Beautiful Calla Lilies

Three Sisters,  4.5 x 6.5" Watercolor on Yupo Paper
matted in white and ready to frame in a 10x12" frame 

$48.00(Please add $10 shipping in the US, IL residents please add 8% sales tax) 

This lovely painting and many others are available in my Etsy Shop
priced at great prices!  

Visit my shop here

3 sisters - Lilies

3 Sisters - Descanso Lilies,  7.5 x 9.5" Watercolor on Yupo
©Helen Read, 2014
matted in white to fit a 11x14" frame

$100.00
(Please add $12.00 shipping in the US, IL residents please add 8.25% sales tax)

 

Newly remodeled website

Please visit my newly "remodeled" website!  Take a few minutes and look around;

its easy to navigate... I'm still in the process of learning all that is available to me there, and I'm uploading photos. 

I'm looking forward to continuing to make it more interesting and useful to collectors as well as adding things to interest other artists. 

Here's the link:   HelenCRead.com

Please leave me your comments in the "contact the artist" section.  I'd love to hear you opinions and any suggestions you might have to make it even better! 

2010 In Review!

Here are just a few of the year's studio works ....  some of my personal favorites!   2010, in spite of the economic down turn, has really been a good year!   Not necessarily in the way we think of "good" - but in the bigger picture, it has been.   I've continued to work in my studio.  I've continued to post to my blog ....  all of this while taking 11 hours of graduate work, working full time as a high school teacher, and finding time to be a parent, friend, daughter, etc.   

There have certainly been difficult moments in 2010.  My dad passed away about 8 months ago.  My family is in a state of change with children becoming more independent.  Changes in the world of public school teaching have also altered a lot in the work place.  The economy has impacted every artist I know.  And of course, life can just be demanding! 

However - in spite of that - there has been much good as well!   I've completed 33 works of art and worked on a few more that are still in process.  I've had time to consider my goals and plans and purposes in what I'm doing.  I've spent quality time with family and close friends across the country.  I've seen new places and been inspired by new ideas.  And most importantly, I've been held securely in God's good hands.  That's been a huge comfort in uncertain times!   

So, here's to a good 2010 .... and looking ahead to new and exciting adventures in 2011!   In this new year, may we choose to walk in closeness to the God who loves each of us dearly. 

Win this FREE small painting in my summer give away!

Mini Sunflower, 3 x 3" Acrylic on canvas

©2010, Helen Read

As it appears on its easel.

Here is the SUMMER Give-away! That's right .... I'm giving it away in my summer contest studio contest! You can be the winner in my drawing to win the painting and its small easel. Its easy to participate!

Here are the simple rules:
1. You must be a member of my mailing list - which is every easy to sign up on the right side of the blog. My mailing list is secure and never will be sold or shared. Your privacy is respected and guarded!
When you sign up, email me studio_upstairs@hotmail.com and tell me you have signed up for my list. That puts your name in the drawing!

or if you already are on my mailing list, you can participate by:

2. Get a friend to sign up for my mailing list. (You can sign them up only if you obtain their permission!) Then, email me studio_upstairs@hotmail.com and let me know your friend's name and email address and yours. Both names and addresses will go into the drawing!

Oh ... if you have multiple friends (I hope you do) that would like to be on my mailing list, please send them all - your name will be entered multiple times!

3. The drawing will be held on August 15th. Then the painting will be mailed to you!

Simple! huh??

The painting is acrylic on a small canvas (3 x 3"), and it will come with its small easel. It is signed on the side. Perfect to sit on a small book shelf or the corner of a desk top!

One more thing about my mailing list! You will get emails from me several times a month. I am trying to send a longer newsletter several times a year with news and interesting art info and happenings, plus news from my studio. Other emails are short and informative about my work, gifts, drawings, etc. You will not be inundated with stuff in your in box!

Hope to hear from you!

Snowy Egret

Knee Deep - Snowy Egret, 7 x 11.5" watercolor/acrylic on paper
©2010, Helen Read
Matted in white and ready to frame in 11x14" frame
$100.00
($12.00 shipping in US, IL residents please add 8.25% sales tax)

June Auction - 3 kitchen paintings!

Only through June 23
3 small original oil paintings by auction!
Starting bid on each is $20.00
Bidding is finished on June 23 - mid day.

Do you have a small space in your kitchen or dining room that needs a spot of color?
Do you know someone who would love a painting as a gift?
This is a great opportunity to own an original oil painting!

3 Lemons - 6x6" Oil on canvas
Tiger striped pumpkins - 5 x 7" Oil on canvas
Red Velvet Cupcake - 5x5" Oil on canvas

Please click on each link above to watch the progress or make a bid!

all paintings are unframed
IL residents please add 8.25% sales tax to final bid

Yesterday - dried roses

Yesterday, 10 x 6" watercolor on 300# paper
©2010, Helen Read
For full information and a purchase link, please click here.

Spring arrives - Abstract painting

Spring Arrives, 10 x 8" Acrylic on canvas
©Helen Read, 2010
Ready to Frame

For more information on this painting, please click here.

Its not too late! Spring special - floral note cards.

