Happy Halloween!

May you be in the spirit and the Spirits be with you!

Boo!

Spooky Self Therapy...

...Did I cure myself?
A gray day, drizzly & dank, the chill of Halloween looming, left over paint on my palette from an acrylic & alcohol experiment gone awry. I grabbed some ACEO canvas paper and left the outcome up to destiny. I felt happy, I didn't care if I wasted the paper. I just layered and layered the paint letting fate bring these fellows to life. You can see my freedom in my brush strokes. I didn't care if they are perfect. They didn't scare me. They made me free & happy. Each side of their faces show a different emotion and in the spirit of a Fun House, their eyes will follow you too. Yes I got my freak on! Happy Halloween!

A Big Shout Out & Thank you goes to Sharkbytes for the "Versitile Blog Award" I will be posting it with my responses in the next day or so! And to FruitsofTheBloom & HulaHoopVintage for including my art in their wonderful Etsy Treasuries!

What's New...

... No I'm not folding paper but I'm painting on it!

I recently went to a Placerville Arts meeting with a friend of mine and I scored some Carson's Oil & Acrylic Canvas Paper. In the past I really had a problem painting on paper. Wood is still my favorite but I have grown to love paper. It's easily stored, easily mailed, easily framed in pre-made store bought frames or mounted on board and I love how layers and layers of paint seem to glow on it. I am painting with acrylics and didn't gesso the paper first, however, I believe it would be wise if I was painting with oils. This canvas paper is coated & doesn't absorb the paint. I am anxious to get into my little studio today and paint some more today. I have listed these on Etsy but plan to auction some on Ebay as well. Listing fees are free until Jan 7th!

Wii Origami ! ...

...Wii! is right! My son's friend left the Wii here and I watched "Between The Folds" on Netflix last night. I must have a Wii now. I was immediately smitten with Eric Joisel's work. His whimsical characters, their faces & figures. You know I love a wonky interesting face. I was mesmerized. One piece of paper folded. Amazing. I'm still pondering the comment made in the intro that "We all come from folds". That may be true, but I didn't like how that sounded or the imagery that popped into my head when they said it. Now it's stuck in there. hahaha

I fell in love with origami as a young girl while living in Japan. I would spend my yen on the beautiful packages of paper with eye-popping bright colors & patterns. Back in the day there was always a silver & gold paper at the bottom of the stack. Maybe there still is? I haven't bought any for a long time. The gold paper was like a treasure. The paper I savored the most and took the most time folding. My precious bone folder would have made things a lot easier back then. My mom still tells the story on occassion that she was finding little bits of paper in my bedroom months after I moved out. I have origami paper in my studio as I type this, serving no purpose other than it's comforting on some weird level to know that it's in there. And besides you never know when you might need a crane :)

Price of Pumpkins...

...We took our little pumpkin to "Daw Naws" (McDonald's) and to the Pumpkin Patch yesterday. $18 for 3 pumpkins! What?! Am I out of touch with reality? Do pumpkins normally cost that much? Well, having all the fun in the maze & around the patch was priceless, but I'm definitely transforming these pumpkins into pies in a week or so!

I hurt my Achilles tendon last weekend so I have been trying to stay off of it as much as possible. Yesterday walking around in the Pumpkin Patch's sandy gravel made it worse. I stayed off of it last night and made 2 little ponchos while sitting there with hubby & baseball game, using up all my bits & pieces. They are were suppose to be 12 month size but they turned out to be 2T or 3T. JJ screamed bloody murder when I tried them on him. Like he instinctively knew they were for a girl! Is that possible at 2 years old? He cried, they fit him, I cried. haha I plan to make more tonight. I am going to buy more yarn, make it smaller, maybe all the same color, and alter the pattern & maybe add a pretty lacy bottom edge. I'm going to send these to my other little niece, I'm sure these will be cute with a little pairs of jeans or jean skirt besides the blue & green will be so cute with her dark hair. I studied the picture they provided today, it shows only 8 rows with a border unlike the pattern. No worries though, these work up so fast and are fun to make plus I used my bits & pieces, so both of my nieces may end up with lots of them! I've got a huge space bag full of bits & pieces! I'll post a picture of the pattern I make.

