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.
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!
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.
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.
*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
*Visited my favorite local seashell/natural history museum (I see many days of sketching there in my near future) {above pics from 
*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
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:
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)!
...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).
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 
A Decemberists poster done just right by 
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