Studio News, Latest Works & Musings On A Coastal Life

Holiday Special for my new Coastal Art & Poetry Prints

matted to fit a standard 8x10 frame.

Buy two prints and get a third one FREE. 

$16.00 each.  $48.00 value for $32.00.

See the collection here.

Just make your selections and write the title of your free print in the

shopping cart's "Note To Seller".

Offer expires Wednesday, December 5th. 
Be sure to get your order in early

to ensure that your prints arrive in time for gift giving.

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The mats for my new coastal Art & Poetry Print collection just arrived, and I've put together the first batch of prints into the final product.  They are open edition prints, and are printed on matte photo paper with archival inks. Each image size is 5x7 and comes with a ph neutral mat to fit a standard 8x10 frame.

Here's a photo of what they look like matted:

The paper and the mats are a crisp white, and the style is clean and contemporary.  They would look great in a very simple frame in either white, natural or a warm honey or light cherry finish.   You will find the complete collection on my website here, where you can read the poems.    They are very affordable and make great gifts for both children and adults.

I have just completed the creation of my collection of open edition Art & Poetry Prints, which combine most of the coastal paintings  and poems that are featured in my little book titled "Ocean Songs For The Young At Heart." 

When I put together the book, I wanted to also offer the individual poems along with their accompanying painting, but wasn't sure what format this would take.  I finally came up with a design that I'm quite pleased with.  Here are a couple of examples, first a vertical format for "Moon Tide":

The overall image size of the prints are 5" x 7" and are matted in white to fit a standard 8" x 10" frame.  They are printed on matte photo paper with archival inks and the mat is ph neutral. 

Here's a horizontal format for "The Murex":

The text on this website shows up as slightly fuzzy due to a text pixelation issue with the JPEG images, which unfortunately I have no control over.  However, the prints themselves are very crisp and clean, without any pixelation. 

They are priced at $16.00 and make great gifts for a child or an adult.  You can purchase them here. 

I recently developed some prototypes of a product idea for Art & Poetry Hanging Cards, based on my book of paintings and poems titled "Ocean Songs For The Young At Heart".  They are 5" x 7" printed on sturdy card stock, with the painting image on one side and it's accompanying poem on the other.  The card is embellished with a seashell and a ribbon for hanging.  There's also a nice little eyelet to strengthen the area where the ribbon threads through the paper. 

Individual cards would be packaged in a clear bag so that both sides are visible.

                 
"Another Day In Paradise" Art & Poetry Hanging Card

© Barbara Blair

I made up samples of several of the hanging cards and took them to local gift stores to get some feedback.  All the stores I spoke with liked them, but they all expressed a concern about how they would be able to display them in the store.  They would have to hang in order for the customer to understand the concept.  If  I continue with this idea, I will most likely have to provide a store "point of purchase" hanging display. 

Here are a couple of photos of the prototypes I took to the stores showing the fronts and backs:     

(Art & Poetry Hanging Cards from my book of paintings and poems titled "Ocean Songs For The Young At Heart")

The idea is that they could be hung on the wall with the option to view either the art or the poem.  They can also hang in other places such as on a door knob, on a refrigerator (with a little magnet), on a desk lamp.  Additionally, they can be used as a gift card - I've left a space on the poetry side for a short note or greeting to be written.  They can be added to gift baskets, used as stocking stuffers, or other gift/greeting ideas.

I would love some feedback.  Is this a good idea - or not so good?  Would you use them?  Do you have any other ideas as to how you would use them?

Any comments would be welcome - positive or negative!  Thanks.

I have written poems for several of my paintings, which are stories in simple rhyme celebrating my love of the sea.  I've published them in a little book titled "Ocean Songs For The Young At Heart".  It is my intention to take you on a journey into enchantment, forgetting for a moment the pressures and stresses of daily life.  I hope that it brightens the spirit of your soul and brings joy to your heart. 

I first released the book in 2010, and have just updated it in a slightly smaller pocket size to keep it affordable, as the printing costs have risen quite a bit since then.  I've also added three more paintings and poems to the new revision. 

