The Print Shop Is Open!

This one has been a long time comin’ and I’m super excited that for the first time on RhondaSchrage.com I am offering prints! 👏🏻 🎉 🖼

I had them in local stores and art shows last year to see what the response would be and, well…..it was so good I’m taking the time to properly style and photograph to list online. 😉

I’ve been testing prints of my artwork since the beginning of this endeavor, not even knowing in the beginning how much of a learning curve there is for getting the photographs juuuust right for prints. I’ve finally nailed down the right lighting, ISO and shutter speed, succumed to shooting RAW and perfected the editing process. Whew! Many, many mishaps and discarded prints later, I finally have a good collection of high quality images I can make prints from and I’m super excited to offer these!

A select few that have touches of gold in the original - especially from the “Strong Women” collection are hand-embellished with metallic gold to get the same golden shimmer as the original. ✨

This set of bunnies named Buttons, Clover and Dolly are my favorite! I love these for spring. The bunnies come mounted on panel board, so they are ready to go - no frame needed.

You know gold holds a special place in my heart, but give me a bulky ornate gold frame and I’m downright smitten. 🥰

Whether it’s bold and ornate or a simple, contemporary gallery-style frame, gold is hands-down my favorite way to frame. However, black looks great too, and I love this set in natural wood frames for a client’s home office.

Have you picked your favorite yet!?!

Mini Abstract Hearts!

Last year one of my most popular among originals was mini florals on easels. And flowers (even floral paintings) for Valentine’s Day are great, but these abstract hearts are stealing the show this time! I love these for a Valentine (or Galentine) gift!

This was kind of a surprise release, even for me. 😂 I took a poll on social media to gauge interest and had enough “Yes!” that I decided to put together a release of mini abstract hearts.

If you have a mini floral, these are the same mini 3”x3” size and they come with a tiny easel for displaying. They are tiny colorful abstracts partially covered in translucent white, leaving the abstract showing through in a heart shape, outlines in (of course!) metallic gold. These tiny original paintings are so fun!

These mini abstract hearts are live on my website as of today! (Linked here)They are varnished and ready to ship ASAP upon order so that you can get them for Valentine’s Day.

That metallic gold and subtle texture in colorful hues have my own heart. 🥰

Have you picked out a favorite? Which one will you give (or keep?!)

2021 In Review

I took a step back from my work in the fall of 2018 because I became pregnant with my youngest and found myself kneeling to the porcelain god 4-5 times a day and just trying to hold it together. I gradually and slowly picked up work after she turned one, I really amped it up this year and 2021 has been my best year so far! I’m good with leaving some things on the table for the time being with my youngest is still at home, but I still tend to feel like I don’t get enough done, like I left too many ideas un-done (you should see how many canvas’s I have started and not finished)……until I created a year in review reel on Instagram. (Check it out here)

That was just a sample of paintings completed this year. Seeing that, I realized maybe I somehow managed to do way more than I thought I did (and with bad art tossed aside in between - yes it’s not all shareable!)…….still not sure how all of this was created, but I thought it would be fun to document a year in review in pictures to see all (or at least most) of the work completed this year.

There’s still a few paintings + lots of mini’s + a few commissions not pictured here. Seeing them all together makes me feel pretty darn productive for the year. I have to be completely honest - I have my tax guy to thank. He threatened me last year saying if my income didn’t exceed my expenses this year I would no longer be able to claim it as a business and we’d have to list it as a hobby……..oh heck no he did not just call me a hobbyist. It gave me the motivation I needed to get out there more. 👊 I tripled my income this year and I’ll still be claiming this as a business on the tax returns. Thank you tax guy for pushing me to level up. Ready to set some bigger goals for next year. 🙌 It’s always a balance between art business and stay-at-home-Mom/Mom to teens and all their activities by night. So to keep my priorities with goals behind wife & Mom, I’ll be outsourcing some of that work in 2022. I’ve already found someone who helped me re-vamp my website and I’m so excited to outsource the pieces of business I really don’t like doing anyway! :) psst….check out the re-vamped website linked here - RhondaSchrage.com - some of the paintings pictured above are still available!

Happy New Year friends! I pray your 2022 is full of goodness and growth.

---

Here’s How I’m Coming at 2022

Honestly, planning is not really my thing. I hate planning. Maybe it’s my indecisiveness. But, I’m learning that planning ahead has some major advantages. For instance, if I want to do some Valentine art to take to the stores I sell at, I need to be thinking about them now so that they can be dropped off before Feb. Sounds obvious, but this is the first year I’ve thought like that.

