Merry Christmas!

What a wonderful day to reflect on how good God is.

Diet Coke original mixed media painting commission

5" by 7" acrylic and paper collage on canvas. SOLD

Here's a commission piece I finished up a couple of days ago. It felt so good to be back in the studio! I've been doing all kinds of piddly things that go along with the holidays and some of it has even been fun.

Last day of 20% off in Etsy store and BCAA show

Net Effects after Turner by Kenny Jones. This is my husband's painting that won Best of Show in the Big Country Art Association show this weekend. It's done in ink on a 24" by 36" wood panel in ink. Be sure and click on it to see all of the layers. He is my all time favorite artist! I am so thrilled when his art get's affirmed by others. He supports us by teaching...sometimes not having enough time to do art during the semester and yet is unfailingly supportive of my art. He gives me the opportunity to paint.
Polyphonic, 24" by 36" acrylic and mixed media on canvas.

You may have seen this painting of mine earlier on the blog. I was happy to get a third place with it in the 2 dimensional category of the BCAA.

This is the last day of my 20% off special in my Etsy shop. If you enter the coupon code DEC2010 as you check out it will automatically discount it by 20%. I'll disable this code in the morning. I'm still having free shipping for USA and Canada and half price for International shipping right now. This will last until Dec 20th. If I haven't changed it to reflect this special on the listing in the store, then I will change it for you before you buy if you contact me or I will just refund it to you by Paypal after you pay. Hope that makes sense.

Winter Peppergrass original mixed media painting by Polly Jones

12" square acrylic and mixed media on gessoed masonite with raised wooded circles. You can click on the image for more details. SOLD

I'm finally done with this one. It was a day for going back to older, unfinished work and trying to resolve them. I love how the remnants of different stages show through. The image is one of a weed called peppergrass. It's an image I've used several times...just enthralled with it's form I guess. Lately the winter sun has been shining in my studio at such a low bright angle. It's entirely different from the summer sunshine. This artwork is a way for me to capture that oblique cool light.

I'm having a cyber monday deal in my Etsy shop that will last for a week. Now through Monday Dec 6th use this coupon code at checkout: DEC2010 for 20% off as well as Free USA and Canadian shipping and half off of international shipping until Dec 20th! Just convo me for a revise.

FREE USA and Canada shipping special, Salvia and Pickle Slump original mixed media paintings

6" by 6" ( SOLD) and 12" by 12" acrylic and mixed media collage on gallery wrapped canvas.SOLD

Right now I'm having a free USA and Canada shipping and half price International shipping sale. This will go on until December 20th. If you see something in my Etsy store, just shoot me an email and I will revise the listing to reflect the special.

I've been busy chopping and cooking and cleaning and getting ready for Thanksgiving. Here are a couple of pieces I've managed to work on lately too. I am so thankful to God for all the blessings we have. Also, I'm thankful for you who take the time to look at my work. Hope you all have a fantastic time with your family tomorrow!

AND THE WINNER IS....

Painted Paper!!! Laura, if you will just email me at pollyjonesart@gmail.com with your address, I will pop the pumpkin painting in the mail for you. Thanks everyone for all of your comments to enter and all of the new followers and subscribers! I will be doing this again. I really appreciate you guys for taking the time to look at what I do. It challenges me to work harder and keeps me from feeling isolated in my studio.

Painted Paper is a vibrant blog with great ideas for art projects for children written by Laura, an experienced elementary art teacher. You should definitely check it out.

That's my husband's impartial hand, not my daughter...she's still not emerged from under her covers. Kenny had a surprising amount of suggestions for how to do this, including what to put the papers in. However, I prevailed with my gorgeous little yellow teapot.

Giveaway Reminder and New Mixed Media for CCA show

"Be/Wilder" 24" by 36" original mixed media painting for the group show "Guilded" at the CCA. It opens November 13th.

