New blog! So, to make my life easier and yours too, I have moved my blog to this address: www.andieillustrates.comAndie Illustrates. 

Please come on over and start following me there!!!

My So Called Crafty Life

Hello Friday! This adorable blog featured yours truly today and I would love if you would go check it out! Visit My So Called Crafty Life and check out her past posts too! Great gal, beautiful blog, fun shop - Sweet Sophie Blue (This is where you can see Ashlee's work....adorable!) Check out her work and make sure you take some time to look around and say hello!

Home and Hearth Show at the VAE!

Andie Freeman Fine Art, Teacup and Lemon Original Oil Painting

Good Friday to you! Yesterday I went to downtown Raleigh to visit the Visual Art Exchange to see the Home and Hearth show and take a few photos to share of my piece, Teacup and Lemons, in the show. It is a beautiful show with a nice variety of pieces featuring the home. I particularly liked the three dimensional pieces as they were very engaging. Tomorrow, I will be back at the VAE for an all day seminar about the Business of Being an Artist. I can't wait! As we move deeper into fall, I am getting busier preparing for the Christmas season as well as the opportunities ahead in 2013. I will keep you up to date with all of the fun shows and opportunities unfolding over the next few months. 

For now, here is my schedule of shows for the next couple of months:

Home and Hearth, VAE: Teacups and Lemons, Oil on Canvas - exhibited until the end of October

Art League of Hilton Head, Member Show; Paper Airplane, Oil on Canvas - exhibited until November 7, Various Watercolor Pendants - exhibited until November 7

Kindred Boutique, Raleigh; Grand Opening Event October 27! More information about this to come!

Art League of Hilton Head, Got Art; Donated artwork to be determined. Got Art Fundraising Event - Public Preview, November 8, 9, 10. Got Art Event, November 11. Visit the Art League of Hilton Head for more information.

Acorn to Oak/ VAE Craft Show, Raleigh; This Little Pigment Watercolor Pendants, December 8.

Late September Shows

 What a great weekend! SPARKcon was a fun and creative festival in downtown Raleigh and I was part of the creative energy at bazaarSPARK. As circus acts, chalk artists, acting, singing, dancing, drumming and Zumba took place, 50 artists were manning their booths and showing off their creative wares.  I was prepared with new designs in my watercolor pendants and also some of my favorite smaller oil paintings.

The weather on Saturday was gorgeous, sunny and cool which encouraged art lovers to make their way through the streets of Raleigh. Sunday brought nastier weather, but the artists that stayed had a fabulous time keeping warm with hot cocoa and coffee from Starbucks. All in all, it was a great time and I would participate again!

These crazy clowns were part of the fun. They marched slowly down the street to Safety Dance .

My work is currently hanging in several other locations right now too. Two of my paintings, Origami Peace Dove and Ascension are both at the VAE gallery in Raleigh as part of the gallerySPARK section of SPARKcon. My Chickens are hanging at the Walter Greer Gallery in Hilton Head with the Art League of Hilton Head. Origami Boat is hanging at Indigo Pines in Hilton Head and this piece, The Girl in the Cloche Hat, is part of the All That Jazz show at the Halle Cultural Arts Center. All pieces will be hanging for the rest of the month. I will be creating a monthly newsletter to update fans of my art on new work and shows in which my work will be included. The fall and winter is already shaping up to be a busy time, and I would love for you to be included in the excitement. If you are interested, please email me here with "newsletter" in the title and I will include your email on my newsletter list. If at any time you would like to be removed, just let me know and I will take you off the list.

 My wonderful and talented husband, McGeath Freeman, is also an artist featured at the All That Jazz show at the Halle. His painting, Una Mas is shown here:

True Confessions

 Ok, here it is folks, therapy time and true confessions. I picked up my oil brushes again this morning. Yes, the ugly truth is that I have not painted in oils since last October. Yikes. I said it.

