My Art Shelf

I have been looking around for artwork for my house ever since I moved in a few years back, and I never seemed to have any luck. Rarely did anything catch my eye, and if it did I usually found some small detail that I didn't like or the work was simply too expensive. As much as I would like to, it would be hard for me to pay thousands of dollars for a painting. I have also browsed Etsy for hours at a time trying to find something for my living room to no avail...until this past December.

It all started with the painting in the middle, an abstract ink on paper, that I randomly saw on Etsy and loved at first sight. Because my living room is in coffee, chocolate and cream colors, this work fit perfectly with my decor and the other pieces that I have painted myself for the room. After that, it seemed that great pieces of art were simply falling into my lap from Etsy's pages, and I ended up with this small collection at very reasonable prices. I am very pleased with my new art shelf, so I thought I'd give a shout out to the artists:

from left to right

Forest - art print by Schall Eszter
https://www.etsy.com/shop/schalleszter
This shop has really cute art by the Hungarian illustrator Schall Eszter - birds in the forest, drunk foxes singing, elephants jumping rope, orange frogs and Eskimos fishing. I chose this adorable print of a bird near a cherry tree to keep up with the bird theme I have going on at home.

Autumn Treescape - linocut by Giuliana Lazzerini
https://www.etsy.com/shop/TheBluebirdGallery
I took some printmaking classes in college, so I couldn't pass up on a hand-pulled linocut with tiny birds hand-drawn in ink. Another must-have for my bird theme. There are also a lot of fox and hare prints on her Etsy shop as well.

Moon and Stars - watercolor by BluePalette
https://www.etsy.com/shop/bluepalette#
This is a real favorite of mine. I have worked with watercolor since my first art class when I was four, so I can appreciate the delicate beauty of this technique and the craftsmanship it requires. BluePalette's shop has these amazing circle watercolors that are truly great finds. They are little gems, and I wish I could buy a bunch of these and make a whole gallery wall with them. Not saying I won't at some point :)
I love the night sky, especially in the summer when it is full of stars and everything is quiet in the dead of night, but you are awake and basking in its serenity. This is what this painting reminds me of, so I had to get it. At 20 dollars, I think it is a bargain.

Abstract Ink Drawing - ink drawing by ComArt
https://www.etsy.com/shop/ComArt
This is the painting that started it all, and I still love it. Some people have asked me what is it that I see in it, since it is basically a splotch of ink, but I tell them that it is beautiful. I don't know what it is, but I find it truly beautiful and harmonious in its composition. This artist has some great stuff.

Minimalist Modern Linocut - linocut by Toni Point
https://www.etsy.com/shop/printwork
If you are looking for something minimalist, this is the place to go. I really like the play of shapes and positive-negative space in the print I bought. It is dynamic and simple at the same time. This goes to show that linocuts don't have to be ornamental, but they can play in the abstract realm as well.

Watercolor Illustration- glicee print by Victoria
https://www.etsy.com/shop/VictoriAtelier
There was no actual title given to this piece by the author, as far as I've seen, but I call it my "Sun painting", so that in my collection I have a sun and I have a moon (the little round watercolor). This abstract piece also looks great, and it has an incredible richness of colors. The fact that it's not all bright jewelled tones makes the depth of hues even better - the neutral background in beige, cream and cappuccino flows to beautiful little speckles of gold, navy, sea blue and aubergine. I would have loved to own the original, but since it was not available, I decided to get the glicee print and enjoy the painting anyway.

So there it is, my modest little collection, but one that I now love to look at every day. As an artist myself, I find that having art in one's home makes it cozy and unique, and I hope that you all can find something that you like out there - there are great little galleries around Sofia and abroad, and there is always Etsy.

Stardust Original Artwork

I love giving red paintings as gifts to friends because they are vibrant and full of life, but last week I decided to break out of this tradition. This time when I decided to paint something as a birthday gift for a friend, I thought I would do a piece in dark blue. I kept picturing something fresh and crisp, with a sort of "starry quality," which I ended up calling "Stardust." It has a new home now, and I hope its new owner likes it.

Also, stay tuned for more artwork news from me. Just last week I finished my first big commissioned work, which is now drying and waiting to be shipped. Fingers crossed that everything will be fine! I will post the image once I mail the canvas.

So here is "Stardust":

Two Paintings Sold

Sooo...Long time no posts! It's the usual reason - all work and no play. The good news is that I am about to finish my MBA by the end of December, which will hopefully lighten the load for me. I miss my weekends, what can I say.

In the meantime, I have actually sold two more paintings. The cool part is that I sold one of them, Kaleidoscope Heart, here in Bulgaria. It is a very vibrant, while kind of eccentric work, and I wasn't sure if it wasn't too crazy to be purchased, but it turns out that there are people that it calls to. It is very interesting to discover how each painting affects different people and all the images and diverse reactions and associations it evokes.

