They're done!

I love how this Santa turned out. I layered color on until he was just the way I'd imagined. And added sprigs of antique fruit and berries along with some cinnamon sticks to his pocket. The pocket is textured to look like waffle weave fabric.
I had my doubts about this one until I got him painted. My hubby loves him and I would have to agree.
Lingonberries adorn this handsome Santa. It takes me back to our days in Alaska when we would go harvest the low bush cranberries on Labor Day weekend. They get a deep red, but some will still have a blush to them and this is what I wanted to portray.

This little Santa is packed with personality, even though you can't really see all the detail. I hope to have better photos, or better yet, let the professionals do this and then I can direct you to where they will showcase. Thanks to all who showed interest!

More WIPs

Can't wait to get these finished! Check back for the finals.

Sharing a Giveaway by an AHA Artist

Isn't this beautiful?! If you would like to win this lovely ornament get on over to Victorian Whimsies by Nancy Lee Malay. Scroll on down and you will see where you can enter. Good luck to all of you!

Celebrate 365 and me

I'm so very excited to share this with you! Connie of Celebrate 365 has put one of my ornaments, the Uncle Sam, on the front cover of her last issue! So here I am, feeling very lucky to have my work there next to the likes of Johanna Parker, Amelia Schaefer, Debbie Thibault, and more. Click on the Celebrate 365 banner to learn more about Celebrate 365 and all the goings on.

Bwaaaahaaahaaaa and a Ho Ho Ho!

The Man in the Moon is watching you so you better be good.....
Santa has been making his list and I know he's checking it twice, so you know what that means! Are you being good....or naughty....
For more info see my ebay link.

AHA Artist Ornament Giveaway!

Okay, so I may be shooting down any chance of winning this but, we are so lucky to have Susan Vanderhoek of Seasonal Whimsies as a member of AHA! She recently got chosen to have one of her hand sculpted Santa designs turned into a blown glass ornament by Artistry of Poland. How cool is that?! So as a special promotion of her new design Susan is having a giveaway at her blog. Go here http://seasonalwhimsies.blogspot.com/ for more details and get signed up! A big AHA congratulations to Susan!

Halloween Anyone?

Stay tuned for more..... PFATT Marketplace offerings for August.

Percival P. Gourdon

I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the internet service lasts long enough to get this post in. Percival is a wickedly naughty fellow, so if you like wicked, and you like naughty get on over to ebay and place your bids!

Is it Christmas yet?

I know all my artist compatriots are madly working on Halloween, but I just love creating Santas. Can you guess which one was a White Swan perfume bottle, or a Tapatio bottle, or hot sauce bottle? Okay so the big guy is out, he's obviously a gourd, but see how well you can guess.

Snap up those owls before they get away.....

Yay! The internet is working today....lol. These handsome owls are waiting for you on ebay. They go off tomorrow, snatch them up now!

Halloween Owls - Owliver and Friends

Trying something new here. Still need to work out the sound quality as in trying to not sound like I'm sitting in a can. Let me know what you think. As for these delightful little paintings, they are being sold as a set on ebay right now so go over to my ebay link and let the bidding begin! :-)

Sneaky Peek.....

It's beginning to look alot like Christmas at PFATT for July.

Christmas in July isn't a new idea, but it's never too early to shop for the holidays.

And what better place to find fabulous Christmas creations, all hand made by skilled artisans, all one of a kind originals, than at the PFATT Marketplace. Stop by tomorrow to see all the new wonders of Christmas.

Did I tell you?

Well the wonderful Suzanne has been so kind as to ask if I would mind being featured on our AHA blog and of course I said yes! Who would pass up the opportunity to "get out there" and American Holiday Artists is the premier holiday art group. Stop by our blog to see all the fabulous artists we have on board.

On the home front, here's my biggest WIP.....


Between running to Utah to see my hubby and grandson, oh and his mommy and daddy of course, the car breaking down on the way back, deadlines and issues with suppliers as well as internet fits, I'm a little behind. But there's one more coat of red, and then the trim needs to be done. The yard? Well it's hard to tell but right in the front of the house is a big long hole that had to be created for drainage when the addition was put on. So next year I will be adding a wrap around deck on the front and paving some pathways. This is is garden boxes, finishing painting, and if there's any money filling in the paths around the boxes. I sure wish there were 48 hours in a day sometimes! Now I'm off to get some work done!

