Welcome, Bienvenidos!

Fairy Bunny Acrylic Wildlife Painting

Monarchs on my mind and playing with a little fantasy.  A friend's yard is always full of bunnies and butterflies playing. Stories of urban fantasy by Charles DeLint, Laine Taylor and more authors  - a little Fae Flutter Bunny is one daydream.
Acrylic paints and  metallic gold paint (orange areas) in many layers on Bristol paper with a favorite quote. Collecting quotes is an addiction :)








Origami Day Of The Dead Puppy Boxes

Happy Friday!  Origami is so fun. Here is an easy Origami Puppy Box to play with.
I made just a few - my own puppy pack.
The hand painted ones are inspired by the Day Of The Dead, which is Nov.1 & 2. These little puppies are great helpers and can carry all kinds of small things. Enjoy!





Gila Dreams Mosaic Signs

This little Gila Welcome mosaic sign is on it's way to Philly to enhance the entry of a Herpetologist's home, where it will make a difference every day.

I'm feeling the itch to mosaic again and make another version of this most favorite subject, the Gila Monster. Another welcome sign or simply the beauty of this unique jewel colored animal.

Mosaic artwork can enhance an outdoor or indoor space as either functional or fine art. The beauty is that the medium of mosaic is very durable, dating back to ancient Roman, Greek with examples of Pompeii being the most known/seen.

Stained glass is my preferred medium, mixed with other glass, natural stones. Here is the same design using rich colors in a re purposed cabinet door with tempered glass.






Commissions for Gila Dream mosaics and welcome signs are available. Each is handmade, unique, made just for you.
Gila Dream - Glass Mosaic, ©SueBetanzos.com

How to Get Your Facebook Posts Seen

As we know, Facebook is constantly changing the way posts are seen. Only a very small percentage of your fans, friends will see those nice posts you make. You will see the amount of fans reached on the bottom of each post.
Facebook is in the business of selling ads to get posts seen. This can get expensive very quickly and can be tricky.
Here is a simple yet important strategy you can ask your followers to make on their feed when they like your page.

1. When a business page is Liked, there are options to choose from under the Like Tab.
Hover over it and the options shown under the In Your News Feed will be See First and Default.  Facebook auto selects the Default selection.

2. Ask/inform your fans about Selecting the See First to have ALL your posts come up in your fans news feed.


3. Under the same Liked tab there is a Notifications with the two options. Facebook auto selects the Live videos for notifications.   Click on the small grey pencil on the right to edit and custom select notifications.

4. Pin the post to the top of your page by clicking on the small grey arrow, upper right of the post.
A post showing these two steps can be pinned to the top of your business page as the first post seen by your fans.


Simple, yet effective. Get your posts seen by ALL of your fans.

I'm Published - Anne Kullberg's Colored Pencil Magazine

One of my colored pencil pieces has been published in Anne Kullberg's CP Hidden Treasures Volume III earlier this year.

Over 800 international entries and I am thrilled and honored to have my piece selected.
So many talented artists are in the magazine - I am humbled and happy! I picked up the colored pencil medium the beginning of this year, so wow!  :))

A digital version is available as well as a print version. Anne Kullberg's site has lots of wonderful information, instructional kits and more for those wanting to further their colored pencil journey.
The staff is super helpful, friendly.  I subscribe to their digital monthly magazine and love it - I'm hooked!
The magazine is celebrating 16 years in publication.

Here is my little screech owl Whooo, Me? and the page in the CP Hidden Treasures Volume III. I love these little owls. Please read more about screech owls here. They so interesting as well as cute!

Whooo, Me? - Colored Pencil 5x7"


Pyrrhuloxia Desert Cardinal Pencil Drawing

Pencil drawing of the Pyrrhuloxia, Desert Cardinal to practice some value studies. Value are the dark and lights of a painting or drawing. Color can sometimes be a distraction so I like to draw several pencil studies of a subject to get the feel of it.

Plus it's fun to play with the shades and the lovely graphite tones.
This is in my sketchbook, on Canson acid free 98 lb paper with Derwent pencils.


Pyrrhuloxia Pencil portrait study. 9x12" 








Linus, Dog Pencil Portrait

The Linus dog pencil portrait is part of a series of pet portraits and our connection to our pet companions.
That saying "pets enrich our lives" is an understatement. For many our companions are family members and our relationships with them are priceless.

