The Art of Shawna Apps
Why is it that clouds are at their most beautiful right before storms roll in? The contrast between the dark and the light, the shapes…it is stunning.
Title: Calm Before the Storm
Continue reading “New Piece: Calm Before the Storm”It’s time to clear out some product designs to make room for all the new pieces I’m working on!
As much as I would love to keep all my designs around forever, I not only do not have the space to display everything in my booth at festivals but I also don’t have the room to store everything in my studio.
Continue reading “Discontinued Product Designs”One of my favorite places to be is always the ocean. I love watching and listening to the waves and watching the clouds roll by, but there is something magical about the sunset over the water. The way the sky changes colors, the clouds darken, and night starts to take over…it makes me feel at peace and so, so happy.
Which means, you guessed it, I was inspired to make a painting of it!
Title: Sunset Memory
This piece was heartbreaking to create.
A few years ago, I had done basically this exact painting and it was by far my favorite painting I’d ever done. Every time I took it to festivals, I hoped it wouldn’t sell because I loved it so much. Whenever anyone would favorite it on Etsy, I apprehensively awaited that glorious cash register noise, telling me it had sold and would be leaving me forever.
Why I didn’t just keep the piece for myself, I don’t know.
Well, unfortunately the piece was damaged beyond repair in our move a few years ago. I’d kept it just because I couldn’t bear to part with it. I tried fixing it just to keep it for myself, but it didn’t work out. I finally convinced myself to let it go, but I had to recreate it first…and that’s how this piece came to be!
Continue reading “New Piece: Be Still”A couple weeks ago we were on our way home from church and along our journey I saw this beautiful sky. There were big, fluffy white and purple clouds along the horizon, the blue of the sky played so well with the colors of the bare trees and farm field, and there was one, lonely cloud up high in the sky. I knew I had to paint it, so I took a picture really quick and put it on the back burner for later.
Later came really quickly as I was able to get started on the piece a few days later, and it was turning out BEAUTIFULLY. The clouds were staying white where I wanted them to, the purple was making them look fluffy, it was just going exactly the way I wanted it to, if not better.
I finished the painting in record time, and I was ECSTATIC. I waited for it to dry, and then plopped it into a mat for framing….and then it all went downhill really, really quickly.
Continue reading “Happy Accidents”If you haven’t heard yet, the fourth book in the The Adventures of Boathouse Mouse is now available!!!! I have the honor and privilege of illustrating this book series with my friend and talented author, RV Hodge.
You may have noticed this book took a really, really long time to come out. In the four years since book three, I sold and bought a new house, had to completely remodel my new house’s basement to create a studio, and well…the world shut down and so did I for quite awhile. But here we are, and we are so, so excited to have this book completed!
If you’ve been around awhile, you know that I love including Easter Eggs in my books. I didn’t do it with book one, but two on? Full of them, and this book is no exception!
Continue reading “Boathouse Misses the Boat Easter Eggs & Behind the Scenes”My birthday is THIS WEEK!!!
So just like I tend to do, I’m pretending I’m a Hobbit and am doing a birthday sale on my Etsy shop. From Sunday, December 26th through Tuesday, December 28th, everything is 20% off!!!
However, because I love my blog readers, I’m sweetening the deal for you guys: use the coupon code BIRTHDAY and get an additional 10% off your order! No minimum purchase needed, shipping is always free.
The only thing is that with the way shipping is going these days, I’m only shipping to the United States right now. I hope to open back up someday soon, so stay tuned for updates on that!
My husband and I just celebrated our 15th wedding anniversary in October. We have a tradition where we go away over Columbus Day weekend as it’s a long weekend (he’s a teacher and can’t always take time off), and as we weren’t sure what the world would be like, we decided to stay close to home and visit Ithaca, NY. While I was a little bummed we couldn’t do something bigger (we like to do bigger trips every 5 years), it ended up being an amazing weekend. We visited one of our favorite college students, ate so much delicious food, and visited a few waterfalls. The leaves were starting to change colors, so it was STUNNING.
One of the falls we visited had a huge, long, difficult trail that I especially was not prepped for. I almost quit multiple times going up, but with some encouragement from my husband and other hikers along the route, I did it! On the way back down, there was a spot along the path where the light on the newly colored leaves felt magical, and it inspired this piece…
Title: Autumnal Equinox
2021 is starting to wind down, and while I’m wrapping up some projects before the year ends, I’m starting to think ahead to the new year. I’m working on some plans and goals, and here are a few that I have set already:
Create 30 originals. Ever since rebranding I’ve tried to make 3-4 originals a month, and while that’s been happening, I want to leave some wiggle room for life and other projects coming up!
Continue reading “Planning Ahead // Goals for 2022”Just as a warning, there might be a theme for some of these newer pieces. When I started relaunching my business, we happened to have our annual Apps family vacation fall smack dab right in the middle of it. And when we stayed on a beautiful river and as an artist I am obsessed with clouds, sunrises/sunsets, and all things landscape and of nature, we can just say that there were a lot of photos taken as inspiration for future pieces (including Serenity Bay!).
While we were on vacation, I was asking some of our family members what kinds of things they’d like to see me do. The #1 response? Another blue heron…
Title: Harry
Continue reading “New Piece Alert: Harry”
Back to the Drawing Board 