Art by Alisha K. Ard

Painting for a Great Cause - The Painted Bra Art Project

2011-09-30T14:25:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow is the first day of October. It's a busy month for me - lots of friends and family birthdays (mine included), and, of course, Halloween. October is also Breast Cancer Awareness month, and I came across a great project to participate in to raise awareness: The Painted Bra Art Project. All of the painted bras will be auctioned from the Facebook page for the project, starting Friday, October 14 through 8:00 pm central time on Saturday, October 22, 2011.

As I've had two ladies that are very dear to my heart have to take up the fight against breast cancer, I happily painted a bra to donate in honor of each of them.

This first bra is titled "A Rose for Mary." It was painted in honor of my grandmother, Mary Louise Robbins, who is a breast cancer survivor. She will celebrate her 80th birthday this December. I didn't choose shoes because Grandma is nor really a "shoe person." She does love to garden and paint flowers however. When she came to visit me, right before she was diagnosed with breast cancer, she and I spent a day each painting the same rose. Our paintings of roses came out entirely different - Grandma kept mine and I kept the one she painted. It was a fun experience I will remember and cherish for the rest of my life.

This second bra is titled "Inner Strength," and was painted in honor of one of my best friends, Kris Beauregard, who is just starting her battle with breast cancer. I wanted to paint something that reflected part of Kris's personality - and, as she cherishes her Hawaiian heritage, I thought this was perfect. The title is a tribute to Kris's own inner strength as she faces the challenges ahead. You can follow Kris's story on her blog.

I'd like to encourage everyone who reads this blog to take the time to check out The Painted Bra Art Project and help spread the word about the auction.

For those of you interested in what I will be painting next, the winners of the Painting Life's Footsteps/Defying Procrastination photo to art contest have been chosen: See which photos won!

3 Sisters, 1 Pair

2011-08-06T17:14:00.001-05:00

"3 Sisters, 1 Pair" is a commissioned piece, acrylic on 10" x 10" gallery-wrapped canvas. These were both fun and challenging to paint with the worn places where the leather shows through, the variety of textures and details. As the title suggests, these shoes were well loved and passed down among 3 sisters. I love the style of this pair, and remember having a pair of a similar style in brown when I was a little girl.

A Creative Collaboration Contest!

2011-08-05T19:12:00.001-05:00

I am excited to announce a creative collaboration with aspiring author (and my sweetheart) Michael A. Walker to celebrate the launch of his writing blog, Defying Procrastination!

Michael intends to use his blog as a platform to share the knowledge and wisdom he gains during his journey to becoming a published author with other writers. He has written several passionate and award-winning pieces including his essay, “White On White Crime,” winner of the 2010 Phi Theta Kappa Regional Literary Anthology. Michael was also recently named Poet of the Month by The Art Collaboration. As of the official launch, Defying Procrastination predominantly features samples of Michael's non-fiction works and poetry, along with his first entry of valuable advice to other writers.

Our creative collaboration is a photo contest, inviting our blog readers to submit their photos...of shoes! Each person can enter up to two photographs to the contest. Additionally, each person can vote once per day per photo.

THREE LUCKY WINNERS!

PRIZES

Three prizes will be given away for this contest. The winners will be chosen at random from the top 10 photos that get the most LIKES on the contest page.

ONE WINNER: Will receive a hand painted portrait of their shoes on a 12”x12” gallery wrapped canvas ($400 value) by Painting Life’s Footstep’s ^TM artist, Alisha K. Ard, along with a short story written about your shoes by Defying Procrastination’s very own Michael A. Walker. The story and painting will be featured together on a future post on Defying Procrastination to forever be immortalized on the World Wide Web.

TWO WINNERS: Will receive a hand painted portrait of their shoes on an 8”x 8” canvas board ($200 value) by Painting Life’s Footstep’s ^TM artist, Alisha K. Ard, along with a poem written by Defying Procrastination’s very own Michael A. Walker. The poem and painting will be featured together on a future post on Defying Procrastination to forever be immortalized on the World Wide Web.

CONTEST ENTRY RULES:

Only 2 entries allowed per person.
A person can only win 1 prize, regardless of the number of entries submitted for the contest.
Photo should be of a single pair of shoes against a simple background.

The contest ends August 31, 2011.

We have a handful of entries already and I'm absolutely loving the variety in the submissions. So grab your camera and a pair of shoes that you love - then get creative and have fun with it! The sooner you submit your entries, the more time you have to get votes.

CLICK HERE for the contest page. Submit your shoe photos and start voting today!

(Pssst -You can also click here to read a poem Michael wrote for me this past Valentines Day!)

A Family Portrait (in Shoes)

2011-04-08T17:14:00.001-05:00

This past Christmas, one of my best friends commissioned two shoe portraits for her gifts to her brother and sister-in-law. Since it would be obvious their favorite shoes were missing for a couple of weeks and this was top-secret work, we planned for her to steal the shoes and come by my house so I could take some reference pictures to work from and I'd still have full control of the lighting and composition (which is part of my process and why I like to have the actual shoes to work with).

The plan worked beautifully - and with an unexpected adrenaline rush. Who knew conspiring to nab shoes for an hour could be so fun? My friend enjoyed being in on the process - trying different arrangements, deciding if they should be paired off by gender or mother-son/father-daughter, and playing with how much light/shadow. Once we shot about 20 pictures we had the task of deciding which pictures she liked best. We narrowed it down to a few, with different elements from each to be incorporated into the whole, finished look. She decided on a light blue background color and then was off to return the shoes.

