My New Gardening Tools

I wanted to share with you my new treasures that arrived by mail from a fabulous pique assiette mosaic artist Melissa Miller of Melissa's Motifs. I love her style- See her website when you have a moment... I had this pair of implements custom done for me but you can see plenty of examples on her website. This set really grabbed me because of my love for anything garden and I have Spring fever bad right now that some nice weather has come our way. Sometimes I have a hard time getting into the studio because I just want to be out creating in the dirt. These two pieces however, will not be going outside but somewhere in my house to be hung and admired.
( click on the images for a closeup view.)

I had sent Melissa some of my own personal mementos for her to incorporate into my fork and shovel, including some old pink Franciscan ware that was too fun to break... Looking at the shovel and fork, I am just marveled at the detail and obvious time and effort that went into theses pieces of art.

I can see why Melissa has so much fun.

Please take a visit over to Earth Angels to see some new work on my section of the site. I have been madly busy creating all kinds of wonderful treasures for the Spring Soiree May 19th. Visit the rest of the site too- so many goodies!

More art on it's way!

Playing in the dirt

Well not really- My hubby really is a trooper- He has been working on this project for the past couple of weeks. It's not like we did'nt try to get someone to help with digging but nobody was up for this monumental job. My studio lies behind those walls. I have occasional leaks in my studio and Dave is waterproofing this side of the house to prevent further water from seeping into my space. It really looks like an excavation site, but no treasures so far.

Thought I would post pics of the inside as well. I am making progress. Still some big projects lie ahead in the transformation of this space, but I'm liking it so far. To see some additional pics of the studio, follow the link.

In planning out this space, I am very determined to have it look warm and inviting plus a little bit fru fru. Those concrete walls and floors need to be softened up a bit. I also have had many requests to do some more workshops again, so this Fall I am planning on having three of them in the studio. If you are interested, please sign up in the newsletter box to the right and info will be posted when I have projects ready to go...

No rain today- so the vegetable garden got planted - so excited for homegrown tomatos, basil and all the other good stuff...

(for larger view, click on images)

Eat your veggies...

From finish to beginning.

This time I will post the completed images first. I like it better that way. Maybe I do not have an appreciation for the stages my work goes through but its more fun to see finished work first.
This grouping is a long overdue commission that I completed here recently. I worked on the whole project at once and did it more or less assembly line style. That doesn't sound very glamorous does it? However, I wanted to keep this little collection very consistent in the overall look since I was treating the grouping as one large piece of artwork. I had allot of fun playing with new fruit and vegetable themes that I have not done before such as mushrooms, asparagus and the like.
The papers that I used for this grouping all came from a circa 1745 store ledger. The writing in it is wonderful. Not exactly perfect like some ledgers of that era, but nice and loopy and sepia.

The initial first wash of color is fluid acrylics by Golden. I have a watercolor background and years ago when I was making the jump from traditional watercolor to acrylic this was the best bridge between the two. It seemed safe at the time, a good decision. Little did I know that the Golden line of acrylics was expansive and opportunities were unlimited. I went from a simple studio with watercolor paper and paints to jars of medium, paint, pencils, crayon etc. Nowadays it seems I want to put a little of everything into a finished piece. I really crave a certain amount of complexity to my work these days. Kinda like emptying out my brain onto the canvas. That could be gross. Anyway- time to go play in the studio...

Charming Easter!

Wishing all of you a Happy Easter. A tiny bit late, but yesterday was filled with painted eggs, food, and frolic on a very typical wet Spring day in Oregon. I did receive a lovely little treasure in the mail today from my dear friend Sally. Not only did she send two of her glorious charms and a bit of a sweet treat, but the box was hand painted in her signature Sally Jean Blue. She really is the queen of collage and inspires so many including myself. I stopped by her website today and noticed that she has lots of new lovelies.

Strawberry Drop Sally???

Mini, Mini!

Spring is definitely in the air. Easter is only a week away. I just put out the little chicky decorations in the bookcase. I think Spring brings out the creative energy in most people. A time to start fresh with new ideas and thoughts. This is the first year for me that I will be planting a vegetable garden as we now have the space to do so at our new house. As that progresses I will post pics. Nothing like getting your own fresh tomatos and basil from the garden. I am also trying to squeeze the usual gardening projects in this Spring. I have to admit I miss my old garden at my previous home, (For those of you new to this blog, I moved last September), I am starting completely from scratch at this place- and it was a mess when we moved in. It isn't that much better really, but the gardens are carved out and freshly composted waiting for the first arrivals of new shrubs and perennials.

As long as the creative energy is flowing, I set out to develop a new line of goodies for my website. Introducing the Mini Collection. A small sweet line of reproduction prints of my originals with a rustic flair. Priced at 20.00 ea., they are ideal for artful gift giving and ready to hang straight out of the box. Each one is hand signed on the front by me as well, and dated on the back. Think small little tuck- in spaces, your favorite vintage cabinet door, or studio decor.

Happy Spring!

Enjoy!