So I’m doing a little 2022 planning. 🤓 I’ve been in biz groups that talk about this every year for quite a while and every year I’m like 🤔. How do you plan a release when you don’t know what you want to study/paint yet? Or when you’ll be done with that study to then schedule and market for a release? 🤷‍♀️

Each year how/when to plan things effectively becomes a bit clearer. But for this year, I’m still making it loose plans. Partly for what I say below 👇🏻 and partly because as things inspire me & I get ideas I go with it and that’s hard to plan.

In 2015 I jumped all-in without really having a plan, because that’s what I felt called to do. One of these days I’ll get it all written down on how that was really the only way for me and how it turns out it was all really about so much more than just the art business.

That’s me packing up my office on my last day in Dec. 2015. 😃

In a recent Bible study, we talked a lot about feeling the pull and follow God’s plan - no matter how crazy, reckless or uncomfortable it may be, you find blessings on the other side beyond what you could imagine. And you realize it’s never really all about me, my plans, my dreams…..there’s often something else in store that’s way better. For me that’s been seeing the fruit of being able to be here, be more present, more involved with our kids, being able to be at home with Ava. I know lots of moms that do all of that really well along with their 9-5, but that wasn’t our story. This Art biz has been extremely slow jumping off (at least it’s felt like it) but in hind sight it was better that way.

I went all in this Xmas season and it was rough. There were a lot of 2 a.m. nights. My husband took the kids to Grandmas with him for an entire weekend and I did nothing but paint ornaments all day and half the night. But this year finally felt like it was starting to be a sustainable business.

All that to say planning is good but sometimes we can’t plan, we need to change paths to our plan when we feel pulled a different direction. I need that reminder because as much as I hate making plans I also have a hard time when the path veers in a completely different direction. Maybe that’s why I really hate planning, I know it’ll change so why plan anyway?

After a pretty great year this year, I’m also starting to see the importance of making plans and goals for 2022 to get me one year closer to that goal of matching my old underwriting salary on my own. And at the same time if it doesn’t happen…..eh. Because I also realize Ava starts full day pre-K in 8 months. 😭 And we need more toddler/Mom days than we need go play on your room while Mom finishes this up days. ✌🏻 Not that she can’t work along side me some…..but maybe a bit less than it’s been the last 6 months.

So I’m only planning 3 canvas releases (possibly two) and more smaller releases for 2022 and in between instead of collections I’ll likely paint whatever I darn well please and take them to shows/add them to my site as I go. (I often feel pressure to stay within a specific niche when painting, and to make a collection of it…….so if i feel inspired to painting one semi-abstract bird painting, even though I primarily paint impressionist flowers I’m going to paint a bird. Birds like flowers anyway, right?)

If you’ve read this far thank you for being invested in this journey with me! I’d love to hear what kind of paintings you’d like to see? After watching humming birds last summer, I started a big, colorful hummingbird painting. Maybe I’ll pull that back out and see where that goes.

Transform

All summer long I stared at a giant, blank 30x40” canvas propped up at the back of my studio. I had the urge to paint big, I just wasn’t sure what I wanted to paint on it yet. At first I thought it was going to be a lake landscape, but I couldn’t get a vision for it in my head.

And then in Sept. I pulled out my home decor to spruce up our home for fall. One of my favorite ways to decorate (obviously) is with flowers. I keep a crate of stems in storage and mix up new arrangements with the seasons. After putting together a fall bouquet I stood back to evaluate (ok admire), and just like that I knew what was in store for that 30x40 canvas still waiting patiently in the studio.

This first stage is where a lot of artists block in shapes starting with dark values. I like to use it as a time to loosen up and just throw color on the canvas. I knew the sunflowers were going to be the star of the bouquet, so those got sketched in with color before laying a foundation of abstract color. I like when unexpected color pops through, sometimes I am pleasantly surprised at how the layers of color react with each other. I like to be a bit more free and intuitive with it, especially in the beginning. Otherwise I overthink it and my painting gets too tight and I lose the impressionistic style I’m going for.

I have to be honest, this ended up taking me almost 3 months to finish and the vision for it took a few turns along the way, I no longer remember what inspired me to add collage papers, or how I even managed to remember that I had papers in a drawer that would work perfect for this, but that’s all part of the intuitive process. The collage papers is one of my favorite elements of this painting. It adds a romantic, French countryside vibe.

