Original ink drawing of a swimming octopus completes a trio of marine life fine art drawings at Shellybees.com. What would you like to see next?

Watermark does not appear in print.

Limited Edition Seahorse Archival Print Available at Shellybees.com

Just in time for summer, the beachy art series at Shellybee’s is blooming. Original pen-and-ink drawings available as limited edition archival art prints of:

• Seahorse - NEW
• Sea Dragon – NEW
• Sea Kelp
• Seashells
• Sea Birds

All designed to go together in a beach-themed or modern artistic home.

If you don’t see the marine or sealife that you’re looking for, do let me know!

Due to popular demand, the second edition of only 100 art prints of my Great Tailed Grackle has just been released at Etsy for a limited time.

Great Tailed Grackle art print by Shelly Bowen

The first edition of the Great Tailed Grackle was sold in November 2008. It is an original ink drawing I did of a texas bird printed on museum quality archival grade paper. See all bird drawings at my art shop.

No reproductions permitted. Rights remain with artist.

Limited Edition Art Print of Billie Holiday Now Available to Public

Oil Painting of Billie Holiday by Shelly Bowen, available as print at Shellybees.com

The oil isn’t even yet dry — which made the professional photographer nervous — on my latest painting, this one a portrait of one of my favorite jazz singers, Billie Holiday. I listened to her throaty voice while I painted, and I think that really helped capture her essence. I think she’d like it, don’t you? (I threw a WATERMARK on the image of it above; it’s not there in the original art.)

Museum-quality prints on high quality art paper of the oil painting are now available at Shellybees.com — but only in limited quantities. I want to keep it special. Go here to reserve your art print of Ms. Holiday before they’re gone.

This print is part of an exclusive and secret project for ThursdayHappyHour.com.

I’d like to paint more jazz musicians — if you have a favorite and would like to make a request, do let me know!

Copyright (c) 2009 Shelly Bowen. All rights reserved.

Print of jazz painting by Gary Allard

I’ve long admired this painting by Gary Allard of jazz musicians Miles Davis and John Coltrane. It’s got style, emotion, and vibe. And I’ve finally convinced him to give me permission to sell a limited quantity of archival prints at Shellybees.com.

Because this image is so powerful, I’m offering it at Shellybee’s as a LARGE print.

This print is part of an upcoming project for ThursdayHappyHour.com.

All images on this site copyright (c) Shelly Bowen. All rights reserved. Reproduction is NOT permitted.

In response to my suggestion that you make a favorite person a T-shirt (and impress them with your creative genius) my friend wrote: “I got the most fantastic iron-on printer paper from Dharma Trading company. It’s super soft. I like it because I made the boys some t-shirts with basketballs and butterflies and rainbows and washed them a bunch so they look like old shirts – you can’t see the iron-on-ness of them at all. I also got some freezer paper and fabric ink but haven’t had a chance to break those out yet.”

This got me thinking — there are probably really cool art supply stores out there online that I don’t know about. What are yours? Add them to the comments below.

1. http://www.dharmatrading.com – Fiber Art Supplies and Blanks

2. www.dickblick.com – they have great sales; I shop here a lot

3. http://www.ecoartworks.com/ — anyone try this “ecoplanet” art store?

4.

I love the ocean. Whenever I’m inside, I wish I was outside … and near the ocean. So for the hot summer months, I’m planning to bring the outside ocean air in. In the form of a sea wall …

I have a wall in my guest room full of white painted ornate frames that I plan to fill with ocean-inspired art prints — seashells, sea horses, octopi, mermaids.

I got the inspiration from other artists at Etsy.

More than flowers, more than expensive bottles of wine, your sweetie/friends/parents want to know you’re thinking of them. Here are 5 ways to impress the heck out of them — while showing off your creativity, originality, and of course, generosity.

1. Next time you are invited for dinner or cocktails, bring the music. And make it indie. It takes just minutes to burn a CD of your favorite independent bands, and your host remember the gift long after the evening is over. And you’ll make the artist’s day. Believe me.

• Try www.digstation.com, garageband.com, or indiepad.com for unique star power
• Can’t attend the party? Send a downloadable “mixed tape” from itunes — it’s called “Gift My Music“

2. Inviting friends over for a get-together? Cover your walls with original art — or limited edition prints — to show off your great taste. Original pieces will spark conversations and show your support of independent artists. Find beautiful prints for under $50 at etsy.com:

• Shellybee’s Art Studio (my shop) — limited edition prints of ink drawings that celebrate life and nature
• Birdnerd — collages and linocuts prints of, what else?, birds; gorgeous
• Karingrows — originals and prints of oceany women and birds; love it

3. Need a gift on a limited budget? Make something — or easier, buy something handmade for the most WOW factor. I’m biased — I love etsy for handmade. Bought my sister something there I can’t tell you about yet, because she hasn’t had her birthday yet. But I know she’ll love it. I’ve also shopped Shana Logic for some really cute indie stuff. You’ll make more than one person super happy.

4. For no reason at all, make your favorite person an art book. Or a calendar. Or a T-shirt. Just snap some creative digital photos of some favorite things or shapes or colors and go to:

• Blurb.com or Lulu.com to make a book
• Kodak Gallery or Cafe Press to make a calendar or T-shirt
• Target and buy iron-on transfers to make your own T-shirts — I’ve made lots of onesies for friends’ baby showers with printable transfers (I know Target isn’t indie, but my friend works for corporate, and they really do do good things) and they just LOVe them

5. Send a letter. A well-though-out, just because I like you, snail mail letter — on stationary that you create yourself. Seriously, just draw something or patch some photos together. It’ll be so surprising and lovely — they will so love you. I use Overnight Prints.

Express yourself! Be unique! Be independent. And give it away.

My good friend grows a garden each year, and her boys help. These are her artichokes. Another lucky artichoke bloomed on the stalk; the background color of the drawing here is a reflection of the color of the feathery blossom.

I had planned to switch to my sticky series, but had to get one more edible in to complete the pineapple and papaya. At my sister’s request for one more fruit or veggie. For her kitchen. I can hardly ever turn down a request.

Revised for you! And I do think the composition is better. Thanks for all the feedback, emailed and otherwise.