My lovely parents live on a little island off the coast of Vancouver Island. I don’t get over to visit as often as I’d like. The cost to ferry our car over is $200 round trip. Depending on how the 2 ferry schedules line up, the trip can take as long as 5 hours, even though the distance is very short. There’s a lot of waiting around.

Fortunately the cafe aboard the ferry makes excellent clam chowder. Dolphins can sometimes be seen swimming alongside the ship. I play a lot of Sporcle quizzes on my phone (even better on your computer, FYI). And when I finally get there? I get this:

Totally worth it.

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A couple of my favorite antique store finds of recent weeks include this wind-up tin toy made in Japan:

Apparently this dapper little dog was made in the 60s and still works perfectly. His awkward hopping action had me squealing with delight and he was immediately tucked under my arm lest anyone else spot him.

Now the question is…what the heck is in his mouth? At first I thought it was a fish, but the white paint really does not in any way depict scales or fish bones. It most closely resembles a blue carrot. I’ve owned dogs my entire life and carrots are not one of the things in danger of being gobbled up when accidentally dropped on the kitchen floor. Perhaps Japanese dogs are more health conscious? Though why it would be blue is still a mystery.

Also scored on the same antiquing trip, an antique photo album complete with amazing black and white photographs:

I will often buy random antique photographs, especially ones of children that no matter how handsome, inevitably end up looking a little creepy.

Between finding inspiration for new painting subjects and the lovely detailed typeface on the reverse side of the cards, they’re irresistible to me. So an entire album? *swoon*

I love flipping through the pages and coming up with stories about who these people are. There are several who I’m sure will turn up in some of my new paintings, as soon as I figure out exactly who they were.

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Click to buy the pirate locket on Etsy

I’ve been photographing and updating my Etsy shop with the antique lockets that local shoppers have been snapping up at my market events for quite some time.  I love the style of the antique patina locket settings I’ve found and think they compliment my paintings perfectly – just like treasured heirlooms found in your grandmother’s jewelry box.

Click to buy the fox hat girl locket on Etsy

I’m always on the hunt for the perfect shade of Czech glass beads or tiny vintage brass charms to adorn the necklaces. This is precisely the reason why it’s taken me so long to add many of the styles to my online shop – if I run out of a certain bead or charm, I need to take new pictures. I have folders full of  pretty locket photos languishing on my hard drive, some with me wearing them too (oh, self portraiture…how I loathe thee!), that unfortunately can’t be used anymore because I’m completely sold out of a specific charm. Hopefully one day I can design my own and have them made specially for me. Wouldn’t that be fun?

Click to buy the orca whale locket on Etsy

All of the lockets open up too, so you can put your own little picture or note inside. Someone asked me what was inside my own the other day & I replied, “Nothing, yet.” I opened it up to show my curious friend what the inside looks like anyway & discovered a pill that I’d completely forgotten about! Apparently the lockets can also store medication, just make sure you set a reminder!

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There’s a video of Whitehorse playing a cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m on Fire” on YouTube that is well worth listening to (if you can disregard the awful camera phone video quality!):

And if you’re interested in hearing some of their original music, here’s another video on a Canadian morning show where you can see how they record, then loop different sounds via effect pedal.

They have such incredible energy between them on stage that it’s riveting to watch. They remind me of a modern day Johnny Cash and June Carter, with less pills and booze.

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Ingrid and the grey bunny are quite a pair! Soft spoken and a bit shy, people often underestimate Ingrid. She might not say much, but she’s a keen observer, an excellent listener and fiercely loyal – much like her rabbit. They both enjoy sweets, biscuits and listening to soul records while doing crossword puzzles.

I painted Ingrid in 2011 using acrylics on 11×14 canvas. With the gold frame the size is 14.5″ x 17.5″. She’s been coated with UV protective varnish and is ready to ship off to her new home!

$275 + shipping

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Thanks to coffee, I powered through & it was totally worth it. After doing an inventory of all of my work, I realized I’d missed a few paintings from last year! “The Little French Girl” (inspired by the movie “Amelie”) & “Dorothy” never made it into the shop as prints even though I’ve been selling them in person at markets for over a year. This has now been corrected and their smiling faces look quite at home in amongst my newest friends. Speaking of…may I introduce “The Seamstress”:

“The Seamstress” started as a sketch on the loveliest textured cold press paper. As I kept working with her, I began painting in some color, drawing a looping thread-like border and finally delicate touches of gold in the Singer sewing machine details. The original work sold just a few days after I’d completed her and I have to admit I was a little sad to let her go so quickly.