If you’ve followed me on social for a while you know texture is important to me. :) I used a modeling paste to create the look of an artisan, pottery style vase to hold a lush, overflowing bouquet. The tabletop was created using palette knife for a bit more subtle texture and lots of layers of thick, heavy body acrylics to give those florals some gorgeous texture.

I love seeing process photos of how a painting comes together, so here’s a series of photos showing each phase. For about the first 3 photos I was confident and excited about the direction. But after stepping back it was clear something wasn’t quite right. Photo #6 in this series was done using Procreate on the ipad to see if adding another sunflower would do the trick, but ultimately decided that wasn’t what was missing. A little floral re-arranging, adding in drips and swipes of color, letting some of that old color that has helped shape these florals peek through while covering the areas that needed to be reborn.

Painting for me is all about trusting the process while working it out on canvas. I can be a bit of an over-thinker and over-analyze each move, it can be paralyzing. Yet if I plan each step and each color out beforehand, I get caught up in following a plan, ignoring what the painting is saying as I try to make it perfect. That loose and free feeling gets lost. Life is messy, full of chaotic color, drips and spills, bold layered texture and soft-spoken details in the background that quietly help shape who we are. We can make plans, but our paths frequently change and if we’re caught up in sticking to the plan we might miss some of the texture of life. Sometimes you just have to make a swipe of color.

This big statement piece has turned out to be one of my favorites and pictures really do not do her justice, but I’m going to try and show you some close-ups of those layered little pieces of life that come together to make a gorgeous bouquet.

“Transform” is newly listed on my website. You can view it here.

The Holiday Shop ‘21 Is Open!

The Holiday Shop Is Open!

‘Tis the season to deck the halls and fill the stockings! Original art is the ultimate thoughtful, personal and unique gift, and I’ve got you covered!

The Holiday shop is filled with hand-painted original works to complete your holiday decor, and are perfect for gifting! And this holiday season I’m offering free shipping! (No code needed!) 

The 2021 Heirloom Ornament Collection

These are each original and unique hand-painted mini works of art. Adorn your tree or ornament stand for the holidays with original art! The best part? You don’t have to put it away after the holidays. Hang it from a vase or from a decorative hook - or display it on the tiny easel that comes with it all year long!

E-mail subscribers got early access to the Holiday Shop 2021, they showed up and snagged more than half of the ornaments, but there are still some of my favorites available!

Prints
I love this for a gift idea! Embellished cross prints make the perfect thoughtful and personalized gift. You choose the scripture to encourage that someone on your list. Not sure what scripture to send? I have a handful of popular scriptures I can choose from for you. Just say “surprise encouragement” at check-out and I’ll pick for you.

Whatever you choose to give your people, snag a pack of postcards and add a special note on a postcard to send with your gift (or include a pack in a goodie-gift bag) and you’ve also given an beautiful art print!

Original Angels

Angels are one of my favorite symbols of the season. They bring good news! 

“And the angel said to them, “Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people. 11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. 12 And this will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and lying in a manger.” 13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying,

14 “Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
- Luke 2:10-14

Shimmery metallic gold and lots of winged texture. These original angel paintings are a bit bigger than the ornament version, painted on 8x8 panel boards. ✨

One thing I gifted to myself this year is hiring some help to level-up my website. 🤗 She cleaned up my site, made it more sophisticated and created the Holiday Shop for me this year. It’s gorgeous and much better than I could have designed myself. I’m just going to say it - I hate web design. This was such as relief to have help.

The Holiday Shop ‘21 will be open until Dec. 8th. All items are ready to ship, except the customized prints. Ready to ship items will ship ASAP and the prints will ship within 5-7 days. All orders will be shipped no later than Dec. 14 for holiday delivery.

Wanna see some of these (and a ton more) art to gift in person? I’ll be at the Kansas City Merry Market in historic city market on Nov. 27-28, and Dickens of a Christmas in Franklin, TN on Dec. 11-12.

Unsalted

Ava’s excitement says it all. After I photographed the collection in our dining room, she pulled out a chair and sat in front of them and said wow, they’re so beautiful Mom!

I like her taste in art.

I left them on the dining room wall for now as a reminder of those sweet summer memories as the season starts to wind down. A little piece of that summer lovin’, splashing and relaxing in the sunshine forever on canvas.

