Two Thanksgivings and Cyber Monday

Two Thanksgivings = AMAZING!!! I ate so much food, I will have to do crunches for 3 hours straight for 8 days in oder to get back into my jeans.... Totally worth it. I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday!

Today, Cyber Monday, I'm having a 30% off sale at my Etsy! Everything is 30% off with the coupon code THANKS30 -- it's on my Etsy Shop Banner if you forget the code, so don't worry. The sale will last all day until sometime after midnight (whenever I remember to turn it off) so if you hop online at 2am and the code is still active, then use it! Otherwise if you miss the blog, I will still be doing the 15% off sale for the rest of the month with coupon code FRIENDS15-- though the 15% off sale is not active during the 30% off sale. I'll also be working on getting some more product choices up for the holidays!

To shop at my store, click here.

Have a great monday and happy shopping!

My favorite holiday...

I just realized today for some reason that Thanksgiving-- my favorite holiday ever-- is THIS UPCOMING WEEK! Seriously guys, less than a week away!!!

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday for a few reasons, but the main reason is the FOOD! I don't understand why a person can't eat thanksgiving food year round.... I mean my favorite food is Italian, but really, if I had to choose something to eat for the rest of my life, it'd be a Thanksgiving meal.

This Thanksgiving is really special for me because I get two of them!!! Seriously, on Thursday, obviously, then on Black Friday, James (booth wench/techie/perky fawn), his cousin is having another Thanksgiving dinner-- I didn't ask why. This is the ultimate win. My face is a giant emoticon of happiness.

Two Thanksgivings don't come around very often for me, so I shall start training for them over the next few days by exercising like a crazy person. I still need to fit into my pants on Saturday after all....

The Elf IS Wearing Pants on that Horse!

©Claire Nobles, 2011

The horse and elf have been inked!!! My client didn't mind the elf idea at all and gave me the go ahead, next up will be painting!

I was having a few problems with the horse sketch and finally got down something I like and that looks decent to me. I had completely forgotten that my dad used to be a cowboy of sorts growing up and he was able to give me some really good pointers.

The background is still stumping me because I'd like them in a field, but I don't want it all grassy and cartoony and annoying, so I will probably do some yellowy orange sky and hint at some far off trees... 

My first title idea was "Rush," but Rush is the name of an awesome rock band and I would seriously have the "Tom Sawyer" song stuck in my head the whole time I painted it. So my second title idea is "Thrill" which I like much better. I know I'd be thrilled to be an experienced horseman(lady-man-elf) and to just ride around bareback all day in a magical field.... It'd be thrilling.... Hmm, so let me know if you guys think of anything else though.

I'd really like to point out that the elf is wearing pants... But they don't have color on them yet... Just wanted to point that out.... It looks kind of awkward and it was bugging me... And btw, doesn't she look so much better actually sitting on something!!

I will probably will be able to lay in a few washes of color this weekend and have an update monday or Tuesday night!

One last thing-- I'm having a sale at my Etsy Shoppe, 15% off everything in the store with the coupon code FRIENDS15 I may have a black Friday sale, but this 15% off discount is on until the end of the month!

Have a good weekend!!!!

Horses coming out of my pencil!!!

©Claire Nobles, 2011

As I mentioned in a previous blog, I won't be able to upload new paintings for a while even if I finish them. But I can show sketches!! This sketch is a commission that has a deadline, so everything else has taken a backseat until this project is underway.

The request is a fairy on a horse. It's being painted for the client's very dear friend as a gift, so there are a few specific requests.

I was online for over an hour today googling and sketching "rearing horses." The first few attempts to create the drawings were hilarious! I had a bunch of overweight fatty horses! The one above has gotten better from the first few, but he still looks a tad pudgy... I'll have to fix it. I'm used to drawing dainty whimsical unicorns, so it was funny to see that horses are really the opposite of dainty and much more powerful creatures (in a non-magical way). 

©Claire Nobles, 2011

The sketch above is a slightly more detailed version of the maiden. (sidenote: doesn't she look so awkward without a horse or at least a chair under her??) I decided to make her an elf instead because the wings of the fairy were getting in the way and not aesthetically pleasing and mostly because I realized "Why would a fairy ride a horse if she could just fly?"

Hopefully the client wasn't dead-set on a fairy.... She described her friend as a tough horse-riding girl who would never be caught riding sidesaddle in a pretty dress. I think an elf will go for her personality better. Just think of Arwen from Lord of the Rings.... She was bad-ass on her horse! 

Anyways, the elf is dressed in a riding corset, pants and hecka awesome riding boots. So she's pretty hardcore.

Also, since I'm on a horse kick, I will be attempting to get done another horse maiden, Epona. I blogged about this a while ago and just hadn't gotten around to sketching it out. That painting is for a friend who just asked really politely if I would paint Epona, and I couldn't turn her down. There's no deadline, but I'd like to do it simultaneously with my other horse painting. And now that I'm thinking about it I *should* add another unicorn into the mix... But I'm probably too lazy.....

Side-note, I told my watercolor classmate, Splotchy who owns a horse that I was going to draw a horse rider and she is practically asking every class about my progress. She said she'd give horse anatomy pointers too, so I'm in good hands... or hooves...? If I fail, blame Splotchy.

