December update

Not surprisingly, I have been rather busy with the holidays, working on things for my Etsy store and some unfortunate family events. Not that there are many following my blog in the first place, but, I still think it's a good idea to regularly make entries. Here are a few things I've been working on and some thoughts about them:

This is a close-up of my new Slumber Buddy design which my 12 year old son has named "Lenny". He's two-toned... green on the front and purple on the back. I really like him, but, can't decide if I like the fact that his antenna are floppy. The kids seem to like them just fine, so I have him listed as such. You can check him out at my Etsy store.

The following are my chunky pages from the cupcake swap over at mail art world. Roc was the hostess with the most-ess for this swap, which seemed to be plagued with bad juju as one of the participant's pages (barefootchef) were lost in a postal black hole. BFC ended up recreating all eight of her pages and mailing them out individually to each person. What a trooper!! Many thanks Cathy. You really came through. I got my returns last week and let me tell you, they are spectacular. All I need to do now is get a binder ring and put my book together. I'm excited because I have a couple of other books that are started, but, none that are complete like this one. The recipes all sound yumalicious too. Mine was Black Bottom Cupcakes. I tried them and YES, they are really good. There isn't any icing on 'em, which suits me just fine as I don't care for it anyway. Just chocolate and cream cheese. What's not to love?

That's it for today. Happy trails and good luck with all your holiday preparations. God knows I'll need a little help to get everything done. ♥

The nice thing

Slowly, I have come to realize that creating art for the sake of art is rewarding both personally and financially. I have been playing around with collage for a few years, and now that I am getting back into freelance work, I have found that all that experiementation is paying off. I created this piece for a client who is trying to promote recycling in their area. The entire image is made from materials that I found in my recycling bin or papers that were made from recycled materials. Well, everything except the base surface. I wanted that to be neutral pH, so I chose a heavy weight illustration board for a base surface. I'm excited to see the final printed piece.

This is a photo of my latest Slumber Buddy design. Her name is Ellie. Call her an alien or a monster... whatever you like, but I really enjoy her bright color and circular antenna. I'm working on another one in green with two antenna. Should have it posted by the end of this week. That's my youngest, posing for me with the pillow. I thought he did a pretty good job faking sleep, don't you? Sitting still can be a difficult task for a wiggly six year old.

Tonight I'm working on some pages for a chunky cupcake book that is due this week to my friend Roc. There are eight partipants including myself and I have to say I'm really looking forward to the returns on that. Come back soon and see how they turned out.

See ya later.

Incredibly Creative Day!!

I think I've discovered the secret (for me anyway) to loosing weight. Just hang out in the studio with no kids around for six hours straight, making art and having fun. OMG!! I took the kids to school this morning, came home and went to "my room" determined not to let anything get in the way of making art today. I finished three pieces that I had started before, began and finished two and started another three new ones. I listed five new things in my etsy store today as well. I didn't actually come up for food and water until after 2.

Let me know what you think of my new stuff. It's mostly watercolor, but, there are a few other things in there too just for fun. If you want to see more detail shots or even purchase one, just visit my etsy site (http://www.studiomelange.etsy.com).

"Penny Rug Pair"

More of my colorful circle shapes.

"Leon"

Recently, there was a fatal car accident here in Denver where a man slammed his vehicle into an ice cream shop. Ironically, I had already begun working on this piece. Two women and a little boy were killed that day. This painting is dedicated to them.

"I Always Miss You When You're Gone"
When my husband is out of town on business, I never sleep very well, but, my little pink water bottle at least helps keep me warm.

"Cupcake"

Seems everyone is using cupcakes for their subject matter, so I thought I would try one too. I really like the colorful nature of these little treats. Next month I have a cupcake chunky book swap coming up over at mailartworld, so I thought this would get me in the mood to start painting some for my swap buddies. I have to create eight in all. Better get cake-in, huh?!

Thanks for stopping in. You're visits mean so much to me. Really they do!

Halloween Swap

Hi all. Hope you're enjoying the amazing colors of fall and the crisp weather. Really today it's rather soggy here and not very crisp. It's more of a cold day so I'm hold up in the house working on Buddy designs and relaxing a bit too. The pile of laundry on the bed keeps calling me to be folded, but, frankly I'm ignoring it.

