What Lurks In The Shadows

I emerge from the deep caves of creative activity! Alive, doing well, seeking food and nourishment.

Halloween has crept into my thoughts and work lately. Ah, I so love Halloween. And never fear, my dearest friends! Though I'm neck-deep in gallery/show painting (that I can't wait to show all of you) I also have been prepping new curiosities for the Etsy shop and I'm head-over-heels for these small new things.

Last night I had to snap a few pictures amongst the glow of the candles to give you all a sneak peek at what will be soon unveiled...

There are some lovely, albeit bizarre little drawings set in wonderfully aged gilded frames (complete with vintage lace hangers)...
I do so love how this one turned out (though she's a bit hard to make out in the darkness)...
And also, a whole bucketful of little stuffed ornaments that are made from transfers taken straight from the crinkled pages of my sketchbook (lots of tentacles and a disembodied head or two). They're all hand-stitched with love using vintage linens and repurposed old upholstery fabrics. I'm madly in love with them.

It looks as though this next shop update will be slightly spooky, very black-and-white, and boiling over with Fallish thoughts. I have a couple more surprises up my sleeve, but I'm waiting until my work schedule gets posted before I set a date for the October Update. Within the next day or two, I'll have a date and time arranged for you all.

Oh! And I couldn't help but take a quick snap of my little bat girl sitting atop my gothic piano display area. She's made by the ever-talented Crystal (my second purchase from her--her pieces are absolutely amazing).

And for more Fall/Halloween/decay/couture inspiration, I recently stumbled across the amazing Gibbous Fashions and have been drooling ever since. What inspiration! I love all the antique/vintage fabrics and laces and lovely layers all stitched together helter-skelter to create whimsical, one-of-a-kind clothing. Truly breathtaking. I'd kill for one of these gorgeously layered skirts. They do women's and men's fashions (and boy howdy, some of those men's jackets are freakin' *incredible*). Definitely worth a looksy (all pictures below are from the Gibbous site).

Okay gang. I'm off to get another cup of coffee and get back to the creative cave. I'm so happy that October is nearly here!

Sketchbook Peeks

It's been a while since I've posted any sketchbook sneak peeks and I know that I always dig catching glances at other artists' roughs, so lets remedy that, stat!

First off, I realized just the other night that I've really gone through quite the sketchbook evolution. I remember back in college I used big 8.5x11" books or larger (I should pull some of those out for you guys to see--god awful drawings in those beasts). And then I got addicted to smaller books, probably because the pressure was off to completely cover a blank page in mindless drawings.

And now, I've discovered the wonders of the panoramic/landscape sketchbook. I'm in heaven. I like that the pages aren't so small that I have to constantly worry about space issues and yet aren't so large as to make me feel like I need to use the entire page. And because the pages are in a long format, I can get some lovely compositions--sometimes without really meaning to do so. I highly recommend picking one up the next time you see one at the art supply store.

Button mushrooms a'plenty... Sea anemones are so beautiful...yet just a hair creepy. All those wiggling arms....luring little fish in... And a life-size anemone? Yeah. I'm not so certain I'd like to encounter *THAT*. A tranquil octopus maiden...Giant beetles...

Good day, my friends! I hope it's filled with creativity and merriment!

Precious Objects

I am quite possibly the world's worst blogger. I admit this.

So much art happenings, my friends! Where oh where do I begin?

First and foremost, very soon you will be able to purchase some of my prints and postcards along with an original painting or two from the ever-awesome Fact & Fancy gallery in Brooklyn, NY! If you live in the area, totally go check them out. Some of my very talented indie-artist-colleagues are there too: Julliana Swaney of Oh My Cavalier!, Michele Maule, Amazing Talking Paintings, and many more.

Secondly, I am so swamped with paintings. Which is awesome. I will hopefully be entering into some gallery exhibitions this fall and have much to do to get ready (including updating the ever-hated artist statement and resume, ugh). My current series is moving right along. The recent "no-painting" strike I took last month after the show was *so* amazingly helpful, because I am bursting with ideas and energy to make art.

I actually needed to create an old school mind map to jot everything down and better visualize how the series would look. I've always just used Post-Its for this task, but the mind map thing works wonders and really keeps me on track.

This particular series of work all revolves around the idea of old man-made objects colliding and living in harmony with the natural world, where Man no longer plays a vital role in their existence. Most of the paintings will be fairly small (to play off the "preciousness" of Nature), with a few bigguns.

A few sneak peeks:

Trees sprout from old typewriters...Brightly colored buttons now adorn tiny mushrooms...Finches ponder new nesting sites...

I'm very excited with the way pieces are turning out so far.

Collections

Hello, sweeties.

New goods! Awesome!
I'm diggin' how these postcards came out. Fresh from the printers and, for a change of pace, offered up as *single* postcards w/ a red envelope for a fraction of the price. This way, you can get one for a birthday card instead of a whole pile (though, you may want a whole pile after you see how cute they are).
Also have a whole set of limited edition urchin prints from the Urchin Collection that debuted earlier this year (all the originals have been snatched off to loving homes but two of them now). *UPDATE: All Urchin Collection original paintings have now sold. Thank you, peeps!*
They look so sharp and are nicely cropped down to mini-size. There's only 10 prints made of each design though, and once they're gone...that's it.One thing I really love is redoing my wall displays throughout my abode. Frankly, I just love interior design anyway. I tend to lean towards the eclectic-mix-old-and-new-hodge-podge-collection style. There's one wall that changes constantly, as original paintings are bought and sold, or I just feel like looking at different works. But I really love how it looks at the moment.


What's this? Why, is that an aqua/red color scheme I see?

Yes, it is. Big surprise, I'm sure. :)And check out this particularly *swell* card I picked up last month while in Canada! It's just too cool to use. I really need to frame it.

After a hiatus from the paints (much needed), I'm hitting the canvas and acrylics hard today. I'm working out a new series of work that I shall be hopefully debuting to everyone late Sept./early October. I'm very excited.

Off I scamper!

Plum And Moss

I thought I'd do an entire post of images in the purple plum and greeny moss color scheme, since those two colors together say "Fall" like no other and I'm so terribly thrilled that the fall months are now upon us. Knee high socks! Crisp morning air! Crunchy leaves! Chai tea and cookies!

That landscape painting was a recent antique store score for $12 and I really love it. The colors, the frame, the fact that some person sat down with their oil palette and took the time to create it and liked it so much as to get it professionally framed....It's magic. I feel like I rescued a little unknown gem from the trash heap.

The last picture is a close-up of some ceramic tiles I've painted at work. I'm lining them all up along a windowsill for a bit of fun and whimsy.

That's all from me for today! I'll be back tomorrow with some new shop items to show and tell. Enjoy your Tuesdays, everyone!