I Want Cookies

Well, I think I want cookies. Actually, that's not what I really want. I want to feel like it's the holidays. That usually involves cookies, ergo I want cookies.

I just cannot get a handle on the southern weather patterns not having SNOW in December. I grew up in Colorado, and you would get snow off and on from about September. The only issue with that was that Colorado was the definition of bipolar when it came to the weather.

I know, I know, everyone thinks they live in a state with changing weather. I moved to Chicago, Maryland, New York, Vermont, and even here in North Carolina. They ALL say the same thing with this laugh like you'll never have heard this before; "Don't like the weather? Wait five minutes and it'll be different! HA!" Yeah. You don't even have a clue about mercurial weather.

In Colorado I went to a job interview and it was 93 degrees. I was trying not to sweat all over my interview outfit, and I was a bit mortified by the whole experience (because I totally sweat all over myself. Between 93 degree weather and nerves, I was totally out of luck at that point.) The next day it snowed over eight (*8*!!!) inches. A 60+ degree weather drop in less than 24 hours, and that was normal.

But SNOW!!! SNOW, people! Colorado was hit and miss with a wintry Christmas, but December still had some snowstorms in it. Vermont used to be just awesome with the seasons, and it was mild and lovely and almost always had snow for the holidays. Even if you didn't, your windows were pretty much shut from October on because it was chilly, and that was an excellent start.

Folks, I am sitting in my studio right now, in December, with my windows open. Now, it's a good thing I can have my windows open because I just varnished seven paintings and I'm pretty sure I saw a unicorn go walking by a minute ago, but my point is... my windows are OPEN.

Where's my cold weather? Where's my keeping warm by the fire and baking cookies on the first snow? How do people get in the holiday spirit without snow when they have always had it?

Last year, I was still all discombobulated from the move so I just chalked up my meh holiday feelings to that. This year, I'm settled, and it feels like October to me. It feels like we're just about to start putting out the Halloween stuff, when instead my house is all decked out for Christmas.

And it IS all decked out! I even went the extra step of flocking things, so I could pretend to have snow. Probably more things than I should have. You see, I did my research on the stuff, and it turns out a 5lbs bag of flocking costs the same as a 25lbs bag, so I got the biggie. I went on a bit of a flocking binge.

The upside is that I ended up saving a lot of things that were headed for the garbage:

These three trees are about 12 years old, and used to light up but don't really anymore. They also looked really awful and kind of bald. But with flocking, TA-DA! I really like them again. (I know, I need to sweep the floor... I'll get to it!)

And this sucker is another 4' tree that was at least 10 years old, and trying hard to be a stick. It was positively anemic.  I actually don't know if it'll make it past this season as it's a lot of branches and separate parts, not like the new trees in just two parts. I'm not sure how to store it all flocked like that.

I did a slew of little 2' trees that were destined to be donated or trashed too, and they came out rather well. My daughter took one to college with her. I was the cool mom for a second there.

I also flocked some new, cheap garland. This year, I picked up a very snowy (flocked) tree from the store for our foyer (I've never had a foyer before, so I'm still trying to figure out what you do with one.) The normal green garland just looked weird with it, so I needed to flock it to match. It came out pretty good, in my opinion:

We ran that garland all over the railings on the steps.  I'd show you a picture of the foyer all decked out, but the more I look at the picture, the dorkier it looks. It looks much better in person. Maybe it's something you just have to be here to appreciate? Anyway, it's very "snowy" inside. I really am trying, here.

Getting our family tree up helped a bit too. All the crazy ornaments that mean something. Bubble lights (because bubble lights are the best!)

But then. But... then.

meh.

Last night, I promised my son that I would stop work early and we would watch Christmas specials and bake our first batch of cookies! It was going to be great! Right up until I found that someone had run off with our chocolate chips. (My husband swears it wasn't him, but I have my suspicions.) We put on a holiday movie anyway and made brownies instead.

It all should have worked, but my son finally said to me "It just doesn't feel like the holidays. We need snow, or something."

*head*desk* I KNOW! 

So, anyone have any ideas of how to get the holiday spirit a'flowin' even in the face of this gosh-awful-perfectly-sunny-warm weather? I need that switch to flip in my brain! I need my holiday happy! How do you get in the holiday mood?

In other news, my shop is closing on the 10th for my holiday break, and my last shipment goes out the door on the 14th. Even though I've been out of my own planned business loops this year, I've been working a lot in the past few weeks. The post office people are starting to recognize me and contemplate hiding when they see me coming with my stacks of boxes.

