The Everyday Life of a Working Artist by Leslie Saeta

The AHA Artists Forum

leslie.saeta@ambassadors.com (Leslie Saeta) — Wed, 30 Dec 2015 00:00:00 -0800

I have been thinking for a while that the listeners of the Artists Helping Artists show need a place to go where we can talk about art, share ideas and ask questions of our fellow artists. Many of us use Facebook to interact but I think Facebook is a bit too generic for this purpose. We need our own place to go and ask questions and share ideas and good news!

My AHA co-host Carrie Waller and I did a show a few weeks ago about Carrie's Artist Mentoring Group. (If you would like to listen to the show you can go to here.) It was a very inspiring show and I have received emails, phone calls, text messages and Facebook messages from artists looking for artists to be part of a group. But we need a place to be able to communicate about topics exactly like this.

Good news. We now have one.

I have started an AHA forum on my website. Its a place where you can post a question, share news and also answer questions and interact with other artists. You can find the blog on my website at http://lesliesaetafineart.weebly.com/aha-forum.html#/. Check it out and let me know what you think. Better yet, share some news or post a comment on the forum! I already started one topic for artists looking for a mentoring group. Let me know your thoughts.

I have a lot of great workshops scheduled in 2016. I will be teaching in Cape Cod, Atlanta, Richmond, South Pasadena and Ventura. Click here for more information!

I am also offering Online Studio painting classes every month. Join me each month as we paint traditional oil paintings and abstract paintings with a palette knife. Click here to sign up.

Simplifying Commissions - part two

leslie.saeta@ambassadors.com (Leslie Saeta) — Tue, 29 Dec 2015 00:00:00 -0800

My last post mentioned that I told my abstract client I would submit three or four small concept designs for their triptych. I went back to my studio, mixed a bunch of paint colors and started painting with my palette knife on sheets of gessoed canvas. I used the sheets from a tablet I found at Dick Blick and they measured something close to 9" x 12". Before I knew it, I had 11 designs.

I attached all of the designs to foamboard, presented them all and the clients were thrilled. They had a tough time deciding. They chose the first one listed here for composition and the last one for color.

I went back to my studio and painted the three canvases which each measured 102" wide by 25" tall.

And the process was a blast! I knew exactly what I needed to design and paint. There was never any doubt or hesitation in the creative process.

Here is the finished painting!

I love the triptych, the client loves them and the interior designer is happy too.

What a great experience.

Leslie

I have a lot of great workshops scheduled in 2016. I will be teaching in Cape Cod, Richmond, Atlanta, South Pasadena and Ventura. Click here for more information!

I am also offering Online Studio painting classes every month. Join me each month as we paint traditional oil paintings and abstract paintings with a palette knife. Click here to sign up.

Simplifying Commissions - part one

leslie.saeta@ambassadors.com (Leslie Saeta) — Mon, 28 Dec 2015 00:00:00 -0800

Painting commissions are what I call a necessary evil. They can provide a great income stream for artists but are really hard to paint. At least they are for me. I find it hard to paint something while constantly worrying if the client will like it as much as I do.
So imagine the angst I have experienced this year with abstract commissions. It's bad enough when someone says, "Can you paint a picture of my child?". But painting an abstract commission is hard when the artist and the buyer have very little understanding as to what the abstract will look like. It's easy to narrow down the color palette but what about the actual abstract design?
Guess what? I have good news. I figured it out. I now have a system that I am going to use to sell abstract commission paintings. And I am thrilled with the results of my recent abstract commission experience.
In October I was fortunate enough to receive a call from an interior designer who had a client that needed a very large painting to fill a space that measured 110" x 90". The photo of the empty space is seen above.

The living room was being redecorated and here is the color palette and fabrics.

I played around with format and presented some ideas to the client. (I used my ipad and the app MoodBoard and a stylus pen to create these images.)

The client picked the horizontal triptych (on the left). I then proposed that I would create three to four mock ups of small abstract paintings.What happened next was incredible.

Follow tomorrow's blog for the end of this story.
(Sorry to string you on like this but I have read that doing something like this actually works!) We shall see tomorrow.

I have a lot of great workshops scheduled in 2016. I will be teaching in Cape Cod, Richmond, Atlanta, South Pasadena and Ventura. Click here for more information!

I am also offering Online Studio painting classes every month. Join me each month as we paint traditional oil paintings and abstract paintings with a palette knife. Click here to sign up.

And ... more big news! My blog will be moving to my website very soon. So you should follow me here in the future!

The Everyday Life of a Working Artist - Me!

leslie.saeta@ambassadors.com (Leslie Saeta) — Sun, 27 Dec 2015 11:20:00 -0800

"Winter Day", Oil, 12" x 12"

Paint this painting with my online class!

I have been really bad about posting regularly on my blog for quite some time. Ok, more than quite some time. It's actually been a couple of years. I have known for awhile that my blog posts and facebook posts were pretty much covering the same material. The exact same stuff. Unfortunately whenever there is duplication in my life I just stop one of them. Hence, no blog posts. (There is one exception ... January and September while I am doing the Thirty Paintings in Thirty Days Challenge and my 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway.) For the other 293 days I have ignored my blog (that's assuming I did the math right).

