Avian

Good day, ladies and gents!

In celebration of reaching 400 sales in my Etsy shop, anticipation for the Spring season, and anxiousness for the inevitable upcoming tax session (oi vey), I'm hosting a print sale!

Yup--'tis true. Purchase any 2 prints (except for Ltd. Editions) and get a 3rd totally free. Just let me know in the "Message to Seller" box when you checkout which free print you'd like. I'm hosting the sale until the end of the month--that is to say, March 31st (Tuesday).

I also right this very second added a new original painting to the shop that I finished last night:

"From Across His Lake Kingdom, He Called To Her" acrylic and old sheet music on hardboard, painting is 4x6", framed is 5x8.5" {sold}

The colors on this piece are so rich and vibrant, that my camera and I had a brief battle trying to get that teal to look right. It still looks considerably more greenish-teal-peacock in person though. Little badges and medals seem to be adorning a lot of my animals and figures lately...

Completely unrelated, other than the fact that it's also bird-themed, I took some snapshots of a dead bird near my door last week.
Despite being a good 2 days dead, he provided a nice sketching session for me and then promptly disappeared the next morning (I assume by a desperately hungry raccoon).
Well, I have some more work to plug away at. Enjoy your weekends! I'm hoping for a glimpse of sunshine...

Sepia Toned And Washed In Walnut Ink

Hello dears.
I do hope you've all been well. I've been holed up at my painting table working out sketches, playing with new ideas, experimenting with the paint and all manner of artsy endeavors.I'm in the thick of a simple little piece that I will unveil in its entirety here quite soon. I should also mention to keep your ears and eyes peeled for an upcoming shop update announcement where a healthy chunk of original artwork from my little Auburn WA gig will be put up for grabs online. More than likely, they'll go for sale within the first few days of April, but I'll keep you all posted.

The art opening on the 12th went really well--it was so laid back and chill that I almost felt like I was at a friend's house. The only hitch was the horrendous traffic getting there. It was ugly, ugly, ugly.

Some recent sketchbook snippets and studies...

Time to pour some more coffee and do some paintin'.

Mail Art For The Masses

Last week, I snagged a blank watercolor paper postcard block and have been doing little acrylic quicky illustrations on them just about daily.
After all the long hours painting and doing show prep for the Auburn gig, I can't get myself back on the serious painting wagon just yet, so this has been the perfect creative solution.
Super fun, a great way to experiment, easy to do while watching movies at the same time, and then when you're all done you have a neato painting-postcard to mail off to a special someone. This one is for me though...

Also, the shop is absolutely teeming with fresh faces and new prints galore. All things oceanic, Victorian, dark, and lovely alike, so feel free to have a gander.

Hooray for newness!

Deep Sea Merit Badges

I'm really excited about these little goodies that have just been uploaded into the online shop...
Deep sea merit badges! The image is a cropped print of a starfish from "Stella's Dive". It's housed under a glass bauble and surrounded by a pretty spiffy porthole I sculpted by hand, treated with copper paint, and gave a soft verdigris for a loved-but-aged appearance.Add a smashing bit of red corduroy (recovered from an out-of-print upholstery fabric book headed for the trash) and you have a pretty swell little brooch for your best jacket.
These are super limited edition--I only made 3--and are in the shop as I type. I'm so tempted to keep one for myself, but will (try to) refrain from doing so. {update: all sold now}

In other news, I spent the past two days helping a dear artist friend of mine with her own art show. It was so fun--and held in the *coolest* house (which is actually a haunted old Victorian that's been vacant for many, many years). I wish I had remembered my camera because the inside was so old and decrepit that I suffered massive sensory and artistic overload. You could actually feel the eeriness oozing from the stairs--pretty wild. And I guess they just wrapped up filming an upcoming zombie movie there (various rooms still had fake blood splatters on parts of the walls!). Gosh, it was so neat.

Have a splendid weekend, guys!

Hello March, Hello Mantas

This was the final piece I completed for the March show and I think it's my favorite:

"The Manta Ray Enthusiast" acrylic on cradled hardboard, 9x12"

It went though quite an evolution. Originally, she was supposed to be an anemone collector. But as I was working on her portrait, she whispered in my ear that she actually is far more fond of mantas. And who can blame her?
She does have a bit of a manta ray hair flip going on...
The teeny starfish medal was the finishing touch. And, it's a hint at a new little something I've been working on the past two days that will wind up in the online shop.

I'm so glad it's March! Spring is just around the bend...

PS: New prints are coming this week and also, any painting that isn't sold by the end of the show will of course go right in the shop for sale as well. Thanks, peeps!