Patricia's Studio Blog

Where's my motivation?!

2012-01-25T18:41:00.000-08:00

It's already January 2012, but still cannot motivate myself to paint more...
These two were created during my winter holiday break away from work.
I was thinking of paint more but end up only come out with 2... I should have whip myself to paint...XD

http://www.etsy.com/listing/91460155/original-fantasy-illustration-fox-lady?ref=pr_shop

This one is a fantasy character - white fox lady.

It's more like an oriental comic/fantasy style of illustration. Watercolour and ink on watercolour paper. size: 4.5" x 6" created in 2012

http://www.etsy.com/listing/91459660/original-hamster-illustration-my-pet?ref=pr_shop

This is a portrait of my lovely hamster pet - Hamham ^o^

It's created in 2012 too. Watercolour pencils and ink on watercolour paper.

Size: 4.5"x6"

Done colouring...

2011-11-19T18:40:00.000-08:00

Finally, I'm done with colouring... Still cannot decide what colour background to put on, so I'd just leave it white... Maybe I can make it into a note card or post card something later =) It's available at ETSY. http://www.etsy.com/listing/86585687/original-watercolor-fantasy-painting

Fairy with Ocarina ready to colour

2011-11-13T13:05:00.000-08:00

Just made the scatch of the new painting - Fairy with Ocarina...
Ready to colour... still desiding on what colour to paint on...
I was trying to either draw it with the flute but end up with the ocarina...
it's a nice little instrument that is very fairy tale looking =)

Back to Pastel / Charcoal drawing

2011-11-06T13:43:00.000-08:00

I was too busy at my day work recently and almost forgot how to draw...
Really need to pick up my art stuffs and motivate my art FU...
Beside my desk, I have piles of pastel papers that I got from my art class couple months ago... Still sitting there, collecting dust. I used to paint or draw almost every other day and list on ebay. But since my full time job gets in the way, the art creating got delayed and delayed... But the creative ideas are still blooming in my head but no time to squeeze them out on papers and canvas... quite headachey...

Yesterday afternoon, I finally took out my brown pastel papers, and drew my favorite LOTR characters...
Sam and Frodo... need more improvement on shading... lol
To see the actual ETSY Listing: Visit http://www.etsy.com/shop/patriciastudio

New web look for Patricia Studio, New service for Custom Logo Design

2011-09-26T20:26:00.000-07:00

Recently I've tried to "revovate" my website; and change the Zen-carts store back to just the plain HTML... For the rest of the products, I'll just post them on ETSY and Zazzle for now. Since both of them are pretty good, plus Cost effecient... for a person like me that most of the time is working and taking care of family, posting new artwork or craft products may not be as fast as before when I still host my ebay store because it really take time to manage on-line with constant updates with new items to keep it alive. However, my love for painting and craft is still the same, and when I'm ready to retire in 20 years, I'll be the road show artist for sure!!!! LOL
*for now, I still need my steady pay cheque to pay my mortgage...*

In my new site, I have the new service for Custom Logo and stationary package available!
Pricing is under this link:
http://www.patriciastudio.com/PS/graphics.htm
If interested, welcome to email me at info@patriciastudio.com
Thanks!
Patty

Fantasy/Portrait Painting Practice

2011-04-22T14:51:00.000-07:00

I found it's really hard to find time painting with a full time job and young kids surrounded...
But still managed to paint one after all the life struggle with time management...
Sometimes the inspirations arrives but didn't catch it in time; when you have time to paint, it disappeared...
This painting is to try out the combined techniques with my old fantasy style and the portrait painting...
The result is interesting. I wish to see more Gothic look in my paintings next time... LOL

My new painting: Holding a Bird, 22"x 28" acrylic painting on stretched canvas

More dogs are out///

2011-03-20T20:24:00.000-07:00

Trying new techniques for color pencil drawing...
More puppies are out!
My cute Siberian Husky =)

And the orange Shiba Inu puppy... Very cute and friendly ~~~

Pencil sketch and final drawing...

I found the stroking is fun to play with using the color pencils; but my right arm got so sore afterwards... lol
But the texture looks interesting... I like it~~~

Another Dream... Kicking soccer ball?

2011-03-20T08:29:00.000-07:00

Woke up with anther dream that I remembered...
*usually after few minutes from waking up, I tend not to remember what happened in the dream*

I dreamed of kicking soccer ball in a big outdoor soccer field. The ball I kicked wend side way towards the right pole; but I didn't remember if I scored or not...
And there was a part that my mom asked my uncle to watch us? (me and my kids or my younger brother... maybe it was the childhood memory dream. I don't quite remember what was going on...)
I remembered that my uncle asked... " why don't you guys answer the phone? " lol
In real life, we don't answer the phone if the call display shows private or unknown number... We just let it go to voice mail...

But the soccer kicking part in the dream was very vivid...

Night Dream Cutting someone's hair?!

2011-03-19T21:43:00.000-07:00

Last night I have a weird dream about cutting someone else' hair...
The hair was blond, I was holding the hair in front of me with one hand and started to cut it with the other hand. *must be someone else' hair; otherwise, I won't be able to hold it like that...*
And then later on, I saw a big square shape of blanket and started to cut the corners with scissors... /so weired/
In another part of the dream , I saw a section of tree branches, with no leaves...

Don't know what these mean in the dream...

But I finally got my haircut this afternoon... Need a change...

Who let the dogs out?!

2011-03-19T21:31:00.000-07:00

It was not because of the dogs...
The story began with a hamster...
My Boy JR got a hamster for his birthday from us, and my co-worker Beata she gave us the hamster cage and all the wood chips plus tubes/wheels all kinds of hammy accessories from her son... They used to have hamster when her kids were little, but not anymore; now they have a puppy...
So I decided to do a dog portrait for her as a gift by starting to do some puppy drawings...
I'd planned to make it into a bit bigger acrylic painting, but need to see how it looks like in color pencil sketches...
She got a cute Boston Terrier puppy =)

And then for some reason, I start to drew other puppies...
Here is a little Beagle mix...

Maybe I'll drew a whole bunch of puppies...

Little Red Riding Hood...

2011-03-19T21:16:00.000-07:00

I really want to watch the movie red riding hood... *Just watched "Rango" with my kids for March Break..*
This painting was done first week of march and then the next few days the trailer of the movie was on...
What a coincident~ Anyway, this painting was not that dark as the movie...
A scene of Red riding hood walking in the winter snow with basket of goodies while Mr. Wolf was snooping on the side...

done by watercolor and color pencil (outlines) on watercolor paper

Finally a new physio found...

2011-02-16T20:18:00.000-08:00

Our previous beloved physiotherapist for my boy J.R has to go on a medical leave and we'd been waiting and waiting for the Children Treatment Network to find us another children physio specialist to work on J.R's feet. Finally we got one that hopefully will fit into J.R's schedule and will work out for him... Last week he was going to get a Botox shot on his leg again (we thought) but instead the doctor said to wait till spring time because he has to do another serial casting to stretch his leg/foot muscle right after he get the needle shot. If we do it now in the winter, he won't be able to wear his boots and the cast might get wet because of the snow... Not a good idea since he has some eczema problem with the skin. If the cast gets wet, the skin will get soft and itchy... *sign* Anyway, we'll visit out new physio lady tomorrow~ Wish J.R luck! Cheers!

My mermaid love...

2011-02-13T21:05:00.000-08:00

I just love mermaids... Don't ask me why because I don't know why =)
This one I named it "Down in Atlantis". With a mermaid lady on a sea turtle... looks worried...
It's a watercolor with some color pencils on 140lb cold pressed watercolor paper.
Recently I took a portrait class with Glenn Bernabe. From the drawing exercises we did in class it does help me correct some of my figure drawing problems... At least it looks more proportional in this painting than the ones I did before =P
On the left was the pencil sketch on watercolor paper; and the right one was the finish painting.

Next week I have to start looking for quotes for my boy's new AFO... He'd outgrew it so fast...

