Hello, it’s me Eva; Happy New Year from the studio! Ever wonder what I do on cold winter days? You know, the kind of day where you just can’t make yourself go outside in all that white stuff? I hear yah and totally get it. Even if it meant I’d get to go to my art studio and make art; my heart says yes but those freezing fingers and toes say no way. Leave the snow scraping for another day! The studio is warm and dry and conveniently connected to my home. Every winter when we get our first real snowfall, I am so thankful for this wonderful space. I am thankful for all of you too and looking forward to another great year of art, classes, shows and events!

I’ve spent a few days updating my website, adding classes, New Art on my shop page Prints and notecards. I’m excited to share with you that I’ll be offering a new subject this year: Intro to Color Theory! Everyone can benefit from understanding color theory, no matter what your medium or experience. There is also a new Weeknight Painting Group being offered, and some surprises TBA. Register for these new offerings via the Classes page.

Winter in the studio gives me a chance to regroup and organize for the coming warmer months. Like taking care of techie things, which I tend to put off and am finally able to check off the to-do list! Love that feeling. It’s also a time of re-stocking items for shows and festivals that I’ll be participating in.

Oh but what about art making and actual painting you ask? Well, that never ends. There are currently five paintings in the “work in progress” stage on my easel. There’s also a list of painting ideas that I want to create. This list is added to on a regular basis. It is a practice that I highly recommend to all my students and art friends…

Make a list of the projects you want to create. Do it in a sketchbook! This way you can add notes like details, color, and your inspiration. Draw several compositional studies of your idea. This will help you with placement of the components that you want to put in your piece. Do color swatches and test out your palette colors. Sometimes the colors we think we want to use don’t actually work when we start painting with them. Save yourself the frustration and cost of making color mistakes (yes, that was a shameless plug for Intro to Color Theory class)

Cold winter days in the studio are filled with artistic activities. By keeping busy and continuing to create; I know that I’ll have whimsical art that brings you joy. And that my friend brings warmth to my soul. Happy painting!