I can't believe it's been so longed since I've written, since I've checked in with myself. I've done 6 holiday art shows and have 2 to go...

I saw this paper a year or so ago and have had it "on preserve" since then -- red + pink is one of my absolute favorite color combinations; vary it a little with some orange and I'm like a kid in a candystore... so a few other paintings with this combo are here too. Happy Holidays ya'll!

Cake Love

Here are a few new cakes I've done, one is a sample to be displayed for brides to consider.  I always decide on colors first, then figure out the shapes and sizes, and think of the details as I go along.

For Gee

My friend Missy commissioned me to do a dress painting to honor her grandmother, whose house she bought after her grandmother's death. Her name was Gee, and I met her several times while we were in college. Missy brought me her wedding dress to see if I could do anything with it --a gorgeous navy blue velvet number with a fancy tie at the neck. She got married in the 1920s, and this choice was not unusual.  I just happened to have some navy blue glittered floral beauties that I had picked up in Paris years ago and saved; they were perfect! Here is the dress and the detail of the neck.

Getting Scary!

These Halloween cards were so much fun to make! As usual I've taken scraps of this and that and cobbled them together. The vampire is my grandmother! At least these old photos aren't in a drawer somewhere gathering dust. Happy Halloween!

This is a sample wedding dress that my friend Kristi, of FlowerGirls, is displaying in her studio. Brides come in to talk to her about their wedding flowers, and there they can see my cakes, dresses, and flowers in paint.

BIRDS OF A FEATHER…

My friend Suzanne, of Silver Tree Art, and I vend together almost every week. We both love birds, circles, bright colors…she does jewelry and sewn pretties and linoleum prints and I offer my cards, paintings, and journals; they seem to work well together. We seem to be in the same place with our businesses, growing them, finding more time to make stuff, trying to get our names out there. We have been compiling some “kits” to send to some shops we like and want to have our stuff in. We are trying to include some cool stuff and just as important make the packaging look really fabulous. Give us your attention, please!

 

I made these 2 sketchbooks for a potter friend of mine, Nga, for her daughters. Each page is half blank and half lined so you can write and sketch. I love these Bienfang notebooks. I always like to write in a spiral bound notebook with a felt tip pen. Most of the journals I sell are not spiral bound so I don’t have a lot that I actually use! (But I still enjoy looking at them…)

BIRDS OF A FEATHER...

My friend Suzanne, of Silver Tree Art, and I vend together almost every week. We both love birds, circles, bright colors…she does jewelry and sewn pretties and linoleum prints and I offer my cards, paintings, and journals; they seem to work well together. We seem to be in the same place with our businesses, growing them, finding more time to make stuff, trying to get our names out there. We have been compiling some “kits” to send to some shops we like and want to have our stuff in. We are trying to include some cool stuff and just as important make the packaging look really fabulous. Give us your attention, please!

I am in full on holiday mode. Almost finished Halloween projects, working on some Christmas orders. Have a lot of shows lined up. Am trying to remember, and enjoy, September. I work every morning while my boys are at school, I'm very disciplined. I do a little bit of this, a little bit of that: cut some cards, make new cards, work on some paintings, make some journals, talk to my cats, dance. Today I also taught two kids art classes, which were really fun. I feel very productive today, and tired.... 

There’s nothing like the feeling of knowing you’ve discovered treasure. One day I was in Anthropologie and looked at the back of a bottom shelf and found some French garden urn catalogs that were well worn. I think they were used for display in the store so they were marked down to almost nothing. The covers were torn a little but otherwise they were in good shape. What a find! I’ve used the pages in various projects, and here is the latest incarnation. I hand drew the birds over the urns and birdbaths and then printed them.

Even though I taught art for 8 years, I have been intimidated to take it up again; probably because my children are still young and I’m afraid to take too much on. My husband made the suggestion again, and this time I’ve run with it. I decided to do two little 6 week courses, one for 5/6 year olds and one for 7/8/9s. They start next week, and I’m excited about this new adventure! I’m calling the classes “Paint and glue and paper, oh my!”

Inspire Me!

I've just done a couple of these cards with a few key words (another one says "Breathe" and still another says "Live Your Life", which I once saw spray painted on a wall and have never forgotten). This originally started out as a gift tag/enclosure card which is sort of like a sketch: if I like it I'll go further with  it. Would love to do some other cards like these, but need some more words...anyone??? (By the way, I have already done another series with favorite words such as Amusement, Delight, etc.; the aforementioned group is sort of "inspirational", forgive the psychobabble.

COME AND GET IT!

I am trying to get brides interested in my work, since I like to paint cakes, dresses, flowers...seems like a natural match. "Eat your cake and have it too!". My friend Kristi of Flower Girls (www.flowergirlsinc), has offered to hang some of my things in her studio to show while she meets with brides. I am doing a cake sample, a dress sample, and a flower bouquet sample for her to have. Here is the dress sample I am lending her. Brides: come and get it!!

