis of Assisi" by Pietro Da Cortona, and "St. Matthew and the Angel", by Guido Reni. I wanted to show that there is hope even when it feels like there is none. Lately I've been feeling this way. Art is not easy, but I do love it with all my heart and you can see it in everything I do. I would also like to give thanks to my fiancé Tim, he encourages me everyday and helps me to keep my dream alive. The original piece will not be for sale just yet but prints will be made soon. This was created on a 18" x 24" drawing pad with 5 Micron 05 pen's and 1 Prismacolor marker, my hand about wanted to fall off at the end.

Today if finished one drawing that has taken me a total of a week to complete. This is a commission piece, but I do have a second version being worked on as well. The little girl that is going to get this fairy picture is actually the fairy! This little girl loves purple and fairy's, so what better way to give her a picture but with her as the fairy inside it. This drawing is 11 in. x 14 in and is completely detailed by Prisma Color pencils. Prints will be available soon, but the original will be going to a beautiful little girl who I know will adore this. I will be showing off a new piece over the weekend. I hope my fans have had a good week. Let me know what you think.

Thank you!

Rachel

I made it to Seattle just in time. All I have to say is wow and to be honest I felt shy at first. There were so many Seahawk fans. I didn't even know where to begin. But I pushed forward and walked around showing my pictures. I had lots of comments like that's beautiful and good job. I sold enough to say I didn't sell any. But it was super cold and I had my brave father with me. We parked only 14 blocks away also. But again it was a golden opportunity and I'm truly thankful to the man above for the open door.  Here are some pictures of the crowds and parade. The Seattle Seahawk 2.0 and the 2014 Championship pictures sold the best. Thank you goes out to all the people who helped me out and bought one of my pictures.

Tomorrow, I head to one of the biggest events I've ever been to, the Seatle Seahawk victory parade for winning the 2014 Super Bowl. Luckily, I have my dad keeping me company on this trip.This will be a big jump for me. I'm really hoping I can make some sales, get my name out there. I've been nervous, but I did a lot of work to get ready. We will see if all my hard work will pay off. I'll post some pictures. I hope you all have a great day. Oh and I finished this baby today. I call it the "2014 Championship".