It's Time!

I have been working at my "real job" A lot. That has made it very difficult to fund the time to work seriously on my art. However, I have found a little time to enjoy some holiday crafting. It's nice to take a break and get in the holiday spirit! After making two Christmas stocking without a pattern, I'm not sure I'll ever be good at sewing. Haha! The wreath is similar to one I found on Pinterest. You just need a grapevine wreath, some plastic ornaments, ribbon and a hot glue gun.

 I've got some plans for baking, so stay tuned for more holiday cheer coming soon! 

On a side note, brand new shiny and bright Christmas lights make me so very happy.

Happy December to all!

Change and Taking that Leap

Life changes. You can't avoid that. Sometimes all you can do is take a leap of faith.

I've been thinking about that for a couple of days because of a painting I was working on. It started out one way and became something so much more vibrant, rich and energetic than I had planned.

I've been trying to break out of my tight, photo-like style and into a more loose style.This painting might be just what I needed. I got to the point where I was stuck at, "technically this isn't working for me," and "this painting is Boringville," when I decided to risk the whole thing and take a leap of faith with a new idea. I don't know what possessed me to do it, but I did it, and I couldn't be more excited about the result!

Here are some photos that document this painting's transformation:

Could I have stopped here? Probably. The stems just weren't working for me or my "studio assistant" who doubles as my husband. This is where I decided to take a leap and embrace a new idea.

And from there it evolved into this:

I'm thrilled with how this turned out. I hope you like it too! 

While working on this I learned that some risks are worth taking, and sometimes change is a good thing.

Ellen

Twitter

Okay, y'all. I got a Twitter account today for my art endeavors. 

Why is it that I feel so old trying to figure out a new social networking trick? I was very comfortable with my Facebook-ing ways and then I think I did pretty well with Instagram. Let's hope that I can catch onto the birdy quickly!!

Enough beating around the bush! Follow me: @ellenvt_artist

Cooler Weather and Fall Refreshments

It finally feels like fall here in north Texas! With a ten-day forecast of upper 60's to lower 70's, the cooler weather may actually be here to stay until spring.

I don't know about you, but the cooler weather definitely lifts my spirits. I think the word that best describes is "refreshing." There is something so pleasant about not sweating every time you walk outside...go figure.

Since the weather is now actually fall-ish, I can let myself have a Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks! Pinterest has lots if recipes for different fall drinks, including the Pumpkin Spice. What's your favorite fall drink? Apple cider? Hot chocolate? Homemade or store bought?

Let's have some fun and share fall drink traditions!

ARTWORK GIVEAWAY!!!

Just so you know...I'm holding an art giveaway contest! I'm attempting to get more "likes" and spread the word about my art in general. What's a better way to do that than to hold a contest?!

Here's the official flyer: 

Here are photos of the three pieces the winner will be able to choose from:

To see close-up photos and see specifications you can go to the Fall 2013 Giveaway album on my Facebook page. 

 If you have already "liked" my page all you have to do to enter is "share" the page or giveaway photo. If you are a newbie to Ellen Van Treuren Artworks, you need to "like" and "share."

Don't delay! This contest ends October 7th! 

 

Ellen

Tourists

Sometimes it's fun to be a tourist in your own city...especially if you just moved there! 

Last weekend Tim and I took a little trip to the Fort Worth Botanic Gardens and visited the Japanese Garden. It was a fun little adventure and way less expensive than the Dallas Arboretum. Some of the gardens are actually free, but some (like the Japanese Garden) cost a little bit. 

I took my camera and was hoping to get some reference photos for future artwork. I'm not sure how successful I was since my camera really doesn't take great photos, and since everything was one color--green. It was a little disappointing that there wasn't a bigger variety if colors in the garden. Maybe there will be in the springtime.

Here's one of me and Tim. I'm such a lucky girl 😊

Tim was the official map reader. He wasn't happy with me that I wanted to see the sites out of their numerical order on the map.  

Btw...he wasn't really mad. I told him to pose like that.

Until next time...

Life Since the Move

Two weeks ago Tim and I moved. We are now enjoying a more pleasant area and 200 more square feet.
While he started graduate school, I started a new job at Hobby Lobby.

Moving means lots of new changes and it also means the opportunity for new decorations!
We had plenty of those old ugly, laminate book cases so to spruce it up I added some color.

