Extended Sale!!

Painting...

I've actually started painting a couple of things.  I started on the paintings of these sketches.  It seems like I haven't painted anything in a while.  I think it's been like 3 weeks.  I have done some sketching in that time though.  ;)  Anyway, I started on the first one of this set.  She's "Serenity" and the second one is "Chaos."

I'm painting them on these small 5 x 7" panels of Ampersands Aquabord (or claybord textured).  It is the same thing I did my painting "Ocean of Sorrow" on.  I had these two extra panels left and I wanted to use them for something, though I now realize that I had forgotten how much I really didn't like painting on it.  I think the last time I used it, that since I ended up liking the end result, I sort of convinced myself that I liked working on it.  lol  Now I'm not really enjoying the experience so much.  With the way I use watercolors, it is really hard to get the shading smooth. When I look at Ocean of Sorrow now, I wonder how I managed to get it so smooth.  I'm not having nearly such luck this time.

When I paint with watercolors, I used a lot of layers to build up the colors to how dark I want them.  And I sometimes scrub in some texture with a dry brush and I blend with a damp brush, and this surface just doesn't work well for all that.  The color lifts off way too easily and ends up streaking like crazy!  I just don't have the patience for this, so I think I'm going to finish up what I've started with acrylics.  That should solve the problem.  :)  Then, so that the two paintings still seem a pair as I intended, I'll have to do "Chaos" in the same half watercolor/half acrylic method.  It should be interesting since it isn't something I've tried before.  :)

One-Of-A-Kind Prints!!

All new One-of-a-kind hand-embellished prints now for auction on ebay for the next week!! All of these will only be available once, so they are truly one-of-a kind! Click the picture to visit the auctions.

Ebay Store Sale!

I'm having a sale in my ebay store for the next week!!




Also for those who were wondering, finally everything is settled with my contacts and glasses!! :)

New ACEO Auction!

My mini-dragons in this series seem to be getting less and less mini. lol :)
Watercolor and white goauche. 2.5 x 3.5"

ORIGINAL AUCTION HERE!

Unbelievable...

Those who have been following my eyeglasses/contacts saga are going to love this...

Now I don't have either glasses or contacts.

Yeah, so last week I had my contacts follow up... I thought I was having some trouble with them, but the doctor told me I was seeing perfectly and that he just thought they were irritating me. He told me I'd either have to get try to get used to them or maybe I'm just one of those people who'll never like wearing contacts. He told me to try to wear them for another week. Meanwhile I also had a complaint about my glasses... I could see fairly well out of them, but my left eye kept getting this strained ache in it whenever I wore them. I figured that couldn't be right. So I mentioned this last week and the doctor told me to make an appointment to have it looked at this Monday, because that's when he'd be there again (I went to America's Best (ahem worst), by the way). He never mentioned once anything about having to see him for the contacts again. He said they were sitting on the eyes right and I was seeing 20/20 out of them. What else is there to say? Shouldn't the rest be up to me whether I can get used to them and want to keep wearing them?

Anyway, I went back today for the glasses problem, and had a different doctor than the last time so he didn't know anything about what went on with the contacts, and I didn't know there was any further problem so I didn't mention it. The prescription for my left lens was changed, so I handed over both my pairs of glasses to be remade, thinking that I'd be able to wear my contacts during the week that that would take. Well at least one of my contacts is a 2 week disposable (the right one for my astigmatism is a monthly one) , and it had been 2 weeks, so I approached them about buying a box, and I was told that the doctor didn't sign off on the contacts follow up so I couldn't be sold any contacts. Trying to explain that the doctor never mentioned me having to see him again for the contacts didn't do any good. The only thing that could be done was to order another trial pair (another week to go by) and then have another follow up (another week later). So I'm sure I was red faced with anger as I said fine and stormed out. I'm pretty calm most of the time, but I'm reaching my limit with this place. I've already decided that once I finally get this all sorted out, I'm never going back there again.