These are a couple of postcards I created for the Halloween postcard swap over at mailartworld. I will never be as fantastic at collage as my buddy Roc, but, I'll keep trying. The first one is called "Shellie the Skellie's Favorite Mask" and the second is "Bo Peep Clown Skellie". I think the second one is a bit disturbing, but, then again, it's Halloween and what better time to bring out the creepy stuff, right?

Funky, Fantasy Flowers

This week I actually had a moment to play around with some art. What a nice change of pace from the activities I have been doing for the last month. Between trying to finish up our basement project and getting my Slumber Buddies going, I haven't set aside any creative time at all. Shame on me. If you are familiar with my work from the last year or so you know that I have been playing with flower and other botanical shapes. It's fun to see what kind of weird unusual things I can come up with. While I'm working on these images I catch myself wondering if they are in fact all that fantastical. Perhaps somewhere in South America or in Africa, there is a flower or leaf that looks like mine. There are some very strange looking animal and insect species on earth. Why not plants too?

This card was just for fun.

...and these three cards were made for a trade with one of my atc buddies over at atcsforall. We agreed to do a tryptic of three cards using the theme of "fantasy flowers". She commented that after seeing this, a great thud was heard in the land and the local handsome firemen had to come and revive her. Shucks, that made my day.

ABC School Days Postcard Challenge

No time to chat tonight, but, wanted to share this goofy postcard I made for the school days postcard challenge over at mailartworld. Normally I don't do collage, but, thought I would for this one. I'll be curious to see how she goes through the mail with those funky cut corners.

Modigliani makes me sad.

Recently I joined a postcard trading group at mailart.com. The idea is to create a 4"x6" postcard that will make it through the mail. The postal stamps etc that get added to the card in transit are intended to add to the flavor of the card. Above are a couple that I made this last week. More cirular images.

Something else interesting... I was researching ancient symbols this week for an illustration assignment I picked up. I stumbled across some information about native american medicine wheels in Alberta that were made out of stone. The really great thing is that many of the markings that appear on my circular art resemble the medicine wheels in Alberta. Do-do-do-do.... (Twilight Zone music). All the more evidence to me that my circular art is a mind clearing meditational process for me. My husband says you can take the girl out of Boulder, but, you can't take the Boulder out of the girl. That's a good thing I would say.





I just finished making the following cards for a swap at illustratedatcs.com. Man, it was really hard to get them done. I've been in a really good mood lately and I had a hard time painting sad. Ya know?!

If Modigliani ever did close ups, I imagine they might look something like this.

I've also been messing around with more swashy floral cards for a little balance in the anti-Modigliani mode. I really enjoy this light and airy style. It's so fresh and carefree. It also helps me deal with summer's nearing end. Wahhhh! Although fall IS pretty darn nice. Even if I don't live in Vermont or New York state.

TGIF

"Thank goodness I figured it out"... and "Thank goodness it's Friday" too.




Here is the logo I developed to go along with my new line of buddies. Pretty exciting!! Let me know what you think of it. More pillow designs are coming to me all the time and I'm loving that part of this process. The hard part for me is the business side of things. I don't even want to think about what taxes are going to be like. I can handle marketing and production stuff, but, Lord help me, I sure need assistance with the other details. Thanks to Martha and Wendy and everyone else who has supported and guided me in my decision to move forward with this idea. Your help has been invaluable to me.

The kids have a long weekend, but, our time will be anything but relaxing. Between football, working on the basement trim and other family projects, we'll all be glad when Tuesday comes I think. Hopefully, I will be able to get some art done this weekend and take a break from other more grueling matters.

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful Labor Day weekend.

Please welcome my new friends.

Perhaps you have noticed the newest addition on the side bar of my blog. Seven very cute, cuddly and full of personality creatures that I call Slumber Buddies. Where did they come from? While we were on vacation this summer in New York, my six year old, Colby, realized that he had forgotten his favorite teddy bear, Jackson. He was very upset and wouldn't go to sleep without some sort of animal to snuggle with and there were no stunt doubles available anywhere at the hotel we were staying at. What I did have was a small travel pillow and a sharpie... and "Vwala!", an idea was born. I drew eyes, a nose and some little teeth on the pillow case and suddenly Colby was happy as a clam with his new friend, which he decided to name "Guy". When we came home I set to work on the designs and now I'm full swing with a new company and all the goodies that go with it. I'm still making art of course, because... well, I can't help it, but, for now the Buddies are taking up much of my time. More on that process later.