I’ve always admired people who have the patience and skill to sew their own clothes or stitch beautiful details into cozy quilts. I’d love to become a better seamstress myself, but my tendency to want to follow my own path instead of the directions can be a bit of a problem. A sturdy seam ripper is my best friend!

Hanging “The Seamstress” in your craft room might be just the thing to inspire wonderful new creations!

Also new in the shop are these little darlings, “Chloe and Vince”:

Chloe and her pet turtle, Vince, have been inseparable ever since she discovered him paddling around a rather large crystal punchbowl left on her doorstep. You can often see the happy pair out on their daily walk, making sure to stop for puddle splashing and the occasional carrot. In the evenings, Vince enjoys being read to, preferring the genres of historical biography and science fiction.

Click here to see more art prints for sale.

I have plenty more paintings and lockets and silver critter pendants to add to the shop, so my next task is setting out to photograph everything. We have such short hours of daylight and such cloudy overcast skies that this is proving to be a bit of a pickle. As much as I prefer natural lighting, I may just have to make do without. Or maybe book a holiday to a sunny beach somewhere instead! That counts as a tax write-off, right?

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Not surprisingly, when I get interested in something new I can obsess over it for days or weeks at a time, endlessly researching until I eventually get distracted by a new topic (SQUIRREL!). My current obsession: the TV show Breaking Bad.

I’m a little late to the party since I don’t have cable, but as soon as the show was added to Netflix (Canadian version), I watched the pilot and was instantly hooked. I think I went through all 4 seasons in the span of 2 or 3 weeks. *love*

I love so many things about this show. The characters are so well written – complicated, a mix of good and bad, just like real people are. There are no clear good guys. There are a whole bunch of bad (and badder) guys, but no obvious path to take, no “right” answer. Most of all, I love the way the writers allow the story to unfold without that overbearing narrative style so prevalent in entertainment today. It’s up to the audience to figure out what the main characters are thinking and feeling. I hate it when viewers are beaten over the head with explanations of here’s what’s going to happen, here’s what’s happening now, here’s what just happened. Give the audience some credit, Hollywood!

awesome Jesse Pinkman paper doll by illustrator Kyle Hilton (more Breaking Bad paper dolls on his site)

Adding to the obsession – there’s also a companion podcast to go along with each episode of Breaking Bad. I haven’t gotten through all of them yet, but there are some fascinating tidbits about how the show is made, the writers room and all of the behind the scenes stuff that go into producing a TV show. The fact that each episode is shot in only 8 days is astounding, particularly with some of the crazy explosions and shoot outs. One episode often feels like a movie, which would have been allowed months and months of filming.

Art lovers may have enjoyed the episode where Jesse and Jane go to the Georgia O’Keeffe museum (technically it was in a flashback, but still a really sweet moment). While watching, I assumed the show got permission to shoot at the actual museum and briefly wondered how many hoops that was to jump through. In the podcast, the producers reveal just how much effort went into that 2 minute scene.

First, they contacted the Georgia O’Keeffe people to request the rights to show one of her paintings on camera. Shooting at the museum with one of her original paintings was never even considered. Instead, they were granted the rights to one painting (“My Last Door”), and the art department of Breaking Bad set out to reproduce it. Once they were finished, the painting was sent to the Georgia O’Keeffe people for approval. The painting was approved, the set built and the scene shot with very wide aperture so any paintings in the background were blurry & indistinguishable. Once the crew was finished, the painting had to be sent back to the O’Keeffe people to be destroyed.

Wow, right? It’s amazing how much effort by so very many people goes into creating a show! I’ve never wanted to be an actress, but I think being involved in production, set design or special effects would be really fun jobs. In another life, maybe!

And just for Jesse, one of Georgia O’Keeffe’s “vagina paintings” (though it should be noted that Georgia flatly denied any intentional resemblance to lady parts):

“White and Blue Flower Shapes”

Though she’s certainly most famous for her flower paintings, I’m personally more drawn to her desert bones and skulls period. There’s an interesting video on YouTube of Georgia talking about her trips to the desert:

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Whoops! There are a few original paintings for sale in my Etsy shop, but the vast majority of them have not been photographed properly. So they end up selling at local shops and markets, never making it to the website in any other format than my quickie phone snapshots as works in progress. Remedying this is my January project, though I have to admit – I’d much rather be painting!