*The impulse addition of my reading/working glasses was a visual pun that worked out, enhancing the original drawing.

Linus is a young Australian Shepherd that loves to be involved in every aspect of his family's life. Sometimes he can be relaxed enough to hang out with a good book!
His portrait was such a pleasure to draw and I thank the owners for loaning me the reference photo. The graphite drawing will be used for notecards and a personal newsletter.

Derwent and Faber Castell pencils were used on Stonehenge paper. I liked that the paper had just enough texture (tooth) to really do some nice layers. The thickness (weight) of the paper is great for pencils and even some light painting (not too wet).

Usually I like to start with the eye of the subject - it's the soul of the painting. Whiskers were added last with a very fine liner and gouache. Then I toned and refined the whiskers with a very sharp HB pencil.

Audio book I listened to: Downpour, by Kat Richardson. Urban Paranormal mystery. Pretty cool.

Linus Reading Glasses, 8"x11" pet portrait in pencil - original available 





The Eye - 



Colored Pencil Pomeranian Portrait

The colored pencil pet portrait of a Pomeranian is finished.
Materials used: Faber Castell colored polychromos pencils, Prismacolor colored pencils, Derwent water soluble sketch pencils,  water brushes, Strathmore 400 series 140 lb vellum mixed media paper.

The 140 lb weight of the Strathmore 400 paper takes water well with little buckling. I like a heavy paper that can be worked on with mixed media because it stays/drys flat when taped to a board.

The Pomeranian is done in Faber Castell polychromos colored pencils, which builds layers beautifully. Prismacolor colored pencil accents were added in FC colors I didn't have.

Background is in three layers of washes with the Derwent water pencils.
Derwent water soluble sketch pencils are like watercolor pencils; they can be activated with water for black, grey washes. Perfect for quick field sketching with water brushes. They have blue end caps and a little brush logo on the pencils.

I found water brushes good to use on the smooth Strathmore paper vellum surface.  It was easier to control the wet areas with a constant supply of water in the brush because with the vellum paper there is little to no open time.
Meaning once a wash of color is put down, it's hard to manipulate the paint, unlike watercolor paper where there is plenty of time to move paint in water. Liquid watercolors work well on this paper with their super saturated colors.

A little spattering with the darkest Derwent wash pencil added a subtle interest to the background.
I love senior dogs!

Colored Pencil Pomeranian, 7" x 7" SueBetanzos.com  available.

K9 Gallery, Dog Portraits

Happy Monday! A few dog friends I had the pleasure of portrait painting (Harley, Bonnie, Maya, Riley, Kita, Risa, Bella, Macy/Chet, Anabell) . It's always fun to meet beautiful dog souls. I'll be playing with some sketches and ideas in different breeds :)

Dog Portraits - Acrylic on canvas  © suebetanzos.com
.

Every Painting Has A Story, Colored Pencil Fox Painting

A colored pencil painting journey with Sara Pennypacker's story of PAX.

Although I know I am incapable of picking a favorite book (because books are sacred, like friends, and you can't pick JUST ONE), each story has a special place in my mind.
I usually have several books to choose from that I either read or listen to as I paint. (I am addicted to audio books!).

Pax  by Sara Pennypacker is a lovely, touching story I listened to and was very inspired by. The colored pencil painting that resulted from feelings as I listened (and then read again) to this story is of Pax and his friends. Their journeys. Animal stories are some my top favorites.
(How many times do companions wait for the return of a loved one, trusting that they will return?)

A great story I really enjoyed and hope you will too. Find it on Amazon, your local library (Tucson Pima Libraries for me), or audio book.


Pax  10" x 12" Colored Pencil Painting ©Sue Betanzos
Available Here
Colored pencil painting on white Stonehenge paper.
Great paper with just enough texture (tooth) for lots of layering, building colors, shades.
Pencils used were Faber Castell, Verithins (for fine detail), Prismacolor. Love the soothing zen of layering colors to create depth and value. (while listening to a story of course :)

Also: a Kum hand held sharpner, kneaded eraser, fine embosser with tape (to lift fine lines of color).






On the easel - Pax

A work in progress inspired by a lovely story.  Every artwork has a story either I am listening to or am inspired by. Books, stories are my passion!
I like working in layers in all my media, slowly building color relationships.
Pax in progress  Colored Pencil on Stonehenge paper.