It's now only $12.95 for the soft cover, plus shipping, and is also available in a hardcover version.  You can preview it here, and if you like what you see you can order it from my Blurb bookstore by clicking on the title below the preview.

It makes a great gift for both young people and adults.  Hope you enjoy it!

OCEAN SONGS FOR THE YOUNG AT HEART by Poems and Paintings by Barbara Blair | Make Your Own Book

I've been expanding my experiments with mixed media and collage.  This piece titled "Tides" includes photographs of shore birds that I took on one of my recent beach walks, as well as text of several lines from one of my poems.

Here's the final painting:

"Tides"   8" x 10"    Mixed Media/Collage with poetry on canvas      © 2012 Barbara Blair

"The ocean tides both high and low

Endlessly in and out they go

Moving waters up and down

On the beaches near my town."

Poetry © 2010 Barbara Blair. 

Excerpted from my book titled "Ocean Songs For The Young At Heart."

The painting also includes a shell stencil that I cut, giving a raised effect using molding paste, and I've added a rough stucco texture to indicate sand in some areas.  I really like the dimensional effects of these mediums.

To give you an idea of my process, here's a photo of my preliminary composition before glueing anything down, and before I began to add paint to the canvas.  The non-photographic elements are cropped designs from some of my other paintings:

I moved the elements around a bit to get a more pleasing composition, and also decided to replace the "wave" design on the left of center with another photo of the curlews on the beach.   Here's the first revision of the composition after I painted the canvas and glued down the basic elements: 

I then decided to eliminate the small shell border on the left, and instead make a larger version of the design as a raised stencil.  It needed to be balanced by adding more of the design at the bottom right, thus eliminating the photo of the crab which was not very visible at this point.  I then added the phases of the moon, which helped to tell the story of the tides, plus sand texture and more paint. 

And here again is the final painting: 

This was a very enjoyable exercise in which I learned more about the various mediums available, as well as design composition.  I found I had to set the painting aside a couple of times though, before deciding the best way  to proceed further. 

I really like the versatility and possibilities of mixed media and collage, and plan to do more of it.

For pricing and purchasing information click here.

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I love walking on the beach at low tide and finding pretty shells.  This painting is about all the lovely gifts that the ocean brings us.  The repeating shell border took a long time to paint. It would have been much easier to stencil the basic shell motif, as I would have done if it were a decorative painting project, but I didn't want the shells to look uniform as in a stencil. 
 
I painted this on a smooth board as an experiment, since I thought perhaps the finely detailed work would be easier than on the texture of canvas.  I decided that I prefer canvas to the smooth surface, regardless of the amount of detail involved.  To find out more about "Jewels Of The Sea" click here.

Here is my poem about this painting: 


       Jewels Of The Sea

Such pretty treasures I have found
While strolling on a beach;
Jewel-like shells and lacy fronds
All within my reach.

The tide had left them as a gift
To coax me to explore
What I might find beneath the waves
Beyond the sandy shore.

I imagined handsome fish
With multi-colored coats
And all kinds of lovely things
You cannot see from boats.

The ocean is a magic place
With secrets far and wide
That sometimes if you're lucky
You'll discover with the tide.

© Copyright 2009 Barbara Blair

This poem and painting is featured in my book "Ocean Songs For The Young At Heart."

To stay current with my latest work and art activities, become a member of my email newsletter.  I send it out approximately once a month or less, and will never share your information with anyone.

I have written poems for several of my paintings which explain my inspiration for creating them.  The collection of paintings and poems is in a self-published book titled "Ocean Songs For The Young At Heart". 

This idea was prompted by a friend who thought several of my whimsical paintings had a child-like quality, and suggested that I write stories about them for a children's book.  The resulting "stories" took the form of simple rhymes.  I think the paintings and the poems appeal to the child in all of us.  

To find out more about the painting "Moon Dust At Sea"  click here. 

Here's the poem for this painting: 

Be sure to sign up for my email newsletter to get the latest update about this book and other artworks.  I will also be adding a few more stories in rhyme about my paintings to my blog shortly.