10 Mar

Posted at 19:35h in art, Bedsidesign, contemporary art, watercolor by

Spring is upon us in Chicago! The days are creeping up to 50 degrees, the snow is melting and my daffodils are poking through the ground. The days are lighter in the evening and you can hear birds chirping! How I love the change of seasons…especially out of winter’s long, dark days.

I notice each season how the direction of my art changes as well. Previous summers, I’ve  worked on extremely colorful, graffiti inspired abstracts…last winter I did a lot of large scale florals, with moody dark backgrounds and thick layering of paint. Lately I’ve been using a lot of watercolor…something I haven’t picked up in well, a decade! No joke. The organic, unexpected nature of watercolor with it’s bleeding and soft layering are speaking to me right now. Perhaps it’s, again, the change of season and light. Perhaps it’s the baby in my belly, rolling and kicking up a storm, preparing to show her face in 8 weeks! Whatever the reason, I am loving the blurry, natural, soft and earthy quality I am getting from working with watercolor. Here are some recent watercolor paintings I’ve done. You can find some originals still available in my Etsy shop! Happy beginning of Spring friends!

28 Feb

Posted at 17:51h in art, contemporary art, creative block, creative unblock, illustration, instagram, mary gaspar art, Modern Art, painting, the jealous curator, watercolor by

Hi friends! So here we are on the last day of February and I wanted to share with you this month’s Creative Unblock project. The Jealous Curator is hosting this awesome monthly project series, where an artist from her book Creative Block gives us a challenge to break out of a creative rut. You can see my work from last month’s incredible challenge here! February’s challenge was from artist Kate Bingaman-Burt. We were asked to document the items in our medicine cabinet…eeeek, right?! The medium I chose to work in was watercolor. I thought it’d be fun to use such a romantic and organic medium to tell the story of everyday items you use for toiletries! And in black and white….they’d be just sophisticated enough to matte and hang in a…well…bathroom! The Jealous Curator was gracious enough to feature my work on her incredible blog today…check it out here and check her site tomorrow for March’s Creative UNblock project. Have a wonderful weekend!

16 Feb

Posted at 02:04h in acrylic, acrylic painting, art, botanical paintings, mini paintings, painting, Soulflowers, storyboard wedding, styled shoot, valentine's, wedding by

I am so thrilled to have my mini botanical paintings featured in this dreamy Valentine’s inspired wedding shoot on Storyboard Wedding! My dear friend Jessica Davis of Soulflowers in Tennessee invited me to collaborate on this gorgeous themed wedding. Taken from the Dire Straits song, Romeo and Juliet, “Love You Like the Stars Above” was the theme. The colors were to be lush pinks and reds, moody dark blues and amethyst with celestial golds. The result…blew me away. My mini canvases of hot pink and red roses are featured at the tables as decor and wedding favors for the gifts. And now I have some at my Etsy shop for sale! Check out the wedding here friends and I hope everyone had a lovely Valentine’s weekend!

*Photos pulled from the Storyboard Wedding blog post are taken by the talented Amy Nicole Photography.

01 Feb

Posted at 22:29h in abstract, art, collage, contemporary art, creative block, creative unblock, mixed media, Modern Art, self portrait, the jealous curator by

I participated in The Jealous Curator‘s January challenge of 12 months of Creative UNblock. And wow, did I have fun! If you don’t follow her amazing blog on contemporary art…you should and if you don’t have her books, Creative Block and Collage…get them! SO good. For the first challenge her Creative Block artist, Trey Speegle, came up with this unblocking exercise…

“Make a drawing in black and white {or use a found image} and then photocopy the drawing onto card stock 50 times – or enough copies so that you won’t “worry” about how many you’ve used. {Take your time and draw or find an image that you really love, and will like working with over and over} Then, alter the image in as many different ways as you can think of with colored pencils, paint, cutting, whatever. You can modify this idea and change it in whatever way you like but the important thing is to turn off your brain and just play with a repeated form and let your mind see where no ideas or thought process takes you. 

Create your own tight parameters… then give yourself a LOT of room to play. Have fun.” 

So with 3 days left in January I did it! I used one of my drawings from my 2014 Sketch-a-day Project, and made many variations of it using paint, rhinestones, pearls, paper, moss, and yarn. Here’s the original image:

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And here’s what I came up with…

tritree diamondpink pearls photo 5 1 kingtut diamondeye 1980 tree roseeyes mossdiva 80pink triangle punkblack 9 8 yoko eyes gold star yarnhead eyelash photo 1 photo 2 cracking mirror swirly yes explosion 0 twins mossface $ 80'smoss lola photo 3 34 swirlface indian photo 4 deconstruct labyrinth

I had SUCH a blast. You can follow along and do a creative UNblock project each month. Just tag your pictures #creativeUNblock on instagram and twitter. The Jealous Curator posted February’s today! And you can follow my creative pursuits on instagram. Last thing I’m leaving you with is a little video of all my pieces together…http://flipagram.com/f/Q7OotVQ8WQ.

Enjoy and happy creating!

21 Jan

Posted at 23:05h in 365 project, abstract, art, drawing, etsy, etsy artist, etsy seller, faber castell marker, flowers, illustration, instagram, journaling, marker, mary gaspar art, micron, Modern Art, pen, pitt artist pen, sketch, sketch a day, still life by

Ok friends, here’s the last part of December’s kazillion sketches! Had to split them into 3 posts as there were so many due to getting WAY behind on my sketches during the first trimester of my pregnancy. Needless to say, not much got done in September/October. In case you missed it here is Part 1 and Part 2.

