The Blackbird Sings

Black Friday / Cyber Monday at The Blackbird Sings!

As usual, I am running my annual Black Friday / Cyber Monday special event at The Blackbird Sings.

This is something I was introduced to by Etsy about three years ago - the Black Friday sales start the day after Thanksgiving (which is today) in the US, and lots of independent artists and craftspeople on Etsy get into the spirit of the event too!

At The Blackbird Sings, I have decided to offer a generous 20% off any order this week until Monday 28th November ('Cyber Monday'). Just enter this code: BFCM11 at the time of purchase to receive your discount. So do your Christmas shopping early - or maybe even treat yourself to some original art to brighten up your home during the long winter months.

You can find the shop here: www.theblackbirdsings.etsy.com

Enjoy your discount, and a huge thank you for your support during the year!

Natasha

x

Cupola Contemporary Art Christmas Exhibition | Under Starry Skies 1 & 2

Just a quick post this morning to tell you that I have two new night landscape paintings in a show opening tonight at a lovely gallery in Sheffield.

Under Starry Skies 1 & 2 are available from Cupola Contemporary Art, Hillsborough, Sheffield - the opening of the exhibition is tonight from 7:30pm. For more details or to contact the gallery, please visit their website: www.cupolagallery.com

Under Starry Skies 1

Acrylic on deep-edge canvas. 12x12"

© Natasha Newton 2011

Under Starry Skies 2

Acrylic on deep-edge canvas. 12x12"

© Natasha Newton 2011

I'll be back soon with the blog post I promised you the other day, and more new work! Have a good weekend. x

Oh, and one last thing - how cute are these two? Issey & Ruby are having to wear cone-shaped collars at the moment after each having an operation at the vets this week. They're finding it almost impossible to clean themselves, but Ruby is trying her best to give Issey's head a bit of a wash. :)

Future Growth

I'm busy composing a blog post at the moment where I write about being self-employed / running your own business, and the traits or qualities I've discovered you'll need in order to do this successfully. The idea was sparked off by watching a recent BBC programme presented by Peter Jones of Dragons' Den, where he talks to two incredibly successful British entrepreneurs, and finds out more about their backgrounds, personalities, and exactly what it is that enables them to run such successful businesses. I found it totally fascinating and full of good advice, and I thought it might be interesting to share my 'take' on this subject.

I'm know I'm nowhere near to achieving the success of the people he interviewed - they're running large, successful, well-known companies; I'm a 'small fish in a big pond', an independent artist trying to develop a solid, successful, and hopefully long-lasting career and business. I've been doing this for a few years but I'm only now really gaining momentum, and I still see myself as being at the beginning of my career. So I'm not super-experienced, but I have discovered a few things along the way, and I thought it might be useful or interesting to other artists, people running a small creative business, or even my collectors and buyers, if I shared them. So that particular blog is on its way! In the meantime, I have something new to show you...

Future Growth

Original painting in acrylic on deep-edge canvas. 20x20"

© Natasha Newton 2011

This piece was delivered to the Serena Hall Gallery in Southwold yesterday, along with this painting, which I posted on the blog earlier this month. I'm currently revisiting one of my favourite subjects - trees. Although as you can see, the recent paintings are evolving. I'm using new colours and a slightly different style of tree for the forests, and the tree-stumps with roots are a variation on my tree-stump paintings from 2009. I've enjoyed working on both of these pieces so much - it feels good to work on a slightly larger scale, and I'm keen to work on more landscapes again after devoting so much of my time to the bird paintings over the past couple of years. The birds will continue (I have some new plans for those too!) but the landscapes are back and here to stay.

I'll also be adding some new pieces to the shop this week, because Christmas is coming - sorry to mention it (*ducks flying missiles*) - but I thought it would be nice to have some smaller pieces of original art that will make good presents - for someone else or yourself! So please keep your eyes peeled: www.theblackbirdsings.etsy.com

Have a good week! x

P.S. My new stone collection has been featured on this lovely blog, with a very nice write-up and some great comments. I was very chuffed! 

Things are mental here (again).

I'm trying hard to keep on top of all the work I have to do - and meet the various deadlines - and let me tell you: it ain't easy. I seriously feel like I need a holiday - I work until midnight or 1am most nights and my mind is on my work from the moment I wake up in the morning (usually around 8-9am, depending upon how late I've been working the night before) until I go to bed. At the moment I have zero social life, am completely stressed, and I've come to the conclusion that being self-employed is not for the faint-hearted.

Anyway, I've finished one of my projects, and the pieces I have created at the request of the people at Homes & Gardens magazine are now in the post and on the way to their offices in London, ready for the photo shoot next week.

I thought you might like to see them, so here they are!

 

Collection of 10 Stones with hand-painted designs.

© Natasha Newton 2011

The deputy editor specified which colours of stones she would like me to use (grey, yellow and brown tones as opposed to anything more red-toned) and chose a few of her favourite designs from the stones I'd made previously. So I kept her preferences in mind and came up with the collection above.

They also wanted one of my hand-painted sycamore plates with a Feather design, so I came up with this:

Patterned Feathers

© Natasha Newton 2011

It was fun creating pieces especially for a magazine photo shoot, and I can't wait to see how they look when they're photographed professionally and actually in the magazine! I'll have to wait a while though - they'll be included in a nature-inspired article next Spring. I'll keep you posted!

New Painting: December Forest 1

I just wanted to share one of two new 20x20" paintings I've been busy making for the Serena Hall Gallery in Southwold, Suffolk. I'm just finishing the other one now, and I'm also working on the pieces for the upcoming Homes & Gardens magazine feature.

I also have several commissions and work for two other galleries (one in Suffolk, the other in Sheffield which I will tell you about another time) to finish before the end of this month. I honestly don't think I've ever been so busy! I'll try to keep you updated - I know I've been a bit of a sporadic blogger recently. ;)

December Forest 1

Original painting in acrylic on deep-edge canvas. 20x20"

© Natasha Newton 2011

I'd also like to show you a couple of small pieces I've made for the Etsy shop over the past week. I'm trying my best to add new items regularly these days and it's paying off - the shop has never been busier! Another new development with Etsy is that I seem to be getting a lot of custom orders and commissions on there recently, which is great.

Mountain Range 3

Set of 3 hand-painted pebbles.

© Natasha Newton 2011

Small Night Landscape

Original acrylic painting on canvas, mounted on card. 6x4" approx.

© Natasha Newton 2011

Both are available here.

As ever, thank you to everyone who takes the time to read the blog, and especially to those who leave such lovely comments for me to read - I try to answer any questions as and when I can, but my time is somewhat limited these days as I'm sure you'll understand. Rest assured that I read them all though! x