Bellevue ART Show- and AIR MAIL

My girls and a few crazy birds are traveling to Bellevue KY to be shown at the Creative Hands Artisans studio. They will make their debut Friday night and reside there all of July, unless someone decides to relocate a painting or two to their home :) If you are in the area, please stop in. This is a great gallery full of local art. There is plenty to do, the Newport aquarium, movie theater and great restaurants are all in walking distance. If you are going to see the Cincinnati Reds, just ferry across the river and visit us too! Friday night is the gallery hop and the studio will be open until 9pm. Hope to see you there!

This is a new piece entitled Air Mail, a print of this will be in my shop later today along with a couple more new print items! Click here to shop!

New PRINTS on the way-

This is an exciting week for me, Friday night is the Bellevue Shop HOP! If you are in the area be sure to pop into the Creative Hands Artisans studio to see all my new artwork. I have two boxes of paintings on wood waiting to go. I did order card prints for my ETSY shop and I will list them in a few days.

The tea party was a success, thank you to all my new visitors this week! If you are running late for that very important date..........check the post below :)

A Fanciful Tea Party-

Today we are going to a tea party, but the heat is rising here in the south, and the only thing I feel like drinking is ice tea! So I poured myself a tall glass of tea and filled it with ice! HOWEVER.....

The South End girls never miss a party, and they are dressed for a tea party. They chose the traditional Mad Hatter and Cheshire cat look. The girls left early today and are heading over to Vanessa's blog A Fanciful Twist to participate in the festivities!

Studio Update and todays thoughts :)

The Southend Girls are starting to line up! My studio is FULL of paintings, I am getting them ready to send to the Creative Hands Artistans Studio for a July feature. More to come on that, I am very excited.

I was awakened during the night, I had a nightmare. I dreamed I found a box of kittens, not scary I know :) but I have three cats and you know I cannot just walk away from helpless kittens! I must have gone to bed feeling overwhelmed by my feline friends. They drive me crazy. ANYWAY- while I was laying there awake I was thinking about my high school art class. Art was my favorite class, but I remember sitting there thinking I will never get my bowl of fruit to look like a bowl of fruit......and this is boring.

I wonder what art class would have been like if my instructor had said, make it your own! There is no right or wrong- art is art.

At the beginning of the month two of my nieces stayed with me for a week, one of them was constantly trying to make her painting EXACTLY like mine. She was so frustrated and self loathing over it. I made it a point to say, I am here to help, but art is FUN! It is cool that you have your own look.... perfection is not the goal, fun is the goal! Everyone creates differently, and that is ok.....it is what art is all about.

Now, the younger of the two girls, had a totally different attitude. She LOVED everything she did. She was proud and happy as a clam. She told me she was so impressed with herself, that she couldn't take her eyes off of her creation! I wonder why the self critic in us grows as we age? Now back to the start of my thought, what if that teacher had told me "art is fun, make it your own" would I still have grown up to be an artist that needs perfection? or could I just be blissfully unaware and happy with what I have done? I think that is why I like to add positive affirmations and happy thoughts to my collages. So when I look at each piece I quiet the inner critic and finish my day blissfully unaware:)

OK.....I'm done with my thoughts and observations for the day, back to work :)

Mad Tea Party 2010

I'm going to a tea party! Would you like to join me? Click here

The sun shines on~

Just a shop update today. The heat is on! so I'm staying inside working on new pieces. This is just a cropped photo, she is still being tweaked a bit. the title is "Shine" I wanted it to have a warm sunshine feel. I will give you a full look when I am done.

Auctions end tonight! Be the first bidder- Click here!

Visit my ETSY store- I have two new card prints listed- Check them out!

Monday Morning ~A bit of nature~

We spent a week hiking and taking in the local nature, this is a slide show of our day trip. There is music, so you may want to turn off my player at the bottom of this page and enjoy "Larkin Poe" which is the music in this video. I combined my photos which inspired this painting along with my progression of collage and paint. I hope you enjoy the beautiful Kentucky hills :)

My Water Birds-

This week I created a piece that is a little different for me. We love to vacation in the gulf coast, in fact I was in Pensacola FL this past March. I was lucky to get there before the oil spill. One of my favorite "site seeing" activities is capturing images of the birds, especially the water birds. I'm not sure of the names, so to avoid calling a bird by the wrong title (and avoid proper research) I will just say water bird. This is a painting I have had in the back of my brain for a bit. You know how you get an idea and it just sits and waits to move to the front of the art line? Yesterday the birds moved to the front of the line. I found this ETSY shop called Help the Gulf Coast . This shop is filled with donated items from ETSY sellers. It is a collective ETSY shop to help the gulf coast recover from the massive BP oil spill. 100% of the proceeds go to charity. With that in mind, the birds were created. I have donated 5x7 prints of this piece to help the effort. I filled out the donation form and the prints should be available for purchase in the next day or two. Add the shop to your ETSY favorites, or visit my facebook for updates on new listings.

The original was created on a 12x16 birch wood panel. I started in acrylic and pieced the birds and sun in various print papers. Charcoal, and watercolor finish the piece. I left the sides, which are 1 5/8 inches wide in it's natural wood state. The simple silhouettes of the birds against a setting sun gives this piece a quiet calm and reminds me of our summers spent on the beach in the gulf coast.