And new shoes too... The new AFO probably won't fit his old shoes... *sign... more$$*

New Mermaid Art in Progress

2011-02-09T21:39:00.000-08:00

It's so hard to find my momentum back to do paintings... So many things going on in my life that couldn't give me enough time to do illustration... My current daytime work... *stress* LOL *always be*, my son's medical condition and special needs, many other lively issues with family, fear of 2012 coming and so on... It's very complicated to live as a human being... Maybe that's why I always paint mermaid, fairies, angels and all kinds of fairytales creatures. They are my escapes to my current life. *LOL* Anyway, I'm working on a new one. Hopefully I can have it done soon and post it.

These are the recent artworks done... Pastel sketch girl portrait.

Also fairy art color pencil drawing

Patricia's Studio Ebay store change...

2010-11-27T19:56:00.000-08:00

I'd finally decided not to keep my eBay store active to sell my paintings and prints. Why? I'd found the better home! My own website with the Zen Cart application!!! After a period of testing and trying on this Zen-cart program, I finally can make it fully function to showcase and sell my artworks! Oh well, occasionally I may have my artworks for auctions at the auction website for a bit, but in long term for economic reason, I'll just keep it in my own website and promote them here~

I'd made the new flash animation for entry at http://www.patriciastudio.com
The store location is at http://www.patriciastudio.com/store/
How simple!!! Please come visit!

New homepage look

2010-11-16T19:57:00.000-08:00

Haha... I just made a new flash for my homepage before entering the store part. It's fun =)
Check this out http://www.patriciastudio.com/
It will directly load to the store part. This is the first time I'd open the Zen-cart store. And gradually I'll have to move my original paintings to my zen-cart store since it's easier and cheaper to manage... Economical concern... XD **save$**
Anyway, hope the new website is easier to manage and will have lots of updates with new graphics and new comics!

Recently the place I work was super busy... @o@... Hopefully I'll have more energy left when the busy season is over... maybe in Mid December... Right now my right arm is so sore~ partly from the mouse I used at work... There was a pain spot that I really want to have acupuncture on... ouch!

Winter is getting closer, and I really want to get a 2nd hand car for driving to work... Really tired of having no freedom... **sign**

Moving on...

2010-10-05T20:54:00.000-07:00

Just got an offer from my existing working company about being a full time artist which is pertty happy. Hopefully it will be a longer stay and everything will work out. At least I don't have to run 2 jobs XD
Good for the winter time, less to travel, don't have to spend too much on gas. Life must go on... No one cannot stop it. Wish the best =)

Bold Look Gothic Wired Ring

2010-08-04T21:13:00.000-07:00

Making wired ring is really fun. At the beginning of the construction, you may not like the design at all. And then gradually after all the components are in placed, it will start to look stunning. I'd made this ring very big. Why? I just like the look of it. You don't even have to wear bracelet if you wear this big ring * LOL* Pretty fun and Gothic look cocktail ring~~~ Available on Ebay as well

Hammered Wired Jewelry

2010-08-02T09:56:00.000-07:00

It's been for a while since last time I craft any jewelry item. Making handcraft jewelry sometimes can take a long time... It's really fun, especially after you'd crafted the finish product =) Wired jewelry is convenient with its material and the method of crafting. It doesn't need torch or jewelry bench to make the item. (I don't have to worry about burning down my house... )

I like this bracelet I just made; the focal design is very big, and has a Gothic look. Next time I may do something similar in black or cooper wire, to make it into the "Dark Look" XD

Thanks for viewing!

This item is available in a set in my ebay store for auction.

http://cgi.ebay.ca/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=300452068056

2010-08-01T20:57:00.000-07:00

New original watercolor painting "Butterfly Maiden" 8.5"x11" available now on Ebay

for sale. Thanks for viewing~

Not feeling very motivated recently. Everything seems not going very smooth at this moment. My brain juice is like EMPTY... The creativity flow in my head is not running very fluently... The personal life, work, kids... It's one of those moment that things are not going your way again... I can only say that "patient is a virtue"... Just have to be patient...

Horse ACEO Art and Fairy Art

2010-07-19T21:51:00.000-07:00

Two original Horse ACEO available on Ebay store: Patricia's Studio
2.5x3.5 Irish Cob
2.5x3.5 Desert Horse

Original watercolor 4x6 Fairy and Chipmunk

Got Sick...

2010-07-17T18:36:00.000-07:00

It's not fun to get sick... My whole body is like jello and ozzy... Aching everywhere. No matter what medicine I took, it felt the same. Water just leaks automatically without me noticing XD I better go rest but tomorrow still got lots of pre-planned event going on with the family... I rather rest at bed... seriously... so sick... Not fun to be ill in the hot summer time...
This morning we took the kids to Honda Indy. It was fun and not fun at the same time. Fun part is about the racing and motorcycle shows; the not so fun part is the heat wave. We all felt like melting when we walked around the CNE area. It just too hot. We want some rain please...

Renovating website

2010-07-15T07:43:00.000-07:00

For those who keep and maintain their own websites, they all have to do website renovation once a while to keep the site refreshed. It may be just a small change on one little thing, or sometimes it will be a big renovation involving lots of moving stuff around that takes forever to do. I just discovered one program that can create the photo gallery very easy. Abode bridge is the one. It got the function that can make hundreds of pictures into slide shows, gallery display. And it only takes few minutes to make a gallery with hundreds of picture. You got to love it. Here's the tutorial. Now I don't have to make links and create thumbnails one by one with photoshop... That usually takes hours or more... XD

Fairy art lover

2010-07-02T12:36:00.000-07:00

I found the hardest thing to paint a character is to make the face looks right. For this new painting for my blue wings fairy, I'd "played" for a long time on her eyes and face color with my fine paint brush. The wings are blue. I guess I'm in the blue mood... XD

"Blue Wings Fairy"

8x10" acrylic on canvas, done on June 2010

Mermaid art again~

2010-06-30T22:13:00.000-07:00

Another Mermaid painting just done.

It's a 8x10 acrylic on canvas "Ariel and the Seahorse". Ariel is the character - mermaid princess in "The Little Mermaid". In this picture I didn't paint her tail since I was practicing on the facial feature than the whole body structure~ The beautiful red hair mermaid girl~

Finally finished this painting...

2010-06-30T22:08:00.000-07:00

This painting took me so long to finish. I started it in May, but was caught up with my day work and night book project. After one month, it was finally done. I love Alice in Wonderland art. It inspires me with lots of things in my fantasy art. This painting is not as dark as I used to paint. Very cheerful and bright. (No blood... XD) A very happy scene. "Tea Party in Wonderland" 12x16 Acrylic painting.

Waiting...

2010-06-06T19:32:00.000-07:00

Waiting always make people anxious. Waiting for project to be done. Waiting for reply and respond. Waiting for weekend to come. Waiting, waiting and for waiting... The whole life is composed with lots of waiting stories that it almost like the God is testing you how patient you are and how high your EQ is. Sometimes no matter how much you try, the waiting cannot be avoid. No wonder people say "Patient is a virtue."
By the way, I think I'm almost done with the ABC project; however, the authors had suggested that the texts of the last 2-3 letters may be revised for proper age group readers... I was thinking of adding some extra pictures to fill some pages; it seems that I have to wait till the last 3 letters were done and wait for publisher's responds before I add any extra pictures. Bu almost done luckily...
Since my hubby went up to North for work, I'd been the only labor in the house. Vacuum, cut grass, do recycle and garbage, yell at the kids and chase them around... My back ache... Hope my hubby will be back soon. We really miss him... Another non-stop waiting story....

Turning point?

2010-05-16T08:25:00.000-07:00

Life is always an adventure. Along the way, there are many different changes and surprises. Sometimes things happens all at the same time that you have to decide which way to go. My husband made his decision already. He decided to work for a company that is far away with better pay. However, he has to separate from his family since he cannot always come home due to his assignments. That is his turning point. However, it's my kids' and my turning point too. We all hope for the best but sometimes things just won't go in our way. We just have to "go with the flow". I'm currently working on Pam and Cathy's book. At the meantime, I also have to carry on my day job as an administrator in a small firm. And Pam encouraged me to go full-time on the illustration career. It remind me the time when I took Andrew Hamilton's painting lessons back in 2002 or 2003. He asked me why I took his course. And I said I want to be an illustrator one day. Will it be my turning point? We will see...