I thought about deleting my blog altogether. (Well not really, I just put that in for a dramatic effect.) But then I realized it just needed a new focus. And I do have something I have wanted to share about my life for a long time. After much thought (ok, after about 25 minutes of thought) I have officially "re-branded" my blog. My blog has been renamed "The Everyday Life of a Working Artist". And yes, that working artist is me.

I have a tendency to take on a lot of projects in any given week. I frequently get emails and comments inquiring as to how I get so many things done in a day. I have decided it is time for me to tell it all. The good and the bad. (To be more specific, the good is my accomplishments. The bad is the craziness, stress and things I don't ever get done*.)

My NEW blog will now reveal all of my deepest and darkest secrets. That includes all of my ideas, both the good and even the really bad ones (because I don't usually figure out they are bad ideas for quite some time). I will share how I manage my time, my schedule and all of my tips to organization. I also intend to talk about my insane daily schedule that I am 100% responsible for. I will also share how I tend to "shed" things (you will learn what this means in another blog post. It's a super important part of being successful.) And you will understand how one of the most gratifying parts of my day is crossing off items on my to do list.

My goal is to blog all of the time instead of none of the time.

If you want to learn how to get a lot more accomplished in a day then you might want to follow my blog. It will be a crazy ride but I think you will learn a lot. And don't feel sorry for me as I am doing this all to my self. Since I am my own boss, no one is making me do all of these things. Except me.

Here we go.
Leslie

*Just a note about the "things I don't get done". In reviewing my goals for 2015 my top goal was to write my Marketing Your Art book. To be honest, I don't recall ever making this my goal for the year. Just so you know, the number of words written in my book for 2015 was zero. Yep. Pathetic. See, it happens to all of us.

And ... more big news! My blog will be moving to my website very soon. So you should follow me here in the future!

I have a lot of great workshops scheduled in 2016. I will be teaching in Cape Cod, Atlanta, Richmond, South Pasadena and Ventura. Click here for more information! I am also offering Online Studio painting classes every month. Join me each month as we paint traditional oil paintings and abstract paintings with a palette knife. Click here to sign up.

All done!

leslie.saeta@ambassadors.com (Leslie Saeta) — Sat, 26 Dec 2015 12:05:00 -0800

"A Day at the Beach"

Oil, 12" x 12"

Sold!

My Twelve Days of Christmas giveaway has come to a close and I want to thank each of you who joined me in celebrating the holidays these past 12 days. Yesterday we had seventy seven suggestions as to ways we can all give back and help our fellow artists in the coming year. As we enjoy the holiday season take a moment to read all of these wonderful suggestions. There are so many great ideas.

Don't forget I am hosting the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge in January! If you would like to participate in the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge you can sign up here. Be ready to post your first painting on January 1st right here on my blog. Please be sure to sign up to receive my Daily blog posts as well so you don't miss anything! So far we have 667 artists signed up for the Challenge.

The winner of the final giveaway (which is the painting pictured above) is Barb Mowery! Congratulations! Email me so we can finalize all of the details and I can get figure out how to get the painting to you.

Finally, for those of you that participated in the Twelve Days of Christmas, there was a reason behind every "request" you had to do to participate. I hope that the comments you made on my blog were a great catalyst for getting ready for 2016. I hope you will use some of the suggestions as to how you can help your fellow artists and make a point to incorporate it in to your plans for 2015. We all need to give back and help our fellow artists.

Happy holidays. Here's to a great new year. And thanks for making my life so complete!

Leslie

I have a lot of great workshops scheduled in 2016. I will be teaching in Cape Cod, Richmond, Atlanta, South Pasadena and Ventura. Click here for more information! I am also offering Online Studio painting classes every month. Join me each month as we paint traditional oil paintings and abstract paintings with a palette knife. Click here to sign up.

Twelve Days of Christmas - Day Twelve

leslie.saeta@ambassadors.com (Leslie Saeta) — Fri, 25 Dec 2015 07:20:00 -0800

Merry Christmas! It's hard to believe today is the last day of the Twelve Days of Christmas giveaway. This has been a lot of fun and thank you to the hundreds of you that have participated in the fun.

I can't tell you how much I enjoyed all of your suggestions for themes for the Thirty Paintings in Thirty Days Challenge! I do think having a theme for the Challenge helps a lot as it keeps you focused and makes it a lot easier to come up with things to paint every day!

The winner of the 11th Day Giveaway is Kathy Dugan Collins. Kathy is the winner of one of my hand painted canvas bags. There aren't many of these out there so I hope you will enjoy it! Send me your address and I will mail it to you.

The 12th Day giveaway prize is one of my original oil paintings.

It is featured here and it is a 12" x 12" oil painting. I will ship it to the winner right away. If you would like to have a chance to win the painting, my request is simple. I am a true believer that as artists we all need to think about giving back. We need to do everything we can to help our fellow artists. That's why my radio show is named "Artists Helping Artists".

