Brenda Pinnick -news, ideas, events and more...

about a year ago...

a few weeks short of, actually...I took a trip to London and to Paris,  in that order. Paris was amazing! Even though it was cold, rainy  and off season, I enjoyed the holiday decorations, the company and the relaxation of it all. My trip was business, hosting my own show on QVC, which is always great fun but a bit intense. I took the bullet train down to Paris afterward and enjoyed the wonderful atmosphere that only Paris gives. While relaxing and exploring, I also had opportunity to just sit, be inspired and create.

Here is a little bit of mixed media I made, done at home, but inspired by my trip. 

I LOVE stitching on my pieces! And, adding in elements such as ribbon, lace, cut felt pieces and especially cut paper makes it so visually enticing. I love creating my own surface art to use in my mixed media pieces so that it maintains the "voice of the artist". 

I encourage you to design your own mixed media art and base it on a travel experience. The purple in this piece reflects the trend seen while in both London and Paris last year! EVERYWHERE- purple!!! 

...there's just something magical about Paris, no matter what the season!  Je ne sais quoi?

Inspiration!

Nothing like a spending a day with someone whose work is the likes of the fabulous Kathy Fincher!

Kathy invited me to visit her last week so I drove up to her beautiful home, about an hour away from my house via the back roads. I've been a huge fan of Kathy's work since I first met her about a year and a half ago but I have to say, seeing her paintings in person takes your breath away. They are extremely beautiful, meaningful and inspired. And Kathy herself is a true inspiration. She is an accomplished tennis player, water skier, and probably the smartest business person I know. When I say smart in business, I'm referring to the kind of smart that sets an example of trustworthiness, of honesty and of character. It would never occur to her to be anything less than a reflection of her faith, whether someone is watching or not. And isn't that the test of character? Doing the right thing even if no one is watching? She is such an inspiration and was kind enough to give me some private lessons in pastel painting. Here are a couple of pictures...the first one is Kathy working on her current painting.  Kathy's work is used for all types of wonderful products including her "Mama Says™' series of figurines available through Demdaco.

And take at look here... 

This just makes my heart flutter and my mouth drool! I'm pretty sure I have to go shopping at Dick Blick this week! 

I've started my next surface design collection after what seemed like a lifetime of "what next?". Sometimes that's just the way it works. I bought myself a big roll of paper from IKEA kids section, got out my pens, my pastels, my gouache paints and started to just play. It's amazing how simply changing your tools will set you off on a path you never would have thought of going down. I get bored doing the same thing more than once. I love exploring new looks, new color ways, new techniques...In fact, I'm a technique junkie. That's the designer side of me. Sometimes the Designer and Artist in me have to fight it out. As a Designer, I'm all about form follows function and I love simple, clean and organized. BUT, my artist wants to fill up the space with curlies and squiggles and polkadots. 

I hope you have an inspired week!

 

Layered and Painted and Sparkled, oh my!

A while back, the popular and cute Ms. Claudine Hellmuth sent me some of her products to play around with. My mind always goes first to surface design and I knew I wanted to incorporate my Sizzix dies so I chose my layered butterfly and flower for this project. It was a lot of fun creating this and it could be done in a variety of different ways or on different surfaces...I'm thinking lampshades in a bedroom, maybe with a floor cloth to match.

Take a look, if you like this, please give me some feedback and if you would like to show it on your blog, please just show the finished piece and include a link back here. Thanks! Enjoy-

finished art piece -©2009 BrendaPinnick-all rights reserved

Blank canvas & selection of brushes, both hard and soft

Claudine Hellmuth's sticky back canvas

Brenda Pinnick Butterfly and Flower Sizzix Dies

Claudine Helllmuth's Studio brand paint by Ranger

Paint in the background, mottling for depth

stick on cut out shapes, random placement

paint over the shapes, using blended hues and soft brushes

Remove the shapes, set aside. Allow to dry.

repeat the process, overlapping shapes and hues. Feather the paint using a soft brush.

close-up. I added some subtle, flat, rhinestones for added interest and flair.

Finished wall art. I allowed some of the shapes to randomly surround the canvas and some to sit on top of the canvas, partially curled up.

I really love how this turned out! Wouldn't this be a fun technique to create a wall border with? The butterflies could move around the room if you wish!

I'm making this available as a class so if you are interested in having me teach this to your group, please email me with your request. I've got several variations on this piece prepared, in different themes and colorways. Contact me for additional details!

http://www.claudinehellmuth.com/

http://www.rangerink.com/default.htm

http://store.scrapbook.com/sz-655461.html (for my Sizzix Butterfly Die)

New Painting

Hi all,

Thought you might like to see what's new in the studio...

This little painting is going out tomorrow to it's new owner. It's called "PLAYTIME" for obvious reasons. Yep, still painting cats and birds, started this series about 10 years ago. I think this is around number 35 or so in the series. The first ones were all really big, usually bigger than 36"x36", some going up to 48"x48". That was when I had a rented studio space with lots of wall space. I would buy roll canvas and nail it to the wall to paint, sometimes having as many as 6 or so paintings going at once. Now that I'm working from home, my space is limited so I've adjusted by making smaller pieces, which makes them easier to sell, too. 

