Etsy Sale this weekend!

I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are now happily full. I'm still looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow with friends and many toddlers. I am battening down the hatches! In the meantime, I'm having a SALE at my Etsy shop this weekend (starting right now!). FREE SHIPPING shopwide & 20% off prints. Please stop by .... no need to stand in line at 5 a.m. for a designer tote bag door prize. Just sit comfortably at your computer and have fun!

Busy busy busy & Last Day for 20% Off Coupon

10x10 inch original painting: "Moon Song" encaustic on 2" wood panel - available here.

10x10 inch original & customizable encaustic painting on 2" thick wood panel : "Forever Tree." Available here.

5.5 x 6 inch encaustic painting on wood: "Resilience." Available here.

Oh my goodness, have I been busy lately. And today I finished 3 new paintings. Yes, there was a lot of coffee involved! I also had started them earlier in the week (or weeks), and finally had a chance to get them all done & uploaded to Etsy & my website today.

Big news: I'm having a HUGE SALE this weekend (me & the universe, I know!). In addition to my Etsy Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale (news coming soon about that), I will be sending a 20% off coupon for my entire website at www.cathynichols.com to everyone on my email list. Today is the last day to sign up, so please add your email to the subscribe now button here on the blog if you'd like the coupon code. And everyone on my subscriber list is eligible for my free 10-pack of holiday cards random drawing. The cards just arrived tonight, and they are gorgeous. The image is of "Skate Away."

Wishing you many sales & happy Thanksgiving preparations!!! I bought Nicky a blazer & bowtie for the event. Can't wait to see him in his outfit. xox

i am the queen of my imagination (in full)

"i am the queen of my imagination" 7x7.5 inch print on 8.5x11 inch paper. For sale here.

Detail.

Side View.

I was able to take some pictures of my "queen" today, and here she is in totality. Though, I must say, it is very hard to photograph this painting. The wax is so 3-dimensional and shiny that the angle of light must be exactly right (it may call for a professional eventually). You can really see this when comparing the detailed image to the cast shadows included on the face in the full picture. I am feeling the wisdom of Beth's advice to stick to painting 8x8 or smaller. Yet I am feeling a desire to go larger!

I had such a great time creating this piece. I am thinking of yellow for my next work. Yellow and hopeful.

Gift Boxes/ Mini Paintings for the Wall

Hand-Painted Encaustic Gift Box -- "Pink Lovebirds."

For sale here.

Encaustic "box top" Wall Art (buy set of 4 here).

Gosh. I just loved creating these gift boxes/mini encaustic paintings. It was a bit of a challenge for me to photograph 3d objects, but I had fun trying to work in both the painted surfaces as well as the patterned papered bottoms of each box. Then I had the genius insight to photograph just the tops of the boxes on the wall, and voila -- the boxes were transformed into a charming wall-art installation! :))

i am the queen of my imagination

"i am the queen of my imagination" 10x10 original encaustic & gold leaf on 2" cradled wood. This is a section of the image.

I finished this piece today while Christophe took the little ones to Gymboree, preschool and the library. I wish that you could see the whole piece because it has a greater impact in its full square proportions. This painting was such a learning experience for me. I finally got up the nerve to apply a full canvas of color (this blue), and I figured out how to include gold leaf (just rubbed it in -- how easy could it get??!). The crown is mostly gold leaf, and there are also incised gold portions of the star to the "queen's" right.

My favorite part of this painting is the part that made me giggle as I inscribed it. It's word "ME" inside the heart on her chest. After all, she is the queen, and it's her imagination! :) I loved creating this painting so much. It will be hard to sell the original. But prints will soon be for sale on Etsy when I can photograph the whole thing.

Stay tuned tomorrow for some special little gift boxes that I've been creating for the past week. They are super groovy if I do say so myself.

The Full Picture

"Only the Beginning" 10x10 inch original encaustic painting on 2" wood panel. Original for sale on my website.

Here is a shot of the painting on the wall (next to my slapdash floral arrangement).

As promised, I took some pictures of my newest piece to show the whole thing rather than just a portion. I had to take the pictures very quickly because the batteries were dying on my digital camera (and my son was tiring of the 3 toys in his playpen).

Tomorrow I will be doing more painting. Christophe is watching the children AND cooking dinner. Yay!!! Yet he told me I had to "prepare them" in the morning. I wonder what he means by this. Maybe I should dress them in toddler helmets and protective goggles? ;)

Only the Beginning

"Only the Beginning" excerpt from 10x10 inch original encaustic painting on 2" cradled wood panel. Prints are available here.

This piece is a bit of a departure for me as it is a free-form sketch/collage in wax. I could only manage to capture part of the original painting on my scanner (it was too big), but I think it looks kind of cool cropped. I do, however, intend to photograph the entire piece as soon as the sun decides to return to our rain-drenched city.

The inspiration for this painting is the Chicago song "Beginnings." I have not been able to get the chorus out of my head for 2 weeks now -- I've even etched it into this piece in tiny letters. This is such a happy song. Try singing the lyrics one day when you're in a bad mood, and see if it cheers you up.