Website Redesign

Hey guys,

I wanted to let you all know that my business is going through a LOT of changes. 

First, I got a whole new computer/printer/scanner system so that I can finally do all my own scanning, printing, product making, etc. Matt, my webguy has been the most helpful and wonderful person on the planet. However, he does have two day jobs and it's become increasingly more difficult to meet up with him to scan new art. So he'll be there for me of course if I have an emergency of a goblin getting lodged in the disk drive, but otherwise, I'll be doing everything web and product related myself... Please bare with me during this time. =)

Second change, I have designed all on my own (well, with the help of a web creation site) my own website complete with shopping cart options!! *angels sing somewhere* I'm not quite finished yet unfortunately. But it is a LOT of work -- especially for someone who has no idea what they are doing. I've have to redo entire areas of the site a few times now so that I could have everything flow better and make more sense. But seriously, right now the construction site is epic -- considering it's made by me, of course.

The new website will be a lot more interactive in the sense that I can update it whenever I want, there will be more links, an actual shopping cart system, fun pages, etc. I'm even using paypal as my shopping cart which is a very trusted internet payment service. The whole thing is growing very nicely.

While I have been painting a bit, most of my energy has been going into the site and the new software and learning how to use everything. So hang tight for now. I will be really excited to finally start doing everything on my own without having to wait or rely on others to do things for me. It will make my painting time and uploading much more efficient in the long run anyways because I will be able to scan/print the second I finish a painting rather than waiting for weeks. Go efficiency!

I am really looking forward to releasing the redesign of the site as soon as I am able. I hope it happens before the holidays, but you know how busy this time of year gets. At least we'll have it for the new year if nothing else.

And if anyone has any web-building-paypal-printing products-mechandising advice, please feel free to send it my way! 

Cheers!

November Newsletter

Hello all,

I just created my very first newsletter! In it, I mentioned some new happenings at ClaireNoblesArt.com as well as some super secret sale information happening right now!

To view my newsletter and to get the inside scoop on the sales that are happening right now, click here!

To sign up for my newsletter please fill out the form to the left, below the Etsy Shoppe display or just email me at claire@clairenoblesart.com and I'll add you in manually.

Thanks, and let me know what you think!

New Enchanted Visions

Hey all, I hope your Monday is going alright so far! I just wanted to let you know about a little project called the Enchanted Visions....

This project was started by two fairy artist friends, the legendary Amy Freaking Brown (real name) and the super inspiring Jessica Galbreth. They came up with an game of choosing a title and creating a piece of art inspired by that theme.

This evolved into something much more. Every month a new theme is given to inspired participating artists and the artists (myself included on most months) create a new artwork for that theme. The only rule is that the art is newly created for the theme, though artists may do past themes as well.

There are now over a hundred artists that participate each month.

Very recently the web director (and one of my personal friends and big faery sister) Coriander "Uberness" Shea Detwiler has passed the web director job over to the super inventive and awesome Lisa Cree.

Lisa has taken what was once a gallery on a partnered site site to become it's very own personal interactive website where one can really get to know the talented people who participate every month.

All four of these ladies have done so much for EV, so if you see them on the web, wave at them and check out their truly stunning and unique artwork.

If you would like to check out the new Enchanted Visions Project site, (you totally should) please click here.

To see my personal gallery on the site, please click here.

More previews!

Stardancer ink drawing- Created for the Enchanted Visions Project

Hey guys, because I'm nearly done painting this one, I figured I'd show the preview of the inked drawing, Stardancer. This piece has been created for two reasons. First, I needed Enchanted Visions themes to start getting finished. And second, so that I had a pretty painting to put over my bed (to clash horribly with my red comforter...) Funny enough, I actually don't have any original work of mine hung up anywhere in my house... Which is weird...

Btw, I noticed that this painting looks very odd without colors... At least to me it does. Please hold your breath for the colors, as they will be epic.

Anyways, I'm pretty psyched right now about painting. I have one already completed - Dirty Sock Troll - and am almost finished with three others including this one! Wow! It feels great to release my muse!

Unfortunately these paintings probably won't be released for a few weeks-- my web guy is working... On the bright side I *might* be able to get a working scanner and printer so that I can do my own scanning/printing and then I'll go crazy with painting. It's nice to rely only on myself!

Sock Politics....

Dirty Sock Troll - Sketch

Um, yes, it has been confirmed that it is *trolls* who steal your socks... Though they may get help from various other critters such as pixies and gnomes... I believe it has been an ongoing political conspiracy amongst the faerie realm for hundreds of years...

I caught this baby troll just yesterday and managed to get a rough sketch --didn't have my iPhone with me...

If I can get a chance to throw some color on this sketch, maybe we have a chance to put the sock thieves to rest!

Troll Sketch- Grunt!

Troll Sketch - Untitled ©Claire Nobles, 2011

I have no idea where this is coming from… Probably my mind punishing me for painting pretty fairies for so long… Needed a creature that burps more.

And the sad thing is I have commissions and planned pretty paintings to be working on, and my muse is stuck on TROLLS!?!

I can’t refuse my muse because then I can’t paint… So let’s hope this is temporary.

*belches loudly* –’scuse me!

Maybe not. 

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog site! It's quite pretty over here! Anyways, I shall be posting regularly so stay tuned!
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