Artist & Art Retreats / Art Workshops
I have been putting some well known quotes on my art (couldnt find the author of this one).
Many things are happening in my neck of the woods, … but its late and no time to write more just now,
so back tomorrow to add some more……
till then….
ciao.
I just had a FULL week of nothing but painting!!!!!! (ok yes, I slept, I ate,) I felt so inspired, the more I painted the more creative I felt. The only downside was that I couldnt get to sleep at night, so many ideas whizzing around my brain! lol!
I ended up selling 4 painitngs in 5 days and getting a 5th commission 🙂
here’s some of what I was doing….
These 2 (to follow) were inspired by a place I go to in summer called Tairua, in New Zealand… I have had nearly all of my summer holidays there since i was 13.. its a stunning small seaside town on the east coast of NZ, the beach is beautiful and the energy of the beach & sea there just sooths my soul… its a surf beach, so sometimes very big surf, and not great for swimming, but I go and sit on the beach and soak it all in on every level…. (both sold within a day of uploading)….
(c) Reina Cottier Art 2012
(c) Reina Cottier Art 2012
In all of these I am also heavily influenced by a place called Muriwai, I lived there for nearly 2 years a few years ago. It was a tumultuous time in my life, a time where I needed healing and this house I had there was up on a hill, set into native bush, and looked out onto a NZ west coast beach (Muriwai) and I had view right up to the Kaipara Harbour… one of the best views EVER. Every day I would sit on my deck/balcony and look out at the water and watched the sun set…. omg the most AMAZING sunsets I have every every seen.. i have so many photos of it now, and every one different. The water was rough and wild, a different colour every day, deep turuoise, almost black at times, – so beautiful, yet always so unpredictable, so dangerous, so full of life, unforgiving, all encompassing LOVED IT. ….
so this one is finally finished and also sold on the first day of loading….
(c) Reina Cottier Art 2012
Second week of school holidays this week coming, and I have the kids , so not alot of painting happening, but have a day or 2 set aside so should get on a roll again – scuse the pun!
xx
Been busy creating stuff!… no not paintings…. other stuff, like calendars and cards and things like that. 🙂
After not being well for 2 weeks, unable to paint, I used the time to get busy on my other Reina Cottier Art products, I made cards….
These are direct from me, shipping worldwide. You choose your assorted, they are blank on the inside.
(reinacottier@gmail.com)
Single card $2 (+shipping)
6 assorted $14.50 (+ shipping)
10 assorted $19.50 (+ shipping)
And my 2013 calendars are now available! (from my online store), ships from USA
3 to choose from (includes my world famous 😉 word art calendar 🙂
http://www.zazzle.com/reinacottierart/gifts?cg=196903678987987298
Link above to view or buy 🙂
Other than that, I have been working on a beautiful commission for a very special family over the last few weeks, next blog post will have the progress shots and the final result, I am soooo happy with it!
I have a kid free week coming up, its school holidays and they go with their Dad next week (YUSS!!) so I get to have a holiday too, and paint paint paint!!! YEEHAW!
ciao friends! xxxx
Started this the other day (its not complete) …. got all inspired by a combination of what I have done in the past, (one of my first paintings was of Maori designs on top of flowing swirly shapes), and what I have been doing lattely with my stenciling etc… Ive been wanting to experiment with a more commercial look, one that perhaps could be licensed, printed on fabric, or products. I wanted vibrant colours with definite boundaries,
I also did this:
(c) Reina Cottier Art 2012
It sold within a day, had alot of interest in it actually, so was happy about that.
I love the contrasting colours next to each other, really makes the reds/yellows pop out, esp with the dark outline.
So ‘everything in 3’s’ right?
well here’s #3:
(c) Reina Cottier Art 2012
Got several commissions on the go, which is exciting, but a week of sick kids and then me has not been conducive for creatove production…. get well this weekend, and FULL SPEED AHEAD next week. 🙂
bye!
x
I decided to go back to some ‘Reina basics’ for a breather a few weeks ago and re visit some unfinished ideas rattling round the recess’s of my being…. I wanted/needed something simple , so on a whim, produced this:
(c) Reina Cottier Art 2012
It sold within 10 mins of posting it up, 🙂 so that was very pleasing indeed, …
I then got on a roll, and produced 2 more, calling it the ‘Eclipse Series’.
(c) Reina Cottier Art 2012
(c) Reina Cottier Art 2012
Each peice took about half an hour to produce, considering I am a ‘speed of light’ type of gal, these types of creations are immensely satisfying for me… of course, I then had to go back to some ‘fiddly work’ (Gemini moment), but thats ok,.. all Reina’s aspects must come out to play regularly.