Doing a 365 Day project was both challenging and SO fulfilling. It was challenging to force myself to draw something on days where I had been working on a commissioned art piece (with a deadline), while taking care of my two girls and their pick up/drop off schedule of school and activities. It was challenging over the summer months when I was vacationing with my family, or keeping my kids entertained and experiencing all the joys of summer, while trying to grow my small art business.  But it was just one sketch a day, really. Totally doable. Unless, of course I slacked for a couple of days…or in the case of the entirety of my first trimester of pregnancy, a couple weeks! I was determined to do them all…and I did.

Here’s what made it SO worth it…

  • Material: I now have 4 sketch books chock-full of ideas for paintings, prints…whatever! Some of my original drawings are already listed at my Etsy shop. I’ll be adding more soon.
  • Memories: I have drawings of my precious children that we’ll have in our family forever. I also have drawings of my beloved husband and our pets.  These are priceless.
  • Practice: I tried many different styles from detailed portraits to calligraphy to cartoonish abstracts. I worked with different tools. Mostly, I used micron pens, colored pencils and faber-castell pitt artist pen markers. I figured out what I liked to do best…and I feel like my drawing got better!
  • Sales: Sharing my sketches led to sales…many sales! I doubled my art income in 2014 from the previous year!!! Showing my drawings on instagram and facebook either reminded people of what I could do for them, or sparked an idea for a commission. I would post a picture of a peony and lo and behold I was commissioned to paint a 3 ft x 3 ft painting of peonies for a client’s dining room!

It was somewhat bittersweet seeing it come to an end on December 31st. I would love to continue my sketch-a-day in 2015 but am giving myself the break as we are welcoming our third child in just a few months. Who knows, though, I may devise some other daily or weekly challenge for a month or two in 2015. Painting a week? Photograph a day? I’ll let you know;) Here are the last group of sketches, in no particular order, from 2014. Thanks for following friends!

21 Jan

Posted at 18:36h in 365 project, abstract, art, art journal, artist, drawing, illustration, marker, pen, pitt artist pen, sketch, sketch a day by

Happy 2015! I have lots of sketches from the end of my 2014 Sketch-A-Day series that you can see in the next few blog posts. I had gotten behind and had to play catch up before the year came to an end so there are a whole LOT of December sketches! Part 1 is twenty or so of my more figurative sketches…including a couple self portraits, a portrait of my husband and daughter and a few of our sweet French Lop rabbit, Olaf, who sadly passed away at the start of the new year. I have these drawings to remember each day of this past year, thank goodness…a year that had brought our bunny to us, and the wonderful news that we are expecting another little girl. We were able to have so many adventures here in Chicago, as well as visiting friends in Tennessee and family in Boston and Dallas. Each drawing represents a piece of this past year’s journey, and I am SO happy I did it. Plus the practice…oh, the practice! I drew accordingly to how I was feeling so some drawings are detailed and more realistic, while others are sketchy and abstract.  I had so much fun posting them to instagram daily. And some are now available at my Etsy shop. Here’s Part 1…Enjoy!

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03 Dec

Posted at 18:36h in 365 project, abstract, art, artist, artist mom, botanical, drawing, etsy artist, illustration, instagram, mary gaspar art, Modern Art, october, pancakes, pen and ink, pitt artist pen, sketch, sketch a day by

Ah, so here I am in my sketch-a-day project for 2014 recognizing my original fear…that I would get too far behind! Yet I am nothing, if not determined. I set goals and work to accomplish them…tirelessly. I WILL finish it haha!

So how far behind did I get? At this point I believe I have to draw three sketches a day in order to complete 365 by the end of the day on December 31st. Not a hugely monumental task…but sometimes feels daunting when I am finishing commissioned projects, my own paintings and holding down the house with two young kids.

Oh…and I am pregnant! Almost 18 weeks now…which I think explains my lack of energy in completing sketches for weeks. The first trimester was abysmal…every ounce of energy I had was given to completing assigned projects and making sure my children were clothed and fed. My energy and creativity have returned, though, and I am ready to sketch onward and upward. Plus, I have several exciting projects ahead! Here are a whole bunch of sketches from October and November. You will see some themes popping up, no doubt. You can follow my sketch-a-day series here on instagram. And I’ve also started listing some original drawings for sale at my Etsy shop! Enjoy and always, thanks for visiting!

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06 Oct

Posted at 17:38h in 365 project, abstract, art, art journal, artist, flowers, illustration, mary gaspar art, october, pen and ink, pitt artist pen, september, sketch, sketch a day, still life by

We are well into Autumn in Chicago now. Our finest two months are September and October…the crisp air, the golden light, the changing color of the trees. I got married in the month of October…nine years ago. The day was 75 degrees and sunny with a light breeze. My sketch a day series has followed suit with the changing of seasons…cups of coffee, sketches of boots and melancholy portraits. I’ve found it harder to draw at night too. The days are getting shorter and I find myself wanting to go to bed when the sun does. So…starting today, I decided to flip my schedule and do my sketches in the morning. I am giving you a lot of drawings today as September found me focusing on commissions and the children’s back-to-school schedule. Enjoy friends!

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Curves TennesseeBouquet Croissant BraidWoman LittleBoy Stripes FlowerCircle Boots Tree WhiteRabbit FlyingBirds