Austin Stevenson Owens

I am so happy to present these beauties... the Butterfly Collection.  Each of these is $35 for the duration of this sale, and THAT INCLUDES SHIPPING!   Add $10 for each additional butterfly.               If you have spoken with me first, you can PAY ME NOW at  THIS LINK Reference the painting(s) you're buying in the NOTES section.  <3 This painting is called "Blue Green Butterfly" This painting is "Yellow Gold Butterfly" This butterfly is "Blue-Green Butterfly with Added Detail"

Kingfisher Catch of the Morning 13" x 9-1/2" This painting is selling for $391, and that includes domestic shipping. UNTIL 31MAR22, this painting is ON SALE for $ If you have spoken with me first, you can PAY ME NOW at  THIS LINK Include Title of Painting in the "Notes" section  I thought I'd post my first painting that's for sale. Mostly become I wanted to contrast my earliest paintings with what practice for two years has done for me!   I never would have even ATTEMPTED this painting early on- it's far too complex and it really would have been impossible. I'm sure that if I were to paint this again in a couple of years that it would be that much better.  :) This painting is pure watercolor.  That means all of the whites are the white of the paper.  This is no easy task! I started this painting with a freehand sketch.  After I was satisfied with proportions, I used masking fluid to block out things I wanted to keep white... ESPECIALLY the splashe...

One of my favorite quotes is from Ratatouille , the PIXAR film. It says Anyone can Cook.  I think it's similar with painting... ANYONE can paint.  Even if you don't have amazing supplies. CLEARLY these pieces are cute but lack depth. But I did them with Crayola watercolors.  It was how I knew I had at least a knack with painting, and it's how I knew I wanted to get really involved with watercolor.  Everyone has to start somewhere.  I'm EXCEPTIONALLY thankful for friends who saw something in these efforts and encouraged me to keep going.  *hugs  

  OH MY GOODNESS, look what I found!!  This was a 2019 painting from New York!  I still have these on file somewhere and can make prints of them... THIS is one of the ones I did with CRAYOLA paints!!  I just remembered where my file is of my oldest paintings... Here I go to find them...

  This cutie's name is "FPK," or "Front porch kitty."  He lived at my friend Jennifer's house.  She had posted a photo of him on Facebook and I wanted to paint him.  :)  Interestingly, the final painting *resembles FPK, but FPK is a lot thinner than this floofy guy! This was the first painting I did that wasn't planned out ahead of time.  I just put the colors in and let them spread out.  It was just a very fun painting to create.

  This is another painting for a friend.  Juli and I met on Facebook when we both lived in Georgia.  We hit it off really quickly but then she moved to Israel!  This photo is from her time there...  We actually moved to New York, then she moved to Oklahoma before we FINALLY got to meet in person in N'O'leans of all places.  It was everything I had hoped!  It was (and still is) a very natural friendship where nothing's forced.  I LOVE THAT about Juli. I thought I would NEVER finish painting it.  It was one of the most difficult paintings I had done to date.   Although honestly, EVERY painting I attempted was the most difficult paintings I had done to date, ha!   This painting had golden tones and the laid bricks were iconic. I can't count how many times I had to redo places.  The details were so numerous that each section of painting needed its own time. You can see I was still using the student paints and the whites....

  Some friends are for life.  And that's how I would describe my sweet friend Amy. Amy is an angel and seeing this painting I did for her reminds me that I should message her!   I asked her what she'd like a painting of, and she said she loved PIGS.  When I saw this photo, I knew this was the one to paint.  It's one of my favorite paintings- probably because it shows how much I I mean... the PIG loves ice cream. I also love the colors in it.  It's one of the first paintings where I was able to see some of the layering I wanted to do of colors.  Get a good look at that waffle cone.  And the ice cream as it drips.  And the purple and yellow undertones of the piggy. This painting represents some real wins for me artistically.  *heart

  If you know me at all, you know that I fiercely love my husband.  We've been through so much together and I love him with my whole heart.   He spent over thirteen years as a law enforcement officer, and I admire that about him so much.   Jonathan worked part-times at a church.  One day, he got to escort this little cutie and her mother got a photo of the moment. I recognized this as a moment in his career that meant a lot to him and I painted it. It was actually this painting that gave my friend Marcy the idea to render a photo of hers into a painting.  It shows her father walking on their family property with Marcy's two children.  I'm so thankful for every opportunity I've been given to paint others' loved ones. *heart

