Pumpkin mummies

I got this idea from Martha Stewarts Living magazine, her pumpkins were oblong,  I couldnt find that shape so this is what I could find here in Florida, little ones. She suggested using crepe paper, my very smart husband suggested using ace bandages that stuck to each other, that worked really well. They do look a bit like terrorists, but they are supposed to be mummys, I like them they are cute... Happy Halloween.

Halloween Ghouls

Halloween Ghouls.... I needed something for the my Halloween Bunco party. I needed to have a way to mark the tables. I saw something interesting in a shop in SanFrancisco so I thought I would do my version.
But with no room left in my luggage I decided to make my own.  I really enjoyed painting them. Happy Halloween!

Portfolio's at Highlights

Recently I had the opportunity to visit the Highlights Company for the Illustrators weekend. I always enjoyed seeing how other illustrators present their artwork so here are a few of my favorites.

This first portfolio is of Laura Jacobsen's work. What I really liked about this aside from her wonderful work was the clever presentation, I like that these pieces can be taken out individually. Also the paper she matted the art on had her artwork printed on it, which really tied it all together. The box itself was imprinted with her logo which you could see above.

I thought this was a really fun way of presenting promotional pieces. Mike Dammer did this art and I thought the whole package really worked well together.

Here is another very great way of getting some attention for your work. Terry Taylor is a 3D artist and she had this 3D presentation. The photo isn't the best but the art was beautiful and really fun to look at. 

Another artist that I have watched for many years is Judith Moffatt, her work is cut paper, and beautiful.

She sells her art on Etsy, I was lucky enough to have 2 pieces of her wonderful art, she was a hit at the highlights party. Her costumes with her husband Bill are wonderful, always fun to see what they have come up with.  

Another artist that I had the pleasure of getting to know is Sherry Neidigh, she has been creating these amazing signs for Trader Joes. Now next time I am near a Trader Joes I will have to stop in.

First all digital art...

After a seven hour plane ride, listening to the Kardashians on plane tv, I was able to try out my Ipad for drawing, using my pogo stylus is like drawing with a Q tip, but I put all the details in with Photoshop once I got home. It was fun and on the next plane ride this Friday I plan to explore more. I love my Ipad....  

Mermaid Box

It is very hot down here in Florida...which leads me to the Mermaid Box that I painted a while ago.
I had this box in my studio forever so I decided to paint something on it for the guest bathroom to put toothbrushes, etc in,
So here it is....in progress...

 

Yummy, more digital

 

Another day another illustration with Photoshop, thanks Will Terry and my friends at PBA. 

It seems that the more I do this the more I learn, the less I know, thanks so much for "history".

Digital Painting

My first real attempt at digital illustration, I like the freedom to be able to play around with colors, I dont like that I cant seem to retain the details that I would like once I flattened it down, so off to Lynda.com for alot more training. All In all it was a good learning experience, hopefully the first of many more. 

Thats Silly

This May my artwork is in High Five Magazine. I love doing work for the Highlights company, they are wonderful to work for. I was very happy with the printing also. On Easter it was fun to sit down with my  4 years old friend Sienna, she loved Thats Silly.

Painting on Rocks Update

It doesnt look busy now, but it was, at least 500 kids past though our painting on rocks. This is Emily my wonderful daughter that helped me out, whew, I learned many lessons. The first one being kids especially little kids are very happy painting anything, rocks included. The second one is next time bring a tablecloth. I guess the last thing is people in general are very nice and forgiving, one parent was upset that I used acrylics that wont come off his shirt, until I explained if I used temperas they may not come off his car seats. One big learning curve, we had a wonderful day all in all. Came home played scrabble, she beat me, for the second time, a great day. Time to bone up on my scrabble....  

Pba Spring Art

The Picture Book Artists Spring art is up...check it out.
http://www.picturebookartists.org/

Painting on rocks

In Winter Garden Florida the Bloom and Grow Society is putting on a festival. They hired me to paint rocks with kids. I had fun coming up with these ideas... The weather is beautiful down here, and I am looking forward to the festival.

Easter Egg Time

For some reason, after I saw a wooden easter egg painted looking like chocolate, I had a need to make a bunch of them, so last year was all chocolate colored eggs, this year has some color..its fun, wooden eggs, acrylic and Scribbles 3D Paints , which have a mind of their own. My advice, have alot of Q tips available for the Scribbles  not behaving, for clean up, and have fun.