I also joined the postcard group on mailartworld.com, which I am sad to say, I haven't had a second to do anything for. I cut out postcards last night, with the hope that if I have them laying around, that I'll pick them up and work on them while I'm watching tv or in a spare moment.

Recently I submitted some of my atcs to a collaborative book project that fellow art card enthusiast, Sal Scheibe put together called "Artist Trading Cards: The Best of IllustratedATCs.com 2007". I just recieved my copy of the book, which is being sold at lulu.com. I'm so proud to be included in the book with so many other very talented people and I'm also very impressed with the overall quality of the book. On a side note, all the proceeds from the sale of the book are going to charity.

Another project on my plate these past few months is the completion of our basement finishing project. It's been a long process, and I've learned a great deal, but, thankfully, it's almost done. We hope to have the trim and carpet done in a couple of weeks. Wahoo!! My husband is calling it his "man cave." Sounds fine by me as long as I get to see him from time to time.

I've added a couple of new "places you gotta visit". Be sure to check out What's Up Roc's blog. This woman is seriously creative with a wonderful personality to go with it. She never ceases to amaze me with the incredible collage work that she does. We're not talking about pasting down a couple of elements and calling it done. She combines elements and creative techniques in a way that is fresh and fun. No matter what, I'll bet her work will get a chuckle out of you

Thanks for stopping by and have a wonderful week.

Here are a few pics from our vacation this summer. Hope you enjoy them.

Where did summer go?

I haven't really had time to make too much art, so I decided to work on marketing and finishing up some of the loose ends around the studio. I've always thought that a set of note cards using art work from some of my atcs would be fun, so I took the watercolors of little girl shoes and made a set of six to list on my etsy site. I think they are so sweet.

One of the pieces that I did finish is the painting called "Edna's Garden" named after Wendy's cat. Like so many cats, she loves to sit on the window sill and gaze at the day going by. I really wanted to offer the painting as "ready to hang" but, couldn't find a frame that I liked, so I decided to put some pretty ribbon on the edges. I really like the way it came out.

"Little Girl Shoes" note cards

"Edna's Garden"




Details from "Edna's Garden"

Made You Blink!

That's the feedback I got on this 4" x 4" chunky page that I did for a trader called LisaB at illustratedatcs.com. All she asked for was a zetti style card. I'm not really sure where the inspiration for this page came, but, I hope she likes it. It was created with watercolor and ink.






This is another card that I created just for fun. I started out as an interpretational piece and ended up being this "High Wire Cat Act". I don't know... it just kind of made me chuckle. It was created with ink, watercolor, acrylics and a tiny bit of collage for the clouds. I had fun making this one.

My next swap is called "Who Let the Dogs Out." As you can well imagine, the theme is all about dogs. I may try this technique for those cards... or maybe the loose style of artist Marita Freeman. I just love her brightly colored acrylics.

Thanks for stopping in. Until next time...

More chunky pages

Here are a few other pieces I have been working on. These "chunky pages" were created either for me or for a one on one trade with another artist. This format really appeals to me since it is larger than the traditional artist trading card.

"Kansas Farm Silos"

watercolor

While on a road trip last summer I spotted these unusual silos with their red and blue tops. On the flat Kansas landscape, they really caught my attention.

"Mashed Potatoes"
mixed media

This is dedicated to my mother-in-law, who recently broke her hip. Her favorite food is mashed potatoes.

Study for "Growth"
watercolor and ink

This was one of the precursers for the larger acrylic "Growth" image shown a couple of blogs ago. I still don't think I'm done exploring these shapes.

Sturgis Pair

"Sturgis Pair"

acrylics on canvas

While visiting Sturgis, South Dakota during the rally last year, I spotted this man and his dog (and wife) on their motorcycle. Although I am not a motorcycle person, I couldn't resist painting them. They were the perfect subjects to try out this new painting technique that I've been wanting to try with acrylics. I watered down the paint and applied it in a watercolor-is way and totally avoided using black, creating my shadows with color instead. I'm very pleased with the way it came out. From realism to abstracts... what's next you ask? Well, I wish I knew myself. I suppose it depends on what inspires me.

The Green Show

Some people are late bloomers. I'm one of them. After 35 years of painting and drawing, I finally have a painting in a show here in Denver. Not sure why it took me so long.

It was completely surreal walking into the gallery during the opening and seeing my piece up on the wall. I got a great location right next to the door as you enter the space and I thought I represented well with the other work on display. I didn't take best of show or even get an honorable mention, but, to me, it was amazing just being in the show.

