the Creative Thursday blog

all together

7 x 5 in.

Here they are all together. The last painting in this week's series, and if you look closely you'll see that there's a pink hippo in this one too. One of the reason's this series was especially fun was that all the animals were in profile. If you haven't yet noticed, (a little hard to miss) most of my characters always face their audience straight on. ;)

You can now find all four of them available as prints in my Etsy shop. I think they are so sweet together. Wouldn't they be so cute in a baby's room, either for a little boy or girl?

happy creative thursday!

(click here to buy original)

blue bear + more "LOVE"

7 x 5 in.

The blue bear. Love him.

(click here to buy original)

And introducing a BEAUTIFUL book, both in design and sentiment curated and designed by the lovely Samantha Hahn. Her gorgeous illustration adorns the cover.

"I asked 25 artists & writers—each with a distinct style and voice—to submit a piece inspired by their idea of love, and then I published them as a book on blurb, a print-on-demand website. The contributing artists hail from around the world. I knew that each one’s interpretation of love would be singular, but with some profound similarities.

Love is the ideal subject for artists to interpret. We all love, but everyone defines love differently in their minds and hearts. We all love differently and the same. We are connected through love and art.

Love is available through blurb for $16.95 for a softcover, $25.95 for a hardcover with a dust jacket, and $27.95 for hardcover with “image wrap.” It contains 40 pages of incredible art including a couple of pages of amazing writing." ~ Samantha

It's always an honor to be invited in collaborations like this one. This book is truly a gift of love from Samantha and all of us who participated. Now more than ever I realize how community, especially connecting within this amazing creative community that we all share, is so important. We are the ones, together, who will keep our economy, or country, our world, moving forward regardless of what "times" we are in. It is up to us. And I couldn't think of a better symbol of this "coming together" than a book that is LOVE.

You can get your copy here.

 

The artists and writers who contributed....some are friends I've "known" for a long time and some are brand new to me ~Now I have a whole new list of artists & blogs I can visit and LOVE. Just what I need...my blog links list is going to grow off of this blog one day :)

Hannah Stouffer, Lilly Piri, Aaron Hogg, Lisa Butterworth, Dan Funderburgh, Samantha Hahn, Erin Loechner, Jesse Breytenbach, Kate Miss, Jessica Gonacha, Kelly Lynn Jones, Yasmine Surovec, Shira Sela, Matthew and Sandy Lynn Davis (Treatzone), Maditi, Amy Sahba, Ez Pudewa, Hijiri Shepherd, Marisa Haedike (me!), Lisa Congdon, Holly Becker, Kate Neckel, Katie Sokoler & Kate Bingaman Burt

thank you Samantha ~

white fawn

7 x 5 in.

In between celebrating today, Sean had to head off to work. So while he is at work, I decided to squeeze in a little daily painting . Still inspired by the vintage toys, here's today's creation the second in this series.
Back to celebrating it is then~ as today is such a special day for the person who is the highlight of my every day(s).

(click here to buy original)

fifty is nifty

Especially when you look 35.
And you are as WONDERFUL a person as you are.

A very happy birthday to my love.

orange elephant

7 x 5 in.

How's everyone's Monday going? been? I did manage to get some good organizing in this weekend, which allowed me some extra lingering time during my errands this morning (I tend to get inspired by a lot even at the grocery store.) I was also busy taking a care of a few "secret" things...because someone very special to me is having a BIG birthday tomorrow!!!!

My errands conveniently took me into Anthropologie, of course, and the Gap... where I found a bright orange sweater left over from holiday shopping season for $9. I love when that happens, when you just happen upon an item, you become instantly obsessed with it, it is the very last one, and it just happens to be so incredibly affordable you simply cannot pass it up.

In fact if you saw me now, wearing my new orange sweater, with remnants of blue paint on my hands (which I will proudly wear to my yoga class later), I sort of resemble this painting. (happens a lot.) Which speaking of this painting ~ I wish I could take credit for this character, but I cannot ~ this little orange elephant is completely inspired by a 1950's vintage toy set, which was completely inspired by one of the best vintage mom and pop shops online. Three Potato Four owned by Janet and Stu, literally the mom and pop of the operation. Have you heard of them yet ~ if you haven't, you must!