I am looking for suggestions as to how we can all help our fellow artists. So to be eligible for the final giveaway leave your suggestions here. What do you think is a great way to help a fellow artist? Share your ideas on my blog or on any of my facebook pages. And you are welcome to make as many suggestions as you want if you would like to increase your chances to win. The winner will be announced tomorrow morning.

Don't forget to sign up for the Thirty Paintings in Thirty Days Challenge which is scheduled again for January 2015! It's a great way to start out the new year!
I have a lot of great workshops scheduled in 2016. I will be teaching in Cape Cod, Richmond, Atlanta, South Pasadena and Ventura. Click here for more information! I am also offering Online Studio painting classes every month. Join me each month as we paint traditional oil paintings and abstract paintings with a palette knife. Click here to sign up.

Twelve Days of Christmas - Day Eleven

leslie.saeta@ambassadors.com (Leslie Saeta) — Thu, 24 Dec 2015 07:45:00 -0800

Wow, only one day until my Twelve Days of Christmas Giveaway is over! I can't believe it. Merry Christmas Eve!

Many of you know that I am doing another "30 Paintings in 30 Days" challenge. It starts on January 1st and all of you are invited to join me! We are going to paint 30 paintings in 30 days and you can post your painting on my blog if you choose to participate. It will be fun and it is a fantastic way to start of the new year. I think it's a great chance to try some new things and also get in the habit of painting more often. Think about it. Give it a try. What's the worst thing that can happen? Perhaps you paint 15 paintings and after 15 days you can't continue. At least you will have painted 15!

Some of you may want to decide on a theme for your thirty paintings. That's great. You can also choose a size and paint that size every day. Or paint 30 value studies. Maybe you will paint 30 larger versions of paintings you have already done. Or paint 30 paintings that each represent a month of the year (then you can print a 2016 calendar right away!) Maybe you want to paint the same painting but just vary it each day. It's up to you! Just make sure you are ready by the first day of January ...

Today's Twelve Days of Christmas giveaway is one of my handpainted/handmade canvas bags.

They are made out of cotton canvas, fully lined and have a zipper with a piece of sea glass pull. I promise, you will love it. When I posted these on facebook they were very popular. And they are not for sale to the general public (yet)!

To qualify for the Eleventh Day Giveaway all you need to do is share a theme idea for the 30 in 30. A have a lot of artists looking for theme ideas so please help them! Share them here or on my Facebook pages.

The winner of the Day Ten free workshop giveaway is Karen Fedew. Congrats! Be sure to email me so we can get you all signed up for one of my South Pasadena workshops.

Be sure and sign up to receive my blog updates so you will be the first to know about the 12 Days of Christmas Giveaways!

Meanwhile, you might want to consider signing up for the Thirty Paintings in Thirty Days Challenge which is scheduled again for January 2016! It's a great way to start out the new year!

I have a lot of great workshops scheduled in 2016. I will be teaching in Cape Cod, Richmond, Atlanta, South Pasadena and Ventura. Click here for more information! I am also offering Online Studio painting classes every month. Join me each month as we paint traditional oil paintings and abstract paintings with a palette knife. Click here to sign up.

Twelve Days of Christmas - Day Ten

leslie.saeta@ambassadors.com (Leslie Saeta) — Wed, 23 Dec 2015 07:00:00 -0800

Thank you so much for all of your very inspiring comments about "why you love being an artist". Sometimes we need to stop and think about how lucky we are to be able to create and enjoy the wonderful lifestyle of an artist! I hope this reflection has helped to reinforce why you have chosen this wonderful profession, regardless if you are doing it full or part-time.

The winner of Day 9 of the 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway is Fran Sawtelle Miller. Congrats Fran you have won a $150 gift certificate. Just email me and we will make arrangements to to figure out how you would like to spend it!

The Day 10 giveaway is one of my painting workshops at the Carriage House in South Pasadena. It's a $399 value and can be used to attend one of my three day workshops which includes a gourmet dinner cooked by yours truly. (FYI the workshop can only be used in South Pasadena.)

To be eligible for the giveaway, all you have to do is post a tip for other artists as to how you find inspiration for your paintings. Is there a great resource you use to find photos? Do you take photos yourself and have a great way to store or organize them? Do you paint plein air and have tips for how to find great inspirations? Do you set up still life subjects in your studio and have some great suggestions to share? Do you have an inspiration board in your studio? Please share anything you think will help other artists here. You can post your comment here or on any of my Facebook pages.

Be sure and sign up to receive my blog updates so you will be the first to know about the 12 Days of Christmas Giveaways!

Meanwhile, you might want to consider signing up for the Thirty Paintings in Thirty Days Challenge which is scheduled again for January 2015! It's a great way to start out the new year!

Follow this link to Amazon to do your holiday shopping. Just by clicking on the link you will help support the AHA show!

I have a lot of great workshops scheduled in 2016. I will be teaching in Cape Cod, Richmond, Atlanta, South Pasadena and Ventura. Click here for more information! I am also offering Online Studio painting classes every month. Join me each month as we paint traditional oil paintings and abstract paintings with a palette knife. Click here to sign up.

