Friday, December 5, 2014

Moose Painting

I created this painting with the intention of using it to make greeting cards for a customer. If you would like to custom order cards for yourself or your business please don't hesitate to contact me. I like to paint most anything, it doesn't have to be animals or landscapes - it can be fantasy, buildings, objects, flowers, or people.
 
Three weeks on this painting, averageing three hours a day on it (and that's four to five days a week). I filmed the whole process of this painting which I will be posting soon - stay tuned.
  
 
 
My next project is a beautiful silhouette of one of my favorite mountains reflecting off of a lake. I'm also starting another bird painting, this time of Bohemian Waxwings (done in watercolor). I want to make available to customers assorted packs of cards with different themes. The first assortment I'm working on is birds...I have two different bird cards already, and plan to add at least two more to the pack.
 
Thank you for taking a look at my blog.
 
-Elizabeth Joy

 

Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Monday, October 13, 2014

This And That

 
 Pray For Ukraine -
 
I had the opportunity to create this sketch of Ukraine's coat of arms and flag in the effort to raise awareness for the unrest happening there.
 

 
 
Pipe Tamper -
 
This is a pipe tamper I handcrafted for someone. I made it out of diamond willow with my pocket knife, sanded it and wood burned his initials onto it. Then I gave it a few rubs in olive oil.
 
 
 
 
Plane Print -
 
I've been selling prints of this plane painting recently. This one is a print that I framed and gave to my newly-wed sister and her husband as a wedding gift.

 
 
I'm currently working on another painting - which has been a nice break from the last painting I did - its turning out well and pretty stress free. I'm filming the whole process in hopes that I can make it into a video with the speed enhanced. That way you can see me crank out a 20-30 hour painting in (hopefully) 10 min. I'm supper excited to share it with you all.
 
God bless,
 
-Elizabeth Joy
 

Monday, October 6, 2014

Finished at last.

Hello blogging world!
 
I have been putting this post off for far to long, but here it is. Finally.
If you remember I talked about this painting in several of my posts in the past. It has become the most challenging painting I've done yet, coming entirely from my head without ANY reference. I can't even tell you how many hours were spent on it...I wouldn't be at all surprised if I found it to be 100 hours or more. :P
 
 
This painting has seen the worst and the best in me. I've cried over it, I've prayed over it, I've yelled at it, and I've rejoiced in it.
The feeling of accomplishment that I felt afterward and the smile on the face of the one I gave it to was well worth it all, however.
I would probably do it again.
 
 
Out of everything I've created with my fingers, this product feels the most like a part of me. After all, I did cry sweat and tears over it, I'm sure some of those bodily fluids mixed in with the paint. :)
It was a very experiential project. I'm sure I didn't walk away without some good learning experience tucked away.
 
 
-Elizabeth Joy






Saturday, June 7, 2014

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Update/Greeting Cards

Hello all!
It's been a good and eventful winter for me. Working and fun activities with friends and family on the weekends, and lots of changes (some of them very difficult water to wade through, but those things only prove strengthen us..and, God is faithful). Spring? Well, it's pretty incredible...mostly because everything is already green...IN MAY...and, we were having 60-70 degree weather, but it has since cooled down to 40-55 degrees with wind. :-(
Secondly, my sister is getting married in June to a wonderful man who complements her very well, including her size (lengthwise not width let it be noted - they're kinda short. :) ). Family and friends whom we haven't seen in years (or have never seen, as in the case of my niece and nephews) are coming up. Also, I'm going to be a bridesmaid for the very first time along with my two other sisters and a very good friend. I can't believe my sister is getting married...where have the years gone? I'm very happy for her. I'm also getting another brother. Yay!:D


Winter went by super fast. I am working (still currently working) as a Pharmacy Tech in Glennallen. I've been living with my two older sisters who work at the same clinic. I'll be  moving back home in June and start working part-time as a Rural Mail Carrier again and every once in a while in the Pharmacy when I am needed.


I am ready to jump back into painting! I've got some commissions I'm excited about and other things to finish from last year. I've been missing it a lot.


The gift shop that I did last summer was canceled so it isn't happening. But I got plenty of other ideas. I want to do some road trips throughout Alaska this summer and sell stuff along the way.


Greeting cards -
 
 
 

 
 

 


 
 
 


 

 



I sold a lot of those guys during the winter, mostly here at the clinic (thank you Lord). I just ordered 100 more to sell this summer.


On the side -


I'm going to Bulgaria on a missions trip with one of my older sisters in July.


My twin sister got a couple of horses (one last fall, and the other this spring) and we are boarding a third this summer. We want to ride them from our house in Nelchina to Glennallen and back which is about 80-85 miles round trip. Tis' going to be fun, something we've always wanted to do when we were little. I still can't get over that we have horses.

Also: WE GET TO GO HUNTING WITH THEM!! We've always dreamed to do that with horses. I'm GOING to shoot myself a moose. :D
I came very close last year. It will happen this fall, it will happen.


I got these books *drool*-



 
 
Hopefully I'll have more exciting things to share with you this summer. Until then. Have a good summer!
 
God bless,
 
-Elizabeth Joy-








Saturday, January 4, 2014

Ending 2013

I say goodbye to 2013 and thank the good Lord for it and all its amazingness, and say hello to 2014 and look to this new year with great anticipation. I know its going to be a year of  greatness, challenges, lots of learning, lots of growing. When I think of 2014, I take a deep breath, and feel a rush of excitement. I feel both dread for the things I will have to face, and the thrill of adventure, and a sense of great expectation for the unknown.
Its been quite a while since I last posted. Many art achievements are overdue. 
People, life is crazy. Its wonderfully and then difficultly so. I'm sitting her right now, feeling worn out from the busyness of the past two months. Its another Saturday. A Saturday where hardly nothing is going on, where we are home resting with family instead of rushing off to have a full weekend of explosive fun and fellowship with our favorite people. If I had the choice to do it over again I would - just saying. :-) 

Christmas and New Years was amazing. 
I love my family to death. 
I'm surrounded by incredible people. 
My life would be a mess without them. 
Life is not the same living away from my twin sister. 
God is awesome. 
The end. 

This, people, was a great way to end the already great year of 2013 - painting my first mural. 
I volunteered to do this for Alaska Right To Life....I painted it straight on the wall of the new office they were opening up....15 hours of work...I finished at 2:30 in the morning....Poor Christopher and Haylee suffered the long hours with me....But I wasn't about to leave until it was finished! 






 Then these people came at 10:30 in the evening and stayed with me the rest of the time. They were there for me cheering me on to the end. It was very boring for them. If it weren't for them I would have been there half the night. They helped tape around the many letters, washed paint that got splattered on the wall (where it wasn't suppose to be), and Rachel even helped me paint tedious straight lines and do finishing touches for a good three or four hours.
Just their presence and conversation made things go by faster. :-)
I can't explain the sense of accomplishment and happiness that comes over me when I've successfully completed a work of art.

Happy 2014!!

I've come into this new year training for a new job. A 40 hour-week-and lots of-over time-job. It will be for 5 months. In the summer I will be off to Bulgaria on a missions trip and adventure. Then I will be back to running the counter of the Alaska Art gift shop, interacting with tourist and delivering mail again.

God Bless your new year abundantly,

~Elizabeth Joy