Alice and Dina(h)
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. Unfortunately, I spelled “Dinah” without the “h” in my painting. Whoops! It’s such an odd mistake because my default spelling is always the long version of…pretty much everything. I double-checked my sketchbook and the original sketch has it spelled “Dina”. I’m not sure why, but I do remember looking at the sketch once I started painting and assuming it was spelled like that on purpose – as in, I’d *consulted* the Alice in Wonderland book that’s been sitting on my desk for the last 3 months! Gah!

I do plan on fixing the spelling, 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?

I’ve been having so much fun turning my paintings into wearable art in the form of antique lockets and cameo pendants, but you probably wouldn’t know that if you weren’t able to make it out to any of my winter markets. Adding the new jewelery to my Etsy shop has been going at a snail-like pace. It seemed like as soon as I got a few of them photographed and edited and ready to go, they were sold! A good problem to be had, for sure.

There are now 6 fancy necklaces in the “Pendants” section of the shop, along with the usual group of Scrabble tile pendants. I’ve got a few more that will go up tomorrow and then I really need to get to work on creating more! Tracking down the lockets themselves has not been easy and the BIG ones I had at Christmas time are nowhere to be found. I’m kicking myself now for not holding onto one of them to wear myself. The hunt continues…

Have I mentioned how much fun I’ve been having making new fancy schmancy jewelry? I’ve been doing the Scrabble tile pendants for a little over a year now, and while they’ll always have a place in my heart (so light & cute & fun), I’m smitten with my newest creations.

Making jewelry is such a different skill set than painting, so it’s been fun to learn something new and experiment with being creative in a totally different way – which beads to use, which charms, antiquing & getting different patina effects…lots to play with!

The new pendants have been popular at my local craft shows, so I’m having trouble staying on top of what inventory I have and getting it photographed and up in my Etsy shop. Since I personally antique the brass setting and add different beads and charms, each one really is unique and needs its own listing. They’ve been selling too quickly, which is, of course, a wonderful thing!

I have 2 more days at Simon Fraser University this week, then Got Craft on the weekend and THEN I can get back to focusing on my Etsy shop – which is just about too late for Christmas shopping! The last few weeks have flown by. I’m looking forward to the craft show madness to slow down so I can turn my attention to getting my own house gussied up for the holidays. The mister’s parents are coming out to visit, so there’s a little extra pressure this year. I’m kind of looking forward to curling up with the December issues of Real Simple and Martha Stewart, plus my stand-by cookbooks to plan something special. Yes, I am a dork like that.

What’s your favorite holiday recipe?

I’m very pleased to announce the latest addition to the shop – bookplates! With ROBOTS on them!!!

I’ve been playing with layouts for bookplates and researching printers for months now and I couldn’t be more tickled with these little guys now that they’re here. I played with digitally coloring in the robot or painting him in real life, then re-scanning, but ultimately I decided I really like the chicken scratch marks of my pencil sketch. I think it sweetly compliments his high tech nature. And his pudgy belly.

You can get your very own set of 8 bookplates, personalized with your name (if you wish), right here.

Of course, now I want to make a whole bunch more! All in good time.

My little crafty factory has been chugging along quite nicely over the past few weeks getting prepped for all the craft markets I’ll be attending this season. I haven’t had time to properly photograph and write up all of my new wares, so not much  is listed in my Etsy shop just yet, but it’s coming. I swear!

First off…my new fancy schmancy jewelry:

I love ‘em. I’m probably not supposed to say that about my own stuff, but I really really love the way they turned out. It’s been a long time coming; I spent months sourcing good suppliers for raw brass lockets and cameos, learning how to age & patina the brass myself, learning how to (& how NOT to) seal the tiny paintings in resin. Phew! It was well worth it, methinks.

available in my Etsy shop

I still like my Scrabble tile pendants too – they’re light & cute & fun, but it’s nice to have a dressier option. I like to wear my own jewelry when I’m out at art functions so I can explain what it is I do more easily. I hate stammering about how, “I paint girls with a, um…storybook sort of feel?” Blank stare. Much easier to just say, “I paint cute portraits – like this!” Then point to my necklace.

One of the other new things I unveiled at my last market is prints on small wood blocks, then coated with a shiny varnish. I think I’d like to try covering them in resin too, since I’m all about the juicy shiny wet look right now. They’re so cute & perfect to just perch on a shelf or window ledge. I think they’d look great hung on the wall in a wonky arrangement too. Fun fun!