I have some more pieces to post up, but running out of time here,…so another post later on this afternoon I think.
Ciao for now. x
im such a techno phobe, so this was reletively easy considering my (lack of) skills…..
click on ‘Reina Cottier Art’ below…
Almost finished this piece above 🙂 I decided I wanted to experiment with contrasting colours, so used the reds/oranges with the greens/teals… and I have to say, Im liking the result so far. This piece didn’t start off so well…. in fact it was painted over at least twice before I felt an ease and flow with what I was doing. Unlike how I usually paint (lightening speed!) I have taken my time with this, lots of pauses, looking, walking away, and revisiting… getting the bones of it on the canvas was not the issue, it was more, what to do with it after that. ‘I decided it was going to be part of my Magical Wave series, and once I had made that decision, it just flowed along (no pun intended!) nicely.
Above is a commission in progress. This one harks back to a style I was doing about a year ago which proved to be really popular, most of the pieces I did in that time sold quickly. I have loved re visiting this style and had forgotten what a great effect my ‘sprinkling’ gives, (putting paint on a scrubbing brush and then flicking the paint onto the canvas by scraping the brush with a palette knife or spatula). I love the colors the client has chosen for me to work with… this actually increases my creativity, but having ‘limits’ i seem to be far more inventive and creative, than when im left to my own devises.
And lastly, I have been experimenting with different stencils and techniques, shading, shadows etc.
Not always feeling like I have to use stencils in my art, but have found a level of satisfaction in being able to merge them with my own paitning style.
Ok thats about it for now…Ive been very busy getting through all these commissions and still have 5 left to complete of 13 in the last 3 months! 🙂 not compaining though, so love it all, and know how blessed I am. 🙂
ciao!
*does a little dance*
got 1st place equal, with this painting in a Fine Art America contest……
(c) Reina Cottier Art 2012
thats all for now… back later!
That time again! More activity in Reina’s cavern of creation! So, where to start?
Did this as a fun thing one day, sort of over time really, but it all came together in a flourish of swirls, teal, white and purple, and started to look really interesting…..
(c) Reina Cottier Art 2012
I post everything I create on Facebook on my art page, and it was clear that this was a hit 🙂 Two lovely ladies wanted it, one in Oz and one in USA…..and as of right now it is winging its way across the Pacific to USA. I look at this and see real New Zealand flavour,… purely unintentional of course, but i see lots of korus and flowing interlocking shapes and lines, Loving the clear colours and feel of movement, and the elements, like i see wind/air, water, earth,,,, and even fire. The winds of change!
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This one below is a commission I did for a friend in Alaska, she chose the colours and the basic feel of what she was after and left the rest to me:
(c) Reina Cottier Art 2012
This is a smaller sized piece for me, its 12″ x 16″, and at first I wondered if I was going to be able to ‘do my thing’ on such a little canvas, but it worked really well and I felt i was still able to get the feeling of movement with the shape, line and colors that I wanted to. I have shown her pics and she loves it. 🙂 This lady is all about loven light, so it was a total pleasure to be able to zone into that whilst creating that for her.
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13 commissions, 3 down, 10 to go…….. 🙂
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Lastly, finally the hard copy of the book I have been published in has arrived! It looks really professional, and im thrilled with how my art is showcased. Some really awesome artists have been chosen for this book so I felt honored to be amonst such talent.
there I am, third row down, second from left,
if anyone wants a look online its here: (im pages 26 & 27 :))
or to buy it from Amazon go here:
Ciao for now my friends, hope you are all well & happy.
Arohanui.
Reina.x
I got 3 more commissions this week, AND had already started some other paintings, for fun, so I have a whole pile of unfinished art at the moment, and lots of ‘endings’ to do. It IS like a story, a beginning a middle and an end. They are all calling out to me, and time is just not stretching far enough at the moment. Doesn’t help that i decided to spend 2 weeks celebrating my birthday , and it doesn’t help that I have had the most ridiculous chest infection that has amounted to nothing and something all at the same time- *sigh*. just this silly little ‘cough, cough’ every 2 minutes, grrrr! Its FINALLY exiting my system, so next week (let s just relax this weekend with lots of lying around doing nothing- something Im not very proficient at) I will be back into it, fully committed and CREATIVELY OFF THE PLANET!
Painting for fun #1 below: (not finished)
(c) Reina Cottier
#2 is a similar one to another I did about a month ago and it sold before it was finished, I enjoyed it so much I did another one: (unfinished)
#3 Going back to my basics and REALLY happy to be doing that, finding myself again with my shapes and tones and shades, …makes me feel good: (unfinished)
There are more, but I dont want to overload the senses lol!