If you would like a painting done for you featuring a similarity to your kitties, birds or dogs, or heck, even your cows or sheep, email me and I'd be glad to discuss it and give you a quote. 

Can you believe Christmas is almost here? I hope all of you stop the hectic frenzy to enjoy what matters most. I'm looking forward to a peaceful holiday spent at home, low key, quiet and heartfelt. I'm making some gifts this year instead of buying them and it feels really good. I can't talk about them here, certain people read my blog from time to time and I want it to be a surprise.

xxoo,

Brenda

Sunflowers

For my friends who have visited in the last week, you may be thinking that Brenda has been slacking off. Well, no.

Hurray for me, I took time off from work to take a trip to my hometown during the big "peach festival" weekend. AND, the peaches were FANTASTIC! We didn't stay in town to watch the parade this year, had some family commitments to attend to instead. But I did find Brooke an adorable apron while in one of the antique stores. 

We relaxed, ate some fresh from the field sweet corn and did a little sightseeing on the way back home. It was lovely. Fantastic and oh, so needed. I did take along my Macbook just in case, but barely touched it. I had fun playing with my new camera, oh, did I forget to mention this? I bought myself a new Olympus E510 which is an SLR. I used to use a film SLR for years, never took it off manual mode. Now I need to learn this new one and had fully intended to read the manual while traveling. Well, napping seemed to take over every time I tried to concentrate on learning. I guess I was really, really tired. Anyway, I ended up only using the AUTO setting on this trip. 

I was really inspired by the rolling hills of the little 'ol  (Vanderbilt) BILTMORE estate, (not to mention the digs).

 

WOW, it sure was fun having that little fantasy of actually living there, servants attending to my every whim. The gardens were spectacular and the views were breathtaking. When I visit London, I stay at the former residence of the Vanderbilts which is now a fabulous hotel. Heck, I feel like one of the family!

We walked around Asheville the next morning and visited a half dozen galleries. I realized that I don't look at enough art...other people's art. I was so inspired after spending just half a day visiting galleries, I have a new commitment to myself to take time to be inspired. After spending time out in the country, I couldn't get sunflowers out of my head. So, I came home and went right to work on a big new canvas. Here's a glimpse of a section of my new painting. It's not finished yet, another day's work on it will probably do the job. I'll show it when it's done. 

I'm off later this week to visit QVC H.Q. and spend some quality crafty time with my new buddy the fabulous, the amazing, the ever entertaining Miss MARGOT POTTER! We're shooting a video, Yaaay!!! You'll need to come back next week to see the video and the finished painting.

Happy weekend, friends!

aaah...Sunday evening on the porch

Detail- "Magnolia" by Brenda Pinnick 6/22/08 pastel on board

I just love sitting on my front porch, just as the sun is lowering into the sky ahead of me. And if it's a Sunday evening, all the better. The dishes are done, the gang is fed, laundry folded and it's just so relaxing. I've decided that I'm going to take over the "dining room", which is a misnomer because we have never used it for such. It's too small and boxy to work for dining unless it's dining for two, which at our house, usually happens on t.v. trays in the living room, watching reruns of "Everybody loves Raymond". Geeesh, we're so predictable.

Anyway, the little boxy room at the front of the house will now be my painting studio, seperate and distinct from the office/papercrafting/whatever room downstairs in the basement. I've found that if/when I try to make art/paintings downstairs, I get caught up in all the other stuff that "needs" doing; project samples, email responses, etc. and then before I know it, I've spent way too much time tending to stuff that prevents me from making art. And, after spending too much time in the basement, I begin to feel isolated and very claustrophobic. 

Here's a little painting I did last evening while sitting out on the porch. All the magnolia trees are blooming now and I just felt the urge to pay a little homage to the Southern flower. I didn't use a reference, just drew from memory for the purposes of creative expression, not factual accuracy. I just love pastels, they are so immediate. Here, I've used a pastel board made by Ampersand. It's actually a wet/dry board allowing you to paint first and then top it with pastel. 

lunch, anyone?

Here is a close-up, cropped section from one of my paintings in the "spatial fantasy" series, done a few years ago. I just wanted to brighten up your day with a little "eye-candy". I wanted to be a cartoonist when I was little, does it show??? LOL.

moooooove outta my way

someday, I'm going to buy a farmhouse, have some beautiful animals and a flower garden to paint. I'll set my easel up outdoors, wear my paint clothes and no bra. I won't be checking my emails or worry about deadlines. The cows will be my friends.

Sound like someone who's real close to serious burn out? Good thing I have a trip coming up next week. I'm actually looking forward to sitting on the plane for 7 hours! I'm going to read, sip a glass or two of wine, and then lights out before our big QVC meeting. I appreciate being "unconnected" while in the air.
Have a nice weekend, friends.

2 hour painting

Is it art? Is it craft? Is it fun? Yes to all. Is it cheating? NO.
visit my painting blog for the low down and step outs. If you've always wanted to paint but were intimidated, this process will get you going! Creating like this is a great way to learn how to mix color, plan a composition, and to experiment with brushes.

Check it out, give it a try and send me some pics!

weekend painting

here's what I painted this weekend...go to the painting blog to see the step outs. I hope your weekend was a great one. Mine was wonderful!