Nice, huh? This was loosely based on a Pinterest project that I saw.

This next decorating project was directly based on something I saw on Pinterest.

 

This I had seen on Pinterest. It's a photo of me and Tim during out first dance with the lyrics of the song to which we danced.

 

This one I thought of all by myself! Here he are exchanging vows and rings. The words are the actual vows that we wrote for each other. It was very sweet and sentimental to look at them again. I am very glad that they will now be up in our apartment where we can see them. I think it will be a good reminder to make sure that we are actually honoring those promises through the years to come.

 


P.S. Being married is the bomb.com!

Turning Back into Humans

In my last post, I talked about how my husband and I had gone on a seven-day cleanse diet. Well, that lasted about 1.5 days.

The second day I was irritable and just didn't feel good in general. Also, I was hungry.

We ended up quitting the diet and had a delicious dinner of breakfast Pita bread which usually includes scrambled eggs, bacon and cheese broiled on top of Pita bread.

Come to find out, it wasn't necessarily that I lacked will power to complete the seven-day diet. Tim discovered while talking with a friend that we probably did not have enough protein in our diet and this was making me so moody and feeling weak.

I guess a cleanse like that takes more research than we did, and it takes a better plan. There is hope in our future for a cleanse-diet, but we might start out with a three-day trial and than graduate from there once we find meals that contain all the nutrients our bodies need to function properly.

Until then, I will enjoy my cheeseburgers and chicken fried steak.

Turning into Rabbits

So if you've missed the memo, "cleanse/detox" diets are the new fad. I generally try to steer clear of fads, but this one has the promise of being healthier. That being said, I jumped on the band wagon.

Tim agreed to join me in this mini quest and we did a little research as to how exactly you do a cleanse diet. We decided it basically boiled down to cutting out processed foods, dairy, sugar, and meat (with a few exceptions such as lamb, organic chicken, etc.) Detoxing is like exercising though: everyone has their own way to get the "perfect arm muscles" that they swear by. This link seemed to be a pretty good source of information so we are basing our diet off of it: Detox Diet Plan.

Sunday we had to eat all the "bad" food we had in the house that would spoil before next week, so our diet included half a box of cookies 'n cream ice cream, Kraft Mac 'n Cheese, a bag of candy and other frozen TV dinners.

Monday we had fruit for breakfast (I had made a smoothie to take with me to work but I did the 'ol mug on the car trick and drove off with it on the roof of my car...oops), a huge salad with homemade salsa for dressing for lunch and stir fry for dinner.

I'm not going to lie. It was rough for both of us. I would consider us to be pretty healthy eaters, but we do LOVE food. Turning into rabbits is hard when you're hardcore meat and dairy eaters. Poor Tim was gung ho about the cleanse on Sunday, but less than twenty-four hours later said, "You know what I miss most...?" No, Tim. What do you miss most after twelve hours of being on our diet? His answer, "Cheese." He subsequently listed all the things you could do with cheese--kind of like the scene in Forest Gump where Bubba informs Forest of all the ways to cook shrimp.

The stir fry turned out to be pretty good even without the salty soy sauce we love so much. We used brown rice (not the speed cooking kind) as the base and then added carrots, cabbage, celery, red bell peppers, sugar snap peas, green onions and broccoli. As seasoning we used some sea salt and fried it in sunflower oil.


We do have some things on our menu coming up that we are excited about, so stay tuned for those! Cross your fingers that we make it that long.


Only six more days until a McDonald's double cheeseburger and greasy French fries...

Caddo Star Cabin

I was commissioned to do a map of a ranch a few months ago out in Caddo Mills, TX. I had never done anything like that before, so I was excited to take on a new challenge that could turn out really neat!

Since the ranch is about 100 acres, there was no way I could have seen everything. I used Google earth to get a general idea of the layout of the land and my husband and I were invited to stay overnight at the vacation cabin. It was a really awesome place! The cabin is absolutely idyllic as a rustic ranch cabin, but it also had the modern conveniences of two flat screen televisions and a basket full of DVD's. We watched the Hugh Jackman version of Les Miserables. I'm not sure if I laughed or cried more. Don't get mad if you love that movie, but seriously, who can be sobbing and still be able to belt out this opera-style song....? I have never been able to do that when I'm beside myself. But that's really not the point...

