Acrylic on canvas 24x24
Flowers #12
Saturday, April 4, 2015
Friday, April 3, 2015
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Saturday, February 21, 2015
First Friday Art Tour Downtown Santa Cruz
First Friday Art Tour Downtown Santa Cruz
Join me on Friday February 6th, 2015 from 5-8pm on First Friday to view my latest artwork hung in their shop for the month of March! There will be refreshments and desserts as well as cupcakes, of course!
More information: http://firstfridaysantacruz.com/buttercup-cakes-farm-house-frosting-deb-r-collins/
Saturday, October 18, 2014
October 2014 Art
It's not fall leaves, it's not cloudy days. I'm still thinking about summer and decided to do a few paintings that will help to keep it around for another few weeks!
These pieces were inspired by the microscopic coatings used on silicon wafers.
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| Deb R Collins Art 16x16 Watercolor on art board "Silicon Flowers #1" Front view |
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| Deb R Collins Art 16x16 Watercolor on art board "Silicon Flowers #1" Side view |
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| Deb R Collins Art 16x16 Watercolor on art board "Silicon Flowers #1" Side view |
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| Deb R Collins Art 24x12 Watercolor on art board "Silicon Flowers #2" Front view |
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| Deb R Collins Art 24x12 Watercolor on art board "Silicon Flowers #2" Side view |
Friday, September 26, 2014
Artist Secrets Series: Using (legal) images from the web as inspiration for your artwork.
Understanding how to make use of the millions of Creative Commons Images as inspiration for your artwork.
When painting in the studio, there are many situations that I find myself needing several images to help in making one painting. Often I have an image that I have taken myself but want to add elements that aren't in the original photo. When this happens, I turn to Creative Commons images.
To take advantage of the millions of images available I use a Google search engine to filter and show only these images.
- Navigate to www.google.com and type in a search such as "gargoyles"
- In the results of your search, click on the "Images" text at the top of the page. This will show you only images.
- On the far right of the area where you choose "Images" click on "Search Tools". This will bring up another menu below the first.
- Look for the "Usage rights" option and click the arrow to its right.
- In the dropdown menu choose "Labeled for Noncommercial reuse with modification"
These images can be used as models without infringing on anyones rights.
Creative Commons Licensing
- Attribution: CC BY - lets others distribute, remix, tweak, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation.
- Attribution-ShareAlike: CC BY-SA - lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work even for commercial purposes, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms.
- Attribution-NoDerivs: CC BY-ND - allows for redistribution, commercial and non-commercial, as long as it is passed along unchanged and in whole, with credit to you.
- Attribution-NonCommercial: CC BY-NC - lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, and although their new works must also acknowledge you and be non-commercial, they don’t have to license their derivative works on the same terms.
- Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike: CC BY-NC-SA - lets others remix, tweak, and build upon your work non-commercially, as long as they credit you and license their new creations under the identical terms.
- Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs: CC BY-NC-ND - most restrictive of our six main licenses, only allowing others to download your works and share them with others as long as they credit you, but they can’t change them in any way or use them commercially.
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
Here's Why you Must Continue to Create Art
This idea came from a TED talk where Adam Savage talks about the Maltese Falcon statue.
Title: Adam Savage: My obsession with objects and the stories they tell. http://www.ted.com/talks/adam_savage_s_obsessions#t-443717
Sunday, September 7, 2014
2014 Tour & Taste of The Valley
Another beautiful day in sunny California! What a great day at the September 2014 Tour & Taste of The Valley charity event. http://www.tourandtasteofthevalley.org/. It was great hanging out with my fellow SoCal artist buddies on Saturday. Thanks for the hospitality. Looking forward to next year. |
| Deb R Collins artwork donation for the 2014 Tour & Taste of The Valley |
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| Deb R Collins booth at the 2014 Tour & Taste of The Valley |
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| 2014 Tour & Taste of The Valley, Orcutt, Ca USA |
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Wednesday, September 3, 2014
Artist Statement
I try to capture the vibrating electric energy I feel around me. Sometimes it's light or wind or even the energy put out by a peaked mountain or the ever reaching branches of an Oak tree. I see this energy in full bright and vibrant color. Most of the time my watercolor paintings end up being an impression or an abstract of the real thing. Recently I've been exploring things underground, which is showing up in my newer paintings such as "Down Under". I live in California near the San Anderas fault and even though earthquakes aren't that often, I'm always aware of what might be going on under my feet.
