Shop Update A Success!

Well, that certainly took a lot longer than I had expected. Man. I had some issues with my computer and the Etsy listing process this morning, so I do apologize!

They're all up now though. It always makes me so happy to see fresh, new faces in the shop. As promised, there's a handful of paintings in various sizes and price ranges.

A couple new prints (I'm so, so happy with the Celebrate one! Eek!). And a whole mess of these little dearies. I'm marketing them as wall plaques because that's how I currently have them displayed, but they do double duty as ornaments as well come the holidays. And I'm *crazy* about unique and handmade ornaments, as some of you may well know.Speaking of unique ornaments, I just bought this one online this week to add to my growing collection. I can't wait for it to get here! This gal does a fabulous job. You can see all the hand-beaded ornaments she has to offer at her website, Gray Cat Ornaments (photo above from her website). I'm amazed at the amount of detail in these (and her peacock ones are *gorgeous*!).

And now, I'm off to indulge in some chocolate and be lazy. Enjoy your weekends, friends!

A Couple Announcements

Hey gang!

I've been feeling very inspired and artsy as of late from meeting up with some creative types, and as a result, have been taking advantage of it. Stayed up a couple nights ago until 4am to design a poster for an art show I'll be partaking in soon. The first weekend in August, I'll be showing and selling my stuff at the Bainbridge Art Expo and Music Fest. I've never attended, but it's a big local gig and sounds very promising. Looking at the handful of other somewhat-traditional artists accepted, I'm gonna really stand-out which makes me very excited indeed. Maybe I'll be able to pull all those crazy, hip art cats out of the woodworks around here. You know, spice up life a wee bit. Give the young art scene a push, if you will.

I see the coffee is kicking in.

Anyway, I'll discuss details about the show at a later date once it gets closer so any of you hip and local Puget Sounders can come and hang out if you'd like.

This brings me to an important bit:

A) The next online shop update has been decided upon! Finally! Come Friday, May 30th at 11am PST (2pm EST) I'll load up the shop with some new paintings, prints, and all those little ceramic wall plaques. Hoorah!

A couple of painting sneak peeks:
This one I finished a couple nights ago (approx 5x7") and has a background composed of collaged vintage stamps. As previously discussed, I'm loving slugs at the moment. It's funny. This piece was originally going to be so much more complex, but came out far simpler and I really love that.

And this one, while not new (painted last year), will be listed as well. I'm ready to see it go off to a new home (though I do love seeing it on this wall).

There's a few others as well that I'll keep in the dark until next week.

I'm off to do more sketching and painting (image above is from my current sketchbook). Happy Tuesday, guys!

Of Nobles And Nudibranches

This week's quick Friday 15 sketch has been unloaded into the shop and you can find it right here. *Now Sold--Thanks!!*

The weather has been drop-dead stunning these past two days, prompting me to buy a couple new sketchbooks and pens and just lay outside drawing the day away. Pretty heavenly. That's largely how I'll be spending today as well. Also, to help with a current in-progress painting, I studied and sketched a whole lot of slugs the other day. I've got slugs down. And look at this neat Haeckel illustration I found via Wikipedia showing various nudibranch varieties! Pretty cool, eh? I need to go out and buy a Haeckel book 'cause this is beautiful--and very frame-able.

A shop update is looming--I'm just waiting on the arrival of some boxes from Uline. Within the next week or two, certainly.

I'm out to get some sun in my Northwest eyeballs! Happy weekend, my loves!

Life At The Seashore

Party hats for one and all!A sneak peek at a small walrus who's more than ready to have some fun. He's housed in a frame that's equally tiny but just as festive as he, with some pink pizazz. I've got a thing for pink at the moment.

I had a really nice weekend. Went to a ballgame with my dad and brother and had a good old time. It was freezing cold though (the only downer) so I spent the entire game with my hands stuck firmly in-between my legs and a jacket wrapped snugly around me. Lots of coffee and hot chocolate was drunk by all.

Also took myself to the beach to have lunch and walk/think/ponder life near the waves. It was *so* nice to refresh myself like that.The tide was low, the rocks covered in kelp and seaweed, and the air was crisp, cool, and salty. Yup, life is pretty good.

One more thing before I get back to work with the paints--there's an interview with little old me over yonder on The Peach Tree blog if you're interested and would like something to read. Do check out the rest of her blog as there's lots of inspiring words and images.

That's all for now, ladies and gents! I hope the rest of you had weekends full of loveliness as well!

A Jaunt Across The Pond

Hello, my friends!

This week's sketch has just been listed in the shop. I recently had a dream in which a tiny sailboat was sailing around inside a teacup... *UPDATE: It's now sold. Thank you!*
I got a bit more done on the paint front the other day, but am hoping to get two more pieces finished today as well. Then again, I really *really* need to go grocery shopping, so that's number one on my list. Blarg. Grocery shopping is a necessary evil.

I'll pop back in tomorrow with more to show and tell. Happy Friday, everyone!

Sweet Dreams In The Thicket

I'm so sorry guys for being a bit scarce. It's been a rather busy week for me at the day job covering other folks' shifts and generally helping out wherever need be. I just uploaded this week's Friday 15 quickie sketch (wanted to get it online this morning, but eventually sleep won that battle).Red and pink are plaguing my sketchbook at the moment and I've been doodling some rather stylized foxes as of late as well... You can find "Sweet Dreams In The Thicket" right over yonder for the taking. **UPDATE: Annnd...just as quickly as it went up, it was bought. Thank you! I'll have another sketch in the shop next Friday (...in the morning this time).**

I have 4 as-of-yet unfinished paintings of various sizes taking up space on my work table and I'm pretty stoked about all of them. I don't have pictures of them *yet*, but soon. Very soon. And as a matter of fact, it's shaping up to look like I may be doing a shop update of sorts with all kinds of paintings, a few new prints, and some small ceramic wall plaques. I don't have a date in mind yet, but I'll let you all know when it will be occurring.

Speaking of ceramic wall plaques...

Here's the 8 that will be going into the shop in this as-of-yet-undecided shop update. I typically don't sell my ceramic pieces but I can't resist with these.

Lousy *lousy* photos, but I was too excited to sneak in some peeks at these. I made these entirely by hand (rolled the clay, cut it, fired it to bisque, painted it with glazes, fired it again, etc) and I'm quite fond of them. They're currently hanging in a hallway, looking quite dapper (especially that sly little fox one...). Simple and sweet.

I hope you guys have a splendid weekend!