In the midst of all the busy-busy-busy going on, I realized that this time of the year is special because it's the only time that I actually get to be "done".

I divide up all my projects into "Can complete by the deadline" and "Next year!" and once I get through my complete list, I am OFF! Good or bad, I'm done for the year. I've accomplished whatever I could, and it's done. A real feeling of turning off the light, so to speak, and headed home instead of always being on pause.

I really, really look forward to this. It's not that I don't love painting and my business. I DO! But sometimes, well once a year, it's really nice to feel like I have done my best and gotten to drive home from the office to stay home for a spell.

It's coming! Maybe my holiday spirit will pop in on the 14th? I'm looking into what people do around here for holiday stuff and I haven't found much.

I did, however, discover they do holiday home tours. It's totally a thing here. As in, people deck out their houses with holiday stuff and sell tickets. I kid you not. I admit, I'm mildly curious... Can you imagine, though? Having people traipse through your house like that?

Anyway... I should probably be painting, so off I go!

Back to the Art-side

A long absence has certainly given me a lot to share, both personally and art-wise! I'm going to go a bit lighter today.

As it's December, I thought I would share my official 2016 Holiday painting (this is a different painting that I create each year with the intent to release as a holiday card for myself and others to order, etc.) I got my neighbor's daughter to be my model, and I actually think it turned out rather well:

"Sequor" (original is sold, prints and LE canvas prints available)
11x14 Oil on Canvas Panel

I was happy I completed this painting this year, as I sort of failed that goal last year what with only moving into the house in October and not being settled at all. This year, my studio is set-up very nicely. In fact, I recently was able to attend Art of the Carolinas for the first time ever! I didn't participate in any workshops, but the art supply trade show is a DREAM.

I was able to get my hands on all sorts of things at a huge discount. One of the people there told me that many artists save up all year and then do all their buying at the show. I can see why, and I'll likely start doing that myself. 

I was able to purchase HUGE canvas panels for the first time ever. I always had to order stuff in Vermont and the shipping was often the same or more than the panel, and the panel was pricey too so I never went for a big one! At the show I was able to get canvases over 60 inches for less than $60. If you know your canvas, you know that's a big savings! I was giddy at the trade show! I even got a new easel. It's an art supply wonderland for me!

My poor husband endured it pretty well. I figure it's payback for all that time spent in fishing stores, or in the home improvement stores when he's "just browsing" and I get to the point where I'm eyeing the stacks of plywood and thinking "I could nap on that, right? No one would notice..."

I was also able to paw through wood panels. I have started painting on these now and again. I'm kind of on the fence with them. The ones I had were plate-smooth and this actually made it hard to paint on. I felt like the paint was slipping off, and this surprised me because I often feel like I'm fighting the tooth of normal canvases. Still, I got this one to turn out when others had failed me (or I failed them):

"Sunset" 5x7x1" oil on cradled wooden panel, available

I found some gessoed panels at the show that actually had some texture to them, and I'm going to try them and see how they work. I like the idea of painting on wood, but I have a lot of canvas to use up if that's the way I go. I also, a few months ago, found gesso (Prima) that reduces the tooth without sanding and this was a huge find for me.

Let's see. More art that has happened, and has started me really thinking about my studio and my direction:

I painted "Dawn" on a black ground, and this was a new experience for me. One that I really liked, and intend to explore more. It took me longer than necessary because I was new to it, but here is a time-lapse I shot on my phone of the painting:

This is one of the paintings that has got me thinking about my studio and "voice" which I'll touch on in another post. Until then, here is more art from this year that I haven't shared:

I just finished "Ringmaster" on 12/1. I had to turn him around in about 24 hours. I'm pleased with how he turned out! He's another little one: 5x7" oil on canvas panel.

Envy, oil on 6x6 canvas panel (available)

I have been playing with abstracts again:

"Stardust" is a large piece at 24x36x1.5, acrylic/silver leafing/gems on stretched canvas (available)

"Lark" is 9x12, acrylic/gold leafing on stretched canvas (framed, 14x17, available)

Didn't name this one, but same dimensions and info except I used silver leafing (sold)

I've completed other paintings, but that's probably enough for now. And honestly, I haven't been creating a lot this year. I know I originally had this huge plan, but I will say that I failed that. I've been thinking a lot about why, but that is for yet another day!

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Did you get what you wanted for Christmas? I did; my family together. That's always enough for me!