Twelve Days of Christmas - Day Nine

leslie.saeta@ambassadors.com (Leslie Saeta) — Tue, 22 Dec 2015 00:00:00 -0800

Wow. If you ever needed any tips to organize you life, office or studio then you might want to head on over and read all of the posts on my blog from yesterday's giveaway. There are so many great ideas! And to think I thought I was organized. Apparently I am not even close. I can't tell you how much I appreciate sharing all of these great tips! Thank you. I do intend to share all of these on one of the Artists Helping Artists shows in January.

The winner of the 12 Days of Christmas Day Eight Giveaway is Carol Trice. Congrats Carol! Email me and we will set up your free consultation.

The Day Nine Giveaway is a $150 gift certificate towards one of my paintings. To qualify for the giveaway, all you have to do is leave a post on this blog or my Facebook pages answering the following question.

"I love being an artist because ...".

Dig deep, and take a moment to think about why we are so blessed to be artists. And enjoy your day!

Yesterday's blog post didn't post when it was supposed to post. I scheduled it for 12:00am but posted the wrong day. Oops! Sorry!

You might want to consider signing up for the Thirty Paintings in Thirty Days Challenge which is scheduled again for January 2015! It's a great way to start out the new year!

Follow this link to Amazon to do your holiday shopping. Just by clicking on the link you will help support the AHA show!

I have a lot of great workshops scheduled in 2016. I will be teaching in Cape Cod, Atlanta, Richmond, South Pasadena and Ventura. Click here for more information! I am also offering Online Studio painting classes every month. Join me each month as we paint traditional oil paintings and abstract paintings with a palette knife. Click here to sign up.

Twelve Days of Christmas - Day Eight

leslie.saeta@ambassadors.com (Leslie Saeta) — Mon, 21 Dec 2015 00:00:00 -0800

If you haven't figured it out by now, there is a method to my madness in asking you to do certain things to be eligible for my 12 Days of Christmas giveaway. Most of them are to prepare you to get ready for 2106. By having to go back and think about your art for this past year, I am hoping the process will lead to some good things for 2016. The same goes for having you choose your greatest success, biggest marketing challenge and suggest a topic for the AHA show. I am hoping the process you had to go through to identify these things will help you with your goals for next year.

The winner for the 12 Days of Christmas Day Seven giveaway is Debi Vought. Congrats on winning my online webinARTs class. Email me with your address so I can get you signed up. I hope you all read the great APPs that were mentioned on my blog yesterday. I can't wait to try some of them out. I can't believe how many apps mentioned were for editing photos on facebook and Instagram.

Keeping in the AHA spirit, to be eligible for the 12 Days of Christmas Day 8 giveaway, all you need to do is share something you do to stay organized. This "tip" can occur in your studio, your office, your computer or when you are painting plein air. Just think of a tip, website or great tool you use that helps you stay organized. I can't tell you how much these ideas will help every single one of us! I will be forever grateful.

The giveaway for Day Eight is a repeat gift ... another Private Marketing Consultation. It's a pretty cool service I offer that's valued at $250.00. If you want to learn more about what happens in one of my marketing consultations, just go here. So, start thinking about those organizational tips. Post them here on my blog or either of my Facebook pages. Thanks!

If you really want to start out the year right, you might want to consider signing up for the Thirty Paintings in Thirty Days Challenge which is scheduled again for January 2016! It's a great way to start out the new year!

Follow this link to Amazon to do your holiday shopping. Just by clicking on the link you will help support the AHA show!

I have a lot of great workshops scheduled in 2016. I will be teaching in Cape Cod, Richmond, South Pasadena and Ventura. Click here for more information! I am also offering Online Studio painting classes every month. Join me each month as we paint traditional oil paintings and abstract paintings with a palette knife. Click here to sign up.

Twelve Days of Christmas - Day Seven

leslie.saeta@ambassadors.com (Leslie Saeta) — Sun, 20 Dec 2015 08:00:00 -0800

Sorry if I am a little late getting this out. Our annual holiday party was last night and I just didn't have the energy to do this last night when our last guest left at 1:30am ...

Yesterday's blog post was all about selling your art. I asked all of you to identify the biggest marketing challenge you face as an artist. The response was amazing as there were 96 comments! Many of you want help marketing on social media, getting in to galleries, pricing, building a better website, building a mailing list and just balancing marketing and painting at the same time.

I have tried really hard these past few years to answer many of your marketing questions through the Artists Helping Artists show. But I realized earlier this year there was a need for more detailed information.

I posted this question on yesterday's giveaway post because I wanted to get an even better understanding of what artists need to help make them more successful. That's why am launching a new webinARTs class before the end of the year. I am very excited to have created a new step-by-step online class to teach artists how to market their art and build a website. All of your comments from today will have a big impact in finalizing the class! So thank you for sharing and I am going to do everything I can to help all of you!

Now ... The winner of the Day Six Giveaway is Debbie Harris Eckmier. Debbie has won an entire year of my online palette knife painting classes. Please email me Debbie and I will get you all signed up for the classes. Congrats!

