Winter Gift Guide

We are going pretty minimal for most of our gift giving this year...plus I have been promising my family paintings for way too long! So, even though I wont be buying nearly as much stuff off Etsy as last year, I hope everyone else still will!

Check out the treasury I created...a winter gift guide for art lovers:

Aren't they lovely? Any favorites?   ♥

Sneaky - Illustration Friday

Whohoo!
 I haven't drawn an illustration for the Illustration Friday in some time.
So here you are! The topic was sneaky, but I prefer sneakity!
♥

(click the image to view larger)

sneaky peeks

I apologize if I got you excited for cotton candy. I was too!

 My first job at age 15 was working in a concession stand at the Super Oval, a racetrack in my hometown. That summer I lived to stand around making sticky cotton candy while everyone else rushed crazily about prepping for the evening. There was really no competition for this task. I would end up spending the entire night covered in tacky sugar all up in my outfit and hair. The most reminiscent part to these teenage summers came from popping out the plywood windows and shoving stick after stick of free fluffy sugar to the waiting little tyrants (racecar driver offspring) that roamed the Oval before dark.

Back to my point...due to circumstances beyond my control I will no longer be having the "Cotton Candy Underground" artshow in Coeur d'Alene on the 3rd. I actually canceled it. There was some change in ownership and it just didn't seem like the right time for an exhibit there. I will have to find another excuse to rent a cotton candy machine and feed you all those sticky sweet sugars of my past.

Even with with a short deadline looming overhead,  I had a wonderful time preparing some new pieces. So, even though you have to wait to see them....I will share some sneak peeks here:

Have a lovely weekend!

Oh Deer!

I'm just going to put this out there...I can't knit - like at all (which is very frustrating). I had been looking for the perfect hat for a long time. I knew it would have ears, but couldn't be lame (there are a lot of cheesy animal hats out there)!

Tiny Owls definitely took Etsy by storm. I found her hat pattern (she was still a new seller), posted it on facebook, worked out a plan to barter logo and banner design for a friend to knit it, went back to buy the pattern (not long after finding it) and it had sold. I ended up swiping one up the next day when she relisted.

When I checked today the Tiny Owls shop was up to 130 sales! Amazing. I keep going back (knowing that I cannot have what I will find) and there are more and more adorable patterns...even packs of patterns. So - if you are more talented than I, you better get over there and check it out.

Also...BIG thank you to Janelle for my beautiful deer hat! It turned out perfectly. Sneak over to her shop Lemuria Handmade Crafts and check out our little logo design for hat swappery. Her shop is empty at the moment but the new banner is up and I am sure it will be full of lovely items in time.

Adventures in a Pumpkin Suit!

Oh goodness....I had a weekend of party photo taking madness!!! Such lovely times. ♥

The first set of photos was from our Hellaween Party on Friday at Areli and Justin's. The second set was from a party for Chris Dreyer's work...Boom Creative, which had a most magical movie wall - you will see...

Oh, and here is Jacinda and my Helloween Prom photo!!! (her mom took it before we headed out) She's a cheesy broccoli, and I - a genetically engineered seedless pumpkin. Homemade costumes are the best!

Click the photos to view them larger.

We didn't get home until 5am that morning. Saturday (afternoon) was spent ordering pizza, watching movies, taking baths and then wrapping Emily in plastic wrap outside the grocery store (for her Dexter Victim costume), before we headed to Boom....

We also sparkle attacked pretty much everyone we came in contact with!What is Halloween with out a little glitter? ♥

Harvest

We are almost done harvesting things from our yard for the year. Jacinda is home cooking/canning tomato sauce and freezing peppers as I write this. We have chopped everything down and our yard seems so barren (I guess the weather isn't helping). Our overflowing compost bin has almost sunken to a manageable size, and I am drying more tobacco seeds than a girl could want! In the Spring we will be sunflower seed roasting, and hosting bird house making parties (with the gourds)...until then, where to put everything?