Last night, before the cinnamon rolls were even done.
Notice the lack of flour all over my hair and face. 

I didn't realize how long it has been since I have posted! I didn't even show my finished Stocking Stuffers painting, much less all the little holiday minis I recently completed! I guess I've just been nose-to-the-grindstone and not really doing much else!

So, on this Christmas morning, with wrapping paper strewn throughout the house (seriously, it's driving me insane! I've picked up and it keeps multiplying!) children on sugar highs (and lows) and pets zonked out on a few of their favorite things... here is what I was up to in the past month!

First, I DID finish my holiday painting for 2014, and made Christmas cards out of it and filled orders. I plan on creating a holiday painting every year and doing that. I going to have 2015's finished by September though!

"Stocking Stuffers" 8x10 acrylic on canvas, sold (prints available)

Then there were the holiday minis I got going on. Basically, this is brain candy for an artist. I LOVE doing these little holiday fun ones!

"Candy King" 2x4 inches acrylic on canvas, sold

"Cardinal" 2x2 inches acrylic on canvas, sold

"Mistletoe Bunnies" 3x6 inches acrylic on canvas, sold

"Snowman" 2x2 inches acrylic on canvas, sold

"baby penguin" 2x2 inches acrylic on canvas, sold

"Candy Cane Dragon" 3x3 inches acrylic on canvas, sold

"Little Light" 2x2 inches acrylic on canvas, available

"O'Christmas Tree" 3x3 acrylic on canvas, available

"Gracie" 3x3 inches acrylic on canvas, available

You know what's neat? Knowing that some of my work is under the tree for someone. That makes me all warm and fuzzy!

In addition to working like crazy and trying to balance out the holidays, I also invested (finally) in an expensive art printer so I can make my own prints. And let me tell you, it's fabulous! I love how crisp and vibrant the prints are. Plus, this sets me free from the print service - for many reasons, this is a welcome change!

It's time to start thinking about how to structure 2015 to make it successful. More on that will be coming, as I promise to post for New Years. Until then, though, I must get my website finished! AND THIS HOUSE CLEANED!

Is there a Christmas cleaning fairy I should wish on a pile of ribbon for? No? I should probably get the vacuum out then...

Queen's Rule

I think we're at a stopping point for taking pictures of the back view... everything is just sort of dead and ugly right now. Once we get a pretty snow, I'll snap a picture of that! Autumn was fun while it lasted!

I finished my queen earlier this week, finally!

"Queen of Hearts" 16x20 inches, acrylic on stretched canvas.

She came out well, even though there were times I worried. It's funny, because I feel like this painting really fought me. I'm not sure why. It certainly took forever, if we look at actual time from the drawing to the completion... but that's mostly because I walked away frequently, frustrated with her.

I'm going to paint a companion piece to her, The White Queen, and I'm actually looking forward to that one! She lives backwards, so I'm working on coming up with things that express that!

I also finished two little pieces:

I named this one Bunk-bed, can you see why? I'm in love with this one because of the tiny mouse. I have this urge to paint all sorts of tiny mice and kittens on tiny canvases!
4x4 inches, acrylic on stretched canvas
This one is now available in my shop

I painted that little mouse, and he's smaller than an earring:

it's a bad picture, late at night off my phone, but you can see how tiny he is.

I realize I need to fins tinier brushes for a lot of the things I want to do. The ones I have, they're simply not small enough!

And then I finished this kitty too:

The moon and leaves are iridescent. I've started adding in jade to the edges of my moons and I just love it! 
3x6 inches, acrylic on stretched canvas
This painting is now up for sale in my shop

And then I didn't get any work done because everything got a bit crazy here between house showings and other things. I'm back to work now, and working on a piece for the Black and White November auction on facebook:

it's messy, I know. My idea is do paint everything in black and white, except for the moon, her, and the wolf/dog's eyes (which will match the moon somehow.) I've forgotten how tricky it is to paint in just black and white. This is funny really, because I used to be afraid of color! Black and white (and all the grays) were so easy! Color was tricky. Now, it's the other way around!

So, I'm a bit uncertain if the piece will turn out. I'm hopeful, though! And Christmas paintings are on the way too. I must get my holiday painting in! And with that, I'm also putting up one of my Christmas trees today. I know it's early, but normally I decorate on November 1st, so technically I'm late. Since we're showing the house, I wasn't going to put anything up until Thanksgiving, but the truth is that I need my twinkle lights!

