Flash Sale of the Year

What to do when your drawers and portfolios are overflowing with original paintings?
You have a flash sale of course! 

ONE DAY ONLY
Friday October 28th
9am - 9pm CST
All original paintings and drawings on www.sarabillustration.com will be hugely marked down!

There's a new chapter in my life coming, and I am pretty certain I will be inspired to make much of it through drawing and painting. I have also been wanting to play with working larger, which will require more room!

So in celebration of the arrival of our son Jaxon (and the crisp cool holiday season! My favorite!), I am holding this ultra rare sale, marking my original art for almost half the price! This is a great way, I hope, for those of you who have been wanting an original piece but haven't been able to afford it, are able to find something that resonates with you and is within your reach.

"Summer"

All of the paintings available demonstrate my progression as an illustrator...

I have original paintings from ten years back when I was still inking my lines with microns because I feared loosing my lines and didn't like getting graphite all over my hand.

All the way through to the most recent, finished just a couple weeks ago. No inked lines but instead using erasable gray pencil, showing more confidence in my values, and creating far more inviting atmospheres that help tell the story.

Each step in the process is vital for the following step. Without experimenting and playing, I would not be where I am today as an illustrator.

"Moon Dance"

Most of my work is small for those little areas of the house that need some magic.

It is very well known that I prefer to work small, usually smaller than 8x10. I enjoy the challenge and quite possibly have always been interested in the miniature (LOVE dollhouses and all things small). Most of the larger works I create are requested commissions, but there will be a range of sizes available at the sale.

From a few of the smallest....

"Lime Pixie" 3 x 2.5 inches

The many in the middle...

"July" 8 x 10 inches

To a couple of the largest....

"Wisdom" 12 x 16 inches

I know each piece has a soul mate, created just for them.

I pray that some of these pieces will find their match tomorrow. It's bittersweet to let go of your creative works. I am always so blessed to see how the work inspires and deeply touches those who purchase it, but then also sad to see them go. Each piece has a story for me, what inspired the imagery and why I created it...yet when I see them sitting in my studio I see a bird caged, waiting to be free and serve as inspiration for another.

I hope tomorrow, on my website http://www.sarabillustration.com/paintings, browsing through the galleries, you find that special piece made just for you. ♥︎

Browse the Galleries, then let me know if any of them speak to you in the comments below.

Professional Grade

It's a large investment.

I just spent $80 on 9 tubes of watercolor paint. Nine. Seems like a small number for that price, but I believe it's worth the investment.

I have been using student grade Winsor & Newton watercolors for years, and have a few professional/artist grade tubes. The idea of spending $10 on one 5ml tube of paint just didn't compute. Until I got the Daniel Smith Try It Dot pages. These are AWESOME!

Over 200 colors, all there to try out and use. The real deal in trial size. Genius. It is because of these sheets did I finally come to realize, as a professional, how much I needed professional grade watercolors.

They're smooth like silk, mix without a hitch, and the colors are so gorgeous! I then decided to purchase. But the price tag was still making my stomach turn. So expensive!

This led me to an entire week of studying and figuring out which colors to purchase. The DS dot sheets were key to this. They're the only professional grade paints I have right now. To help I found a great website that makes watercolor paints into science called HandPrint.

I don't understand much in science, but he had a large section on palette color choices. All of the research was done for me, and they listed which colors were the best to have in every palette....colors that make all of the "convenience" colors (sap green, turquoise, violets, etc.).

That's what I needed, the foundation colors. From there I could at least start, then purchase as needed the extra colors.

I also came upon an exercise to help decide which colors to have in your palette. A color chart. As one of my students yesterday best said "A multiplication chart but with color." Exactly!

Here's the blog link: Ask Susie - http://ask-susie.blogspot.com/2009/01/make-your-own-color-chart-for.html

Tho the woman who suggested the chart used only 7 colors, I ended up having 13. I wanted to see and be exactly sure what I was going to spend my money on.

This was grueling but totally surprising and fun seeing what two colors made what. I was pretty amazed at the little knowledge I had about color mixing.

Here are the colors I ended up purchasing:

Phthalo Blue GS - DS
Phthalo Green BS - WN
Cobalt Blue - WN
Quinacridone Rose - DS
Perylene Maroon - DS
Burnt Sienna - WN
Cadmium Scarlet - WN
Yellow Ochre - WN
Benzimida Yellow (Winsor Yellow) - WN

* DS = Daniel Smith; WN = Winsor & Newton

The Sun

"The Sun"

watercolor | colored pencil | 2011

Enjoying the Daniel Smith 238 Color Chart. Even included some of that iridescent paint. ;)

For more pictures visit: http://www.etsy.com/listing/67264283/mini-golden-mermaid-with-shells-and