I mailed gifts to a couple friends this week.  Taking a cue from one of my clever buddies, I decided to wrap presents in discarded paper towels and other odd scraps of painted stuff; truth be told, I have an enormous bin of these things.  Scavenging around is actually quite fun.  

And here is how the packages turned out.  I hope the recipients like them. 

Ties that Bind

Here's a charm that I made for the Ties that Bind Project, a fund raiser for Ovarian cancer.  First time I've attempted this.......I took a section of a collage and enlarged and adapted it in Photoshop, then added the text.  I sized the circle in PS and glued it behind my optical lens, added the wire and ribbon and voila!  I was happy with the result and you just might see more of these from me.  Check out the other contributions and find out more about this project here.  

You asked....

Several people have asked about our kitchen project, how it turned out, specifically all that refinishing I did earlier this year (remember when I was afraid all I would have to put in my booth was cabinet doors?).  Anyhoo, here are some pics.......I had to wait until I cleaned today to take some pictures.  

And yes, I refinished and distressed every single one of these cabinets, even the new ones that we bought to match the pre-existing ones.  Our contractor thought I was stark raving nuts.

See the stained glass lamp above our table?  That belonged to my grandparents and is quite special to me - it was sort of the inspiration piece for the room.  The bar stools are a total kick, aren't they? The color is the same red from my Coke machine which is in our living room and you can actually see it from some angles (not shown in these pics).  The recessed lights are all new and completely transformed the space, oh how I love them.  That boxy area on the other side of the table is the powder room (which is entered from the hall on the left.  The hall on the right has a utility pantry.  We doubled the width of the hall on the left and the hall on the right wasn't even there before (that used to be a large walk-in pantry & wet bar on the family room side).  I wanted "gallery" walls since we have sort of a moving display of art around here.  

Anyway, that is the tour of my new kitchen.  I love it so much, it was quite a project, something that John and I conceptualized and luckily our brilliant contractor figured out how to make it a reality for us.  

(I think the pictures enlarge if you click on them)

I will not feel sorry for Damien Hirst

Just because his auction started the same day the market tanked.  No I won't.  Despite all the world's financial worries with banks failing and AIG about to declare bankruptcy, Sotheby's London made 111 million pounds (over 197 million US dollars) on the Hirst auction.   Who knows what Hirst will get but you can bet it's a bunch.  It is incredible to think that Hirst completely bypassed his galleries.  For someone who is thrilled to obtain gallery representation (that would be me!), it's hard to understand.  

But the sale of all this art just confirms that the rich are still really really rich (duh, like we had any doubt).  If they weren't, I might have had a chance to bid on that pickled shark for my grand kids....

Couldn't have said it better myself

Sunday's NY Times featured an article on digital scrapbooking.  It wasn't that long an article, but there was a section that grabbed me.  It was about Ali Edwards - who is friends w/my friend Dona, I am name dropping here, tee,hee.  I met her, Ali that is, at Artfest last year and she is a total doll, so very nice.  

Anyhoo, here it is....

"Edwards's fans praise her layouts precisely because of their personal touches - her handwriting across photographs and pages, in particular.  Yet when she teaches workshops, she encounters scrappers so wrapped up in buying embellishments that their work becomes "product heavy" and so concerned with achieving the "right" look (like the popular layouts they have seen online) that it "completely stalls them."  She encourages workshop attendees to think of the process as its own reward and to focus on telling a personal story."  

Yep, that pretty much applies to all art, doesn't it?  

Very good advice indeed.  

Rain, rain, rain

I just got back from Cincinnati.  My dad had cataract surgery last week and I drove over to make sure he was OK (it was wildly successful and he doesn't even need glasses now!).  Plus I wanted to pick up an antique table that my parents gave to me.  I drove the truck  and it is embarrassing how much stuff I managed to jam into it (can you say Ikea!?!?).  I think I am doing my part to stimulate the economy.

Luckily, I got back home before the rain started here.  I know I shouldn't complain, when folks in TX have such a horrible situation.  Based on the tiny bit of "Ike" that we have seen, I cannot imagine what Galveston and Houston residents have been through.  This is one nasty storm.  You can see from the first picture that a humming bird rode out the storm on our feeder.  There were actually 3 of the little birds all perched on the feeders; about the only time they've been social with one another.   I think the overhang of our roof offered them a little protection, but you can see this one is all puffed up trying to stay warm.

And later today this spider appeared with it's massive web.  Not to mention all the earthworms trying to flee the water.  Ugh, they crawled under our garage door.  And somehow one managed to get in to our foyer.  Yuckyuckyuck, you should have heard me scream.