So, I started working on my necklaces, and some new identities, and work for the church and of course the normal mom around town stuff and before you knew it, I wasn't painting in oils.

And each day I got further away from it. And then it got scary, and my brushes started to harden. My palette was a mess. I had a million excuses, but the real truth is I was afraid. 

So, after weeks, and months of thinking and making excuses, I finally got it together.  I am reading a great book titled "Quitter" by Jon Acuff that was lent to me. It is about the balance between your day job and your dream job. I will write about it when I finish it this summer. It has helped me get my you know what together. Thank God. So, I started today by re-visiting works that were started but not finished. The first is a study for another painting of chickens, the other was painted plein air in Bluffton on a crazy hot summer day last July. I will be in Hilton Head again soon, painting outside and I can't wait to get back to the discipline that I had been practicing last year.

SALE Delicate Eggs and Feathers on Plum Background, 6 x 6 Original Oil Painting on Panel - $20.00

Orig. $45. This is Egg number 19 from my 365 project for 2011. Go visit my blog to learn more about my project! www.andieillustrates.blogspot.com.



This signed, 5 x 7 original oil painting is painted on a canvas board with an artist's bio attached on the back. It is unframed, but it can be framed for bigger impact or presented on a shelf sitting on a wooden easel stand. Convo me if you would like i...

Click Here to Visit My Etsy Shop!

SALE Delicate Eggs and Feathers on Plum Background, 6 x 6 Original Oil Painting on Panel - $20.00

Orig. $45. This is Egg number 19 from my 365 project for 2011. Go visit my blog to learn more about my project! www.andieillustrates.blogspot.com.



This signed, 5 x 7 original oil painting is painted on a canvas board with an artist's bio attached on the back. It is unframed, but it can be framed for bigger impact or presented on a shelf sitting on a wooden easel stand. Convo me if you would like i...

Click Here to Visit My Etsy Shop!

SALE Swan and Journal, Original Oil Painting 8 x 10 - $40.00

Was $90. This is Tiny Treasure No. 14 from my 365 project for 2011. Go visit my blog to learn more about my project! www.andieillustrates.blogspot.com. This special swan was out for a swim with her signets the day I took the photo for this painting. I am intrigued with the idea of the painting within a painting that takes place here. The sides of this canvas are painted to finish the painting and a hanging wire is at...

Click Here to Visit My Etsy Shop!

SALE Swan and Journal, Original Oil Painting 8 x 10 - $40.00

Was $90. This is Tiny Treasure No. 14 from my 365 project for 2011. Go visit my blog to learn more about my project! www.andieillustrates.blogspot.com. This special swan was out for a swim with her signets the day I took the photo for this painting. I am intrigued with the idea of the painting within a painting that takes place here. The sides of this canvas are painted to finish the painting and a hanging wire is at...

Click Here to Visit My Etsy Shop!

Dragonfly Wing No. 1 - Original 8 x 8 oil painting on panel - $55.00

Big Kahuna Sale! My son found a dragonfly wing this summer and we have had it kicking around for a couple of months. It is so beautiful... a piece of art in itself. So, I painted it. I plan to create several paintings celebrating this special, delicate treasure.



Highest quality oil painting signed by the artist

8 x 8 x .5 deep

Canvas panel with wood box sides

Sides are painted black for frame free ...

Click Here to Visit My Etsy Shop!

Big Kahuna Summer Sale...

Or The Help Me Clean Out My Studio Sale. Thanks everyone who submitted names for the big cleaning sale! The Big Kahuna stuck, and the sale is on! So, 18 paintings are posted in the sale right now, and more will be added tonight and tomorrow. These are DEEP DISCOUNTS! Not because I don't love these paintings, I do. I just would so like them to find a home.

In the process, I will find more space for new work which I need to do! My Etsy shop This Little Pigment will be offering less original art in the future. You will still find prints there and my pendants, of course. I will be cultivating my collection and offering original art at my domain Andie Freeman Art. You will find my pendants at both the Etsy shop and ThisLittlePigment.com. You can learn more about me and my process at this blog and keep in touch with me at my Facebook page. Got that? Good. I hope to see you a lot more.