Visit my favorites to right, you can check out what other ETSY sellers are doing to help the gulf coast. Make your purchase count--help others :)

So much rain.....

The rain that seems to never end has brought my inspiration for my latest collage. This one still needs a name, I would love suggestions. Two girls under an umbrella in a field of circle flowers. Vintage paper and buttons were used, as well as stitch rub on rain :) This will be part of my gallery show in July. It is a large 12x24 piece, I did this on wood, and finished it will mat spray.

Be sure to check out my "rain" inspired favorites from ETSY on the right.

Monday Morning UPDATE!

Just a quick post, I am still working on three commissioned pieces, they will be done today. So .... I thought I would put together a flickr album of recent art pieces I have done for clients who request my girls to look like their loved ones. I have just added a few to start with and I will add more. Theses are collages I did in specific hair and eye color, I can add wings , butterflies, or even balloons :) I will try to add more in the days to come. Look at the bottom of my blog and you will see a badge to my Flickr album.You should be able to click it and be re-directed to the entire book.

Contact me for a price and size list.

Note to the owners of the paintings- if you do not want your painting in my photo album please contact me and I will remove it.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

Well, my week with my nieces is over, they are on a plane going to Texas for the summer. I won't see them again til August, but thanks to facebook I will know what they are up to :) As for me, I am back to business, finishing a custom order and starting new pieces for my July show at the Creative Artisans Gallery in Belleview KY.

The skies are blue today, but the rain has made Kentucky feel like a rain forest . It is humid and nearly 90 here. A dragonfly stopped by for a visit, I wonder if this is a good luck sign?

Feeling the nature-

We went out hiking again yesterday, this time in Big Bone Lick park. We found a few bison and climbed a hill with a beautiful lake resting at the top. We had a map so there was no getting lost, the trails were clearly marked so that helped. The girls are "nature girls" they said that should be the title of my next painting.They struck a pose by a very cool tree for me to use as inspiration for next weeks work.

This week I am working on 3 commissioned pieces for three blonde sisters, I will give you a peek when I can. My latest and most exciting art news is being featured artist in July at a local gallery. I will have more news to come on that.

Check out my "nature" inspired picks from ETSY - on the right column.

BUSY week!

My nieces are here staying with me for the week, so while they are sleeping I have a minute to catch up here! I have an ETSY listing for buy 4 get one free on my 5x7 art cards. You need to purchase that listing to get the deal, and tell me in the seller notes the cards you want. CLiCk HeRe

I may be moving my large pieces into a local gallery very soon, I will know after today, I have a meeting with the owner and I will know more tomorrow. So if you have your eye on something, don't wait to treat yourself to a piece of art:)

Sunday I took the girls hiking...........back up.....they took me- We got lost, long story short- our trail came out to the end of a subdivision miles away from our car. It was getting dark, and we were clearly unprepared for the wilderness, I was afraid to go back in the woods after dark, so my poor husband ran ahead and rescued us with the car. I was so thankful, I don't think I would have made it another step! Dixie (spoiled shit zue) was carried most of the way, she is not a wilderness dog and I am not a nature girl. They want to go again today, I pray for rain.

Yesterday we were at the pool, that is much more my style.

~Dreaming of the sea~

I love mermaids, here is a little beauty I named her Pearl- She glitters and has real shells I picked myself :) To see the entire painting Click HERE

I am busy working on custom orders, if you are interested in a painting with girls of your choice, just let me know. They make unique Christmas gifts, its not too early to start shopping :)

Another little ANGEL~

This is the second 6x12 I created this week, I layered the background with vintage hymnal pages and print music sheets. Her wings are vintage hymnal pages. Her dress is covered in vintage doilies with buttons added. The scripture quote reads- By day the Lord directs his love, at night his song is with me- Psalms 42-8

This piece is really distressed and has a great prim feel. She is listed in my ETSY store-Click here to see more

Cowgirl UP!

I am feeling a little western this week. I created a couple of 6x12 paintings on wood that have a western feel. The first is "Don't fence me in" this is for all you free spirited girls out there :) She is wearing a dress covered in vintage doilies and boots. I did not add a hat, because I hate to cover their hair, she does have a country styled dress. She is standing on vintage map pages and has old buttons on her dress. She is listed in my ETSY store CLICK HERE to see more

I also listed a angel, you will have to wait til tomorrow to see her, unless you stop by my ETSY shop :)

RED BiRd and KiTChen FloWers

Enjoy Life-6x12 mixed media collage Available here

This collage was created with Graphic45 vintage look paper- look close and you will see the kitchen utensils in the flowers! I love red birds, so I added one to the flower. This piece will look cute in any room, but I think it will be fun in a kitchen.

I had a record month on ETSY this past May. I want to thank all of my wonderful customers for allowing me to stay home and create art. I want to encourage all my readers if you haven't shopped on ETSY you need to....right now! They have an amazing marketplace of artisans and you can seriously find just about anything you are looking for. I shop there daily, especially for unique gifts and art supplies. This year I am buying all of my birthday gifts and Christmas gifts from my favorite etsy sellers. Check my current favorite items in the bar on the right. If you are new shopper CLICK HERE for help. Shopping on ETSY supports independent artist, businesses and craftspeople. Just check it out, you won't be disappointed :)

I hope everyone had a great holiday weekend, I visited my family in Louisville and went swimming, grilled out and played corn hole. I have so many new babies in my family it feels like a daycare! Love them all :)