The Marvel Of Spring
6″x24″ mixed media painting on paper covered canvas. The sides are 1.5″ deep and midnight blue.
Click on this image to see it larger.
SOLD
March Give Away…
I am missing my spring of days gone by. Snowdrops, crocuses, daffodils … the only flowers in my life right now are the ones that I am painting. January and February have been bitter this year. It is always about this time of year that I really start to miss the season of ‘spring’. Knowing that it is a good few months away isn’t helpful. I shaved my legs and painted my toenails the other day in hope that they may see the light of day soon but alas, I know that this is ridiculous folly on my part. I truly hate my winter coat and boots right now.
I have chosen this reproduction to give away for march.. The subject is more ‘summer’ than ‘spring’ but the colour palette is very ‘springlike’ to me.
So my question to you is, what is your favorite thing about this season? Maybe I can live vicariously through all of you …
Just write you answer in the comment section of this post and I will put your name down for a draw at the end of the month.
Freeing
This is a 6″x12″ mixed media painting on wood. The sides are 1.5″ deep and are painted turquoise.
This painting is $90 and is available HERE.
On ‘Freeing’:
I have to say, I have always felt that wearing men’s ware as a women is not only incredibly sexy but very freeing as well. I am not sure that men feel this way but I have always loved stars that have opted to go this route. Think Katherine Hepburn, Diane Keaton, Marlene Dietrich and even Madonna. I guess I just really like the fact that you don’t have to be showing all that much skin and still have amazing sex appeal. It is kind of empowering. Like I said, not sure if the guys actually like it. I remember going to a school dance dressed up as Charlie Chaplin and I can tell you, I didn’t dance at all that evening. Perhaps a mustache on a woman is never that sexy and, in retrospect, going to a dance at an all boys school and dressed up as a ‘boy’ is probably not the greatest idea I’ve ever had, even if it was Halloween.
MATISSE FOR INSPIRATION:
This Saturday we had our first art lesson in the loft. Having just all seen the local art gallery’s exhibit of Matisse, I decided that this would be an excellent jumping off point.
Here is what the girls’ created.
( Scarlett was a little creative with the blue eyeshadow before we even got started!)
Meg, signs her creation.
I think they all did a wonderful job!
Girl On A Train
This is a 5″x7″ mixed media painting on paper.
This morning as Imogen ate her hot cereal I realized that appearances are starting to matter. Scarlett requested the curtain closed because the sun was in her eyes. I closed half of the curtain and left the other half opened. Scarlett asked me why I did not just close both curtains and I said it was nice to still be able to see outside. Disgruntled, Imogen stated that I should just close both curtains as a passerby might not only see her wearing the bib I made her put on so she didn’t drip on her clean clothes but also that Mickey Mouse Club House was on the TV. I hadn’t even realized. To be fair, I think she even found this humorous but I bet that would be different in a few years.
(OK, OK, I promise right here right now to never make her wear a bib again. A tea towel or a napkin would have been more appropriate for a six year old).
This painting makes me think about being clueless to her growing up. Sometimes I think I only really see my kids in photos. Look how old she is getting. She looks so young when she is sleeping or standing next to her 6′ 2 daddy. But in this picture she has some sort of wisdom I guess I miss when I am dealing with her on a day to day basis.
Concentration
This is a new 8.5″x10.5″ mixed media painting on paper. I was going to name it ‘Girl With A $500 Cat’ (grrrrrrrr …)
But
‘Concentration’ really seems to sum it up.
SOLD
Friends
This is a new mixed media painting I did on paper. It is 11.5″x15.5″.
Funny enough, well, not funny at all, Beijing tried to jump on top of the fridge today and fell and hurt his leg. He is at the vet right now, under observation. Ching, ching (that is the sound of money …booooooo hooooo).
SOLD
Striped Socks, Yellow Hat and An Orange Cat …Finished
This is a 3’x5′ mixed media painting on canvas.
SOLD
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.
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.
Painting In Progress
I haven’t posted anything lately. Life gets in the way sometimes.
Here is a new painting that I am working on. This was my party dress from when I was five.(It also has a Holly Hobby pinafore that goes over top.) Now Imogen wears them for dress up. Once again, the past and the present intertwine into one.
I think that I am almost finished this one. Almost. It is harder to know with some paintings.
SOLD
Sydney and Imogen
Chris took this photo of Sydney and Imogen with this iphone. Aren’t they sweet!?
Undecided
Another painting from my new series “Too Small, Too Young”.
Undecided, 15.5 “x 20”, mixed media painting on wood stretcher.
This series is about being a child now, looking back and/or remembering being a child and also about being an adult/parent watching your child grow up. It is bitter sweet to say the least.
Sometimes I find myself looking at my children and feeling unbearably sad. I know that this sounds crazy but it is because I am not really looking at them right now, instead I am thinking about how much smaller they were not so long ago or how soon they are going to be all grown and leaving me. Awful I know, but it is the truth. I think about how far away my own childhood seems now, how foggy my memories are. How young my parents were.
