Pink Beard
Another character I developed several years ago. Actually, she was inspired by Imogen because she loved pirates and pink.
Girl With White Crow (I Will Protect You)
This is a 11″x14″ mixed media painting on wood from my Too Small series.
SOLD
Free As A bird ( I Wish I Could Make It All Better)
This is a 18″x24″ mixed media painting on wood from My Too Small series.
The image of a bird cage just keeps popping into my head and on to the pages of my sketchbook but, I until now, I have not included it in an actual painting.
I love the see-through quality, and delicate wire bars of this Victorian birdcage. As a sculpture, a birdcage is rather beautiful and decorative. (Indeed, many people collect birdcages just for that reason.) However, I can’t help looking at an empty birdcage without feeling a little sad. Like something is missing. (Well, a bird obviously!) Perhaps I just need to try thinking about it differently; that the bird has escaped its captures and is free. This would make me happy if I was not so sure that a bird that was once caged would most likely not fair so well out in the wild.
I worry about being over protective with my children. How will they fair if I never let them fail? I constantly try to protect them from any hurt or nastiness that this world may bring them. Will they be able to make it all better for themselves? Comfort their own hurt? How can I teach them these skills? And, indeed, is it already to late? If I keep them caged up now, what chance do they have? At the same time, I want their childhood to be magic, innocence and joy. Childhood should be paradise. It should be free of worry and sadness. It is the only time that we are truly allowed the freedom of those feeling. When I see children that are deprived of those things my heart aches.
It is such a balance isn’t it? Just finding that perfect balance is a life’s work. A mother’s work. (And father’s too, of course).
Pillow Art by Sandy Mastroni
This is the cutest pillow in the whole world! It was created by Sandy Mastroni and when I saw it on Etsy I just had to have it! I think I am going to frame it in a shadow box frame and hang it in the girl’s room …so they don’t fight over it!
IF ‘Legendary’ The Frog Prince
He was legendary among the old timers in the lily pond.
Oh, by the way, this one is available as a limited edition reproduction ACEO.
As Free As A Bird
Just a little mixed media painting I did today. I am working on a larger painting, also with a bird cage. I have been wanting to include this wire birdcage in a painting for quite awhile now and I finally got around to it.
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White Rabbit
Here is a little sketch I did yesterday of a girl dressed as bunny. Maybe Easter is on the brain or maybe it is last week’s ballet recital (Imogen was a bunny). Anyway, I thought I’d share it ’cause I thought it was kind of pretty.
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In The Moment
Here is a new 8″x10″ mixed media canvas that I did today.
Capturing a moment. Mid giggle.
Usually I gravitate toward the static , moody pose but occasionally I like to challenge myself with this type of image. Not unlike ‘Joy’.
Spring Dreaming
This is another mixed media drawing that I did today. She seems to be in a meadow. I wish I was in a meadow. A way from this frigid cold. I am so done with winter. Perhaps I have spring on the brain. I wish spring would sprung already.
Also, you can read an interview I did recently about blogging and my art by checking out this fabulous blog : Art of Humongous Proportions.
Drifting In And Out
I finished this painting today.
The title refers to the way our memories fade in and out. Some memories are so clear while others are foggy and transparent. The memories that are clear are not always the most important, often we wonder why we have held on to that memory at all. How can we remember things so vividly from long ago but barely remember things that happened to us last week?
The memory can be selective and often distorted. What is really true, what is fabricated, what is embellished? I often wonder these things. And I often worry what memories I am creating for my children. What are they going to remember? Mommy keeping the house clean? Our walks to the library? Ballet class? Our endless photo sessions? Watching too many Barbie movies? My limited patience? My reclusive tendencies? How will my choices effect them in their adult lives? Did I give them a feeling of entitlement?* And on and on. It sure can be exhausting.
I remember somewhere I heard/read of a woman ( I think it was some film star) saying she had absolutely no memory of her childhood. It was like she didn’t exist before a certain time. I wish I could remember if I had read it or heard it on TV but there you go, my memory fails me. I found that idea fascinating though. No memories of being a child. That would be so odd. I wonder if she ever had children of her own. What kind of Mother was she? How would she relate to their childhood? Surely the memories of our own childhood shape the way we raise our children. For good or for bad. Isn’t that why we hold on to traditions? To try to relive our childhood through our children’s experience of the same things we did when we were children.
I’ll stop now, I could go on and on.
*I am currently reading ‘Outliers’ by Malcolm Gladwell
This painting is available on etsy
IF ‘Breezy’ – Girl With Red Balloon
Every time she held a balloon she couldn’t help worrying that it just might blow away.