Here's another reminder of my pumpkin painting giveaway. I just want to thank everyone for all your kind comments!!! You don't know how much I appreciate you guys reading my blog, much less saying such great things. The deadline to put your name in the pot is Friday. Some time on Saturday morning I'll print off names from the comment section and Facebook and get my daughter to draw a name out of a bowl. Details and place to enter here: http://pollyjones.blogspot.com/2010/10/8-square-acrylic-on-gessoed-masonite.html

Pumpkin painting Giveaway

8" square acrylic on gessoed masonite. I'm doing a giveaway! This is the painting you could win. I meant to do this sooner but have been under the weather and terribly unproductive. I plan to have the drawing in one week on Friday, November 5th. Here's how to enter for the drawing:

1. Either subscribe to this blog (from upper right sidebar subscribe box) or sign up to Follow (also at the right sidebar but further down) If you already get emails or follow, then just go to number 2.

2. After you've done that then make a comment under this post.

3. To double your chances you can also sign up for my Facebook fan page (button on my blog sidebar). I use FB for notifying people of sales etc.

4. If you have any questions let me know!

Acorns for Steve original still life painting

4" square acrylic on wood panel

I put an orange underpainting with intentions of leaving bits peaking through for warmth. I ended up heavy with the paint and had to come back on top with it. I haven't painted this small in a while...honestly it takes as much time for me to do an 8" one. Acorns are symbols of patience and in some cultures it's good luck to carry them around in your pocket.

Apartment Therapy Contest

I entered the Room For Color Contest over at Apartment Therapy a couple of weeks ago. It's a peoples choice type of contest where everyone votes for their favorite and the winner gets a trip to New York and regional winners get 15 gallons of Behr paint. My chances are pretty slim but I thought I would go ahead and share the link so you could see my living room and all the really great colorful rooms entered. The first link is to my room but you can navigate from there to see all the entries.

http://community.apartmenttherapy.com/contests/color/2010/entries/569

Blue Willow Stack original mixed media painting by Polly Jones

8" acrylic and mixed media on gallery wrapped canvas. On SOLD

Twice yesterday I had uploaded photos of this painting and planned on posting here only to discover when I looked at the photo on the computer that it was all wrong. Something about condensing it down helps problems show up.

For me, the bowl ended up sometimes seeming solid and clunky and sometimes atmospheric with the ship floating around. I really want that kind of tension in my work because I like paradoxes.

Late Bloomers original still life painting by Polly Jones again

Sorry, something happened and my image didn't show in the previous post. SOLD

Late Bloomers original still life painting by Polly Jones

8" square acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas. On Etsy here.

I'm reduced to picking flowers from my potted vinca and a little "knockout" rose. I got this rose bush because it's easy to care for, but in my heart I long for the cantankerous to grow old fashioned cabbage roses.

Pumpkin original mixed media painting by Polly Jones

6" square acrylic and paper on gallery wrapped canvas. SOLD

I used the text as highlight on my pumpkin which was painted on top of a dictionary page.

Cup of Pear original still life painting by Polly Jones

6" square acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas. SOLD

Today I said no to housework and yes to cheesecake and painting. It was a really good day. This little blue willow painting was done last week. In the studio today I worked on some larger paintings that I'm attempting to find a way to resolve.

Pear original mixed media painting by Polly Jones

6" square acrylic and mixed media on canvas. SOLD

I'm not sure about that painting in the top picture right. I think I'm going to work on the background some more.

Birthday Cupcake painting

8" by 8" acrylic on canvas.

Here's a little memento from my daughter's birthday. My baby isn't a baby anymore.

Lazy Day Pumpkin original painting by Polly Jones

8" square acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas. In my SOLD

I was too tired and lazy to do collage with this one today so just enjoyed painting with paint.

Center Stage Spoon original mixed media painting by Polly Jones

8" acrylic and mixed media collage painting on gallery wrapped canvas. SOLD

Spoon patterns conjure up a lot of memories. This one is from my mother.

Peach Study original mixed media by Polly Jones

6" acrylic mixed media on canvas. Here's the last peach for a while. SOLD

Winged Garlic original mixed media still life painting by Polly Jones

5" square acrylic and mixed media on cradled wood panel. SOLD.

