For the Love of Cute

A great big fuzzy thank you to Anna over at For the Love of Cute for featuring my Chubby Bunny doll today! Anna's blog is chock full of all sorts of wonderful cuteness and she is also the creator of The House of Mouse, one of my personal favorite stops for cute pop-culture referenced fun!

Check out some of my favorites... Hedgeburt McPricklesworth the Hedgehog, Chewbacca Mouse, and Hannibal Lecter Mouse.

Oldies-but-goodies

I'm working on a new body of paintings that I'm quite excited about, but not yet ready to share for fear of killing my concentration.

In the meantime to keep things interesting, I thought I'd begin to share some older work (circa 2002-2005) when I was selling a lot on a little site know as Ebay. I stopped selling work there for many reasons, but it was good to me while it lasted. I recently uncovered all of my old files and was often pleasantly surprised by what I found.

I had a strong desire to be a fantasy illustrator in my early years (we're talking junior high and high school). So, I dabbled quite a bit in that area. Here are a couple of fae cuties I dug up... The first was a commissioned piece and the second was a small pencil drawing.




Finding these images really makes me want to go back and do more fantasy-inspired work. Perhaps that could be a nice balance to a more focused body of "serious" work. (When has my work ever been serious!? heehee)

40 Seeds – Creating for a Good Cause

Earlier this summer, a friend, fellow self-proclaimed nerd and local food diva came to me with a proposition – would I help create a logo for her ex-"seed"-ingly (forgive me!) giving and noteworthy project, 40 Seeds: Prepare a Harvest to Share.

Jennifer McMullen, author of Rolling in the Dough, contributor to The Ethicurean, and a major force behind Local Roots Market & Cafe (more on Local Roots soon!), has created a unique and inspiring challenge to celebrate and honor her 40th birthday. To quote from her post about the project:

"We all need to be nourished by good food, and we can all help each other in ways that might be as tiny as a seed, even when we ourselves need help. Times are tough and getting tougher for so many of us, but there is still much we can do. So this summer, I'd like to ask you all to plant forty seeds -– literally or metaphorically -– of hope for other people."

How awesome is that!? Jennifer goes on to give suggestions on a variety of ways in which you can contribute. They are creative and inpsiring. There are just so many ways to participate! Read more about it here on Rolling in the Dough!

So I've been trying to figure out the best way I can do my part. After much deliberation I've decided to add a section to my Etsy shop which will feature work that fits the theme of the 40 Seeds project. That could be food, seeds, giving, sharing, caring, planting and so forth. I will put 40% of all proceeds into a fund for a local charity or initiative that fits the bill. When I reach $400 I will donate the money to said charity... and the balance will start anew, for another worthy cause! This means that there is no limit on how many "seeds" get planted or how high they may grow!

Here are the first two pieces I am planting:




How would you plant 40 seeds?

Sketchbook Experimentation

Awhile back I went on a mini supply buying binge and picked up oil pastels, charcoal and various other goodies to experiment with. These are the initial results. Above was a quick oil pastel piece and the image below utilizes handmade paper, conte crayon, marker and ebony pencil. As is typical for me, when nothing else comes to mind for subject matter, I reverted to random illustrated ladies.

It's Bunnies!

I've been enjoying working with my needle felting tools lately. I'm trying to approach the creation of the fuzzy critters more organically and sculpturally, letting the materials guide the process. It will be an interesting journey! In the meantime, these little buns are all hanging out in my shop!

Pimp My Wagon – A CFTCM Exercise

I spent the better part of my morning today cleaning, organizing and sorting my studio/office. I made a lot of room for storage and also realized that my art supplies were running woefully short and that a few key materials were missing from my repertoire.

So what's a girl to do? Well, go art supply shopping of course! Always good for inspiration! Amongst my procurements: a table-top easel, a few larger canvases (eek!), oil pastels, pastel paper, hot glue gun and various felting accessories. Now it's play time...

To get the creative juices flowing, I whipped out my new sketchbook and a copy of Caffeine for the Creative Mind. This is a fabulous little book of brain stretching creative exercises for anyone! It's great to loosen up and play with, whether you are a graphic artist, painter, sculptor or writer.

The first exercise in the book is called Pimp My Wagon.. a la MTV's Pimp My Ride. Here's my dream wagon... (click for a larger version with details)


Highlights include:
• Flames. Duh.
• Bose speakers (I envision some wicked 80's metal)
• Oh, yeah, it's totally got an auto-pilot (hence the tasty beverage).

What would your wagon have?

Baron the Vacationing Bun

Baron's a bit bigger than most of my buns (er, take that as you will!). I'm offering him in my shop complete with his chillin' chair.

Weekend Results

For the holiday weekend I dedicated myself to painting and working on a revamped website, blog and Etsy shop. The website is still a work in progress (galleries of work, bio and so forth need to be added), but it's headed in the right direction!

As for the painting portion...



The above two pieces I'm rather happy with and have made available in my shop. I'm debating whether or not to offer the first two pieces I worked on (see below). The pattern piece came first, followed by the strange winged thing, then the bird followed by the fiery lady. It's interesting to step outside of myself and see the progression as I warm up those old artistic muscles!

Postcards for a Camera

For several days during the second week of our trip, my husband had to head north for business in Germany. I was left without a camera, but I still had my pens, sketchbook, and note cards!

Seen above are several of the ultra quick pen sketches that came out of this lack of photographic equipment. Left: A side street of Avignon drawn over a quick mineral water on a shopping break. Top: the Place Du Forum in Arles from in front of our hotel (with a corner of the Cafe Terrace from Van Gogh's famous painting). Right: the Palais Des Papes from an island viewpoint. (below is a photo of the Palais while a camera was still present and a detail of the drawing)



I'm so glad I was able to find time to sketch. The memories and images are etched more vividly in my mind for having drawn them from life. It's kind of like re-copying your own notes from class when you get home (not that I actually ever did that, but so I hear!).

And one more photo... of petting a French Kitty! Just because.