I had a great time at the Blim Community Market on Sunday, despite rushing back from Seattle late Saturday & getting very little sleep. It was a rainy day, so the shoppers were a little sparse, but that meant that I had time to chat with my neighbors & even do a little shopping of my own. How cute are my new earrings from The Tiny Fig??? Love ‘em!

One of the things I love about doing local craft markets is getting feedback on new products. I’m always trying to come up with something new so customers have a reason to return to my table month after month to see what I’ve been up to. (Unfortunately the shows have been taking up so much of my time that I have been falling behind in updating my online shop. If they ever master cloning, I could use an extra k.g.b. to shoot photos & list all of my new goodies while I’m in the studio painting. Wouldn’t that be nice?)

That said, I *do* have something new in the shop today – Acorn Bookplates ready to be personalized with your name!

I love the tradition of bookplates & am thrilled to add a second design to my growing bookplate collection. I’m sure the pot-bellied robot will play nice with the acorn girl. Right?

If you’re a Vancouver local & want to catch me this summer, here’s a list of where I’ll be over the next few weeks:

Upcoming Markets

May 30th ~ Portobello West

June 20th ~ Main Street Car Free Day

June 27th ~ Portobello West

I took the ferry over to Vancouver Island to visit my folks a few days ago & since I still had a pile of prep work to do to get ready for my market on Sunday, I brought it all with me. It’s so beautiful out there. If you have to do really repetitive work, (like, say organizing postcards into sets of 10 and then counting out 10 matching envelopes!), I can’t think of a nicer place to do it. My mom is an excellent helper too, so that made it go all the better!

Here’s a peek at the new postcard designs:

I have to get a bunch more ready for the Got Craft market this Sunday and then I’ll be adding them to the shop, along with my new magnet sets. Yay!

One of the side benefits of doing local markets is the way it forces me to adhere to deadlines. I know if I were left to my own devices, I would dream up cute new products, but they would linger in my sketchbook for ages while I spent my time painting instead of making *stuff*. I seem to work better under pressure, so knowing that I have a show coming up is a perfect motivator. Ideally I’d like to always have something new at my table, so people always have a reason to stop by. And because it’s fun, of course!

OK…back to work. So many things I want to make before Sunday! eep!

The new goodies I’ve been working on over the last couple of weeks are starting to roll in & I couldn’t be more excited for the big reveal at Sunday’s market – Portobello West. Starting with…new 1 inch buttons! Yay!

I can’t decide which one is my favorite, but the Royal Tenenbaums are definite front runners.

Also making an appearance, a bunch of new magnets with actual packaging (that I haven’t photographed yet, but am really loving), new postcards and new prints from some of the paintings I just completed for my solo show. The Amelie (with gnome) print turned out great!

I know, I know…saying this stuff without snapping pics = fail. I’m unfortunately running out of time again. (go figure!) The plan is to drive down to the border to pick up the last couple of packages I need from my US mailbox, then race back home, pack up the work I need to do before Portobello, then haul my cookies (& postcards & magnets & buttons) to the island to see my folks for a couple of days. I’ll be coming home on Saturday, so hopefully I’ll be able to enlist my mom to help me sort and package the postcards (& magnets & buttons) so that I don’t have to stay up all night when I get back. Thanks, Mom!

Also on my working holiday TO DO list? Put together 30 little treats for the Got Craft swag bags. People line up for HOURS before the doors open hoping to get a swag bag, so I don’t want to disappoint. Last year I tucked a bookmark into each bag & this year I think I’m going to do magnets. I had been thinking I’d go button, but I saw the super cute buttons another vendor is donating to the bags & don’t want it to be overkill, so. Magnets is the plan.

And now it’s just about 1 a.m. and I have to get up at 7 a.m. to drive to the USA. And I’m clearly babbling. Goodnight!

PS – my Etsy shop will also be getting a BIG update very soon! Starting Monday I’ll be adding new prints and assorted loveliness. Finally!

Alice and Dinah
8×10 print

After many late nights in the studio, my Alice in Wonderland series of paintings is, though not quite finished, coming along swimmingly. I’ve released all 3 of the portraits (in progress here) featuring Alice and Dinah, the Mad Hatter and the Duchess.

I do have one more to finish, but that will have to wait until after my trip. Did I mention the mister and I are going to Seattle? And then Portland? And then back up to Victoria? I’m super excited. Spring has sprung, the flowers are blooming and a road trip sounds perfectly in order. But before I go, I have to show off one more painting – a BIG one!

Alice in Wonderland
8×10 print

This is one of the two 16 x 20 canvases I’ve been working on & really loving. Painting that size means lots of room to play with backgrounds and add detail. I have to restrain myself a bit or I’m sure I could work on these for months! I’ve released one of the new big paintings as a print in my Etsy shop. The other one isn’t quite finished and it makes me a little sad to leave it in its unfinished state as I gallivant all over the PNW. Unfortunately painting + driving do not mix.

In case I can’t blog from the road (though I should definitely be able to Twitter), have a lovely week!

Zoe and her Skunk
11″ x 14″, acrylic on canvas
available in the shop

My new painting, Zoe and her Skunk, is now up for sale in my Etsy shop. I’ve been nabbing frames of various sizes when I see them on sale lately, so it was nice to be able to photograph it looking…finished. I don’t mind hanging canvas paintings without frames, as long as the edges are painted, but sometimes a frame helps a piece look a little more important, gives it a little more oomph. This is particularly true with the size of canvases I like to paint on. They can feel lost on a big blank wall without a frame to anchor them.

In other totally random, train of thought blogging, an audiobook recommendation – Stephen King’s Under the Dome. I’ve been listening to it over the past few weeks while I paint and thoroughly enjoyed it. It’s definitely not an easy listen or read – there are some seriously disturbing scenes of violence against women – but it wouldn’t be considered “horror”. Think more Lord of the Flies for grown-ups. If you read (or listen to) the first chapter, you’ll be hooked until the very end, if for no other reason than to find out how the dome got there in the first place.

Now what should I listen to next?