Today's giveaway is a complimentary online webinARTs class! The class will be released on December 31st and it is all about ways to sell your art and includes how to build a website for your art from start to finish! To be eligible for the giveaway, all you have to do is tell us about your favorite App! I love sharing information with students in my workshops and apps are a great resource. My three favorite apps are Instagram, Accuview and Waze. I have used Instagram this year to market my abstract art. Accuview allows you to grid or view values of a photo on your phone or iPad. Waze is the best app for navigation and traffic. It's free and everyone should use it!

Be sure and sign up to receive my blog updates so you will be the first to know about the 12 Days of Christmas Giveaways!

Meanwhile, you might want to consider signing up for the Thirty Paintings in Thirty Days Challenge which is scheduled again for January 2015! It's a great way to start out the new year!

Follow this link to Amazon to do your holiday shopping. Just by clicking on the link you will help support the AHA show!

I have a lot of great workshops scheduled in 2016. I will be teaching in Cape Cod, Richmond, South Pasadena and Ventura. Click here for more information! I am also offering Online Studio painting classes every month. Join me each month as we paint traditional oil paintings and abstract paintings with a palette knife. Click here to sign up.

Twelve Days of Christmas - Day Six

leslie.saeta@ambassadors.com (Leslie Saeta) — Sat, 19 Dec 2015 00:00:00 -0800

I loved all of the posts today highlighting all your art successes this year. It's so great to read all of the great accomplishments so many of you have achieved. And, hopefully most of you have figured out that taking the time to think about your year to recognize your accomplishments is a great experience. I hope you enjoyed the process!

The winner of my six online classes for the Day Five Giveaway is Susie Gregory. Just email me your address and I will get you set up later this week!

The Day Six Giveaway is one year of my online Monday Studio classes, valued at $300.00. The course consists of twelve monthly classes that have 10 - 15 videos in each class! I am so excited to be able to share this with the winner!

To be eligible for this giveaway I would like to get your input about marketing your art. I'd like to know what areas in marketing you would like to know more about. Is it your website, blog or Facebook you would like more information? Is it getting in to galleries ... pricing your art ... or building your client list? Give it some thought and post on my blog (or Facebook page) what you think is the most important marketing need for you, as an artist. I'd really appreciate your input. One of you will win the free Monday Online Studio year long class for giving me your input. Thank you!

The Twelve Days of Christmas - Day Five

leslie.saeta@ambassadors.com (Leslie Saeta) — Fri, 18 Dec 2015 06:15:00 -0800

I am thrilled with the response to my 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway. I am so inspired by all of the Facebook "shares" on Day 1, your studio tips on Day 2, the artists that inspire you most on Day 3, and your awesome ideas for an AHA show on Day 4. If you have missed any of these be sure and go to my blog posts and check out all of this wonderful information. And, just so you know, all of your studio tips from Day Two will be shared on the December 31st AHA show!

I love the fact that we are sharing resources and I think today's posts will continue to inspire us all! Plus it's always fun to giveaway stuff! I am excited to announce the winner of the Day Four 12 Days of Christmas Giveaway. Congratulations to Jo Mackenzie who was the winner of the Marketing Consultation! Just email me and we will get you all set up. Thanks to everyone for submitting 75 ideas for show topics for the AHA radio show. I am set!

Today's giveaway is six of my online painting classes. The winner gets to pick if they want traditional palette knife or abstract palette knife painting. For more info click here. All you have to do to be eligible for this prize is to share here on my blog (or on my facebook page) what you consider to be your greatest accomplishment this year. Ideally, I am hoping it will be related to your art career, but we will see!

Meanwhile, you might want to consider signing up for the Thirty Paintings in Thirty Days Challenge which is scheduled again for January 2015! It's a great way to start out the new year!

Follow this link to Amazon to do your holiday shopping. Just by clicking on the link you will help support the AHA show!

I have a lot of great workshops scheduled in 2016. I will be teaching in Cape Cod, Richmond, Atlanta, South Pasadena and Ventura. Click here for more information! I am also offering Online Studio painting classes every month. Join me each month as we paint traditional oil paintings and abstract paintings with a palette knife. Click here to sign up.

The Twelve Days of Christmas - Day Four

leslie.saeta@ambassadors.com (Leslie Saeta) — Thu, 17 Dec 2015 00:00:00 -0800

It's been great reading about the artists that you admire ... I love reading about all of the artists that inspired so many of you. Almost 100 artist's names were bubmitted. There are a lot of artists mentioned that I know very well. And I love the fact there are so many others that I do not know. Clicking on the links of all of the artists is like Christmas! I can't wait to spend more time following the links and getting to know many of these new names. Thanks so much for sharing!

The winner of the Day Three Giveaway which is my January Online Painting Classes is Colleen Bosky. Email me your contact information and I will get you all signed up for the class!

Today's giveaway is a free one hour marketing consultation. (The value is $250!). You can find out more about my consultations here. It's easy to become eligible for the giveaway. All you have to do is leave a suggestion here on my blog (or on my Facebook page) of a topic for the Artists Helping Artists radio show! Every month I struggle to come up with topics for the show so your input would be greatly appreciated! I am looking for NEW show ideas. So please try to read the entries ahead of you and not duplicate ideas that have already been submitted or already covered on past shows. Thanks.