These are the two finished paintings. Both are acrylic on 12" x 12" gallery-wrapped canvas. I was thrilled when I received the following response from my friend's sister-in-law:

Dear Kat & Alisha,
I want to thank you both for the wonderful and amazing gift I received this past holiday. Your thoughtfulness (Kat) and creativity (Alisha) truly blew me away. Your detail for capturing the memories and moments of our family is breath taking. Words can't express how much the pictures mean to me. My favorite part is the realistic features - JB's narrow foot and Mr. Man's scuffed up shoes. The mommy and Mac painting reminded me that we now have a princess whose mom has no idea what to do with her. Reflecting on our shoe pictures I realize, as beautifully detailed in your work, we as parents will always walk side by side with our children and they will always want to fill our shoes.Thank you again and I can't wait to share with all my family and friends the paintings.

Step Boldly

2010-03-28T07:50:00.006-05:00

"Step Boldly" is 9" x 12" acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas and is one of my works in the show "Art by the Usual Suspects" showing at The Limelight Gallery in Binders Art in Atlanta. This work is available to purchase at the show, which runs through April 29th. The opening reception is today from 2 - 5 pm; directions available here. Come enjoy the music, partake of the refreshments and meet the talented group of artists featured in this show!

I took my son (9) and daughter (4) along with me to deliver the paintings Friday afternoon. All three of us fell in love with so many of the pieces in this show! My daughter favored the pieces with bold and brilliant colors. My son loved the textures of some, the composition and details of others and declared he needed to withdraw all of the money in his savings account to purchase as many pieces as his funds would allow. He also vowed to promote the show to the entire 3rd grade of his school.

They were both so inspired by all of the great art they saw that they asked me for pens and paper so they could draw. Since we were at Binders, I let them pick out their own art supplies. Gavin chose a small sketch book and a set of colored pencils while Brynn opted for a coloring book with a lot of drawing activities and a pack of scented markers. While we sat in Atlanta traffic for the next 2 hours and I contemplated what a misnomer "rush-hour" is, as there seems to be a lot more idling than rushing, my kids happily created art and exchanged compliments on the masterpieces created by each other.

The whole experience taught me two important lessons:

1.) Take the kids to more of my art venues. While they see me paint and are my two biggest fans, it's important for them to see what I am painting for as well. I tend to take them to art festivals I am not a participant of and let them stay with grandparents when I have a show. They were so thrilled to be included this time and I realized it's important for them to see more of the whole process. (I should probably also state that my kids are very well-behaved in public - we get compliments from strangers about it all the time. In fact, there are a couple of restaurants we go to where they are greeted with "It's our favorite kids!!"and scooped into open arms when we walk in the door. So it's not their behavior that has kept me from including them - it's been more of a concern that they would get bored.)

2.) The backseat needs a crate of art supplies at all times. Those 2 hours of creeping home would have been so much more stressful if the kids hadn't been preoccupied with their art.

Painted Chair for Chairish the Future 2010

2010-02-08T08:59:00.003-05:00

This is the chair I painted for Chairish the Future 2010. I titled the piece "Where Are You Going My Little One?" The description I gave for the chair follows:

The inspiration for the painting on this chair begins with my own childhood. I lived with my grandmother and she would sing songs to me at bedtime each night. A particular favorite of mine was “Turn Around.” The song begins –

Where are you going my little one, little one

Where are you going my baby, my own

Turn around and you're two

Turn around and you're four

Turn around and you're a young girl

Going out of the door

As a child who was anxious to grow up, this song held a different meaning for me than it does today. Now, as a parent of two children, I understand how fleeting the precious moments of childhood truly are.

On this chair, the shoe tracks represent where the child has come from, the shoes themselves are this brief moment of their childhood and the sock prints lead off to the future. The shoes featured in this painting are currently my daughter’s favorite pair – she’s four.

Fashionably Floral

2010-01-30T15:56:00.007-05:00

"Fashionably Floral"
6" x 6"
Acrylic on Clayboard

It's 2010 and I'm kicking off the New Year a little late - but it's off to a great start! Two of my pieces, "Easter Shoes" and "Two of a Kind," were chosen to appear in Best of America Watermedia Artists - published this month.

I've also been invited to paint a chair to be auctioned at Chairish the Future 2010, benefiting the Furniture Bank of Metro Atlanta. From their website: "Each year the Furniture Bank serves at least 3,000 people in over 1,000 families. Clients include individuals and families moving out of homelessness, fleeing domestic violence, and living with HIV/AIDS. " The gala and auction will be held at 7 pm February 27 at The Foundry at Puritan Mill in Atlanta. Pictures of my painted chair will be posted soon!

In more art news:
- I've joined a great group of talented artists at DPIAG
- I'm painting new works for an art show in April (more details as the show gets closer)
- Limited prints of my art will be available soon

Kaleidoscope Art Show - Reception Sept. 13

2009-09-04T19:04:00.004-05:00

I am delighted to announce that my piece, "Two of a Kind" is in an art show this month! Show dates and reception information below:

September 1 -29, 2009

Please join the artists for a reception Sunday, Sept. 13, 2009 2 PM - 6 PM

Limelight Gallery

(Inside Binders Art & Frame)

Piedmont-Peachtree Crossing

3330 Piedmont Road, Suite 18

Atlanta, GA 30365

404-237-6331

Lessons Learned - a note to fellow artisans

2009-08-17T12:05:00.004-05:00

Everyone's heard the term starving artist. Perhaps you have even been discouraged by family/friends/colleagues for pursuing an art career when they respond with: "You're going to be an artist? Don't you know they call them "starving artists" for a reason?"

Never-the-less, you don't let them get you down, you take the leap and forage ahead into your art career. You buy your supplies - be it paints and canvases, beads and wire, a slab of marble and chisels, whatever suits your medium of choice - and you begin. This new creativity takes hold and you feel wonderful. Look what you are able to create! You show your family/friends/colleagues who scoffed at you and - hey! even they are impressed. (In fact, they want you to give them certain pieces - or offer a steep discount - because they know you personally.) Soon you realize it falls to you to start marketing your art for the rest of the public to see and you get a website and/or start a blog.