From fun adventures with friends, floating down the river, anchored into your favorite cove, sun kissed faces and boat hair to those serene moments on calm water, lost in quiet reverie over glistening waters. 

These nine Unsalted paintings capture all my favorite memories under the sun in those short and sweet summer months when the daylight is long and those cotton candy clouds roll across the sky over water so perfect you can’t help but jump in.

Head on over to my website and view the entire collection here.

I can’t wait to see which one you collect!

Rhonda

Unsalted Sneak Peek

Some of our favorite summer moments are spent on the water. From fun adventures with friends, floating down the river, anchored into your favorite cove, sun kissed faces and boat hair to those serene moments on calm water, lost in quiet reverie over glistening waters.

The Unsalted Collection is all about capturing those favorite summer memories on the water. Our family loves the water - ok I love the water and by default do does the family. 😉 They don’t complain.

Gold details, glistening water and sunset skies. If this doesn’t make you want to grab a paddle and a kayak I’m not sure what will.

I am so excited about this collection! I love landscapes just as much as florals and I’ve been hesitant to paint them because all the art business groups I’m in talk about making things cohesive and similar and I felt like my landscapes were different enough they didn’t quite fit. I’m re-thinking that.

I did carry over the same color palette from the florals, pushing the pinks to the background and bringing the blues and teals forward, but I also decided that 1. Cohesive Schmo-hesive rules were meant to be broken and 2. I’m not really breaking rules anyway. They are cohesive! Painting so many florals has really refined my style and I think my style is evident in this collection and my color lovin’ heart still shows through even in landscapes.

I love to speak in color. There’s so much darkness in the world, so much evil fighting for our hearts I want my art to reflect light and happiness. But a calm, relaxing, reflective painting can do just the same to recharge our hearts. And both energy levels can be found on the water, so both energy levels are included in this collection. 

There will be 10 paintings included in this collection releasing Aug 18! E-mail subscribers will be able to shop the collection a day early, so if you’re not a subscriber fix that here!

The Unsalted Collection. August 18.

Rhonda Schrage Art

The Unsalted Collection

I am so excited to announce the release of my next collection!

The Unsalted Collection is all about summer memories on the water.

During the summer we spend a lot of time at my in-law’s lake cabin or floating on some of the ample peaceful, scenic rivers and streams in southern Missouri. On the water is one of our favorite places to be! Whether it’s a quiet float to recharge or time with friends on the lake, some of our favorite summer memories are spent on the water.

These are just a few inspiration images taken while we were on the water and I can’t wait to make these into colorful, vibrant paintings that capture some of our favorite summer memories!

There was a little poll going on my social media over which technique is better……brush painting or palette knife. So I painted this sunset lake painting both ways to compare. I still can’t decide. There are elements of each I love! This sunset painting was inspired by the photo above my husband took while on a kayak at the tiny little lake close to our house.

My focus on this collection is to capture sunny days spent with friends, boats docked and Lilly pads out, jumping off of docs and making memories; and the quiet serene moments being on the water can bring when you steal away on days the crowd is off the water. To step away from the noise and the hustle. If you stop paddling for a minute and just sit there in the calm, it’s the best way to recharge! I am so excited to watch this collection come to life!

The Unsalted Collection releases August 18! I’ll be sharing sneak peeks and behind the scenes of the collection on my social media. If you’d like exclusive early access, get on my newsletter here!

XO
Rhonda

Custom Wedding Paintings

Earlier this year I had the privilege of painting a few custom wedding paintings for some special new couples.

Remember a couple summers ago when I did a “Drawing A Day” challenge for the month of July? That was when the idea of doing custom wedding paintings was born. Those drawings reminded me of a bride with her flowers and I knew then that I wanted to start offering custom wedding paintings.

About a year later, I painted a colorful ballerina-style version of those sketches and again was reminded of bridal paintings. (Canvas prints of “Take A Bow” shown below can be found on my website here.

Fastforward again, and I finally had the opportunity to bring my creative vision for custom bridal and wedding day paintings to fruition! I am so honored to be able to create a unique painting for you that captures that special moment, shared with the people you love, on one of the best days of your life!

And so, finally, Today, I am thrilled to share with you the magic that unfolds when love, artistry, and celebration intertwine.

Can we stop for a second and talk about the bride? This is a big, momentous day for the groom, and I certainly want to take care capturing his excitement for the day. But let’s be honest, the bride is the one who really takes center stage on her big day (as she should). While painting your custom wedding portrait, I give special attention to the bridal detail from her hair, her gorgeous flower bouquet and of course, most importantly - her dress! The wedding dress is my favorite part and I’m so in love with how the details come out in brushstrokes.