The Caddo Star Cabin is very cool! As we went on the property tour with the owner, he told us a lot of the upcoming additions they have for ranch itself.

Here are some of the reference photos I took for the map:

Caddo Star Cabin

                                          

The fire pit next to the catfish pond.

My cute husband who carried my drawing pad around so I could make notes.

The loft-soon to be another vacation rental on the property.

Cute little cows next to the catfish pond.

And without further adieu, here are some pictures of the map! It's acrylic paint and ink on watercolor paper. My husband and I put together the frame from an empty wooden frame we bought at a garage sale and two panes of glass we got a Hobby Lobby. The back pane is removable so that as things get added at the ranch, I can add them on the map!

Be sure to check out the Caddo Star Cabin on the Caddo Star Ranch! www.caddostar.com

-Ellen


P.S. I wish I was more dedicated when it comes to blogging, but since I'm not...be sure to "Like" Ellen Van Treuren Artworks on Facebook to stay up-to-date on my projects!

Free Art Videos

The other day I discovered the coolest thing! Jerry's Artarama has free art lessons online!
You can search by medium, skill-level, artist or subject to find tutorials and ideas. There is even a series of videos on how to make money as an artist.

Yesterday I watched a video by Nicole Kennedy on how to paint sunflowers and then a couple watercolor lessons by Sterling Edwards.
It was really fun to learn something about watercolor. I think that might be my next big undertaking. 

Pretty much all I want to do now is watch all the videos. It's cool stuff.

Hope you enjoy it!

Recycle and Reuse

We went garage saling this morning with Tim's parents in Colorado. We ended up at a elementary school that had an entire gym filled with people...and stuff.

I like buying frames at garage sales because usually with a little TLC they can be reused to frame artwork. Also, it's tons cheaper than buying a frame from a store or getting a custom frame made.
I had some great luck today because I got several frames, some for photos and some for artwork. I got two for $9 that even had canvases in them that I can paint over and reuse. Pretty sweet!

The only problem is that it's hard for me to see art in garage sales, thrift stores and other discount places. Someone put themselves into creating something, something they felt good enough about to sell or give as a gift and then years later it becomes "junk." People don't want it anymore. It's not valued. That makes me sad.


I thought it was fitting to post the paintings I bought today so that even though I'm going to use the canvases for myself, the artist's work can still be documented and remembered somewhere by someone.

Here's to you H '87 and Walters, wherever you are.

 

Not much to report

Well, there isn't too much to report since my last post.
I finished reading My Name is Asher Lev this week. It is definitely in my "top reads" list. Very inspiring and emotional.

Also, my husband and I are getting ready to embark on a journey to Colorado for a week! We are both very excited.
Last Sunday I purchased some small-ish canvases to take with us so that I can do some plein air painting while we are there. Tim likes to bike, so I figured while he is off mountain biking I can sit and paint.
I worked this week to get my canvases ready to go. Here's a photo of all the ones that are in progress right now:

There's a lot of potential here!

I have never done plein air ("painting outside from life" for those of you who haven't heard that term before) painting before and I am excited to try it! I believe a lot of impressionist painters did this so that they would capture a specific light in a landscape. It will be interesting to try something new and see how it turns out.
I will post photos of my attempt, so stay tuned!

I'm not really a reader, but.....

One of the things that is great about not being in college anymore is that I actually have leisure time. I come home from work and then I can do pretty much whatever I want...with the exception of going to the grocery store when there's nothing in the refrigerator. I don't always want to go to the store, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do if you want to eat.

When I'm not at the grocery store, I spend a lot of time painting, and recently I have spent time (even during my lunch hour) reading.

I've always wanted to be a reader, but I've never had a really good attention span. That makes reading for pages and pages and pages kind of difficult.

I recently finished the Matched trilogy by Ally Condie (shout out to Layne and Lara for recommending it!), and now I'm on to My Name is Asher Lev by Chaim Potok. I'm seriously obsessed with this book.

It was recommended to me by another friend a couple weeks ago. A few days later I checked it out from the library (that's a crazy story in and of itself--library cards aren't as easy to come by as they make it seem...) and then a week later I was about half way through the 369-page book.

