Just coming on here to say Happy New Year to everyone! *big hugs all around*

Work has been super slow lately because I was spending so much time cleaning and preparing for Christmas, but I'm finally getting back into it again. My painting production was way down in 2009 - only five paintings for the whole year - so for 2010 I'm going to try for at least 10 paintings. I'm hoping to establish this as an average from now on. I can't say exactly what my next painting will be since I change my mind so often, but it will probably feature a dragon.

I've also gotten back into jewelry making, and my newest piece is this here: [link]. Right now I'm only posting it on deviantART, but I'm eventually going to put my jewelry up for sale on Esty.

Time for an update! First off, below are my three newest paintings:

On the bottom is Something More, a water unicorn (like a water horse), done in acrylic on illustration board (12x12.5 inches). The water uni had some very tricky lighting/shadowing, but I'm really pleased with the way she turned out. I know it's hard to see her facial expression on a smaller image, so I just thought I'd point out that she is frowning (it's a longing expression).

In the middle is Blown Away, a remake of an older painting, done in acrylic on canvas (11x14 inches). He's the first sprite I've done since 2007.

And my newest piece on top is Featherdust, a feathered dragon with a little pixie. This was done in watercolor on cold press watercolor paper (12x14 inches). I had no idea how this would turn out because I hadn't worked in watercolor for a couple years, but I like this a lot (especially the dragon's face and her wings). The tree she's sitting on is dead; she's making the little blossoms grow. ^^

Next up, I recently entered in the Coshocton County Fair and did surprisingly well! I entered five paintings and came away with four ribbons. Above the Sky placed third in the Acrylic, Animal Subject category; Blown Away (below) placed second in the Acrylic, Figure Subject category; Featherdust (below) placed first in the Watercolor, Animal Subject category; and A Touch of Magic placed first in the Ink Drawing, Animal or Figure Subject category. I also entered The Magic of Autumn in the Mixed Media, Any Subject category. Another good year!

Haven't been on here a while, so I thought I'd make an update. First, I finally got back to painting again, and pictured is my latest piece, Above the Sky, which is a feathered dragon. It took about a month of work, interrupted of course, and it's acrylic on 16x20 inch canvas. Detail-obsessed me, I had to paint each individual feather on the wings, so they took about two days alone to complete; the faded look to the left wing was achieved with transparent washes.

I attended the second Fairy Festival in Wooster, Oh, on April 25, and my next event, weather permitting, will be Coshocton's First Friday, which will be on June 5. I'm not sure what other events I'll attend this year since I have to put most of my time into building my website (can't wait to have it up and running!).

After a year of work, the Dragonling Calendar is finished! It is a little late for the 2009 edition, but the calendar will run continuously each year until I retire it, and will switch to the next year in September of every year (example, in September 2009, it will become a 2010 calendar, and so on). It is available on deviantART only for the time being [link], and all calendars there are on sale until Dec. 31. For more information, follow the link.

I've decided to post some newer versions of my painting images, ones with new and improved watermarks, which means that I'll have to delete and re-upload all my images. I'm probably going to clean out my galleries anyway and remove all the old images, or I'll just put them in a seperate gallery... whatever I decide to do.

For my Dragonling Calendar, I know, it's so late! But it should be done in about a week (hopefully), and it is going to run each year. Basically, starting in September of every year, it will convert into a calendar for the next year (in Sept. 2009 it will become a 2010 calendar). I have January through November done (November will be posted on deviantART sometime in the next few days).