Sweet Fall Cupcakes

Recently, I met the super amazing artist Guenevere Schwien, who bought some cards from me on etsy, and then we hung out while she was visiting Boston. She shares my affinity for cupcake culture so I brought her to the Boston cupcakery, Sweet. She snapped some photos and then I painted this from one of those photos.

SOLD

Pink Lemonade Cupcake

Sigh, yesterday was something. Experienced my first theft of my work. Found someone selling my images as their own. I got them to take it down, but it was very disheartening. I hope this isn't a common thing I will have to waste my time on as an artist putting my work out there. Though I suppose it is flattering that someone thought it was worth it to do that. Back to watermarking like crazy. Oh the internet, you make great and terrible things possible.

This is one of my cupcakes from my initial cupcake craze. I really like this one. I think the wrapper really pops on this one.

*SOLD*

White Chiffon Dress with Purple Detail

I had an urge to paint some of the gorgeous vintage dresses for sale on etsy. I especially liked this one with the delicate purple detail. Painting white objects are also always a challenge. I tried to keep this one simple.

SOLD

Cupcake with Lollipop Art, Original Watercolor

Ah, this is the one that got me on the front page of Etsy that one time, that glorious day. So it holds a special place in my heart.

Measures approximately 6x9 inches, unmatted.

Watercolor and pencil on Arches Cold-Pressed 140lb paper. Will be shipped in protective sleeve and cardboard mailer.

*SOLD*

My grand debut

Last night was my coast to coast artistic debut. Two openings in one night!

If you are in Seattle or Boston in the month of December, go to these places!

December 2010

• Seattle, WA. ArtsWest Playhouse and Gallery. "Neo-Kitsch: National Small Works Showcase." http://www.artswest.org/?q=NeoKitsch
• Boston, MA. Lorem Ipsum Books. "Small Works Group Art Show." http://www.loremipsumbooks.com/

Some press for the Lorem Ipsum show.

Today's painting is one of my holiday cupcakes, featuring a sprig of holly. These are the original works behind my Christmas cupcake cards, which have done pretty well this season, I think! At least, I feel like designing christmas cards in August paid off.

4x6 on Arches 140lb Cold Pressed Paper.

*SOLD*

Trying out something

As I wouldn't mind being independent from etsy, I am seeing how these Paypal buying buttons work, so people can buy my art right here. So here is a test.

Macarons Art Original Watercolor

Measures approximately 6.5x9.5 inches, unmatted.

Watercolor, pencil and ink on Arches Cold-Pressed 140lb paper. Will be shipped in protective sleeve and cardboard mailer.

*SOLD*

Yupo painting

I have been playing with Yupo lately, a synthetic paper that acts really differently from regular paper. Apparently artists have strong reactions to it, either loving what happens, or hating the lack of control. Well i think i love it! The paint does some crazy things, but it's so fluid and vibrant. It almost feels like cheating, like the painting is painting itself. The only thing I'm not so sure about is that, after looking at others' yupo paintings, is that they all have a similar quality to them, they all look a little the same, which, i don't know, takes away from the uniqueness of each person's work.

The other problem is that the paint is just sitting on top of the paper, so a bit of water can wash it all away again. So i bought some spray varnish which is making me nervous because it is apparently highly toxic and flammable. :(

Here are my yupos so far.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/51063088/purple-cupcake-art-original-watercolor

http://www.etsy.com/listing/50991328/martini-with-olives-art-original (SOLD)

http://www.etsy.com/listing/50918268/blue-hydrangea-flower-art-original (SOLD)

Cool!

My American cupcake got featured on a cupcake blog! I love this stuff!

http://cutecupcakesallthetime.blogspot.com/2010/07/dont-eat-me-saturday.html

I heard pie won.

Back in March, Jezebel conducted a dessert bracket and supposedly pie won. Though I don't really see cheesecake as pie. Anyway, in my journey to paint all delicious desserts and sweets until I hit America's sweet spot, today I listed my apple pie listing: http://www.etsy.com/listing/50437514/apple-pie-ala-mode-original-watercolor

I like how it turned out but all the browns kinda depressed me. I need to get back to colors. At least it had ice cream.

Speaking of colors, I love this rainbow treasury I am featured in today!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4c2a2f46b6426d91e09faab9/everyone-loves-a-rainbow

So pretty!

Art Schmart

One lesson I have learned as I start to produce art I plan to part with- Make sure you sign your painting in a spot which appears within the frame!

This is harder than it sounds. For me. Also making painting that fit within standard mat sizes.

I just don't know

I just don't know about all this promoting stuff. Feels like I'm shouting into a void. Though I know I just started, I know I don't want to put MORE time and effort into promoting than I have. But I am happy to share what I've been doing. With myself.

I just got some mats in so I can present and package my prints more nicely. And I love my new paper cutter!

I just listed my first macaron painting in a mat. (These are French macaroons, the newest supposedly trendy dessert though I have never eaten one, and apparently they are impossible to

make yourself, unlike cupcakes.)

http://www.etsy.com/listing/50117631/macarons-original-watercolor-painting

Also last night I painted a donut I am very happy with. From far away, I think it looks real! Here is a crappy cell phone photo:

Look at it from the other side of the room and tell me what you think.

Pretty kitty

I do not want to do animal paintings, and i do not want to be a cat lady artist (not that there's anything wrong with that). But I did finally paint a portrait of my cat for the first time. I think painting the Hitler mustache was my favorite part.

Whole lotta prints

My prints are finally arriving and being posted. I think I have realized that I do not need to do giclee fine art prints right now, and that many artists don't. They are expensive if you are sending them out to be done! Photo prints are much more affordable. Lesson learned. Gonna be looking into getting some bigger ones done in the future.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/49770123/margarita-cupcake-print-3x5

http://www.etsy.com/listing/49771670/cosmo-cocktail-watercolor-print-2x3

Penguins!

Whew, this was a lot of work, setting up the measurements and getting the printing right. I need to get better at this graphic design stuff. But I have my first birthday card!

I love this painting, because I love penguins AND cupcakes. This was an actual cupcake I ate from Party Favors in Brookline, MA. I get a lot of inspiration and sugar rushes from them. Also, I am currently the mayor of Party Favors on Foursquare.

The original now hangs in my baby niece Imogen's room.

Even more!

I did this series of cupcake paintings together with the idea that they could be cards. I really like these! I'm just full of ideas!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/49423536/cupcake-art-notecards-set-of-8

Introducing My First Notecards!

Very exciting! Today I launched my sets of notecards, featuring cupcakes and cocktails!

I had trouble deciding how many to include in the sets, so I'm starting small. Just trying to get off the ground.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/jojolarue?section_id=7100114

Another fast one

Put this one up today: http://www.etsy.com/listing/49152106/pink-cupcake-original-watercolor-5x7

Another fast one. These are really quite different from what I've been doing in the past, working off cupcake photographs, striving for realism. These are just done out of my head, now that I feel like I know the shape of a cupcake, and now I just want to play with my colors!

I am very excited that I will soon have notecards featuring my art for sale!

New Cupcake listed

This cupcake was one I tried to do very fast and loose and with one brush- a flat brush. I love how it turned out and it really helped me loosen up and appreciate what can happen when you don't worry so much!

http://www.etsy.com/listing/49122597/purple-cupcake-original-watercolor-4x6

Also

I currently have some vintage stuff on sale there too. Feel free to ignore that. Or not!

Now I'm an artist!

This is the inaugural post for my art site, intended to provide more access to the art and prints at my Etsy store: http://www.etsy.com/shop/jojolarue?section_id=7087421

Not much there yet but hopefully there will be.