I guess you get what you pay for, as the saying goes. And they're not even really as cheap as they advertise anyway, not if your glasses are anything other than basic single vision lenses. Oh, my right eye has an astigmatism... no longer am I eligible for the 2 pairs for 69.99. No, then I have to pay almost $300. None of which you know, until you are being asked to pay. I didn't even know I had an astigmatism before that. Oh and they say that you can get contacts for as low as $12.49 a box (or something close to that) but what they don't tell you is that to get that price, you have to buy a year's worth of boxes at once, which ends up being at least $100 or more depending on you type/brand of contacts.

So I'll have to squint and suffer through headaches for the next week. Hopefully this will be the last time I have to see the doctor again. This is getting so ridiculous. And you see a different doctor every time you go in there, so they never know what the other did, and you end up having to explain everything 100 times.

*end of rant*

ACEO -- Witching Hour

Another Halloween painting, but this one can also go with my ACEO animals series. :)

Original Auction Here!!
2.5 x 3.5" Watercolor and white goauche.

The Pumpkin Queen

I finished her! :)

The Pumpkin Queen summoning spirits on Halloween.
Watercolor and white goauche. 8 x 12"

This is my Halloween painting for the year. It's a little more obvious than some of my others. And yes, it was inspired some by A Nightmare Before Christmas. Hope you like her!

Detail View:

2 New Bracelets!

"Autumn In Copper" bracelet I finished this last week sometime. It is done in a tubular herringbone stitch in size 11 antiqued copper and dark copper metal seed beads. It is completed with antiqued copper findings, branch toggle clasp and with dangle charms made of Swarovski crystal beads and leaf and pine cone charms. It is great for the Autumn season! The beaded rope is about 8mm thick and the bracelet measures about 7.5" around. It's meant to fit the wrist loosely.

It is for sale HERE!


"Black Iris" bracelet

This one is a little older, but I forgot to post it here. This dark and lovely bracelet is also made in a tubular herringbone stitch with size 11 seed beads in matte black and silver-lined purple. It is finished with purple Swarovski crystal beads and then followed by a black lucite flower bead cap and another smaller crystal. Finally there is a matte black toggle clasp. The beaded rope is about 8mm thick and the bracelet is about 7.5 inches when closed.

It is for sale HERE! There are also more pics of it there. :)

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I should have my new Halloween painting done in the next couple of days! I'm really close to being done with it.

And unfortunately, no luck on the contact lenses. They were worse than ever! :(

Facebook

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Rebecca Sinz | Create Your Badge


I'm working hard on my Halloween painting! I hope to finish it in the next few days. All I have to work on is the pumpkin queen; I have the background completely done! :)

I got my newest precription glasses yesterday, and I think I may be able to get used to these. I hope. They still seem a little weird right now, but I'm hoping I'll adjust. I'm still waiting on my new contacts to arrive. I don't remember if I mentioned before about my problems with my previous 2 trial pairs. But the first time, the right contact (for my astigmatism) was all bent up when I opened the package and when I rolled it open it never regained the right shape and had a tiny tear in it. I had barely touched it, I was so gentle with it. Anyway, I had to call and have them order another one. A week later I got that and the same exact thing happened. So I am sick to death of all the problems I'm having! I called again and asked for a different brand and made an appointment to get my glasses rechecked because I didn't think that those were right either. I came in again, described my problems and got checked again. The doctor changed both the glasses and the contacts prescription again. And like I said, I got the new glasses, but I'm still waiting on the contacts. I really don't think this should have been this big of a deal. I first went and got my eyes checked over a month ago now, and I'm still not sure that they've gotten it right yet. These glasses seem better, but I'm not 100% sure about them yet. I'm starting to think that next time I may go somewhere else.

New Jewelry and Sketch!

I made a couple of rosary-style necklaces recently! They are both for sale along with a couple of other hand made jewelry in my etsy shop! This jewelry making stuff is just too addicting! lol :)

Need to go paint now...