Please excuse her unfinished hair - I failed at getting good close-ups once the whole painting was finished, but this in-process photo shows that gorgeous wedding dress detail!

My niece got married last year too and got her own custom wedding painting. Such a sweet couple!

These custom wedding paintings have become such a joy, creating a painting for the special couple that will be treasured for years to come. My goal is that you look at your wedding painting with a remembering smile, to encapsulate the vibrant tapestry of love, the joy, the laughter and bliss you felt on your wedding day. Each brushstroke is crafted with the unique essence of your story, created with meticulous care and heartfelt passion.

Are you ready to turn your love story into a timeless work of art? Together we will create a custom wedding painting that will be cherished for generations to come.

Are you a mother of the bride or groom? Wedding paintings have become a popular year anniversary gift to many of my clients. E-mail me today by clicking the contact section on my website or sending an e-mail directly to rkbschrage@gmail.com and let’s chat about creating a custom wedding painting of that special couple!

I Thought About Going Back.......Just For A Second

I ran out of coffee on Monday and if you follow my IG stories, you know that’s a big deal.

So the last two days I went to my favorite coffee shop drive-thru to get my caffeine fix. Driving back I passed by a business and noticed a woman getting out of her car to walk inside, obviously dressed for work. As I look down at my tights and socks with sandals, I realize that if it hadn’t been for coffee runs, I would not have had a reason to get out of the house in the last 3 days. As much as I love the convenience of working from home and the flexibility of making my own schedule, I would not consider myself a home-body.

And I caught myself, just for a second, almost longing for my old 9-5 days as an underwriter. The structured daily schedule, having somewhere to get me out of the house, the predictability, having co-workers to chat with. For a second I looked at that professional walking in and I actually thought I wanted to pursue that again.

My last day at the office in 2015.

Being an artist is a lonely calling.

And then I remembered why I quit the 9-5 in the first place.

That feeling when I’m in the throes of painting, it takes me to a different place and it’s completely indescribable, but it feels like I’m doing what I’m meant to do.

Most days I don’t really talk to adults much in daytime hours, but when I do get to meet and connect with people over art, it’s a deeper conversation. I hear stories, we talk about meaning, we go beyond the surface, which is the type of conversation I appreciate most.

Artistry is sometimes a holistic view and the day to day can seem as though it’s without a purpose (at least for someone who likes to finish a task & feel accomplished ) But paintings rarely get completed in a day, and the holistic view is the determination, the growth and the connection in the day to day process, making something greater than the individual parts.

It’s feeling like what I’m doing is actually for a greater purpose, even when I’m not sure what that purpose is. Sometimes I catch a glimpse of that purpose in my kids and I realize, this is not really about me. Sometimes I catch the purpose in talking with a client about how they connected to my work, and again I realize, this is not about me. And I’m so grateful to be a part of it. I never got that feeling from the 9-5.

This is not for everyone, but I will gladly trade in the predictability and claim it.

Sharing Studio Space.......with a Toddler

I love having my studio in my home. It allows me to work when I can and shut the door on the mess. Ideally, I’d spend hours alone in the studio everyday, able to fully concentrate on my work.

But that’s not reality right now. ;) Trying to grow a business and having a toddler at home means that she is sometimes in that space with me. She (mostly) keeps to her art area and I get some things done, and then sometimes she is all over the place. She gets very curious about my brushes, charcoal pencils and exacto knives. Which means when we’re in there together I’ve got one eye on the toddler.

I sometimes work at naptime, but most of the work is done in the evenings, when I can turn the music on without worrying about listening for a waking toddler. To be totally honest, I really prefer having my evenings off when my husband and the older two kids are home, so I go back and forth, depending on project deadlines, between working several nights and taking most nights off.

I pretty much constantly feel like theres’ not enough time to get the things done I’d like to, in a timely manner. In addition to growing an online business, I sell my art at a few stores in different locations. Getting inventory ready for them is often weeks behind where I wanted to be.

So, I give myself some grace, resolve to be ok with not checking everything off the to-do and sometimes……..I share the studio space. I bring her in with me and work on smaller, quicker tasks that I can do while still keeping half my brain attentive to what she’s doing. This is when I tag items, gesso canvas’s, do under-paintings, or just get things cleaned up.