Jingle Time July For PFATT

Ho, ho, ho! It's time for another spectacular PFATT Marketplace event! Don't forget to check back as I will have a sneak preview.

Just a quick note...

Aaaaahhhhh! I feel like my hands are tied as I don't have reliable internet here in Utah right now, so I can't email anyone from where I'm at. I will be back in Oregon next Saturday so hope all is well, and hope you have a wonderful week.

Craft It Forward Part 2

It took me long enough to get back to posting photos, but here's the finished pieces I created for my participation in the Craft It forward challenge. These are all made of air dry clay, and hang on rat tail cording with a jewelry clasp. The receivers of these handsome fellas are Hope of The Pixies Ponderings, Mo of Wings and Paws Whimsies, and Judy of Art Dolls.
Click on their blog names to see what they do!

Queen for a day.....

I was once called the Queen of "Queens" by my former station manager and his friends for the music I played on a Friday night dance music show on KWLF 98.1FM. But this award means much more to me, as a sweet artisan, who I stumbled upon through another blog buddy, lovely Lezlei of Breath of Art just posted on her blog that I've become a member of the Queenly sisterhood of artists. She had this passed to her from Sherry of Got Art? who has some of the best in art and music at her site. It originated at the very talented and delightful blogger Cassandra of My Artful Adventures . Lezlei has a blog you should definitely visit as well. Isn't the blog world wonderful?
I have so many I would like to bestow this crown upon, but two artists stand out in my mind today so I will pass the crown to

Linda of http://another-linda.blogspot.com/
Catherine of http://catherinedarling.blogspot.com/

Both artists are magical in their creativity and style, well worth a stop at their blog to see what they do.
Here's to all the queenly and kingly artisans I'm associated with. I feel so fortunate to be a part of such a marvelously inspiring world and in meeting such wonderful people. May your day bring you many blessings.

Jack lost his hat!!!

Poor Jack...he lost his hat, so now he's hanging on to his head for dear life! The smile you wonder?
Well, he's hoping that if he's really nice, and shows his best side, you will take him home and fill him with delicious treats. He's on ebay right now!

A Sneaky Peek

Whoooooo is looking back at you? Why a handsome little owl or .....
two....... or......
three! All a ready and waiting to debut on PFATT Marketplace on Wednesday the 10th of June. You will find all sorts of spooky and wildly creepy Halloween items created for our Jack O' Lantern June! Please stop by.

Don't forget our PFATT special for June!

Jack O Lantern June! Something you won't want to miss!

Ready for the art show?

Here are my entries for the art show this week.
You can't really see the paint shading very well and I do need to seal this tonight, but This Indian head is on a bottle gourd with a pine needle base attached with brass star brads. I tried to keep it simple so this is the way it will be.

So here we are and hopefully all done. Now, to choose something for the silent auction. Have a great night!

WIP

Almost done with this piece and it's a good thing as the entries have to be in on Wednesday. I have to bulk up the hair and finish the top of the hair, as well as figure out the base. This is done with Creative Paperclay over a bottle gourd. He's patterned after the Nez Perce Indians, which are indigenous to this part of Oregon.

Finished Art Work

I'm done, fini, whew! Some things are harder than others, and this one was a doozy! Primarily because I was working off of a small photo, and I have never done a sheep before. I have a tendency to be too detailed, and so I'm really trying to loosen up but some things I still need to learn. Not bad for a self taught artist though, so onward and upward. And yes, Linda, you were close!

A Sweet Treat From Amelia of Sweet B Folk Art

Isn't this too cute?! I won this by visiting the Sweet B Folk Art blog. Oh, and there were a bunch of Smarties in the package to boot so I really lucked out. Why don't you take a stroll over to Amelia's blog and see if you can win a sweet treat for yourself? Find her link in my blog roll. Good luck!

WIP's

I just got done mowing the lawn and couldn't resist taking a picture of the mountains this evening. I can smell the Ponderosa pines and fresh cut grass..ahhhhh......The work in progress is my house and the yard. We need to put one more coat of paint on the house and trim, and then put a deck around the front and side of the porch,(wish I would have thought of that last year) and get the rest of the landscaping done for this year. Next year we start on the inside. But I will post before and after photos of the outside of the house as it will amaze you!
Not sure if I bit off more than I could chew here, but my paintings always look iffy half way through. Can you guess what is standing in front of the barn on the hill?

