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.