I have been extremely busy working on commission art pieces and running all over town getting the final pieces for our homemade costumes. I can't wait, tonight I will be dying, sewing, and stuffing all in the name of Hellaween (as our party has been dubbed). On Wednesday we are having a cake making party to get ready for Friday!!! I promise photos...and maybe even a few shots of our costume progress!

Have a most lovely evening! ♥

New Painting

I was holding out on posting this until after Terrain...so, I guess it's time. This is my latest piece titled: Slow Dance (a constant search). It is sort of a new direction I am trying, and my first night piece. I think I'm sold!

You can click on the image to view it larger! Hope you love it. ♥

artfully wonderous weekend

A weekend of art walking, art viewing, discussing art, teaching art, and costume making....how delightful!

I took a couple photos to share with you from the different events...but somehow I skipped a bunch of galleries we visited. I should have taken more! (not that this post needs to be any longer!)

The Archie Bray show at the Kolva Sullivan Gallery blew my mind once again! Every October they journey over from Helena, MT to share their ceramic mastery with Spokane. I pretty much wait all year for them. This time I got to chat up a few of the artists outside the gallery and then later at the Kolva after party...not to mention talking them into checking out Terrain down the street. (wonder what they thought of it?)

 

I ran into the lovely Chris Dreyer...blinded him and got the greatest cutie pie photo ever! Chris almost lost it over some wheat paste art outside the Kolva. It is rarer than you would expect here in Spokane. Wheat paste kinda has become a mantra for him...this eventually spawned a super amazing non wheat pasty idea of mine on Saturday. Something about a one night parking lot show...but shh - said too much already! (just wait a couple months...these things do take time)

I was impressed with the street art that popped up over the weekend. I saw quite a few instances including this nicely executed stop sign tree. You better stop at this one!!! Could Spokane finally be getting there?

I was delighted at the Riverspeak show to find John and Naaman's piece in the back. Here are the "Boys who like butterflies" themselves having at it. ♥

I also included a photo of a piece I happened to stumble upon by my new artist friend Darcy Drury.

Over on 2nd Ave. there is a building that serves as band practice space and artist working studios. They also have had some really great shows there - this month was one in particular. I missed my friend Cori as she ran home to change...but I am slightly infatuated with the work she had. The dress and the drain one in the center would look marvelous on my new walls!!!

I also met a new artist there that I am really excited about...Keshia Wright. There are a couple images of her lovely works below - including some wood chopping.

Then...Terrain. This was really hard for me to photograph. The images simply can't portray how epic this event really was. It was very loud, very hot and very packed for much of the night - which is awesome....I just did more enjoying that photo taking. But, here are a few from earlier:

The next morning I woke up really early and taught watercolor pencils at the MAC to families that attended I <3 Art. The museum was packed full of kids running around (having a blast) doing art projects with their parents. They even had me do the white board for the event....it turned out really cute!

After this I grabbed my artwork from Terrain. I hauled it home and managed a one hour power nap before heading off to the Saranc Arts 'State of Spokane's Visual Arts' Artist Symposium. This was hosted by the talented Scott Kolbo. It was a positive non bitching hour long chat with an amazing panel of speakers. We covered everything from Critical Dialogue, the roll of the MAC and the media, the lack of a center or rather artist hub, the equality of Lowbrow and Highbrow art, and the roll of artists in Spokane. I think a lot of seeds were planted in both the young and upcoming artists as well as the more seasoned professionals. There was a wonderful mix of new faces along with the usual heavy hitters in the Spokane Art Scene.

The hour long talk was recorded if you missed it and would like to catch up:

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This was followed by a lovely impromptu crashing of a pre-planned dinner party (15 of us) at Niki, and Chris Deyer's apartment. Then Sunday can be summed up with baking peanut butter cookies, spicy sweet popcorn with wine, followed by candy corn, amazing pizza and great company. We are getting ready for Halloween and I am so soooo very excited!...But more on the amazing costumes once I get a little further along.

Thank you for sticking out to the end of this insanely long post....I wish you a beautiful week with an equally magical weekend as it is approaching fast.