TOPIARY--ONE OF MY FAVORITE THINGS

These are some oils I’ve been wanting to work on for a long time. Another series. I love gardening and feel the need to try to capture some of the things I see. I’ll never forget the incredible gardens I visited in the Loire Valley a few years ago. Villandry has left its stamp on me. I love the organization, collection of greens, sculptural aspects of these gardens. The wildest place was Chaumont with it’s theme gardens.

Bird Brain

 

I saw these cool bird buttons a few weeks ago and snatched them up, knowing even if I store them away for awhile, I will find a good use for them eventually. They are so sweet. Will I ever get over this bird thing? I am still enjoying this “crush” so  I’m going to keep on going with it. I’m reading two great bird books for even more inspiration, “Bird Brains” by Candace Savage and The Bedside Book of Birds by Graeme Gibson.

 

I happened to go back to the store today; all the bird buttons were gone…

SWEETEST THINGS

Jenny Tremblay of Sweetest Thing Bakery here in Richmond has been generous enough to hang some of my desserts on the walls of her bakery! She meets a lot of brides there to plan their wedding cakes, and I'm trying to get some of these same brides to have portraits of their cakes painted. I realized when I took some paintings to Jenny that I'm low on "cupcake inventory", so I added a few this week. Someone showed an interest in one before I finished it. Here are the latest sprinkle filled diversions.

SPEED RACER

I was just looking over my sales from July: I have been working my ass off! Usually I don’t take the time to appreciate where I’ve been because I’m already focused on the next thing, but, I have been working HARD!! I have also just had the most successful month ($) ever, so all of this work is paying off. Literally. A little breathing space. But I’m a little worried, this busy in JULY? But the holidays are coming! I already have a BUNCH of shows and events lined up and it’s only August. This is very very flattering and exciting but I’ve hardly had the time to think about it as I have been going top speed.

 

Above are pictures of a few of the items I offered at the Philly Wholesale Buyers Market.

 

Back From Philly

Was lucky enough to be invited to the Philadelphia Wholesale Buyers' Market, and got back at midnight Monday. Exhausted all day Tuesday. There wasn't as much traffic as we had hoped, but it was great practice and met some great contacts, and got some wholesale orders. The Convention Center was right outside the Reading Terminal Market, a foodie's paradise. Here is what our booth looked like. I shared space with Silver Tree Art, Modern June, and Tasha McElvey Pottery. Thanks girls!

A Few of My Favorite Words...

Repeatedly, I have conversations with friends about our favorite words and least favorite words (mine: "pus" and "bloated"). I was thinking of favorites and how nice they roll off the tongue and what beautiful connotations come to mind, and decided to put them on some just as beautiful backgrounds. Here are "delight", "bliss", "confection", "affection", and "decadence". "Smitten" is in process. Here they are--

 

My sweet sister-in-law was visiting from Florida and asked me to give her some painting lessons a few weeks ago. So I got to have several hours to paint as well. She's now addicted! I looked for her once during the week around 10 pm and there she was, quietly painting away...I hope to visit her in Florida for our next lessons!  Here is what she did--

Art Camp!

Home from a week at Camp Nimrod in Bath County, Va. to paint paint paint...under the genius and hilarity of laura loe (www.lauraloe.com). Braved snakes, rain, lost dogs, and even a fire!! And came away with 7 new oil paintings (and did some stationery too), and also gained 5 pounds. These are my first landscapes other than flower paintings. Have been wanting to do these formal gardens for awhile. Tell me what you think!

My friend Michelle is about to get a novel published, "The Handbook for Lightning Strike Survivors", and wanted to do something for herself to celebrate. She asked me to do a dress painting with"Perseverance"  on the waistline. She had seen my whole series of these paintings, "You Wear It Well".

I actually found some paper with literature on it ("Tangerine Words") to use as the background to celebrate her writing. This was a fun project as she is eccentric and colorful and wacky. Her link is http:\\micheleyoung-stone.com. I was able to preview the cover of her book and I can't wait until it comes out! Here is the dress--

Ribbonerie

I saw this stack of ribbons in my studio and had to take a picture. I am so drawn to these colors right now, I can't get enough of these combinations: orange+turquoise; turquoise+red; pink+red; red+orange...I suppose I have "branded" myself with these colors, but i'm afraid of limiting myself to this palette!! By the way, most of the stuff in my studio (storage boxes, labels, etc.) is pink and green, my other favorite color combination. There are so many options!!!!!!

Well, I've finally done it, started writing on a blog...I've discovered that all of my good intentions to write in a journal the last few years have failed so this is my next attempt. I don't want to do too much navel gazing, just talk a little about processes, what I'm working on, what the struggles are trying to get my work out. So here goes.

My boys are in a morning camp this week so I rush home and race upstairs to my third floor studio. I have so many projects I'm working on at once, I like to think of myself as "Jeffersonian" because like the great man, I like to do a little of this and a little of that throughout my day. For example, today I stuffed some plastic envelopes with notecards, I finished up a few journals, I finished a dessert painting, I glued together some notecards, I rolled paper for a nest painting, updated some inventory stuff, packed some things up for a farmer's market this afternoon. Very task oriented, and much more exciting to me than it seems here. Happy with the new dessert painting, "Slice".