Wow! It's been too long!

Hello All! 

Wow, it's been awhile since I've posted anything over here on the blog! I'm ashamed when I look at how long it's been! But a lot has happened this past year. I went back to teaching this year while I managed to keep up with bits and pieces of art along the way. Although, I have to admit I didn't get to as much as I wanted. I dove into multiple paintings this summer with great gusto, working on some really large and small pieces at the same time. 

A couple of Crabs.... 8x10's

Crab close-up

Winged Seahorse 24" x 48"

some up-close detail 

Another piece in progress....36" x 36"

And there are other fun ideas I have for some new art that are in the development phase right now.....SUPER EXCITED!!

On the home front, we are always enjoying the constant growth of our little Warren. He'll be 4 this fall and his personality is just blossoming! We're astounded by his imagination and curiosity for the world around him. I think we hear the phrase, "Mommy/Daddy what _____ mean?" about 30 times a day. And as all you parents know, those are not always easy questions to answer. 

Warren posing in front of some of his class's art during their Summer Art Show

Hamming it up with one of Daddy's crabs

AND.........We're eagerly anticipating the arrival of a little boy this Sept/early Oct. Warren keeps saying, "I'm gonna be the BEST big brother!"  We've been fairly quiet about the entire pregnancy, after experiencing multiple miscarriages, but are very excited about the addition to our family. It's hard to imagine how exactly the family dynamics might change, but I can't tell you how excited we are to meet our little guy.

A couple weeks ago out in the Outer Banks

Growth

I had a blast these last five weeks in the Lilla Rogers Make Art That Sells on-line class! As a final project we made a hyper-lush piece that focused on something we love. 

I decided to go with trees and I had a lot of fun playing with color. I was really impressed with everyone's work, and am happy with my results as well. This is pretty lush for me....

Growth

available here

I started off with a layer of newspaper and thicker card stock pieces placed at random around the canvas. I made a small mock-up with a bunch of my sketches and used an inspiration book of mine to decide on the different styles of trees to add.

laying it all out to start sketching on the canvas

All the trees/branches were painted on except for the red pine trees. I cut those out of card stock and applied them with a matte medium. 

 lots texture in my blue skyline of trees

had a lot of fun distressing the piece at the end

more distressing

This painting definitely ended up with a very aged/distressed look by the end. I love it's sense of being 

worn-in and well-loved vs. worn-out. Like it's a thought or a memory of mine that's been lingering around awhile. 

My super awesome husband also just surprised me with a spot in Justin Bua's new online art classes too! (We love his art and have a print of El Guitarrista hanging in our living room). Who knows what new fun things I'll learn there!

channeling my inner girly girl

Okay......so I am SOOOOO not a pink and purple kinda gal. 

My class is in week 4 of 5 and I was SO looking forward to this last week like no other, Wall Art, my comfort zone! Imagine my face as we're given the assignment and the color scheme I needed to work in was.... purple and pink. Picture total let down, heart break, a deep black hole into which I had sunk.

But, after the initial crushing blow, I decided that this is something I could do. I can make something purple and pink and totally love it. 

And I did. I totally surprised myself and was actually a little inspired by the end. What other color stories have I not considered that might be totally awesome? I think this project opened my eyes in a way I haven't considered before. While I have pushed myself to try other techniques, I haven't necessarily dived in the realm of color and this really excites me!

Here are a couple close-ups of this mixed-media piece. 

project time with Lilla Rogers MATS e-course

I've been off the radar a bit again here lately as summer begins to sizzle out here on the east coast. 

I've been happily emersed in Lilla Roger's Make Art That Sells e-course that started in the beginning of June. It's a five week course that covers various art markets and it's only half-way through and my mind has been totally blown. 

Week 1 we reviewed the bolt fabric market and I have to say this is not an area I really saw myself being drawn to. I, myself am not a big sewer, but my eyes are definitely more open to  the needs of that area and possibly how my art could translate into it.

Here is my tea towel project idea that I created for that week. I had a ton of fun sketching kitchen items, something I haven't really thought of doing before. 

I did my project collage style, something I've ALWAYS loved. I have to say that I was intimidated at first by the level of talent of all the artists involved in the class, but by the end of the week I felt a bit more secure in being who and where I am. I was really impressed by the skills of all the graphic designers and what they can do on the computer.....and I'm just not there, but that's okay. Perhaps that will be something I'll look into, I'm not sure if that's totally me right now.

