I'd Love to Get You...♬

... ♫ on an slow boat to China ♬
No?
OK, how about Clearwater, Florida then?


Charles and I have the chance to help out some friends and join in on a nice, quiet, cruise from our home here in Destin down to Clearwater, Florida. Part of the trip will be along the Intracoastal waterway and part of it in the open Gulf of Mexico. We'll be offline for the most part during this trip which will last about 5 days but I'll have some great pictures to share when I get back!

Ahoy Maties!
If I see Jack Sparrow I'll tell him you said hi!

Share this post:Bloggerwidgets Social Bookmarking Blogger Widget

Shall We Dance?

I've been gathering up my artwork this winter, trying to figure out which pieces I want to have reproduced for sale in my ArtFire shop. It's always hard to decide which piece is the best and I think it often turns out to be the one that is my favorite at the moment, without much regard for the artistic merits of the piece.
I got excited yesterday when I received some 4x6 Giclee prints of an acrylic I had finally decided on. The Giclee print process is the best way to reproduce a watercolor or acrylic painting and I really can't tell theses prints from the original! I like them so well that I may order a few more prints in different sizes.
The piece is called "Shall we Dance" and it was painted last winter while we were in the islands. I think I love this piece right now because it is really cold here in Northern Florida and I am missing the colors and warmth of the Caribbean!

"Shall We Dance" 4x6 Giclee Print

Share this post:Bloggerwidgets Social Bookmarking Blogger Widget

I WANT This!

In my cruise around the blogosphere this morning I found this wonderful giveaway from the amazing artist Lisa Falzon! I really love her blog and shop and I'd like nothing better than to win this delightful work of art:


Cross your fingers for me! If I win this don't tell PurrPrints, she wants it more than I do! Click here to check out Lisa's other works of art in her ETSY shop!

Share this post:Bloggerwidgets Social Bookmarking Blogger Widget

Show Some Love

I've been fighting the urge this year to create coasters for Valentines Day. It's not that I don't love the sentiment, it's just a very commercialized holiday that puts a lot of pressure on people unnecessarily.
Then I got a cute photo from a friend's daughter a few days ago that started me thinking. She got a great collection of sock monkeys for Christmas and took a picture of them in a very cute pose. It reminded me that love comes in all shapes, sizes, and colors.


I grabbed my pens and doodled this sketch...

Sock Monkey Love - ACEO Print

Share this post:Bloggerwidgets Social Bookmarking Blogger Widget

Walk this Way...

I didn't really make fitness a part of my New Years resolutions but I am trying to start the year off right and this Christmas I got a couple of gifts that have helped out a LOT in that department.
The first gift was from my Husband, Charles. He gave me an iPod shuffle.

We have two other iPods in the house but they are the larger, 'do it all', varieties that hold every song we own but also weigh a lot more. When I went out walking I was always looking for a way to strap the silly thing to my body so it would not bounce around too much. With my cute little shuffle that problem if solved! It clips anywhere and holds enough music to keep me happy for hours!

I love all types of music but the one thing I really like to do when I'm exercising is move to the beat! That means the music I choose has to have a really good tempo so I can get the most out of my exercise routine. To keep my pace consistent, I use a clever little software tool called BeaTunes. It goes into my iTunes library and calculates the beats-per-minute (BPM) of my songs so I can make a playlist of similar songs that will keep me walking at a good pace. Check it out here: BeaTunes.
Here's my current playlist for walking:


My next Christmas gift helps me exercise at a fitness level that is "Heart Healthy". Mom and Dad gave me a heart monitor / watch for Christmas and now I can see what my heart is doing while I exercise! It lets me set target ranges and tells me when I am 'in the zone'. It also lets me time my walk and tells me how many calories I've burned - that's marvelous! Thanks Mom and Dad for a great, and healthy, Christmas gift!


My final tool to get me moving every day isn't a tool at all but a cute, furry, half-schnauzer, half-poodle named "Izzy". This part-time pet belongs to a neighbor who is kind enough to let me borrow 'Izzy' every day for a 4 mile walk/run around the block.



"Izzy" is the best part of my exercise routine - She's always happy to see me and she never complains about the weather. She walks faster than me (when I let her) and is always ready to turn on the after burners if I decide to run for a bit. Most importantly, she makes me smile and if you're having fun it can't really be called exercise, right?

See you on the sidewalk....

Share this post:Bloggerwidgets Social Bookmarking Blogger Widget

Someone has to stand up for the little guy!

I'm very supportive of programs to save endangered species. It's crucially important that we protect the bio-diversity of this planet. With that in mind I'd like to bring an important topic to your attention -

The relentless, senseless, and brutal destruction of Chocolate Bunnies every Easter...

To help save Chocolate Bunnies everywhere, I've created 2 commemorative Chocolate Easter Bunny coasters to bring attention to their plight. Made entirely of non-chocolate material, these cute little fellows will sit quietly on your desk and remind everyone of the millions of Chocolate Bunnies that suffer every Easter.