Art has always been a companion and a way of quiet reflection for me. For years I worked teaching computer classes, doing website design, and being the go to technical software and computer guru. On the side though, I have always been a photographer and a painter. Unlike in the technical computer world of numbers, painting is where anything is possible, there are no boundaries and no limits. I use painting as a way to explore endless images and colors I see around me. Every new piece is a mini vacation in my head! Sometimes I begin with a photo, a dream, an emotion to things around me, or even a shape or color.
The watercolor paints I use today came after several years of trying different mediums. I settled on watercolor because I liked the transparency and the ability to carefully layer each color - and the freedom I feel when using it. My technique has definitely evolved over the years. Because of my technical background my older work has very fine lines and would be considered "realistic" (left brained). Although these paintings get a positive response for my fans, I found that I felt literally caged by the process. At the risk of loosing collectors, I chose to move over to what I felt the right side of my brain wanted (I am left handed after all!)
I try to capture the vibrating electric energy I feel around me. Sometimes it's light or wind or even the energy put out by a peaked mountain or the ever reaching branches of an Oak tree. I see this energy in full bright and vibrant color. Most of the time my watercolor paintings end up being an impression or an abstract of the real thing. Recently I've been exploring things underground, which is showing up in my newer paintings such as "Down Under". I live in California near the San Anderas fault and even though earthquakes aren't that often, I'm always aware of what might be going on under my feet.
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| Down Under by Deb R Collins |
The watercolor paints I use today came after several years of trying different mediums. I settled on watercolor because I liked the transparency and the ability to carefully layer each color - and the freedom I feel when using it. My technique has definitely evolved over the years. Because of my technical background my older work has very fine lines and would be considered "realistic" (left brained). Although these paintings get a positive response for my fans, I found that I felt literally caged by the process. At the risk of loosing collectors, I chose to move over to what I felt the right side of my brain wanted (I am left handed after all!)
Contact me anytime deb@debrcollins.com I hope that you enjoy my work!
2014 Tour & Taste of The Valley | Benefiting The Boys and Girls Club
Join me on Saturday, September 6th in Historic Old Town Orcutt, California USA |
| Down Under by Deb R Collins |
Celebrate doing something good for local kids at the festival while enjoying art, food, beer, and wine tasting. There will be live music, a fully loaded raffle, guaranteed sunshine and artisan vendors.
How to get there: The 2014 Tour & Taste of The Valley.
Saturday, September 6, 2014 11-3 PM 35 S Broadway St Orcutt, CA 93455 USA
Google Map: https://goo.gl/maps/oGSY6
Main Website: http://www.tourandtasteofthevalley.org/
Thursday, August 28, 2014
The Punch Card Analogy - For The Artist
I was reading an article today about Warren Buffet turning 84 this week. There was a quote in the article from Warren Buffet that I thought could be translated over to anyone. I've replaced a few words to make it more applicable to the rest of us. The original quote is at the bottom of the page.
BTW, I have a few punches left on my card and a few that were wasted, but my life changing decision to jump back into art and painting was an excellent card punch indeed!
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| stinascardtricks.blogspot.com |
Original Quote ---------------------------------------------
"You’d get very rich if you thought of yourself as having a card with only twenty punches in a lifetime, and every financial decision used up one punch. You’d resist the temptation to dabble. You’d make more good decisions and you’d make more big decisions." —Warren Buffett , quoted in The Snowball,by Alice Schroeder source: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/article/20140827165018-229992090-you-only-live-once-do-it-warren-buffett-s-way
Sunday, August 10, 2014
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| Natural Arch by Deb R Collins |
Note to self: Strive for this every day
“What the really great artists do is they're entirely themselves. They're entirely themselves, they've got their own vision, they have their own way of fracturing reality, and if it's authentic and true, you will feel it in your nerve endings.”
― David Foster Wallace (1962-2008)
Friday, August 1, 2014
Coloring
Worlds one person at a time | Deb R Collins
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| Italian Spring by Deb R Collins |
Most artists begin work on a piece by finding a subject that evokes their own emotions ultimately with the goal of helping others see and feel the subject as the artist sees and feels it. That ability; to see something special that others may not, then reveal that to the viewer is such a special skill. It’s
why I feel that ALL artist are truly wonderful teachers.
My artwork is
bold and vibrant and in your face. For me, it’s about showing you what I see and hopefully evoking the emotion of happiness!