Be sure and sign up to receive my blog updates so you will be the first to know about the 12 Days of Christmas Giveaways!

Meanwhile, you might want to consider signing up for the Thirty Paintings in Thirty Days Challenge which is scheduled again for January 2016! It's a great way to start out the new year!

I have a lot of great workshops scheduled in 2016. I will be teaching in Cape Cod, Richmond, Atlanta, South Pasadena and Ventura. Click here for more information! I am also offering Online Studio painting classes every month. Join me each month as we paint traditional oil paintings and abstract paintings with a palette knife. Click here to sign up.

The Twelve Days of Christmas - Day Three

leslie.saeta@ambassadors.com (Leslie Saeta) — Wed, 16 Dec 2015 00:00:00 -0800

I really enjoyed all of your "studio tips". There were over 50 posted on my blog and facebook pages! And just so you know, our last 2016 Artists Helping Artists radio show will feature all of these wonderful studio tips.

The winner of the Day Two Giveaway 2016 Calendar is Marion Corbin Mayer. Congrats! Be sure to email me with your mailing address.

Today I am pleased to announce that the Day Three free giveaway is one of my on-line painting classes. In fact, the prize will be the January class! The class will be launched on Monday, January 4th and includes 10 - 15 demonstration videos. You also have access to the class for at least a year so there is no rush to complete the class.

To be eligible for the Day Three Giveaway all you need to do is leave a comment here (or on my Facebook page) telling us about an artist that you admire. Perhaps you love an artist's art, teaching style or daily blog posts. Just let us know. And be sure to include a link to their website so we can learn more.

Be sure and sign up to receive my blog updates so you will be the first to know about the 12 Days of Christmas Giveaways!

Meanwhile, you might want to consider signing up for the Thirty Paintings in Thirty Days Challenge which is scheduled again for January 2016! It's a great way to start out the new year!

Follow this link to Amazon to do your holiday shopping. Just by clicking on the link you will help support the AHA show!

I have a lot of great workshops scheduled in 2016. I will be teaching in Cape Cod, Richmond, Atlanta, South Pasadena and Ventura. Click here for more information! I am also offering Online Studio painting classes every month. Join me each month as we paint traditional oil paintings and abstract paintings with a palette knife. Click here to sign up.

The Twelve Days of Christmas - Day Two

leslie.saeta@ambassadors.com (Leslie Saeta) — Tue, 15 Dec 2015 00:00:00 -0800

I am so happy it's day two and I get to give something else away!

Thanks so much for sharing the 30 Painting in 30 Days Post on my facebook page yesterday. We had over 150 shares! Many artists need to think seriously about painting more on a regular basis. The 30 in 30 Challenge is a great way to do that!

I picked yesterday's winner by using www.random.org. It's so simple, as you just type in the number of entries and the website picks the winner. The lucky winner of the custom embroidered Artists Helping Artists apron is Rosanne Mapp. Congratulations! Please email me the first name for monogramming and your mailing address.

The giveaway for the "2nd Day of Christmas" is one of my 2016 Calendars.

To be eligible for this giveaway all you need to do to is post here on my blog (or on my facebook page) a great studio tip (or tool) that you think other artists might like to know about. I have a feeling there will be some great ideas here (and potential holiday gift ideas!).

If you would like to purchase one of my 2016 calendars (they make great gifts!) just click here. Be sure and sign up to receive my blog updates so you will be the first to know about the 12 Days of Christmas Giveaways!

Meanwhile, you might want to consider signing up for the Thirty Paintings in Thirty Days Challenge which is scheduled again for January 2016! It's a great way to start out the new year.

Follow this link to Amazon to do your holiday shopping. Just by clicking on the link you will help support the AHA show!

I have a lot of great workshops scheduled in 2016. I will be teaching in Cape Cod, Richmond, Atlanta, South Pasadena and Ventura. Click here for more information! I am also offering Online Studio painting classes every month. Join me each month as we paint traditional oil paintings and abstract paintings with a palette knife. Click here to sign up.

The Twelve Days of Christmas - Day One

leslie.saeta@ambassadors.com (Leslie Saeta) — Mon, 14 Dec 2015 00:00:00 -0800

Day One!

Giving gifts during the holidays is by far my favorite part of the season. Just ask any of my family members and they will gladly share a long list of the homemade, mostly "nice" gifts that I gave out every Christmas. Over the years there were some duds and quite a few that were given when "still unfinished"! It's time to continue my holiday tradition of gift giving!

The Day One giveaway is an AHA embroidered apron. The lucky winner will receive a black two pocket apron and I will embroider your first name on the apron! (Embroidery colors are blue, red and green.)

To be eligible for the Day One prize, all you have to do is head on over to my Facebook page and SHARE my post from yesterday that looks like this:

I will announce the winner tomorrow.

Be sure and sign up to receive my blog updates so you will be the first to know about the 12 Days of Christmas Giveaways!