About Pam and Cathy's Children Book

2010-05-10T07:33:00.000-07:00

I was pretty excited to work with Pam and Cathy about the new books they are planning. It's a great opportunities that I can get involve with the kid's book publishing. The only thing I'm concerning about is not having enough time to work on it =) Not because of not enough "time" to do it, but the hours are mostly "broken hours" during the days or nights that sometimes it interferes with the painting flow or inspiration process XD

I guess as a freelancer, time management is an important task to learn in order to make the most use of the time and produce the optimal results in a timely manner. Now back to work again =P

24 hours a day is not enough...

2010-04-18T14:48:00.000-07:00

It will be nice to have more thank 24 hours a day... 6-8 hours sleep, 8 hours day work, 1 hour travel back and forth to work, 2-3 hours for eating/showering/watching some TV, 3 hours to get my kids all shower/bath/feed, 2-3 hours for my art porject.... I really need more than 24 hours... XD

Easter gone so fast...

2010-04-04T21:05:00.000-07:00

Time flies so fast. Every time there is a long weekend coming, the days are gone before I even noticed it. Life is really short. Got to catch up with the planned schedules. I'd already sketched the Winter Lady in pencil. Just need to color it then I'm done with the 4 season fairies. And then I got to work on Pam's project. Hopefully I'll get all sketches done and approved by the end of the April.... *am I dreaming?* Just have to stick with my plan and work work work!!! Focus and concentrate...

Future plans and new projects on hand...

2010-03-29T20:49:00.000-07:00

It's never easy to be a "night" artist~ I got a daytime job that will pay my bills; at the mean time I also got this artist job that will fulfill my dream. (Also 2 kids running around the house that needs my attention...) Life is never easy =P However, the show must go on. Tight Schedule--- Go, Go, Go!!!

Current and Future projects:

- Sketch drafts for approval for Pam K-E for her Alphabet book.

( need to have them all approved by end of April)

- Plan story lines for my witch chef / octopus lady book
(end of April)

- 4 Seasons Flower Lady (end of May) -> Lady of the Spring done.

- Rework on Jordan's Cast story (end of June)

- Dragon, Mermaid, and Fairy Series (Calendar painting) x12 (end of July)

- Prairie Angels (end of December)

Fantasy Character Creating

2010-03-14T12:51:00.000-07:00

Creating fantasy character is like writing a story with painting. Maybe it's not in words, but it's in picture. My Lady Water Deep is the first one that I actually giving her a "Name" for the character that I created. It feels like giving a name to my own child =) Water Deep is a character name I usually use in Ultima Online (UO) game I used to play when I was younger. (I don't play anymore because of lots of things to take care in the "real world", but still miss it...) My Lady Water Deep was a female warrior and swordswoman. Now she is a mermaid princess~~~ I still got lots of other ideas about the future characters to draw. Stay tuned!

Starting my documenting book...

2010-03-06T07:17:00.000-08:00

Just a thought that I decided to start my documenting book about my paintings now and past so that I can keep a record of them. Often time I put them in my website's portfolio, but I always afraid that if one day I don't update my websites anymore or something happens to the CD or hard drive, I don't have a backup copy. I'd thought of just print out a copy and keep it in my portfolio binder for myself. In another thought, why not make a book out of them?! I'd accumulated some artworks. Maybe at the end of the year that I'm able to finish one and start a new one again XD~ *dreaming mode* (Like with the speed of 3 pages a day! Good thing that self-publishing is very handy)

Hahaha~ So fun!

I'd start to paint my fairytale series. This is a start with one - 16x20 acrylic painting - Beauty and the Beast. It's interesting to try painting in a theatrical way. With the combination of the wild animal and the lady Belle, the composition is fun~

Cannot wait to see the movie Alice in Wonderland

2010-03-02T19:35:00.001-08:00

Recently everything is kind of "stuck" again... *sign*
I'll have to say, "Be Patient..." in a lot of things in my life. Things cannot always go in the way we want, and we have to be very very patient. But sometimes the "waiting" is just making my anxiety even worse. And sometimes I'm not sure what I'm waiting for anymore. But, hope God can help me and family pass the difficult period because we do need it.

By the way, the new movie - Alice in Wonderland is showing soon! Cannot wait to see it. Johnny Depp is my all time favorite star since my teens. I'll see you in theater Johnny~~~

The New Cast

2010-02-16T19:53:00.001-08:00

It's funny that I 'd just learned that there is "Glow in the Dark" Cast today... My little boy just got his botox shot last week since he has a bad left foot due to his medical condition that he has to wear AFO for most of this days. The doctor decided to try the cast method this time, which will stretch his muscle to the maximum day and night for the whole week. While at hospital, the doctor Leslie asked what color my boy wanted for this cast. My son cannot decide... (To many color to choose XD) And then the doctor offered "Glow in the Dark" material and it was sold!
It Did Glow in the Dark. And the new cast material only took few minutes to dry which is pretty cool. Thanks to the Bloorview Kids Rehab~ Hope it will help my boy a lot~

Top: My son's original AFO

2nd: Playing Wii with Daddy

3rd: His New Glow-in-the-Dark Cast and Blue cast-boot

Busy week(s)...

2010-02-11T07:45:00.000-08:00

These few weeks will be very busy for me. First, we'll have to take my little boy for treatment for his leg at Bloorview, the next week will be putting the
cast on his leg and the following week will be removing it. At the meanwhile, it's Chinese New Year... More spending and running around.
After that, I'll have to work a full time job soon~~~ Got mortgage to pay XD
Life is pretty stressful for me know; but look at a bright side, everyone is all about the same too~ I'm not the only one. Cheer up everyone! We all got better future, just have to work hard and make it happen!

2010-02-06T21:21:00.000-08:00

It's really annoying to know that your free email address was "un-authorized" used by someone that I have no clue as a Spam email account~ Everyday I logged in my email, I would see a big pile of Sent emails (that I didn't send) or Spam returned emails in the email folders. The time I spend trying to figure out who did this or how they did it or even call the tech support to the Internet/email supply company to change account information or password is all totally wasted~ I probably can paint a few more paintings from those wasted HOURS to resolve this problem. Really troubled... *Headache*
Technology creates the convenience for the man kind; but also gave us the same amount of headache... XD
*Where is my Peace?*

clay project for my daughter

2010-02-04T18:37:00.000-08:00

My daughter needs to present a "box report" for her class about the story she read. And there are dragon and sea witch (mermaid maybe?) in the book. We tried the air-dry clay at first but they were all cracked after a day or two. Then we tried the polymer clay (shown in picture). The polymer clay is a better compound to make these little figures and so far they haven't cracked yet. We are going to bake them over the weekend once the stove is free... (from cooking?) Just for your eyes only ~

My son thought the dragons were Dinos... XD

Fantasy Rapunzel

2010-02-02T07:31:00.001-08:00

Rapunzel is an interesting story. When reading fantasy stories as a kid, I never thought that the story involved child kidnapping (by the witch?!) Anyway, the longhair part is the most funny part that the guy can actually climb with it as rope. XD Anyway, fantasy is fantasy. Try not to think about it too deep when reading to a child because they will keep ask you "why? why? and more why?" I told my kid about the moral of the story --- It's time for you to have a hair cut... XD

In this painting, I was trying to practice on my cloth folding texture with watercolor. It's fun to paint the textures. Definitely will try again, maybe with another fantasy story~

ACEO Landscapes

2010-01-29T06:46:00.001-08:00

It's fun to paint landscapes. It doesn't require much of my brain juice to do the detailing *at least not for me...* I just have to paint what I see and the picture is done in few minutes especially in ACEO. Painting landscapes gave me peace in mind. I just love the solitude feeling in the painting that only Natural Scenes, no people, no animals. Very peaceful.

My first "Fairy and Horse" Series

2010-01-24T20:07:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking of painting something in series as a set since long time ago. There were some weird ideas: Tarot series, 365 days of birds series, Zodiac series or random animal series. I'd thought about painting series of fairies before. But sometimes I found the subject has been painted too often. However I still love it; so I'd added the horse element into the painting. My daughter said that it looks like "my little pony" XD. *I thought about that too after I finished that painting... haha. * Anyway, this is my first painting series. Enjoy~

Fantacy painting

2010-01-22T18:25:00.000-08:00

I love painting fairy. But sometimes it's hard to find the right subject to paint. I always want to paint something with a story in it, not just portraits only. My goal is to illustrate a story book of any kind or my own.