So I have 5 or 6 commissions to complete, ive now lost count, but never fear, I have it written down somewhere, and actually will refer to it at some point. The commisions I am doing are really exciting for me because they are people who I know well, and there is an ease and a flow about creating something for someone when you have that connection.
Next blog post will hopefully be some finished works!
CIAO!
I have followed this cool website for a while now and Graham, the founder, asked me if Id like to be a feature artist on it!
Here’s the link if you want a look, and a read, felt like I wrote my life story! ha. 🙂
http://www.artpromotivate.com/2012/05/reina-cottier-art-intuitively-taking.html
Artists: while you’re in there check out the site, some really great tips, advice & info!
I have 4 commissions to complete in the next month or so, so I have about 6 paintings on the go at the moment. Due to a rather, in fact insanely busy time in my life, I have not been painting as regularly as I normally do… this week finally have been able to get right into it with very little interruption.
I have made a start on 2 of the commissions:
the top one, the client said: ‘do whatever you want’ ,
the bottom one is to compliment another painting of mine this person bought last month,..she wants them either side of her bed. So I had guidelines for the colours used and shapes etc.
Both are going to Australia.
This one below sold before it was finished and I completed it and was posted to Australia yesterday:
(c) Reina Cottier 2012
Im waiting on a canvas I have ordered to arrive so I can start a big painting togo to Holland, 🙂
and there is also one going to Alaska, a lovely little one that I have started, just the background so far, but looking really good.
My practice boards are getting a total workout, always trying out different techniques and colour combos, I have two main things going on right now…
1/dark background with lighter bold shapes and/or stneciling… and
2/ light bright spring colours, (not pale summer colours) but more intense blues, greens, purples, yellow, white… combining them in a way that best expresses my feeling,
really enjoying where I am at with my art/process at the moment, fell like I am able to combine all my experience with what is inside of me and adequately create that feeling. 🙂
have decided to do a series, or a theme of paintings. My last post, ‘Splash of Red’, is part of the series. Naturally I have been evolving toward this for quite some time, its fairly obvious that I have bits and bobs of the last 2 years of my art all wrapped into one now.
So the latest one I have just completed is this:
(c) Reina Cottier Art 2012
Again, I am really enjoying this piece. It took a bit of ‘sorting out’ , getting the flow of lines correct, making sure everything had a flow, and yet, I didn’t want everything to have the ‘full stop’, i quite like some movement just disappearing off into nothing ness, and some ‘lines’ just not really going anywhere, but yeh within of that, it needed a balanced, or it looked completely off. At one point I had to keep walking away from it for several hours, and returning for that ‘fresh look’, so I could actually see what was happening on the canvas. I chose these colours because I wanted a real feel of the ocean (blues, greens, teals,) with dynamic energy & power (reds, purples & yellow). The white is fro drama, and also I like how it reminds me of ocean spray, froth, light through water… really love that. The ocean is in my blood and has been since I was born. I have never been able to love too far from the sea, ONCE when I was 19 I loved inland, not far, only about 10km from the sea (here in NZ that is inland! haha) and I loathed it, I felt claustrophobic, I was always trying to get out to the sea, so I made a resolution to never do that again, and since then I have never lived more than about 200m from the waters edge.
So, Im really feeling this series,
it started with this one:
(c) Reina Cottier Art 2012
then the one in the last blog entry with the red.
what next? not sure… I may even end up calling them the Water, Air, Fire, Earth Wave series…. *thinks* yep.. its heading that way for sure.
Other things I am working on:
not finished-almost there
also incomplete,… this one has sold, few tweaks to do,.. its almost there.
(c) Reina Cottier 2012
My latest offering. And I love it.
I love the red & purple contrast, I love the teal to offset them both, and the white& yellow for some drama… I think it flows, it has movement and is fluid. It tool a really shor time to do and as usual I just stopped and it was finished. A few tiny tweaks and yeh…done. I feel like this is a simple yet interesting piece, there is nothing there, yet there is a story to me. For me a really nice mix of some of my ‘very detailed’ and completely plain. 🙂
Things are berserk here, this week has been the MOTHER of all weeks for me for art sales. But as always for me, it is never about the money, thats just a wonderful side effect, its about connection with people, its about being able to stir something inside of someone so they are ‘moved’ enough to want that piece of them/me that ‘I’ have created. I put ‘I’ in inverted commas because Im still not sure where it all comes from. This ‘thing’ that ‘I’ do, is it me? is it something else? (rhet)
SO, Im selling faster than I can produce right now, which is kinda fun. Suddenly Ive going from ‘working’ part time to full time, and I am SO HAPPY that I ‘work’ from home, this has been my blessing. I can control where, when, what and why…. PERFECT. This is how all the needs and wants in my life are met, and ART plays a massive role in that… I must be creating at least 4 days a week or I am not ‘Reina’.