It's funny how I find myself rubberbanding back and forth from feeling like I belong in the world of art, and that insecurity that creeps up and tells me I don't. Even during that first week I felt like I went through such a whirlwind of emotion as intimidation eventually led me back down to a place of comfort with my work. The community of artists that have come together to take this class is amazing. Although the level of talent is intimidating, everyone is SO supportive and generous with each other's comments and suggestions. It's been a place where we can all take artistic risks, see ourselves growing, and cheer one another on as we push ourselves to get as much out of this course as possible. I'm thankful that I decided to take the leap and try it.

Here is the cover I designed for a fairy tale.

This last week revolved around the Children's Book Market, something I would love to get into. I had a lot of fun creating these characters and I did some mild Photoshop work which I'm pleased with. I colored the turquoise background and the words "the snail" on the computer and I was pleased with the results. Like I said, I've got extremely low Photoshop skills...lol! I normally do everything by hand, but I like how doing the background this way combined my illustration work with something more bold. I think it makes my characters pop.

Now, I'm off to work on another project for wall art....I'll share my progress soon.

Happy Summer friends!

putting on my big girl pants

So.....I've been busy this week, only I haven't picked up my paintbrush once this week! As we head down to the Outer Banks this next week I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to approach some boutiques/galleries with some of my work. After all, this is the place that has inspired all of my beach work.

I've been doing my research and putting together line sheets, sales forms, a new bio and working to make my presentation as 'dominy' as possible! :-)

Who knew how much work it was to create all this stuff? I'm excited and a little nervous about this next step, but I think it's time. Time to put on my big girl pants!

I'll keep you posted!

We've gone greener!

Okay friends....I just have to share the love that I have for our newest appliance! A Vitamix blender- you heard it- a blender. It's totally changed our life. Brandon's brother gave it to us for Christmas and we totally embraced the green-drink revolution. We use it everyday for breakfast and have loved that we now regularly eat veggies first thing in the morning.

Our favorite recipe was one we found by Dr. Oz.

Here's our adaptation that we use for 2 people.

1 apple

1/2 cucumber

2-3 stalks celery

handful spinach/kale/other leafy green*

1/2 bunch parsley

1/2 bunch cilantro

1/2 lime squeezed

1/4 lemon squeezed

1 teaspoon fresh ginger

little splash of filtered water

*I'd NOT recommend using mustard greens here unless you're REALLY looking to clear out your nasal passages....learn from my mistake!! :-)

I roughly chop everything and then viola...

green goodness.

**And the other SUPER PLUS is that it's totally easy to clean! That's major cool points in my book!**

We're hooked, I mean totally hooked. We don't go a day without it now. We also found that this little change led to bigger changes we were ready to make in our diet/lifestyle. We've been eating a primarily vegetarian/vegan diet now for these past four months and are loving how we're feeling. And my husband's cholesterol has gone down over 100 points. And while I can't claim all those points were our diet (he's taking half the dose of medication that his doctor recommended) I'd like to think that these changes are significant.

We haven't totally freaked out and gone off the deep end, because we'll have salmon and maybe red meat (grass fed) once or twice a month. And if we go out we'll get something if we crave it. But I've found at least that some of these splurges seem less satisfying than they used to. So, we'll see how things progress, but for now we're enjoying being a bit greener!

xoxo

finding my truth

I finally did it! I stretched my own canvas...a piece I worked on last summer in Portland.

I had a ton of fun doing it, and it's my largest painting yet (26x48). 

I'm currently deciding if I'm going to change/add/work on it any further. But as I stood back and looked at this baby, a sense of welcomed pride overtook me. I feel like I've come so far since then. Like taking a step back has helped me see me now. 

This painting became the story of me, discovering my truth, honoring my story and my path.

I began with a whale...I wanted to be a marine biologist ever since sixth grade. I was SOOO into whales for awhile. My parents even adopted a whale for me one Christmas. There is something so peaceful and knowing about a whale.

adding more interest...not sure where it's going at this point

What do you want?

TRUTH-my truth to shine through

A girl appears with the body of a salmon. A mermaid sounds more romantic and girly - but she wasn't meant to be one. She's swimming with her whale friend, forward into the darkness, unafraid.

A doorway appears- perhaps an opportunity, a new path

A 'raven' joins us - her insecurities, her doubts, her worry carried on it's wings. 

Calling to her, screeching at her to follow. She attempts to leave them behind and move forward, ever forward.