Those of you who are on the "serious-to-professional reading level" may not be impressed by this, but seriously y'all this is a super accomplishment for me...and also a testament to how amazing this book is.

It's about a young Jewish boy who has the gift of drawing. His life is very tumultuous considering his father makes reference to his art being from "sitra achra" (evil or the "Other Side") and his mother has a nervous breakdown after her brother dies. For some reason Asher can't help drawing. Sometimes he looks up and realizes that he was drawing in a textbook and doesn't remember doing it. We aren't talking the typical doodling either. His work was straight up amazing apparently.

I can't say that I can identify with Asher 100% because for one thing, I know I'm no prodigy. I also have been very fortunate to be surrounded by people who support me.

There was passage that was particularly striking to me though:

"That was the night I began to realize that something was happening to my eyes. I looked at my father and saw lines and planes I had never seen before. I could feel with my eyes...I could feel lines and points and planes. I could feel texture and color...I felt myself flooded with the shapes and textures of the world around me." (pg 108)

I wish I could feel things the way Asher does here. I have no doubt that there are really some people who have senses like that. In some small part, I am able to identify because when you study something for so long it becomes part of you. After I did all those portraits for my show, I noticed that I am very sensitive to people's noses now. I find myself looking very seriously at them. You're thinking I'm strange. But I'm really not. A nose is a very important part of making a person look the way they do. If one tiny thing is off, the person no longer looks like themselves. In this way, I am forever changed. When I look at people, I trace their noses with my eyes and try to notice every angle and nuance about it. That is how I know "that something was happening to my eyes."

I highly recommend My Name is Asher Lev to artists and even non-artists. It's a very powerful book that has probably earned a spot in my all-time favorites. I just hope that the second half is as good as the first.....

What books are you reading? Any suggestions for what to read next?

Starting a New Chapter, Part 2

Being married is not the only new thing in my life these days.

I graduated from the University of Mary Hardin-Baylor in December with a B.F.A. in Studio Art and a B.A. in Spanish.
Before that, however, I had to put on a senior art exhibition last April. It was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.
The goal of the exhibition series was to capture the electricity, connection, and love between couples. (You can see photos by clicking here by looking at the "Couples" album). With that goal in mind, I painted six different couples in a graphic, modern realist style. For months...and months...and months I dedicated my life to that. I even planned on continuing that style and theme somewhat in graduate school. That's where the chapter ended.

I didn't get into graduate school.

I was discouraged and knew it was time to turn the page. I will always love painting couples. I am painting them on commission now, but I needed something new to try.

For a while my mind had been firing off ideas. My brain kinda felt like this:

You know, one of those toys that randomly shoots out electric currents. Idea after idea constantly floated around in my head.

Not getting into graduate school was the push I needed to take a break and experiment with something new: abstract.

It is so freeing to finally do something  totally different...and be satisfied with it!

Here are my first two attempts:

 

This is entitled "Hope 1" (20x16" oil on canvas) and is about having hope in the future through God and Christ Jesus by the forgiveness of sins despite current events and hardships of the world.

This one is titled "Blue" (24x18" oil on canvas) and was more for the experience and technique than the message.

I like this direction. I plan on developing it more in the coming days.
Stay tuned, my friends!

Starting a New Chapter, Part 1

Since the last time I've posted I graduated from college and became a Mrs! Yep, I got married on January 12th to my boyfriend of four years and two months. Well, he was my fiance for ten of those months, but you catch my drift.
Let me tell you, it's been an amazing three months of marriage!
Here's one of my favorite photos from the wedding:

And another from the reception:

It's wonderful to come home to your best friend every day. I guess I got to marry the prince after all...

One of Tim's (my man's) many amazing qualities is how encouraging he is when it comes to my artwork and pursuit of creative achievement.  He is definitely my biggest fan...well he and my mom are tied for first.
He has allowed me to transform our apartment balcony into my tiny "studio," which gives me room to spread out and not worry about getting paint all over the walls and carpet. (Let's be honest, I get almost as much paint on myself and my surroundings as I do on the canvases sometimes.)
I know that someday he will buy me a house that has an extra bedroom that gets beautiful afternoon sun, has excellent ventilation, is big enough to hold all my art supplies and has a great view out of the large windows. Hey, a girl can dream right?

Until then, I'm happy just to be married to the love of my life giant studio or not.