Happy Holidays! {and I am taking a break from blogging for the next two weeks}

Hello my friends –

Are you ready for Christmas and New Years?

I had big plans to keep juggling preparations for the upcoming holidays while also being especially productive in the studio. However, this morning I realized it would be best for my sanity to take a break from blogging, and return in the New Year refreshed.

I will return to blogging on the first Monday of the new year {January 7th}. While away I will continue snapping photos via Instagram {efloydstudio}

May you have a blessed holiday and a joyful new year’s eve!

Liz

instagram: efloydstudio

The Bountiful Observations Series {end of year review}

As we are near the end of the year, I thought it would be fun to highlight some of my favorite paintings from this series.

Dandelions

In a Private Collection

This composition embraces my personal philosophy on art and beauty, in that even ordinary things have the potential of being remarkable. Here are common dandelions, weeds to many people, however as flowers taken away from someone’s perfect lawn, I think they are just beautiful.

Red Amaryllis

Available - $300 framed

The flower was the third bloom an amaryllis bulb gave me last winter, and I viewed it as a special gift. Like an unexpected gift from a good friend. Just because.

On the day that I completed this painting it was a bright and beautiful day, sunny and clear after a week of heavy overcast. Everything came together, and I just remember feeling the energy and excitement of it and how a sense of the promise that spring was not that far off was in the air...

Gray Symphony – Quite Moment

In a Private Collection

This was the first painting completed after two very stressful weeks as a mother caring for my daughter, Naomi. We came out of this time fine, better informed and able to adapt for her needs. When I returned to the easel, I was feeling at such peace with the world that this painting just seemed to flow out of me.

Like a symphony flows over you, with all the senses energized, but at the same time you are quiet, listening, and have a heightened sense of awareness.

Still Life with Crabapples, Hydrangea, and Canning Jar

In a Private Collection

The quality of light was going through the seasonal change from summer to autumn when this painting was completed, as were the plants in the garden. It was my goal with this composition to highlight these seasonal changes. I was captivated by the fleeting golden reflections on the glass, the ripening of the crab apples from green to red, and a hydrangea deepening in color due to the temperatures dropping during the nights.

I find it so amazing that there are so many subtle details that begin to announce the changing of the seasons. Often overlooked in the busy-ness of the day, however when a moment is taken to just notice, I always feel so much more refreshed and full of life.

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This series was my attempt to document the year, gathering flowers, plants, and observed impressions of the seasons and distilling these thoughts into the creative process of art making. I was inspired to embark on a project that would improve my sense of observation while also keeping me accountable to paint on a weekly basis while adjusting to the new demands of being a mother.

It was such a rewarding process, that I have decided to continue working on this series into the next year. Adapting the format some to account for another layer of exploration. So where this year every painting of the series was 8 x 8 inches square, in 2013 I am going to allow a bit more freedom of size. I am thinking to work within the sizes: 8" x 8", 8” x 10”, 10” x 12”, and 12” x 12”, varying the format depending on what type of composition I am inspired to capture.

Having another year to explore the impressions of how bountiful the seasons are will hopefully enable the opportunities to incorporate some of the blooms and details that went out of season before I had a chance to paint them this year.  I am particularly looking forward to the spring time!

As this series continues, please signup to receive email updates so you do not miss a new painting.

Thanks for visiting and reading,

Liz

Tone on Tone {Friday Inspiraton}

{a beautiful wall in the store}

A few weeks ago I had the opportunity to visit Loi Thai's Swedish antiques store, Tone on Tone, in Bethesda, MD. A beautiful store full of predominantly Swedish furniture, antique creamware, and antique botanical illustrations. While there I fell in love with all the creamware, especially a grouping of pitchers.

{love these pitchers... I want them all for my paintings}

Loi is also the author of the beautiful blog, Tone on Tone. Where he posts about interiors, his design philosophy, and his travels. If you want a short escape to savor beautiful images and come away refreshed and rejuvenated, then I highly encourage you to become a weekly visitor to Loi's blog.

Here are some of my favorite posts from the last few months.

. spending a day at home

. collecting creamware

. in his garden at the end of summer

and his christmas tree is so beautiful!

Have a wonderful weekend,

Liz

Gingerbread Man Cookie Ornaments

This December I became a bit concerned about how to decorate the Christmas tree because we have a large collection of glass ornaments. And now that Naomi is a toddler, and that she gets into EVERYTHING, I feared for her safety with a tree full of glass ornaments and I did not like the idea of only decorating half the tree. Instead I opted for something we could decorate with while also involving Naomi with the process, and gingerbread man cookies came to the rescue.

When I was young I would make Christmas decorations with gingerbread. The decorations always smelled so good and looked so festive, so it seemed like a good idea for this year.

