Christmas time is HERE!

I know, I can't believe it either. The holiday is in a full swing and I even watched the Grinch last night. I'm going to be at the Jamaica Plain Holiday Fair http://www.firstchurchjp.org/2011/11/craft-fair-dec-3rd-2011/ again this year and I hope its a good one. This is the fair that always puts me in a holiday mood because they invite a 3 piece jazz band to come play the fair, while shoppers come in out of the cold from meeting Santa. However, we have been having record warm temperatures these past few days.

"Painted Turtle"

8x10 inches

watercolor and colored pencil

And I'm very excited to meet up with the Creative Ladies this weekend. This is the second year that we will be making holiday greeting cards. I've been so excited about this, as my last years cards were such a hit. I've been cutting magazines up like a maniac! I can't wait to post them!! You can check out last year's cards here: http://thepedigreeartist.blogspot.com/2010/12/its-that-time-of-year-again.html

"D in Plaid"

5x7 inches

watercolor and colored pencil

Christmas Christmas Christmas.

Can I tell you how much I really dislike Christmas carols at CVS and on the radio 24/7 and that Walmart has ads rolling at every moment....
Just remember when at the end of the Grinch when he says:

"Maybe Christmas doesn't come from a store.

Maybe Christmas means just a little bit more"

Make it a special one :)

Christmas time!

The Holidays are upon us! I have been busy, but I have to say not as busy as I was last year. I believe that people were hurting financially in 2009, but 2010 really brought it home. Maybe this year we can all take a step back and realize that we don't need to fill our lives with quantity, but quality. That's my Christmas wish anyway....

"Love Bugs"

5"x7"

watercolor & prismacolor pencils

I received an email and payment on Sunday morning that "Love Bugs" sold off Etsy! What a wonderful way to wake up! Thank you, Perrey!! I hope your boyfriend loves the painting!

Chrismas wreath 2010

Coat hanger, boughs, cranberries, paddle wire, dino stuffed animal and bell ornament

I finished my homemade Christmas wreath last night. I had extra strung up cranberries because our tree is a wee bit smaller this year. I usually string up 3 bags of Ocean Spray. You think I'm crazy? No way! It's the best way to watch the Pats game! Keeps your hands busy so you're not snackin' all the time either! The only drawback is that they do eventually turn into Craisins, which aren't as pretty. But I like how it's more simple this year. Dino is ringing his Christmas Bell.

Merry Christmas :)

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!

Crunch Time!

Yes, it's crunch time! It's this time of year when I wish I could just take the time off from now til Christmas to get all my art and art related things in order. Alas, I can't do it, so sometimes things have to suffer:

For example (Heaving a big sigh here). The deadline to drop off my 2 artworks for the Honan Allston library show was the same as Halloween weekend. With Allston Open Studios (I had volunteered my time for media work), orders coming in, calendars going out... Not to mention my costume, which was awesome by the way..... Well, honestly I could sit here all day spewing a gazillion excuses but the fact is that I missed it. And when I went to email the contact that I would drop off my pieces the following week, well I never gave it a second thought why he didn't email me back. So I went to the library last Saturday to drop off my pieces... *buzz* no can do. You missed the deadline. I said, "But But , I emailed Michael on Wednesday that I would be here today!!" "oh" they said, "Michael's last day was yesterday" So to make a long story short, I will not be exhibiting my work there. I was so mad at myself and I think that's the worst feeling.

BUT Allston Open Studios is still going on and YES I will be there both Saturday and Sunday.



I will be located in Suite 417 at 119 Braintree Street in Allston. Plenty of parking!! Come visit me!

KC

16"x20" watercolor

Finished KC last weekend and it went into the mail today! My client says that her and her husband are already arguing as to where to hang it! I never wanted to cause any trouble :) On to the next project:

Quinn dogs

8"x10"

first layer still in the works

The photos that she supplied are great and she wanted both dogs in the same frame. I think collies, shelties and horses are challenging because of those long noses. But I will keep you updated and let you know how it goes! Back to work!!

