Halloweenie!

I'm feeling a little Halloweenie! Tomorrow is the first day of fall. It's not even October yet and already I have seen pumpkins on a few porches in the neighborhood. I love this time of year -- the trip to Apple Hill to get apples and pumpkins, the field trips to pumpkin patches, decorations, costume catalogs in the mail...

I would love to find some time in between getting ready for my show (September 28) and making a chicken for dinner and re-working a less-than-great painting and cleaning the studio to make a cool creepy decoration. I was thinking I needed to update my skull and lizard door wreath this year, but I feel more drawn to making a zombie mask for a party I know I'll be invited to. It's time to sit still, figure out what I really want to do, and then do it so I can cross it off the list.

Happy Autumn Eve!

I Want To Go To Ireland

I went to Ireland in 1998 for about 11 days -- nowhere near long enough to take it all in. I must have taken over 30 rolls of film (no digital cameras yet). I couldn't believe how many shades of GREEN exist in the natural world. And the sheep! They own the road.

Anyway, I'm preparing for what I hope is a big turnout at my studio show in less than 2 weeks. I've invited three other artists (sorry, none of them had a blog or a website) and a jewelry person to show at my home studio. So, in the process of getting ready I dug up some older paintings I did that were Ireland-inspired.

The one on the right is Blarney Castle -- one of the coolest/eeriest places on the planet. It was raining (of course) the day I went and that added to the creepy feel. Yes, I actually kissed the Blarney Stone.

This second painting was inspired by one of the many graveyards in Ireland.

ATC's

I am a part of this cool artists' website gallery thingy called SpookyTime Jingles. Recently its members were challenged to make some Halloween ATC's (Artist Trading Cards) to swap with other members. So, here's what I came up with.

If you're interested in finding out more about ATC's, check out art-e-zine or google artist trading cards. There are tons of books and websites devoted to this "never-for-sale" form of art.

My first one is a little ghostie with balloons. I used acrylic paint and embossing powder. It's kind of hard to see, but the embossing powder gives they sky a textured glittery effect.

For this one, I covered the card with torn pieces of plumbers tape (it's metallic) and then embossed a diamond pattern using a glittery powder. Then I layered a lot of tissue paper to make the pumpkin. It's hard to tell, but he's very puffy. Then I painted the jack-o-lantern with acrylic paints.

If you've never tried making and ATC, I highly recommend it. It's super fun and you are working on a very small surface (2.5 inches x 3 inches), so it's less intimidating that working on a huge paper or canvas.

"Elegy" - A Great Movie

I saw a great movie today -- "Elegy". I liked it so much I went right out and bought the soundtrack and it's great too.

Have you ever watched a movie that really hit home? This one was such a poignant love story. I must have been in the mood for love today. Everyone should be adored and cherished like Penelope Cruz was in this movie.

The painting to the right is one of my most popular ones. It's simply called "Iris". You can view more of my paintings on my website.