Floral Note Card Set -
8 cards/envelopes, 4 designs (featuring my original art works)
Each set is $10.00 + shipping
(IL residents, please add 8.25% sales tax)

Special price through the month of April
2 sets - $18.00
(shipping in US - 2 sets $5.00)

To see more of my original art work in the form of note cards and prints,
please click here.

Curvature, an abstraction

Curvature, 12.75 x 9.75" Colored pencil on black drawing paper
ready to mat and frame
©2010, Helen Read

For information on this colored pencil drawing,
Please click here

Undulation 3 - abstraction of a leaf

Undulation 3, 10 x 8" Oil on canvas
©2010, Helen Read
Framing is optional, painted around the sides

For more information about this painting,
please click here.

Asleep!

Asleep, 5x7" Acrylic on canvas
©2010, Helen Read
Ready to frame

For purchase information, please click here.

Green Ribbons

Ribbons of Green, 11.5 x 8.5 colored pencil on black drawing paper
©2010, Helen Read

A look at other media

From time to time, I depart from my typical oil paintings and
work with watercolor and/or acrylic used as watercolor.
Its a different experience from start to finish, but the results are quite nice!

Yellow Halo, 7.5 x 11" watercolor on paper
©2008, Helen C Read
Click here for more information.

White Hosta - 7 x 8" watercolor on paper
©2008, Helen C Read
Click here for more information.

Purple Kale, 7 x 10" watercolor on paper
©2008, Helen C Read
Click here for more information

Working in new ways is good for the artistic spirit! 2010 will be a year to try new things and to see what kinds of new creativity occurs!

Happy New Year to you! May it be a year of new experiences and new kinds of creativity!

Pink Poinsettia

Pink Poinsettias, 8 5/8 x 12 3/4" Watercolor/acrylic on 300# paper
©2009, Helen Read
Ready to mat and frame

SOLD

It is hard to believe that 2009 is on its way out today! It has been a year of continued artistic growth for me.... That's a good thing. No growth equals stagnation. Stagnation has no place in the life of an artist. This year I've focused a little more on landscapes than in previous years, which has been enjoyable. Of course, I've continued working with botanical subjects as well.
The one above is such an example.

What lies in the year ahead? We can only guess. But for me - continued artistic growth is important as well as reaching out to those who stumble across my work and those who watch it regularly. I hope, if you haven't done so yet - you will join my mailing list! There you receive monthly (or so) updates from me with interesting tidbits about the world of art. And when I offer freebies you are the first to know! The sign up box is on the right side of my blog!
(your information is kept perfectly secure!)

On a personal level in 2010 there is much I want to press on toward. Of highest importance, really, is my ability to see the hand of God working in my life more clearly, depend on him more fully, and learn to communicate with him more deeply. That, however, is not a 1 year goal... it is a goal for a lifetime. I have learned (and continue to learn) that He is our only and real source of security! I hope in the year ahead, you may find this to be true as well!
Happy New Year, friends near and far! May 2010 be a year you take great happiness in!

More Oil Pastel Landscapes

The Space Between, 6x8" Oil pastel on paper
©2009, Helen Read
Ready to mat and frame
Please click here for a convenient purchase link

Streak of Orange, 6x8 " Oil Pastel on paper
©2009, Helen Read
Ready to mat and frame
Please click here for a convenient purchase link

As I review the year - it has been fun to pick up an old media that I haven't used in awhile and also explore older subject matter. Both of these are in that area of exploration. I love the tranquility of landscapes, though that is not to say they cannot express drama! And, it is a way to express a sense of melancholy for some of the vanishing open lands and farms in this part of the mid-west.

For more information about my work or my studio,

Please visit my website

Small Landscapes

Small Landscapes
©2009, Helen Read

One of my summer goals was to work with landscapes again. I was very interested in working with atmospheric effects and depth of space, as well as color. Most of these are oil pastel on paper, which was another area of experimentation. I've worked with oil pastel before, but found my more intensive work this summer with that medium to increase my fluency with it and to help me find some expressive ways of using it.

Most of these paintings above are oil pastel on paper, and a few of them are oil on canvas. You can see all of them more individually at my website. And if you click on the image when you go to my website, you will find out specific information on each painting.

It was good to get back to get back to speaking the language of landscape painting!

More of the Year in Review

This year I also experimented a little bit with some pen and ink bird drawings that were light hearted and fun. I was also experimenting with a new medium - ink pencils. These were whimiscal and fun to do! And eventually they inspired some note cards.

A Year in Review - part I

A set of 8 notecards (2 of each design) + envelopes
measuring 5.5 x 4.25" each
$10.00/set
(shipping is additional - IL residents, please add 8.25% sales tax)

The year started out with some pen and ink drawings of botanicals. Each of these flowers is
beautiful, sculptural and colorful in various ways. As they were completed, it seemed right to create a note card set of them. They've sold quite well this year!

What a great stocking stuffer (yes! there is still time to receive a set for Christmas), or wonderful thank you notes for after the holiday!

Please note - for multiple prints going to the same address,
shipping cost adjustments will be made in the form of a refund based on actual costs of shipping.