In many ways, these are timeless paintings. They live neither in or out doors but exist simultaneously in both. If as though, our memories can be in some other plain all together, existing in our mind but also in this place that shifts back and forth, in and out of focus. Often hard for us to grasp completely, save a snippet here, a smidgen there.
I guess in these works I am trying to capture childhood, mine and my children’s and to somehow hold onto it for a little bit longer. If I can’t manage it in real life, perhaps painting it will help me remember to think less and be more.
ACEO The Girl And The Pear
This is a painting if Scarlett stealing a pear. I have this stool from IKEA that has felt on the bottom and she can move that thing around and get up to where she wants to before I even know what is up. Most of the time it is to steal food. Honest, I DO feed her!
Oh, and look, there is another empty chair. For those of you that follow my blog, you will know what I mean. For those of you that don’t, get with the program!
SOLD
ACEO Willows Beach
At the end of September we went to Victoria. September weather is usually pretty reliable and this was no exception. We had a few beach days with the girls. Scarlett is totally into the beach right now. She would throw rocks in the water and scoop water into her sand bucket forever.
This little ACEO is of Scarlett sitting on one of my favorite beaches in Victoria; Willows. In the summer you can get crinkle fries from the little tea house and eat them right on the beach. On a rainy day, you can sit inside and have a cup of tea. It is nothing fancy, it is charity run, but it is one of my most favorite things
SOLD
IF Similar
The Orange Peelers, 1.5’x5′, mixed media on canvas, 2008
A Favorite topic of mine. The ‘Orange Peeler’ Factory. This idea came about when I handed Scarlett a bowl of tiny little oranges and she spent 2o minutes peeling them. In a two year old’s world this is a very long time. Anyway, that was the inspiration and then I just let my imagination fly!
Eating Watermelon
This is the third time that I have painted this subject. I have done one ACEO and one 11″x15.5″ mixed media piece on paper. This time around I have painted it on 11″x14″ profile canvas (3″deep).
This has been included in a treasury on etsy! http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=18516
It is avaiable in my etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=16805616
The Orange Peelers
I finally finished this canvas of Scarlett peeling oranges! I have been putting it off for a long time but I’m done now and I am really happy with it. As you may know, this is not the first time I have painted this subject, but this is the first time I have painted multiple Scarletts. God knows that one of her is plenty! I can’t imagine dealing with six of her. She found the idea quite hilarious, pointing at each one individually and yelling “Scarlett!”.
This painting is a 11.5″x47″ mixed media painting on a 1.5″ profile canvas.
SOLD
Scarlett Plays The Piano
I did this 8″x10″ mixed media painting today. It is of Scarlett at the piano. She really takes her playing quite seriously. My five year also takes Scarlett’s playing quite seriously. When Scarlett plays, it SERIOUSLY bugs her!
The Checklist
Going to the park checklist:
Drink, Check.
Snack, Check.
Picnic Blanket, Check.
Sun Screen, Check, check, check, CHECK, CHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEECK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Miss Independent gets into the sunscreen! Oh well, at least we know she will be protected!
The Pear Tree
We have the most amazing pear tree growing in our back yard. I get real pleasure looking at this tree that we planted, only three years ago, in a yard that had nothing (and I mean NOTHING) in it. Not only has this tree tripled in size but it has fruit for the first time! This in EDMONTON! Truly amazing. This painting pays homage to our pear tree. The fruit hasn’t really made it to this size but one can dream.
Victoria Rain
This is an original 2.5″x3.5″ mixed media piece on 100% rag paper.
I guess Victoria was on my mind today. I miss it, what can I say …
rain and all.
PRETEND- Illustration Friday -Looking For Fairies Amongst The Flowers
I was looking for fairies in the Garden
I left a little cottage teapot for them
So that they could set up house
Perhaps they would prefer to sleep within the flowers
If I were a fairy I’d live amongst the poppies
Their big papery petals would be my walls
and close by I would have lupins and foxgloves and hollyhocks too
Their lovely fragrance would surround me as I
drift
off
to
sleep
The Pink Tutu
This is a drawing of Imogen in her Tutu from my sketchbook.
When we were in Victoria we bought a fairy dress and a tutu for the girls and the night before we flew home we put some music on and let the kids dance around. I was laughing so hard at them all and the way Scarlett (2) was moving to the music. Then, if that wasn’t enough, my Mum put the Tutu on Matthew (2.5). It was so hilarious I was crying! He is such a boy and to see him dancing around in this delicate pink Tutu when he is anything BUT pink and delicate was so cute, but really funny as well.
Poor Matthew, I photographed and video taped the whole thing.
Oh well, when he gets older he can just blame us crazy women for making him wear it…
… BUT I’ll let you in on a little secret: he was just dying to put that pink Tutu on!