The Chocolate Easter Bunny Coasters - In my ETSY and ARTFIRE shop now!

Remember to think twice about your candy choices this year. If you have any Chocolate Bunnies that you feel may be threatened, feel free to send them to me for safe keeping.

Share this post:Bloggerwidgets Social Bookmarking Blogger Widget

An Interview with Stanley the Cat

So Stanley, Has anyone ever told you that you look like someone famous?
All the time. Sylvester is my brother so I get a lot of grief for that!

How is it that your brother is a famous TV personality and you're just an ordinary cat? Just my bad luck, that's all. Here's how it all happened:
My brother and I were living in L.A. and we were looking for something to do. You know young tomcats, we're always on the prowl... We see this sign for Warner Brother Studios and it says "Cats wanted for Audition - lunch provided". We both look at each other and say "Free food - let's go!"
We get there and there's no food! My brother and I are the first to arrive so they call me into this other room for something called a screening. I wasn't sure what a screening was so I looked around quick to make sure it didn't involve Vets or dogs.
The lights got bright and this cute little old lady came out and started scratching my head. The guy in the big chair said to me "Cat, I need you to look very innocent and harmless while this lady is in the room and when she leaves I want you to snatch that parakeet out of the cage and shove him in your mouth."
That sounded easy enough so I gave the old lady my big-eyed look with a purr and rubbed my head against her leg. She walked out and I dove for the bird cage. I grabbed the little bird and shoved him in my mouth.

Stanley, that sounds like a great audition. What happened next?
Well, right after I got the bird in my mouth the guy in the big chair yells "Cut! Let's do that scene one more time!" Some guy comes over to me and says "Spit out the bird please." I say, "Gulp, What bird?"
After that things got really crazy. Someone grabbed me by the tail and threw me into the lobby. I heard the big chair guy yell "Get me another bird!"
I was happy because I had lunch but I was pretty sure I was not going to get the job. They called my brother Sylvester in and as he passed he said "any advice?" I just smiled and said "Better not swallow the bird."

Stanley the Flat Cat Coaster - Available now in my ETSY shop

Share this post:Bloggerwidgets Social Bookmarking Blogger Widget

Time Flies...

It's mid-January already and my holiday from my ETSY shop is over way too soon! I haven't exactly been lazy this year but I really have not been focused on the artwork that brings in most of the sales to my ETSY shop - Animal and character coasters.
I looked back over my sales last year and discovered that almost HALF of my coaster sales were custom orders. People were looking at the things I had made in the past and things I currently had for sale and would ask the question "Can you make me one of these...?" Those custom requests kept me both busy AND highly creative; sometimes trying to imagine just what that customer had in mind! For the most part this went very well so I've decided to focus my ETSY shop on custom orders this year.
How strange are these custom requests? They can get pretty weird sometimes. Here's one of my favorites from last fall:

The Rubber Duck Coaster - a custom ETSY order

Come by my newly re-opened ETSY shop to see my custom listings and don't forget to visit my ArtFire shop to see all of the cool creations I have for sale over there!

Share this post:Bloggerwidgets Social Bookmarking Blogger Widget

Dreaming of Fishes...

Last night I saw this amazing bag that my Mom made and I just had to show it off! It is the most adorable thing I have seen in ages!



It's made from one of my old wool cardigans and embellished with some cute knit kittens. The bag looks to be about 14 inches wide and tall. Click on the photo above to see more pictures of the bag close up. Be sure to leave a comment while you're there!

Share this post:Bloggerwidgets Social Bookmarking Blogger Widget

Sock Monkeys - They're Everywhere!

This past Christmas season I was knee deep in gingerbread ornaments. I had the idea that gingerbread should have real lives - you know, careers and personalities... At some point I thought a sock monkey gingerbread ornament sounded good so I made a few for my ETSY shop.

Someone saw that ornament and sent me a message about making a sock monkey coaster. Having never made a sock monkey coaster before I had to try it!



Meet George and Gilbert - the sock monkey coasters! George has "I ♥ Sock Monkeys" on his back and Gilbert has a big red heart. They both have red foam pads on their bellies to keep them from sliding around and work with both hot and cold beverages (even wine!) They will soon go up for adoption in my ArtFire store - stay tuned!

Share this post:Bloggerwidgets Social Bookmarking Blogger Widget

Who Let The Dogs Out?!?

Brand new pound puppies available for adoption now in my ArtFire shop:

Marley - The Flat Doggie Coaster

Spot - The Flat Doggie Coaster

Share this post:Bloggerwidgets Social Bookmarking Blogger Widget

My Last 2008 Project Bites the Dust!

I am feeling very smug at the moment. I have finally completed all of my left over projects for 2008. Not the ones imagined or planned, only the ones I actually started!

