IF ‘contained’- The Secret Garden
Mary could never have imagined the secret that was contained within the stone walls.
Leopard Print and Tiger Lilies
Another new mixed media painting. I have to admit, leopard print is one of my guilty pleasures. I know to some it is condisdered tacky but I just can’t help it! I kind of shy away from wearing it myself (most but not all of the time) but I have no problem dressing my kids up in it. No problem at all!
Oh, and is it ever FUN to paint!
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Balanced
A new painting, ‘Balanced’, 18″x24″, mixed media on wood stretcher.
I found this amazing photo on http://clancysclassics.blogspot.com/, actually in her etsy shop. Check out her beautiful work. She graciously let me use this image for a print of the final painting. Thanks Marianne!
IF ‘Resolve’ Pink Frosting
This year, I resolve to NOT eat Imogen’s cupcakes after she has licked the frosting off them.
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.
Circus Girl and Elephant
This is a 11.5X15.5″ mixed media painting of circus girl being rocked to sleep by Harriet, the circus elephant.
IF “Rambuntcious”-The Sword Swallower
Everyone said that she was rambunctious as a child.
Even so, no one expected her to grow up to be a sword swallower.
This is a mixed media ACEO on paper.
Circus Girl And Strongman
This is a 11.5″x15.5″ mixed media painting of Circus girl having her toes painted by the strongman.
Prada
These are last year Prada … but I’d still wear them!
This is an original 3.5″x5.5″ mixed media painting. Available for sale on etsy.
AHHHHH Ooooooow Choo
This is an original 3.5″x5.5″ mixed media painting on paper.
Oh, Jimmy why do you do the things that you do? This suede boot by Jimmy Choo is a mere $1,500. That is $750 per boot. What I am offering you is this: own a Jimmy Choo boot for $20! How about that?
*** Actual boot is not included in sale****
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!
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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
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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!
Just Too Small
This is a 24″x24″ mixed media painting on wood. The sides are painted tangerine. I actually did this one a few weeks ago but only just got around to taking a photo of it. If I can’t scan it in, ( just too large! HA!) I get a little lazy.
This one came about when a woman I am doing a large commission for was talking about empty chairs in paintings or photographs and how they made the individual viewer feel. It seems that for some people it made them feel sad and lonely and for other it was more welcoming. I couldn’t get the empty chair out of my head so when I was painting this one I decided to incorporate it. I made it a kind of ghost like child’s chair. She seems to be just leaving it to go forward, onward, to something else. Something more interesting. Such is life.
How do you feel about an empty chair in a photo or painting?
ACEO Circus Girl Study
This is an original mixed media ACEO on 100% rag paper of Circus Girl . I am in the process of writing a Children’s book about circus girl. This is another study of her. She really is one of my favorite characters to paint. The more I paint her, the more I know her and, the more I love her. I hope that you feel the same way.
The Girl With The Frilly Hat
This a new painting of an old subject. I am glad I decided to do a few more of these. Pure Joy.
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ACEO Folk Festival
This is an ACEO of Imogen at the Folk Festival this summer. It was so beautiful at this moment, magic hour. She loved it but as always, then she gets contemplative.
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ACEO Joy
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I’ve been feeling rather joyless lately about my art. Not for very long, just a few days but none the less, I started to think about why this last year I have been able to find such joy in painting. So much so that I couldn’t wait to get back to it. It has not always been like that. I used to torture myself throughout the process of doing a painting. I really never found much joy in the process, only the result. These last few days, I have been feeling like that again and it all has to do with that nasty old ego. It has stepped in and is trying to take over.
“Go away ego, I will continue to paint for the joy of it and if someone likes it along the way then that is just the icing.”
I did these two ACEOs tonight and it was fun. So there.
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Hold Still, Hold On
Hold still for one more moment
Stay still for one more second
More
These paintings are inspired by my children but are memories of being a child. Feeling scared and small. Time went so slowly then and yet looking back it seems so distant and foggy.
This is an original 12″x12″ mixed media painting on a 1″ deep wood stretcher.