Like so many
other artists, my love of art began at an early age. My father was a mechanical draftsman whose
drawings were very precise and perfectly lettered. My mother repaired
antique artwork with an artistic touch that still bewilders me. There were always
art supplies on hand and I always experimented. As a rebellious teen I spent
time looking for a genre that kept me as far away as possible from the dark and
monochromatic works of my parents.
Regardless of my choice in color, my mother always encouraged me to play with art. She told me that because I was left handed, I was the right side brain "creative one". And I believed her.
I drifted in and out of art and I worked in acrylic paints for years, but was never really satisfied with it. Several years ago, I happened upon a set of watercolor paints. Determined from that point on to learn watercolor painting, I decided I would paint until the paints ran out.
The paints never ran out because I loved it so much that I kept buying more paint! Watercolor paint is a fickle medium to work with. Watercolor can be "controlled" but the fun of the medium is in the "un-controlled" results!
I drifted in and out of art and I worked in acrylic paints for years, but was never really satisfied with it. Several years ago, I happened upon a set of watercolor paints. Determined from that point on to learn watercolor painting, I decided I would paint until the paints ran out.
The paints never ran out because I loved it so much that I kept buying more paint! Watercolor paint is a fickle medium to work with. Watercolor can be "controlled" but the fun of the medium is in the "un-controlled" results!
For years I've successfully worked technical jobs behind a computer. I admit that I loved the technical aspect of computing, but drawing on a computer and drawing with your hands on paper is not the same.
A gleaming example of why I paint happened not that long ago. A sunrise that I had planned to keep in my home above my front door caught the eye of a friend. She admired the painting and how bright and cheerful, she felt when looking at it. She asked if she could purchase the painting to give it to her 16 year old niece who had been recently diagnosed with cancer...to cheer her up and help her through the tough road ahead.
Painting makes me feel good, it elevates me. When I paint the world around me (my world) is perfect.
As I began to realize that painting was a healthy obsession, I turned my focused on creating a cohesive body of work that I could present to the world. As my living room started to fill up (and my husband, bless his heart, started asking where I was going with this) I began the search for a place to display my artwork. And so it began.
I find it pretty easy to be inspired by the beauty around me. I get a lot of inspiration from the ocean and redwood forests in the area that I live. Sometimes, though, ideas come from a dream. If they subject make sense, I'll go ahead and draw it out on paper.
When I'm not painting or working, I spend time outside exploring the Santa Cruz Mountains with my husband.
I hope that you enjoy my artwork and most of all, I hope that it makes you smile!
Warmly,
Deb R Colllins
www.debrcollins.com
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| Sunrise by Deb R Collins |
A gleaming example of why I paint happened not that long ago. A sunrise that I had planned to keep in my home above my front door caught the eye of a friend. She admired the painting and how bright and cheerful, she felt when looking at it. She asked if she could purchase the painting to give it to her 16 year old niece who had been recently diagnosed with cancer...to cheer her up and help her through the tough road ahead.
Painting makes me feel good, it elevates me. When I paint the world around me (my world) is perfect.
As I began to realize that painting was a healthy obsession, I turned my focused on creating a cohesive body of work that I could present to the world. As my living room started to fill up (and my husband, bless his heart, started asking where I was going with this) I began the search for a place to display my artwork. And so it began.
I find it pretty easy to be inspired by the beauty around me. I get a lot of inspiration from the ocean and redwood forests in the area that I live. Sometimes, though, ideas come from a dream. If they subject make sense, I'll go ahead and draw it out on paper.
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| SunriseII by Deb R Collins |
I hope that you enjoy my artwork and most of all, I hope that it makes you smile!
Warmly,
Deb R Colllins
www.debrcollins.com
Tuesday, July 15, 2014
What watercolor art with no glass?
What, watercolor art with no glass?
Watercolor paint is essentially ground up pigment mixed with water and other and liquids that is painted on a paper surface. Because of it's makeup it tends to be a bit fragile. All it takes is a little bit of water and a watercolor painting can be ruined.
Which brings me to the subject of glass.
In my studio I use the highest quality pigments, paper, and tools. In addition, the quality of my goes beyond the studio to my customer's experience. I want people to experience my artwork in it's most raw form and that means not under glass if possible.
I use Golden brand varnish that has been designed (among other things) to seal watercolor paintings. These varnishes contain UVLS (Ultra Violet Light Stabilizers) which work to reduce the effects of any UV radiation. Using these varnishes allows me to display my artwork on a gallery quality board just like oil and acrylic paintings.
