The Potbelly Pixie

Baby, it's cold outside

A wintry chunky book page for my friend Sarah, whom I adore.  This one's HOLIDAY MEOW.

4x4, colored pencil.

Sursum Corda

It means, "Lift up your hearts (to God.)"  For swaggertoes, who chose a really unique and challenging theme for her chunky book page:  illuminated manuscripts.

4x4.  Acrylics, gel pen, colored pencil.

Secret Santa

IllustratedATCs.com is doing a SECRET SANTA swap and I'm taking part, sending out one small gift, and one large gift, to two different people who don't know I'm their Mrs. Claus.  I have absolutely no idea who might be sending gifts to me, either.  Hence, the "secret" part.  But you knew that already.  :)~

Here are two of the little gifties I finished last night for my matches.  I have lots more to do; I'll make custom ATC's or journal pages, perhaps a sock monster or imp doll, and so on, so there are several things to unwrap for each person.  But it sure feels good making a solid start!

This was my first time making a floating (or "Tin Cup") necklace.  I used silk thread (size 7, if you're wondering), brass & copper findings, Swarovski crystals, glass beads, and gold beads.  It was really easy AND fun to make!  The only trick was learning how to get those knots right where I wanted them, but that was maybe three minutes of experimentation and practice and then voila!, it was do-able!  Give this idea a shot this season if you like making jewelry and are looking for a fun and simple way to make something really dazzling (and comfortable) for a special sister, mom, aunt, or grandma.

The earrings were made with Vintaj brass findings -- a new discovery for me.  I really love the antique-y look of the brass, and will be stocking up on these beauties for future projects.

San Francisco adventure

Yesterday I had such a total blast in San Francisco with my family!  My husband and all three boys, plus my mom and dad, shared dinner at the Metreon, then took in an evening performance of Cirque du Soleil's latest production KOOZA, which was, of course, awesome-sauce on fantastatoast.  It boggles the mind, what a trained body can do.  And the artistry and costuming of every Cirque production -- so inspiring and amazing!  This was my seventh Cirque show (eighth, if you count that I saw KA twice in Vegas) and I am always entertained, and never disappointed.  Catch it if you can; the tour schedule and show description can be viewed here.

I also brought home two incredibly cool art books that captured the attention of me and my two artistic sons while we were browsing the funky book shop, CHRONICLE BOOKS, which features tons of photo-rich reading material on art & design, architecture, interiors, pop culture, humor, and some truly incredible illustrated children's books.  They both feature hand-drawn text and graffiti style street art by some truly talented international artists.  Don't let the seeming ly naughty title of the second one put you off; it's an excellent image reference for all kinds of hand-drawn text!  If you're interested in funky street art or hand-drawn alphabet stylings (such as the KOOZA logo above, come to think of it), check them out!

Jeanne d'Arc

Another chunky book page, for artyiagirl, whose theme was "Women Saints, Goddesses and Mythological Women."  I chose Joan of Arc.

Mixed media collage, 4x4.

 

I love Cassandra Barney

... in an "I really admire your art" kind of way.

Here's a chunky book page I did today in oils.  My friend Meran asked us to pick our favorite artist and then "do our best job" reproducing one of his/her works.  So this is what I chose:  Cassandra Barney's CHIEN TUNG #64.

I'm particularly tickled with how this one turned out.  It's only my second oil painting (my first was also a reproduction, of a Joe Sorren work) and somehow this feels like "my" medium more than any other I've played with so far.  Takes a long while to whip one of these puppies out, though; I think I worked on this one for about three hours.

It was an excellent study in technique and I was delighted to figure out how to achieve a few effects I didn't know how to do prior to experimenting today.  Now if only I could similarly absorb Cassandra Barney's wonderful talent for composition, subject matter, and combining colors! :)~

4x4.

Post-feast art

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving!  My folks were up from the Bay Area and my stepsons were both here (Jeb, 21, and Zack, 17) with me and Tim, so we had a really warm, nice, quiet family time, with some game playing (Apples to Apples, Scattergories) and a viewing of the fabulous RATATOUILLE (thinking of you, Vee!)  My sons were with their dad in the Bay Area, far away (color me blue over that)... but I'll get them back from him this Sunday and we'll all see Cirque du Soleil's newest production, KOOZA, in San Francisco, so that kinda makes up for missing them on Thanksgiving Day  And besides, I get them on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day every year, the most magical days of the year, so I can't pout too loudly.

Today I spent the day recovering from all that cooking and standing and eating and cleaning, and doing a little bit of art.  Deadlines are upon me for a few magazine/webzine articles due, and some of my bigger swaps.

I finished up a chunky book page that has been vexing me all week.  This might be the fourth iteration of this particular card; it just wasn't "flowing" the first three tries.  Finally, today, I arrived at something I like, that I think my friend Sal will like, too.  Her theme for the chunky book PAT swap is, "Gothic Zetti."  Hopefully, this is right up her alley!

Acrylic, collage, ink, gelpen, 4x4.

Buy Handmade

There's nothing more meaningful or more wonderful to behold than something that's been created from a unique vision, by talented hands, straight from the heart.  So why not give the gift of uniquely beautiful, artist-created work this holiday season?  BUY HANDMADE!

Start by taking the HANDMADE PLEDGE.  I did!

Read about why handmade goods are the most-good goods around.

Support indie artists and fight big box madness with your consumer dollars!  You can find communities of artists showcasing their handmade work of every imaginable kind, at every imaginable pricepoint, here (among other places):

• www.ebay.com
• www.flickr.com
• www.etsy.com
• www.myspace.com
• www.indiepublic.com  (thanks to Kim Basta for the recommendation!)

Madonna and Child

After a brief respite away from all things that doodle, I've been working today on several paint and pen projects for swaps and holiday gifties and so on.  Here's my first finished piece, MADONNA AND CHILD, for Mrs. Weyremaster at illustratedATCs.com.  It's for a Chunky Book Pick-A-Theme swap I'm in there, and her theme was, you guessed it, "Madonna and Child."

Acrylic paint, graphite, watercolor wash, ink, gel pen.  4x4.

Edited to add:  There's an entire thread at one of my swap sites called "From Photo to Finished."  In it, art card creators show the photographic model(s) they used as the foundation for their work, as compared to the completed piece.  It's always intriguing to see where a work begins.  Here's my "From Photo to Finished" comparison for the piece, above.  I found an image on the web that seemed suitable for the theme I needed to render, and then I altered it to form my final, contemporary vision of this blessed mother-and-son scene.

Back to Back

BLUE ZETTI's auction will close tonight at 7pm, PST, and will be immediately followed by an auction for FIVE GOLDEN RINGS, currently featured in Teddy Bear & Friends magazine.  Beginning at 7pm PST tonight, you can view the auction for FIVE GOLDEN RINGS on eBay here.

Thanks for your interest in my work, and for all the kind comments you've sent my way over the years.  I really appreciate your feedback and support!