The theme of the show is "The Green Show." Artists were to create pieces depicting what the color or the word meant to us. I have been experimenting with these circular shapes for a few years now, and so it just seemed natural for me to explore that more. They represent the earth, individuals, organisms or even cross cuts of trees. I wanted to stay with a positive feeling, thus the color choice (which seems a little off in these photos). Wendy says the color reminds her of watermelon. I like that. What the photos don't show is the texture I added with tissue and the newspaper swatches about earth day and being "green" under the paint. The word "green" is also peeking through on the lower left corner. A little detail I like to sneak in.

If you happen to be in Denver's Art District between now and May 24th, stop in at Core New Art Space and check out the show.

"Growth"

Acrylics and graphite on a reclaimed canvas

(in other words, I found it in a neighbor's trash)

This is a detail.

These two little cards were actually done around Valentine's Day. I arranged a one-on-one trade with a wonderful artist in the U.K., Marita Freeman, who had posted a neat painting of her feet in lime green sandals. I wanted to give her two cards to choose from. I kept the one she didn't choose. Can you guess which one she asked for?

She asked for this one, the more colorful of the two. She uses a great deal of color in her work, so I suspected she would choose this one. This image was painted after a photo of some little girl shoes that I saw that I would buy in a heart beat if I had a daughter.

Chunky pages

Hi all. Sorry it's been such a long time since I posted. We're getting the basement finished, so, I've been down there hashing through 8 years of accumulated junk. What a tedious, mind numbing activity going through all that stuff. I'm also working on the illustrations for my children's book. Not telling what that's about, but, I will when and if it gets picked up for publication.

One of my other ventures of late is a swap called "In the Style of Yourself" 4" x 4" chunky book swap. There are 12 participants including myself, which means that I must create 12 pages of whatever I want. The big problem is that I don't consider myself to be one of those people with a distinguishable "style", so my pages are all over the place. I suppose that describes my excitement for the world. Many things catch my eye and draw my attention. Truth is, there will never be enough days in my life to allow me to make art about all the things that interest me. I guess that's good. Here are a few of my pages.

These first two were just fun "color only" studies that I decided to try. I wanted to create whimsical pages without using any black at all. I seem to use black outlines in much of my work, so I thought I would experiment with some color on color this time. I was amazed at how much it impacted the mood of the pages. Additionally, I thought I would experiment with text on the page. Several of the other artists in the swap really like text on their art.

This image was created using a sketch that Colby, my 6 year old noodled out. I just loved the spiral ears and the open happy mouth. It wasn't until after I finished the painting I realized that it's kind of scary. Darn those "Chucky" movies. Maybe this one should have been called "Chucky goes Chunky"? Too predictable?

This painting is simply a gestural study in movement and energy. It reminds me of the sleeping time between dreams when my subconscious mind is forming images and hasn't settled on anything yet.



This one is simply called "Butterfly Nose".


Con and Mary, my brother and sister-in-law have some beautiful Buddhas in their home and when we went to visit over New Years, I couldn't help but draw some images of them. They really are beautiful I thought.

It's done

After more fumbling and guessing and stewing I finally have my site up. I decided to change the address to http://www.victoria-rees.com. Like most people I bought several domaine names, but, I'm going to use the one above for my primary. I figured a .com is better than a .net. What do you think?Check it out when you have a moment. It's really been a fun journey for me learning html... wait a minute. Did I say... "fun!?" Yes, it's true. I must be a real nerd at heart because although it is very irritating when you can't figure something out, it's also very interesting learning what makes the web tick.

In the last few days I also managed to create a couple of rolodex cards. One for Stuart in the UK who always cracks me up with his gentlemanly humor and stage directions in his thread replies. They go something like this... *getting up to run to the door and trips over sleeping dog*. While considering an appropriate image for his rolodex, this image came to mind and wouldn't be quiet until I painted it. He got it today and really seems to like it. Ahhh, the warm fuzzies.

This other one is for a woman in Georgia named Greer. For some reason I seemed to be drawn to drawing feet. She seems like a toe ring kinda gal and commented after I posted it that she liked that about it. Funny how that happens.

I used irridescent paint on this one, so the photo doesn't come close to showing it off properly. I just liked the simplicity of the composition.

Spring is just around the corner. Can't wait. I'm done with the cold weather.