Busy, busy, busy....

I'm super excited to have been invited to showcase some of my work at a local shop here in New Jersey! I've been busy making prints, cards and new originals as well as making preparations for the display and set-up. I was a little nervous at first because I wasn't sure I was ready for something like this, but it feels good to be pushing my boundaries. I think opportunities and challenges present themselves at times when we most need them (although it doesn't feel like it at the time). So I'm looking forward to sharing with you the pictures and process as I get set up early this week!


Happy Saturday!

Take Two

 MIxed media painting

canvas, decorative papers, vellum (wings), acrylic paint, charcoal, pen, pencil

I like how her wings stretch beyond the canvas. It's a 1 1/2" deep canvas, with the sides painted black so it will look great hanging on a wall or propped on a shelf!

Original collage illustration

decorative papers, vellum (wings), map, pen, markers, colored pencil

I like the blue tones in this one, as well as her vellum wings, but the decorative paper touches I added to the top and bottom make it a bit busy.

I've been playing around lately with various mixed media techniques and decided to 'recycle' an illustration of mine. I think they both have their pros and cons- either way, I love the message....

spring walks

We've been trying to get out as much as possible lately to enjoy all the wonderful spring weather! We live by the most beautiful cemetery and it has become our favorite place to walk the dogs and watch the seasons transition.

Now that Warren is almost 17 months, he loves walking (and running!) with the family as we follow our familiar route. He walks ahead of us and then sprints a short distance and stops when something catches his eye. When he was just beginning to walk, in the fall and winter, he loved to stop and pick up leaves. He would carefully carry them by their stems, one in each hand until he came to another one. He would then proceed to compare the new leaf to the ones he already held and decide if that one was worth picking up.

Now on our walks, the collecting of items has expanded to also include sticks, rocks and dandelions. But he still only chooses one for each hand, a cute habit he's stuck to so far.

 (Brandon showed him how to blow on a dandelion that had already gone to seed and he was trying to imitate him).

Watching Warren on our walks has made us more aware of the simple beauty that surrounds us all the time. How it's important to stop running around all the time and appreciate the little things. We've learned a lot from Warren so far and I have a feeling he has a lot more in store for us in the future!

Magic in the Sand

There is just something special about getting sand between your toes....when I was growing up in Alaska we would take trips out to the Outer Banks of North Carolina and being at the beach was such an exotic treat. We SO looked forward to dipping our toes into water where you didn't require wet suits, overindulging in the sun, and munching on snow cones as they dripped down our hands. Now, even though I live close to the coast, the beach has never lost that magic for me. 

Magic in the Sand 8x10 Print

available here

As the summer draws near I was inspired to create this mixed-media painting of the starfish and I loved it so much that it became a part of a collection of five different beach images. I've really enjoyed the layering that's involved in this technique. One of my favorite things to incorporate into my recent paintings has been maps. 

When I think about it, maps have been a special part of my life growing up. We'd follow them on our outdoor and road trip adventures. I can remember watching my parents, grandpa and relatives review and schedule our route as we planned the next part of our travels (sometimes the planning of the trips could be just as fun as the actual trips themselves).

I've been collecting and keeping maps from all the National Geographic Magazine subscriptions my grandfather annually gifted to us. He loved that magazine and his collection dated WAY back (I have the issue from the month and year I was born). Adding the maps to my paintings, has in a way let me honor my Paw-Paw.  Even though he has past on I feel like a little bit of him lives on in these images, even if I'm the only one who knows it's there.

A Cascade of Memories 8x10 Print

available here

Permission to be

I’ve been working a lot lately on developing a more thorough portfolio. And as I look around at my current work, girly illustration-collages, mixed media paintings, more abstract stuff, I’m thinking “What exactly is my style?”  I’m having fun but, “What am I doing?” I feel like it’s such a mix of things right now that it makes me anxious, worried that I haven’t ‘found it.’ I find myself getting caught up asking myself the wrong questions, believing that I have to have an answer. It’s the type A part of me taking over, wanting things to be in their right place, wanting things set in stone, feeling the need to be something that I’m not right now.  

But that’s okay….it’s just a reminder that I need to give myself a little space to be.

to be exploring

to be tangled up in emotions

to be discovering me

It’s about the journey right? 

In progress...

I've been working on a couple projects lately; a set of beach/sea themed paintings, an experimental collage, and a couple of of my girly illustrations in a painting format. I've just about wrapped up this mixed-media biking painting, I just LOVE it! Now that spring is here it makes me want to get out on my bike too!