She has her own little space set up with markers, pastels and crayons. But, like I’ve mentioned, she’s a very active toddler. Her own desk keeps her attention for a little while, but eventually she starts wondering around, seeing what tools of mine she can get away with stealing.

I don’t bring her in to the studio everyday, not even every week because I don’t want her to get bored with it. Getting bored with it = more wondering into my off-limits stuff. :) For now, it’s exciting when she gets to go in there.

She knows she’s free to grab my brushes and pretend paint on canvas’s, but once in a great while, I get the actual paints out and her day is made! Paint days are hands down her favorite. It’s another thing we only do sometimes so that it’s a treat that she doesn’t expect every time.

It’s always a struggle to get as much studio time in as I’d like. There’s a constant ebb and flow of work and rest. Usually the work is happening when I’m preparing for a show or a release and there’s some pretty late nights and lots of extra coffee. And once the show/release is over I typically plan to take a rest for a week or so, only showing up in the studio casually here and there for short amounts of time. Often times, that rest ends up lasting 2-4 weeks because I really enjoy my evenings off. :) And then I start to feel behind and flow back into work sessions, squeezing in shared studio time here and there to help move things along.

To be honest, it can be a frustrating dance where I never feel like I’m getting to every job I would like to get to. Some things seem to perpetually be in the “idea” bucket for later. BUT…….she’s almost 3 and I swear it was just like 6 months ago I gave birth to her. And I remind myself of that frequently. These past 6 years as a full time artist I have always dialed work hours waaaay back and taken it easy during the summer while the older kids were home. And then during the school year I had 5 glorious days a week (during the DAY!).

She’ll be starting part-time preschool twice a week in the fall and before I know it she’ll be in school 5 days a week with the big kids, and I know in my knower, from experience, I’ll long for the days when she was little and snuggled up on my lap during the day.

Having two older kids (one graduating HS next year!) as a reminder of how fast time flies truly helps me be at peace with the ebb and flow and the constant struggle to figure out a better schedule.

First Post-Covid Live Event Recap

Happy Monday Friends! I hope you were able to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather over the weekend! I attended my first juried show since before the pandemic started at Powell Gardens just outside Kansas City a few weeks ago. This was kind of my test run to see if people were getting back out and attending these events, and I was so happy to see how many people showed up!

I really had so much fun over the weekend, I did not even realize how much I missed getting out meeting and talking to people! I love hearing your stories and meeting new artists and art enthusiasts. One woman picked out her first piece of art for her new home, a pair of sweet triplets helped their parents pic out some art to gift Grandma, as well as for their own home. Another couple picked out a print from the strong women collection of mom + baby girl for her daughter’s new big girl room. So many stories and smiles were shared (even under masks) and it was a breath of fresh air to me.

My younger two kiddos and the hubs came to help me in the afternoon on Sunday, just in time to help tear down. :) I had not stepped away from my booth to eat for 6 hours, so my middle daughter took over while I walked about. She’s participated in a few craft shows with her bracelets and has that entrepreneurial spirit, so it was so much fun watching her take over for me and sell a few prints. And she was so proud of herself too. May have just been the best few hours of the weekend.

I wish I’d gotten a few more pictures, especially of her running the booth, but documenting was just not on my brain as much this weekend, especially by the time Sunday rolled around.

The biggest show stopper in booth #26 was these mini florals…..which was a relief they were such a hit because I loved doing them so much I ended up with 45 mini’s with easels. Yikes! A little more than half of them were scooped up at the event and my e-mail subscribers grabbed the rest last week. I’m so excited to have so many of these tiny conversation starters out there. They are so fun! (And if you missed out, they’ll likely be some back in time for Christmas )

Art shows are no joke when it comes to work…….I closed my exercise ring twice on Sunday with tear down and the long jaunt to the vehicle. I took last week a little slower after the show, this week I’m easing back in with a couple commissions and deciding which future shows I wan’t to apply to. Know any good ones in your area? Tell me about them in the comments!

Rhonda

Studio Tour

It has been almost a year since we finished my studio since moving and I thought it would be fun to show you the transformation of where I create! Art is such a messy practice, I really feel fortunate to have been able to create in our home and then walk away and close the door on the mess. In our old home, it was an unfinished area of the basement. I had a corner set up to create in and the rest of the area was boxes of storage and our deep freezer.

This is the only photo I can find of my old studio space, I didn’t photograph it much because it was not “Instagram worthy”.