The other work I sold, Peony, is on its way to its new owner in New Orleans. It is so great to know all the different places where your art is hanging :)

Here are details of the two works:

Kaleidoscope Heart

 Peony

Kaleidoscope Heart Original Painting: Coming Soon to My Etsy Shop

Here is a sneak peak at an original oil abstract painting called Kaleidoscope Heart that is coming soon to my Etsy shop. It is very much a kaleidoscope of vibrant colors that is fiery and unique.

Check out my store here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/kosebose

My Etsy Shop

Hey everyone! This is just to brag a bit at the fact that my Esty shop is now live at http://www.etsy.com/shop/kosebose. Right now there are only five items, but there are more coming soon, in fact as soon as the end of this week. I have matted and photographed some of my larger oil abstracts, and I plan on uploading them to the store by the end of this week if all goes well and I can spare some time from Financial Management and Business Strategy assignments.

Here is a sneak peak at my upcoming works for sale:

New Abstract Paintings

I am finally getting around to setting up an Etsy shop, and since I wanted to keep my existing body of work intact in the hope that I will organize an art show at some point this year or next year, I painted five new abstracts specifically for my Etsy shop. I have some stuff to read from the Etsy seller handbook before I list the items, just so that I can make sure that I know everything that I need to know about setting up the item, pricing and handling payments, but I hope I can go live by the end of this coming week.
Here is a sneak peak at two of my new abstracts that would actually make a nice pair if bought together.

 

Abstract Painted Paper Collages

I was looking through some of my old, and some slightly less old, painted paper collages this weekend, just to see if I still like them. Turns out I do, and very much so. You know how sometimes you create something, really loving it at the time, only to look at it a year later and think to yourself "what was I thinking?" Well, this was not one of those moments.
I started making such collages for an assignment for one of my painting courses in college, and I was having a really hard time at first. I seemed to be doing the same thing over and over, and I was struggling with creating engaging compositions that were not representative. My professor encouraged me to try harder, to let go, to play around with the shapes and colors, and I ended up completely loving it. At the end of the class I told my professor that I see more of myself in these abstracts than in any of the other landscape or still life work that I did before. I still believe that.
Anyway, I have about twenty seven collages that I like, both new and old, and I think that's a good number. I am thinking of bringing that number up to 40 or 50; they will make a good collection for an art show along with something like 15 bigger oil pieces. So here are some sneak peaks of the collages I have so far:

And by the way, how annoying is it that there is no rubber cement in Europe - I mean, what's up with that?! Supposedly it's something to do with hazardous materials, but it just sucks. There's no other kind of glue better for making these collages than rubber cement.

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Pale Light Summer Abstract

Here is another abstract that I painted a few weeks ago, which turned out quite nicely, I think. I really like the colors in this one; they kind of remind me of a pale yellow beach with light blue and grey pebbles and clear water. I want to be in a place like that right about now, actually. So far this summer has been tough on me, and a vacation seems far away and uncertain. I'm trying to decompress whenever I can, but I'm still stressed from all the stuff I'm trying to juggle at the same time. Usually I find summers deliciously slow, with hot afternoons and iced tea, pale sunsets and warm nights, but this year I'm finding myself fast forwarding through the days like a crazy person. There's no time to stop and enjoy the season. I'm trying to work on slowing down a little, but, at the same time, I would like to finish my MBA as fast as possible. Then I'll be done with my education - yey! I'll just study fun stuff after that, like painting or photography :) Oh, I'm sooo looking forward to that time! In the meantime, enjoy my newest painting:

Red Abstract

I'm trying to find time in my insane schedule to paint more, but it doesn't always work out. Lately I've been spending most of my weekends sleeping - that's how exhausted I am at the end of the work week. Still, I am trying to work up to having enough paintings and collages for an art show and, perhaps, an Etsy shop. Here is one of my latest abstracts, very red and fiery. I'll be coming up with names when I have enough paintings, and that's always a very fun task for me.

SNEAK PEAK AT MY NEW ABSTRACT PAININGS

I've been trying to find more time to paint this month, while I am still on break between quarters, because once I start the new MBA courses I'll probably be back on a schedule of "don't have time for anything apart from school and work." I have painted five new abstracts in brown that I might end up hanging in my living room. Here is a sneak peak, and I'll post images of some of the paintings once they are dry.

Here are some details:

WATERCOLOR WEDDING GIFT

After more than a year of not painting any watercolors, I made the time two weekends ago to paint a couple of small fall scenes as a wedding gift for a friend. Watercolor is the medium I probably know best when it comes to painting , since I've been working with watercolor since I was a kid, and it was nice to do something familiar. Birches are also very interesting to paint, all white and gold and delicate.