A little smaller than usual.

Pepper With Uneven Cut original mixed media still life painting by Polly Jones

8" acrylic and paper on gallery wrapped canvas. On Etsy here.

One reason I combine layers of collage with painting is how it's a way to hint at how complicated and full of memory that "looking" can be. For instance, many years ago when we lived in Knoxville, I had a gig as a demonstrating artist at a KMA event. I was doing a large painting of a bell pepper and an older man came up and stood there a while just watching. He finally said, "I'm so glad someone else feels that way about bell peppers!" It was kind of funny because he seemed to be embarrassed that he was moved by the beauty of a vegetable. Now when I am cutting up peppers and looking at them, I always feel a kinship with that man. So that's one thing I think about when painting peppers. Another is how I plan to use it in a recipe later if it doesn't shrivel too much. Another influence is Edward Weston's famous black and white photographs of peppers changing the way we see them. We bring a lot to our looking and that can make it messy in a lovely way.

More Peaches original mixed media still life painting by Polly Jones

8" acrylic mixed media painting on gallery wrapped canvas. SOLD

I did a painting almost the same as this one a while back and then had a lovely request for a similar one. I don't mind doing this because it's such a learning experience. It forces me to analyze what I had done more spontaneously before and I bring a different kind of thinking to it. Luckily peaches are still in season so I was able to set it all up again.

Red Sugar Bowl original painting

6" square acrylic on canvas.

I've been wrestling with about three large, unruly mixed media pieces lately. It was a relief to do this small one. My intention was to not overwork it. I've been admiring Linda Hunt's work lately because of her fantastic, luscious brushwork, never overworked. You can catch her paintings here.

Apples in Blue Willow original painting by Polly Jones

8" square acrylic painting on canvas. SOLD

Well, school has started and I'm hopefully back in a more disciplined mode. I have reworked the background on the last painting if you want to look at it here. I kept hearing the words "pink nightmare" in the voice of the dad on "A Christmas Story" when I looked at it before.

I've Got Your Back original still life painting

6" square on canvas. SOLD

The black eyed susan plant has not given up in our yard. These are definitely the dog days and I am so grateful for air conditioning.

Polyphonic, new mixed media large painting

The top one is the new version. Had it on the dining room wall and after reworking it in my head night after night, I decided I wanted to do what Matisse did in his painting. My favorite part of his piece is the black with the fern fronds pattern. I ended up changing my background by using black and adding a lot more collage throughout. I found that the papers gave it a crispness in areas that I was craving and couldn't get with just paint. The collage looks integrated in the photo, but if you click to enlarge the photo you can see more bits and pieces of paper in the paint.

Three Peaches original mixed media still life painting

8" acrylic and paper on gallery wrapped canvas. SOLD

Plums in a Catherinholm Bowl original painting

8" acrylic and mixed media on gessoed masonite panel. SOLD

My color scheme came from a rug pattern I saw in a magazine. I've done this Catherinholm's bowl twice before, here and here.

Little Deer original mixed media painting

A little weird, I know, but it's fun to do something different. It is much harder to paint a tiny plastic deer than I would have guessed. Did another collage I like better and plan to post it tomorrow. 6" square on canvas.

Teacup Party original contemporary still life painting

5" by 7" acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas SOLD

I had fully intended to paint a soap dispenser that I have by my sink. I'd made a resolution to paint only things that looked contemporary for a while. Well, after moving that soap dispenser around forever, trying to get a good set up, I noticed my little teacup with this pink umbrella sitting in it over on the still life prop shelf and changed course. Believe it or not this dainty painting was done with Led Zeppelin blasting away. Kenny was in charge of the playlist while we both painted. We've each been having an art crisis but are recovering.