In this picture, my favorite part is the sleeping little fairy girl~

Sleep tight~

Exotic theme painting

2010-01-19T13:44:00.000-08:00

I always want to try the bright color painting, but sometimes I'll be afraid that if the color crashes each other and it will look weird. But this time, I just use all different kinds of colors to paint this one and result is not bad~ Enjoy~

Contrast in Watercolor

2010-01-17T08:29:00.000-08:00

One of the problem in painting watercolor is to create the right contrast. The watercolor color is usually soft and more transparent look. Sometimes it's hard to create the right Darker tone to make the painted subject "pop up" of the picture. The main text to learn is NOT to be afraid of using the colors, especially the strong colors. Also utilizing the black paint to create the proper contrast is very important too.

Details about painting animals

2010-01-13T15:22:00.000-08:00

I will have to say that the hardest part to paint the animal is to paint its fur. Especially in painting ACEO animals, it required fine brushes and extreme concentration and patient to finish the job. I personally love watercolor. The watercolor is easy for me to get the details. Acrylic ACEO is my dead spot, which needs a lot of practice to achieve the flowness like watercolor. Usually the paint just stuck on the brush and won't let go on the paper >_<

I really admire the ACEO works of a few artists (on eBay) who can paint the details of the animals so fine with acrylic. Again the golden rule... Practice and More Practice! And don't forget the fine brushes that won't have split hair... *the split hair on the brush drive me crazy...*

Portraits

2010-01-12T18:17:00.000-08:00

Just want to practice on painting "human"...

Sometimes I feel it's kind of odd to find the right poportion for human Eyes. Since I'm so used to draw people in comic/anime style ---> Huge eyes... XD It's kind of challenge to "shrink" the eye part into the right size without making it so "Comic" look. Most of time I'll just find the pictures from random magazines to practice on the pose and try to draw or paint it as similar as possible. Practice makes perfect I guess~

* cough *

2010-01-10T08:09:00.000-08:00

Flu season is here. I "almost" get sick from my family since three of them are sick including my little boy. Best to wash my hands all the time and be strong... (although I start to feel my itchy throat...)

Valentine is coming soon~ Good thing about this year is that I don't have to kill myself working like a dog in my flower shop... Usually starting from end of January, the orders are coming in like crazy and two weeks before Valentine, I never get to go home early. Few days before Valentine, I never got to go home till 12 midnight... (someone got to cut the roses, flowers, pack the order and do the arrangements... @o@ drive me nuts...) I never get to celebrate Valentine anymore till this year. Looking forward to it. I created 4 special ACEO cards with watercolor and ink for Valentine and thinking of printing them out for my kids' Valentine cards for school. I kept drawing penguins. Not sure why. I guess they are too cute XD

Happy weekend!

Life is full of surprises~~~

2010-01-07T06:41:00.000-08:00

It's fun to see that my penguin painting became more like a character now. Before the penguins feel like they are still models with not much of the interaction. It has to do with the natural environment of the penguins. It is in such a place that not many of other animals live around there... *ya...south pole, who will live at south pole besides scientists and penguins... XD*

Well, if I'm going to set my character as a realism natural animal painting subject, it seems there isn't much room to create. So I started to look at the other way when I paint my penguin character. Maybe one day I'll make it into a story book... XD You never know. Life is always full of surprises!

New Zazzle Store

2010-01-05T20:43:00.001-08:00

Just opened up a gift shop promoting some of my custom art gifts through Zazzle! It was fun creating items although I think it will take a lot of my time just to play around in the website. It it does open up a wide variety of product as a freelancer can sell, not just prints or posters, but T-shirts, key-chains or many other promotional items.

One good thing is the store don't have minimum to order!!! And you can create as many as you like~ Yup! More Art is More Sale... XD *just joking*

My arms are dead... XD

2010-01-04T18:56:00.001-08:00

Holiday is finally over. All little kids are back to school. I bet lots of parents are glad in a way that the routine is back and start to find some peace while no children are fighting for video game remote controls or TV channels... Anyway, I got some time to paint this penguin ACEO in the morning before picking up my JK boy~ It's purely watercolor and with some experiments on the background textures.

(*And finally got some time to work on the Wii Fitness program. My arms are pooped!*)

I love penguins! They are the cutest animals on earth! Too bad that the scientist saying that they may get extincted in the future due to the severe weather change in south pole. Maybe one day they will become like Panda - Zoo Animals only... Kind of sad the know the fact about the endangered animals that they cannot survive through the environment they were born into. What should we do in daily life to change the fate of these animals?

New way of recycle?

2010-01-03T15:43:00.000-08:00

Just a thought of saving this ice wine bottle turn into this landscape painting bottle with acrylic paints. I personally think it's a great ideal for home deco XD instead of buying expensive glass vases... I can use these empty wine bottles for art! I'm sure there's lot more out there and I'm not a drinker at all... In the whole year, I only drink maybe 2 times... a few glasses... My personal experience for the ice wine is... taste like apple juice... although it says 6% alcohol, but don't feel anything in me. However, the slim look of the bottle is beautiful~ Cheers!
ps. Thank god my kids are going back to school XD some quiet time in the house ^O^ hahaha

Last get together for holiday...

2010-01-02T12:15:00.000-08:00

It's finally New Year! YA! Kids are going back to school on Monday and we all can have our schedule back to normal... No more eating out anytime soon. My tummy is getting irritated since the diet hobbit changed so dramatically over the holiday seasons. even my daughter complaints about tummy ache after we had dinner at so many friends and relatives' houses. Good thing is no body drink and drive and even they went drinking at count down, they all took subway. I'm not in the age for New Year count down out door. No motivation to freeze myself at the crowded downtown~ Just not with my little ones. They all crashed at beds by 10pm... No counting down for them either... We drank a couple bottles at home, I washed one bottle and wanted to experiment the painting on it. Hope it will turn out good~ Cheers!

New Year Resolution~

2009-12-31T21:07:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year!!!!!

Wish everyone Happy Healthy and Dream Comes True!!!

Wish my art will sell!!! (hahahaha)

Wish my painting skill gets better~~~

And Wish my family have a healthy and happy year...

Cheers!!!

from Patty - January 01, 2010 - 00:11AM

Finally found my acrylic paints...

2009-12-29T15:42:00.000-08:00

I'd finally dug out my long lost acrylic paints in my closet storage box... Tested them out and found that they are still good!
At first I wasn't sure what to paint since it was going to be a test piece, but after I drafted out the mermaid and dolphin picture, I decided to paint it seriously... (not just random doodling... hahaha...)
The difference between watercolor and acrylic paints is interesting. I like the bright and clear translucent feel in watercolor; but acrylic paints really give the depth and I can layer the paint without massing them up... One thing about acrylic paint that I don't like is it dries out too quickly. I have to spray water constantly on my palette... anyway, testing is over. Now I have to paint some more~

Holiday Eating Disorder...

2009-12-28T20:21:00.001-08:00

(left: my latest ACEO sketch for Lord of the Rings - Fan Art - Gimli and Lady Eowyn)

I'd been to so many family or friends lunches, get together parties, dinners almost every day during this crazy holiday break... (Don't feel like a break for my stomach...>o<) I'd TRYed to control the food I took in while partying with people. However, the temptation is just way higher than my self-control consciousness... After the last party (at New Year night I believe) I "think" I'll need to go on my extreme dieting plan... (hahaha... *we'll see*) I'm surprised that after all these parties and food, I still have energy to draw.... XD

Style Experimenting

2009-12-26T21:33:00.001-08:00

Just taking a break from drawing the "Rings"... It's fun to try different drawing/painting styles. My "sea witch" painting (left picture) is mixed with watercolor, color pencils and a little bit of gouache for high-light. Very classic media for illustration... XD. I was thinking of digging out my acrylic materials for my illustration work. (Lots of my art supplies were still in my closet... hiding in my storage boxes) But I'm so afraid that once I dig them out, my 4 year-old son will come to "Play" or try to "Help" me with my art... (Imaging a "very helpful" little kid playing with the acrylic paints... think about the cleaning part... *headache* at least watercolor I can scrub they off the skin and shirt... Although my little boy got his own art supplies and easle to play with, but someone else's always seems better than his... XD) Well, I might have to try it without him noticing them... Until next time, I'll still keep using my ink and watercolor... (Back to my "Rings" research)

All Hobbits look so similar... my bad...

