A girl and her goose...

"The Goose That Laid A Golden Egg"

I always loved that story as a child. An endless supply of golden eggs, wouldn't that be nice. Then, I believe I decided, that if it were my fairytale, I would crack open the eggs and they would be filled with candy. I had a little ducky pez dispenser once, but I think that's as close as I came to living that dream.

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving break, despite two girls with a stomach virus. Rylee on Wednesday, Ava on Thursday. Our car ride was a little messy, there was lots of laundry involved, if you have kids, you know the rest of the story...it gets pretty icky...

Thursday I'm having my wisdom teeth removed (I have 5)...something I've been putting off since I had my braces removed about 10 years ago. I'm dreading it big time. It's not the pain that bothers me, it's the anesthesia. I'm looking forward to the recovery though. It's not often I get to just lay in bed all day, heavily medicated, no less. I'm trying to look at it as a mini vacation...there has to be something wrong with that.

Prints now available!!!

New prints of The Woodland Collection just added to my Etsy Shop ! Click your way over there & have a look!

Shop update...

In my ETSY SHOP, WEDNESDAY, November 21st!

Here is a sneak peak of what will be in my Etsy shop tomorrow, 6 new originals! So while you should be running errands, cooking, cleaning your house, generally prepping for Thanksgiving, take a break, and head over to my shop!

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Update: The Woodland Collection sold out this morning in a matter of minutes! THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU. I will be adding prints to my Etsy Shop next week. I hope everyone has a safe & happy Thanksgiving!

Inspiration found here...

I've been working away on 6 new originals. Sketching, painting, cutting paper, slowing down, learning, really enjoying the creative process. I hope to pull a few late night shifts after the kids go to bed and have this set finished by Wednesday.

I've had so much fun working on them. I reached deep into the memory bank for inspiration. Many many days of my childhood were spent roaming the forest with my siblings. I vividly recall packing up our necessities (peanut butter crackers, lemonade, magnifying glass, whistle, blanket, pencil- how we determined these were the necessities, I'm not sure). We would walk deep into the forest, I'm talking miles. Some days we would drop crumbs and pretend to be Hansel & Gretel. Other days we looked for abandoned tree stands, leftover from hunting season. We pretended they were secret treehouses tucked in the branches of our own personal Wonderland. It was common to see deer, turkeys, squirrels, a fox or two. We walked upstream the creek, catching minnows, crawfish, periwinkles and collecting smooth rocks. It really was a child's paradise. Anyhow- these memories provided me with much inspiration for this series.

Also I've been reading Bambi & Alice's Adventures in Wonderland (a great pop-up version) over & over lately to the girls. The sweet illustrations are so whimsical, very inspiring!

Do you know who collects your artwork?

Do you know who welcomes your artwork into their home?
I was thinking about this tonight after exchanging emails with one of my collectors. Sometimes I wonder if people that sell in galleries know their buyers. Do they have any clue why someone wanted their painting? Where was that person from? Where will they hang it in their home? Maybe some artists don't care about these things, maybe the paycheck is all they need. But that's not good enough for me. Many of my collectors have become my friends. I guess I can say that, right? I remember when I first started selling I thought it would be so cool to keep a map, and place a pin on each location I sent a painting to.
I remember the thrill of discovering a lady in Tennessee, just an hour away from my hometown, was buying my art. We exchanged emails about the scenery, the weather, the differences from state to state. I remember the time a lady wrote me to say she was buying a painting for a friend whose husband had just passed away. She said the painting would hold so much meaning for her friend, like I created it for her without even knowing it. I think about the lovely lady from Istanbul that has purchased several pieces from me. Pieces for herself, a piece for her mother. She takes the time to tell me what my art means to her, how it has significance in her life. There's a lady in California, a collector from the beginning of my art journey, that I exchanged pictures with. She longed for snow & I for sunshine. So from opposite ends of the country we swapped weather. Oh, yes, and Kecia, who I first met through ebay when she snatched up a few of my paintings. We are now attending Artfest 2008 together! And now I have a dear collector, anticipating the arrival of her first little one. She's sweetening up the nursery with my art.

I like knowing these things. Is that so wrong? Sometimes I wonder if I should be all business and no play? Is all this friendly conversation professional? But, alas, I can't help myself. I've asked my husband what he thinks about all this...He says, I shouldn't pretend to be someone I'm not. If I want to chat with my collectors, and they want to chat with me, so be it. I think he's right, he usually is. (Did I just say that?)

cha cha cha changes...