One strange question…what do you think the stand in the above pic is actually for? I picked it up at a thrift store (though I didn’t think it was particularly thrifty at $5.99, but whatever). How did people originally use this thing? Tea cup displays? Books? I’ve got no clue. The handle on top seems like it’s meant to be moved around, so probably not breakable treasures. I feel like my grandparents may have had something similar sitting beside my grandpa’s easy chair where he hung newspapers off the gold bars…but I could be remembering that completely wrong. Ideas and random guesses welcome!

The Crow Keeper
prints available in my Etsy shop

The Crow Keeper has always considered herself a bit of an amateur ornithologist, drawn particularly to crows with their inky black feathers and all-around cleverness.

A bit of a strange bird, she keeps mostly to herself. She’s had little luck developing friendships over the years (possibly due to her longing for a “murder” of friends). Instead, she turns her attention to her feathered friends – and gazing up at the sky.

She’s done! I finished the painting I’ve been working on over the last couple of weeks, The Crow Keeper, and now have prints listed in my Etsy shop. I haven’t listed the original for sale yet because I think I’m going to have this one framed first. At 16″ x 20″ she’s much larger than my usual paintings and is just begging for a big black ornate frame. And possibly to hang on my own walls a wee bit longer!

Weekend deals are here! I was tickled to discover my shop was included in Etsy’s Weekend Deals gift guide today. All of the shops listed are offering free worldwide shipping. I’m on page 4 (oops – now top of page 5), but do poke around & check out the other shops. My friends Tamara Garvey & Kelly Rinehart are also included. And now that I’ve edited all 98 listings in my shop to reflect free shipping…phew! I’m ready for  a nap. hehe

It’s Friday! It’s Friday! That means it’s time for weekend deals, my lovelies. From now until Monday, all prints in my shop are Buy One, Get One free.

Simply buy your first print as usual & then enter the name of the 2nd print you’d like in the comments section as you check out. You’ll get two prints for the price of one! Yay!

Click here to peruse the prints section.

And with that…I’m off to Seattle to visit my sister. All print orders will ship out on Monday.

Have a fantabulous weekend!

All week long my lovely team members from the Etsy Twitter Team have been showcasing their favorite eco-friendly items and it’s been a great motivation for me to think about what I’m currently doing & what else I could be doing to be more environmentally friendly with my work. Check out the green shopping guide Jen posted for more awesome shops.

The biggest thing I’m currently doing to go green is my packaging – all of my mailers are made from recycled materials & whenever I can, I also reuse boxes. I just shipped off a painting to a customer using an Amazon box. It makes no sense to me to toss a perfectly good box into the recycling bin just because it had books sitting in it for 5 days!

When I was shopping for envelopes for my postcard packs, I also went with the ones that had the highest percentage of post-consumer waste and found these beautiful brown paper bag envelopes made from 100% recycled material. I love their soft smooth feel & earthy tone. They tend to be a little more expensive than the bleached white standard envelopes manufactured in China, but I think they’re worth it.

When it comes to the paper I print on & the ink I use for prints of my artwork, I need to focus on the best quality products for archival purposes. I want my prints to last a lifetime without fading or yellowing & unfortunately there aren’t a whole lot of green options yet. There is a local Vancouver company that prints using soy inks that I’m interested in trying out, at least for my postcards, business cards & other printed materials that don’t need to be archival quality.

But what about those plastic bags that every print is sealed in? Up until literally *this week* I’ve been using the standard crystal clear archival art bags that seal up to prevent dust & fingerprints (particularly important at craft shows!). For storing prints for months (or years) at a time, they’re still the way to go, but for selling my work? My customers pull the prints out of their bags & have them framed while the bag is tossed in the garbage.  Definitely an area that needs improvement in my process.

After some searching for alternatives, I’m thrilled to announce that all new prints are going to be bagged in biodegradable bags! They just arrived a few days ago & look almost identical, but the new bags are actually made from plants. They’re certified biodegradable & compost-able. Apparently the bags will biodegrades in 15 weeks at a commercial composting facility. A plastic bag that can go in the compost pile? Amazing!

Last but not least, my Scrabble tile pendants also fall into the green category. I hit the thrift shops regularly looking for old Scrabble games & regularly find ones that are missing a bunch of tiles. No one wants to buy them to play the game if they’re not complete, so I’m able to upcycle the tiles and give them a new life. I use the boxes for storage & the little racks for displaying my pendants at craft shows. I just need to figure out something cool to do with my stack of Scrabble boards & I’ll be set!

What are you doing to go green? I’d love to hear your tips & suggestions!