We moved to our current house in Dec of 2018 with the intentions of making the smaller 3rd garage off the basement into a finished studio space. And like a lot of home projects, it got pushed to the back burner. We did at least get the walls painted white pretty quickly, but that’s as far as it got for a year and a half.

It is heated/cooled and it has one window which helps, but still tended to be a bit dark.

What’s not shown in these before pictures is that about half the garage was used…….well as a garage. I was sharing the space with 2 kayaks and pool equipment.

We finally put in a pulley system to hang the kayaks from the ceiling in our main garage and outdoor storage for pool stuff. Clearing it out was all the motivation I needed to get to work making this a proper studio!

We painted/sealed the cement floors, swapped out the garage door for one with 3 rows of panels for more light, added some fluorescent lighting, a spot for a sink and dolled up the workspace.

We moved my 6’ desk by the door to take advantage of the light, which has been great not only for working but for more process videos and tutorial recordings.

The royal blue chair with nailhead trim is definitely one of my favorite spots (and I keep finding a toddler trying to take it over )

Moving the desk opened up this wall for hanging/photographing art and a table for varnishing and packaging. I also love that this perfect yellow chair I inherited from my Grandma found a spot in this staging area.

I have plans of adding a decorative shelf or faux fireplace, complete with viney plants on the wall next to the chair for photographing art, but have not yet committed to that aesthetic.

Running water will save so many trips upstairs to the laundry room sink! (When the plumber finally gets here. 😁)

I was even able to host a small paint party in my finished studio! I’ve also had a few local people stop by to view art in person and discuss commissions. It’s so great being able to share my space.

I feel pretty fortunate to have a dedicated space that I can close off from the rest of the house, and the light in this space compared to my previous working spaces is amazing. :)

My Favorite Way to Hang Art + Collection Release

The Strong Women Collection released last week!

I am so delighted some of these paintings have found homes. It seriously overjoys me that you all find a connection and display my art in your home. Words cannot describe what it means to me that I get to do what I love - to create from the comfort of my home studio in my own hours, allowing me to keep Wife and Mom #1 priorities, AND that it resonates with you. Truly, I’m touched.

The recipient of the dancer painting posted on Facebook that it was a surprise when her daughter (a dancer!) received it in the mail. I love that it was sent as a special surprise gift to a dancer. 💖

I shared on social media my favorite way to hang them (or any smaller art). I love displaying smaller art with a large, empty, ornate frame around it. It’s unique, it gives added interest, and it makes a bolder statement. It works especially well if you have a bigger space on the wall to fill. What applies in fashion applies in home decor = layers add interest!

Just to see if you agree I took a poll in my IG stories and it was unanimous - with a bigger statement frame is the way to go!

This is 8x10 artwork, matted to 11x14 (mat is included!) The bigger frame I used is 20x24.

There are two strong women on canvas and 11 pieces on 140# cold press watercolor paper, matted to 11x14 and backing included.

You can view the entire Strong Women Collection on my website RhondaSchrage.com

XO

Rhonda

The Strong Women Collection Sneak Peek!

The Strong Women Collection

The Strong Women Collection is a body of work celebrating the quiet strength in women in their day-to-day. From the obvious strength and grace in dancers to the gentle patience in mothers. These women know whose they are and they embrace the role of being who the I Am says they are.

The Strong Women collection will be available next week!

E-mail Subscribers will get a password e-mailed to them at 10 a.m. for early access on the 23rd. The password will be lifted for everyone to have access at 1 p.m.

This collection started out when I played around “painting” digitally over my pencil sketches of dancers. But painting digitally and in real life are completely different for me, execution looked different and it became instead a practice in women figures. Some were dancers, some were a study on women and their poise and what characteristics gave them that poise. Cohesively, they were strong women.

There was something in my head that kept saying paint women and their precious children. It was not my original vision so I resisted. I was saving the idea for a future collection. But that nagging voice won and there was such a positive response from the first mother and her daughter painting in my DM’s that I continued with Mommas.

This collection certainly still reflects strong women, they are primarily reflected through mothers and dancers here. Although I was never a dancer I can’t help but notice the physical strength in dancers; and they do it so beautifully, making us all believe we can twirl on our toes and leap gracefully in the air. (Don’t try it at home, especially if you’re....ahem......mature) ;)

I’m still working on final touches on a few pieces. There will be a few more on paper and two on canvas that are so gorgeous they make me want to extend my release date and paint more on canvas.