So, back to the sale... it will be on until Saturday 6/23. I will feature a few different pieces on my Facebook page and my blog throughout the week. Please tell any art lovers you know and help me find lovely homes for these fabu paintings!!!

Signs for the Church

 

The spring has been wonderful for me, and I hope for you as well! I have spent a lot of time recently on a large project for my church. I created with the director of family ministries a complete identity system for the children's ministries, and student ministries. To implement this system, I have been painting the logos on signage for the new Discipleship Center. What a blessing! So, I kept thinking I would show photos of this in process, but I just got so caught up in the painting, that I never really took time to take good pictures until now. This is a photo of the main entryway with a graphic tree mural on the wall and a directional sign with the new logo system. The desk will painted next week in a faux wood grain similar to the signage. Also, a really large family ministries sign is finished and will hang from the ceiling when the mural is really finished (it's about 90% in this photo.) 

Better view from over the big desk.

The directional sign has the system for the different classes for the children's ministries.

 

 

 

This is a sign on the first floor to direct to the student ministries rooms upstairs.

The large sign for The Point (student ministries) for the lounge upstairs.

So, what's next? Well, next week the mural will be finished and the touch-ups that need to happen will happen. Then, the desk painting. I love being included in this wonderful project! I would love to hear what you think! Please leave a comment!

Hello Spring! What should I wear today?

This is one of my newest pendants and I am really in love. The medium is a lot of fun to work with for a couple of reasons. First, I have always been drawn to strong graphic art. Although my paintings are not generally like this, I really like it, especially for something like jewelry. The glass paint actually makes it difficult to paint any other way than in a strong graphic voice. Second, I love the discovery that comes from each new piece of plate. The shapes that are made randomly from the plate breaking add a sense of mystery and predestined fate for each piece, giving each piece a real personality all it's own. As these pieces get sold, I anticipate selling new ones in the same design, but with the understanding that the shape may vary. I hope that will make the pendants a discovery for my clients as well! To view this pendant and others, go here for my Etsy shop, or here for my Andie Freeman studio shop. To learn more about me and my process, visit here.

One more for you to check out... to see the Octopus Arms Pendant, go to This Little Pigment or to Andie Freeman Fine Art.

Don't you want a fresh cup of website?

I hope you had a beautiful Easter! Easter Sunday was the last day of our spring break and was a fantastic way to end our vacation. We started with a trip to Washington D.C. and ended with a trip to Hilton Head, South Carolina, so a lot was stuffed into a week. Even with all of that traveling, we generally took it easy. Lots of time was spent wandering the beach and observing nature. 

Before going on vacation I started a new project that I am passionate about. I redesigned my site. I know, you are thinking, that doesn't sound like fun. Well, it is tedious, and it still has many holes that need to be filled, but I am passionate about it because it will make my artwork more accessible for different people and it allows me a new way to tell my story to more people. 

I would really appreciate it if you would visit my site and let me know in my comments section on my blog what you think. I would really, really appreciate it if you would share my site with someone you know that you think would enjoy it. My new site will be a place where you can get all of my information at one address...very easy to understand address.... it's www.andiefreeman.com. I will keep you in the loop as it develops!

Hope you are having a beautiful April so far! We are busy here in North Carolina having fun on spring break. This pendant is one of my favorites because it is of one of my favorite places, Harbour Town and Hilton Head, SC. It is also on sale for only 2 MORE DAYS! This is in honor of the Heritage Golf Tournament that is coming up in a couple of weeks. To see this pendant in my shop, go to This Little Pigment. I hope you take some time to enjoy this beautiful spring weather wherever you are and as always, I would love to hear from you!

 

 

Colorful Map of Hilton Head on the other side.

It makes the package even more special!

