SF & Creative Swoon

Road Trip!!! We are off to San Francisco for the weekend!! We haven't been back since we moved so it will be nice to hang out! Plus, our good friend Jane is getting married!! It is sure to be one hell of a party! I'll be back posting on Monday, hopefully with great road trip and wedding pics! Happy first weekend of spring!!! Get out there and enjoy the fresh blooms and crisp air!!

Coming soon!

I hope to be launching my new blog, Creative Swoon, very soon (I swear!). This site will revolve around all things creative, including (but certainly not limited to) Artists, Musicians, Culinary ideas, handmade wearables, jewelry, and varying talents all over the creative board. If you are a crafty craftster, or know someone who is, please point them over here! I want to know what making people happy out there! What are you creating? Email me!!! Lets get a conversation started!

Talia

This is a new piece I recently finished. Her name is Talia. She's much lighter and brighter than I have done in am while. What do you think??? Send a comment wont ya??!?

Apartment Therapy!!! Woo Hoo!!!

I just want to thank Alec over at Apartment Therapy for writing a great post all about my work! Check out the write up here!

If you aren't familiar with AT you should be!! The blog covers both LA and NYC and is an amazing resource for Interior design finds, decorating ideas, ebay treasures, etc. Make sure to check out the 2006 Smallest Coolest contest they just held. Some of the homes shown are fantastic!! Very inspiring!

Retail News

Yay!! I am very proud to announce that the pieces below, plus a variety of others, are available at Kingfisher Road in Woodland Hills, CA. Kelly, the owner, is sweet as pie, and has the cutest space! She carries all kinds of unique gift items, home accessories, books, and art pieces. If you are in the area be sure to drop in!!!

HAPPY SPRING!!!!!!!!!!

It has been a CRAZY weekend. Been doing a lot of new work. Here are a few of the new pieces perfect for Spring. I will be back soon with more goodies. Just a really hectic day today!! Hope you enjoy!!

Fun blogging in Illinois

I just stumbled across a great new blog recently started by Margo Pearson, a newspaper designer/Graphic Artist in Rockford, Ill.
Margo has a keen eye for fun images and indulgent houswares. She is sure to be a great resource for fun design! Check it out here.

Happy Words!

Live your art and it will live around you!!

-Corey Amaro,Tongue in Cheek

Get Out The Vote!

Now is your chance to get involved! For the next 15 days you have a chance to help Jury the April Exhibition at Projekt30!! Click through the mystical array of varying mediums and dizzying talent and be sure you are ready for a little Oohhing and Aahhing! You get to rate each individual artist on a scale of 1-5. I think you will be pleasantly surprised by the quality, and quantity(!), of work. And yes, my stuff is up there too!

The final 30 will be on display at www.Projekt30.com April 1-30, 2006.

The way it goes in my house is that things very rarely get actually hung on the wall. Paintings in progress are mixed in with finished works, photographs, inspiration pieces and objects we collect. This is my "work bench". It is an ever changing display in my home of projects coming and going.

Art-e-zine is a collection of crafty ideas, concepts, processes and thoughts maintained by Gillian Allen who lives and works in the UK.
Gillian has been kind enough to design a page showcasing my artwork. It would be well worth your time to peruse the pages she has accumulated. There are a lot of talented mixed media artists hidden in her pages. Take a tour and see what you can find!

Are you looking for a little inspiration? If you are, make it a point to check out Tongue in Cheek. Corey Amaro is an American who has lived in France for the past 18 years with her French husband and their children. Forget that her story is so romantic that it will make your heart flutter, the images and stories Corey shares are steeped in history and always accompanied by fantastic, captivating photos. Her blog is full of of 19th century French antiques, family experiences and wisdom. All of the beautiful things she finds throughout her journeys around the world are described with poetic prose and her knowledge of antiques and their original uses is fascinating. She finds beauty around every corner! You will love it!!!

All photos courtesy of Corey Amaro

John Q. has been accepted into the Plano Art Associations 2006 National Juried Show. The show will be on display at the Plano Art Centre and runs April 8th through May 5th.
The opening reception will be on Saturday April 22nd, from 6-9. If you are in the area, be sure to drop in and check out the show! Otherwise, once the show is open, you can take a virtual tour of the gallery on their website.