Janet and Stu decided to "leave the fun and hectic life of New York, and moved with their 2 year old daughter Holly to a little house with a big yard and beautiful garden in Northern Virginia". Shortly thereafter, Three Potato Four was born ~ and I'm thinking that they've already been open a year now, is that possible? All I can say is they have the BEST eye for vintage finds and not only that but they take the most beautiful, charming photographs of each piece. (If you are trying to learn how to photograph your products, and develop your unique style for your own store, Janet and Stu's style is completely inspiring) It's hard to decide which item you love best.

I am on their weekly email list, and am excited every time I get one in my inbox because I know it will be chock full of inspiration, and things I will want to own in my home ~ A week ago, I was finally ready to make my first purchase. I became instantly smitten with a plastic nesting set of vintage toys. Sadly, I wasn't quick enough because it sold right away. I'd been contemplating, and even started painting a tiny series with toys...and a week later I am still so in love with these toys that I asked Janet and Stu if they'd mind if included them in my painting(s) this week. They said "of course!" ~ and here's the first of several paintings to come (since they were a nesting set, you know there's a series coming...) very different from last week's series.

This is officially the start to the week of birthdays in our home ~ so only FUN and celebration to be had over here for the next 10 days or more.. or forever.

see you tomorrow!

(click here to buy original)

I love LOVE

And Valentine's cards. And sleeping in on Saturdays (well really due to a night full of animal shenanigans that kept me up! ~ photo below is pre-shenaningans), followed by brunch with Sean at the Vienna Cafe, followed by an afternoon of being creative. That's a pretty good day in my book.

I created some "love" cards and listed them in the shop this afternoon. A hand drawn ink illustration then digitally colored ~ I love the sweetness and the simplicity of these.

happy saturday!

Lions, Tigers and Bears :: Bear

5.5 x 7.5

The last one in this series ~ and probably my favorite. Even with my attempts at "mixing it up" creatively, I'm still so partial to polar bears.
I don't know about you but with all the change this week, I have a lot of things percolating in my mind ~ and I'm sure I'll be sharing it soon enough either in a blog post or podcast. Until then I'm going to use this time to get caught up, do some reorganizing, and prepare my work for some very exciting events ahead of me... and my blog post(s) will be brief :)  So, I'm going to go ahead and wish you a very happy weekend!

(click here to buy original)

Lions, Tigers and Bears :: Tiger

5.5 x 7.5 in.

And the series continues...
How different is this from my usual work? Honestly sometimes my own paintings surprise me. I always begin them, but at some point the painting takes on a life all its own ~ especially if there is a personality in the image that is wanting to come through.

I had the BEST afternoon painting ceramics, and Outi and I came up with something new that I hope you might just love as much as I do...My big plan is to release all the newest ceramics in February before Valentine's day.

(click here to buy original)

Lions, Tigers and Bears :: Lion

5.5 x 7.5

I've had these oval wood panels for months and from the moment I saw them, I had this idea of painting animals in more of a portrait style. As I've mentioned before on this blog, it's always fun for me to mix things up creatively and try something new. So this is the first in a series of three...and by the title above, I'm sure you can guess what the other images will be.

Still basking in the excitement of yesterday, I'm off to paint ceramics...bowls this time!

Also before I head out, I want to say a quick thank you to some bloggers, Indie Fixx(thank you Jen for ALL your support this year!), Etsy Stalker and The Red Deer, who have included my work in some really fun Etsy groupings. With Etsy growing at the rate that it is, I love that so many people are selecting and sharing their favorite creations, so we can easily find more beautiful work! One of these days soon I'll have to return the love and post some (because I have SO many) of my Etsy favorites. Until then, my list of thanks is endless to all the people who continue to share my work. THANK YOU!!!!

(click here to buy original)

Yes We CAN

5 x 5 in.

Sean woke up to me singing "Yes We Can" from this video.

This is one of the most, if not the most exciting days in history in my lifetime. I am glued to the television as we await our new president.

With all the excitement surrounding this time and this day, I could not resist painting my own interpretation of the saying that accompanies this past campaign and Barack Obama. You could say this is also my first official self-portrait, because this is the first painting where I have included myself as one of the characters  ~That is me in the center, with my signature yellow boots of course, :) with Olive and Eli at my side.

Today means so much for so many reasons and most of all that Together We CAN!!!!

Much more than a celebration for just our country, this is a time of change for all of us.
Have a beautiful inauguration day where ever you are in the world.

(original is sold)

also available as a print at the shop

*Edit* later today ~ It's here. We have a new president!!! And I've never been so inspired ~ by a president that is.