What do these two paintings have in common?   They were both commissioned by my friend Marcy. I met Marcy years ago- we share a religion and a passion for homeschooling our kids.  Our time and spaces have connected here and there over the years and I love her energy and the feeling I have when I've interacted with her.  I'm not sure I have a better compliment to pay, honestly. Marcy messaged and said that she was looking for a gift for her brother- she sent a photo of her nephew who was competition riding and asked if I could paint it for her.  UM, SURE?  It was so so difficult.  I knew that Marcy knew that I could do it, so I just kept at it.  The second painting is of her father walking on his property with Marcy's two kids.  I get emotional every time I remember the sacred experience of painting this.  It was too much for me so many times, but I had heavenly help in completing it.  You know those defining moments you KNOW your loved o...

I have painted this clown three times... this ^^^ is the third time.  I honestly think the last one is my best- but this one is my favorite because... It only uses the whites from the paper!   I asked my sister Megan what she wanted for Christmas, and I had just redone the clown (just below) for practice.  I wasn't careful- I just wanted to see if I could paint him again with just the paper white. It's clear that this one ^^^ is a little squashed and the proportions are off, BUT.  I was thrilled that I didn't use any white at all. This clown ^^^ is the first one I did.  I painted him for my friend Karen.  As I worked on the painting, I resented giving it away more and more.  It had nothing to do with Karen!  It had everything to do with recognizing that I was growing in skill and I didn't want to spend THIS MUCH TIME in a painting just to give it away.  I knew because of that feeling that I needed to up my game and get serious. ...

  I really love the whimsical, can you tell?   After I painted the last elephant, my friend Joel messaged me and hinted BROADLY that he loved elephants.  I asked what kind of an elephant he wanted and he said, "surprise me!" DON'T tell me you want me to surprise you unless you mean it!  *ha!   This is still using the white paint from the Castle student paint series.  It had pretty good results!  I gifted this to Joel, but something I really love about him is that he fusses at me for knowing my own value and paid me for it anyway. Everybody needs a good friend who fusses at them until they recognize their own value.

  This elephant... I love him. I started painting him in 2018.  I got the basic outline, the body, the beach ball...  but but never finished him because we just were so busy. When I bought new paints, I knew I wanted to finish this character.  I had started with Crayola paints, but I finished him with the student-grade Castle paint. It was a charming subject. I posted him, and I could have charged something for him, but I was really just experimenting.  I gave him to my friend Leigh and I think she gifted him to a grandchild.  *heart*  I love the idea of someone growing up with this whimsical giant on their wall.

Just for fun.  My oldest, Scott, sent a basic duck bill, eye, and two legs and challenged me to make a design.  We really had fun and I think it shows some of who I am, whimsically.  :)  

  I asked my best friend Katie what I could paint for her.  She had recently had to put down her favorite cow- that's what we do on the farm... if your heifer can't have more babies, she is no longer useful.  So, as difficult as it was, Katie had to say goodbye. At this point, I was still painting like I was using acrylics.  I mean, the effect was good and the painting looked like its subject... but I was still aching to move forward and ditch using the white.

I started painting with watercolor in winter of 2018.  I didn't have any actual paint.  I pulled out the kids' Crayola watercolors- you know, the kind with six colors?  I grabbed some water, and then... I fell in love. I sold a few paintings for just enough money that I bought basic brushes and student grade paint.  I had an okay supply of acrylic paint... I didn't get to paint much more that year because the house we were in was old and drafty and we spent all of our effort staying warm.   We moved into a new house and I did some painting there... but we got busy renovating the house and renting it out, and living.   We bought an RV in 2020 and moved into that, renting out both sides of our house.   We moved from New York to Georgia in late 2020 and that's where this gets serious. I asked a few friends to send me a challenge- that I would paint something for free for them if they'd pay to have the painting shipped to them. My friend, Ja...

GUESS WHAT. I need a place where I can post artwork... for both a portfolio and for sale. And this is it. I might share painting-related experiences, too. Welcome to Austin Paints.