I did web design and internet marketing for several years, so you wouldn’t think this would be a major undertaking, right? Well, you’d be wrong, my friend! My rustiness coupled with how fast technology changes (oh WordPress updates and your insistence on stripping any attempt at line breaks!) has made for some slowwww going. I’m realizing now that I should have just bit the bullet and started from scratch with a completely new design instead of the patch job I’m currently undertaking (which is ultimately proving to take longer than a complete redesign would have anyway!).

To make up for all that complaining (did I mention that since I’m self-employed, you get to endure my water cooler chat? Lucky duck!), I’m including a very cool vintage typography tutorial I stumbled on that teaches step by step how to create some of the beautifully intricate designs of vintage typography ads, like so:

credit: webgraphics.net

The author uses Adobe Illustrator, but I had no trouble following along in Photoshop. Whenever I look at that vintage style of lettering, I’m blown away by the detail, but I’ve never really looked at it to break it down. I think of it as always being hand drawn, but of course there are plenty of examples of lovely work like the one above that are completely computer based. And when you start to reallllly look, you notice that the fancy lines and swirls are often just combination of very simple shapes. Time-consuming, yes. But totally do-able.

Enjoy!

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After I saw her listing on Pet Finder, I knew we had to meet her in person. She looks so much like my old dog, Sparkle could be one of her puppies! The rescue group I adopted her from, Rescued Paws, was wonderful to work with. Shelly, the foster mom who gave Sparkle a loving home while waiting to be adopted, was so patient with me as we emailed back & forth, answering my many, many questions & concerns. It didn’t take more than a day or two before she’d settled right in, always choosing to squeeze in beside the pug rather than lay in her own bed.

As I started writing out my goals for 2012, an overriding theme was pretty clear – slow down! I don’t know if this is a getting older thing, but my goals seem to be shifting toward getting organized, simplifying my life and creating a home I love. I want to have more time to paint, to write blog posts and to truly *enjoy* time with friends rather than be frantically working and trying to keep up with the insane schedule I kept last year. I worked my tail off in 2011! I love my job, so it’s not like this is some kind of hardship, but I definitely need to create more balance in my life and my home.

To start with, I’m finally allowing myself to take up a real hobby – one that doesn’t involve creating something for sale! It’s funny…when you make things for a living, it seems like you should always be doing something “productive”. Between craft shows, my Etsy shop and the retail stores that carry my work, I have to stick to a pretty strict schedule of making lockets and brooches and things. It’s also important for me to keep coming out with new designs, which means new paintings. Of course, not all of my paintings work well as reproductions either. Maybe this isn’t the case for artists who, say, don’t have credit card debt that they failed to pay off the year before, but I feel like I’m always supposed to be working, being productive, making money. This is definitely a recipe for burnout, my friends.

And so, after MANY hours of research and reading reviews and drooling over online fabric swatches, I ordered a book that’s going to teach me how to sew clothing for the first time in my life! *squeeeeee*

The Colette Sewing Handbook has received fabulous reviews and I couldn’t be more excited to get started! Here’s why:

I hate shopping.
I hate trying clothes on and being disappointed that the hips are too snug and the waist is too baggy.
I hate that it’s so difficult to find cute, vintage-style clothing locally. (sidenote: I love Anthro. I hate the prices.)
I hate gambling on ordering clothes online that are often poorly made and ill-fitting once you see them in person. (sidenote #2: I think ModCloth does shoppers a great service by allowing such thorough reviews by other customers, including their sizes and measurements. That being said, I’ve never spent more than $50 on something I couldn’t try on first.)

Solution? Sew my own clothes, obviously! I’ll let you know how it goes.

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The only thing making the season a little less merry is the nasty cold that’s been attacking my sinuses. I’m feeling incredibly fortunate that I managed to make it all the way through the winter market season without getting sick, so if it has to be while I’m on holiday? I really can’t complain. If I’d been feeling better, I would’ve ventured out to the art gallery & maybe stayed up past 10pm, but other than that, my holiday would have looked remarkably similar.

Wishing you and your loved ones the happiest of holidays!

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