Things start moving along for you (and maybe there are a few false starts or stalls along the way until you really find your style, but you never give up) and you finally make a move to launch a serious marketing campaign when... your domain expires because your debit card was renewed this year, but you happened to be out of town at the time without access to the one e-mail account that you used to set up the domain and, try as you might, you keep getting the run-around when you try to renew it because: a) the domain is locked b) it hasn't met x number of days c) it's beyond x number of days d) the reps you talk to don't know what they are talking about and make offers they can't make good on, or e) (as in my case) ALL OF THE ABOVE.

So you call the company and you play nice, then you get a little frustrated, then you finally say, "Look, I'm going to be in a show next month and I have all these business cards with the wrong domain on them! Isn't there anything you can do?!?" And you know what? They look at your site; they hear you are an artist going to be in a show; they hear that you actually have had business cards printed, and they try to price-gouge the heck out of you to get your domain back. But, you are too smart for that so you buy the .net of the domain and back-order the .com of the domain and you are happy that you know a cheap place to order your business cards from.

Then, you look at the lessons you learned from the mistakes you made - and you share them with others so they can learn from them too. So, here are the lessons you can take away from this blog post:

Lesson 1:
Don't let other people's opinions of your career in the arts have any bearing on what you do. It's your life to live, not theirs.

"Live as you will have wished to have lived when you are dying." - Christian F. Gellert

Lesson 2:
If you want to be successful at your art career, you will have to promote yourself at some point. I, personally, don't mind marketing and promotions, but at a lot of presentations I've given about promoting your art online I have heard grumbles and protests about this aspect. Realize it's part of being a professional artist (versus a hobbyist). Your efforts are in vain if you simply create your works and store them all in a basement and hope you are discovered one day.

"The test of a vocation is the love of the drudgery it involves." - Logan P. Smith

Lesson 3:
No matter how many starts, stops, stalls, trials and errors there are - keep going! You are worth it!

"I know the price of success: dedication, hard work and an unremitting devotion to the things you want to see happen." - Frank Lloyd Wright

Lesson 4:
Always keep your accounts current.

"D'oh!" - Homer Simpson

Lesson 5:
Try looking at something that seems negative from a positive perspective. For example: I must not be viewed as a "starving artist" since the price of my domain quintupled. I mean, surely no one would expect a failure to pay those outrageous prices!

To further illustrate looking at negatives from a positive perspective:
"I'm in a wonderful position: I'm unknown, I'm underrated, and there's nowhere to go but up."
- Pierre S. DuPont IV

Feel free to share lessons you have learned in the comments!

Two of a Kind

2009-05-03T08:02:00.004-05:00

Two of a Kind - 12" x 12" acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas.

This painting features my husband's red Chucks and my son's first pair when he was an infant. While I look at this painting and see the people behind the shoes as my husband and infant son, someone else may see it as their older son and his new sibling, or their wife and child. (I do have a similar piece planned to paint this month of my pink chucks with my daughter's first pair.) With that in mind, I did not want to make the title gender specific. My husband suggested Two of a Kind and it fit perfectly :)

I intended to enter this painting in May's juried show at the Atlanta Artists Center, but I got derailed by a migraine on Friday. Saturday morning, instead of going to the gallery to turn it in, I made a mad dash with the kids to Chuck E. Cheese Saturday morning only to find that I had the dates confused - the party is next Saturday. By then it was too late for me to make the submission deadline.

So, it's been a crazy start to May :-) I am still taking the "Every Day in May" challenge. The added benefit of the "Every Day in May" challenge for me is that I should have plenty of pieces to choose from to enter in June's juried show!

Firekites AUTUMN STORY - chalk animation

2009-04-28T13:27:00.001-05:00

Ok, this is not my art and it does not feature shoes, I know. It is, however, an incredible video worth viewing and sharing!

My son wants me to teach him the magic of stop motion animation now :-)

Get Rhythm!

2009-04-23T11:36:00.007-05:00

The title for this painting of tap shoes was inspired by the following lyrics of Johnny Cash's song:

"Get Rhythm"

Hey, get rhythm when you get the blues
Come on, get rhythm when you get the blues
Get a rock 'n' roll feelin' in your bones
Put taps on your toes and get gone
Get rhythm when you get the blues

I have a lot of fun painting the really shiny shoes - the reflections of the light, the background color and even the other shoe :) This painting is acrylic on 10" x 10" stretched, gallery-wrapped canvas and ready to hang. SOLD!

Contest Winner Shoe Portrait

2009-04-23T11:18:00.005-05:00

I know it's been a long time since I have updated my art blog and I do appreciate the e-mails I've received inquiring if I am still painting. Yes, I am! I've also been busy with some graphic and web design work lately, so I have not been painting as frequently.

I thought I would start up my blog again with a post of the shoe portrait for the winner of the contest. Liz wanted to use the free shoe portrait as a gift to her sister-in-law who had lost her daughter in March of last year. The portrait was delivered in time for her to present it as a Christmas gift and Liz was absolutely thrilled with the painting :)

Red Shoes times 3 - commissioned

2008-09-09T14:37:00.005-05:00

Here are the 3 latest paintings I have done. All 3 were commissioned by the same person, with the request that the shoes be in poses very similar to each other and on a white background. Since the shoes looked so different themselves, I tried to position them as close to the same pose as possible. I usually post commissioned work with feedback for the pieces, but due to some e-mail complications, I am still awaiting the feedback :-)

The contest to win a free shoe portrait has ended and a winner has been selected. Congratulations to Liz C. in La Puente, CA! Thank you to all who participated :-)

Win a FREE Custom Shoe Portrait!