I hope you all had a wonderful week! Anyone else have holiday decor up yet?

Feeling Autumn

Here is my weekly photo from my deck, showing off the hot autumn colors!

It's less brown in person, much more rainbow with orange, yellow, and red with the green. My phone simply doesn't do it justice.

Well, this has been a less productive week, unfortunately. I'm still finding my balance with things. I needed to do something fun for Halloween, just because... So, I painted this:

4x6 inch acrylic painting on professional canvas panel

It sold right away, so other people are clearly in a holiday mood too! It felt good to paint something fun and carefree! Even though I paint fairy tales, sometimes my work can get so serious!

October also kicked off #Inktober online, where artists all over the world are doing a daily drawing in ink. I saw one set of artists that were each drawing a monster to eat the other's monster from the day before and told my son about it. He instantly fell in love with the idea, and begged me to do it. I agreed, and his first drawing was this (all of these are simply ball-point pens on sketch paper):

Kinda creepy to start with, don't you think? I went for the guilt-route and did a "you don't want to kill and eat lil ole me, now do you?" with this:

The next day, my goal was to eat/kill his squid creature so I went with this:

See, the little lantern at the end of his stalk lures in the evil squid-things my son drew, and he eats them!

My son had no problem with killing my cute creature with this:

EEEEK!

Now, that looks like a spider to me, don't you think? So the next day I drew this to squish the spider:

Big foot for squishing creepies!

And then my son quit. 

He said it's too much like a homework assignment to have to draw every day. *sigh* I ended up not drawing yesterday, because I was kind of bummed over the whole thing. However, my daughter had been watching from the sidelines and when she heard he quit, she said she wanted to draw with me. Instead of killing each other's monsters, however, she wants a daily prompt instead. So, we're starting back into it today, and the prompt is Candy Land. We'll see what happens!

I'm working on doing the flamingo over the shoulder in my Queen of Hearts painting, and shipping out other paintings, and I just discovered the owls I painted last year, I guess I never listed them!

2x2 screech owl, now in my shop

2x4 white owl, now in my shop

So, oops. Caught that... maybe I was saving them for myself?

I also, after another showing and feeling bummed about the season, went into my crawl space and pulled out a couple fun Halloween decorations, including my favorite Halloween Cat:

I'm thinking that perhaps that cat shouldn't be put away anymore, as he tends to get lost. Perhaps he should just migrate to my studio in the off season?

I know my house is not supposed to have much personality at all while it's for sale, but it was getting depressing. I love the holidays, and it's hard not putting all the tacky crazy stuff up! So, a few things are up now, and even my kids said it makes them feel better!

No news on the house. We're still having showings, but I imagine it's as I feared that we're past the real estate window and we'll be here until it comes around again in the Spring. Things were pretty stressful this past week, but I think it's all going to be OK. 

Just breath deep and paint!

18 Years

Today is my 18th wedding anniversary!

This is my favorite picture from our wedding. It's the "cake" picture.
Instead of shoving it in my face, he put frosting on my nose and then kissed me. 

It's hard to believe it's been 18 years. I got married when I was 20, and 18 years seemed a lifetime away! Well, I suppose it is, really. Had we gotten started on our family right away, I could have a senior in High School at this point! That's only slightly more terrifying than the fact that I have a 15-year-old who is currently learning how to drive, and that my youngest will be 13 in a couple months. The time really does start to slip away from you, doesn't it?

I'm married to a rocket scientist (yes, really), and when we went to see the pastor a few days before the wedding, she refused to marry us. They had given us a computer test that supposedly evaluated our personalities, how we approached problems, and how we viewed the world. It came back that we were entirely non-compatible. Well, of course it did! He's a rocket scientist and I'm an artist! COME ON! 

Like naughty children, we both had to drag our parents into the pastor's office and have them endorse our "case" in order for her to marry us. In the end, she said because it was two days before the wedding, it would be irresponsible of her business-wise to cancel at this point. However, if she had been able to meet with us months earlier as she would have preferred (we lived in Chicago, and this was Boulder, CO) she would have ended this long before. So, she said she'd perform the service, but she was lodging an official statement that she was certain our marriage wouldn't last two years and was totally against us getting married.

Nice way to start a marriage, right? To be honest, if I had it to do all over again I would go to an island and elope. What a mess. A mess with the pastor, a mess with the in-laws, a mess with the florist, a mess with extended family. Yup, a beach would have been the way to go! At least we had each other!