So I've been thinking about my creative process lately. Thinking about the time I have to paint. I don't have a schedule, I don't have a studio. I run through the day hurrying to get household chores done in the morning, then if my baby decides she will take a nap before lunch, I lay her down and start the process of dragging my art supplies from the laundry room. My paints are in an old suitcase, sandwiched between the washer & dryer...my papers, assorted play things, and a few shipping supplies contained in a small cabinet my grandfather made for me when I was in college. That sits between the furnace & water heater. Then there is a cabinet we have mounted to the wall that my mother-in-law picked up at a garage sale. It holds more paint, pastels, brushes, stamps, a small lamp, palette knives, sketchbooks. The top shelf is reserved for beads, bits of fabric, sequins, and my daughter's crafting supplies. Then ,finally, I have a postal scale, thank you cards, packaging supplies, etc., in the laundry cabinet, just above the detergent, oxyclean, & fabric softener. Inspiring, right? Canvases are stored in the top of the ,packed-to-the-max, nursery closet. So as you can see I'm a little spread out. I spend just as much time gathering & putting away materials, as I do actually painting. So when I eventually have my things strung out on the dining table, I'm lucky if I may have an hour to paint. An hour, that on most days, is full of interruptions that is.("oops, I spilled""I have to go potty""I need more colors",she says) My daughter paints with me, and I'm glad, she enjoys it and she's just starting to develop her own style. Her little stick people are so sweet. Anyhow, so I paint in a frenzy, rushing, I don't take the time to sketch my paintings onto the canvas, I just start laying down paint, layer after layer, until it starts to look like something. There's nothing precise about it at all. Several of you in blogland have mentioned how much I seem to get done in so little time, it's just because I paint at warp speed. So I've been wondering, what would my paintings look like if I slowed down. Sometimes I like my sketches more than I do my finished paintings. So...lately, I've been taking more time, working much sloooowerr. I'm sketching on the canvas, I'm staying within the lines, I'm applying paint a little more carefully. Also I'm working on several paintings at once, which I've never done. I'm working on a series of paintings to get myself psyched for Artfest 2008. The theme is "Forest Walk"...so I'm preparing a group of work that includes little woodland creatures & all things curious that you might stumble upon in the forest. I'm hoping the end result will be a cohesive collection & I hope to have it in my etsy shop before Thanksgiving. Also I have taken on my last two commissioned paintings of the year. I know the holiday season will keep me busy, with cooking & parties, shopping & decorating, building the first snowman of the season. ALSO, I have to set aside some time to play with my new toys. I've finally got a scanner AND photoshop CS3. I'm soooo exicited. Well, today the kids are gone & I have lots to do...but first, let me show you what I found in the depths of my closet...
These are a few paintings I did the year I took art after school. I believe I used pages of an old National Geographic magazine as inspiration. I was 13. A lady in my small town had a studio which she opened up for youngsters, for a small fee of course. I know it was hard for my mom to come up with the fee & money to buy my art supplies, but she did it. It was so much fun. My mom never let us have junk food, so as an added bonus, on the days I got a ride to the art studio from school I would stop and buy oreos & Kool-aid. I would be so buzzed up on sugar my hands would shake while I tried to paint. My instructor thought it was hilarious. Anyway- here are photos of what I painted. I think they are quite good considering I was only 13. I wonder what I could do had I not stopped painting for 11 years? hmmm...

Pink & Stars...

Well, since my last post we have managed to tear out our old floors and put down our new ones. Tonight we are eating cereal for dinner because our kitchen is currently housing two sawhorses and about 100 feet of trim. Sand, paint, wait. We had planned to conquer this step outside, but it's drizzly and cold.

Above are two paintings I've been working on. "Girly" inspired by my little ones' affection for pink, pink, and more pink. "Twinkle" inspired by the countless times I've read "Goodnight Moon" to my girls lately. I've just added them both to my Etsy shop. Hope everyone is enjoying the last few hours of the weekend...

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Tomorrow is a day of home improvements! I love this kind of stuff. My husband is taking the day off & together we are installing new flooring. By together I mean, I will help move all the furniture, help rip out the old carpet, make runs back and forth to Home Depot, & make lunch. I suppose you could also call me the Creative Director, as I will be selecting all the materials. We are also painting ceilings, installing new lights, and possibly mounting a new microwave above the stove to free up counter space in our tiny kitchen. We have a smallish house, quite cozy though, we all get along, so we don't mind being close. However, there are times when more space would be nice. Perhaps an extra room for overnight guests/ a studio space...a bigger dining area where we could have a large table, perfect for packing all our friends around for food & drinks & laughter. We do have a really large backyard- large for living in the city anyway...and that's where we have most of our fun. There's plenty of space to have all the neighborhood kids over...they can take turns on the tree swing, play in the little tykes showroom we've accumulated, pick tomatoes from the garden, chase squirrels and catch butterflies. I guess there is room back there for more house as well. Pop on several hundred more square feet and we could hang out here for a while. We'd like to, that's for sure. Our neighbors are our extended family, neither of us really want to leave them behind. I'm sure Rylee, our almost 4 yr. old, would so miss her friends...well, I'm rambling, and I really have a million things I could be doing, so until next time, have a good night!

Warm sunny yellow...

"What Lies Ahead" on "Etsy"