2009-12-25T17:51:00.000-08:00

After drawing 4 hobbits (Frodo, Sam, Pippin and Merry), I found all my hobbits look very similar... Even I gave them different costumes, hair colors, even the background or things to hold... (ie Pippin is holding the treebeard's nose... and Sam is holding the light bottle...) they still look the same in the black and white drawing... Still have lots of room to "improve". Let's just put it this way, all these characters were cartoonized under my pen... @o@ I'm not so sure about making them more beautiful (trying to), but it seems that it conflict the realism style that I was trying to achieve. I'd remembered that I used to be a good pencil sketcher during high school, but good pencil sketch needs precious time to complete which most my time went to my daughter and my son that only time to sketch was when they were all asleep... zzz (me sleep too) Pen and ink drawing is my another lazy way to sketch I guess... It just simplifies the process... Anyway, time to practice more... Chow!

Lord of the Rings Fan Art

2009-12-23T11:08:00.000-08:00

It's funny that when drawing in pen and ink, I felt like drawing them in cartoon style which automatically make the character's eyes much bigger than normal... It's not a good practice but just cannot help it... Pen and ink style with lots of lines is always my favorite style. I usually will spend lots of time drawing people's hair, mustache, tree trunks or anything with lots of texture... Lord of the rings series inspired me a lot in fantasy drawing. The characters and backgrounds, costumes they wore and weapons they carried were all wonderful study materials in fantasy art. Thanks to the marvelous novel and wonderful movies that make our imaginary world comes true... =)

Fun ACEO

2009-12-21T20:03:00.000-08:00

Just discovered the fun of ACEO - the original art card creation. The tiny size (only 2.5"x3.5") art card creation is really interesting~ What interests me the most is: I don't have to use my big easel to paint them! Just my ordinary one foot desk is more than adequate... Ha! I feel like creating hand-painted Pokemon cards or something... But it's great practice for my illustration career... Cheers!
ps: Great for mailing too!!! Save lots of money...

Pingu candy land...

2009-12-18T14:48:00.001-08:00

Yesterday when me and my husband took my boy to Bloorview kids rehab for semi-annual check up, we saw this funny balloon creatures scene on the side road while we are coming back home. It's really cute. My boy love the Pingus the best and the snow globe too. Too bad that the traffic was so bad on bayview ave at the rush hour that we cannot stop by and have a closer look... It was just around Bayview Avenue and Lawrence in Toronto. North of Sunnybrook hospital (where Bloorview Kids Rehab is). Such a Christmas cheers! Ya... today's last day of my kids' school... We will back on track when New Year comes! For now, we are going to EAT, SLEEP and PLAY! Merry Christmas! and Happy New Year!

Snow Snow Snow

2009-12-16T13:48:00.000-08:00

It's another snowy storm day... on my birthday! Hahaha! I'm the snow child. Every birthday is a snowy day! I'd received my Mario Cart Wii game from Amazon.ca today which we placed the order 2 days ago. We'd tried to find this game at bestbuy and walmart but all sold out! Amazon is really good. Shipping is super fast even in this crazy shopping Christmas holiday! Anyway, my holiday for this winter break will be playing lots of Wii games and do Wii exercises!!! We also got the Wii my personal fitness couch and Wii Gold's Gym Cardio~~~ Burn the extra Body Oil!!! HAha! So Happy!

Last day from Retail

2009-12-09T21:55:00.000-08:00

Today we got the first snow storm warning. Everything is frozen outside. The wind is blowing like crazy but I'm enjoying my day playing with my kids at home. It's almost Christmas, but my son just got a fever yesterday. I was suppose to work yesterday, but I had to call in sick (not me, but because my boy is sick). And Today I got a call from the store saying that my work schedule for tomorrow has been cancelled. My reaction from receiving this call was very happy! XD No kidding! Most people must have felt frustration because of work schedule being cancelled. However, I'd gave them my resignation since 2 weeks before, I'm much happier to leave the crazy retail store and leave the torture chamber due to crazy holiday hours. I'd been in retail business since my daughter was born (back in 11 years ago); and I'm totally DONE with it. Hope this will teach me a lesson that don't let me go back to my old road.
Got some free time to spend with my kiddos and hopefully I can catch up with some paintings that I'd always wanted to do but no time before~~~ Lots of time now! I mean we cannot always have the world. You lose some and you gain some~ Cheers! and Chills... (Cold Winter...)

First Day at the New Store~

2009-10-19T20:31:00.000-07:00

I think I'd been self-employed for too long that I'd forgotten how stressful to work for someone else... Anyway, as long as it pays the bills at the bottom line... First day at new place, I felt like it's Valentine's day or Mother's day for me. Customers lining up in front of me all needs to ask/pay something. Sometimes I asked myself that if I look more friendlier than other workers that why they all want to ask me but not others... >O< I even cut my finger by accident with the broken glass from the popped frame that I was going to put back to shelf. Luckily it was not major and other staff help me to clean up quickly and first aided me with something. Hope that today I made all the mistakes and next time I won't make them all..... hopefully... let's cross our finger. Why do I switch from self-employed florist to other people's employee? I guess the main concern is I don't have to worry about the business after the hours are done. I can be with my kids and family and not to kill my brain cells off with all the other stuffs I have to deal with related to business. Just work and get paid. easy and simple... hahaha for now... maybe I'll change my mind again; but at lease let me try this one first and see how long I can stand it for.

Need Time Off...

2009-07-06T21:04:00.002-07:00

Sometimes you will feel that you are so tired of everything... Tired of work, tired of your lifestyle, tired of the things happening around us, tired of the same O same O... No motivation of doing anything... I really think that we all need some time off to do things we like to do... But when is my turn to have time off for myself? Good question... While we are making other people happy from what we do, who is going to make us happy? Hope my tiredness will go away somehow; otherwise, it's not healthy... *cranky mood*

In picture<-- a handtie bouquet for graduation that was requested to make it look like a bridal/presentation bouquet. Flowers include 1 doz red roses with baby's breath and some lily grasses.

Time is limited... Just be Happy~

2009-06-20T15:58:00.000-07:00

有了小孩(s)生活起了很大的變化，我都覺得自己與世隔絕‧成天不是工作就是帶小孩，自己也沒私人時間去做其它事。朋友只能電郵，覺得少了聯絡太久就快失去聯絡‧大概也是跟自己不積極的性格有關…現實太多不成文的因素造就了許多無法實現夢想的理由，有時覺得身不由己啊…不過自己要學著在有限的環境中，創造自己的快樂

Create your own happiness in your limited environment~

Wedding and Prom Season is Here~

2009-05-17T11:32:00.001-07:00

May, June are the 2 months that are mostly busy with Prom, Wedding rush... Right after Mother's day, most florists will get lots of orders for the high school proms for Thursday and Friday; and then wedding on the weekend. Sometimes there are multiple schools having the prom on the same week. Many times that we have to premake the pre-ordered corsages & boutonnieres 2 nights before juts to finish all the orders. The volume is good for business during the economic down time but it gave us lots of green and cracking fingers just to wire all these flowers. Each corsage take about 10-30 minutes depending on how many flowers to wire and how difficult to wire the flowers. Out of all flowers, I love to wire roses or carnations since they are the quickest to get done... Besides the proms, there comes the wedding flowers. Same with lots corsages and boutonnieres making. Other than that, it will have bouquets, centerpieces and the alter arrangements/head table pieces/cake deco arrangement. Sometimes we will have multiple wedding over the same weekend. But most of them are bouquets and flowers to wear. Recent years I found that people tend to decorate the table or the hall themselves with whatever they can found cheaper in price. Sometimes the decoration don't need to involve with flowers. Often time, people can get fabric from Fabricland or some fabric wholesale to decorate the hall with. You usually can get a great deal on Lights right after Christmas. People uses lanterns, crystals, marbles or rose petals to decorate. As long as you can find some friend and family to help and plan them all out, it usually not hard at all. Rushing usually causes a lot of dramas... In order to avoid these dramas, we always stick a big note at the store window to tell the kids when is the prom order deadline; otherwise we will never finish all the orders till morning... And still the kids will come at the last minutes just an hour before they get on the limos and ask if we still make corsages or boutonnieres...

