Wednesday, November 04, 2009

Sketchin' and Paintin'

Well, Halloween has come and ended. I ended up spending it at home with a couple classically good Halloween flicks (Suspiria--a fave--and The Lost Boys) and gorged on homemade caramel apples, chips, pop, and chocolate dipped marshmallows. Twas a great night, indeed.
And now I'm in all-out sketching/planning/painting mayhem as I busily prepare for a January show in Seattle at the ever-fabulous Bluebottle Art Gallery. As the time whittles away and we draw nearer to the date, I'll give you all a head's-up on the details.
The last remaining pages in my current sketchbook are filled with portraits, studies, and quickie doodles as I flesh everything out.I'm now in the painting stages and I'm really, really excited with how the pieces are coming along.

And I'm also working on some tiny and random paintings for the online shop as well . The holidays are coming (isn't it amazing how quickly the end of the year goes?) and I'd like to have a lot of new goods for folks to snatch up for themselves and loved ones.

So much to do, so much to do!

Today I think I'll buzz down to the store and grab some Halloween candy on sale before it's gone for good. I was good and resisted the urge to gobble up tons of candy last month...though I did buy a bunch of candy corn.
Those candy corn pumpkins are awfully hard to resist.

Friday, October 30, 2009

Found

After months of keeping a keen eye on a tall fir tree in my backyard, I decided to climb it to obtain an abandoned bird's nest. I first spotted it back in the spring, but wasn't sure how old it was, if it was being used, or if it was abandoned. So I left it alone but watched for any signs of bird activity all summer long. No birdies claimed it, so I hiked 20 feet up the tree branches one rainy day this week to snag it for my own collection.
It's a beauty. Perfectly entwined twigs and grasses, with remnants of leaves and flower blossoms tucked inside. It's still pretty damp from the rain so I currently have it in the garage drying out a bit.Someone, though, had to check it out for herself.After a lot of sniffing and prodding, the nest has passed the cat's inspection and all is right with the world.I also found some great little mushrooms out back that made for a perfect day of sketching and studying.
These little ones are very small and spindly--the caps measuring roughly the size of a fingernail.
Back to the pencils and paints I go! Happy Friday and enjoy your Halloween festivities, folks! I'm hoping to trek out to my favorite old movie theater for a night of horror film classics, candy, and costumed frivolities. Can't wait!

Monday, October 26, 2009

Footprints Of Fall

Despite being bitten by a monstrously large and hairy spider a few days ago (thus prompting a very embarrassingly girly scream and an impromptu "Dance of Ickiness") and also having a rather persistent cold for the past week, I've been spending my free hours outside with Nature.
Fall is my favorite time of year and I just can't get enough of it. Unfortunately, in the Pacific Northwest it lasts a very short few weeks (if that) before the gray and gloom and drizzle of Winter sets in. The trees right now are alive and vibrant in shades of red, magenta, and electric yellow.All of these pictures were taken earlier in the week right in my own backyard. The Japanese Maple looked like a flaming ball of red leaves, all a'glow even at night.And the cherry tree was a massive trunk of golden yellow. A few windy days later and now most of the leaves are on the ground, leaving me with a view of bare branches for the next 6 months...In-between admiring the trees, I've been adding bits and bobs to my curiosity cabinet. This small rock crab shell spent an hour at my work table for some TLC and varnishing to fix some cracking issues. He's all better now and living it up with his (dead) shellfish friends on my mantle.

Halloween is quickly approaching.... I can't wait!

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

New Stuff (finally!)

Man. I really have fallen off the blog wagon. I do apologize.

So, what have I been up to? I've been thoroughly enjoying the Fall season. Lots of crisp walks, antique store explorations, late-night movies, good food, and sketching sessions. The only bummer so far is that I'm still trying to find the best way for my painting schedule and day job schedule to coexist peacefully. I was so used to staying up into the late night (early morning) hours with the paints, but it's just not feasible right now with my work schedule. Trying to retrain my brain to paint during daylight hours is hard...but we're getting there.
"Eye For An Eye" Original Sketch Brooch { sold }
"Dandy Bird" Original Sketch Brooch

And look! New brooches! I've been working on these on-and-off for the past month and finally got them all photographed and listed in the shop. They were originally supposed to be ornaments, but I'm such a sucker for brooches and badges. Each one is completely one-of-a-kind, with an original sketch and painted details.

"Whalesong" Original Sketch Brooch { sold }

I'm utterly smitten with the little whale one.
"Tentacular" Original Sketch Brooch

In my head, the whale brooch and squid brooch are pinned on the same jacket, playing out a tragic life-or-death deep sea battle amongst the wool and tweed. I picked up this amazing old suitcase from the antique store the other day (and prompty used it in my brooch photoshoot). I've been hunting for one for a long time, but they're usually priced too high or the locks are damaged and you can't open them. This one is perfectly sized for plane or train, opens/locks just fine, has a pristine interior, and was only $8. Score!I also hung all the paintings still in my possession on one wall in my studio. Before, they were spread about all over my living room or propped against random walls. It got a little overwhelming. Having them all living in one happy little spot is a great deal better.