2008-07-23T06:43:00.009-05:00

Jen Grinnell, owner of LivingPlaying.com is hosting a contest where you could win a free 10" x 10" custom shoe portrait of your shoes - painted by me! The deadline to enter is September 1.

LivingPlaying.com is an awesome online toy store that offers high-quality educational and developmental toys, products, and publications that enable parents to teach, guide and inspire their children through creative play. Some of the great toys I got for my daughter on her 3rd birthday this month are pictured in this post. She is absolutely thrilled with all of them.

I love that LivingPlaying.com offers you the ability to shop by their developmental skills system to identify the cognitive, sensory, social, and fine and gross motor skill benefits of each and every product in addition to shopping by age, price, product category.

While there is no purchase necessary to enter the contest to win a free custom shoe portrait, you should definitely bookmark the site for future purchases for the kiddos in your life - be it your own children or kids of friends and relatives. Christmas will be here before you know it!

My son turns 8 this September and I will be purchasing some of the great science kits they have available.

Can you tell I'm excited about discovering this site? Go on over and check it out for yourself! And while your there, don't forget to enter the contest ;-)

Shiny Red Shoes - Commission

2008-05-29T10:24:00.003-05:00

Here is my latest commissioned painting - "Shiny Red Shoes," acrylic, 8" x 8" canvas panel.These were a gorgeous little pair of shoes and I enjoyed painting them. Here is the response from my client upon receiving the painting:

"It's here, thank you so much! It is absolutely gorgeous. Thanks for the card too. I hope to acquire more of your beautiful work in the future!" - Colleen W.

I have a couple of pieces I am working on for upcoming shows that I will be posting in the next few days. Also, look for plenty of paintings of little shoes coming up this summer! Some will be for sale and some will not (at least not immediately) because they are part of a very special project that I will be revealing later this summer. I'm horrible about keeping secrets pertaining to really exciting news, so keeping this project under wraps will be somewhat of a challenge for me. I'm also designing a new, updated look to this blog and my website that will be revealed at the end of next week.

In short - lots of great things coming up, so check back soon! For those of you new to reading my blog, I welcome comments :-)

Thanks!
-Alisha

Painting, Painting, Painting

2008-02-02T16:32:00.001-05:00

Unfortunately all of the painting has been the walls of my house in anticipation of getting it ready to sell.

I do have a painting of wooden apples that I am also working on (30 minutes here and there whenever I can) that is nearly finished. I also have a show coming up in late February that I am getting some pieces ready for.

Check back soon! :-)

I've been Tagged!

2008-01-19T08:43:00.002-05:00

This piece is 16x22 inches, color pointillism in ink on paper, titled Stargazer. It is not for sale.

I would love to tell you that my extended absence from blogging was due to my tedious, time-consuming work on the above art piece, but that's just not the case. The fact is this piece was supposed to be a week long project in the one semester of art class I took in high school (13 years ago, yikes!) and it ended up taking almost six weeks to complete. My art teacher was fine with the extended time and entered it into the city, district and state competitions, where it got first place for it's division. So why am I posting it now?

My blog has been tagged (I think as a subtle nudge to get back to posting - so thank you) by Hershberger & Huff Studios, a pair of artists with a lot of talent. I love the textures and colors incorporated in their works. Go check them out!

The rules are as follows: 1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog. 2. Share 5 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird. 3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs. 4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

I'm using the above art piece to demonstrate some of my 5 facts.

1.) I absolutely love working in color pointillism, but the above piece is the only one that I've ever completed. I have started 5 others throughout the years and they have all met a tragic end because they take so long to complete that inevitably they get something spilled on them, one or both of my kids contributes their own artistic marks, the paper gets creased or torn - something always happens. I do plan to do more of these some day, but they will probably be on a smaller scale so it doesn't take weeks to complete them.

2.) I have the patience to work with millions of little dots to create a piece of art, but no patience with watercolors - they drive me crazy. I like a lot of control in what I am painting. Acrylics are a great medium for me.

3.) I was offered a full scholarship to the Art Institute in Houston, Texas and an intern job by a recruiter from a major greeting card company who visited my high school art class and saw me working on the above art piece. I turned him down took a full scholarship to study Chemical Engineering at the University of Texas. I often wish I hadn't passed up the offer so I'd be a lot further along in my art career.

4.) I lived with my grandmother and her twin brother from the time I was 2 until I moved out as an adult. Losing him was what I imagine losing a parent feels like and it has taken me quite a while to get through the pain of his loss. I know I told him often enough that I loved him, but I'm not sure I ever told him thank you for all he did for me.

5.) I love to write poetry too. I wrote a poem for my son when he was born titled Hope and it was published and also chosen for a collection of poems read aloud on a CD. Wednesday my son Gavin (now 7 years old) came home with a poem he wrote for me:
"Snow" - When it snows, it's as pretty as a rose - like you. - Gavin K. Ard

He also wrote one for his teacher:
"School" - School is fun, + is fun, - is none. - Gavin K. Ard

Bonus fact: I love being a mom and experiencing life with my kids. My 2 and a-half year old is always telling me, "Mommy, I want to paint so bad. I need to paint." The other day I took her to an art gallery and she pointed out a painting and said, "I don't like that one. It's really scary." The title of the abstract painting was "Fear." Apparently the artist did a great job of conveying the emotion :-)

Here are the 5 blogs I am tagging:

Eric Francis - watch his daily videos as he creates incredible paintings and sketches each day
Connie Tom - see her breathtaking, vibrant landscapes
Dee Sanchez - check out the lining technique she uses in her paintings - love the effect
Nicole Wong - great illustrations, paintings and ACEOs
Takeyce Walter - lovely oils and pastel pieces posted at least twice a week

Onion & Peppers

2007-09-24T20:48:00.001-05:00

Onion & Peppers is a 7" x 5" acrylic painting on canvas board. Working on this today helped me get back in the rhythm of working small after the large painting. I liked the shiny smooth texture of the peppers next to the duller sheen of the onion's outer skin. The imperfect shape of the green pepper also provided some neat light reflections.

