Pretty Poisons Series Complete!

#8 Aconium

Here are the final two pretty Poisons in the series!! "Oleander" and "Aconitum" which is also known as wolfsbane, monkshood and the queen of poisons. I hope you all have enjoyed this series!! Prints off all of these can be found on my website, ebay store, etsy... the usual. :)

False Hellebore

"False Hellebore" -- Pretty Poisons #6

Here is the sixth one! Just two more to go now! I hope you like her!  I liked the idea of doing green flowers. I'm trying to vary the colors of these as much as possible, though there will be two pink flowers in the series but they are very different shades. :) I'd also like to note that False Hellebores (aka Veratrum album, Veratrum Virde, Corn Lily) are a completely different species of flower than Black Hellebores (Helleborus niger) that I did as #1 in this series. Both are toxic. They have similar names, but aren't related at all.

Watercolor and white gouache. ACEO (2.5 x 3.5")

The original is for auction HERE!
Prints are available on my website.

Pretty Poisons Continue!

"Opium Poppy" -- Pretty Poisons #5

I decided it was time to finish up my Pretty Poisons ACEO Series. I hadn't intended for it to take almost a year to get the next one out. Sorry about that! I have 3 more to do after this one, for a total of 8 in the series. And... I have them all sketched already and just have to paint them. So I should get them done fairly quickly over the next week or so. So, here is the first of the last four! "Opium Poppy" I hope you like her as much as I do! I'm really excited to finish these last four pretty poisons! I like all the sketches! I can't wait to get them all painted and share them with you!

You can find the Original for auction HERE!

Prints are on my website.

New Art and New Shop!

"Wither"

This is my newest painting, finished last week! I originally started this painting in gouache on rose colored paper, but it just wasn't going well at all! I'm not so sure about using gouache all alone. I couldn't get it to blend without it becoming a streaky mess. I may try it again sometime. I haven't decided if I want to yet. So I started it over and did it in my usual media of watercolor and white gouache... ahh, much better! :) I'm glad I started over because I'm thrilled with how she turned out! I managed to get the background the dusky rose color that I'd wanted and I'm happy with all the wilting plants and flowers.

I hope you like her too! Prints and the original of her can be purchased on my website HERE

"Rhiannon"

This is the ACEO I did for the winner of my free ACEO commission giveaway! She was fun to work on, and a little different from what I normally do. :)

Limited Edition prints are available on my website HERE

New ElvenstarArt Tube Shop!

I'm also excited to announce that I now have my own psp tube shop! In case you haven't heard, Dreamscape Imaging has closed, so I had to make a decision as to how I wanted to offer my tubes. I've decided to try going independent this time and sell them myself. You may now find all my tubes in the new ElvenstarArt Tube Shop! I hope you enjoy my new store. :)

My main website has also been reorganized slightly to make room for the new tube shop, so if you have trouble finding anything, just let me know and I'll direct you to it. :)

And finally, for the next week you can get 20% off at my Etsy Shop with the coupon code: TAKE20

This include prints, originals and jewelry... Visit my shop HERE!

Holiday ACEO Series!

HOLLY

The Garden Series - Holiday Edition
Last week, I remembered that I'd intended to do at least one ACEO for the holiday season. I'd been intending to do the poinsettia one and making it a sort of extension of my garden series. I almost forgot about it completely until last week. I was afraid maybe it was too late, but then I decided to give it a shot. After all,  ACEOs are quick. And then I decided to do two more, and figured I could get all three done in less than a week's time. I'm really quite happy with this little miniseries!  I love doing series! :)

I hope you like my little last-minute Holiday series!! The original ACEOs are up for auction right now! Holly only has a little better than a day left! Check them out HERE

Prints are available on my website and Etsy. Once the auctions are over I'll have the prints up on ebay too.

PINE

POINSETTIA

All 3 holiday originals up for auction separately

New ACEOs!!

"Mina"

This first ACEO was a commission that I finished at the end of July. I mean I finished it on the very last day of the month, so it counts as a July painting, just barely! ;)

I wasn't going to do any commissions for a little while but I am sometimes willing to take on ACEO commissions even when my commissions are closed just because they're so quick and fun to do. This one was particularly fun since I pretty much got to do whatever I like with it. A freedom that I enjoyed! :)

I named her "Mina" since she reminds me of the character from Dracula.
Watercolor and white gouache. 2.5 x 3.5"  Prints are available on my website.

"Bleeding Hearts"

Next is my newest Pretty Poison ACEO!  This is number four in the series. I wanted her to different from other pink flowers that I've done and I think I managed to pull it off. I like her pink and white hair! :)  I hope you like her too!
Watercolor and white gouache. 2.5 x 3.5"

The ORIGINAL ACEO is for auction on ebay right now! View the auction HERE

Prints are available on my website.

