After more than a week of rather uncooperative and stormy weather, at last the clouds lifted for a bit today. No sign of the sun, but I'll take whatever light I can get. So, I grabbed my camera and had a nice photo shoot session with a few little drawings I did the other day. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to get any new paintings listed online before the holidays as I'm just too busy working on pieces for the Seattle show.
But!
These drawings (and some others I'm digging away at in-between the painting sessions) are going up for grabs online. They're each originals, so once they're gone...they're gone. 
"Birds Of A Feather..."
graphite on paper
4.5 x 9.5"
{detail}
"Nudibranch"
graphite on paper
3.5 x 2.5" ACEO {sold}
"Good Tidings"
graphite on paper
2.5 x 3.5" ACEO
Alrighty! Back to the drawing table I sneak (literally). All you stateside peeps, can you believe Thanksgiving is this week? Me neither.
The final pages of my current sketchbook are filling up and it's nearly time to put the book away and start a'fresh in a new one! Despite the somewhat lousy paper inside (I think it was made with writing paper--which means that many sketches in the beginning of the book are badly smudged and smeared, leaving me no other choice but to paste in good drawing paper for sketching in the latter half of the book), it's served me well over the past year. 
I sketched this coral branch in graphite and then tinted it with red acrylic ink for an old tinted lithograph look. A wash of walnut ink surrounds it.
For my new sketchbook, I snatched up one of these (the landscape-style book) from Dick Blick:
I'm a sucker for landscape-style sketchbooks, so it will be nice to once again be drawing away in one. Can't wait for the new year!
Since the new year is almost upon us, I also took it upon myself to re-do the inspiration cork board.
The biggest change? Black paint. Wow, am I glad I did that. Such a simple thing and yet it really does make a big difference. I just used a satin enamel black paint from the hardware store and it did the trick nicely. One layer on the cork was all it took (and any smudges that got on the laminate frame were easily wiped off with a rag).
It's the last week of 2009! Wow!
After months of work, my pieces are all set for the Seattle show, aptly titled "Endangered"! I'm pretty excited. It's a 3-person show with fellow artists 
The show will run January 2nd-31st at 
I think this robot and jellyfish are my two favorites for this year. The 'bot was spied in a small shop here in town and, me being me, I could not resist a glass robot ornament. The glass jellyfish I snatched up from a recent zoo trip. I think I may have squealed a little when I first saw it.
A German handmade wooden crocodile (with stopwatch!) from Leavenworth, WA. The gal sitting on a glitzy moon was handmade by the ever-amazing 
Teensy glass acorn and birdy made in Poland and bought in Leavenworth for mere pennies.
An oldie but a goodie--a Beatles ornament I made years ago from a toilet paper tube. Also, a recently rediscovered Han Solo ornament that had been hiding out in a box of all my old Star Wars geekiness. Han, you do my tree proud.
I hope you are all doing well during this busy time of year!
And my palette (awash in rich greenish hues):
Lots of late, late night painting sessions going on this week! My little day job came and went rather quickly (the business closed--which is the biggest bummer working for small businesses right now, unfortunately). I'm quite sad to see the income go away...but glad to have a flexible painting schedule once again (even if it is only temporary).
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.
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