A Big Shout Out & Thank You goes to Vital Temptation Designs for featuring my art in her great Etsy Treasury. Click on her name to visit her shop full of scrumptious crochet & needlework!

It's One of "Those" Days...

Last Night...

Round & Round I Go...

"A Full Life"

...Circles, spheres, round objects, balls.... If there is such a thing as a past life, I must have once been a dog. My sister & I had a good laugh not long ago about how I like balls. It's reflected in my jewelry pieces- consisting of balls of clay, my love of pearls - which find their way into my paintings sometimes, my round coffee & end tables, my love of plates, in the completely round patch of manicured grass in my front yard, which was created by my inability to speak Vietnamese...or was it? Subliminally did I really want a completely round circle of grass in my front yard? In my food choices, the love of tobiko, tapioca, and newly found quinoa. Even in the suit in the last post! I'd even consider myself to be round! I have a round face. Yes I am attracted most by round shapes & objects. Do I alone have this affliction, strange preference or are there some of you that have the same affinity to certain shapes? Does your favorite shape show up in your daily life or creative life?

"Trouble"

"Waiting For The Phone To Ring"

" No Foolin' "

These are a few of the linocuts I've been doing lately. I have a few more that I haven't printed yet. I finished a larger portrait today with sunglasses & a big bow. I hope she prints out well. I'm calling that piece "Mad For Miami". She was inspired by an old Marc Jacobs ad, to me the girl in the ad looks a lot like the amazing Grace Coddington in her modeling days. I was immediately drawn to the wild red hair, bow & sunglasses. She's not an Angel but I personally love the Angels in sunglasses that I'm doing. I imagine them in such brightness that they have to wear shades. I may do my Christmas cards this year with one and just say something like... I hope your Season is the Brightest. Too cheesy? or kind of clever? hum.... I'll have to think about that. I'm going to mount the linocut on wood and use it like a stamp, rather than hand rubbing all of them. I haven't tried that yet. Alas, I have lots more to do before I start that project. My 2doo list is super long. I have many things to list in both of my shops and I am going to be concentrating on getting that done this week. Please stop by later this week and see what's new!

Big Shout Outs & Thank You's go to Glass Etc , PhoFun & Oh For Cute for including my art in their wonderful Etsy Treasuries. Click on their names to visit their lovely Etsy shops.

Hip Ol' Grannies!

Winter Wonderful ...

... ♥ love ♥ love ♥ love ♥ smitten ♥ smitten ♥ smitten with Dolce & Gabbana's winter collection. I've watched this twice and may watch it again.

I drifted off here & there daydreaming that I was tall and thin! hahaha and then that I had a new knitting machine! I love the Scandinavian patterns which is also repeated in the men's collection, the light as a feather flowing fabrics, the fine knit, medival inspired square yoke sweaters with a slightly puffy sleeve, the leg warmers/shoe covers, and the goggles!?! Scrumptious BANANAS! :) I don't think there is a piece I don't like, with exception of a few purses. Winter wonderful! Brilliant! I'm ready to pull out the needles & then hit Lake Tahoe.

A Photo Journey...

...of my weekend.

2010 Artist Studio Tour; Haunted Hotel~ Cary House in Placerville, CA; Olive Hyde Gallery & Mission San Jose in Fremont, CA ; Bancheros~ our favorite restaurant in Hayward, CA & a road side stop for Pepsi with Alien crash landing :)

In Loving Memory...

...For tiny baby Taylor Paige who passed away today. Prayers and Much Love go out to Mommy, Daddy and the family. Thank you to those of you who prayed for her, and my family. Your prayers & notes to me were very much appreciated and will not be forgotten.

“For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38

When someone comes into our lives
and is quickly & quietly gone
It leaves footprints on our hearts
and their memory stays with us forever
Author Unknown