I'll be posting more regularly, so check back soon. My next paintings will be more little shoes :-)

Also, be sure to check out my eBay store for some Fall and early Christmas specials I will be running!

Thanks for stopping by!

Pieces of the Puzzle

2007-09-21T13:16:00.002-05:00

These are 3 detail images from the 3'x3' pet portrait painting I recently finished. Now that the painting has safely arrived at is destination and is cherished by it's owners I can post them. I did learn a valuable shipping lesson in the shipping process of this painting - namely, never to use "brown" again to ship my artwork. They managed to "misplace" a 3.5' x 3.5' x 3" crate among other complications. I also learned that the extra effort I always put into packaging my paintings was well worth it since the crate arrived with boot prints on it and the painting was unharmed. *huge sigh of relief*

The painting actually has 6 pets (4 dogs and 2 cats) standing in grass with a privacy fence in the background. It is acrylic on a gallery wrapped canvas. I will be posting the full picture on my website this weekend.

In the meantime, I wanted to update the blog to let everyone know that I am still painting since my absence was much longer than anticipated. I spent 3 weeks sick and we had an unexpected loss in the family that we are still adjusting to.

Thank you for stopping by!

Another Update

2007-07-24T09:16:00.000-05:00

Since I have received several e-mails of concern lately, I thought I'd better post an update to let everyone know I am still painting, and thank you for letting me know you miss seeing my work :-)

For those who asked (and those of you who didn't but are still curious), this is what I've been up to:

2 weeks of my absence were spent entirely redecorating my children's room - a little painting and a lot of sewing. They are 100% thrilled with the results :-)

Currently, I have two commissioned works started, one of which is quite large and will require a lot of fine detail. There are particular circumstances which prevent me from posting an "in progress" series on these, but they will be posted when they are finished and have been received by my clients. I will still be doing the smaller paintings for this blog, but they are going to be somewhat sporadic until these two commissions are completed.

I strongly encourage you to join my mailing list for blog updates - you will receive the blog posts in an e-mail when my blog is updated. The list is confidential and will not be given out to any other sources. Also, if you are interested in any of the works on this blog that are not labeled "sold", they are currently available in my eBay store.

Thanks again for the e-mails!

Home again!

2007-06-21T15:47:00.000-05:00

Quick update:

1) I'm back from my travels & had a great time

2) My custom shoe portraits were featured on Apartment Therapy's Nursery section yesterday - so exciting!

Two Peppers

2007-05-14T22:20:00.001-05:00

Here is the second bell pepper painting (finally...I know, I know). Sorry for the delay! May is literally the busiest month of my year. It's the end of the school year for my son and it seems like they are trying to cram in 2 months worth of activities into the last 3 weeks. Then there is Mother's day, my mother's birthday the 16th, and my wedding anniversary the 21st (9 years this year!) On top of all this, I am planning out some larger pieces for a couple of juried shows this summer. Busy, busy, busy!

This painting is 7" x 5" acrylic on canvas panel.

Red Bell Pepper

2007-04-30T22:03:00.001-05:00

This beautiful, shiny red pepper was sacrificed for grilled shrimp kabobs, but I could not resist painting it. I have two more paintings coming up that feature this pepper with a couple of his buddies who met the same fate. Those paintings are in the underpainting state at this point, but look for them to be finished for Tuesday and Wednesday's paintings.

This painting is 5" x 7" acrylic on canvas panel. Click the picture to see it full size. Thanks for stopping by :-)

Lulu's Shoes

2007-04-06T15:49:00.001-05:00

This painting is a commissioned custom shoe portrait I completed yesterday. I had a lot of fun working on these adorable little silver shoes, and my client is very happy with the results :-)

In her words:

"I love the shoes!! I am so excited with the results. Ruby gives kudos too. You did such a great job and were so nice throughout the process--sending preliminary sketches to choose and working so quickly. I am sure that my other two girls will be begging for shoe portraits too." - Beth

The pencil drawings at the top are my preliminary sketches. This painting is 10"x 10" acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas. Commissioned

I will have a new painting on Monday. Have a Happy Easter!

Easter Shoes

2007-03-28T23:09:00.001-05:00

This is a painting of the little shoes my daughter will be toddling about in while hunting eggs this Easter. She absolutely loves them because they have flowers on them, and right now, with the trees blossoming and flowers blooming all around for Spring, flowers are a big thing in her world.

I love this time of Spring with everything coming to life, but I'm definitely not a fan of the pollen! We are right in the middle of the two weeks or so that all of Georgia is wearing a dusty lime green coat. You drive down the road trailing a green pollen cloud much like Pigpen's dirt cloud in the Peanuts comic strip. The first Spring after we moved here, 5 years ago, we could not believe how much pollen there was and we stubbornly fought this seasonal phenomenon. As embarrassed as I am to admit it now, we washed the car daily. Now that we've been here a while, we simply drive around in our pollen laden car like everyone else, waiting for the couple of weeks to pass. The smartest people drive green VW beetles that already match the color of the pollen so none of this is an issue for them.

In other, non-pollen related news, I've been busy with a couple of commissions for custom shoe portraits and another painting I'm giving for a birthday gift this weekend, which is why I haven't posted in a while. I probably will not have a post for the next few days either while I finish up the commission work.

This painting is 8"x 8" acrylic on canvas panel. Thanks for stopping by :-)

Dance Slippers

2007-03-15T21:44:00.001-05:00

I love the "broken in" look of these little dance shoes.