Interestingly note: some art societies believe that the process of varnishing and mounting watercolor artwork turns it into mixed media artwork.
Cleaning
In most cases a light dusting should do the trick, if something has spilled on the surface of a varnish sealed painting, a damp cloth can be used to lightly wipe it down. If the varnish is damaged it may be necessary to contact an artwork restorer. If you have additional questions, please feel free to contact me at deb@debrcollins.com for a prompt response.
Watercolor paint is essentially ground up pigment mixed with water and other and liquids that is painted on a paper surface. Because of it's makeup it tends to be a bit fragile. All it takes is a little bit of water and a watercolor painting can be ruined.
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| Drip by Deb R. Collins |
In my studio I use the highest quality pigments, paper, and tools. In addition, the quality of my goes beyond the studio to my customer's experience. I want people to experience my artwork in it's most raw form and that means not under glass if possible.
I use Golden brand varnish that has been designed (among other things) to seal watercolor paintings. These varnishes contain UVLS (Ultra Violet Light Stabilizers) which work to reduce the effects of any UV radiation. Using these varnishes allows me to display my artwork on a gallery quality board just like oil and acrylic paintings.
Interestingly note: some art societies believe that the process of varnishing and mounting watercolor artwork turns it into mixed media artwork.
Cleaning
In most cases a light dusting should do the trick, if something has spilled on the surface of a varnish sealed painting, a damp cloth can be used to lightly wipe it down. If the varnish is damaged it may be necessary to contact an artwork restorer. If you have additional questions, please feel free to contact me at deb@debrcollins.com for a prompt response.
Sunday, June 22, 2014
Bonnie Doon Art and Wine Festival
The Bonnie Doon Art and Wine Festival is a yearly event to raise funds for the nonprofit Bonny Doon Community School Foundation (BDCSF). I was fortunate enough to be able to sell my art at this event. I wasn't sure what to expect as I had never attended it before. I had heard great things though, and wasn't disappointed.
Among gorgeous redwood trees, a steady stream of shoppers kept me on my feet the whole day. This was the first outdoor event that I've attended as a seller and sales were better than I had expected. I'll definitely come back next year.
Oh yeah, the amazing food was catered by New Leaf Market (sponsor) and the beer and wine is soooo worth the higher than normal entrance fee (All-inclusive tickets are $55.00).
How to get there: The 12th Annual Bonny Doon Art & Wine Festival. Saturday, June 21, 2014 1-6 PM Bonny Doon Equestrian Park 3675 Bonny Doon Road, Bonnie Doon, California USA
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
Thoughts on selling artwork
More artwork at http://www.debrcollins.com/
No matter how hard I try, selling artwork is just a little hard for me. I find myself holding an attachment to my paintings, of course! Why wouldn't you spend hours or days or weeks working on a piece and not feel anything. But really, what a wonderful thing to be able to hand a painting over to the person who will hopefully look at and enjoy it for many years. Really is just some pulp, water, and pigment - but I was able to manipulate those things to make someone smile or give them a thoughtful moment. I sold this piece of myself today and I love the idea of it floating around the world for who knows how long :)
Sunday, June 8, 2014
Onto the next project! Bonnie Doon Art and Wine Festival later this month
View artwork at http://www.debrcollins.com/
I set up in the back yard to make sure I had all of the tools and equipment needed for the event. A big thank you to my husband for coming up with a lovely way to hang my original artwork.
Tuesday, June 3, 2014
4 Panel Abstract Watercolor
Just finished a four panel piece that I've been working off and on for the last few months. I decided to work on this piece because I've been asked by several people why I don't create larger pieces. Since I really enjoy working with small scale pieces 10x14 inches, I decided to paint four panels into one large painting. I'm encouraged to do a few more like this over the next year.
More artwork at http://www.debrcollins.com/
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Zion National Park
My husband and I just came back from a trip to Zion National Park in UTAH USA. I was very inspired by the mountains there and just finished working on a painting inspired by the blowing winds and peaked mountains. I plan to do a few more in the series, but here is a peek at the latest one.
I liked it so much that I decided to make some postcards from it and another piece of art. I'll be using them at the Bonnie Doon Art and Wine Festival on June 21st. http://www.bonnydoonartandwinefestival.com/
I liked it so much that I decided to make some postcards from it and another piece of art. I'll be using them at the Bonnie Doon Art and Wine Festival on June 21st. http://www.bonnydoonartandwinefestival.com/
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