Meanwhile, you might want to consider signing up for the Thirty Paintings in Thirty Days Challenge which is scheduled again for January 2016! It's a great way to start out the new year!

I have a lot of great workshops scheduled in 2016. I will be teaching in Cape Cod, Richmond, Atlanta, South Pasadena and Ventura. Click here for more information! I am also offering Online Studio painting classes every month. Join me each month as we paint traditional oil paintings and abstract paintings with a palette knife. Click here to sign up.

It's Time for the 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge!

leslie.saeta@ambassadors.com (Leslie Saeta) — Wed, 9 Dec 2015 06:28:00 -0800

It's been a great year but hard to believe it's almost over! The holidays are upon us which means it's time for another 30 Day Challenge beginning January 1st.

This is the seventh 30 Paintings in 30 Days Challenge that I have hosted and I am excited! Last time we had over 1500 artists (in 27 countries) participating. Will you be joining me this time? I don't have a theme yet but will have one by the 1st.

Link to the 30 Paintings in 30 Days website

Link to sign up for the 30 in 30 Challenge

I have a lot of great workshops scheduled in 2016. I will be teaching in Cape Cod, Richmond, South Pasadena and Ventura. Click here for more information! I am also offering Online Studio painting classes every month. Join me each month as we paint traditional oil paintings and abstract paintings with a palette knife. Click here to sign up.

Looking Back at Thirty Paintings in September

leslie.saeta@ambassadors.com (Leslie Saeta) — Thu, 1 Oct 2015 00:00:00 -0700

Here is my "collage" of the 30 paintings I completed this month. In truth, I atually painted FIFTY paintings this month if you count each canvas, i.e. a triptych equals three paintings. I cannot believe I pulled it off. I decided to create my collage using only the thirty paitings from my sea glass collection since the colors worked together so well.
I created my collage with an on-line program called picmonkey. Just go to PicMonkey and select "create a collage". You can use one of their designs or you can design your own. To make a collage with 30 photos you will need to design your own (or you can use one with close to 30 spaces and just add the additional ones). Then you can drag your uploaded photos in to the collage until you are done. (When you drag in a photo, you can see where to place the photos as you move them around. If you move them around carefully a small gray bar will appear and you can create columns and rows by adding more photos.) One suggestion I have for you is to be sure to use lower resolution photos as it won't upload very large file sizes. If you try to upload all 30 and it won't do it just re-size your photos until it works!

It's a fun tool to use. You can change the width and color of the grid lines between the photos and then save the completed collage as a jpeg on your computer. Please post your collages here! And it doesn't matter how many paintings you completed. Create a collage to show off the paintings you created this month.

Thanks to the 1037 artists who painted with me this month. You rock! Continue to paint. But do it on your schedule and take on some new projects and challenges. You deserve it!

I still have a few workshops left in 2015 in South Pasadena and Ventura. Click here for more information! I am also offering Online Studio painting classes every month. Join me each month as we paint boats, roosters, glass, beach scenes, umbrellas, abstracts, etc. with a palette knife. Click here to sign up.

An InLinkz Link-up

Thirty Paintings in 30 Days - Day Thirty

leslie.saeta@ambassadors.com (Leslie Saeta) — Wed, 30 Sep 2015 00:00:00 -0700

Summer Shores

Abstract Acrylic, 36" x 36"

Sold.

Click here for more information.

In case you need reminding (ha ha), today is the 30th of September. It's the last day of the 30 in 30 Challenge! We. Are. Done.
This is my last abstract painting of the challenge. It was a commission and I love the finished painting. I am not sure if you can see all of the "scratches" where I took away some of the light gray color. It's good to know the palette knife works so well at this!

I have thought long and hard about what was my favorite part of this month's challenge. Aside from painting every day, it has to be my continued love for painting abstracts. Painting big, painting with acrylics, following my heart and having fun are the best way for me to describe the last 30 days. I am so lucky!

Technically the challenge is over for now. But we all know, of course it's really just the beginning.

This is the time for all of us to build upon what we have accomplished this month. Whether you painted five or thirty paintings, it doesn't matter. We have all learned something from painting more often, from blogging everyday and sharing our art on Facebook. The results have snowballed and have been amazing. Many of you told me that you have already blogged more times this month than the entire year. Most of you have found a way to leave "the stuff" behind so when you enter your studio it's all about painting. A lot of you are painting faster and having little trouble finding inspiration to paint. Most of you are painting better. It's been a great 30 days and I thank you all for joining and inspiring me to paint every day this month.

Tomorrow we will head back in to our studios and paint some more. We will continue to push ourselves out of our comfort zones and take some risks. We don't need to feel rushed and we don't need to ignore our families anymore (haha). Just paint what you want, but take a little more time to build on the momentum you have created these past few weeks.

I promise we will do another 30 in 30 Challenge in January of 2016. In the meantime I will be busy painting and teaching and enjoying the beach house (I have a workshop there in October and November!)

Tomorrow I will post a collage of all of my 30 paintings. I will also post instructions as to how you can create one too. You can post your collage on my blog on October 1st. So be sure to check back tomorrow.

