Art Hero: Constant Puyo

Although, I've only discovered his work recently, I am in love with his photography. Émile Joachim Constant Puyo (1857 –1933)is a true inspiration to me . His work is so soft and feminine... so dreamlike and quiet. It's as if the women he photographs are themselves ghosts...

 Apparitions 1910
Im Schilf 1903
La Tapisserie 1900
Au Jardin Fleuri 1899
Nude - Against the Light 1906
Juin, 1899
Alma Mater, 1904
Sommeil 1897
Nymph, 1904

Chant Sacre c. 1900

His photographs are so incredible, don't you think? Puyo uses textures and graininess in his work to really help develop that certain eerie feeling that I love. He truly is someone to study in his use of light and shadows. What an inspiration! I going to get painting now.

Is anything awakening your inner muse today?


Happy International Women's Day!

French postcard via RetroBeauties

I love this pic. It is from a 1920's French postcard in which a woman reading is so sexy.  And it is so true. So my vision of the day is to keep on learning...everyday...connect to others and try to help out when you can. This will give us all a little more strength.

It's Time for the March Meetup!


Maya Deren from Meshes from the Afternoon (1943)




 Wow, I don't believe it's March already...

I must say, I am so ready for Spring! I've been feeling pretty cooped up in my house lately and after having over a month of construction around my house and soon in it, I will be happy to start getting out more...

Here's my business goals for Bluehour Studio in March.
  1. I have 2 Custom Portraits in the works. I need to get them both done ASAP.
  2. Add a few more samples for the Custom Portraits, perhaps me as a Victorian Lady?
  3. Get myself out there. This month my Etsy shop will be on Papernstitch starting March 5th. For those of you that do promotion for your artwork, which sites work best?
  4. Find more places to show my stuff each month. 
  5. Finish up my mini-book I started last year. I'm so close to finishing it but never got it done...
  6. Finish the new portraits I've been working on. Get them up on the site.
  7. Write all the mini-bio's on for each of my Victorian characters, make them into cards.
  8. Get back to Illustration Friday.
  9. Get back to exercising...
  10. and meditation...basically take better care of myself.
  11. Start working on some Editorial pieces.
  12. Design postcards to send to publishers.
  13. Take another class at San Francisco Center for the Book.
  14. Read "The Money Book" by Joseph D'Agnese & Denise Keirnan. Learn it, live it... 
  15. Finish my Victorian Portrait Necklaces, get them up on Etsy.
  16. Work on that Balance finding thing.
Well, that seems like a good start...wish me luck and a bolt of energy to get this done this month!

 What will your month hold?
 

What is the Meetup thing, you ask? It is a group of creatives that encourage each other each month to make and complete their goals. Join us...it is an amazing to watch the progress of others and yourself...
Contact Liz for more info here

How do you relax?

Apple Blossoms by bluehour studio
 Last week my husband and I went off to Guerneville, CA to celebrate our 4 year wedding anniversary. It was amazing to have the ability to unplug for a few days and just stop. Stop working, stop worrying about work and try to relax. But it was more difficult than I imagined to take a few days off. I just kept thinking about all I should have been doing...

When you own a small business, we are expected to work all the time. Weekends are always there for us to play catch up with whatever we were supposed to have gotten done during the week. And truthfully, financially, it is hard to take a long vacation these days to really get away. So what does one do?  How do you get yourself to truly relax?

I've been pretty tense in the last few months after opening up my Etsy shop. I suppose I thought it would be easier to get my work noticed. (Basically, I've been super stressed lately.) During our getaway we had a masseuse visit us and she gave me a Swedish Massage. And, let me tell you, it was great. I was full of tension, and she worked it out of my shoulders, neck and back. She released tons of toxins that were stuck inside my body, which was great but now a few days later, I am sick and have a killer cold. Talk about my body forcing me to really stop for a few days. Yuck...

One thing I learned is that I need to get back to meditating and exercising. Do any of you have secrets to relaxing you care to share? What do you do do when you are super busy and need to relax at the same time? How do you find balance...

Ahhh...Balance. Does it really exsist? This is something I need to figure out in order to be a truly successful artist. I think my March quest will be to find a few techniques for relaxation and ways of getting closer to some sort of balance in life. I'll be sure to share what I find.

Something New...Victorian Children Portraits

I've been wanting to create some children's portraits as part of my Victorian Series. These will be illustrations of kids in all sorts of situations and with one thing in common they all live in a orphanage and are dying to get out.

The first portrait I've done is of Hattie. She is 8 years old and a bit of a wild child.

Little Hattie


Hattie in a frame
Hattie Closeup
I'm pretty excited about these new portraits. Hattie kind of tugs at my heart...I'm going to do a set of nursery prints too.

Sorry I have been a bit absent around the blog these days. I've been working on a bunch of new artwork, including some custom portraits. Woo Hoo! I think being too busy to blog can be a good thing, don't you?

It is my 4 year wedding anniversary and my husband and I are taking a mini break. I'm gonna come back
 refreshed and ready to get back at it. Hope you all have a wonderful weekend too!

FYI Hattie is now available in the shop.

New Work...Clouds

I originally created this piece for Uppercase magazine and their open call for artwork. I will admit I may have sent it a bit late and am not sure if I made the deadline. Boo! But I thought I would add it to the shop and share it with you, too.

The assignment was "Trends: Cloudy Days". I was getting inspired by the colors and darkness of storm clouds and those days when we all need a good cry.



I was also inspired by the Victorian Circus imagery of wild white hair...Aren't these folks amazing looking?

Victorian Circus Family via BohoCircus


I hope you like her.