And I have just the thing to start on! I was going to wait until the painting was finished to show this, but I can't wait. I have to share the sketch! :) This is going to be my Halloween painting for the year.
"The Pumpkin Queen"

The Secret Door -- large version!

This is a commissioned, larger version of the original ACEO painting. It was ironic that I was contacted about doing a larger version of this since I was considering doing one anyway. I don't usually like to redo artwork, but this one seemed like it should be big. :)

Watercolor and white goauche. 8 x 12"

Limited Edition 8.5 x 11" prints available HERE
This edition is 100 prints.

Details:

Also Now Available!
If you liked my beaded "Twisted Heart" bracelet and necklace, I made a new bracelet (the original I kept for myself ;) ) so they are both now available in my etsy shop! They are sold separately. Click the picture below to see them both!



I got my new trial pair of contacts, and... one had a tear in it. So since it was the astigmatism one, they didn't have a new one available there and had to order a new one... so I have to wait another week for that. I'm getting rather sick of the whole thing. And I still need to get my glasses fixed with a new prescription for the astigmatism, which the doctor was going to write when I came back for the follow up with the new contacts. but because of the tear, that will have to wait longer too. *sighs* The new contacts seemed like they would have been the right prescription too, but the tear made things from the corner of my eye look blurry/distorted, mainly when light hit it. So pretty much nothing has been solved there yet. Fortunately, I haven't been getting so many headaches. I must be getting somewhat used to squinting. lol

EBAY Store Sale!

Everything is on sale!!

My Vision Saga Continues...

Today, I had my follow up appointment for my contacts... and I had some complaints ready. I actually liked the contacts, they were comfortable most of the the time and didn't bother me to have in my eye. I liked not having to wear glasses and the absence of reflections on the lenses. But the most important thing was lacking. I couldn't see all that much better, which was the whole point. Same thing with my new glasses too. So anyway, I told the doctor all this, and she's a different one than I had the first time. After doing some testing, it was concluded that the original prescription wasn't right (which I'd basically figured out myself) but she thinks that I have a slight astigmatism in my right eye. This would really explain a lot since sometimes I thought that the new prescription was okay, and then other times it seemed blurry or out of focus.

Unfortunately, they didn't have the new prescription in stock and had to order it. So I have to wait another week to possibly see any better. I'm just hoping that I won't get charged anything to get my glasses redone with the new prescription. I mean, it isn't my fault that it was wrong the first time. I'm quite irritated with the whole thing by now. Thankfully my eyes aren't so bad that I can't do anything without my glasses, but they do feel strained quickly and I get headaches especially if I try reading without them (one of my favorite things to do!). :( I feel bad, though, because I'm not getting a whole lot of new work done. I'm working on a commission (slowly) and I want to start a Halloween themed painting soon after I'm done. I have a neat idea for that! I even have a little concept sketch done for it. :)

I did manage to finish a necklace a couple days ago! It matches the black bracelet I made before. And this one is for SALE! :) It is available in my Etsy shop HERE! I'm planning to make another bracelet to sell too eventually. It is a fun new hobby of mine! It becomes kind of addicting!

Oh, and I have 2 poster size prints for auction on ebay! They are of "The Secret Temple" and "Darkest Night"! They only have 2 days left though. Sorry for the late notice! Check those out HERE. They start at $9.99 and have free shipping! :)

I also recently wrote a little tutorial about watercolor textures. You can view the tutorial on my website. It feature a few ways of creating texture that aren't mentioned quite as often as some others and are a little more controllable. I hope some may find it helpful!

Two Artbooks for Auction

I have two slightly cosmetically challenged copies of my artbook for auction on ebay! They each have minor flaws, that are described in detail in the auctions, and are starting at more than half their normal price! View the auctions HERE. They are the two under $40.

In other news, I got my new scanner today and it works wonderfully and is super fast! So I'm very happy with that. I got a Canon 8800F.

