New Pendant Necklaces!

My venture outside of my comfortable world of oil painting has paid off! A few weeks ago I decided to broaden my horizons and create hand-painted fine art resin pendant necklaces. Each necklace features a unique one-of-a-kind 1.25 square inch acrylic painting protected under a high-gloss scratch-resistant finish.

This past weekend I took about 25 of them to sell at Hollyfest, not knowing what to expect. Despite the bad weather in the morning, I sold a lot of them! I was pleasantly surprised. :) So I've decided to make more.

Almost every day I will be listing new ones in my Etsy shop. This week I am making several different dog breed silhouettes since I will be attending two different dog events this weekend. One event is the Mutt Strutt Dog Walk at Historic Oak View Park in Raleigh, and the second is the Suite Paws Costume Contest, also in Raleigh.

I also made a few for Halloween, and one even made the Etsy Halloween Gift Guide! That was a pleasant surprise to wake up to this morning.There I am in the lower left-hand corner. That's my spooky ghost pendant necklace. :)

So be sure to keep an eye on my Etsy shop. I'll frequently be adding new items to it.

Tips for the Conservation and Care of Your Oil Painting

Oil paintings can be very delicate and easy to damage, but by following a few simple guidelines your painting can have a long and happy life. I've come up with a few tips for the care, conservation, and hanging of your oil painting with a little help from the Conservation Register. These tips are especially relevant for oil paintings, but it would be wise to apply them to all artwork in general.

• Avoid touching the surface of the painting.
• Avoid hanging your painting close to shelves, furniture, in busy corridors, behind doors, or where people can knock it.
• Try to avoid hanging over direct heat or moisture sources, for example, right over fires, radiators, heaters, hot water or central heating pipes; in bathrooms, kitchens or around swimming pools.
• Avoid hanging over or next to outdoor vents, or on damp walls.
• Picture lights attached to or near to the top of a painting can get hot and lead to localized heating. It is best to take advice on lighting.
• Bear in mind that paintings will build up dirt more quickly in rooms with an open fire or where people smoke.
• Hanging fitments should be fixed to the sides of the frame, not the top. Choose a thick and solid part of the frame. Make sure screws are secure but do not push them through the front.
• As with all objects in your home a painting will collect dust and dirt. Dust can be removed using a very soft brush with metal elements protected so that they cannot be a cause of damage. Avoid feather dusters, sheep skin dusters, however soft, as they catch.
• Keep out of direct sunlight.

For every oil painting I create I also include a printout of these tips to ensure that you get the most out of your new acquisition. I hope these guidelines allow you to take better care of your artwork so that you can enjoy it for many years to come, as can the generations following you.

Allover Art Is Featured In Another Blog!

My Etsy Street Team, the NCTriangle Team has featured me on our blog! Check out the post here! To find items from the NCTriangle Street Team on Etsy, simply search with our team tag "nctriangle team."

Reminder - Last Week for this Month's Giveaway

Here's a friendly little reminder about the current giveaway. :)

Every month around the 15th I will announce a new giveaway. The prize could be anything including an original painting, a print, a gift certificate, a fine art pendant necklace, and fine art print note card and envelope sets! The rules to enter may be different for each giveaway, so make sure you read them. Here's how you can enter this giveaway:

1) Go to my Etsy shop and pick out your favorite item.

2) Come back to the giveaway post and leave a comment telling me what your favorite item is, as well as a way to contact you in case you win. This could be an email address or your Etsy shop.

3) Only one entry per person, unless you blog about my giveaway. If you blog about the giveaway, be sure to leave a link to your blog in your comment and you will be counted twice.

4) I will assign each entry a number. The winner will be chosen by a random number generator. I will announce the winner on November 3rd on this blog, as well as contact him or her.


So what can you win this month...

...a hand-painted "Sunset" resin pendant necklace!

It's an eye-catching 1.25 inch (3.175 cm) square fine art resin pendant on a black Chinese silk cord. This tiny acrylic painting is one-of-a-kind, and depicts an abstract theme reminiscent of a sunset.

The painting was created with high quality acrylic paints on a wooden tile. The painting was then sealed with a high gloss varnish on every surface. Then it received a resin finish which gives it a very high gloss scratch-resistant polished look. The pendant features a large silver-plated aanraku bail securely fastened to the back, and comes with an 18 inch (45.72 cm) black Chinese silk cord with a lobster claw clasp.

