Looking for a blog that combines beautiful artwork with a dash of humor and real life? Then be sure to check out artist Rachael Rossman’s, Like Watching Paint Dry. Based out of Salem, Oregon, Rossman works during the day as a Marketing Manager at a Wellness center, and as a pet artist by night. She is married with a daughter, a son, and multiple cats. Often, these various family members and her day job are featured subjects of blog posts. She is also generous with posting photos of herself, her family, and her home studio.
Upon discovering her site, you are immediately greeted with a colorful and splashy background, which incorporates the many elements of her life. From here, you learn her primary art medium is watercolor on Yupo, which she explains is a synthetic, tree-free paper. So not only is her art beautiful, it’s kind to the environment.
In her blog, she posts the recently completed and work-in-progress portraits, along with what beverage she was drinking, what music she was listening to while painting, and what the circumstances were the day of the painting. Through these posts, you see how varied her musical tastes are, which range from Lady Gaga to John Denver to the Chieftains. You also learn how truly addicted to caffeinated beverages she is!
For example, April 17th’s For Moms entry includes two portraits, of a horse and dog respectively, and she tells us that the two paintings are for Mother’s Day. We also learn that playing on her iPod was a podcast of “This American Life” and that her beverage of choice that night was a Starbucks Iced Skinny Dark Cherry Mocha. We also learn that this past Mothers Day, her family treated her to breakfast out, and her own children made their own artwork for her. It seems evident that her artistic gift has been passed along to her children.
Occasionally, she runs contests for her readers. The latest one required you to leave a comment under the post, telling her about the best or worst Mothers Day present you ever gave or received. The prize for this one was a free custom 5X7 portrait. She also enters art contests and lets blog readers help her decide what to submit. During the recent Mutt Lynch Winery label contest she held a voting poll on her blog and had readers choose from three different portraits to determine which design she’d enter. Here’s what her readers chose:
Chickenbones by Rachael Rossman
Voting on the actual contest ends today, so do her a favor and hop on by to cast a vote and get the face of ol’ Chickenbones Jones on a wine label. (Mutt Lynch Winery label contest voting page)!
Clearly, she has done much to market her work. A quick skim down the right sidebar shows a long list of sites who have reviewed or featured her work, including big names such as Martha Stewart, @TheDailyWag and Bo Obama from Tails From The White House Lawn.
Her gallery features portraits of dogs, horses, cats, chimps, bunnies, people and scenes. The gallery art isn’t for sale, they are part of her portfolio, but she does feature art for sale at her Etsy store. There are currently 15 portraits in her store, all but one of which are watercolor, ranging in price from $75 to $400.
If you’re looking to book her for an engagement, she does those, too. You can email her to ask her to appear at your function, or to arrange for her to paint a portrait especially for you. The commissions page gives her list of pricing for the different painting sizes and subjects you wish to have painted. The prices range from $75 to $1,000. She also includes information on how to order your portrait, what pictures are best to choose, and how to care for your portrait. And, if the job of picking from all these options is too overwhelming for you, she also allows you to purchase an electronic gift certificate.
Rachael Rossman’s blog is a great balance of her artwork and personal life, and a colorful representation of the successful combination of painting prowess, love, music, and caffeine.
You can also find her in social media, she’s got a profile on Deviant Art, she’s on twitter (@RachaelRossman), and she has a Facebook fan page. She also has a beautiful photostream on Flickr.
Whether you are looking to commission a pet portrait or just like taking a peek into the life of an artist, consider watching Rachael Rossman’s paint dry.