I also got a trial pair of contacts and one of my new pairs of glasses (the other wasn't in yet). I'm having a bit of trouble adjusting to my new prescriptions. I got a terrible headache yesterday from switching from my glasses to my contacts; the kind of headache that feels like a nail is being driven into your skull. Today has been a little better with the contacts. I think I may be starting to get used to them. I'm getting the hang of getting them in an out of my eyes too, which I only really had trouble with the first day. I have a follow up appointment on Saturday, so I hope that I've adjusted more by then. Otherwise, maybe the prescription isn't right.

Damn Scanner!

My damn scanner is dying! With my latest painting, I noticed when I scanned it that there is a vertical stripe that runs along the side of the scan. Fortunately, I managed to get it scanned alright by setting the painting to the right of where the stripe usually appears, but that basically cuts a third of my scanner bed off. I don't what to have to do that every time, so I'm afraid that I'm going to have to buy a new scanner. This is the same thing that forced me to buy a new one the last time. I think I've had this scanner for 4 or 5 years, but I have used it a lot! And of course this had to happen the same week that I had to pay nearly $300 for new eyeglasses and contacts. Nice. :(

Another Ruined Cravat -- Finished!

I finally finished it! His shirt ironically took the longest of everything. Hope you like it! :)

Watercolor, white goauche and colored pencil. 9 x 12"

Prints are available on my website. :)

Check out the details below:

Grape Twist Bracelet

I've made another bracelet! This one is a gift for my mom. I was originally going to give her the "Rose Garden" one I made, but I ended up wearing it myself. lol :) The crystal charms at the end of the dangles are actually the same color even though they didn't seem to want to photograph that way. ;)

I'm getting really close to being done with my painting (Another Ruined Cravat). I haven't taken anymore progress pics though. His shirt is taking a while to paint! It never really occurred to me that it would, but I have to build up the dark shadows and it's not going fast. I should have it done this week sometime though! The whole painting, that is, not just his shirt. ;)

I have an appointment on Monday to get my eyes examined. I need some new glasses. Actually I'm going to get contacts this time, because I hate wearing glasses. Not really for vanity reasons, I just really find them bothersome at times. It is definitely time that I went though. I got my glasses I'm wearing now when I was in high school still, and I graduated in 2002! lol

2010 Calendar!

This is my calendar for next year! It is my favorite that I've made so far! It's a full-color spiral-bound 2010 Calendar featuring 12 of my fantasy/gothic paintings (actually 14 with "The Storms Series" for one month)!!

Comes in 3 sizes: small, standard, and HUGE (which I know personally looks fantastic!) Photos of my huge version HERE.

This beautiful quality calendar can be purchased from MY ZAZZLE SHOP

Another Ruined Cravat -- Even More Progress

I've gotten quite a bit more done on this painting! I'm liking it again! ;) Sorry in advance for the terrible photos!

<= In these first two, I painted the woman in the background, and I painted in the wallpaper pattern.



In these next two, I detailed the bed curtains, which look brighter than in these terrible photos. And in the last one, I began painting the vampire (the most fun part)! I got his face mostly done and his hands started.

"Another Ruined Cravat" -- More Progress

I've gotten some more background work done on this the last couple of days. I hate when I have to stop working on things for commissions (or any other reason). It takes me a little while to get back into working on the original painting I was working on. If I were a faster painter, I'd try to juggle working on them both at the same time, but I just don't work that way. My focus is usually on one thing at a time. But I'm starting to get some excitement back for this painting. I had such a vision for it at first that the break from it kind of ruined it for me. I think once I get more of the actual detail in, I'll be more motivated about it again.

<= Just laying in some of the basic colors.

In this next picture I went a little crazy while darkening the background and decided to darken in the entire bed curtains/floor area, with the intention of using colored pencil over it later. The entire curtains isn't quite as black as it looks in the photo. I'm still planning on making it green. After I did the play-coloring in Photoshop, I just can't see them any other way now. I think this will also help me get the room as dark as I want it too be. :)

The Secret Door - ACEO

This is an ACEO trade I did with ScarletGothica. You can see the beautiful one she did for me HERE.