The March exhibition at Projekt30 is up!!

Every month Projekt30 holds publicaly juried exhibitions. 30 artists are chosen to be featured for the month at Projekt30.com. They also occasionally hold themed competitions such as the upcoming Arcadia | The End of Time. If you are of the artsy persuasion I highly recommend Projekt30. The submission process is very user friendly, and if you are in need of a great Click and play website, their webhosting is outstanding. And the cost is pretty too!

At first glance you might think you are seeing a clear and beautiful landscape. But look again! Rachael Sudlows incredible "Cowscapes" are intriguing and mesmerizing. Once you have identified the subject of each image there is almost a nagging anticipation of movement. I have the sense that at any moment the cow is going to lift its head, with a mouthful of grass, and casually turn and walk away.

Born in Lawrence, Kansas Rachael has been greatly inspired by the land and animals that inhabit the prairie. This experience is something she drew from during her attendance at the Rhode Island School of Design, from which she graduated in 2005 with a BFA in Photography. She has also been heavily influenced by her painter grandfather, Robert Sudlow.

Rachaels Cowscapes are available in a number of different sizes. Email her for purchase info.

Quickie: Check out an awesome shout out from my gal Holly today!!

decor8: Fresh Finds on Etsy!

I would like to take the time now to acknowledge a man who has gone out of his way to be supportive! Brad Bunkers is a super talented Graphic Designer/Artist living in Livingston, Montana. Recently Brad launched Hoboeye.com , an Online Arts Journal that is dedicated to getting the word out about Artists, Musicians and Writers. In its first month of launch, Hoboeye has attracted more than 500 readers to its pages. I am proud to be among the Artists featured in the premier issue!



Brads' own work is mysterious and intriguing. He has a very playful and expressive style that really attracts me. The faces of his subjects seem frozen in time. This work evokes so much emotion it is hard not to feel like you have witnessed these scenes before. They are subtle and familiar. I hear all kinds of music when I look at his pieces. Each one seems to have its own soundtrack. Check out his site to see more of his works. What do they remind you of??

I recently finished my largest portrait yet! "Cissie" is a piece I have done for my dining room wall. This is an image of my Grandmother on the beach in the late 1920's-early 30's, when she was a young teenager. Today, she is 91 years old and lives in London, so I dont get to see her very often. I miss her a lot and this piece makes me smile whenever I see it, (which is often as it is in the middle of my house!)

Although my house is sort of just put together while we dream of all of crazy renovations we want to do, these touches make it feel even more like our home. One day that wall will be history, and Cissie will hang someplace else, but for now she is helping to make a space that feels borrowed, a space someone else created, feel more like us!

She is 48x60 which was no small task! Nothin' like crawling around on the floor trying to reach the middle of a canvas! I love this job!!!

Anyone even minutely interested in design should be checking out
this lady's blog EVERY SINGLE DAY! Holly is generous, kind and witty! Her eye for awesome design and her wildly funny writing style, reviews, tips, and interviews with indie artists are devoted to filling our homes and minds with happy, pretty things! She is relentless!! Posting 4-8 times throughout the day, her dedication is astounding! Make sure to bookmark her blog! You will not be sorry!

If you haven't checked out Etsy, you have no idea what you are missing!!!
Etsy is a fantastic new venue for all things original and handmade. Etsy was launched on June 18, 2005 and in just 9 short months there are 6788 sellers!

This is not an auction site, so there is no bidding. If you like it, click it and viola! It's yours! There are all kinds of amazing artisans selling Jewelry, Art, Accessories, and pretty much anything else crafty you can think of!
There is also an Alchemy link through the site where you can post ads to have crafty things commissioned. The people who can do what you need bid to get the job! What a great way to find a creative mind anywhere in the world who you may never have found otherwise!

My Etsy shop just opened, and to celebrate I'm offering FREE SHIPPING anywhere in the US throughout the month of March.
This is up to a $50 value, FREE!

So . . . I guess I am a Blogger now! I am excited to get this diary of sorts underway and hope to keep it up regularly.
Check back often for all kinds of art goodies and announcements!