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.