Watercolor and white goauche. 2.5 x 3.5"

Limited Edition ACEO prints available on my website HERE.

Commissioned Painting and New Bracelet

I just finished a commission I've been working on for a few weeks! The tiger is supposed to symbolize strength and the crystal ball looking to the future. I'm particularly happy with how her dress turned out. :)






"Strength and Hope"

Watercolor, white goauche and colored pencil. 9 x 12"

Now I'm going to get back to a couple other things I started before this. One being the Georgian vampire painting and an ACEO.


I also made another bracelet. This one is not art-related though. I really love this one! It is more me, being black tones. :) These are a lot of fun to make! I just may make some to sell eventually. With and without my art involved. ;)

New Glass Tile Pendants!

I have several new glass tile pendants for sale! This time they're square! Click on the picture to view them.

Rose Garden Charm Bracelet

I've been trying out some beading lately, and this is something that I made. I really like it! I'm not going to sell this one. My mom liked it so much, I'm going to give it to her. But maybe I can consider it a prototype for some that I might make in the future.

These would be a little more special than my necklaces because the whole thing is hand-beaded. So I'd probably only be able to do one every now and then. :)

The beading became surprisingly quick once I got the hang of it. I made a keychain too yesterday. Maybe I'll post a picture of that later. It was actually intended to be a bracelet too, sort of like above, but I thought it was a little too clunky for that (I like my jewelry a little more delicate), so I turned it into a keychain. ;)

So I'm having some fun with some beading! I hope to have some new artwork soon! I have to finish a commission first, but I'm working on a couple things in between.

Some Painting Progress

I've been working on a commission, so I haven't really gotten a chance to do much personal work. In between waiting for replies from my client, I transferred "Another Ruined Cravat" to watercolor paper and just barely got the background started.

I think that the colors will be similar to my digital "for fun" version. I tried to think of any color scheme that I would like better, and I just couldn't really think of one. At first I thought of making the bed curtains red, but that would make the bits of blood not as poignant. My original idea for this picture was that it was the woman's bedroom and he was leaving after his, um... feast? :) But with the green, it makes the room have more of a masculine sort of feel. So I guess it is his room. What is left to wonder about is if she is capable of leaving on her own, or if a servant will have to remove her. hmm...

To Bid You Farewell

I finally managed to finish this one! The title was once again inspired by an Opeth song... just a different one than I was originally thinking of. You can probably tell they're one of my favorite bands. ;)

8 x 12" Watercolor and white goauche.

Details:

My Entertainment

I finally did some more painting tonight on the gothic angel picture. I did some extra work on the perspective of the road and actually started on her skin. I'm excited to have moved on to something different from the background, though I'll have to go back later and tweak a few things. But at least I can get a little break from it. :)

Just for fun, because I was bored one night, I played around with my sketch, "Another Ruined Cravat" in Photoshop and added some quick color. This was just for fun, and I still fully plan to paint it with watercolor like always. I may even use completely different colors. I haven't decided yet. ;)

Anyone watch True Blood on HBO? The second season started a couple weeks ago. I love that show! I loved the books by Charlaine Harris, so I was really looking forward to the show. I think that they've done a really good job with it. It kind of loosely follows the books and some characters are expanded and events changed. But I kind of like that. Having read the books, it makes it so that I don't already know exactly what's going to happen. That makes it a little more exciting. :)


I'm reading Jacqueline Carey's newest book, "Naamah's Kiss." I love all her other Kushiel's books! They're among my favorite books. This one is set in the same world as the previous ones, but some generations later with new characters. I wasn't entirely sure how it would be, but I'm only about 70 pages in and I'm already really enjoying it. I should have known better since the others were so wonderful! I definitely recommend the others, and I'll probably love this one when I'm done too. :)

That is really all for now. I've started getting feedback about my book from those who've gotten theirs, and so far all is positive! I am so relieved that everyone like it! :) Now I sort of know how authors must feel on the release dates of their books. lol

My ebay sale continues until July 6th! There's a link in my previous post and in the links column to the upper right. :)

Summer Sale!!