I still have a few workshops left in 2015 in South Pasadena and Ventura. Click here for more information! I am also offering Online Studio painting classes every month. Join me each month as we paint boats, roosters, glass, beach scenes, umbrellas, abstracts, etc. with a palette knife. Click here to sign up.

An InLinkz Link-up

Thirty Paintings in 30 Days - Day Twenty-nine

leslie.saeta@ambassadors.com (Leslie Saeta) — Tue, 29 Sep 2015 00:00:00 -0700

Salty Blues Duo

Abstract Paintings, 24" x 24" each

Sold.

Click here for information.

I am pleased that I have been able to paint outside of my usual color palettethis week. In case you haven't noticed, my favorite color palette are the colors of the thirty paintings I just completed for my sea glass collection. The blues and browns in this painting really work well in this dining room. They could have been painted a bit larger but I like them in the dark frames.

Here is a closer look at the paintings:

Join me for my upcoming workshops in South Pasadena and Ventura. Click here for more information! I am also offering Online Studio painting classes every month. Join me each month as we paint boats, roosters, glass, beach scenes, umbrellas, abstracts, etc. with a palette knife. Click here to sign up.

An InLinkz Link-up

Thirty Paintings in 30 Days - Day Twenty-eight

leslie.saeta@ambassadors.com (Leslie Saeta) — Mon, 28 Sep 2015 00:00:00 -0700

"Golden Rays"

Abstract Acrylic, 36" x 36"

Sold.

Click here for information.

I painted this painting when I was in Richmond. I had the greatest "studio space" as I painted on the back porch of my sister's house with a fabulous view of the James River!

I am really delighted with this painting. It's different from many of the ones I have painted before but I love it. The color scheme was gray, gold and slate blue. It's going in the downstairs family room of a gorgeous house and I can't wait to see it on the wall. Here is a close up:

You can still join me in South Pasadena in a week and a half for my three day workshop. The dates are October 12 - 14th. Click here for more information! I am also offering Online Studio painting classes every month. Join me each month as we paint boats, roosters, glass, beach scenes, umbrellas, abstracts, etc. with a palette knife. Click here to sign up.

An InLinkz Link-up

Thirty Paintings in 30 Days - Day Twenty-seven

leslie.saeta@ambassadors.com (Leslie Saeta) — Sun, 27 Sep 2015 00:00:00 -0700

"Red Hots I and II"

Abstract Acrylic Paintings, 36" x 36" each

Sold.

Click here for more information.

Oh my goodness. This month has been a whirlwind. I have been on the road for two weeks on the east coast. I taught a fabulous workshop in Cape Cod and then traveled south for another great workshop in Richmond, Va. I am so blessed to be able to meet and paint with so many great artists! I feel as if I have 29 new best friends!

I am home for two days and then out of town for another week. Although I am excited for my trip I am exhausted and just want to be home, see my husband, play with my dog Sport and paint in my studio! Of course all that will happen soon.

I painted these two paintings while I was here in Richmond. I love the colors and I am even happier they are sold! These were very fun to paint. Here is a close up of the two paintings.

I still have a space open in my workshop in South Pasadena next week. The dates are October 12, 13 and 14. Click here for more information! I am also offering Online Studio painting classes every month. Join me each month as we paint boats, roosters, glass, beach scenes, umbrellas, abstracts, etc. with a palette knife. Click here to sign up.

An InLinkz Link-up

Thirty Paintings in 30 Days - Day Twenty-six

leslie.saeta@ambassadors.com (Leslie Saeta) — Sat, 26 Sep 2015 00:00:00 -0700

The Wave I, The Wave II

Acrylic abstracts, 36" x 36"

sold.

I just painted these two paintings for a client. I love how they came out. You need to look up close to see the collage work. I used a different color palette which is fun. It's a good thing to venture out of my comfort zone! And there are a lot of coats of paint on each of these.

I still have three workshops left in 2015. I will be teaching in South Pasadena and Ventura. Click here for more information! I am also offering Online Studio painting classes every month. Join me each month as we paint boats, roosters, glass, beach scenes, umbrellas, abstracts, etc. with a palette knife. Click here to sign up.

An InLinkz Link-up

Thirty Paintings in 30 Days - Day Twenty-five

leslie.saeta@ambassadors.com (Leslie Saeta) — Fri, 25 Sep 2015 00:00:00 -0700

sea glass twenty-five and sea glass thirty

Acrylic abstracts, each is 20" x 20" x 1.5"

Click here for information.

I cannot believe this is my last post featuring the sea glass collection! I hope you have enjoyed these paintings as much as I have. It's been a very wonderful journey and they will be for sale on Amazon very soon. Don't hesitate to buy one now before they are gone!

I still have quite a few workshops left in 2015. I will be teaching in South Pasadena and Ventura. Click here for more information! I am also offering Online Studio painting classes every month. Join me each month as we paint boats, roosters, glass, beach scenes, umbrellas, abstracts, etc. with a palette knife. Click here to sign up.

An InLinkz Link-up