Bits of Spring

Tiny little bits of hail.

Hello Friends,

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend. From what I've been seeing on the news today, it seems the weather is crazy all over. The boys and I went to the movies yesterday morning to see Monsters vs. Aliens (very cute). When we went into the theatre it was cold, dark and raining. When we came out, it was sunny, hot and humid. Weird.
Then in the evening we had our first thunder storm of 2009 complete with hail.



Thanks for the Tote Bag love! I am putting this one in the shop today and this will be it for a while. I like to do something different every once in a while but my fingers are tired of embroidering:)

The pose and eyebrows are different in this one.

Every day on my walk/run I see something that makes me I wish I had my camera. This morning it was CRAZY windy and I saw this Robin trying her best to collect some fine things for her nest. I think she must have been doing some decorating because she had a long piece of Christmas tinsel in her beak...not that's my kind of girl!

I will leave you with a few pictures I took of our spring.

Kitties enjoying the sun. They like to sleep butt to butt.

Lavender seedlings...hopefully I won't kill them:)

Cat Grass that I planted as a treat for the cats. I came home one day to find it mowed down to the dirt with a pile of grassy vomit next to it...yum! No more cat grass for you!!

Enjoy your day.

You're the BEST!!

Hello Friends,

I just want to say Thank You from the bottom of my heart!! You all gave me such good advice and encouragement. I would be one lonely little artist without my blog friends. I think I am going to teach some sort of painting class, I just need to work out the details and then see if they will have me!

On to business....

*** April Fools Day ***

PRINT SALE

Buy one Get One FREE!!

All you need to do is purchase a print from my shop and in the comments section, tell me the title of the second print you want for FREE!!

Offer Expires Midnight EST April 1st 2009

And last but not least, these two little ladies will be up for grabs in a few minutes in my shop.

Pink one is SOLD. Thank You!!!

Have a great day!!

New Tote!

Here it is... an new little tote bag with a sweet little nest head made from vintage fabric and hand embroidery. This is my first embroidery project so I'm happy with the way it turned out. I'm thinking she needs a bird friend, or two. We'll see. I will have these available in the shop hopefully by the weekend. Every one is made from found fabrics so most bags will be one of a kind due to limited quantity. It's a gloomy day here so there was no good light for a photo.

I think this would make a great library tote or

maybe I'll use one to carry my sketch book and pencil case...hmmm.

Tonight is girls night out with my sister and we are going to dinner here. $2.00 off Martini's tonight! Watch out!! The restaurant is located in a cute little village of old homes turned into shops. This is where the gallery I was thinking of joining is located, in fact my sister and I have taken a yoga class that's held in the gallery. Although I was very excited at the gallery idea, I don't think it's going to happen in this particular one. First it costs $100.00 a year for membership plus $50.00 a MONTH! I'm not saying it's not worth it but that is way out of my realm of possibilities right now. I'm sure most of you know what I mean. So I've been doing some research and I have found a few places that sell on consignment so maybe that's what I'll do. I've had my art in shops across the country in the past but I don't think I gave it a chance so maybe I'll try again. I just know that I am ready to move on to something other than Etsy.
My goal this year is to break out of my comfort zone and try to put myself out there a bit. We have community enrichment classes in our town that are always looking for new instructors.

I've been thinking a lot about doing one but

#1 being the center of attention scares the bejeezus out of me

#2 I'm not sure what I could teach.

Tell me, what thing that I do, would you be interested in me teaching you? Don't be shy...if it's nothing, say nothing. I'd rather be mortified by my blog friends than hearing crickets chirp in a classroom full of strangers, lol.

Your advice would be greatly appreciated!!

Well, I'm off to serve the family their dinner, taco's.It is our cat Lucky's

favorite night of the week because she likes to sit underJake's chair and

eat all of the shredded cheese he manages to drop on the floor.

Now if she could just learn to use the duster....

Have a great night!

A little Peek

Here is a peek at the new little thing I've been working on.

I'm just about finished so I will share it with you tomorrow.

Have a great night!!

Hello!

Hello Friends,

I wanted to pop in to tell you that I added these two ATC's to my shop but they already sold. I will try to do a few more this week so I will let you know. This is another little "Big Haired" girl I just added to the shop.

