Creating Cards & Calendars

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 🙂

Click here to view or buy
Click on pic to view or buy.

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

‘Heart, Soul, Whole’, & Cool bags I made………

Made these AWESOME bags in Zazzle with my Hibiscus Dream painting… cant belive how good they look… just loaded them up and sold one within hours! (and a cushion/pillow of the same design 🙂   If you want a peek, go here: http://www.zazzle.com/hibiscus_dream_rickshaw_messenger_bag-210306275512449984

ok, what else?? …..  Im allowed to keep y’all up to date pic-wise with my latest commissioned piece, (it WAS going to be a surprise, but she asked to see a progress shot, curiosity got the better of her 🙂 love it)…. the specs were, a triptych, each panel 10″ x 30″ (so overall size of 30″ x 30″) and the words, heart, soul & whole, were to go on a panel each. Im all but finished it, not quite, …. it was a remarkably easy and quick process, I knew which style of my paintings she liked so the design and colors just came. I wanted to make sure the panels were able to be separted too, so when i was designing it I made sure of that. I LOVE the colours in this one, they make my heart sing… all my faves bundled into one.

its about 70% done here… and today I painted the text on it, and it looks fab, ill post an updated shot when its finished. Something about this piece im really connected with, not ‘to‘, with.  Im not emotionally attached to this at all, its like being a surrogate mother, you always know its going elsewhere, but the birthing process still requires a connection. But in a detached way, it certainly does something for me when i am creating it and viewing it. A really contented smile is all I can think of to describe it. NOT smug, NOT proud, just content, peaceful.

WELL! that was deep huh???!!! LOL!!

what else? oh yes! I made (online) cushions to sell with my Hibiscus dream finished piece! this one:

©Reina Cottier Art Hibiscus Dream

Zazzle now make VERY cool cushions, see top right of my blog page for a pic of it! I think it looks awesome as a cushion…now here’s hoping Zazzle deliver as good as the pic! I have already sold 2, only posted it for sale 3 days ago!

and this is nearly done too…

loads more things happening in the pipeline, but will have to be in another blog entry now, or I’ll be here all night!

take care, talk soon…Reina.x

Book, Word Art & Practice runs……

hey all 🙂

I completely forgot, in my last blog, to mention that I got this email 2 days before Xmas and what a GREAT early Xmas pressie!

Dear Reina,

 Congratulations! I’m honored and thrilled to let you know that your artworks will be published in the Living Artists of Today: Contemporary Art International. Vol.1 

 I’m starting production next week and book should be printed by end of the first quarter of 2012. 

Have a great Holiday Season!

Kind regards,

Mila Ryk

Publisher – Art & Beyond Studio, inc

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had submitted a some images to be considered for this a while ago, and it was really awesome to hear back with positive news.I am not one to submit my stuff left, right and center, or ‘spread myself to thin’, I feel like I could go to town all over the internet, uploading my images everywhere, but then there is upkeep and ongoing marketing and it all gets very very time consuming. Having said that, I do dedicate a small portion of my day to this happily, and it has certainly paid off with a number of sales of original, prints, cards, several big commissions and ongoing commissions from regular clients. (Facebook is the BEST, soo many sales thru that alone, but the best thing is meeting such fantastic people and building a relationship with them, both clients and other artists too) Without the internet NONE of this would have happened. I am in New Zealand, literally at the bottom of the world with a population of around 4 million… its not a place you can make alot of $ in the art world.  I am also a busy mother of 2 full on girls and a hairdresser (I work from home), so there is not enough hours in the day for me to be painting 8 hours a days, 5 days a week to produce enough work to sustain an ‘originals only’ selling lifestyle… let alone pounding the pavement putting my art in cafe’s and such… its just not where Im at really. Striking a balance with all these things in my life has been interesting, and I am also totally blessed to have an amazing partner who supports anything I do or dream 1000%.

So! while my kids were away for 10 days with their dad over Xmas, I used the time as productively as I could and finished up a whole pile of stuff as well as doing some ‘practice runs’ for other things…..

first up is this piece:

©Reina Cottier 2012

yes, something different for me! I had been ITCHING to try this style for ages, using a water spray on the canvas first then applying the paint with a sponge and letting it drip and spread with the water around the canvas. This was FUN! I loved doing it, and I will do it again at some point, and or integrate this technique with my other stuff. There was alot of drying time inbetween stages involved, so that was slightly irritating to this ‘I want everything yesterday’ girl, lol! but hey, with a little help from a friend- a fan heater- we got there relatively quickly! (Im not into waiting for hours, its just not part of who i am, if i cant bang out a painting in an hour or 2, forget it! LOL!)

this one is not finished:

Im playing with words directly onto the canvas (like “Evolve-last post) rather than Photoshopping them on as i normally do. Also integrating my BELOVED stencils (can you tell??? hehe) with the word process…. this was very much about the earth below- foliage, forest, land, growth…then the sky, galaxy above,..there is a heart shape up there-unfinshed, you can barely see, but i think it will be cool when its done… i want to maintain the translucent look of it… love that.

this is my practice board!…..

its turned out to be quite a nice piece on its own! 🙂

Its school holidays here for another 2 weeks, we are in summer, so there wont be a whole lot of painitng going on, but as soon as they are back to school, ..Im full steam ahead!

Wishing you all an AMAZING week! be well & happy. Reina.x