Hey, y’all! I’m so excited to share these recent changes with you! The multitude of summer thunderstorms the past month has given me plenty of time to buckle down and make some art. (Also, to do lots of thinkin’ and plannin’ for my Vulture’s Pugmark journey.) It’s taken more time than I would have expected to get my thoughts together for this entry, but here we go!
Site Updates
- Front Page: To make my art website feel more like a site rather than just a blog, I did set up a static page, which will display any gallery or shop updates between blog posts.
- Theme Change: I’m hoping you’ll find the new theme and palette to be cleaner and easier to navigate!
- Gallery Page: If you’d prefer to find all of my finished paintings – at least for 2019 – in one place, this is it! You can click on the individual piece(s) to view the commentary. My work is separated into traditional and digital mediums.
- Shop Link: Instead of fussing about with a third party service, such as Etsy, I’m going to try my own shop connected to this site via Big Cartel. I’ve heard a few too many nightmares, so I’m hoping this will be viable for us!
Recent Paintings
I’ve been exploring various brands of watercolor this year, and I think I’ve finally found the ones for me! (Although, before I continue, I can promise this is my honest opinion, and I’m not being paid to say it. I’m just a small vulture in this big ol’ sky who’s happy with something she’s found!) My recent watercolor paintings have all been made with the Daniel Smith brand, which allow me to glaze and custom mix colors to my heart’s content. They also react to salt and alcohol very well, which are my favorite watercolor tricks. The paper brands continue to bounce between cold-pressed Strathmore 400 (my classic favorite!), Canson (sometimes), Bee Company, Fabriano, and recently Arches (❤️!!!).
Now, I’ll interrupt this text wall with lots of fun images:
It’s thanks to these paints that my little gem vultures were born! They make for fun subjects to explore color, and you’re definitely welcome to make your own.
Additionally, a quick update on the ‘i see chickens’ series: I was stuck on my original Carl painting for quite awhile, so today I just scrapped it and started over. Lovin’ the progress already.
There are a few more paintings up in the traditional section of the gallery for you to check out as well!
Art Shop
Currently, there are two items listed in the shop, which are original paintings that I have framed. A friend and fellow artist has recommended some print-on-demand services I was not familiar with, which I’ll be checking out. (Need to save some funds for a special event soon! 🦢 ) If I’m happy with the quality, there will be prints and stickers/decals listed in the future. There’s a holographic option with one site I’m itchin’ to try out.
Oh hey, I also have business cards now! (Useful for those times you’re bored, drawing in public, and someone asks if you have a site.)
Patreon & Ko-fi
Patreon
After a lot of debating, I set up a Patreon, which is what that MS Paint series was for. (Although, it took a month after creating it before I was brave enough to officially announce it! 😅) There are already posts waiting for you, and now that it has actually been announced, you’ll be seeing exclusive content there regularly!
As an additional note, occasionally all the social media gets to be a bit much for this under-a-rock dweller, so Patreon may at times be the only place I post to in addition to this site. However, anything that would have been uploaded to another service will always be available to anyone and not just patrons, so feel free to follow if you don’t want to become a patron quite yet!
The majority of my content is available to all of you as I’m so grateful for your interest! So, what do you get by becoming a patron?
Patron perks can include:
- Shout outs
- High resolution, original watercolor scans for use as textures
- Input on my creative directions
- Early access to original and/or limited items
- High resolution wallpapers exclusive to Patreon
- Commission discounts
- Store discounts
- Raffles
If you have any questions or ideas, please let me know! I sincerely appreciate any support you are able to give, but I’m thrilled just to have you here too. ❤️
Ko-fi
What will happen to my Ko-fi account? It’ll still be up and running, and that is how – for the time being – I’ll handle my digital commissions. I do like the site, but I’ll need to consider more how best to use it moving forward.
Take care until next time, and thank y’all for your interest!
– Grai Swan
surreal vulture 