About My Art and What's Next

After recently painting The Majestic Lion, I've decided a group of similar paintings for a wildlife series. Followed by seascapes then likely florals.

Second Lion in my Wildlife series-work in progress

So just what is my artwork about? While I have painted a variety of subjects, if you look closely at my paintings, they revolve around the following: 

1. Nature

 (trees, animals, water, flowers)

2. Animals

3. Music: I love music and it will show up on occasion in my paintings, and may be connected with nature.
4. Spirituality-Occasionally I feel compelled to paint something spiritual such as Angels. I have mostly been moved to do so when a close friend has become ill or affected with cancer. 

5. Style: As you will see in most of my paintings, I lean towards realism with a contemporary effect. You will see a little impressionist work mixed in as well. 

6. Color-I love color, so look for vibrant colors, earth tones which reflect my love of nature, and even some paintings that are soft in color.

(Scroll to the bottom to see wildlife photos from a recent trip. This is an idea of some of the animals I intend to include in my Wildlife series.)

So what do I have planned and when? As an artistic person, I am a complete free spirit. Variety and spontaneity keep me fresh and creative. 

However, I will be working on a wildlife series for the next few months. If you connect with or admire animals, wildlife and nature like I do. Keep an eye out for my work. 

Somewhere in that mix, I do have a violin portrait, some commission work and possibly another
palette knife boat painting you will see. 

After these paintings take place, I will be focusing on some seascapes and Equine paintings. Flowers will come later. 

As always, thank you for reading and following my art. 

Written by

Tina A Stoffel

 

And a large 36 x 48 lion oil painting Work in Progress

Announcing My New Website

I'm happy to announce the launch of my new website: www.TinasFineArts.com.

After several painstaking hours, I have moved to a new and hopefully hosting service.

It sure gave me quite an appreciation for web developers and I now understand why companies have web administrators. However, as you know, us artists are a different breed.

What's new?

New Paintings

Secure Shopping

More Artwork
Links to Prints and gifts
Newsletter Sign-Up

That's right. TinasFineArts.com now has a SSL certificate for secure shopping. The checkout process is via Paypal, but you may use your credit card and do not need a Paypal account. As always, when making an internet purchase, you should make sure  your browser displays the https before the web address. That ensures your information is secure.

How about signing up for my newsletter? Although I always announce the release of my art on Social Media. Most of us know, that unless you are online at just the right time, posts often get buried in the news feed. Newsletters will go  out monthly. Depending on productivity, there may be an extra announcing new paintings. I promise I will not share or sell your information. It stays private with me.

You are invited to visit and share my new website. Clicks help me move up in the rankings. Feel free to share my art. I love shares because it helps spread the word. You can like my Facebook Page here: https://www.facebook.com/TinaAStoffelArts
To follow me on Google Plus, click here: Tinas Fine Arts on Google Plus.

Thanks to all of you who share and support my art. This means so much to me.

Tina Stoffel

HOW MY MOM INFLUENCED MY ART CAREER

For this Mother's Day, I would like to take a moment to thank all the special Moms for all your sacrifices, love, support, caring and everything you do. I especially want to thank my Mom for being the one who helped me and encouraged me to develop my art skills.

Watercolor Courtesy of  Christina Arsenis Google Plus

link: Christina Arsenis G+

My Mother's Day Story 
From the time my Mom found me into her paint by numbers while I was still in the crib, to buying me my first art kit by, Jon Gnagy (a wonderful book for starters), it was my Mom who first saw my potential and quickly moved to foster my talents.

Charcoal at age 11

It was my Mom who drove my friend and I to the IUPUI Herron School of Art for weekend art classes that we won through a scholarship at our Jr. High in 9th grade. It's my Mom who still supports me, manages to be the one to like or comment on nearly every single Facebook post I make.

This Mother's Day couldn't be a better time to take the opportunity to honor my Mom and than her for helping me reach my full potential. So if you are reading this Mom, Thank you for everything.

How has your mom helped you achieve your goals and reach your dreams?

FIVE SIMPLE STEPS TO FRAMING AN OIL PAINTING

Hi there and welcome to my simple picture framing tips. If you add a frame to your art without breaking the bank, you will find this simple tutorial easy to follow. After taking a framing class once, I discovered there was roughly a 400% mark up on framing.

As a rule of thumb, I do not frame my paintings due to various individual tastes and preferences that will affect a framing style choice. However, in my opinion and through experience, art is much more appealing when framed.

I am going to share with you some simple steps to get you on your way to framing your work. But first, you must know and understand framing dimensions. It's pretty simple with a pre assembled frame. Please do not to never cover an oil painting with glass or acrylic. It must breathe.

Most picture hanging supplies can be found at your local hardware or arts and crafts store.

For a sawtooth hanger, the tools you will need are: 
(This tutorial is geared towards sawtooth hangers)
1. Screwdriver
2. Hammer
3. Offset Clips
4. Sawtooth hanger
5. Picture Hook
6. Tape measure
7. Ruler (tape measure will work)
8. Pen or Pencil

If you prefer to hang by wire, you will need 

1. picture wire
2. D-Rings
3. Wire Cutters
4. Hammer 
5. Screwdriver
6. Ruler/tape measure
7. Pen/pencil

 

IMPORTANT: There is the outside dimension, and an inside dimension. The inside dimension, where the painting actually sits inside a lip or a recessed edge inside the frame, is called a rabbet (see illustration below). The frame size will correspond to the whole inside measure of the rabbet so it will sit inside. This is the part of the frame you need to fit to your canvas. The marked frame dimensions should correspond to the rabbet.

*Please note the dept of the Rabbet. The standard size is 3/4", so if you have a deep canvas, it will not fit flush against the frame when you mount it. 

WHERE TO FIND PRE ASSEMBLED FRAMES

1. Local arts and crafts stores-they usually have a stock of standard 3/4" rabbet frames.

2. Art stores such as: www.Dickblick.com and www.Jerrysartarama.com

Alternatively you may do a Google search. I have found frames at the following sites:

www.Amazon.com

www. Picture frames.com

www. TheFrameDestination.com

Once you have found your frame and gathered your supplies, you will need to carefully secure your canvas to the frame. 

SAWTOOTH HANGER METHOD

This is where you will need your offset clips. They should correspond as close as possible to the rabbet depth. 

Step 1: Gather your supplies

Step 2: With a screwdriver, you will fasten one end of your offset clip to the back of the frame and the other to the back of your canvas. (see examples below.)  You may do one on either side or choose all four sides. 

If you chose to use a sawtooth hanger, you will center that to the top of the back side of your frame, or canvas if it protrudes the frame, then secure with a hammer. These nails are very tiny and difficult to hold, so I find using a fine tooth comb helps tremendously. 

Step 3: Center your sawtooth hanger horizontally by using your ruler or tape measure.

Step 4: Mark the holes on either side with a pen or pencil.

Step 5:  Drive the tiny nail into the sawtooth hole to fasten it to your canvas. 

Congratulations! You have now successfully framed your painting. 

PICTURE WIRE METHOD

You will need to mark a spot for the D-ring on either side of the frame about 1/3 the way down from the top. Once you have them marked, you will fasten the D-ring into the back of the frame. The wire is secured firmly using a slip knot method, then twisting off and using wire cutters to remove the remaining wire. Make sure your wire is secured taught to avoid loose wire showing above the picture when it is hung. 

Here is a helpful link to a video that you may find useful. 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1BaSuhVjOE

written by Tina A Stoffel