Thanks Mom!!!

2009-05-17T11:07:00.000-07:00

Seems before and after Mother's day there was a big gap of period that I don't even have time to touch my computer... Lot's of emails to respond, and lots of junk mails to delete. Updating whatever has to be updated... Lack of motivation to doing anything else but sleep... Oh well, it's just a typical symptom of laziness/recovery right after Mother's day rush. Right before Mother's day Sunday, there was a big prom going happening on Thursday... Good 40-50 pcs of corsages and boutonnieres orders to make right before all the holiday rush... I haven't seen or said hello and kiss my daughter and son during Mother's day weekend. Me and my husband went out to store to get ready for the preparation at 7am and didn't come back home till later of the night around midnight. As a florist after all the years, I really missed all the big holidays. We did work a lot to satisfy other people and customers during the big holidays, but we missed our own quality time with our family a lot. Thanks to my mom (and dad) that they are very helpful to take care of our kids while we are busy~~~ Thanks Mom!!! We love you~~~

Getting Moody...

2009-04-14T19:52:00.000-07:00

Recently It was not smooth for me. After watching the movie "The Secret Life of Bees", it made me moody even more... (But I was surprised that the screaming little girl from "Wars of the World" had changed a lot since then. She did quite good as Lily in the Bees movie..." )

A lot of things didn't go the way it should be.

Life is always up and down as a cycle. Just like the orchid plants I brought home from store last year since we didn't had a chance to sell them out and the flowers were gone for a while. Now they are all start to bloom. After almost 4 months, I got 4 pots are branching out and flower buds are on the way~~~ Make me feel much better now. Patient is the key...

Making Boutonniere...

2009-03-29T19:30:00.000-07:00

Making Rose boutonniere is probably the easiest out of all other flower boutonnieres... Why? There are couple reasons. First, the stem is hard and strong comparing to other flowers. Second, the flower bud is durable and hard to crush. Third, when the rose opens (if it does opens... sometimes it doesn't open at all), it opens up to a big bloom. Other reasons such as it's easy to wire and tape without being worried about killing it by pressing too hard. And it won't have a sad look too easily if its out of water for a while. And it's available and affordable.

Cymbidium orchid is the best flower to make boutonniere since it will last for a long time without water. However, it's really take a long time to make it into a boutonniere, plus the price for cymbids are not cheap. And oftentimes the flower will turn brown easily if petal get damaged... (cannot peal it off like rose...)

Dendrobium orchids are good choice of boutonniere making. But they are also very delicate and take time to wire carefully. But they also last long too.

I got many customer want stargazer or Casablanca lilies for boutonniere or corsage... It usually gave me headache when I heard it... They are just too fragile to wear as boutonniere or corsage... The 5 petals may only have 1 petal left at the end of the party if you are lucky... I ususally ask them to change their mind...

Gerbera daisies are beautiful to make corsage or boutonniere. But using a water tube to hold the moisture may be a good idea if it's going to be hot at the party. Alternative way will be wiring the Gerbera Daisy stem with wet cotton sealed with foil or cello. Because once the Gerbera daisy is dehydrated, it will give you a very sad look...

Carnation and daisy are OK too. They are very affordable in terms of the price; but with the same amount of labour like making rose boutonniere, florist would rather sell the rose boutonniere than a carnation one. But for DIY lovers or junior florists who need lots of practice, these flowers are great because they are very economic.

By the way, I forgot to mention Calla Lily... It's a great choice for boutonniere but not so good for corsage... Anyway, it will be next time's topic =)

Corsage Demo

2009-03-21T21:14:00.000-07:00

I just found out that it can take up whole day just to make one web page... I was trying to write a step-by-step demonstration showing how to make a corsage / boutonniere using a carnation and baby's breathe. A little corsage has involved a lot of steps. Lots of wiring, taping and labor work. Often time when the prom or wedding season comes, when customer are there to bargain the prices for these corsages and boutonnieres, they never thought how much work and effort each corsage or boutonniere has involved. Discount should only applied to those manufactured goods, not on the hand-craft goods with fresh flowers. I mean when you try to sell a carnation corsage for $6, how much discount can you give for the time and labour you gave in? Sometimes when the customer is not happy about the price, I will suggest them to buy the loose flowers to make the corsage/boutonniere/bouquets themselves. They will save money by half; and also learn to do it yourself. Then they may appreciate the $6 they will pay for the finished carnation corsage from a florist.

Got Bugged...

2009-03-15T20:28:00.000-07:00

It's very inconvenient that I have to reformat my computer and reinstall it again...
Although I'd backup everything ie. files, pictures, programs to install, I still don't like to reinstall it unless it's really necessary... I'm not a super tech person. Usually the process will take me about 3-5 days to get my computer back to normal state. Thanks to my brother's ghost program so that I don't have to take a month to figure out how to reformat the computer... Soon after I reinstalled my computer, I finally got my anti-virus program in... Hope this will last me for a while before I bust it again... Thanks for all the troubles contributed from all the unknown bugged files downloaded from the universe of Internet... I feel that the matrix world is very similar to the universe we have in real... One is digital; and one is material... Once the two world connect together, it's hard to break it apart anymore. I cannot imagine how much people rely on digital; and one day if there's a big black out or end of the world kind of thing happens to mankind, people will be forced to live a simple life... No TV, no radio, no computer, no cellphone, no electricity, no nothing... Cook from the camp fire or stove with fire wood... No work, No banking... lol I'm just thinking too much... *Day Dreaming*

Wedding in March with Roses

2009-03-02T21:47:00.000-08:00

<-- Jumbo White Calla Lilies Handtied Bouquet with White Mesh Ribbons.

Today I got the first wedding order for end of March in 2009. Quite happy~~~ Although it's not a big order, just a couple bouquets, boutonnieres and corsages with lots of roses, at least it took me away from thinking about the slowness of the month...

For most weddings, people use roses (75%); the rest of the common flowers used are calla liles (shown in the picture), orchids, gerbara daisies and other flowers. For the bridal bouquet, most color used are Ivory/off white showy flowers - such as calla liles, open roses, cymbidium orchids and gerbara daisies. The next popular color for bridal bouquet is Red, and then is Pink (either light or hot pink or mixed with both).

From the past experiences, these are the common wedding flower color theme for different cultures:

White people - All white/Ivory theme or mixed color (white/pink or purple)

Black people - All white/Ivory theme or mixed color (orange/peach/exotic color/flowers)

Brown people - All white/Ivory theme or mixed color (red/gold very big and showy peice)

Asians - All white/Ivory theme or mixed colors or all red or mixed pink (light & dark pink) ---> Asian girls really likes pink or purple flowers in their weddings...

Above just the general observations from the pass wedding I'd made for all different people from different culture background. There's no bias on the races~ Everyone has their own color(s) for their wedding. As a florist, I still love using roses for wedding bouquet. Why? Because they are pretty, durable, blooms are big, won't get damage as easily as other flowers, the stems are hard, smell good and the most important part is..... they come in all kinds of different colors and shades!!!

Pink+Green Hand tie Bouquet:

Light Pink Roses (Vogue)
Dark Pink Roses (Hot Princess or Sarena)
Light Pink/Dark Pink Spray Roses
Green Buttons - Pom Pom Daisies
Green Hypericum
Salal Leaves
Beaded Garland
Pink Satin Ribbons

Funeral Order Stress...