Deadly Nightshade

"Deadly Nightshade"

Here she is! #3 in my Pretty Poisons series!
I hope you like her!

ACEO (2.5 x 3.5") watercolor and white gouache.

The original is now up on eBay! View the auction HERE


Prints are also available on my website. They can be found HERE

Pretty Poisons and a New Bracelet

I've been working on commission work lately, so I had to take a break from my own personal work. My most recent completed commission can be viewed on my website. The client wanted a male dark angel reclining in a moonlit meadow. The male was supposed to look like a man in photos provided by the client, and she is very pleased with the result! You can see that on my website HERE.

Now I'm pleased to say, I'm back to work on the next Pretty Poison ACEO. And I will share here, only for my blog readers, what the next one is.

Photo from www.naturephoto-cz.com

The next one is, and I'm sure no poisonous plant series would be complete without... Deadly Nightshade! I have the sketch completely done and have started on the painting. I would have more done, but have a headache, so decided to stop for the night... I probably should be resting and not on the computer! lol

 I should be able to finish it in the next day or two. Judging on the sketch, I'd say this is my favorite of the series so far! I've been looking forward to painting nightshade since the beginning, but I couldn't resist doing Black Hellebore first! The flowers are so pretty and with the contrasting yellow-green center/stamens, I immediately saw dark hair, like the petals, with piercing yellow-green eyes. Had to do that one first! :) I don't really recall why I chose Hemlock to go second. I guess since it is such a contrast in colors to Black Hellebore. Nightshade is different too, but still kind of dark.  Anyway, that will be coming soon!  I have all of them planned out. There will be at least 6, but could be up to 8. There are 2 that I haven't decided if I want to make them part of the series or not yet.

I think that after I do Nightshade, I'm going to do a larger painting and then go back and do the fourth poison. :) I have a couple larger paintings planned and I'm pretty excited to start on both of them. I just might share the sketch once I have it complete. I'm not sure when I will open my commissions back up... I know I have some people who've expressed interest in this. I will open them again, but I think I'm going to take some time to do some work for me. I've done a near equal amount of commissions as personal work this year. So maybe in a month or two, I'll open them back up.

Lastly, I managed to finish a new bracelet at the end of May! It's in a Queen of Hearts theme and the first piece of jewelry I've made in many months. I'd like to make some more if I get the chance. I need some more pieces back in my shop. :)

This is for sale in my Etsy shop: http://www.etsy.com/listing/100836717/queen-of-hearts-bracelet-tubular

Gothic Moon

"Gothic Moon"

This is the ACEO completed for the winner of my recent giveaway!! It is now on its way to her! Congrats again! I really enjoyed working on this. :)

Prints of her are available on my website and ebay, as usual. Now I'm off to do some commission work. :)

Hemlock -- Pretty Poisons #2

"Hemlock"
#2 in my ACEO Pretty Poisons Series!

Here she is; the second in the series. I liked working in mostly green and white! I don't think I've done this combination before... hmm wait, my "Wild Vines" fairy kind of was... but she wasn't this vibrant! ;)

The original is currently for auction HERE!!

Prints of her are also available on my website!

The auction for the original "Black Hellebore" ACEO is still running too! It has about 4 days left. Visit and bid HERE!

I'm going to have to take a small break from doing this series, first to do the prize ACEO for my giveaway I had last week! This one will be gothic and very fun for me! I'm starting to sketch it tonight. :)  After that, I have a commission that I believe I will have to start. But I might be able to squeeze in Pretty Poison #3 in between... not sure. It's setting up to be a pretty busy month! :)

In other news, "Steampunk Assassin" has just been released as a cross stitch pattern on Heaven and Earth Designs! Check her out HERE.

New ACEO and Giveaway Winner!

"Black Hellebore"

This is the first of a new ACEO series call "Pretty Poisons!" There will be 6-8 of these. I have them all planned already, I'm just not sure about one or two of them yet. So there will be at least 6. :)

This one features the black hellebore, as one of my pretty poisonous flowers. I believe that these flowers are naturally white or pink, but I saw a black variety and thought that they inspired a much more interesting painting.

The ORIGINAL ACEO is now for Auction HERE! 

Prints are also available on my website HERE


And without further ado, the winner of my custom ACEO giveaway is... Sao V!! Congratulations to you!  The winner has been contacted by email.

Thank you to all who entered my giveaway! I hope to have another one sometime! :)

The Succubus Gift and Newer Art

I've been really busy on commissions lately that I've only gotten one personal painting done since January! Luckily I've really enjoyed working on everything so much! So I'd like to share my three newest paintings.

"Cecaelia"
First of all is a small commissioned painting of a Cecaelia, or a human/octopus hybrid. You know, kind of like Ursula from The Little Mermaid. ;)  I was very intrigued by the subject since I have yet to paint a Cecaelia. I also would like to add more sea creatures/mermaids to my portfolio. Ideas for them just don't come to me as often as other things.