I adapted the Honey-Spice Gingerbread Cookie recipe from this December's Martha Stewart Living magazine to meet Naomi's dietary needs by removing the dairy and tree nut ingredients and substituting palm oil shortening.

The recipe calls for a lot of steps in the rolling out phase, which I did not do for the sake of saving some time. The cookies still cut well and kept their shape, so if you try this recipe you may also want to do this to cut your time down some.

Naomi loved icing the cookies and really loves to eat the cookies.  Some mornings the first thing she does is walk up to the tree and take a cookie down for a bite or two.  So some of the poor gingerbread man cookies have little bites taken out of them...

December's Bounty {Bountiful Observations no. 45}

December’s Bounty

{8" x 8" (20.3 x 20.3 cm) – oil on canvas panel}

Available for purchase via Online Auction

Framed painting: $300.00 starting bid + S&H

Sometimes a painting just comes together.

Last week I focused on another painting for this series, but my heart was not in it, and it did not express the feelings I have for this festive month. I wanted to create a painting that did, so I thought a bit about it, what I wanted to include that would distinguish and celebrate all that is available during the month of December.

When I found a potted hellebore at Whole Foods, I brought it home knowing it had to become part of the painting I wanted to create. Hellebore also goes by the name, Christmas rose, so it seemed perfect to include in the painting I had been building in my mind. I am drawn to the delicate structure of these flowers, and wanted to emphasize how luminous the petals are, even on a gray, low-light day in December. Thus the painting is darker in key than usual to emphasize the white petals.

Everything else just fell into place, the holly had been gathered earlier in the week and during the winter months I always have pomegranates around.  So after several days of thinking of a painting, one just seemed to come together.

I hope you have a wonderful Monday and enjoy this festive season.

Liz

{14" x 14" (35.6 x 35.6 cm) with frame}

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This is a painting from my Bountiful Observations series, with 25% of the net proceeds of each sale being donated to the American Horticultural Society.

Making Christmas {Friday Inspiration}

What is it that gets you in the mood for the holidays most?

For me, its wrapping gifts. Every year, I try to come up with a unifying component that brings all the wrapped gifts together, and this year I was inspired to incorporate a little greenery into all of the packages.

With the help of some florist tape, wire, herbs from the garden, and ribbon these mini-wreaths can be made in minutes.

I gathered thyme, rosemary, and oregano.

Have a wonderful weekend!

Liz

Fields and Sky Landscape Painting & the new series, On the Road

Rural Virginia 4

approx 5” x 9” (12.7 x 22.9 cm)– oil on gessoed paper }

Available for purchase via Online Auction

Matted painting: $175.00 starting bid + S&H

Do you love the open road? When you want to get away, do you drive in your car, like Peter Gabriel sings In Your Eyes?

For me, the answer is yes to these questions and many more that delve into the subject of self discovery and the road trip. For I love the American landscape, the openness, the scenes that fly by when driving fast on an interstate, and the fleeting images that also fill my mind when I look back on an era and thinki about the places visited then.

And these ideas are the inspiration behind this new series of landscape paintings, On the Road.

Over the next year, I hope to paint many views of the American landscape, some from photos I have taken, and most from photos given to me by others. Currently, I am looking for photo submissions, so please send me some from one of your favorite road trips and let's see where this painted journey will take us.

{How the painting looks matted, ready to pop into an 11” x 14” frame}

Feel free to send an email {contact@elizabethfloyd.com} with a few of your images, please use "On the Road Photos" in the subject line. 

Thanks,

Liz

Artists Helping Artists Podcast this Thursday, 12/6

Hello,

This Thursday {12/6/2012} at 12 noon EST/9am PST, I am excited to be a guest co-host on the fantastically informative and always fun Artists Helping Artists podcast.  The show's topic will be the "20 Most Important Tools/Tips for Your Studio".

Leslie has been building a list but we would love any additional suggestions to add, especially as some advice expands upon a topic so much more...  Please leave a comment with your thoughts or email them!

Listen live this Thursday, or download it to listen to the show and past shows at your convenience via iTunes.

Liz

High Tea {Bountiful Observations no. 44}

High Tea

{8" x 8" (20.3 x 20.3 cm) – oil on canvas panel}

Available for purchase via Online Auction

Framed painting: $400.00 starting bid + S&H

Do you have a dream? Something that falls within the lines of a new focus or spending your energy on a new path?

I like to think that art inspires greater awareness in life, thus art inspires embracing life more fully. Encouraging an openness to what is in front of you, actively asking you to find ways to appreciate what is nice, what is pleasant, so that things begin to add value in unexpected ways.

All this enables the possibility of dreams being allowed in, allowed to grow, and maybe someday attained.

{14" x 14" (35.6 x 35.6 cm) with frame}

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This is a painting from my Bountiful Observations series, with 25% of the net proceeds of each sale being donated to the American Horticultural Society.