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.