Most have a touch of gold that shimmers perfectly when the light catches it.

I can’t wait to finish these up and share them with you next week! If you want early access, sign up here.

XO
Rhonda

A Mind Frame Shift.....All From Framing Art

I cleaned and organized the studio this week, moving things around a bit. This portrait sketch landed in an otherwise empty frame on the shelf and ended up changing my whole outlook.

I had been getting inside my head too much - in a way that was limiting. Fear and resistance had overtaken my studio time. Putting this one portrait sketch in a frame and displaying it on a shelf sparked a complete mind frame shift.

I created this back in 2018 when I was sick all day (thanks to pregnancy) and small sketchbook art was all I could handle. I have a few portraits from those days I really love and this one has been hanging in the studio since. Setting her off in a chick, sophisticated frame elevated the sketch, and something about her sitting on the shelf looking so sure of herself stirred something in me. I started to look around the house at the art I don’t always share and keep for myself………a lot of what I keep is different than what I offer out in the world. Although, there are several pieces (like these four) humbly gracing the walls of collectors that I would have loved to have kept for myself instead.

I took an extra long break after the Christmas season this year, and as I got back into the studio, I really started diving in and thinking about what I love most about my art and the process. How is that different? I wasn’t trying to read everyone else’s brain and think about what they love. It’s a game-changer really, I can’t get inside their head anyway.

I did a portfolio review with Deeann Rieves who asked questions and gave prompts that forced me to think about and look at my work differently. I’ve always struggled to articulate my art into a visually cohesive story which has also held me back a bit.

I believe I’m beginning to see now that I was getting in my own way, changing the story line. Like those books we had in grade school where you can pick which ending to read and get a different outcome.

I look around at these pieces I’ve kept for myself and realize I love them because they hold something a bit more personal. The common ground between these paintings is that each piece was created for the process. For the love of working with my hands, creating something out of nothing, for the challenge of figuring out how to get my thoughts and emotions onto canvas. I made them with the mentality that I didn’t care if they turned out terrible because I didn’t have to show it to anyone or put it up for sale. They were created for the love of making art, just me and the process (and some music); without the noise that gets in my head from the undue pressure I create for myself.

I think back to the beginning of this journey, when I first dusted off the paintbrushes. It was just me and the paint in that sectioned off, quiet, unfinished corner of the basement. Before I was thinking about social media posting, content creation and marketing. Alone with the freedom to explore and express as I created art. That is the art I want to get back to. It’s a harder place to get to, harder to share and it’s much more vulnerable. 

With that in mind, as I move forward with the collections I’ve planned for 2021, I’m clearing the calendar and slowing it down.  I’m committing instead to focus on getting to that place where my mind is free to land in that magical balance where curiosity and expression take place; where there’s no fear of failure and in the process of letting that fear go, excitement and discovery happen. I’ll continue to share the process along the way, but I won’t be bogged down with feeling the necessity of sharing the process.

I had collection releases planned out for the year, maybe they’ll happen, maybe they won’t. Exactly one year ago in February 2020 I started painting flowers. The florals were a response to the short, cold and dark days of winter that were dragging on. I needed color and sunshine. So I painted it. And then I spent almost an entire year painting flowers, evolving into a looser, more semi-abstract style. 

Deeann suggested in my consult to take my favorite floral and paint the same color scheme, pull the same elements and use the same techniques but to apply that to a landscape. I have a deep love of landscapes and that direction seems like it would make the most sense next. But, for reasons I can’t explain, I’m feeling a draw to take my figure and dancer sketches from the past and use them to propel into a study on the figure.

The original plan was to release a collection in March. But that’s pretty soon and I doubt I can get there with this new frame of mind. Rather than rush it, I’m already prepping myself to accept that I’m going to miss that deadline. But the payoff will be a beautiful collection that allowed a learning and growth that will help define my art, rather than a rushed collection. Maybe I’ll hit a stride and the paintings will flow and I’ll have a collection by March.I love it when that happens! But I’m not counting on it.

I have a lot of ideas for various subjects taking what I learned from the florals last year and building on that. I’m excited to dive in! And if you’ve read this far - thank you for coming along with my story. Here’s a sneak peak of the figure study, the sketch from a few years ago and the (work in process) painted version. Not all figures will be off those sketches, but it’s a starting point.

Find me on Instagram where I share behind the scenes of the process in my stories.