Rain Barrel Painting

Here in Ocoee Florida the town offered a free rain barrel and a wonderful day in the beautiful weather, to paint our rain barrels. Mine is still a work in progress, but I thought it would be fun to share. This is my friend Shari, also an artist. Her barrel came out great.

And then some others...

This woman is a quilter, I really liked the freeness and idea of this.

 And then this is mine, I didn't plan properly. So it is getting a new finish and waiting for another weekend where I am home and wanting to be outside. It is collecting rain though, so thats good. They were harder to paint than I thought.

This is where I am at now, I think bigger may be better with the artwork...

The Advent Memory Game

There  is a game my sister Lili made up. She took an advent calendar and put in a bunch of stuff and the kids had to match up the boxes until they won something, like a memory game. The kids, being in their late teens and early 20's were very uninterested, winning silly putty and chapstick, until one of them  matched up two $20's they perked up.

So this Christmas we are doing the same, my niece and nephew from up north  are unfamiliar with the game, I bet they will like it.

I had purchased this box about 20 years ago and was waiting for a vision, then after playing the game and being a big fan of MacKenzie- Childs I decided to use patterns and colors and I like the way it came out.

This is the box in progress...

Now I want to do a painting for Emilys room, it has wonderful light and I got coverlets that have great colors, my sister has a painting I love,  the the artist used day glow paint and it serves as a night light, I am thinking textures and colors and patterns,  so my mind is working... on to the next project.

My Christmas Barter...

This is a piece of artwork that I bartered for with Judith Moffatt. I have known of Judiths work for years and when we met at the Highlights Party, she had mentioned she would like to purchase a Memory Bulb for her cat Minky. I suggested a barter and it worked out great. Above is the piece I picked out and also she included an ACEO which is very cute, I cant scan it because it is in a frame.  

The photo doesnt give the piece Justice, the colors are bright and the thing I love about it is the textures.   

Anyway, I am happy with our trade. Now off to have it framed...

What I do on a Friday night

My ornaments, the studio is a mess,  but I love it, Jingle Bulb time, some special orders, which means I got an email "could you do a special ornament for my..." and some  names on the ornaments I have designed.

The special part about all of this is I connect with people, some new people  and some that have supported me all these years...and the bonus is painting  here  in the studio listening to my Sirrius radio or Itunes, this year Brandy is my favorite. Sunny day is good painting music...Full Moon, its all good.

 Howard Stern had 2 great interviews this week one with Jay Z and another with Billy Joel, and the commen thread is they wanted to connect with the people through their music, that being said, I love the fact that my ornaments mean special to someone else. I guess I like connecting through my art, and appreciate all of us doing that.


So I am not making Billy Joel or Jay Z money, but as I said, its all good.

Sparkle Postcard

This is the postcard for Windermere Design, a terrific store in Windermere Florida that sells JingleBulbs, my handpainted ornaments. I really enjoyed working on this postcard, I painted it in acylics on canvas paper. 

Craft Time In Florida

One of the wonderful things about living in Florida is the reward we get for putting up with the hot summer..  Amazing weather and Craft Shows! We started out in Windermere, the next town over.  It is a beautiful little town on 5 lakes.

This is Windermere Design, the shop that sells my ornaments, owned by Mike and Doug, they have 

wonderful taste, obviously....

.

And here are my ornaments, at their outside booth.

Then we went to Finders Keepers, she has great stuff and found a terrific handbag for $8, I am thinking that because it is from Windermere, home of Tiger Woods and many more famous people, I may have gotten myself an expensive bag, only to find out it is  worth about $40 new, oh well I like it anyway. It is no Coach but it will do.

  It still is nice, I like it. 

Then there is Mount Dora. It is a town about 35 minutes from Ocoee, great town. Little shops on a Lake, resturants, very fun place to go and linger around. This Craft Show is a big deal, crafters come from all over, New York, Indiana, hundreds of them, as you can see from the photos below.  

We finally did get crafted out, I think the downside of moving to Florida or moving anywhere is we had to get rid of so much that the idea of bringing anything new in would have to go through so much consideration. But it was very fun and I got alot of ideas. I hope the crafters did well, I walked past Donna Dewberry of One Stroke Painting fame, I got a kick out of that. I am not a big One Stroke Painting fan, but I admire the fact that she built a following, while raising a family.

 Anyway, we had a great day.