 

I love love love packaging! I have for as long as I can remember and that is why I specialized in it when I was at Portfolio Center. My packaging idol was always Louise Fili. Complete genius! I even got to meet her when she came to the school for a seminar and that drove my admiration even deeper. After leaving school, I worked for the packaging department of a promotional advertising agency and that led me to promotions, which I kept with until I opened my own small shop. Any graphic designer with a little one man operation in a small city can tell you, specialization is a challenge (especially if you want to eat!) So, packaging didn't become my bread and butter as I hoped it would but I have used my knowledge for the other small businesses I have created. 

I was blessed to have a large amount of beautiful boxes land in my studio as a gift and that got my creative juices flowing for a new label. It coincides with a redesign that was already planned for the new shop name and here is the result! I hope you like the mix of whimsy and rustic elegance that I think is part of all of my pieces. I would love to hear what you think of the new packaging and my new banner!!! Check it here: This Little Pigment with a new avatar to correspond. Please leave me a comment!!

Good Day Sunshine!

 Welcome spring! I am so excited to see you! I have been pretty busy these last few weeks with all sorts of projects. I ran a 10k with my son which was great, and have been busily working on new pendants for the spring season like this little favorite, a spunky bunny on one side and yummy carrots on the other.

 

I am starting to paint more watercolors which has been challenging but fun. I would like to create a series of portraits of women. Well, specifically women of history and classic novels that are interesting. The first subject was Marie Antoinette (based partially on portraits of the real Marie, and partially on the movie Marie.) Next up will probably be Frida Kahlo or maybe Georgia O'Keeffe. 

 How about these new favorites! I think I am in love with this particular departure from my watercolors. Hand painted reclaimed plate pendants are my new spring line. I love the graphic nature of these - that really speaks to my graphic design side. They are painted using glass paint and I just love how they look on... especially with the white leather cord. I need to shoot some on a model because the pictures just don't do them justice! I have a fresh batch waiting for me to solder tonight, so check my shop for new ones this week. 

Last thing to chat about is my website. A friend and I had coffee a couple of weeks ago (yes, I occasionally can leave my studio to get out) and she suggested something to me that made me go... "Aaaahaaa! Why didn't I think of that!" I will be redesigning my AndieFreeman.com site to be more user friendly and more of a portal to my other locations on the web so that you will just need to know that one site! Genius! So, a more prominent link to my shop and blog so that you will not need to know how to navigate Etsy to get to my shop. Now, the caveat is that I am fitting in that job among a bunch of others and having to learn a lot on the way, so I will be pleased if I get it completed in time for the fall! I'll keep you in the loop.

Winter Fun from A to Z!

 I am so happy to introduce you to another blog today. Rachel is a fellow Etsian and she was kind enough to feature other crafters on her blog, wordlove yesterday with this adorable idea "Etsy A-Z." My little pendant was featured, and I hope you check it out along with the other letters! 

Here's the link: wordlove.

Welcome 2012!

 Hey Andie, whatcha been up to? Uh....logos, and watercolors and mommy stuff. Oh my! Here is a visual tour through the last couple of months. 

 These are the three sizes of pendants that I have been working on. I am truly in love with the tiny pebble ones. I like that the pebbles are imperfect and weirdly shaped. They are the most challenging to solder though. To make the solder look somewhat smooth in the back is quite a process and if I do it too long, the heat of the iron will burn the painting, and I have to trash it. Yikes!

I have also been working on some graphic design projects for our church. One was a graphic that was used at Christmas and Advent, there is also an identity project for the family ministries department of our church which will be unveiled to you in a future post. They are finished, but I want to make sure they can unveil them first.

Here is a project that I created for my family for Christmas presents. That kept me pretty busy for a while, but now I also offer it on my shop!


We had a great Christmas and New Years too, and now I feel re-energized to create new pieces for the spring! I am trying to figure out how to Twitter better, and updating my website all the time. Also, a new identity for my Etsy shop has been started! My shop name is This Little Pigment. Check out how it has grown!