I have 3 commissions to do before end of June, YAY! love it! its good to challenge myself with ‘boundaries’ once in a while.
I have about 5 paintings in progress right now, but cant load them up for some reason. …
next time.
ciao my friends. x
Skite time! I thought, since all I have been doing is packaging up paintings to ship away, I would take 5 mins to have a ME moment and share all my sold paintings in the last 2 months!Its been an abundant time in my on all levels, (there is actually one more, that I dont have a pic of, another commission that I took to Australia.)
(c) Reina Cottier 2012
(c) Reina Cottier 2012
(c) Reina Cottier 2012
(c) Reina Cottier 2012
(c) Reina Cottier 2012
(c) Reina Cottier 2012
(c) Reina Cottier 2012
(c) Reina Cottier 2012
(c) Reina Cottier 2012
…and I have another commission to start in the next week or so.
🙂
How I managed to make it in here today, I do not know! To say I have been busy would be a huge understatement and I’ve been trying to get in here to post something up for about a week now. YES I HAVE AN EXCUSE :)… travel, kids birthday, school holidays. AND I have decided that going away glamping (glamour camping) with the kids is more hassle than its worth, …2 days away = a weeks laundry, clean up, put away all the STUFF. ugh. So here we are one week to the day from being back, and I am still putting away sleeping bags properly and washing out chilly bins. Camping yes, ..with kids NO!
TIME, id love a little more time please.
OK, first up, trip to Sydney to deliver the commission went really well!! SUPERB. I stayed with my aunt and uncle with a spectacular view of sydney harbour, incl the bridge, the city and the Opera House… had a wonderful time.
I havent been able to paint anything since then until yesterday,… I finally was able to do some more on one piece and start another.
here is the one I have started:
I have wanted to do a ‘light’ design on a dark background for ages, but kept distracting myself mid way..so THIS time I was committed to the result.. even though its no where near finished, I am rather pleased with the direction its headed in, I like the slightly misty/night/moonlight/snow? feel it has… sort of ‘Narnia meets Twilight’…
I thnk, if I look back, I took ALOT from this older one below, which developed into the idea for the one above:
and the other one I have added to is this:
this is a cropped piece of the actual painting (see last blog entry), I have added some detail.
I am finding my style is mutating now into something that, instead of swinging around and trying lots of different styles I am (subconsciously) blending all my styles into one. I suppose this is a natural progression, I have to say, it feels really satisfying!
In other news, I have been asked my Artpromotivate.com if they can feature my art. 🙂 So I spent an hour last night filling out the interview… typical me, as I started, I was stumped…what to say??????? how to say it? Then.. the floodgates opened and I couldnt stop! Haha. I told Graham he was more than welcome to edit out anything he wanted, but he seemed ok with it, so thats good!
My Zazzle shop is going well, surprisingly so actually, and its a real pleasure to hear that every single person that has bought something from there, has told me they are really thrilled with the product. So, YAY!!!
I have been asked to Jury 2 art contests lately, and really enjoyed that! What amazing talents some people have, the diversity of creative expression out there never fails to floor me.
My art page on Facebook is probably where i spend most of my time, this is where i get to interact with everyone and thats what I love. I guess its like a daily art blog where I can connect more easily with people.
ok, better go sort out something for dinner, take care, love to all. x
HI everyone!
March was so busy for me! omg, conpleted 2 commissions, and sold 3 other paintings,as well as organising other art paraphernalia to go overseas.
Somewhere inbetween i managed to start 2 more paintings this being one of them:
felt the need, with such a short summer, to have some greens and yellows, then of course, I have to have the contrast, so threw in the purple and blue….really liking it so far, ..it pulls me in, I feel light when I look at it, so i really want to be careful not to make it too ‘heavy’ both visually and energetically, I want to keep the ‘uplift’ factor going.
And I loved my Heart Soul Whole (see previous blog entry) so much, I started a version of it for myself, not triptych, no words….
(c) Reina Cottier 2012
obviously not complete, and its big, which i like, big bold piece will be perfect in my entrance way.
Sold this one:
a fun thing i did in a very short space of time…didnt feel the need to add to it, even though i knew it was quite basic and simple, i liked that. 🙂
and sold this one finally, a fave of mine, went to Australia….
(c) Reina Cottier 2012
Off to Oz on Thursday with commission #2, all but complete, looks fantastic, will post a pic when complete.Staying for 4 nights, really looking forward to it, some shopping in Sydney, seeing some friends, and family. Cant wait. 🙂
Reina Cottier Art 