2009-03-01T20:40:00.001-08:00

Most florists will find wedding order is very stressful. But recently I found the funeral order can be pretty intense too... I'm still recovering from the big funeral order we did last Friday for Saturday visitation. We have to do overtime for two straight nights. Although there are "only" 20 big pieces (we'd done more than 30 pieces at one time just before Christmas 2008, so 20 pieces is still OK...), the amount of stress is not funny. Since funeral is not like the big wedding party that most likely all pre-planned at least couple months/weeks in advance, they always comes within couple days. From ordering flowers, calculating how many flowers to order and what kind to order to ordering supplies such as funeral containers, spray cages, hearts, wreaths, enough oasis to use, enough greenery for arrangement, there are a lot of preparation works to be done... There are also tons of opinions about what to put on the sympathy cards, what names to put on the cards, keep changing the message for the cards, color of the them or arrangements, all that drives me crazy... And then we have to worry about if the driver can handle all 20 pieces for delivery since he will need to bring the flowers in different loads instead of just one. Also pray for the flowers won't be dead or damaged during or after being transported. Because often time if the driver is not careful enough, the arrangement would not look the same when you made it... (Imagine the arrangement has been rolled around at the back of the car...) In the winter time, if the weather is very cold or windy (windchill), it kills the flowers even quicker, especially the open lily, it will just wilt right away when the windchill hits it. And the whole arrangement is ruined... The expectation of the family who order the flowers for themselves and also other friends and relatives are so high that you are so afraid that there is something wrong with the flowers or mistakes on sympathy cards will result in huge complaints from the sender. (Not to mention the part that we have to negotiate the price of the whole package with the family... I really don't like that part...) Although I should not complain too much since it's a slow season for floral industry that everyone should be happy to get orders but I still have to say that funeral is not a easy money to make...

Picture above:
Sympathy Wreath in Pastel Tone

Roses
Daisies
Alstromarias
Carnations
Wax Flowers
Leather Ferns
Italian Ruscus

Funeral Sprays

2009-02-22T09:00:00.001-08:00

Most of the time when people want to order a funeral wreath, they often meant funeral spray. A wreath is usually round with hollow in the centre... A spray is usually a big flora arrangement made with a spray cage and let hung on a easel. There are many style of spray arrangement for tribute and is much easy to work with than the wreath. For the price, spray is usually more economic in terms of it's size and flexibility in style. Most florist would love to make spray arrangement instead of wreath since the wreath is always a lot more work than the spray and much messier... By the way, the funeral home or the chapel of the cemetery usually have easels to display spray arrangements unless the flowers send were too many and they ran out of easels. Otherwise, florist never needs to bring their own easel unless requested.

Sympathy Tribute B:

White and Pink Color
Peachy Pink Gladiolus
Pink Snapdragons
Open Stargazer Lilies
White Regular Carnations
White Spray Mini Carnations
Salal
Leather Fern
Tiki
Pink Satin Ribbon for Bow
Spray Cage with Oasis Wrapped with Foil

Sympathy Tributes

2009-02-22T08:40:00.001-08:00

There is no special ingredients to sympathy arrangement. No matter how much people spend on the arrangement, they always expected the flowers to look presentable and big... and tall... Funeral is a sad thing. While people is paying respect to the dead, they are still comparing the flower arrangements they sent. However, no matter what flowers you use, make sure they will last for at least 2-3 days before they put them away. The visitations usually last for 2 days and then they flowers will got tossed away or brought to cemetery for them to dry naturally. As a florist, any funeral order is good order. It's the chance that florist can rotate a lot of open flowers and dated foliage.

Sympathy tribute: Standing spray A
Spring Pestle color: pink white and purple
Purple Irises
Pink Open Stargazer Lilies
White Traciliams
White Alstramerias
Baby's Breathes
Cream Color Snapdragons
Pink Heathers
Salals
Mertels
Leather Ferns
One Block of Oasis Wrapped in Green Foil
Open Spray Cage
Hays - Wrap Ends with Wooden Picks and Stick them in the Oasis to Make Loopy Shapes

Wired Pendant

2009-02-21T16:21:00.001-08:00

I have these two glass pendants for a long time. When I bought them, they were just glass pendants, I mean there is not even one hole in the glass that I can string anything though... Kind of disappointed when I bought it, because I though they were glass beads with holes.... but no... Anyway, on Friday I was too bored and bought 2 beading magazines at Wal-Mart to read. It was Bead& Button - Feb2009 page 86 about Lilian Chen's work that inspired me that even just a plain non-setted stone you can still set it with plain wire... so I finally make the 2 glass things into pendants... with wires... lol Thanks a lot Lilian~

www.beadandbutton.com

Feb 2009 Issue89

Silk Flower Cube Arrangement

2009-02-19T21:32:00.000-08:00

Silk flower arrangements can last forever as long as you can maintain it clean and don't break the container... This is made for one of my regular customer. She only order silk flower arrangements. For Xmas, Thanksgiving she always order new arrangements (although I don't know what she did with the old one...) From time to time, she also order a lot of coffee table low-look cube arrangements... (I always wonder how many coffee table she have at home or office that she need that many...) Anyway, silk arrangement is no different from fresh. Just get the container ready, stick/glue the dry foam in and the start cutting your silk flowers and glue them in. (only use WIRE CUTTER to cut your silk flowers... DO NOT USE scissors) I often have to glue them with the glue from the glue pan (for big arrangements) or glue gun (for smaller one). In this one, I got the glass cube, and stick the dry foam in (with the help of the anchor pins and sticky clay). However, I want to put some small pebbles in between the glass and foam; I have to trim the foam smaller and leave at least 1cm between the gap to fit the pebbles. When cutting the foam, I always leave at least 0.5" on top of the container so that I have room to stick the flowers on the side to cover the edge and make it into a full ball look. From time to time, I also need to glue some moss on the foam to cover the foam from being seen in the arrangement. But for this, since it's a full look one, most of the empty space were covered by flowers or artificial leaves. So I didn't stick any moss on it. Where to get the artificial leaves? They are the leftover foliage from the silk flower stems I used in the arrangement. Just wire them or stem them with wooden picks or metal stemming machine. You will have lots of silk leaves to use~

Yellow+Pink

2009-02-19T21:22:00.000-08:00

People tend to order arrangements with yellow and pinkish purple mixtures when it's close to spring time. Although now it's still snow and stormy outside, we need to look at something in bright and cheerful colors such as flower arrangements with lots of yellow and pink~

This arrangement is actually for sympathy...

However, it could be multipurpose...

Glass Vase

Leather Ferns

Yellow Tiger Lilies

Yellow Roses - Gold Strike

Pink Snapdragons

Pink and Cream color Stocks

Yellow Solid Asters

Yellow and Pink Daisies

Pink Wax Flowers

Blue+Pink+Yellow

2009-02-19T21:16:00.000-08:00

Just something I made this morning for delivery. Arrangement in a glass cube. Glass cube arrangement seems to be a trend now for floral design now. More of a modern contemporary look.

Arrangement here:

Glass Cube (I used 4-1/2" square cube here)

Blue Hydrangeas

Blue Irises

Pink Stargazer Lilies

Yellow Tiger Lilies

Purple Statics

Salal Leaves

Presentation Bouquet - deal with the Open Flowers

2009-02-19T20:20:00.000-08:00

One thing the florist always worries about is the flowers open too quickly before they got sold. It depends on the variety of the flower, environment, temperature or the quality and the maturity of the product. For example, there are so many different variety and color of the roses. Some of fast opener; some are slow opener. Some open big and wide; some open in funny shape or just open a bit. If the rose bud got harvest before maturity, it will stay as a bullet, and will not open. If the roses don't get stored in fridge but room temp, it will open up fast. But for those do open up wide and only have a few days of vase life, what do a florist usually do with them? There are couple ways. If there are funeral orders, the open flowers are great for showing, especially for funeral arrangements. Some florists will mix the good-condition open flowers in regular arrangement and leave the rest of the ugly open flowers. Some will bring them home to enjoy the open flowers themselves if they didn't get sold. But there is one way to sell the open flowers fast. It is to package them in beautiful wrapping into a presentation bouquet. If you have a open display fridge, these pre-made bouquets are hot sellers. Popular wrapping materials can be found anywhere. Just be creative: fabric wrap, mesh, real fabric, trims, feathers, ribbons, hays, felts, papers, tissues and etc... Just wrap them like a nice looking present that when people look at it, they will want to get it for their love one~ Packaging is always important for retail~

