Glass!!

One of my all-time favorite things in the world is glass. I *love* glass. It can be in shards, blown into a beautiful vessel, or hanging from a Christmas tree; it matters not. And finally, after this decades-long love affair, I was able to take a glass-blowing class. I suppose it technically was not glass "blowing" because we didn't actually blow into the glass. A better name would be glass-shaping, or glass-molding. It was the most fun I've had in a long, long time. Seeing how glass changes from a liquid to a solid in a matter of minutes was absolutely fascinating, as was watching the colors slowly melt into the glass. I've posted a few pieces above; if you can't tell, they are all flowers. I felt that I did fairly well for my first time (the blue one is the only one I really and truly screwed up on; in full, it looks like the appendage of some alien life form), and I will definitely be taking more glass classes in the future.

Cat In Scarf Sketch

Cats have always been a part of my life and I have always loved them. We always had cats around the house growing up, and for a time, I wanted anything with a cat on it: shirts, cups, folders, you name it. Although I've grown out of THAT stage, my love for the furry feline has not abated. I used to be obsessed with drawing cats. My cats were more like stick figure cats and the girls always wore ribbons on the tops of their heads. I believe I was in the third grade when I wrote a series of one-page comics entitled "I Love Cattie," based off of "I Love Lucy." I actually showed these to my friends who seemed to enjoy them. I realized the other day that I haven't tried to draw a cat since then, and was horrified. I checked out some books on cats from the library, but was ultimately drawn to The Black Apple's cat, Miette. I looked at a picture she had taken of her cat and made a small, quick sketch (on a Post-It note at work, no less!). I hope you like it; I think I've come a long way and it's not bad for my first cat in twenty years.

Wedding Embroidery

Two of my good friends are getting married this summer, and in addition to the actual wedding gift, I thought it might be nice to make something fun for them. I embroidered the above image and placed it in a 5x7 inch picture frame so they could place it wherever they wished in their new house. It's very basic and intentionally drawing-like, and I hope very much that they like it when I give it to them later this evening. Even though it may not look like it, it took me several hours of work to complete. I've been doing embroidery on and off over the past year or so, and I'm at a stage right now where it's very seductive to me and I'm extremely interested in learning new stitches and techniques.

At last!!

Finally, after ages and ages of not drawing and not posting anything substantial here, I have BEEN CREATIVE!!! Let the trumpets sound!

Above you will see my beautiful, beautiful shoes, lovingly rendered in colored pencil. It's just about warm enough to wear them!

Materials: 11x14 inch Strathmore drawing paper, Prismacolor colored pencils

More New Shoes

Yeah, so I still haven't done anything creative. I did, however, buy these shoes today, and their extreme awesomeness must be shared with the Internet community!! They are so pretty and delicate and unique, and they fit like a dream. If I get a chance to tonight, I am going to draw them! The picture simply does not do them justice!

A Little Thing Called Life

Sometimes life gets in the way of being creative. This is what's happened to me over the past two weeks since I last posted. In that time I interviewed for a new job, got the new job, quit the old job, my boyfriend had a death in the family, and I've gotten sick with allergies. Hopefully after I start my new job on Monday I can settle down and get back into painting or sewing or SOMETHING productive.

Stick around!

Northern Gannet

A new painting! Finally. I had a few failed attempts with painting since my last post, but I'm pretty happy with this one.

The Northern Gannet bird is tall and graceful; typically they are 34-39 inches tall! They eat a diet of fish and sometimes squid. Yum? One thing I like about this bird is that they tend to mate for really long times. Loyalty!

Painting is available in the shop! UPDATE! This painting has been sold!

Materials: 6x6 wood, acrylic paints

Unrolled Fern Frond

Two posts in one day! Wow. I'm really making up for lost time, huh?

Anywho, I painted this little beauty a few weeks ago. I was inspired by the nice weather out, and I opened all the windows in my apartment and sat on my couch for a long time, just listening to the wind and to the birds chirping. I decided then and there that a nice little nature painting would suit me just fine.

This little guy is an unrolled fern frond from Costa Rica. He was painted on 6x6 inch wood with acrylic paints. He is also available in the shop if you'd like to own him yourself. I think I might do a little series of ferns since they are so curvy and luscious and sweet.

Materials: 6x6 inch wood, acrylic paint

Mother-of-Pearl Madness!!

As mentioned in my last post, I've been working on some jewelry lately. I find that it sells much better than my art at craft shows, and I'm hoping to do a few this summer. I recently ordered a big batch of beads from my favorite online beading supply store and finally had time to sit down and create!

The picture above is an example of the mother-of-pearl earrings I made. I made quite a few, all in several colors. To see more of them, go to my Flickr page here. If you see something you like, drop me an e-mail and I'll create a special listing for you in the shop. Earrings will be $10.00/each or two for $17.00.


Materials: Mother-of-pearl, surgical steel ear-hooks (silver), gold-plated ear hooks, silver and gold-plated head pins.

Wahoo!

Perhaps being in the dumps in my last post was worth it, because I made a sale today! I sold the "Seahorses in Love" painting (click here to see it) out of the blue! So unbelievably satisfying. It's so nice to think that someone out there liked my work enough to purchase it.

In other news, I've been preparing for spring/summer craft fairs and have made some lovely (in my eyes, at least) jewelry. I'll be posting pictures of those tonight (possibly) once I take them!