Going BAtty with the Man in the Moon

He's on ebay now!

Oh, BATS!!!

Another road trip piece of art. At least a part of it. It's hard to do tiny details when you are going up a snake like road. So I did the tiny stuff when we got home. Do you ever take advantage of long trips in the car to get some art done? I'm still in the process of deciding how this will be presented, whether matted and framed or mounted on something, but I will be creating tags, and or cards with prints. Contact me if you are interested in the original.

WIP'S

Every weekday as I head out the door I'm loaded down with my laptop and tub of projects. These are what I brought with me today. Two driftwood chunks that will have clay elements for a different twist on my usual driftwood Santas, two egg gourd Santa ornaments, that just need to have the finishing touches on their painting done, two clay pendants, one a black cat, and the other a Santa, one bottle Santa that needs painted, and a large gourd that I am getting ready to work on. He will need a bit of stabilizing as he wobbles a bit so I will be painting the whole piece as opposed to leaving the natural shell show.
With the gourd Santa figures, I like to turn the gourd around and around, getting a feel for where the face should go. I always start with the face, and that usually reveals the theme each Santa will take on. Sometimes I do preliminary sketches, because I already have a specific concept in mind, but sometimes I just go with the flow and let things come to light on their own. How about you? Are you a sketcher of ideas, or do you just let things happen?

He's a Winner!

He's a winner! We spotted him with a blue ribbon at the Utah State Fair and would have taken a photo but there were so many other entries there we couldn't separate him out. I'm excited though!

Featured Artist on American Holiday Artists Blog

We have several great announcements on the AHA blog, including a mention about some of the new things happening with my art. Trot on over and see all the goings on.

An Exciting Announcement!!!!

Sometimes dreams really do come true! Years ago when I was a stay at home mom, I looked for ways to add to our income while being home for my children. I happened to be living in North Pole, Alaska at the time. I would scour magazines for ideas as I had a friend who was a master tole painter that taught me how to paint. Living in North Pole made it natural to think of creating Santas so I picked up copies of BHG Santa Claus, as well as other publications looking for something I could do that was unique and not found in the shops in the area. I read a couple of features on REASONS TO BELIEVE, a business started by Scott Schultz and Dennis Brown in the Seattle area. I thought, wow, how would that be to be able to have a where I could make Santas all day and earn money doing it?! I so admired their work, and the work of other Santa artists in the Santa Claus publications, but never seemed to be in a position to be able to reach a wide audience and collector base. I stared with birch wood slabs that are "mistakes" from hitting the side of logs while chopping wood. I called them my happy mistakes and you can see a sample in the top photo above. Well, thanks to Ginny Diezel, and really Suzanne Urban, who have both given me an opportunity to rub internet shoulders with some of the best creative artisans in the nation, I was lead to the Reasons to Believe website which Scott and Dennis own. Ginny urged me to contact them and Scott got right back to me. So now my work can be found on the Reasons to Believe website! I'm so thrilled to have such an opportunity, as I really love creating Santa figures out of a variety of media. I would also like to thank Linda Kennon of Gourdqueen Originals for sending me my first gourds and challenging me to see what I could do with them. Thanks to all who made this possible, including my husband, who is so supportive of all I do. Head on over to Reasons to Believe to take a look at all the talented artists to be found there.

PFATT Offerings Revealed!

Aaaah, the fun begins! It's sure been fun fooling around with pen and ink. Both these pieces are on the PFATT Marketplace for your perusal and to add to your collection.

September PFATT offerings

A sneaky peek at what will debut tomorrow.
Pen and ink Halloween pieces that come framed. Perfect for the owl collectors, or anyone who loves Halloween art. Stop by tomorrow for more!

It's Utah State Fair Time!

Autumn Time Santa is my entry for Decorative arts this year.


And just barely making it into the trunk is my painting for Fine Arts.

I forgot to take a photo before I put it into the trunk, but a raw version can be seen on my other blog as a side photo. I did some touching up and so it's hopefully acceptable. My dear husband has been so patient with all this. I never seem to be able to get ahead so I'm rush, rush, rushing to get stuff finished and the house is all upside down still from the flood. We can't put it all back together anyway as the carpet needs to be cleaned again, the odor didn't come out. So I'm glad these are done as when we get back from Oregon this weekend I will need to get the house right side up again. Life is good! :-)

Crows and Pears and Pumpkins, Oh My!

September 1st is a start for me, to the Autumn season. Perhaps it was my teachers putting leaves around the bulletiere.n boards, or if you are in Alaska, the leaves outside have already turned or started. What ever it is there is a change to the sunlight and it just feels like Fall is almost here.
This print is a very popular one of mine and you can find it now on ebay. The original was created on canvas using acrylic paints. It looks wonderful framed.