Ambiance Roses presnetation bouquet:

16 Open Roses (Yellow with Red Tip - Ambiance)

Salal Leaves

Artificial White Feather - scarf form (just loop and tuck around the finished hand-tie rose bouquet)

Wet Oasis

Clear Cellophane (handtie roses -> stuck the roses in wet oasis -> wrap oasis with cello to prevent water leak)

Some peach color wax tissues

Yellow fabric wrap

Yellow Satin Ribbon -> for bow

Economy Crisis V.S. Valentine's Day

2009-02-17T20:31:00.000-08:00

In the past few years, I'd noticed the trend of flower sales drop during Valentine period. What is the Valentine period? Usually it's the week from February 7 to Valentine's Day on 14th. Usually, the whole week will be as busy as hell. People ordering flowers through the phone; Internet orders shooting out of the printer till the paper is out; lots of walk in inquiries and roses pre-ordering. But this year is kind of weird. People don't tend to start ordering till the 2 days before Valentine's Day. It seems that people thought about not to spend at the beginning but at the end they feel that they still need to spend on flowers/roses for Valentine... It's kind of sad that to see the retail industry volume had dropped big time. Although you can say that on the 13th and the 14th, flower shop is the most popular store out of all retails. but whatever been made over these 2 days were used to cover the expenses during the dead month of January... Anyway, so far it seems to be a smooth Valentine for most of the shops. No major crises had happens in the industry and the weather had permitted for most of the deliveries. In the past few years, people had choose to pick up flowers in store more often than have them delivered. Our delivery orders had decreased about 50% from last year; but the pick up orders had increased. From the sudden increase of dramatic walk-in sales on 13th and 14th, you can feel the panic and the stress from people looking for flower shops and see if they still have roses available. We ordered about 2500 roses (75% red, others are mixed color), red color were sold out at 5pm, one hour before we closed the store. I know some other store were out at 2pm since they didn't stock up too crazy. However, the spending power has dropped big time this year. More single, 2/3-roses or mixed bouquet sales than dozen roses sale. People would rather spend on dozen tulips more than dozen roses~ Economy crises do have a big impact on the flora industry. It's the global issue that the demand on gift giving items had decreased. On flora industry, it affects on quality and selection of fresh flower supplies, increased cost of shipping and less flora suppliers to choose from if more suppliers can not survive through this economy crises. Hopefully the situation will get a bit better in the next few years.

Red cube vase arrangement with Grass Heart:

Red roses - Forever Young
Hot pink asters
Variegated Pitt
Salal
Lily Grasses+Bear Grasses
Oasis for Fresh
Red Glass Cube

Get Married in Caribbean

2009-02-07T15:42:00.000-08:00

On Friday I have to make a small wedding bouquet for a lady who work at flight center. She is going to get married in Caribbean. I asked her, why you are ordering fresh bouquet instead of artificial. You cannot possibly bring it through Canadian Custom XD. She said she got everything planed out at the resort oversea. The fresh bouquet is just for her to bring to a small reception in Toronto before they fly down to resort~ She had invited 60 guests; and each of the guest cost $1600... $o$... CAD$96000 for a wedding in Caribbean... For me it's the down payment of the house... LOL Anyway, although the economy is pretty bad out here ow, it's good to see people still spending money to boost economy of the world. Although I will never spend that kind of money on myself; maybe one day I will have to spend it on my daughter... on her wedding... in another 15 years... Just a maybe...

Small wedding bouquet displayed in a clear square vase:
2 tone orange-yellow Gerbera Daisies
2 tone White with Reddish Pink Roses (Blush)
White Vendella Roses
Italian Ruscus
Variegated Pitt
Small Bouquet Holder for Fresh Flowers
White Mesh Ribbon - Wrapped on wooden picks
Beige Satin Ribbon - Wrap the bouquet Stick (use glue gun)

Ready for Valentine?

2009-02-05T22:01:00.001-08:00

It's only 9 days away from Valentine's day. As a florist, we all know it will be like hell... have to prepare grandpa's funeral, at the mean time, get very stressful from the holiday rush. Valentine's day and mother's day are the florist's worst nightmare... I can start to feel that my nose cannot handle the amount of roses and baby's breath which will trigger my allergy attack. I'm getting sick now... headache, running nose, sneezing like crazy and no energy. I really cannot tell if it's just my nose allergy or I'd got the same cold from my little one... He had running nose too... Anyway, hope everything will go well and we can have a happy Valentine... followed by Family Day on Monday. Flu Flu please go away....

-Rosy Heart-

Flower arrangement above:

Mixed Red roses (Forever Young), White roses (Vendella) and Pink roses (Sophie)

Variegated Pitt

Bear Grass

Wooden tray waterproof treated

Oasis

Grandpa's Funeral

2009-02-04T22:03:00.000-08:00

It's strange that my first post on my new blog is about my grandfather. I just got a call from my mother this afternoon at the shop about my grandfather passed away on Monday night. When I heard the news, mixed feeling came up to me. Mom mentioned about the funeral flowers and visitation date and time... I was calm and wrote down all the things I need to do, and then told the news to my husband. This is the first time I'm going to make funeral flowers for my own family. I'd made so many sympathy arrangements for many other families before; and now it's my turn for mine. I missed my grandpa and wished I was there for him. Now he doesn't have to suffer anymore from his illness at the age of 83. After in and out of hospital emergency room for so long, finally the angel had took him to a better place with no pain and suffering. I love you Grandpa... In deepest sympathy...

Blue and White Arrangement Above:
White Snapdragons
White Stocks
Blue Delphiniums
Cream Color Alstromerias
White Dendrobium Orchids
Blue Irises
White Roses (Vendella)
Salal
Seeded Eucalyptus
Cylinder Glass Vase

Patricia's Studio Blog

Where's my motivation?!

Done colouring...

Fairy with Ocarina ready to colour

Back to Pastel / Charcoal drawing

New web look for Patricia Studio, New service for Custom Logo Design

Fantasy/Portrait Painting Practice

More dogs are out///

Another Dream... Kicking soccer ball?

*Night Dream* Cutting someone's hair?!

Who let the dogs out?!

Little Red Riding Hood...

Finally a new physio found...

My mermaid love...

New Mermaid Art in Progress

Patricia's Studio Ebay store change...

New homepage look

Moving on...

Bold Look Gothic Wired Ring

Hammered Wired Jewelry

Horse ACEO Art and Fairy Art

Got Sick...

Renovating website

Fairy art lover

Mermaid art again~

Finally finished this painting...

Waiting...

Turning point?

About Pam and Cathy's Children Book

24 hours a day is not enough...

Easter gone so fast...

Future plans and new projects on hand...

Fantasy Character Creating

Starting my documenting book...

Cannot wait to see the movie Alice in Wonderland

The New Cast

Busy week(s)...

clay project for my daughter

Fantasy Rapunzel

ACEO Landscapes

My first "Fairy and Horse" Series

Fantacy painting

Exotic theme painting

Contrast in Watercolor

Details about painting animals

Portraits

* cough *

Life is full of surprises~~~

New Zazzle Store

My arms are dead... XD

New way of recycle?

Last get together for holiday...

New Year Resolution~

Finally found my acrylic paints...

Holiday Eating Disorder...

Style Experimenting

All Hobbits look so similar... my bad...

Lord of the Rings Fan Art

Fun ACEO

Pingu candy land...

Snow Snow Snow

Last day from Retail

First Day at the New Store~

Need Time Off...

Time is limited... Just be Happy~

Wedding and Prom Season is Here~

Thanks Mom!!!

Getting Moody...

Making Boutonniere...

Corsage Demo

Got Bugged...

Wedding in March with Roses

Funeral Order Stress...

Funeral Sprays

Sympathy Tributes

Wired Pendant

Silk Flower Cube Arrangement

Yellow+Pink

Blue+Pink+Yellow

Presentation Bouquet - deal with the Open Flowers

Night Dream Cutting someone's hair?!