A Chair Aquatic

I've been meaning to post pictures of this chair makeover I did last month, but I keep forgetting too. These are a tad dark, but at least you'll sorta get an idea as to how it looks...

Earlier in the year, I acquired a neat, but rather abused, 60s chair for *free*. A neighbor was tossing it, I saw it and asked how much they wanted for it. They gave it to me for nothing and looked at me like I was a bit crazy. Not crazy, though! I saw potential!
It has amazing modern lines and is made of gorgeous real wood. Sure, the seat was well-loved and grungy. And the back cushion leather was torn. But those are easy fixes...Out came the staple gun and some fabric I've been hording and voila! A whole new chair is born.
The seat cushion is a lovely red/white ticking stripe and the back cushion is Heather Ross fabric (which I adore and is just smack-down perfect for my eclectic, old-meets-new, ocean-loving self).

I love it (and ya just can't beat free).Enjoy your weekends!

An Invitation

Mark your calendars...

This Thursday the Polar Royalty Convention collection will go live in the online shop. Yay!

I just finished this rather moody piece for it last night:

"The Rabbit Room"

acrylic on hardboard

10 x 8"

{detail}

These plump and warm arctic hares are patiently and anxiously waiting beside their quiet leader, who is gifted enough to foresee future events and therefore plays an important role in this year's polar convention. He's very loosely based off the character Fiver from one of my favorite novels, Watership Down. Today I go frame hunting for this one.

There will also be two more of these wooden tag portraits in the update:

"The Seal Ambassador"

acrylic on wood laminate tag

3.5 x 5"

The last one is an ermine and I am just wrapping up on his particular portrait.

All in all, a very lusciously colored and serious-meets-whimsical series that I'm quite pleased with. I hope to see you all on Thursday!

Have a splendid day, dears!

Owls And Mammoths

Happy 4th, all you States peeps!

I live in a town that does its fireworks celebrations on the 3rd, so I've already pretty much had my fill of sky explosions. Tonight will be spent indoors at the painting table as I scramble to finish up the last handful of paintings for the Polar series.

Speaking of which, I have a couple more to show you.

"The Arctic General"

acrylic on cradled hardboard

6x6", 1.5" thick

"Arrival Of The Last Woolly"

acrylic on cradled hardboard

4x4", 1/2" thick

That snowy owl General was supposed to be crownless, what with being a general and all. Crowns sort of get in the way of air combat. We had a bit of a debate over the idea, and in the end, I caved and gave him a little crown of his own. After all, he's an important member of the Polar Royal court. Never argue with a decorated owl.

And I had to paint a mammoth. A particularly paranoid and goofy one, at that. This one has red string tied around his tusks so that he remembers to leave/arrive at the polar convention on time.

I'll be back on Monday with more paintings and an official date for the shop unveiling! Have a great holiday and weekend, everybody!

Northern Trinkets

Three new (and tiny) pieces for the Polar Royalty Convention collection:

"A Royal Appearance From The Sea"

acrylic on Arches watercolor paper

2.5 x 3.5" (ACEO-sized)

{sold}

"Predicting The Future"

acrylic on Arches watercolor paper
3.5 x 2.5" (ACEO-sized)

"The Wise One"
acrylic on Arches watercolor paper
2.5 x 3.5" (ACEO-sized)

I really wanted to have some ACEO paintings in this series, since it's been such a long while when I last painted some. Plus, I recently re-discovered a lovely pad of Arches watercolor paper in my supplies stash that worked beautifully with the acrylic paints. It's always fun to paint on a different surface. That grumpy and plump fortune-telling arctic hare is being featured in a larger painting I'm currently knee-deep in.

In other random news, I was pooped on by a seagull a few days ago. While at a restaurant.

...I don't think I need to explain that one any further.

Fruits of Labor

Another member of the Polar Royalty Convention is here to make his grand appearance:

"The Polar King"

acrylic on wood laminate tag

3.5 x 5"

More polar portraits are in the works (including a rather dapper little ermine, who I'm quite fond of) along with some larger pieces I hope to show you all very soon. I'm really happy with the rich colors and details in these smallish ones. They somehow walk that ever-fine line between serious and silly. I like that. I'm aiming to have the entire collection finished by the first week of July--more details to follow shortly.

Also, my veggie container garden is doing great! The carrots are the only disappointment so far (and it was my fault--I wanted to try growing Purple Haze carrots and it looks like they're not digging being in containers...oh well). Here are a few quick snapshots:
Snow peas! These are amazing with some fresh-from-the-garden onions and a little bit of oil + balsamic vinegar drizzled ontop. Yum.The strawberries are in overdrive--every morning there are at least 3 or 4 berries waiting to be eaten.My two zucchini plants are enormous. The leaves are three times bigger than my hand and they're currently in full-bloom. I'm so looking forward to homemade zucchini bread!Happy Monday, all!

Inspiration and an Emperor's Portrait

Hello, sweets.

Holy cats, how time does fly. This is shaping up to be a rather hectic (in a good way!) month, so I do apologize for the silence on my end. I've been painting painting painting, as well as contacting a lot of galleries and all sorts of boring but necessary promotional-artist-stuff.

The good news is the polar series is coming together so smoothly and is looking awesome...

"Emperor of Cold Lands"

acrylic on wood laminate tag

3.5 x 5"

I'm still planning on having an online shop update soon to unveil the entire collection, so I'm busily cranking out more work and doing lots of all-night painting sessions.

Meanwhile, I thought I'd stroll through my "Inspiration" folder on my computer's desktop and share some recent images that have been sparking my creativity lately...Design*Sponge recently did an amazing little sneak peek into artist Ann Wood's apartment (do check it out if you haven't already--it's fab) and I was so taken with her space and the all-out mad-artist-genius feel of it. {above image from Design*Sponge}I love helter-skelter displays and collections of old things, and get so inspired by natural history objects from ages long past. {above images from Vintage French Interiors book}Yay for things in jars! {above image from Vintage Vavoom book} {above image from Easy Country Style book}{above image from Flea Market Style book}

Enough dreaming--back to work I must go. As always, thank you *so* much for your kind words, peeps. I hope you're all feeling inspired, happy, and at peace!

Processional

...And it's finished ('cept for the frame)!Quite a bit of detail for the size (5x7"). And the gold leafing really perks it up nicely (the crown and tops of the flag poles are gilded):The upcoming aforementioned arctic/polar series will be titled "Polar Royalty Convention" and is something that's been brewing in the bowels of my sketchbook for some time now. It will showcase a meeting of the upper-most representatives from a menagerie of arctic animals. What shall they discuss when together? The usual: small talk, relations, economics, the climate, and all things politically polar. A series of paintings that will show a sort of whimsical-fantasy-with-melancholic-reality view of the polar nether-regions.

...If that even makes the slightest bit of sense. Lets just face it--I wanted to paint a walrus wearing a crown and cape. There. I said it.

I'm plugging away on more pieces for the series and can't wait to unveil them to you, one-by-one. It's a bit hazy still on when exactly the collective shop update will be, but do stay tuned!

In non-art news, I did a bit of organizing in the studio and was able to corral the fabric zoo into a nice and tidy spot:

Hard to say how long it will stay like this, but that's alright.