This painting is 8"x 8"acrylic on canvas panel. SOLD

Monkey Robeez

2007-03-09T08:30:00.002-05:00

This is a painting of my nephew's little Robeez shoes. The Robeez line features a variety of cute little animals on their soft leather shoes made for babies and toddlers.

I'm having a lot of fun with the "Little Shoes" series. I like the challenge of rendering the various textures of the different shoes. In this painting, for example, the challenge was to show the folds and the hint of shine of the soft leather.

This painting is 8"x 8" acrylic on canvas panel. SOLD

Thank you for stopping by!

Flip-Flop Fun

2007-03-07T07:48:00.001-05:00

Painting these fun little flip-flops made me long for warmer weather and a trip to the beach! Notice how much blue is in this painting...(and then read my previous post!)

These awesome shoes were designed by Paul Frank and the monkeys are his stylized sock monkey character, Julius, of his youth line, Julius & Friends. If you want your own pair use this dealer locator to find out which stores near you carry his line. I know they have them at Nordstrom's.

The painting is, of course, by me! It is 8"x 8" acrylic on canvas panel.

Damage Control

2007-03-04T21:48:00.000-05:00

I'll let this direct quote from my 20 month old daughter speak for the absence of a painting today:

"Uh oh. Oh no. Ohhhh no! Messes! Ohhhh Mommy. Oh no! Messes! Make a mess! Blue! Blue messes! Wash hands! Wash my hands! Blue messes Mommy! See? See messes? Oh no! Ohhhh no, no, no."

Baby Janes

2007-03-03T00:54:00.001-05:00

This is a painting of a tiny pair of size "0" Mary Janes for infants. I chose this particular composition to emphasize the smallness of the shoes. This painting is 8"x 8" acrylic on canvas panel. SOLD
Thanks for stopping by!

Sparkling Shoes

2007-03-01T22:41:00.001-05:00

They are pink, they sparkle, and my daughter is in love with them. The only problem is that they are a couple of sizes too big for her right now. Of course that does not stop her from getting them out of the closet and clomping around in them.

Before you think I have gone crazy and started purchasing every pair of children's shoes I can get my hands on to have painting subjects, I guess I should explain that I have some awesome friends with amazing little girls that are a couple of years older than my little girl. They pass along some of the shoes that their daughters have outgrown, so my daughter has aquired quite a shoe collection - and I have aquired painting subjects ;-)

This painting is 8"x 8" acrylic on canvas board.
Thanks for stopping by :-) SOLD

His First Chucks

2007-02-07T22:39:00.001-05:00

This is a painting of the first baby shoes I ever bought. I purchased them within days of finding out we would be having a little boy. Six and a half years, 2 moves (one of which was half-way across the country), and several clothing donations later, I still have them. They are the one pair of my son's shoes that I don't think I will ever part with.

When I first met my husband (who is an avid shoe shopper), he owned 3 pairs of Chucks - White, Red, and Green. Before I had even known him a year that number tripled! Needless to say, when I spotted these shoes, I knew my new son had to have a pair.

Holding these size 0-3 month shoes in my hand, I can still remember the first time I tied them on his little feet. Now he ties his own size 2.5's (and I don't mean toddler size) and goes to Kindergarten. Where did the time go? When did "Mommy's little man" actually turn into a little man? *sigh*

If you want a pair of these for your own little one, go to Old Navy - they still carried them as recently as 18 months ago, when I went to purchase baby girl her own little pink pair ;-)

This painting is 8"x 8" acrylic on canvas panel and is available to purchase from me directly. SOLD

Her Red Shoes

2007-01-15T14:12:00.000-05:00

Yay! I am so happy to be painting again!

I apologize for the long absence - it was a much longer break than I intended. Thank you for the e-mails of concern and the encouragement to get back to painting. The whole holiday season was a busy rush as always, but mix in a round of stomach viruses, shifting my studio to a different room, a sudden flurry of company visiting that we literally had not seen in 3 to 5 years, then yet another round of stomach viruses, and you can see why it has taken me a while to get back to it. The important part of course is that I did make it back to the easel!

This is a painting of the little red shoes my daughter wore for Christmas (and any other time she can get her hands on them before I grab her tennies). She has officially progressed to "toddler" shoe sizes now - isn't it amazing how fast little feet grow?

This painting is 8"x 8" acrylic on canvas panel. SOLD

Lost in the Shuffle

2006-12-28T18:51:00.000-05:00

As if the holiday hustle and bustle weren't enough excitement, I am in the middle of moving my studio. I hope to have it set up by tomorrow night so I can get back to painting :-)

Little Boots

2006-11-30T14:20:00.000-05:00

Here is painting #2 in my "little shoes" series. These little boots belong to my 1 year old nephew and were painted from a picture that my sister-in-law sent. Since there is nothing to reference the size of the boots with, she said you could mistake them for men's work boots, and other than their wider, more rounded appearance I agree.

It's funny how much "baby shoes" have changed in appearance. The standard hard leather, white baby shoes that were once suitable for both girls and boys are a thing of the past. I'm sure you can still buy them somewhere, but these days most of the shoes for little ones just look like miniature versions of adult shoes. It would be interesting to see this generation's baby shoes bronzed as keepsakes.

This painting is 8"x 8" acrylic on canvas panel. NFS

Happy Thanksgiving!

2006-11-21T19:04:00.000-05:00

I hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving! To those who will be traveling, I wish you a safe journey. I will have the next painting in my "Little Shoes" series Wednesday night, so be sure to check back then! Thank you for stopping by :-)

Best Wishes,
Alisha K. Ard

Mary Janes

2006-11-14T00:59:00.000-05:00

Finally! A new painting! And it is the start of my shoe series - more specifically, my "little shoes" series.