BTW...The print is now available in the shop...

Happy Hearts...

Happy Valentine's Day, Everyone!
 
This lovely 1920's postcard via Maudelynn Menagerie

 I hope are able to spend your day with the ones you love. It will be a nice and mellow one in the Styer household tonight and I am so thankful to every minute with my amazing husband no matter what we do. Here's to everyone finding that perfect person.


Today's inspiration...

Need a bit of inspiration? Well, here is a little bit of eye candy that I found over at the Quite Continental blog today. You just need to mix in a bit of Coffee, London and  in the 50's and some incredible bursts of color.

It's Time for the February Meetup!

Silent actress Theda Bera looks to her future
I must say, it's been a pretty good start of the year. I still can't believe January is over. But my month was pretty successful, I've created a lot of new work (and even got some Valentines illustrations up)and  I've become excited about making new things in my shop and hopeful plans towards the upcoming year...

Here's are some of my business plans for the upcoming month...
  1. Keep adding work to Etsy. I would love to get at least one new piece up a week.
  2. Make a few samples for custom portraits on Etsy. I sold my first custom illustrations last week and am excited to do more.
  3. Get new business cards done and printed. This is a must!
  4. Design mailers for sending off to potential clients.
  5. Start experimenting with my new illustrated jewelry.
  6. Sign up for a local art fair.
  7. Get a more stable schedule at New Bohemia Signs & practice my lettering weekly.
  8. Take a little break away and enjoy my Anniversary with my lovely husband.
  9. Work on getting myself out there on blogs and websites.
  10. Work on updating my blog design. I would love to add many spots of some hand written type.

That seems pretty good amount for the next month. Super busy is good, right? Here's to getting it all done. Hope you all have a successful, creative and love-filled February!

What is the Meetup thing, you ask? It is a group of creatives that encourage each other each month to make and complete their goals. Join us...it is an amazing to watch the progress of others and yourself...
Contact Liz for more info here.

Custom Portraits

Last week I was surprised to be asked in my Etsy shop if I did Custom Portraits. Truthfully, I hadn't thought about it much. I have been so busy trying to fill my shop with prints I couldn't see an obvious thing. So, when the custom illustration was suggested, it didn't take much for me to say yes and just to go for it.  I ended up creating a portrait for a "Save the Date" card for a Texas couple's upcoming wedding.

Here's is the final:


You know what? It was really fun. The couple already loved my Victorian Portraits and knew exactly what they wanted. They sent a few good reference photos and we were able hash out all the extra details (I've gotten pretty good at asking many, many questions through email). I sent them some sketches, made a some changes, waited for their OK and got down to the final. It worked out pretty smoothly. And I felt pretty confident with the whole process.

So what did I learn? I really like doing this custom illustration thing. I think I will be doing it more. So as of today, bluehour studio is offering custom portrait illustrations! Woo Hoo...

(Of course, the prices will depend on the size, complexity and details of the illustration but I'm thinking a basic range of $100 -$350 for a custom portrait. So, if you are interested...let's talk.)

Sendak on Cobert

I've been busy working away on new stuff for the shop but saw the Maurice Sendak was on the Colbert Report this week and thought I'd share...

Enjoy!

I'll be posting some new work very soon.


The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Grim Colberty Tales with Maurice Sendak Pt. 1
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full EpisodesPolitical Humor & Satire BlogVideo Archive
The Colbert ReportMon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c
Grim Colberty Tales with Maurice Sendak Pt. 2
www.colbertnation.com
Colbert Report Full EpisodesPolitical Humor & Satire BlogVideo Archive

New Work...Victorians in Love

I've been inspired by the upcoming Valentine holiday and I have created a couple of new illustrations of Victorians in Love. I've been imagining them as a successful past clients from my "Ladies & Gents Victorian Dating Service" and have a great time painting them. They went looking for love and they were the lucky ones that found it...

Introducing Mrs. & Mr. Martin Hughes


A bit of a closeup- view of the happy couple...




This is the very improper Mr. & Mrs. Thaddeus Smith

Is that a certain gleam in his eye?



I hope you like them...

Also...They will be available as 6in x 8in prints in the shop!


By the way, it is pretty interesting trying to capture love between Victorians. For my research, I look at a lot of old daguerreotypes and tintypes and the people have almost no expression at all. They are very stiff and emotionless. But that was what a a proper photography sitting required. It was a serious...but once in a while a little sense of joy would peek out.


Sweet Victorian couple via How to be a Retronaut



 Pretty cute, huh? Have a wonderful and love filled weekend everyone!


Join the Protest!

Bluehour Studio is joining in on the SOPA/PIPA protest and will be offline (no blogging, Twitter, Facebook or Tumblr) January 18th...here's more info on the Protest...

It's a little thing but perhaps with all us going offline or blacking out our sites we can stop this thing from passing.. The U.S. government will realize what a terrible idea these proposal are. We live in a world of creative people that love to inspire each other. Please don't shut us down.

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

A Winter's Sleep...The Season's Series...

I just wanted to give you a look at my newest illustration, A Winter's Sleep. It is the first illustration in my new "Season's" series and I am really excited about it. As you all know, I am a huge fan of folk tales and this series celebrates that. It also celebrates the friendship between the adventurous Lilly and Bruce the curious bear.

A Winter's Sleep is about taking quiet getaways refreshers in your life...and taking time with friends.

Lily & Bruce take a nap...


Ready for their closeup...
This will be a really fun series series to do. I already have so many ideas dancing in my brain...now just to get them on paper.

Oh...and this illustration is available in my shop too...