It's that time of year again!.

If you look around you can't help but notice the Christmas season is upon us. Whether you celebrate or not, this is a time of year that can be super stressful to some, and really depressing to others. Remember, that Christmas is not about how much you can save at the mall if you go there RIGHT NOW! It's the anniversary of the birth of Christ in the Christian calendar. Now, I'm not a religious person, so Christmas to me is about spending time with friends, family, drinks, good food and of course pet portraits ..

"Schuster"

5"x7"

watercolor and Prisma color pencils

Schuster's owner, Kristin, won my gift certificate that I donated to the PBRC (Pit Bull Rescue Central http://www.pbrc.net/ ) I actually got most of this painting done when I was sitting at Allston Open Studios so not only was it for a good cause, but brought attention to my work as well as the fact - yes, I do donate! and yes, I do commissions! I apologize for the poor photo, my regular 35mm camera is broken! I guess it was bumped around one too many times and now the back door that holds the film won't 'click' shut .. I'm not sure it can even be fixed. So Santa, if you're reading this :)

"Look Who's 10"

watercolor and ink

November 30th was my nephew's 10th birthday! The big 1-0!! Of course I had to make him a card. He's been taking drumming lessons and I think it's time to start introducing him to a little rock n' roll. In fact, I think the first time I heard Led Zeppelin I was 10... I remember my friend sat me down to listen to "Stairway to Heaven" because she thought it was SO cool that it started slow, got faster and harder and ended being slow again. It wasn't til high school that I realized how truly amazing this band was.... "Gallows Pole" http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1I5WU8r9Uj8 being a particular favorite

Then last week the girls and I had a creative Wednesday making Christmas cards. I normally do a winter/themed watercolor and have it printed out. But this year I wanted to break out of the box, so to speak, but that's what creative Wednesday is all about. So I went back to one of my first loves: Collage. When I was a little girl, my sister did a collage in her bedroom of cut outs from fashion mags and such. Funny sayings - mostly about flirting. I wanted so much to be like her that I then did the same thing, but with pictures of animals. In fact, she would bring a Vogue or something home and I'd start cutting it up before she even looked at it. Later, when I took an oil painting class in college, the professor had us make our own still life with found objects and make a collage out of it. I still remember mine had an orange nerf ball. But this was an assignment to teach about color. ... So for Creative Wednesday, I found a bunch of magazines, a photo promo book and lots of old Christmas cards to cut away at (I never throw anything away!) Anyway, with out further ado, here are this years 2010 Christmas cards:

"Underwater Christmas"

6"x9"

paper & rubber cement

"Snowball Fight"

6"x9"

paper & rubber cement

"Santa Baby"

6"x9"

paper & rubber cement

"The Reverend Jackson Dreams of Christmas"

6"x9"

paper & rubber cement

"Pear Tree Christmas"

4"x 8"

paper & rubber cement




"Money Owl"

6" x 9"

paper & rubber cement

So there you go. The JP Christmas fair is tomorrow. This is the last fair that I will be doing for the year. I will need to start focusing my attention on Christmas commissions and then its on to 2011!