I can sense it in the air.....

It's the holiday season. Because I've been having dreams of sugarplum fairies in my head. No, not really. My dreams are way weirder than that, but lets not go there.

The commissions are starting to come in. Ebay sales are picking up. I love those folks who realize that Christmas comes every year, and it happens pretty much the same time during the year. Actually the last time I checked it was the 25th of December. (sarcasm?) But this is great for me. I love not only the painting, the shows and the stories that people share with me about their pets, but there's something about knowing that when that day arrives that people are opening up their presents and there's their beloved pet.... in a watercolor.... by me. It gives me that warm and fuzzy feeling that I believe that's what the holidays are all about.

"Retired Racer"

5"x7" watercolor

Above, is a small painting that I did of a greyhound. I took the reference photo at the Bay Colony dog show that happens every year, usually the first weekend of December. They used to have it at the Bay State Expo Center in Quincy, but just found out that it's moved to Providence RI expo center. http://baycolonydogshow.com/ Anyway, this cutie was hanging in front of a Greyhound rescue table. I chose to leave the pillow and the background white because to me it gives a more "airy" effect. Especially when you normally see pictures and photos of greyhounds, they're running on air - not sleeping on it.

So a busy schedule ahead:

November 13th & 14th Allston Open Studios http://www.allstonarts.org/

November 13th through December 13th the Allston Art expo at the Honan Library in Allston http://http//www.allstonarts.org/ Reception is Saturday November 13th. (I will not be at this opening as I will be working at the Allston Open Studios. If I could be in 2 places at the same time I would, but I learned a long time ago on Three's Company that this is impossible.)

November 18th New England Arts for Animals Members Show. Opening reception from 5pm to 8pm in the Fernwood Gallery (430 Washington Street Norwell MA ) The show will run until December 31st.

December 4th First Church of Jamaica Plain Christmas Show. http://http//www.firstchurchjp.org/index.asp

I hope to see you at least one of these events!!

Welcome Christmas!

It's been 2 weeks since I blogged (I was stuck in Dullus {Washington DC}) airport last Monday. Missed my connection by 5 minutes. Literally watched my plane pull away from the gate as I was running down the terminal. *sigh*. Was able to get on "standby" on EVERY flight headed back to Boston. When I was talking with customer service I had told her I was willing to fly to Manchester NH or Providence RI if she could get me on. I realize (after having working in customer service for many years myself) that you can't take it out on the person who is sitting behind the computer. Yeah, it sucked being in that airport. It sucked knowing being on the first plane I would miss my connection but I can't take it out on her. And you know, she gave me a $100 voucher for the next time I fly. Of course after this incident I'm thinking "I'm never doing this again." But you know I will. So be nice to the people who are trying to help you. You might get a sweet deal out of it.

Speaking of being nice .... the holidays are here!! I did the Jamaica Plain First Chuch art/craft fair on Saturday and made +$75. That may not seem a lot for standing around all day but sometimes I walk away from these fairs negative in the hole so any + sign is a good sign!! :) However - it was SUPER tight. I put my things up on the piano and only had some walking room around so people could check out my things. The woman next to me who mittens and hats and other sewed items was also a member of the church so she had a fan club in her booth that was overspilling into mine. Which was fine until one of her friends layed down her purse on all my stuff. She was just so unaware. I did mention something to her. And I had a small girl "playing" with my magnets. I don't like repremanding children but this was getting out of hand. I just asked her "What are you doing with my magnets?" and she said. "Playing with them" then I just said, "Hmmmm. Are they toys?" And she looked at me like, Huh? and then I said, "You know, I did put these in a certain order for a reason so I really don't like it when they get all messed up." She just took off after that.

I've also started getting some commissioned orders and redeemed orders. Just as I had predicted people are holding on to their gift certs for the holidays. That's okay. As long as I can get all the things I need to get done, then I'll be okay. It'll be interesting.

We got our tree yesterday so I'm finally feeling the spirit creep into me. LOL!!