Sunflower and Pitchers progress mixed media painting

16" by 2o" original mixed media painting

Still working on this one. It's not quite finished. I'm trying to work with the idea of refractions that are carried out in the glass and also with the use of collaged papers. I have loved painting pictures of glass for so long and it's fun to try new ways of doing this. Found a wonderful blog called Paper Paintings by Elizabeth St. Hilaire Nelson who has beautifully integrated collage and images and paint.

Work in Progress mixed media painting

I'm trying to remember to photograph at different points this 16" by 20" mixed media piece in progress. These are some sunflowers that came up on their own in the backyard.

Zinnia Going to Seed original mixed media painting by Polly Jones

6" square original mixed media painting on canvas SOLD.

Here's a small one that I had a wonderful time being self indulgent with. I used very thick paint with bits of collage embedded. I don't know why the idea of "going to seed" has such a bad rap...it's a beautiful process when you think about it!

Earlier this month, I went home for a great visit with my parents and since then I've been doing yard work and helping my daughter get ready for a mission trip. I've also been working on a large mixed media that I feel somewhat vulnerable about sharing. I'm hoping to get in a lot of studio time the rest of the month.

Night Shell original mixed media painting by Polly Jones

5" by 7" acrylic and mixed media collage on canvas, SOLD.

Please excuse the glare, I had a hard time photographing this one. When Kenny (the husband) went wild over this one I finally realized how much it resembled the approach in a lot of his work, light lines on a black background.

Two Zinnia Paintings

A while back I had the best special request ever for a painting of an orange zinnia in a small star design glass... subject matter that had special meaning for this dear requester. I've been waiting for my zinnias to grow, and a few of them have, but not bloomed yet. I'm not even sure what color they will be when they bloom. Well, a couple of days ago I found the perfect little orange zinnia plant in the garden center. The first one was such fun that I've done a second one so she'll have more choices. You can see in the top painting, done second, that I loosened up a bit and have more paint going on.

8" square acrylic on gallery wrapped canvas. SOLD

original mixed media painting Keeping Count of Treasures

8" square mixed media acrylic on masonite SOLD

The name "Keeping Count of Treasures" was the title to a graph from an old book I have used for part of the collage. After looking at it on the computer, I think I need to go back in and paint out some more areas to off set the layered parts. There' a picture of Gandhi in here courtesy of a Little Golden Encyclopedia Gg-Hh. Can you find him? Is this a bit like "Where's Waldo?"

Etsy front page! Free shipping today.

View an Etsy Front Page Treasury List - The Vault on Craft Cult

I had a painting on Etsy's front page yesterday. I thought the colors were so pretty together. Also I will be having free shipping for Memorial Day on all paintings in my etsy shop. Just let me know if you are interested in an artwork and I will reserve you a listing with free shipping.

Hope you all have a great time with your family today! I am so thankful for all of the families who have sacrificed by serving our country.

Sweet William original painting by Polly Jones

11" by 14" acrylic and mixed media collage on gallery wrapped canvas. SOLD

I've used some tissue paper as a collage element in the upper top background. I repainted the pattern on top of the paper. I have this flower known as Sweet William (also dianthus and also pinks) growing in pots outside. They are so hardy that they can survive the harsh winter around here. I have known a couple of Williams but they were definitely not what you would call sweet.

Jalopeno and a Half original painting by Polly Jones

5" by 7" acrylic on canvas.  SOLD

Very Truly Yours original mixed media painting by Polly Jones

8" acrylic and mixed media collage painting on gessoed masonite. SOLD

Wild garlic and a magnolia blossoms are the sources for my drawing. It's all mixed in with vintage papers from a childrens encyclopedia and a page from an old typing manual.

Clementines in Blue Willow original painting

8 inches square on canvas, on SOLD

You're probably thinking, "Really, that bowl again?" I had a terrible craving to see orange and blue together and ended up getting out my blue willow bowl.

Strawberries on Dots original still life painting

8" square on gallery wrapped canvas. SOLD

I love how strawberries come in so many funky shapes...some rather elegant and some kind of stumpy, yet they are all wonderful, except for the old mushy ones. Okay, I think I'll stop thinking about it.