One more painting to share...

I forgot to add a picture of this one too! It will also be on Ebay tonight. I created this one on a 16 X 20 inch gallery wrapped canvas with 2.25 inch thick sides. It says, "Friends Multiply Joy And Divide Sorrow." I am not offering prints of this one, as it is too large for me to get a scan of at this time. Sorry!

New Ebay Auctions For My Paintings Start TONIGHT!

I will have 7 paintings available to bid on with week on Ebay. The will start late Sunday night by 8:30 PDT and end around the same time next Sunday. Just click on the above picture to view them. Happy bidding!

New listings of my Folk Art Primitive paintings on Ebay starting tonight!

Hi everyone! Thanks for stopping in. Hope everyone's weekend was enjoyable. Both my husband and I weren't feeling very well, so after we did the activities we had to do, we spent the night vegging on the couch watching the old Albert Brook's and Meryl Streep movie "Defending Your Life." If you haven't seen it, I highly suggest it. Tonight, Rob is making supper and then we might watch Coraline.
Also, a heads up...I will be having some new auctions starting tonight and ending next Sunday evening for 5-7 of my new paintings I have been showing recently. Due to a change, I will no longer be sending them in to the gallery, as I had planned. So, you can have a chance to own them! Later today, I will post pics of all of them and link them to my Ebay auction for each one.
Well, better go and get ready to head to church. I have two lessons to give for the kiddos today. Have a restful Sunday, and thanks again for stopping by!

Cats and Vacuum Cleaners.

Cats have different personalities, just like people. I often think of my cats as 2 yr old people trapped in a small furry body! We have 2 cats, one that is terrified of the vacuum cleaner, and the other, who is somewhat intrigued by it. She isn't afraid at all, and will actually run and lay down in the spot where I sprinkle her catnip, because she KNOWS I am going to vacuum it up. This morning, in between vacuuming and doing laundry, I paused before finishing the rest of the house. I came back to the vacuum cleaner and found this. I could almost imagine her saying, "Look Momma! I conquered The Beast!" I am so glad I have kitties. They add many laughs to my life.

Ch-Ch-Changes and a new angel painting

I am making some changes, including my focus. I have been making jewelry for 7 yrs. now. I love and enjoy it, but with silver prices up, the economy down, and a very saturated jewelry market on Etsy (the main place I sell), I have decided to concentrate more on my painting. I feel more drawn to it right now, and must follow my heart on this one. I still may make jewelry from time to time, but won't be taking any custom jewelry orders. Along with this change, I will also be changing my website name and my Ebay ID. I can't change my Etsy ID, so it will remain the same I guess. These changes will happen over the next few days. My Ebay ID has already changed from 'theroyalbead' to 'ArtWorkByLori' and my website will be changing from www.theroyalbead.com to www.artworkbylori.com. Right now, my website looks pretty goofy. I am playing around with backgrounds and the font is some funky pink color. Not very pretty. LOL So, bear with me...this will look better soon. I just wanted to let everyone know why I am changing. "TheRoyalBead" just doesn't scream "painter."
With that, here is the painting I finished this afternoon. It has a multi-layered background with a crackle finish. It is a mixed media piece and is titled "She Was Free To Dream." Hope you like it!

Vampire Fairy Painting & Print

So I started this painting the other day, and after painting her eyebrow, she took on a really sinister look. I liked it! The more collage elements I added, the more a story line started to develop. Then, I found the text from some vintage children's books. The story was finished. She just HAD to be a vampire fairy. I just listed this print in my Etsy store, and here is the story that I included:
There's a legend of handsome young lads disappearing in the dark, mysterious Welsh forests of Snowdon. One such lad was exploring the forest. As the evening descended, he heard entrancing music coming from deep in the woods. He followed the sound, and as he approached the source, he was astounded to find her there. She was beautiful. Her pale, perfect skin looked almost alabaster against her silky raven hair. She had glistening green wings that pushed delicately against the wind. The most beautiful song he had ever heard came softly from her deep red lips. He had never seen anything like her before and was intrigued...yet frightened.
"Who are you, strange-looking thing?" he asked.
"Come with me, and I will show you." she replied.
Like many others, he was never seen, or heard from again.

Mermaids, Birds, and Flowers

The weekend has come and gone so quickly, but I actually look forward to the new week because I can get back to painting. I have been feeling a strong pull toward painting more so than jewelry making, so that is what I will be concentrating on more for who knows how long.
We had a belated birthday celebration for me this Saturday. We drove to Vero Beach to go to a scrapbook store so I could get some cool new papers to use in my mixed media pieces. Sadly, their selection of stamps and other goodies was not impressive. They did have cool paper though. After catching a quick lunch, we went to Julie & Julia. I enjoyed the movie and felt I could relate to the the character played by Amy Adams (who did a wonderful job). Many people hit that point in their life when they feel like they don't know where they are going and what they should be doing. Things just aren't flowing the way we would like. We all want to be successful at something. I laughed at the part where she breaks down in the kitchen and has a crying fit. I have felt that way before, and I am sure...acted that way. Anyways, it was enjoyable, inspiring, and cute. Not much of a man movie though. Rob kept checking his watch. Nothing was being shot at or blown up. LOL
So, back to working on some more canvases I have calling to me. In the meantime, here are the pics of the new print I added to my Etsy store over the weekend. Hope you like them!

New Prints in my Etsy Store! Pink Cupcake!

This week has flown by, and now that things are winding down, I finally have time to list some new prints in my Etsy store of the paintings I have finished recently. Here is the first one that is available. I will be adding more throughout the weekend, so please check in later.

Last minute craziness. Lots of it.

I still haven't taken pics of my new paintings. I was asked last minute on Sunday night (9pm) to pet sit for someone across town, whose pet sitter had canceled on her the night before she was going out of town. She was leaving at 5 am the next day, so I said yes, know she wouldn't find anyone else. She is a friend of ours, so I was glad to help, but I am not good with dogs. My first time over there on Monday was horrific. The larger dog had thrown up all over (large amount) and had diarrhea all over. The cat had also thrown up. The little chihuahau had walked through the mess. I was there for 2 hours cleaning. Luckily, the next day the dog was better, and things have gone smoother since. I have been going over a few times a day, and it's been taking up a bit of my time. My internet "presence" went on vacation, but I am still here.
My birthday is tomorrow, and I have one last morning stop to take care of the pets. Then.....I am going to spend some ME time. I haven't really had any this week. I have laundry baskets of clothes waiting to be folded, and new laundry to be done. The house needs cleaning again, and I need to prepare my Sunday school lesson for this weekend.
So, if I remain silent a few days longer...I am around...just recouping! Take care!

2 new necklaces!

I just wanted to share two more necklaces I recently finished. I also finished a large painting, but haven't taken pics yet. I hopefully will tomorrow. It took me over a week to finish it. I started 3 smaller paintings today. Sometimes, I just start playing around with backgrounds before I know what direction I am going, so that's what I did today. I currently have an addiction to crackle paint! I hope to have some new prints available in my Etsy store soon. It's been a busy week here, and the first half of the week I was sick with a soar throat.
Well, please stop in again soon to see my new work!