I did this 8″x10″ painting this morning. She looks to the future, I see the past. Somehow we both have to try to enjoy our moments together right now without letting these thoughts get in the way. Somehow, as a Mother, I need to teach her these skills so that she can be content and happy with what she has right now.
Available on etsy.
Girl With Orange Cat On Red Chair
This is a new 8″x10″ mixed media painting on canvas.
This painting is from my too small series. It shows my daughter Imogen wearing my party dress from when I was five.
I see myself as a little girl in her. I know when she wears it, she is pretending to be a grown up.
Already she is living in the future, while her mother’s memories are so easily triggered by the ghost of a dress.
SOLD.
IF ‘Instinct’ Little Red Riding Hood
Little red riding hood knew she shouldn’t have strayed from the path. Her mother had told her not to. It was just that she wanted her grandmother to feel better and knew that the sight of wild flowers would put a smile on her face. But now, it was getting dark and she had the strangest feeling. You know that feeling. Like she was no longer alone. Like someone was watching her.
Little red riding hood stopped picking flowers and stood up straight. Standing silently she listened for movement in the dark woods surrounding her. She moved the freshly picked flowers up toward her face. ‘Maybe their sweet smell would calm her’, she thought to herself, but this feeble gesture did nothing to ease her increasing feeling of dread. The harder she tried to listen, the louder her heartbeat pounded in her ears. She was all at once being taken over by a horrible sense of foreboding. Like she was being devoured, body and soul, by fear itself.
Scarlett and The Blue Hydrangeas
This is a new painting of Scarlett in Nanny and Grandpa’s backyard. Kind of reminds me of ‘Alice in Wonderland’, which really, when you think about it, describes Victoria perfectly. It truly is a wonderland.
This is a 16″x16″ mixed media painting on a 1″ deep wood stretcher. The sides are painted red.
Circus Girl and Lion Study (ACEO)
This is an ACEO study I did today of Circus Girl lying against the lion’s mane.
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Circus Girl and The Newsprint Flowers
Here is a new Circus Girl painting. This one is large, I really felt like painting a larger version of her … she is almost life size.
This piece is a 24″x30″ mixed media painting on wood.
SOLD
Jacob – Portrait?
This is Jacob, my nephew. I did this a while ago but just realized that I never posted it because it was a surprise Christmas present.
Portraits … they are a love hate thing for me. I love painting children but portraits, not so much. To me, this is more of a painting, though it does look just like him, it catches something more. His gentle, compassionate side. His shyness, his intensity, his kindness. He is a wonderful boy, he is so caring with Imogen and Scarlett, not to mention his two younger brothers.
AND he is my biggest fan! (Hi Jacob!)
Creating ACEOs With Planet Norwood
The other day I volunteered at Planet Norwood, an after school care program that my daughter Imogen attends. We created ACEO (art collections, originals and editions).
I was a bit worried at first.
I really resisted telling them what to paint. I wanted this project to be about creating there own ‘thing’ but the initial blank stares made me panic a little. (I admit, I started to sweat ). But then, the light went on for one and then another and then another until they were all working away on their tiny little works of art.
It was amazing, they all did totally different things. Pencil drawings, paint, collage, you name it. Many children that don’t even do crafts, worked on this with me, cool huh?
I also brought plastic sleeves for them to put their final piece in. That really got them excited. They all worked extra hard to finish what they were doing just so they would be able to put in a plastic sleeve. It made me realize that, like framing art, it took the art that they were doing to another level. It raised it to something more precious, a keepsake, something important. I don’t know if I have ever realized how important that is to a kid. Oh, the power of one plastic sleeve!
This is an ACEO that my five year old daughter Imogen did. 
ACEO The Pout
Boy, I know I am in for it when she wakes up like this! Those lips just don’t quit!
Another ACEO available on etsy.
ACEO The Sad Ballerina
Here is another study of the sad ballerina with the hole in her tights. Poor thing, nothing worse than a hole in your dance tights.
This is a 2.5″x3.5″ mixed media painting on rag paper and is available in my Etsy shop.
ACEO Joy 2
This is a new ACEO I did recently. I have been challenging myself trying to capture extreme expressions without having them look distorted or unatural. It is hard. I think I managed to do it. I love the way children really feel the joy with their whole body. Head back, mouth open. Just pure pleasure in the moment.
This one is available in my etsy shop.
Also, this painting was included in a new treasury on etsy called It’s A Dog’s Life
This one is called ‘My Red Guitar’ and is available on Etsy
