Thursday, June 25, 2009

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)

{sold}

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

Monday, June 22, 2009

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!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

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"

{ Sold }


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!

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

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.