It's Not Too Late!

Oops! I have had a 25% OFF SALE sale going in my Etsy shops for several days and I meant to let everyone know after I emailed my newsletter list... but I forgot! But it's not too late...

The sale ends tonight at midnight. Several of you have already taken advantage of it and I thank you so much! For those of you that want to get in on it, here's what you do:

Go to any of my shops
Lana Manis Designs - original art and prints

Simple Joys Paperie - vintage book wreaths, assemblage jewelry, and love tokens

Honeysuckle Lane - folk art and recycled wool or ribbon flower pins

and when you add the items to your cart and are ready to check out, add this code just under the payment option: APRILSHOWERS2014.

It will automatically take 25% off your product total.

If by chance you do not shop on Etsy but still want something, just email me (honeysucklelane {at} hotmail.com) your choices along with your shipping address. I'll remove the items and send you a PayPal invoice. If you are outside the U.S., email me for a shipping quote.

As for everyday things here at home, we've had rain, rain, and more rain and everything is beginning to "green out"! Hopefully I'll have some pretty outdoor photos to share by the weekend.

Thanks for stopping by!

Take care and God bless,
Lana

Happy Earth Day!

Have a blessed day!
Lana

Color My World

So much for the previous putty gray painting I did! These last few days I have ditched the gray and mixed all kinds of colors for my latest paintings! I'll have more to share soon.

Have a wonderful week!
Lana

Third Time's the Charm

I've been painting again!

 
I had a few hard boards that I had painted, didn't like, painted again, didn't like, and then covered with paint left over from my palette. Today I sketched and painted the hydrangeas. More than once. :)

I love painting these abstract, painterly hydrangeas! Here are a few before (or during) and after photos. You can always click on the photo for a larger view.

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What's your favorite flower? I seem to be stuck on hydrangeas and simple rose shapes... maybe I need a new flower to paint! :)

Blessings,
Lana

A Bit Sketchy

So... I've been painting again, thanks to a recent custom order request! I hadn't painted much at all during the winter and I know that's not good. I hope I don't go that long again without painting. Anyway, the order was just what I needed to get me going again!.

No, the painting shown in this post isn't the custom order, but it's one of the paintings I worked on this past week. If I have paint leftover on my palette or in my brush, rather than waste it, I usually slather or scrape it all over a canvas or hardboard or book cover that I have nearby. In this case it was a canvas painting that just didn't feel right last fall when I painted a still life on it.

So I covered it up.

And then sketched on it.

And then started adding color over the background with my palette knife.

Not a lot of color, just 3 or 4.

And then I stopped.

For some reason, I like the sketchy, unfinished look.
Maybe because it's like me... no, not the sketchy part!

Unfinished.
A work in progress..

It makes me smile when I look at it. :)

Blessings,
Lana

"Being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ:" Philippians 1:6



{this was also posted at Honeysuckle Lane's Simple Joys}

Lavender Again!

While working on a custom painting and waiting on layers to dry, I painted more vintage book covers... lavender... again.

These are just simple, fun pieces that allow me to play around with color and texture. Nothing fancy, nothing masterful, but fun and folksy.

Tomorrow I'll share the custom painting with you.

Lana

I'm Thinking Lavender...

I've been thinking about the Lavender Festival that's coming up in June and think  I may do some lavender paintings. I had a painting from last year that really needed help... a lot of help, so I covered it with shades of aqua and put it aside. Then when I was thinking about lavender, I thought I'd try one of those scenes you see from France.... hills in the distance and rows and rows of lavender. This one's just a practice piece. I already see plenty of things I want to change.

It's not that great, but it gave me ideas of how I how I want to do the series of lavender paintings for the festival. Next one I try, I'll go with a dark background and add color, leaving darker outlines like I did in these paintings:

{nope, that's not me... it's my lovely daughter, Jessica!}

Now that I'm talking more about it... I may do some lavender linocuts and have several prints and note cards available! I'd better go make a list... I'm thinking of even more! :)

Have a blessed day!
Lana