A Rose Affair

OK FOLKS... they are done, framed, signed, ready to besold and placed in their prospective homes! I've been frequenting Michael's Craft Store due to their amazing sale on gallery wrapped canvas's. Something to note, 12" x 24" frames are not sold at Michael's, but rather Hobby Lobby (for those of you that just happen to have hardboard paintings laying around waiting for the perfect, non-overpriced pre-made frame to pop up... it's entirely common, right?). The first piece is from another recent post saying that it was finished and ready for the frame; however, without the additional leaves that were added (thank you creative mastermind Michael, with our wonderful brainstorming-sessions/art-critiques) it was flat and boring. Adding the leaves not only brought more color but more excitement to the piece. Overall, I think it is much better off with the additions. You'll notice my initials in the lower right hand corner of the yellow "frame."

Next up is "Study of a Rose #2." You might remember the original yellow rose I did almost a year back, if not, you can find it in the previous posts to my site. The light source here is strong and I like the way everything came together in the frame. Again, you'll notice my initials in the bottom right.

And last, but certainly not least (as it is my favorite of the bunch),  "Study of a Rose #3." I know I know, my creativity in the titles of these pieces is overwhelming. Try to contain yourselves. This picture shows a small glare from the light while taking the picture (again, credit to Michael for taking pictures of these today for me, THANK YOU!). This frame was very dramatic. Since the bimbos at Lowes cut these hardboards inconsistent sizes, it was about 1/8" too WIDE for the frame, so it is back-set in the frame which turned out very nice after all was said and done but you can't really notice here in the picture.

All three pieces are for sale on my Artbreak Site and hanging for sale inside SwapSmart here in Arizona. If anyone is interested in any of the three, you can contact me directly and I can hook you up with a sweet deal... maybe... 

About.com has been peaking my interest once again with another project they are having right now: sunflowers! It is a simple photo challenge, they give you and image and you use your creative talents to recreate it however you see fit. Since I have a surplus of canvas on my hands, I plan to try out a couple ideas that I have; some are well within my comfort-zone and others bursting out of it. As I complete these pieces, I plan to share my progress... did you expect anything less? :) 

-Joshua Grabowski

^ getting in the habit of putting 'Joshua' instead of 'Josh' to transition smoothly into my new domain/site. Enjoy all the links I've embedded and click the roses to view them larger! :)

Working through the list.

Trying to make my way through some older pieces I had been working on a couple of months back. Let's just hope that I can get these out the door and make some money. :) Maybe this piece looks familiar? (this time around I was using a much better camera than my cell phone...the difference is 5.1 megapixels baby!)

This picture doesn't show it yet, but all I have left to do is sign it, varnish it, and put up a FOR SALE sign. Finally I can cross this off my list of unfinished work and move along to the next one.

-Joshua Grabowski

progress shots that progressively blur.

There is a little bit of bad and good news here. First some bad news: since I just couldn't seems to speed-dry the oils fast enough, not all six that I set out to finish over the weekend will be done in time. Now, some good news: the roses are coming along beautifully. Some more background work (which is debatable) and some final color glazing will be sure to finish these pieces off. Below is a picture of the "home and gardens" piece. Not 100% complete at this stage and although this picture was taken with a regular digital camera, apparently my horribly shaky hands leave me with yet another blurry F-ing picture. Total FML type shit here, I'm tellin ya! Even though the pictures are to be recording the progress, they are progressively blurring. Thanks bartender, I'll have another round.


Tomorrow I'm takin a little plane ride back to the midwest. Lucky me! Land of beer and cheese awaits me!

-Josh Grabowski

The Study of Roses

Today has been the great start to a weekend saturated with art, more directly my art. If the universe aligns and my hard work and commitment leave completed pieces in my hands, art sales could come through which would make me a very happy boy! (all the more reason to keep goin!) Below are two rose pieces that I have worked on today. You'll notice the left piece is a little different than what was posted earlier with a few minor changes. The piece on the right is the newest to join the bunch and has the most work left to go.


Another that I like to think of as my "home and gardens" piece is posted below. For some reason I feel like this is just something that you would find in one of those types of magazines... or in someone's bathroom. (note: anyone with floral print bathroom/office/bedroom/etc looking to "jazz it up" with some fresh oil paintings, let me know!) Still toying with the idea of changing the green area of the picture to a deep maroon color, but not sure. I like the way that all three of these paintings form a link between each other, especially when you can see them all at once like this.


If for whatever reason clicking on the image doesn't make it larger, you can click here: top left - top right - bottom or visit my blog directly.

Thanks for checking me out everyone! :-P

-Josh Grabowski