IF - trick or treat

A quick entry for this week's IF theme of 'trick or treat'. The trick or treaters parade and haunted house images are stamps that I designed for A Muse a few years ago. I love both of these, so I had to do an illo with them for this topic. I didn't spend a lot of time creating this...so don't examine it too closely! Happy Halloween, everyone and don't eat too much candy!

peaceful holiday

I designed this holiday card for my friend, Stacey, over at Northwest Behavioral Assoc. I love the message it has, for this year in particular. I hope to see a lot of cards with this message of peace and hope for this coming holiday season. Stacey and her staff do amazing and worthwhile work with children affected by autism. My son and I have worked with them since he was about 4 or 5 and we couldn't have survived without them!

quote of the week

If I ever die, do me a favor. Go on Oprah and tell the world I loved kittens.
~submitted by Nikki Seven, age 13, from the TV series Veronica Mars (much to her dismay, it was cancelled last season)

I love this quote, it really makes me chuckle and I could use a good laugh after continuing to suffer from vertigo since Oct 8th. I had posted that it was a one time thing, but Nooooooo, it's a virus living in my inner ear, causing dizziness and nausea! and lasting a really long time! Luckily, I have some meds that help some. They never really take it away, but it's surpressed enough to function. So, the world spins madly on and I love kittens.

Etsy shop!

I've opened my very own little Etsy shop. See the groovy side bar ad below my archives section? Pretty cool, huh? I'll be selling some of my mixed media paintings at very affordable prices. Check it out!

florishes

I just completed these 1st three pieces in a NEW series of artwork! They measure 18" W x 26" L. My original plan was to show them at the Sales Gallery at the Seattle Art Museum, where I show other work, but just as I was putting the finishing touches on the last piece, I got an email from the gallery, saying they will not be accepting any new art until the beginning of 2008! Drat!

So, I contacted my good friend, Doris, for a backup plan. She finds artists for a corporate office building here in the Seattle area and I can hang them there in late November. Other artists have sold pieces there, so there's still hope that they will find a good home. If not, I can take them to the gallery in Jan. Making art is kind of like having a litter of kittens, you want them to find a good home!

quote of the week

It's true that you don't know what you've got until it's gone, but you don't know what you've been missing until it arrives.
~author unknown

IF - grow

I have a lot of art already that fits this week's Illustration Friday theme of "grow". Almost all of my fine art work has a nature theme, so I first thought of entering one of those, but seeing as it's Illustration Friday, not Fine Art Friday, I decided to go with an image from my greeting card line. This one is called Fresh. You can't get much fresher than this cup of coffee with a coffee plant growing right out of it! It's fun to be able to do an illo just for the theme, but this one fits perfectly, so here it is!

Illustration Friday - extremes

Life is flying by! It seems like I just did the IF challenge! Anyhow, here's my entry - The extreme differences in the high school experience for girls. I was more in the middle, myself. Definitely not prom queen! Sorry to say, but not brainy girl either! More arty hippie chick! I'll save that one for another illo some day.

quote for the week

"A dream without a plan is just a dream."
Helen Thayer, adventurer and author of the book "Polar Dream"

monster mash

Penelope Dullaghan is hosting her annual Monster Mash illustration contest. Here's my entry for it. It was a lot of fun creating this little green monster and his scary shadow! What do you think he's thinking? Maybe something like "oh boy, here we go, it's Halloween again"?

Halloween is such a fun time of the year. We finally have had a few nice days in a row here in the NW, so I went to the market and got some pumpkins for the front steps, hung Indian corn on the door and cleaned up the yard some. I love crisp, sunny fall days and drawing monsters. Life is good.

spinning

My daughter made this sign for her bedroom door over the summer. It's the title from a song by The Weepies. She's a big fan of quotes, song titles and snippets that mean something to her life as a teenager.
I'm posting this today, because I had a episode of vertigo a few days ago. If you've never had vertigo, it is as if the world is spinning. Not only did I feel like the world was spinning, I couldn't see, I was shaking all over, I got really hot and felt like I was going to throw up. It lasted about 5 mins.
I'm not a doctor, but apparently, the virus from a recent cold decided to live in my eyes and ears. My research on vertigo came up with many causes, one of which was the common cold. Others include not drinking enough water, drinking too much caffeine and eating too many sweets! I think I've been guilty of all of those at one time!
On a more serious note, it can be a chronic condition for some people and boy, my heart goes out to them. It was not a fun experience. Happily, I only had the one episode, so the world spins madly on, just not in my head.

IF - open

It's Illustration Friday time again! This week we illustrated the word "open". I did an open container of take-out food and an open fortune cookie with the fortune "open your mind", coming out of it. Three "opens" in one illo!

This week they are doing something fun over at IF. After all the illustrations have been entered, 25 lucky winners will have their art shown in a bookstore called Open, located in Long Beach, CA. How are the winners chosen?, you ask. By the people who vote for their favorites, of course! So, if you like mine, vote for me! right here. Just click on the star by my name. (You have to be registered for the IF forum to vote) The voting is open until Oct.19 and you can vote for 5 of your favorites.

the joys of home ownership

This is a mixed media painting I did a while back, called little pink houses. I'm posting it and lamenting about the joys of owning a home and the fun things we get to spend money on.

First, our kitchen sink water pressure was sooooo low, it barely came out at all...so, a call to the plumber and that got fixed. Next, 2 of our window sills had rotted over time, so we had to have those replaced, because rain began to get in through the window! They had to take out the existing windows to do the repairs, so we decided to replace one of the windows, since it was fairly old and not energy efficient.

Two days ago the thermostat on the freezer part of our refrigerator started to go bad, so a call to Sears and we got that fixed today. Now, my vacuum cleaner is beginning to act strange! As I vacuum along, it all of the sudden gets too difficult to even push it, then suddenly zooms ahead real fast.

These are the many joys of owning a home and spending money on things that nobody notices, but I guess I wouldn't trade it for condo living, I do love my house. Here's hoping for a repair free winter!

Illustration Friday - the blues

This week's entry for Illustration Friday with the blues as the word to illustrate. I actually had this mixed media painting that I did a few years ago that was almost perfect for the theme. I scanned it, fixed it up a bit in Photoshop and now it's a good match for the blues. I'm thinking cool cats, swingin' in a java jive. Coolio, man.