The pendant and cord comes packaged in a small white gift box as shown.



This giveaway ends at 12am EST on Sunday, November 2nd. Good luck to everyone!

Hollyfest Tomorrow, Saturday October 25th

Hollyfest is tomorrow! I'm doing my anti-rain dance. The event is on, rain or shine, but I'd rather it not be raining. Hollyfest is from 10am-4pm and right now weather.com is saying that the rain should stop at 9am (knock on wood!). So I'm hoping things dry up. Anyway, here are some highlights for what to expect tomorrow:

Highlights

• Entertainment on 2 stages
• Arts & Crafts
• Robinson's Racing Pigs
• HollyFest Car Show
• Haunted School at Hunt Community Center
• HollyFest 5K (9 a.m.) & 1 Mile Fun Run & Tot Trot
• Kids Corner
• Egg Drop Contest
• Cornhole Cup '08
• Kids Zone Inflatable's & Rides
• Pirates! Shadow Players Stage Combat Group
• Food for every taste
• Maze

I hope to see you out there! :)

One of my Favorite Etsy Shops - Double Dipped Sweets

With the holidays approaching, thoughts of what gifts to buy friends and family have frequently been on my mind. I absolutely love buying gifts for loved ones, and actually began Christmas shopping back in August. So to help make the holiday shopping a bit easier on everyone else I thought I would share some of my favorite Etsy shops between now and the holidays. Today I'd like to share the delicious shop of DoubleDippedSweets. I'm warning you, you will drool.

Who are you (actual name/and or shop name)?

Krista from Double Dipped Sweets

What do you create?

Gourmet Popcorn and Caramel Apples

Where are you located?

In Salt Lake City, Utah

Why did you choose your shop name?

It took a long time to come up with a name for my business. The runner up, nominated by my husband, was "PMS Alley"! But, we thought that might cut out the men...

What is the most time consuming part of your craft?

I make everything per order. So, some days I have nothing to do, and sometimes, like right now!! I am swamped!

What is your most popular item that you create (and why do you think it is so popular)?

Right now my most popular item is my Caramel Apples, since it is Fall. However, I really encourage people to try my popcorn! You won't be disappointed!

What do you do when you are not creating?

When I'm not creating I am working PT as a receptionist, then coming home and running after my 3 kids - the oldest is 5! I keep pretty busy!

Is there anything else you'd like to share?

Christmas is coming, and so are new treats and packaging! Keep an eye on my shop!

http://doubledippedsweets.etsy.com
http://doubledippedsweets.blogspot.com


Indeed, Christmas will be here before you know it, and I plan on buying a few things from Double Dipped's Shop, but I don't think they will make it back out of my house. They might just have to be a little gift for me. ;)

Hmm, I Guess I'm a Bargain

So I thought this was too funny not to share. A friend of mine, Emily Turner from Creature-Care, gave me a piece of mail that she had received from the American Kennel Club. Apparently the AKC is now offering pet portraits. What they do is take your photo and print it on canvas, and then "enhance" the canvas photo with paint. Basically, it's a glorified paint-by-numbers. Anyway, that's not what I think is funny. What I think is funny is this obviously pain-stakingly researched statement included in the pamphlet. And I quote:

"While a typical commissioned work could cost you from $5,000 to $30,000 or more..."

Really?!?! A TYPICAL commissioned portrait would cost from $5,000 to $30,000?? Typical?? Well, I guess I've been offering my services at a severely discounted rate. I'd like to take this opportunity to announce that I am raising my prices...

Admittedly, that would be great to charge $5,000 for a portrait, but I don't think that would fly this early in my career. I just can't get over their use of the word "typical." That is NOT typical pricing; that's misinformation. Here's what I charge for original oil paint pet portraits on gallery-wrapped canvas. This is pricing for a one-subject portrait with a non-detailed background:

• 8x10 - $100
• 11x14 - $200
• 16x20 - $400
• 18x24 - $500

Those are the most popular sizes, however, I can do pretty much any size you want.


Anyway, I will be raising my prices after the new year rolls around, but it won't be $5,000. How's $4,999? Have a wonderful day! :)