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.

~*~

~*~

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

Building a Home Decor Collection Around Artwork

Hydrangea Cottage Living Room by lanamanis

Somehow, I make it all through the winter without getting sick, but as soon as the skies are blue and hints of spring are in the air... I catch whatever's still lingering around.

So, in between fevers and chills and coughing and aching and rattling in my chest (sounds fun, huh?), I have spent this past week in my recliner, playing Solitaire, FreeCell, and most recently curating home decor collections on Polyvore.

For some reason, I usually forget to incorporate my own artwork into my decor. I make it and sell it or take it to a shop that sells my work. When someone comes to visit and asks to see something I made, I don't have anything to show unless it's in my workroom waiting to be sold. I thought it would be fun to choose one of my paintings as the focal point and build an entire collection around it. This collection features items that can be found on Wayfair. Back when they were known as CSN Stores, I won a gift certificate and used it to purchase a Cuisinart coffeemaker from them. Later on, they provided a gift certificate for a giveaway on my blog.

I could decorate my entire house with Wayfair! I think I'll head back over there and start a wish list... see you later! :)

Have a blessed day,

Lana

Roses and Churches - The Forgotten Ones

 

 I was looking back through photos of paintings that I forgot to list in my Etsy shop and found quite a few. These are only a few of them. What a slacker, I am!

I will probably retake some of the photos and then get them listed by the end of the month.

I also need to take inventory of my prints. I think there are several of those I still haven't listed, as well!

No telling what you'll see after spring arrives! ;)

Have a lovely weekend!

Lana

Pink

Odd fact: PINK is not one of my favorite colors, even though I've used it in at least 29 pieces of art in my Etsy shop! Weird, huh? ;)

book cover art

sold!

hydrangeas

and more hydrangeas!

New Year, New Designs

Hi everyone!

The new year had a quiet start here at the Manis household. We are slowly but surely advancing into 2014 with work, ideas, and dreams. I am finding that taking time to relish and appreciate the present is usually better than plowing through every day like there's no tomorrow in the attempt to reach those dreams.

Instead of offering something totally new... because I am going slow this month and have nothing new yet... I thought I'd offer you something pretty awesome --- a HUGE discount of 40% off all my original art! That's practically wholesale prices and there's no minimum purchase. How about that? :)

Visit my Lana Manis Designs Etsy shop and get 
40% off your purchase with no minimum order!!!
Use code JAN2014 during checkout.
This offer expires February 1, 2014.

I have new designs and new ideas to work on during the next several weeks. I'm excited to get started and will keep you in the loop when I have more news.

For those of you that have waited for new designs for my vintage book page wreaths, I have them listed and will be adding a few more as time permits. They feature the ever popular sentiment, "Home Sweet Home". They are available in my Simple Joys Paperie Etsy shop.

Thank you for being a part of my life. You are so loved and appreciated! ♥♥♥
Take care and God bless,
Lana