This particular project resulted from an acrylic painting class I signed up for in October 2008. Our class was given an interesting still life to paint that was supposed to expose us to a number of challenges and painting techniques. The detail alone made us cringe with fear, especially when our teacher told us we had to paint it as realistically as possible (which meant, among other things, counting and accurately reproducing every single grape in the image). To make sure we did not secretly remove elements from the still life (resulting in less objects to paint), we were each given a photograph to work from.



I love to draw and paint but I must be honest here - this was not a pretty picture. There was nothing in this photograph that was remotely interesting to me. I have nothing in my house that works with a Southwestern theme and I don't like drawing or painting fruit or flowers. Apart from the diversity of the items in the image, there was not much to attract me to this challenge. I spent most of the first session dreaming about painting an Elvis on velvet or some dogs playing poker...

Our teacher was wonderful at helping us dissect the image. Drawing the elements accurately turned out to be a really big challenge for some of us but the biggest question was "What do I paint first?".

We worked from the background forward, building layers and colors and constantly thinking about things like accurate color mixing, choosing the right brush, and how to achieve depth and shape by blending colors. By the third class we were painting grapes and other fruit elements in the foreground. We were also learning how to throw the color of the foreground objects on to the background objects and the importance of shadows and light. We were giddy with our newly acquired skills and confidence!

Then the worst possible thing happened - we were finished with our 6 painting sessions that made up our class in total but we were not finished with our paintings! I had an entire cob of corn left unpainted (approximately 272 kernels) and a number of small elements were still undefined. What were we supposed to do now!?!

Our teacher told us to use the skills we had learned and keep working on the painting. She told us we would learn more from the painting if we never considered it finished but instead saw it as a 'work in progress', Something we could come back to often to apply our newly learned skills and insights. I suddenly had visions of the terrible painting that would never go away...

After Christmas I met with a classmate and, together, we took on the challenge of finishing the painting. We met 2 more times and each managed to complete our paintings (to our satisfaction at least).

It's not my finest work but I have learned a LOT. Many of the skills I developed painting this piece I will use in the future; I am SURE of it. This fact, unfortunately, does not change one important thing - I really, really hate this picture.


I did sign this painting and I'm proud to say it hangs on a wall in my house. OK, it hangs on the wall in my Garage (next to the hot water heater) but the garage is part of my house, right?

Share this post:Bloggerwidgets Social Bookmarking Blogger Widget

The Cows are Grazing at ArtFire now...

Not sure if the grass is greener over there but Bessie has taken a liking to her new spot over in my ArtFire shop. It might be because she's the cutest thing there at the moment. She doesn't know the puppies arrive tomorrow...

The Flat Cow Coaster - in my ArtFire shop now

Share this post:Bloggerwidgets Social Bookmarking Blogger Widget

New Years Resolutions

You're all doing it. Making those silly but serious lists of things you plan to do differently in the new year. Weight loss and exercise always top the list and I've seen a number of other seriously challenging goals that will be almost impossible to achieve.
I'm much more realistic about this resolution thing. Here's my list for the new year:

• I will TRY not to sit in front of my computer in my pajamas all day.
• I will not spend time reliving the mistakes I made in my past. I'll instead focus on worrying about the future.
• I will stop emailing my husband. Instead I will get up and go into the next room to speak to him directly.
• I will make up with my Wii-Fit coach, I know he only wants the best for me...
  
• I will eat less pizza.
• I will adopt a cat this year and give her a clever, funny name.

OK, that's as far as I go! Your turn!

Share this post:Bloggerwidgets Social Bookmarking Blogger Widget

Cleaning Up Loose Ends

There are a few projects from 2008 still sitting in the dark corners of my office. Things that started with a great idea but sort of stopped along the way because either I lost inspiration (possible) or I found something more interesting to work on (likely).
Agnes was one of my left over projects so I made it a mission to finish her in this first week of this new year.



To understand how hard this project was for me you have to know my love and hate relationship with my art dolls. I LOVE making heads, hands, and feet out of polymer clay. Making a face is a wonderful experience and finishing the fired pieces is exciting. I love to see the characters come to life.
The next part of the doll making process I don't love so much. This part involves giving the doll a bendable body and dressing it. This is a very painful and difficult thing for me because I CAN'T SEW! Holding a needle and thread is a strange and uncomfortable activity for me and I spend most of my time fighting knotted thread and doctoring my bleeding fingers.
I decided Agnes, as ugly as she is, was worth some frustration so I set about the task of finishing her. She deserves a better seamstress than me but at least now she has a body and some new clothes. I must admit though, she's still pretty ugly...

Agnes the Art Doll
FIMO clay on a bendable wire frame. 15 inches tall.
Available now in my ArtFire shop.

Share this post:Bloggerwidgets Social Bookmarking Blogger Widget