Regardless, we knew we were doing the right thing. We married, and I'd do it all over again. I love him more now than I did when we said "I do."

It's a cold, rainy Monday today. I plan on working on finishing the mini paintings I have going. They're selling out, for the most part, but I am also trying to up my stock for a harvest festival I have a booth at in two weeks. I'm glad they're so popular!

I decided to fill in the backgrounds and moons on the minis last night. I realized that even when I try, I never make two moons the same way. It's as if they just can't be duplicated, and each one wants to be unique:

Like moon-fingerprints, I guess! I really like that they're all different though. It'd really be a shame if they all looked the same!

I'm keen to see how my mini-haunted houses turn out, in particular today. I also sketched out a toad in a witch's hat, but he's a bit daunting for some reason. He's tiny, but detailed, so I've sort of been avoiding him. I'll get to him, though!

A Big Reader

I just love books. If I'm not in the middle of a book, I feel off kilter. I probably read between three and six books a week (which really makes me wish I had a library that had any selection at all, rather than being the size of a public bathroom, but that's what you get for living in the country.) I have a kindle that I read all sorts of things on, but I admit to still loving the feel of a good, solid, heavy book. I especially love the old tomes that you simply never see anymore with their amazing bindings and covers that seem to be something of a lost art.

In the studio, I really wanted to do a full-size dragon, and a friend suggested one with multiple heads. However, I wanted to tackle a full grown dragon with just ONE head first, before I started complicating matters for myself. I didn't realize my dragon was going to be a book lover too, but as I worked through what I wanted him to be doing, I couldn't shake the books, and that resulted in this:

Before I layered in the background, I realized he wasn't quite fancy enough yet. So, I finished him off and then decided on a smokey rust background.

I should note that this is on the paper that ruined my elf painting. Since I figured out to treat the dragon scales as I did the peacock's feathers, I realized the rougher and absorbent surface might actually work to my advantage. Which is good, because losing a whole block of paper hurts my poor frugal heart just a bit! I am going to order the Fabriano for my fairy paintings, but until then, I still have this block staring at me. Mocking me.

I thought I'd be able to finish the dragon quickly, because the one in my previous painting snapped into place quickly once I figured out what I was doing. I realize now that the small amount of space it took up had something to do with the quick pace of painting, because a dragon that fits a 12 x 16" surface is not a wee small beastie!

Getting the face done helped. It's my connection point with a piece, the face. I know many artists put off the face until the end, but without the eyes to look into I feel a bit lost. I did have some help, a color consultant... but he's a bit of a diva:

Figuring out the armoring scales on the front of the dragon felt good too, once I hit on how I wanted them to look.

And then he was done:

"Lire" 12x16" acrylic watercolor on hot-pressed paper.

I have to tell you that I flat out LOVE him. And it is a him, as I think a female would have a more slender snout than this handsome fellow. The entire dragon is done in iridescent paints, and it shifts and glitters in the light like it's moving just a bit. Makes it tricky for a picture, but in person? I wasn't even sure I was going to put it up for sale because I like it so much (I did, but it was a close one.) Interestingly, I accidentally flipped it black and white when I was editing the print file, and it turns out those iridescent paints work beautifully for this purpose. You can see all the brushstrokes, and how detailed it actually is when turned like this. I liked it so much that I polished it up and released it as a print option as well:

"Lire" in black and white, print only.

I've managed to come to a resting, breathing point which is nice. I have been working hard, flat out, for several weeks now. More things are stirring too - I'm starting a new company! Art based, I just filed my LLC papers. I'm not losing my current one either, but it's something new. Something more, that I'll be excited to share more about when I can.

Busy busy busy! And now I'm taking stock of things. I know I need to run full tilt into Alice. Alice needs to be finished, as she's gone on far too long, and I'm not even sure I'm half way with her. I have the Cheshire Cat in progress, but there is much further to go. Red queen, Jabberwocky, Alice herself.  Yes, I believe an "Alice Binge" is on the horizon for me!

Easter is this weekend, and every year I have planned to do Ukrainian Easter eggs, and just never manage to get the kits together. This year, not only did I not manage to get the kits together, I didn't even pull out any of my silly Easter decor either. No eggs hanging on trees, nada. Some days, I have been working so hard that I am ashamed to admit that I have often forgotten all manner of basic human chores. *sigh*

But I'll leave you with a picture I took last year of myself, and the wishes for a happy weekend for you all - whether you celebrate the holiday or not!