Christmas & Hannukah Gift

These block are a little gift for my 1.5 year old twin niece and nephew, Joey and Ethan. One side has the English alphabet, the other the Hebrew alphabet. The other sides have butterflies, turtle, numbers, and colors. The last side is a puzzle of a beagle puppy. I know they'll love it. They were so much fun to hand paint each and every one of them.

Instrument Drive

My girls in auction. Candy and Marin.



Two more of my girls went to a charity event at the beginning of December. This was a great event. Not only was there an awesome bidding war over both of my wonderful girls, but I got to design Ear Candy's posters, brochures, event banners and donation cards for all their up coming instrument drive events.

Time flys... fly fly

I have just been such a busy little turtle lately. It's just been crazy. And unfortunately no painting for a while. Shame on me for neglecting my girls, they do not deserve it, and I've got some catching up to do. Good news is that Sasha will be on auction at the 17th annual AIGA Art Auction in Scottsdale tomorrow. Please stop by and see her and the other local artists work. It's always a good time, and great work to bid on.

3 wips

Aren't these great!? I know not much to them right now but soon. Probably a bit more this weekend. Stay tuned to see more to them next week. I know I can't wait either.

Anne

New little girl, and in a frame. She's 4 x 6 on a standard canvas. This was a very old canvas. I had painted some abstract on it over five years ago. You can still sort of see the circular indentations of the previous work. To be honest I have no idea what it was. Just a canvas with pink circles on it.

Sasha's sunset

Yes, I know, no new post for a long time. Or at least new girls, and it's true I have had no new girls come alive until just this last weekend. Sasha is my newest girl. Her paint is still a bit sticky. And there is only one work in progress image as I only put her down for one night. She has a kind of sunset behind her, which is why her eyes are aglow.

new chairs

before

after

I had a crazy notion to reupholster my furniture cushions after finding fabric in the back of my closet last week. The chairs needed more pillows too, and dark gray and burnt orange felt was perfect. There are five pillows and each has a letter on both sides. They spell d u s t y on one side and j e s s on the other. Now to more painting...

Marin

One of my older girls was killed off so Marin could thrive. And thrive she did, she came out so beautiful. A mermaid with an attitude. Love her sneekyness too.

for Tavis & Jonah

Hanjo & Jonah

Avist & Tavis

What a great pair they are! Finishing the boys' paintings, my hubby skillfuly took two cardboard boxes and five rolls of packing tape to safetly protect these two painting so they can be shipped to Fairbanks. I was so happy to here that the boys loved the paintings.

Kitty

This is Kitty. She is Star's little sister. Can't you see the family resemblance?

Made Art Boutique

Jade is sitting up at the Made Art Boutique's 5 x 5 Permanent Revolving Show. This awesome art boutique is a great little gift shop and art gallery. It's located on Roosevelt St. right in the middle of Roosevelt Row, the First & Third Fridays Downtown Phoenix Art Walks. Stop By when you are in the neighborhood, not only to see Jade of course, but to see everything the Made Art Boutique has to offer. Cheers!

Star

New girl finished last night. Star. I changed my mind from the previous idea. Actually been doing that a lot lately. soon you'll see a few others redone completely different then before. But, hey, I can do that. My girls can't be forced, they come out when they are ready.

Eve

Another one of my girls I finished last night. I was so happy to get so many done in such little time. Eve is such a sweet faced girl. She is on a gallery wrapped 4" raw linen canvas. Not as brightly done as my previous but sometimes you got to go all earth tones in order to appreciate the brighter hues.

this is Jade

Actually the full name of this painting is "Jade deserves flowers everyday". Another finished painting from the weekend.

hello, my name is Candy

What a great weekend! While watching the first three episodes of Madmen with the commentary back to back, I sat for 6 hours and Candy was born.

love that moleskin

Hey finally some sketches on this blog that is so named "off the sketchbook". These are just a few quick sketches to work up to paintings or perhaps something else. hmmm. enjoy!

big tears

So I did a silly thing and dipped my awesome tiny camera into the pool a few weeks ago. Taking it a part and letting it dry out unfortunately didn't work. Now begins a new search for a new tiny camera, since Canon has stopped making this wonderful little baby. Big tears, this camera was great and will be sorely missed.

Two new blank slates

They need face lifts. hehe

new flower abstract

What is great about my abstract flowers is that they can be displayed any way. This one is not quite finished, but its getting close.

Ruby's Pond

This is Ruby. She is finished and available for sale. Give me an e-mail if you are interested in keeping her. I wanted to show a good close up with scale so you can see the tiny detail that I really enjoy doing in my work. In fact I think I'll tweek the background and sides a bit more and post a few more pictures. She is on a gallery wrapped canvas, so part of the painting is along the sides. Stay tuned I will post more photos of her later this week.

I think they are finished

These two are looking great, and I think they are so closed to being finished. Sometimes I can't tell weather one is finished or not. There is a another painting I am currently working on, started back in 2002. It is never finished. Some tiny tweaking may be needed in these two, like the eyes. I have gone over the eyes on the gal to the left about a dozen different times. Which is great because it adds so much wonderful depth and glassiness to the eyes. Gives my girls some life.

Meet Hanjo.

Yea, he is coming to life. Like his brother Avist, Hanjo's character is starting to show in the paint.

It's wonderful to see them together.

2 allllmost there, maybe

This guy is almost finished. Need more of a background, maybe a few smaller octopi in the sky. hmmm, we shall see.

I am not sure what she is feeling. She is not finished, at least her environment isn't. Maybe her face isn't right? I think I'll take a break from her and work on Hanjo.

Avist is trying to fly.

He is so close to being finished. A few more coats and a bit more personality, I think. This will be Tavis' painting come the trip home to Alaska in September.

Last Sold Work

Corral
two flowers
water lily
These were the last few paintings I finished and sold. They had been the best I have done in a while and have inspired me to do more. These are mostly acrylic on hand stretched gallery canvases. And here and there in each painting or illustration I use soft pastals, graphite, pen, and paint marker.

Two Girls almost finished and one trying to help.

My husband's little cat, Bit, tried to help with my painting last night. She is so cute when she wants attention. Its just always when you are not expecting it.

New Girls

A wonderful start to a few new girls of mine.

Paintings for Jonah & Tavis

Here are the first images of my work-n progress for Jonah and Tavis in Fairbanks. I will take a photograph everytime I work on them so you can see the process and development of these two fun paintings.

First sketches, out of the sketchbook. Tavis' character's name is Avist and Jonah's is Hanjo.

Built and not quite built stretcher bars. 32" x 32" squares.

Finshed stretched canvases ready for paint.

day 1 with paint

day 2

These are a lot of fun to work on. They are great now, but only a quarter of the way finished.