SOLD! Thanks Jen!!

She's 8" x 10" on a canvas panel. I'm in the middle of working on another little surprise for the shop. I wanted to take a picture of it to share with you but having the "mom brain" that I do, I left it at my mother in-laws where I was working on it yesterday, duh.

Pictures later...maybe tonight;)

Have a great day!!

All finished and a New Name

" The Bee Sisters of Belvedere"

The painting is finally finished and I have to say I'm quite pleased with it. When I painted the faces I really had no idea what I was going to do with the rest. I had a bee theme in mind and I was going to give them "hive" hair but when I started laying down the pieces of tissue paper, I fell in love with the softness. If you have never used tissue paper in your work, give it a try. It's so fun! Anyway, after I finished I added a few bees cut from a vintage science book I "bought" ( I put bought in quotes because I probably never paid her for it) from my sister's shop. Then I gave them the name, "The Bee Sisters of Belvedere" . I don't know anything about

Belvedere, SC. I just thought it sounded good in a The Secret Life of Bees kind of way. I love, love, love that book. I'm thinking of doing a "Sisters" series and maybe trying to get them into a local gallery but I don't know if my work is "Professional" enough for that. If anyone has ever had their work in a gallery, let me know. I'm curious as to how everything works.

Jake and I dug around in the dirt all day today and I have that extra, deep down inside tired that I absolutely love. I used to be the best sleeper. No matter what was going on in my life, I could always count on a good night sleep to escape my worries for eight hours. No more. I think motherhood is responsible. That and losing my father. It just seems since I have had kids, I'm much more aware of my mortality and I have become a serious night thinker. So I have found that serious exercise is the best medicine. Walking helps but nothing beats a dead, deep down tired body and mind to get some awesome ZZZ's.

So with that, I'm off to bed.

I wish you all a very pleasant week!

Happy Spring!

Hello Friends,

I just wanted to pop in to wish you all a very happy spring! We woke up to snow this morning so we didn't get off to a very springy start but it was finished and melted by 10 am so all is right in our neck of the woods. This weekend should bring us warmer weather and a bit of sun so many outdoor projects are being planned. Patio cleaning and a nice coat of polyurethane. I need to find a nice new red patio umbrella! I'm thinking of painting my currently brown Adirondack chairs a nice bright red too or maybe yellow... I have to see which color speaks to me at the paint store.

Enjoy your weekend wherever you may be!!

One more thing. These ladies can be found hanging around chatting it up in the shop!

SOLD...Thank You!!!

Warmer Days Short But Sweet

Hello Friends,

We have had a few nice, warmer, sunny days here in NJ and we have been loving it. Of course it was cold and rainy today but that's ok. The boys and I dug half of our vegetable garden to be and we are very excited to start planting when the weather is right. We have a groundhog, many, many rabbits and too many squirrel's to count so this may be a huge disappointment but we're going to give it a try. Cucumbers (for Alex), potatoes (for Jake)and of course tomatoes (for me) is what we came up with so far but we'll have to see how much room we have when we actually plant. Wish us luck! I'll share pictures once all of the grass is up...I hate that part!

I worked on the latest painting I shared with you the other day. I have changed the back ground color three times and ended up with yellow again. It must by my yearning for warmth or something because nothing seems to feel good but yellow. The hair changed a few times too. I'm really liking the softness of the torn pattern paper. What do you think? Sorry about the picture but the lighting is bad at night so it's a bit blurry.

I'm going to bed early tonight...I'm pooped:)

P.S. Thanks for all of the comments on my last post...it's nice to know I'm friends with so many "Thinkers" like myself. I think we're pretty great!!

Shut up and Paint!

Not you...ME!!

This is my new motto.

I'm a big procrastinator but I like to say I'm a big thinker.

I think about things want to make, the different directions I want my art to go in,

the different things I'd like to try.

But I always get held up with the subject matter.

What should I paint? A little girl ? But I already did that.

What about a little boy? I already did that too.

So the other day I got to thinking...I look at other artist's work all the time and most of them paint pretty much the same things over and over again.

So did all the Masters.

I mean how many times did Van Gogh paint himself anyway?

So with this in mind I decided to just shut up and paint. Since I took on this new attitude I have created three, well, two and a half new paintings in the past four days.

