Lovely Spring

Hello! I am enjoying a lovely spring day here in Tucson, and I hope you are too :)
I spotted this magnificent purple flower near our apartment and just had to show it to you. Isn't it lovely?

I just love days like this when you can have the windows open and enjoy the fresh air and the chirping of the birds. My boyfriend and I are going to get our porch cleaned up this weekend and get our little container garden started. I can't wait to have pretty green things out there! :)

I thought it would be a good time to show this little flower drawing I did a few months ago. I believe I showed it on my blog a good while back, but I just found it again while cleaning things up and thought it was rather spring-y :)

I decided to enjoy some mint green tea in my teapot today. Yummy! My mom handpainted this tea tray for me to match the tea set. She is amazing!

Lastly, here is my little painting I did yesterday, "Alice and the Tiny Door." The key fits, but if only she could fit too...

I am going to be working on a wee fairy girl today who I will share with you soon. I hope you are having a lovely day!

The Star Coins

Hello, and happy Saturday! I just wanted to pop in and show you my newest painting, "The Star Coins." I based this on a very short little fairy tale collected by the Brothers Grimm called "The Star Talers." It is about a little poor girl who has lost her parents. She has very little, but what she does have, her clothing and a crust of bread, she gives away to others even less fortunate. In the end, "She was standing outside with nothing left whatsoever, when stars began to fall from the sky, and they were shiny new talers. Even though she had just given her shift away, she had a new one on, and it was made of the finest linen. She gathered the talers into her lap, and for the rest of her life she was rich." I think it is a sweet little story.

I am absolutely addicted to fairy tales, and always have been. There is nothing I can read that transports me the way they do. This book is my favorite, a beautiful hardback edition with notes and lovely illustrations. I love coming across stories I was never familiar with before, like this one. There is nothing like reading yourself a good fairy tale before bed :)

I hope you are having a magical weekend, and I will see you soon! :)

Her Fancy Hat

This is my newest painting, "Her Fancy Hat", which I did yesterday. For this one I used flocked scrapbook paper for her hat and dress, so it has that fun velvety texture. I also incorporated watercolor pencils for some soft definition. This little gal, named Delilah, tries to keep her fancy hat for special occasions, but she can't help wearing it "just because" sometimes! :)

I also wanted to show you this fun little Hershey's tin I found at the Goodwill store for 99 cents! Its a little beat up, but I think it just adds character...plus who can argue for a dollar! I also have this adorable carriage tin my sisiter gave me for Christmas...I thin I can sense a tin collection coming along :)

I hope you are having a simply wonderful day, and I will see you soon! :)

Listening

Sometimes you need to get away from everything, block out all other senses and listen to the beauty and unique music of your soul...

Above is my newest mixed-media painting, "Listening." I painted the girl in acrylic, used scrapbook paper for her dress which I antiqued a bit with acrylic, and added some vintage sheet music and little butterflies which I cut out of a magazine. This painting turned into something I was not expecing at all. It all started when I was painting a girl and got frustrated because I couldn't get the eyes quite the way I wanted them. Its funny how that happens, isn't it?

Here is a little shabby Cinderella also, waiting for that pumpkin to turn into a grand carriage...
Both of these little gals are available in my etsy shop.

I went on a cleaning extravaganza for a few hours after yoga today in my little craft area. Since it is somewhat organized now, I thought I would share a picture of my tiny creative space. Although I usually end up painting at the coffee table while watching I Love Lucy :)

I hope you are having a wonderful, lovely weekend, and I will see you soon! :)

The Queen of Hearts

Here she is...The Queen of Hearts! I tried to make her look a little grumpy, as if her little mouth is shouting "Off with their heads!!!" She was a lot of fun to paint :) I was going to make her have short hair at first, but I just love the long hair, I can't help it!

I hope you have a fun and safe St. Patrick's Day! We are going out for pizza with my sister and a couple of friends. I will see you soon! :)

The Strange Garden

Here are my two newest paintings: "The Strange Garden" (above) and "The Little Dancer" (below). I am still experimenting with a little bit of mixed-media, so I made the girl's dress out of tissue paper for "The Strange Garden." I think it adds some fun texture. I also had fun making up my own unusual flower varieties :)

Today I am working on a little Queen of Hearts, which I will share with you soon. I haven't been doing the fairy tale characters as much lately, but I can't help but have a little bit of Alice fever lately! I haven't seen the movie yet, we are probably going to go this weekend. We had a fun Sunday going down to a book fair at the university and a little Irish festival by our house. I hadn't ridden my bike for a while, so I was pretty winded, even though its only about a 15-minute ride to the university :) It was good for me though! I hope you had a nice weekend and are enjoying your day. See you soon! :)

A Spring Bouquet and a Sale

Hello there! I have still been in a spring mood, with my latest painting "The Spring Bouquet."
I wanted to do nice bright colors for this one, and a flouncy little dress :)

I also wanted to mention that I have put a lot of my older paintings on sale in my etsy shop. A spring cleaning if you will. My style has evolved quite a bit, so it was time to make room for the new! Most of them are half off, starting at $15. And all originals!

I hope you are having a lovely Friday and are heading into a fun weekend. I will see you soon!

A Springtime Stroll and an Art Show

Hello there! I have been in the mood to do some spring-y paintings, so above is "A Springtime Stroll", and below is "Louisa and the Butterflies." I have been interested in incorporating a little more mixed-media into my work, so I used scrapbook paper for the gal's floral dress above, and a couple of little metal butterflies for the painting below. I also used brighter colors than usual, which I really liked :)

On a different note, I went to Phoenix with my sister Michelle on Monday to go see her friend Lynette Andreasen's Master of Fine Arts Thesis Exhibition on the Arizona State University campus. She does metalworking, and her work is beautiful.

This whole wall was covered in spoons. They were old spoons which she had found and added pearls and thread to them. Beautiful! My pictures don't do them justice. I had a hard time photographing in there with the dramatic lighting and all the people.

This was another piece I really liked. On a lot of the pieces she drilled patterns into the metal and then embroidered them.

My sister recently found out that she got accepted into the same program! She has been doing metalworking for quite a while now and just loves it, so she is very excited. So she will be off to Phoenix in a few months to get her MFA! Below is a beautiful pendant my sister made for me for Christmas. Isn't it lovely? She also does much more elaborate work, which I will show you sometime :)

I hope you are having a lovely day, and I will see you soon!

Creating Away

Hello! I have still been busy here, creating new paintings and getting lots of new inspiration :) Above is little Glinda the Good Witch. I like the way the colors came out on this one, nice and soft.

I also did another Alice painting in honor of the movie. In fact, happy Alice day today! I am going to wait until next week to see it, so there won't be quite as many people.

And then there is The Princess and the Frog. The frog has fetched her little golden ball for her, but there will be consequences! But of course, a happy ending will ensue :)

I went to the craft store yesterday and got some yummy new paint colors. They were having a sale, so I stocked up. I love craft store days, expecially sale ones :)

I hope you are having a good Friday, and have a lovely weekend!

Little Fairytale Girls

Hello! I just wanted to pop in and show you what I have been up to! I am having a lot of fun doing a series of little fairytale gals. Above is Goldilocks, feeling a little guilty about eating all that porridge :)

And a silly little Snow White, dancing and singing with a little bird friend.

I also did an Alice with a bunny friend (she has found a good home already, but the other two are available in my etsy shop). I may do another Alice painting next. I can't wait to go see the movie! Hopefully I can spend the rest of the day painting, and then I'm off to my grandma's house tonight to eat pizza and watch Lost with my family. I hope you are having a wonderful day, I will see you soon! :)