I'm having a sale in my Ebay Store! 25% all prints and 15% off all jewelry! Check it out HERE

The Storm...

We had a really bad storm yesterday and my power was out for about 24 hours and just came back on around 3 p.m. It was really pretty scary! Trees are down all over, including one across the street from me. It also blew our barbecue grill over, which took both me and my mom to lift back up (to give you an idea of how heavy it is). It wasn't a tornado or anything, even though the sirens went off. It was just really strong winds, like 75 mph, and crazy heavy rain. When I looked outside, it was like a sheet of white was all you could see. And since we have one particularly leaky window, we have a flooded hallway that we're now trying to dry out. So yeah, that was a wonderful day. But it could have been a lot worse, so I'm grateful.

Oh, and just a reminder that there are only 2 weeks left to pre-order my art book! ;)

"Another Ruined Cravat" Sketch

I'm still working on my other painting, but I had to take a break to do this sketch. It was one of those ideas that I had to get on paper right away. :) I quite like how this Georgian vampire turned out so far.







I played with my sketch in Photoshop to get a better idea of how I want the values in the painting to be. I was too lazy to make the sketch this dark. lol

Even More Painting Progress...

I've been working on some other things lately too, and getting the book stuff ready, so this isn't coming along as quickly as I'd like. But I think that I've finally finished the background, though this is a terrible picture of it. I had to go over all the stones again, because I didn't think they were dark enough and in the process of darkening them, all the detail was blurred. So I had to go sharpen everything up again. I also worked on the perspective a little, narrowing the road/pathway more. The depth before wasn't quite working. I hope it looks better now. I think it may be more obvious once I finally get the angel painted. Then I can tweak anything that still feels off. :)

My plans for this first shipment of books is to have them in the mail by Tuesday! ;)

More Painting Progress and Books!

Here are a couple more pics of my progress on this painting. I was originally just going to have the stone pathway that she's sitting on kind of fade around the edges in a circle around her, like in the sketch. But I didn't think that it looked right once I had it painted like that, so I extended it all the way to the edges.

In the next photo, I added the beginning wash of green for the grass along the sides of the path. I made it fade into fog in the distance. I still have to go in and detail the blades of grass, at least in the foreground.

At first, I was just thinking of creating a painting in the same vein as at Gothic Lament, but now that I'm further along it also reminds me of a couple of my other favorite paintings, Mourning Garden and Moonlight Apparition, and possibly a little Lady Death mixed in there too. :) I was going to name this "Gothic Lament II", but now with all these other influences, I'm now thinking it should have a separate title. Right now, I'm leaning toward "Benighted." For one, I was listening to Opeth while working on it yesterday and I heard the song, and also it fits the mood with its meaning: overtaken by darkness or night.

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Next up, is book news....

I have received my first shipment of my books! I'm not quite ready to ship them out yet. I have to get shipping envelopes, give the books a quick look over to make sure there aren't any obvious defects or problems, sign them, and print out the Dragon Angel prints that come with them. But I'll probably start shipping the pre-orders that I've gotten soon, maybe in the next couple weeks. I'll let those that ordered one know by email when they're shipped. :) It's so neat to see this big stack of my books!!

There's still about a month to pre-order! Pre-orders end July 10th! Dark Visions Artbook

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Finally, I have a framed print for auction on ebay!! It only has a couple of days left now. It is of the cropped version of "Thinking of You." It is really beautiful! Click the picture to check out the auction!

New Glass Tile Pendants and Painting WIP

I've made seven more glass tile pendants!! I had some extra supplies that I wanted to use.

I'm also working on another painting. This is a gothic angel. I've been thinking of it as "Gothic Lament II" because it is similar. "Gothic Lament" was a small 4 x 6" painting, which is one of my favorites, but I've always wished that it were bigger. So now I'm doing something similar only larger at 8 x 12". I decided to make her an angel this time. :)