I say 2 1/2 because the one I am currently working on is still in the works as you will see below.

Now all of this creativeness comes with a price and the price is....

A messy, messy studio. I have paper all over the floor, my palette in caked with dried paint and in desperate need of a soak but I can't yet because I need to remember the flesh tones I used for this painting. I thought I'd share a few studio pictures so all of you folks who have said how "Neat" my home is can see the real deal.

The "Brown Eyed Girls" above are in need of some funky Vintage Sister style hair. I'm not exactly sure where I'm going with this one but I will know it when I find it.

Have a wonderful week!

At Peace

"Angel's Voices"

acrylics, pencil and vintage papers

11"x14" wood

Hello Friends,

Just a quick note to wish you all a very happy weekend! Some gloomy weather is on it's way here but I won't let it get me down because the daffodils are peeking out of the soil and the buds are on the branches...spring is sneaking back.

Have a peaceful weekend.

Something New

"Faithful Friends"

Acrylics, pencil and vintage text on wood

Hello Friends,

This started as a quick sketch on a napkin this morning during breakfast. Alex had his buddy next door over so I was able to start AND finish this painting. I'm thinking of doing a show or two in the fall so I think I will save this one for that but I will try to have a print available in the shop soon. Have a great evening!!

A Silly Little Book

Hello Friends,

I was dusting a bookshelf the other day and I discovered, tucked behind the Harry Potter series, this funny little book I thought I had lost. It's called "The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories" by Tim burton. I know you all know who Tim Burton is! This is a book of silly, sometimes morbid little stories with crazy characters that only the mind of Tim burton could come up with. Here is a little one...

Stick Boy and Match Girl in Love

Stick Boy liked Match girl,

he liked her a lot.

He liked her cute figure,

he thought she was hot.

All of the illustrations are from him too and you can really see a lot of his movies through his drawings.

Here is a cute but morbid little guy...

The Boy With Nails in His Eyes

The Boy with Nails in His Eyes

put up his aluminum tree.

It looked pretty strange

because he couldn't really see.

Ok, so I know this book isn't for everyone but I simply love it!

Here is a little peek at my latest work in progress. I have had this guy in my sketchbook for the past few months, ever since I started the skinny people. So I decided to continue with the circus/carnival theme ...

Yes, yes, he is lifting cats. He's still in the very early stages but I think he's quite handsome:)

Don't you?

Have a great day!!

So I Lied...

Hello Friends,

I guess I fibbed a bit yesterday when I said I was working on some nest heads. In all honesty, this painting started as a nest head but quickly got away from me. Ever since I painted the Fish Juggler, I've been smitten with the big moustache! So this is where my head took me.

He's in the shop today along with this little gal...

***She's now SOLD. Thank you!!***

The boy's are back to school for the whole day after two half days due to conferences. We spent yesterday afternoon at the library picking out lots of books...16 to be exact. I myself only borrowed three since that seems to be the amount I've been reading these days. Three a week. I know, I read really, really fast and while I'm reading I love every minute of it. But don't ask me for any details a month from now because they won't be there. I guess this is why I read the books I really love over and over again.

Have a lovely, lovely weekend!

Another Busy Day

Hello Friends,

It's another busy day in the Garden State but I wanted to let you know that I have added three new PRINTS to my shop.

I'm working on some new "Nest Heads" tonight so hopefully

I'll have some new work to add to the shop soon.

Have a great day!!

Snow...boo, hiss!

Hello Friends,

Thank you all for the G-Mom Birthday wishes. The party was a great success and she had a wonderful time. It should buy me a few weeks before she starts complaining about how I don't visit or call enough:)

We were hit with a bit of a snow storm Sunday night thru Monday morning so the boy's had the day off. I spent the entire day in my jammies reading a yummy sequel to Pride and Prejudice. It wasn't written by Jane Austen of course but it was very good.

The bunnies are finished and ready for the shop.

I only made four and that will be it...a limited edition if you will.

They are all made of painted muslin with an antique wash to give them a vintage feel. Each little bunny girl is carrying a basket of spring flowers and they are all wearing cute little safety pin shoes. I will have them in the shop this evening!

Thanks for stopping by...I'm off to pick up the boy's from school. Half day today and tomorrow!