She was 5 x 7", watercolor and white gouache. Prints of her are available on my website.

"Spellbook"

I feel like I paint in blues much more than any other color, and while it is one of my favorite color schemes, it is nice to switch it up a bit at times. And fiery red and Autumn colors are probably my next favorite! And what better for a witch reading her book of spells! This painting seems a bit off-season to be painted in February instead of around Halloween, but it's my favorite time of year. :)

8.5 x 11"  Watercolor and white gouache.

"The Succubus Gift"

I'm excited to show my newest commission! This painting was done as cover art for an an urban fantasy/paranormal romance novel by BR Kingsolver. You can read more about this book on the author's website: http://brkingsolver.com
It isn't out yet, but should be sometime next month.

I tried a new technique on the background of this painting. I couldn't quite get the background as smooth as I wanted the coloring to be for some reason at first, so I had to completely scrap it and start over. This time around I tried an airbrush technique. I got a cheap airbrush kit on ebay, the air is even propelled by canned air and not an air compressor. I knew that it would suit my needs because I didn't intend on doing anything detailed with it. I just wanted some soft coloring effects in the background, so I didn't need any fancy, expensive equipment. It worked very well! I just used some darker blue watercolor in it and sprayed in the darker blue areas of the background. I think that I will be using this technique again in the future.

9 x 12.5" Watercolor, white gouache, colored pencil and airbrush.

Prints of this painting are available on my website: http://www.elvenstarart.com/Galleries/Misc/TheSuccubusGift.html

Below is the complete cover design, with text, also done by me.

I currently have two special auctions going on ebay! These are for two LARGE sets of ACEO prints. Each set contains 20 different prints and they both started at only one penny!! See both those auctions HERE!

In Licensing news...

For all you cross stitchers out there, my painting, "Shadow Dragon" is now available as a cross stitch pattern! Get that HERE!  Also, "Spellbook" and "Cecaelia" are available as tubes on Dreamscape Imaging! Get those and any of my other tubes HERE!

Next up... I have possibly one more commission to go! After that I hope to start a new ACEO series that I've been planning for several months now. I just haven't gotten a chance to start it yet due to other projects. All I'll say, is that it's a sort of spin off to my garden series, but with a theme of it's own. :)  I have some other larger painting ideas too that I want to do. I may do one of those first and then do the ACEOs. Not sure yet...

New ACEO Auction!

"Stealth"

This is #10 in my ACEO Animals Series!! This time featuring a Cheetah!

Watercolor and white gouache, as usual.


The ORIGINAL is for auction for the next week on Ebay HERE

Limited edition prints available on my website.

I also have another bunch of hand-embellished ACEO canvas prints up for auction this week! HERE

New ACEO Painting and WIP

"Sapphire Angel"

This is a commissioned ACEO that I finished last week.  She's based on a few different elements from some of my other paintings, mainly my other ACEO, Dragon Angel.

I like how she turned out a lot!  But then I always love working in blue!  :)

Limited Edition Prints are available of her on my website.  And also in my Ebay and Etsy stores!

 

While on the subject of Etsy, I have sale going on right now.  Get 20% off everything!!  Including original art and jewelry.  It was just going to be for the weekend, but I'm going to let it run for a few more days!  :)

Enter the coupon code SALE20 to get this deal.

Also, my forth sheet of Rubber Stamps is now available for pre-order!! This sheet includes my painting, "Lilac" "Waterfall Mist" "The Secret Temple" and "Fairy of the Spring Bloom." A very detailed set of stamps! Get them and my other stamps HERE

Some more of my work has also been released as fabric patches at Kat's Magical Patches.  See them all HERE

I created a neat little welcome page for my Facebook Fan Page!  "Like" me there to get all my latest news as fast as possible.  Or sign up for my newsletter on my website.

Next up, I'm going to begin painting the picture to the right!  This is a re-imagining of an older sketch/painting that never got finished.  Originally it had a guy in the picture and some goblins, but I'd somehow lost interest in it and never got it done.  But I've always loved the girl in the drawing, so I decided to take her and paint her in her own scene, which is still in a forest because that is just where she belongs.  ;)  I added in a lantern and some magical glowing moths!  I hope that it turns out like I image!  Foresty scenes aren't the easiest.
I would have begun this today if it weren't for the awful headache that I had all day!  I managed to get together and mail all the orders from over the weekend, but that's the most that I could manage.  Hopefully tomorrow will be a better day!

Last of all, is that I have a new-ish necklace to share!  This was finished maybe 2-3 weeks ago.  It's a multi-chain necklace with a silk ribbon-tie closure!  With this ribbon closure, it can be worn in a variety of different lengths!  It is available in my Etsy shop!  (and can be gotten for 20% off if purchased in the next few days!).

