New art greeting cards now available

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I am pleased to announce that I now have a new line of greeting cards available for purchase online. These cards are offered in packages of 6, with white envelopes included. They are printed in full color on heavy stock and have a blank inside, so they are perfect for including your own personal message. The cards are produced by a company called Cafe Press. I have ordered some samples for myself and was very impressed with the printing quality. Right now I have a small selection of images available, but I plan to offer more in the future. Please visit the greeting cards page on my website for more information.

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New art note cards in development

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I have been looking for a way to offer a new line of note cards to sell on my website. Up to now I have been offering ones that are hand assembled with images on Arches deckled edge paper. They are really nice looking, but not the most practical in terms of the time and cost required to produce them. I believe I have found an alternative that will enable me to offer some new images at a reduced cost to the customer. I've just ordered some "test cards" to get an idea of the product quality, and they look mighty good! Now I just have to go about picking out some more images that I think might appeal. I should be offering these new cards very soon on my website.

-Jennifer Young; Vibrant Landscapes www.jenniferyoung.com Contact

Travel Plans

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Travel is one of the most joyful parts of my life as an artist. I love traveling to new and beautiful places to paint and gather inspiration, and I feel so fortunate that my business is able to support my adventures. This February we will be taking a much welcomed trip down to sunny Key West. We were supposed to go last Spring, but bad weather caused us to cancel those plans. Here's a scene I painted from photos I took on our last trip to Key West. It's called "Sunset Celebration". It measures 11x14", oil on canvas. For more details about the painting, check out my scenes of the American South section on my website:

I've also started planning for a June trip to Lake Como, Italy! I think the scenic views of the lake regions in Northern Italy are some of the most striking and beautiful in the country. The uniqueness of Lake Como is that it is distinctively Mediterranean, with lush flora, palm trees and cypresses, but set against a stunning backdrop of the Alpine mountains. I am so excited to be returning to this area, since the last time I went was many years ago and my camera broke on day two!

I will be painting on location both in Key West and in Como. I am primarily an oil painter but I'm considering bringing watercolors instead, since they allow for easier cleanup and are more portable. Plus, with the new airline regulations I have heard many instances where other artists have had their oil paints confiscated by the airlines. That's quite a setback to experience, considering the painter has to buy a whole new set of expensive paints at the destination site. Supposedly you can bring a letter from the paint manufacturer insisting that the oil paints are made with vegetable oils and do not contain but a trace of ingredients that would be considered "flammable".

But in past trips since 9/11 I have not wanted to take the chance. If I wanted to paint in oils overseas I ended up just shopping for small tubes of paint in the destination country. This can actually be a really fun experience, because there are so many fine products in the art stores of France and Italy. But it does take a bit of extra planning and time if one is going to be staying primarily out in the country.