These little Mary Janes belong to my baby girl, and she adores them. For the majority of her first 12 months she went around barefoot if it was warm, or with thick socks if it was cold. If you tried to put shoes on her she threw a fit and would cry as though the notion of wearing shoes was pure torture.

I was determined she would wear shoes this Fall, especially now that she is walking. So, while my grandmother and mom were out for a visit in September, we went to pick out some shoes and ended up with this pair and a pair of tennis shoes with pink rhinestones on the sides. Something about the look of them made my daughter decide that perhaps wearing shoes was not that terrible so, without any protest, she allowed the shoes to be put on her feet. Then she proceeded to walk in a very exaggerated high-stepping march with a bit of a shake to each foot as though something was stuck to the bottom - it was hilarious! That was the beginning of her shoe infatuation. Now she's constantly chasing me down with one shoe or the other, handing it to me, plopping down and poking her little feet in the air for me to put them on.

This painting is 8"x 8" acrylic on canvas panel. SOLD

Quick Update

2006-11-09T18:37:00.000-05:00

Thank you to those who have e-mailed with concerns since I haven't been posting. I caught the virus my kids had - which really was not too much of a surprise considering I spent a full week tending to runny noses, coughs, and fevers. I'm feeling human again and hope to be back to painting tomorrow :-)

Thus begins November

2006-11-01T21:35:00.000-05:00

October was a whirlwind of festivities and unexpected events that really cut into my painting time, and concluded with my little ones getting sick. What was just a nasty cold and fever for my son that kept him down a few days last week has wreaked havoc on my baby girl for 4 days now and left her with a raging ear infection. So if you've been checking back faithfully to see the start of my new series I'm so excited about, I apologize.

Thank you for stopping by!

Red Chili Peppers

2006-10-24T22:51:00.000-05:00

I had a lot of fun painting these red chili peppers today - it's amazing how much they shine under direct light.

I actually have a couple of series planned out for my daily paintings over the next few weeks that I am really excited about. I'd give more details, but then it wouldn't be a suprise, so you'll just have to come back to find out ;-)

This painting is 5"x 7" acrylic on canvas panel. Thanks for stopping by!

SOLD

Lone Leaf

2006-10-18T14:51:00.000-05:00

This was painted from a picture I took late last fall on a cold dreary day. The curves of the bare branches are what initially caught my eye, then I noticed one lone little leaf that had refused to let go.

Speaking of fall foliage, this weekend The Gold Rush Days are going on in Dahlonega! I'm torn between my obsession with taking pictures of fall colors and my desire to avoid large crowds at all cost - but I'm leaning toward going :-)

This painting is 5"x 7" acrylic on canvas panel.

Sea Flight

2006-10-15T21:30:00.000-05:00

This painting is of 5 cownose stingrays gliding through the water. The photo I took actually had about 40 of them. What really amazed me was that they were so synchronized in their swimming, as seen in this painting. It was very reminicent of watching a flock of birds flying - which is what gave me the idea for the name of this painting, "Sea Flight".

Here's a funny fact about the cownose stingray -it is often mistaken for a pair of sharks when it swims near the surface due to the shape of it's pectoral fins. Ironically, in the early stages of this painting, it took my husband a few minutes to figure out what I was painting because he mistook them to be some type of shark. About 5 minutes later (during which I had made no adjustment to the stingrays) my son came up and said, "Wow, those rays are coming along great!"

This painting is 8"x 8" acrylic on canvas panel. SOLD

Window to the Sea (study)

2006-10-11T21:10:00.000-05:00

Here is my study for a larger painting, "Window to the Sea". It is based on a picture of my son seated in this large circular window looking into a small section of the huge tank that is home to the Whale Sharks.

We were headed to the 100 foot long tunnel that runs through that massive tank and my son just stopped, full of wonder, and sat in the window. It was such a perfect moment, I was determined to get a picture. So, I flip on the digital camera, wait for some other aquarium visitors to pass, get ready to take the shot (without a flash), the camera reads the light and...my husband steps in to shoo my little tank gazer out of the window just as the shutter opens. Perturbed, I try to re-create the scene, but a massive crowd heads to the tunnel and blocks the way, my husband is ready to move on, the baby starts fussing in her stroller, and it all dissolves into the chaos that is life with kids. Thus, I have to be content with the picture I was able to get.

Which leads me to a great point about art from photos. You can do a lot of editing to any image you choose to paint from - like completely removing your husband that walked into your perfect shot, for example :-)

I realize this painting has no large fish or intriguing sea creature - but it does have one amazed little boy. This painting is 5x7 acrylic on canvas panel.

Chili Peppers

2006-10-04T15:00:00.000-05:00

Ok, this is obviously not from the Georgia Aquarium, lol!

This piece was commissioned by a client and was a lot of fun to paint. I'm very pleased with the result and, more importantly, the client loves it :-)

I have two more paintings I will be working on from the aquarium. They will actually be studies for much larger works that I will be working on in the near future.

This painting is 5x7 acrylic on canvas panel. Commissioned

Jellyfish

2006-10-01T16:41:00.000-05:00

There are a couple of different jellyfish tanks at the Georgia Aquarium. One is a black tank with a light that changes colors which illuminates the clear jellyfish inside, making them glow blue, purple, magenta and orange. The other one is a glowing wall of incredible blue with jellyfish that have their own red bioluminescence. The contrast is startling.

I've made an attempt to capture the red inner glow as well as the semi-transparent outer layer of the jellyfish in this painting. I particularly like the movement created by the tentacles.

This painting is a 5x7 acrylic on canvas panel.

Beluga Whale

2006-09-30T15:36:00.000-05:00

When you go to the Georgia Aquarium, you have to see the Beluga Whales. Watching them dive deep, then swim back to the surface for air is truly mesmerizing. They move with such fluid grace that you feel you are watching an underwater ballet. It's a very soothing experience.