I am so glad to be home, even with all these crazy critters; I even have a a few days to make some art, yippee!! Hopefully I'll be able to share some more pictures soon. 

The guts of my biz

I've meant to show this picture forever and keep forgetting about it.  This is how I re-organized my office with the new computer.  I love my mac.  Can't believe I didn't do it earlier.  It is just so great.  

But I also love my office.  It is probably the only room in the house (other than my studio) where I did exactly what I wanted without discussion.  I seriously feel it has helped my business for me to have this special space to work on the mind numbing paper stuff, you know what I mean?

That wave pattern on the wall?  Yeah, well that was free form.  I grabbed a paint roller and just went at it.  Sooooo much fun, I would definitely recommend this sort of painting release!  And my desk?  It's an old distressed table I bought at a local store.  Of course it wouldn't come apart (for some crazy reason) and we couldn't wrestle it through the doorway, so John had to saw part of it's feet off.  But I use those feet to decorate another area which I will show you later....

And yeah, that is an apron draped over my reading chair - so fabulous I just like having it out.  The pencil holder on the desk is a ceramic piece I made when I was a kid.  

The art continues to build across the wall as I collect more pieces from artists I admire.  There are also a few of mine up there and you can probably see the Misty piece that I look at every single day.  It has my favorite word on it.  Cherish.  That word sums it up for me.  

What a show

 Wow, it was so much fun doing a show at home!  So many welcoming faces - friends, collectors, and artist buddies.  

You know those pieces from the last post?  

All gone.  Plus many others as well, including all those greeting cards and more that I made up during the show.  Geez, I never dreamed they would be so popular.  I definitely need to find a manufacturer.

I am also jazzed at the positive feedback regarding my abstracts.  I sold 5 of them which was quite a thrill.  I can't wait to start painting for my show next year, I just want to immerse myself and hole up in the studio.  Unfortunately, I have at least 2 more months of shows and classes until that is possible. 

And oh, the ideas I have!  Just loads of them, but really, play is the best direction (for me at least) because then I will make loads of new discoveries.  And most likely end up moving in a completely different direction than where I thought I was going.  But that just makes it fun.

Beth & Frank brought the grand kids to the show and it was wonderful to have them hanging out behind my booth, both working on drawings.  Aidan is writing and illustrating his own book about fish and dinosaurs.  I am perhaps a little biased, but I think it's pretty fantastic for any child, but especially a 6 year old.  The commitment he has made to this project is unbelievable.  Hopefully I will be able to share some pics one day.

Anyhoo, it was a perfect weekend.  I need to sleep for about a week except I have a studio class on Tuesday and then I leave for Cincinnati on Wednesday, so I will have to make do with a 24 hour rest.  

Thanks so much to all of you who support my path.  It means more than you could even imagine.  I am incredibly blissed.

Of birds and babes

Schlafly Art Outside

Starting today!!!!

I have lots of birds

and babes...

plus some cowboys

and clowns 

thrown in for 

good measure.

Hope to see you there!

Gypsy life

Greeting cards - printed, mounted & packaged 4 dozen

Sound Bites - painted 2 dozen, still need to do phrases & wire them

Reproductions - printed, matted & packaged 2 dozen

6x6's - 6 complete, 4 to go

12x12's - 4 done, 4 to go

my list is getting shorter

I'm working pretty much round the clock at the moment.  Lots of little things because my stock is low.  It is times like this when I wish I had an assistant.  Ah, perhaps one day.  

Schlafly Art Outside is this weekend - 50 artists - check out the site, it is just getting better and better!  I am excited since it's my only outdoor fair in the St. Louis area for 2008.  And you know what, it's OK that I didn't get in to the "big" show this year.  The Schlafly people are really my people anyway.  I mean I loved doing the Clayton show (duh), like who wouldn't want to be in a top five show like that.  But Schlafly is where it all started for me.  Four years ago, in fact.  Geez, it's crazy to think how far I have come since then, specifically the fact I have relaxed enough to truly enjoy this lifestyle - using shows to catch up with artist friends for dinner and to grab a li'l vacation in the towns we visit.  It's a good life indeed.  But it's also good to be home too!  

We will set up Friday starting at noon.  The show itself starts at 5 and runs till 10 on Friday.  It's from 10-10 on Saturday and then 12-4 on Sunday.  I am blissed with  a corner booth, yippee (my lucky number no less, booth #7  as sweet Joe Mohr traded with me because I begged and whined), so I will have some of the big abstracts with me.