Thank you everyone for your sweet words! Happy fallish thoughts to you all!

Wednesday, September 02, 2009

August Wrap-Up

Oh my goodness. My blog has been so quiet, I can hear the crickets.
What a month August was! I thought I'd do a little wrap-up post about my August in list form:

*Went blackberry & plum picking, and now have a freezer stuffed to the gills with frozen fruit

*Made jam with said plums (the berries will go into pies!) and also a ton of zucchini bread, utilizing the zucchini from my garden*Collected acorns, the start of a wasp's nest, and a most wonderful twin oyster shell for my "Cabinet of Curiosities"*Started a new painting and made lots of sketches/plans for a Seattle show I'll have in early January

*Got a part-time job to help with the bills as well as my sanity (yay for steady paychecks and a schedule once again!)
*Visited my favorite local seashell/natural history museum (I see many days of sketching there in my near future) {above pics from their site}

*Attended a couple art openings, wedding ceremonies, and the dentist...though, not necessarily in that order...
*And read like a fool: Wind in the Willows, Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, Interview With A Vampire, the Twilight saga, Water for Elephants (absolutely *loved* this one!), and am currently enjoying my way through Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell

All in all, a rather delightedly packed month. And now it's September and I couldn't be more pleased (because, as we all know, it's one of the best months of the year). Lots of things on the horizon, and a whole lot of art ideas are filling up my sketchbook and keeping me quite busy. I'm hoping to do a nice Fall online update complete with some sketches, a few new paintings, and even some swanky ornaments (both of the printed and one-of-a-kind sort), so do stay tuned for more little news.

I hope you are all doing well and enjoying the last bits of summer too!

Wednesday, July 29, 2009

A Date With Graphite

It has been so crazy hot here in the Northwest lately! I miss the clouds. Le sigh.

Here are a few little sketchbook peeks. I've been locking myself inside with the pencils to try and stay cool and so have been plowing through my sketchbook pages, drawing lots of portraits and planning new works. Almost time for a new book, me thinks.
This little lady will end up being a falconer (I've always had a huge interest in falconry). On my painting table and in the works is this painting:
That crown is literally the size of a fingernail! I still have a bit more painting to do (the faint sketch on the surface is a wasp...) but it's in the home stretch and should be finished shortly.
Outside in the garden the snails were completely obliterating my poor pumpkin plant. I'm a sucker for slugs and snails, but in the end, I had to put up a poison barrier to try and save the squash. It looks to be working because I have quite a few cute wee pumpkins a'growing safely (sorry snails)!

Do stay cool, everyone.

Friday, July 24, 2009

A Little Studio Makeover

Thank you so much for the chair love, guys! It's always so cool to take something a little beat up from its prior life and transform it into something new and different to be loved all over again.

I took a little break to organize my very, very messy studio room. It's taken me over a year to work up the nerve and energy to tackle it but I'm so happy I did because it makes everything easier to find (and needless to say, is much more inspiring to be in). I cringe to show the before shots....but they're needed for the full effect:
...Yikes. This room became a full-out storage space for all of my art supplies. Because of the mess, I had long ago moved my painting operations into my living room (where there was space to actually *gasp* paint).

One week, lots of elbow grease, and countless donation runs to the thrift store later and this is what I have:A new and much needed Ikea bookcase (this year's birthday gift) to store most of my art and craft supplies.Honestly, I could fill up two of these huge suckers (which scares me, quite frankly) but I limited myself to keep only the necessities and donated a lot of items to the local thrift store to make room and be a bit more streamlined. Sketchbooks, ahoy!
A little bit of wall art (some by me, some by others).The bookcase is a room divider, allowing me to break up the room into two sections: creativity and business. This is a view of the "business" side of things. My art printer, computer, files, and all that jazz are located here. Business supplies are stored under the table and hidden by that snazzy red tablecloth.Some of my Victorian cabinet card collection on the wall.I have this old dollhouse my mom put together for me when I was a kid and I've held onto all these years (I'm a sucker for miniatures!). I've always just had it on the floor, but now it's displayed above a dresser that holds all of my decorative and collage papers. Eventually, the dresser will be replaced with a file cabinet so that the paper can be stored in a more organized fashion.Paper doll by the ever-fab Amy Earles (the bear head comes off to reveal a lovely Victorian lass!).A Decemberists poster done just right by Carson Ellis.

I still have a little more organizing to do, and need to hunt for a small desk/table for the space so I can move the painting operations into here, and may in the end be moving to a new town by the end of the year anyway (which would sorta make all of this work moot)...but all-in-all, it's quite the improvement for the time being. I can walk! I can find stuff! I'm inspired when I'm in here! Yay!

I'm off for some sketching and scheming and will return in a couple days to show you all sorts of new ideas and beginnings from the sketchbook innards. Until then, happy weekend!