Thanks to my son (who turned 6 this past Wednesday), I learned that Beluga Whales are the only whales that have a neck that allows them to move their head from side to side and up and down. They are inquisitive animals and will often come near boats to find out what is going on. The curve of their mouth makes them look like they are always smiling. Unlike my son, I did not commit every fact about Belugas to memory, so if you want to know more you should stop in to your local library and check out a book about them.

Speaking of libraries, this past year I have read more non-fiction than I ever have before (especially pertaining to animals). My son by-passes the picture books and early readers and heads straight for the juvenile non-fiction shelves. While I am impressed with his insatiable thirst for knowledge, reading non-fiction books aloud for an hour can be tedious. There's nothing like being corrected by your child on the pronunciation of the scientific name of some sea creature that he had to check out a book about after seeing it featured on Animal Planet. It also has the side effect of making you drop random scientific facts at social gatherings that make people look at you funny - as if to say, "And you think I'm interested in Beluga Whales because...?"

This painting is a 5x7 acrylic on canvas panel. Thanks for stopping by!

Update: NFS This painting is not for sale. The afore-mentioned 6 year-old offered me his entire life savings for this painting. For once I gave in to his begging and pleading - and no, I didn't take his money ;-)

Lazy Days

2006-09-25T17:37:00.000-05:00

I would like to tell you I risked life and limb for the picture I looked at to paint this, but alas I did not - well, at least not in the sense of trekking through swamps in search of a baby alligator. If you take into consideration the 2 and a half hour road trip to the Tennessee Aquarium, however, then I can definately claim to have risked my life. Of course that was over a year ago - now I can just fight Atlanta traffic to the Georgia Aquarium, which somehow doesn't seem any less of a life risk. I completely recommend both Aquariums by the way - they are both amazing for totally different reasons.

On our last trip to Chattanooga, we came across this little guy, who seemed perfectly content basking under the lamps in his large terrarium. I shot the picture with the intent of painting it one day, and now I finally have! I had a lot of fun painting this one, and I'm considering painting it again on a larger scale so I can capture more detail of the alligator.

My next few paintings will be from my trip to the Georgia Aquarium. I like painting animals :-)

This painting is 5x7 acrylic on canvas panel.

Sunflower

2006-09-21T22:38:00.000-05:00

This simple sunflower is 5x7 acrylic on masonite. I really spent more time on it than intended because I couldn't get the background the way I wanted it. Finally I admitted defeat and filled it in with a very dark green that was in the background of the picture I was painting from.

I really tried to capture the transparency of the petals, which suprisingly had a lot of green for being a yellow flower.

SOLD

Autumn Leaves

2006-09-19T20:58:00.000-05:00

Autumn is my favorite time of year, followed closely by Spring. In addition to the moderate temperatures, the trees put on spectacular shows during both seasons. It wasn't until I moved to Georgia that I got to witness the colorful transformation of Fall firsthand, and I was instantly enchanted. Every year I look forward to setting aside an entire day (or 2, or 3) dedicated exclusively to taking pictures of the changing leaves.

This is a painting of leaves from 3 different trees in my yard. I decided to try a more illustrated look with this painting, and I am very pleased with the result.

5x7 acrylic on gessoed masonite

Windmill At Dusk

2006-09-16T15:53:00.000-05:00

Here is the final piece in my series. It is painted from another picture of the evening excursions I mentioned in my previous post.

Though this windmill had seen better days, it made a great subject against the clouds in the distance and the evening sky.

I am particularly happy with the blending of the sky. I used thicker layers of paint in this one than I did in "Dawn's Soft Approach" and it definately helped it go on more evenly.

This painting is 8x8 acrylic on canvas panel.
SOLD

Sunset Sentinel

2006-09-15T13:05:00.000-05:00

The second piece in my "Silhouettes Against the Sky" series, this painting depicts a lone sprig of wild grass against a beautiful Texas sunset. It's a picture I've been wanting to paint since my last trip back to Austin to visit my family - a little over 2 years now.

My mother and I spent the late afternoons of my visit driving around the rural areas taking pictures of barns, fields, rusty bridges, and the big open sky. These excursions always concluded with us shooting the incredible sunsets that seemed to set the sky on fire. I tried my best to capture this effect in the painting with the intense oranges and yellows that show through the breaks in the cloudbanks.

One thing you can count on in Texas during the summer (other than the intense heat) is a beautiful sunset.

This painting is an 8x8 acrylic on canvas board.
SOLD

Dawn's Soft Approach

2006-09-14T10:01:00.000-05:00

This painting is the first in a small 3 piece series I am working on called "Silhouettes Against the Sky". It was inspired by a sunrise over a pasture I was fortunate to capture with my digital camera one morning while taking my son to school. We'd been having rain for a solid week, and the night before was particularly stormy. It was a nice change to see clearing skies and the soft hues of early dawn. Being more of a "night-owl" personality, I can honestly say I have seen more sunrises over the past month since school started than I have in the past 5 years.

I like the silhouettes of the trees and natural skyline against the early light.

This piece is acrylic on 8x8 inch canvas panel. SOLD

Orange Daylily

2006-09-13T22:01:00.001-05:00

This is my first smaller scale painting (5x7) for this daily painting blog. It is painted in high quality acrylics to assure permanence and maintain it's color, and has been varnished for extra protection.

I sketched and painted this from a photo I took this past July. I loved the rich colors of the flower, and how the orange popped against the green. The painting has no true black in it. The background is actually a mix of green and black. Though it does not show as well in the picture, there is actually more depth to the shadows in areas where the green/black mix is varied to have more green or more black.

Thank you for stopping by! - A. K. Ard
SOLD