New ACEO!

I have a new ACEO for auction!

"Feral" -- #9 in my continuous Animals series, this one featuring a Canadian Lynx.
I'm really happy with how this one turned out and I think this is one of my best animal paintings yet.  I hope you like her too!
She is for auction on Ebay for the next week. You can find the auction HERE
Limited Edition ACEO prints are available of her on my website HERE.

February news...

I need to try update my blog more regularly. This is pretty much all of February's news in one post. lol  If you want to make sure to get all my updates quickly, please follow my Facebook fanpage or subscribe to my newsletter (more about this further down).

This is my latest painting finished 1-2 weeks ago, "Absinthe" featuring, of course, the green fairy.  :)  I've wanted to do my own version of the absinthe fairy for a while.  I hope that yo like her!  Please check out the detail view on my website for a close view of her face.

The original painting has sold, but prints are available on my website.  Larger 13 x 19" prints are available in my ebay store.  I keep meaning to get those up on my website for most of my paintings, but that will be a large task and I haven't gotten a chance yet.  Feel free to contact me if you're ever interested in a print at that size and don't want to use Ebay or you don't see the image you want there.  It shouldn't be a problem for most of my artwork except for ACEOs or odd shaped ones like square paintings.  They're $29.95 each.

She's also available as a tube through Dreamscape Imaging for the taggers out there!

About my newsletter... I've recently switched mailing list providers.  I used Bravenet before, but I didn't like the ads in the emails I sent out, at least for the free service.  I also think they went to people's spam too easily.  So I found a better service with MailChimp.  For those who already subscribed to my newsletter, you've already been switched over.  For anyone else, if you'd like to join my mailing list to get my most important updates then feel free to sign up at the link in the first paragraph or at my website.  I promise I won't spam your inbox or anything.  I just alert you to newest art, special auctions, sales, products... things like that.  ;)

 I have some new bookmarks for sale!  This is a new type of bookmark for me.  These are laminated and don't come in the big vinyl sleeves.  Though the vinyl ones are still available, these aren't quite as bulky.  They're really beautiful, and available in my ebay store HERE.  Right now I just have one of each listed available. I will be continuously adding new ones as I make them, but eventually they will become a regular item of mine.  :)  I may phase the vinyl ones out and replace them with these, but for now you can get both.

Heaven and Earth Designs recently released a couple of my paintings as quick stitch cross stitch charts. Amaryllis and Sweet Pea!

JEWELRY
Though these were made in December/January I just realized that I never mentioned them in my blog.
All of these are for sale HERE

New chainmaille bracelet and necklace set (sold separately) done in the full persian weave.

A gothic necklace and earrings set (also sold separately)

And a beaded kumihimo braided bracelet!








I believe that is pretty much it for the moment.  I'm going to have a new ACEO painting done soon.  I really should have it done already, but I've been a slacker.  lol  I have it sketched and ready to go.  I just have to add color.  :)

I think that I will feel more productive once the weather gets a little nicer!  I'm so tired of winter and snow and cold... bleh!

On a more positive note... I have cute kitties to cheer me up!  They're just over 4 months old now.  :)

Pretty Storm

New ACEO Auction! Foxglove

"Foxglove" -- #8 in my Garden Series

Click the picture to view the auction

New ACEO Painting...

"Alexias"

This is a commissioned ACEO painting that I did last week.  I'm really happy with how she turned out!  And it was a nice little break from the garden series, which I really have to get back to now.  ;)

Watercolor and white goauche.  2.5 x 3.5"

Limited Edition Prints are available on my website.

The Garden Series

I'm a little behind in posting my Garden series in my blog!  I'm on #7 now.  I'm a little more than half done, since there will be 12 of them total.  :)

 #7: "Gardenia"

The original ACEO of this is currently for auction on Ebay!
View the auction HERE

#6: "Calla Lily"

I chose to do black calla lilies for this one.  :)

#5: "Forget-Me-Not"

#4: "Sweet Pea"

#3: "Amaryllis"

Limited Edition prints for all of these are available on my website!!

Look for them in the ACEO Gallery

---------------------------------------

Also I have some neat new jewelry available with my art on it!

Dog Tag Necklaces!

 These beautiful little dog tag necklaces show off the artwork so beautifully!  These are my favorite art jewelry I've created yet!  :)

They come hung on a black ball chain necklace.

Check them out in my Etsy Shop!

Ocean Dreams Bracelet

I also made a new bracelet!  This is made in the tubular peyote stitch with size 11 seed beads in beautiful ocean blue-green tones!

It's for sale in my Etsy shop, with more photos and description, HERE

New ACEO Auction!

"Ivy"
 Watercolor and white goauche

She is the first in a new ACEO series!  The Garden Series

The original is for auction on ebay HERE

And prints are always available on my website.