Vintage Style Owl and Moon

I wanted to post a Memorial Day note but the day got away from me. I was up at 5am spraying the field of dandelions that have cropped up in our yard this year. Then Kent and I went for a walk and I fixed breakfast before he took off for Utah. I cleaned outside windows and went to a surprise birthday party for a friend at church, and then came home and built garden boxes. So here I am, later in the evening, wishing there was more time in the day. We just had Family Home Evening via the telephone, with Kent in Utah and Annie and I here in Oregon. We shared our thoughts on why this day is important.
Now I'm going through all the venues I have for advertising my newest piece. I've really enjoyed sitting down and designing these little owl paintings. Done on chunky gallery wrap canvas, this mini painting will sit or hang in so many spots that you can move it around if you choose.
He is available in my Etsy shop. Click on the link to the side of this post. Hope you have a wonderful week!

anotherlinda: RED BERRY PIXIE

anotherlinda: RED BERRY PIXIE

A Mother's Love - Stepping Outside my comfort zone

I've had the photograph this was done from for a long time. I'm trying to step outside of what I normally do and use different brush strokes and so on and this is what the end result was. I plan on doing at least one painting a week until the art show, and then will make a decision on which pieces will be submitted. This is an acrylic on a 9 x 12 inch gallery wrap canvas. The painting does wrap around the sides. Let me know what you think!

Owlfred, a Halloween mini Painting

Suzanne Urban of Smirking Goddess Studios and fearless leader of AHA turned me on to mini canvases so I've been itching to get a painting done on one of these. Well I actually have 3 owl paintings in production, but this is the first, Owlfred. The canvas is 4" by 4" by 1.5"deep. It will sit anywhere or you can hang this.

Find Owlfred now on Ebay!

The Art of Cooking

As with most artists, we have many creative hats we like to wear. One of mine is cooking. Mom used to make THE BEST Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie when we lived in Wallowa Valley before. Well, I went to the local fruit stand the other day and saw some long ruby red stalks of Rhubarb, so I picked some up. We also bought some Strawberries at Safeway so I searched the net and found a recipe and Whalaa! We have pie!
Let me tell you, the crust is a butter and canola oil crust so it is flaky and tender, one of my best yet, and the filling is to die for! So this was a huge success and now I will go to sleep with a full tummy, dreaming of pie for breakfast......well okay, I won't really have pie for breakfast, I would probably fall asleep in church, but I can look forward to pie for dessert after dinner. Then a long walk to enjoy the fresh pine scented breezes and the towering snow capped mountains.
The pie recipe will be on my Simply Sheryl's Blog if you're interested. Got some fun Halloween paintings planned for Monday so stop back by!

I'll give you a daisy a day dear.....

Even though it's threatening to snow outside, again, I was inspired to create this as a tribute to the upcoming Summer months. I love Shasta daisies; they are so prolific here in Wallowa Valley that they create mini carpets of green and white here and there along the slopes. They are tall and dance in the breezes that drift across the valley floor. This piece is available now.

Dancing Daisies - 8" x 10" on gallery wrap canvas $125.00 Email me if interested.

Happy Mother's Day

A special bouquet for all the ladies out there, whether you are a mother, grandmother, soon to be, or help take care of others, you have the mother spirit. May your day be filled with joy, love, laughter, and peace.

A New Type of Art Form?

Okay, this was sent to us from an old friend of my husband. Was too incredibly funny and creative not to share with everyone. Imagine the time these fellas put into this: http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1137883380?bctid=17075685001
Gotta love it!

Newest Creations

Stand up and salute because here comes Uncle Sam, and he wants you! I sure do love the USA! Americana is one of my favorite themes as it reflects a piece of history for me. We are a blessed nation, and I hope no one forgets that.
Did you ever just create a piece to see if you could do it? Well this would be one of those. Sunflowers grow wild here, so I've gathered seeds and planted them in the garden. They will take over if you let them, but their sunny happy faces are so enjoyable! So here she is my sunny, happy sunflower. Hope you have a creative week. I will be getting the garden ready, and packing for our sojourn to Oregon. Yay!
If you are on Facebook, let me know and I will send you an invite to American Holiday Artists - AHA Fans group. Our group of artists will knock your socks off!