Random~

Photographic evidence: my desk can be cleaned

In a very Little House style miracle, we all seem to finally be getting well here. And although I had some extra time today, I didnt really feel like painting. So I cleaned off my desk in the studio and filed all my art magazines. Ahh, I feel like I can breath easier! I have a feeling the brushes will come out tomorrow. It's been too long.
But I've learned that you can't force the urge to paint. When I do, I just make stale little pictures. I guess you just have to moved to really create something worth looking at.
Tomorrow is March 1! I am terribly excited. March is a special month-- the beginning of spring and little Audrey's birthday! I was thinking the other day....when I was a kid, March was also kite buying month. Everyone went to the store and bought a kite. March winds made for perfect kite flying weather. There were tons of kites to choose from at the store.
Now...I dont think kids do that any more. I haven't seen a kite in a good long time. Makes me both a) a little sad and b) feel old that something I did as a kid is now old fashioned. Sorta like when I remember that no one had a cell phone when I was in high school. OMG no one texted?!? Yep, the good old days....
I have no idea what this week will bring for me artwise. You and me both will just have to wait and see :)
Wont it be fun!~
H

New Painting: Gathering the daffodils

"Gathering the daffodils"

We're in the studio this morning because Audrey insisted we "Make! Paint! Make-a-doll!" That last part you'd understand better if you knew that Audrey thinks all the girls I paint are dolls.
I've been trying my best to "make-a-doll" but we're all still sick. Seems we're sampling every cold and virus that comes down the block. I am beginning to hate February.
However, I HAVE made this little painting (Above) which I called "Bringing in the Daffodils." I am channeling spring. My daffodils are already poking up, long slender green shoots are blowing in the breeze. I am anxious.
I know they will bloom around Audrey's birthday, which is March 10. My baby will be 2! That's positively a child.
Since we've all been sick and miserable, I've been dreaming of a healthier life for us (fever-induced???) but am not sure where to start. I find myself buying the same old crap at the grocery store just because its easier to go on autopilot. I've been looking on Amazon for a good book to guide me in the ways to simplify and healthify (like that word I just made up?) our lives, but don't know quite what to look for. Any suggestions are welcome!!
When we get well enough to get out and about, my goal is to travel out to the city, to the honest-to-goodness health food store and explore. I guess that's the best way to learn, just get out and do.
I find myself wishing we lived out on a farm where I'd have enough room for a big garden, some adorable goats, chickens, and the whole hippie dippy bit. Maybe someday....

For now, you can find Gathering the Daffodils as well as Imogene the Beauty Queen from my last post for sale on etsy. They need a good home!

A rosey outlook

I used to think I didnt really care for roses. I think I was thinking of the generic bouquets of red roses with baby's breath that you can buy anywhere from Wal-Mart to the gas station. They just seemed totally unimaginative. That's why when I usually get flowers, its tulips. I love how sweet and wild they look in a vase.
But in the past few years my heart has soften to roses. Still dont like the reds, but I do love the look of wild roses, and big cabbage roses with wide open faces. I like my flowers wild I suppose.
Slowly my garden is being run over with roses. I can't wait to see their little faces again this spring. Tiny red buds of tender shoots are already massing on all my rose shrubs.
I am also bringing roses into the decor of my home. Like in this stunning little chipped wonder I have been lusting after for months at the antique store, and finally brought home yesterday:

I think this is one of the most beautiful images I've ever seen. Perhaps a depiction of Juliet? Young woman on a rose covered balcony with the moon shining in the background. I'm puzzling over it. It looks like a photograph but is in color....could it be a very real looking illustration or a completely hand colored photo? Your guess is as good as mine...

The frame, which is chipped and a bit tattered looks to be original, the backing is solid wood and the frame is nailed shut. I kinda like the shabby look though. I do have my own Miss Havisham tendancies. I am so happy to have this lovely lady safe at my house! She was so tired of the mish-mash of antiques she was propped up with....

And with roses on my mind, I painted this funny little lady I've named "Imogene the Beauty Queen." She has won her crown and large bouquet of roses:

The text (which is my own writing instead of type this time, playing with a different look) says "She had a face that could launch a thousand ships..... and a mouth that could make a sailor blush." See her ship anchor tattoo? This beauty queen, I'm sure, isn't all tea parties and cotillions. I just love the contrast of traditional sweet-faced women with big bright tattooes. Chances are, you would have never seen this 'back in the day.' But I think it's fun to imagine.

Sigh...Baby is sick again. This winter is feeling long as we go from one health thing to another. This feeling icky just wont do. I hate taking medicine and usually, I forge to do it. I am one of those people that languish and when someone asks "did you take some medicine for it" I think "oh. I guess I could do that!" It's ridiculous.

So, for now I am dreaming of roses in bloom and warm breezy weather. I wish it were April. Or May. May would be fabulous. I can't wait to buy more roses....the wilder the better...

PS: Remember! The etsy sale is still going on and ends tomorrow!!

Spring cleaning sale at Audrey Eclectic!

It's time to do some spring cleaning! Dust out the winter creations to make way for spring and all its new projects! Until Wednesday Feb. 25 ALL paintings in the Audrey Eclectic shop are marked down! Visit the shop to see all the pretty things!

Show paintings are back~

First things first--- Congrats to Christine who won the ornament contest! And thanks to everyone who entered, you're too sweet :)

Also, the two paintings that traveled to Eureka Springs to be part of the "Love Show" are now home, and they need a nice home to go to! Here they are below, fitted with folky wire handles that are perfect for hanging:

If one of these grabs you and insists that you take it home, you can find them here on Etsy :)

Hope everyone is having a good weekend. We are finally, finally starting to get back to normal. What a relief! The weather is supposed to be good this coming week so I hope we can get in lots of walking and playing to make up for being cooped inside and miserable. That just wont do!

Spring is coming!~

H

Enter to win!

Lori Brighton has been sweet enough to feature me on her author blog and if you leave a comment on her site, you are eligable to win this pretty little ornament! Last one in stock!

Go here to read the interview and enter to win

Thanks so much Lori!~

Also, for those of you who liked the Love Show paintings, they arrived in the mail today and I'm going to list them on etsy very soon. So check back! They need good and loving homes!

Hope all is well with you and yours~ thanks so much everyone for the get-well wishes. I am hoping we all get better and aren't so snivelly very soon! Thinking of springtime...

~H

P.S.: I love to redecorate, and there's no better (and least messy) way to do it than online! Audreyeclectic.com has a whole new look, please do check it out!

P.P.S: The Eureka Springs paintings are now for sale in the Etsy shop!!! Check them out here.

A plague at the Little House

Bring out yer dead. Or your half dead. Or the just really, really stuffed up.

Did we anger Mercutio or something? Because there's definately a plague on my house. (Hoping you remember reading Romeo and Juliet in sophomore English) Things have gone steadily down hill since Saturday. Now we're all sick, heck-- even the dog has had his moments!

Tuesday took Audrey to the doctor because of her terrible cough and got to sit in line with all the sick little babies getting X-rayed for RSV. Audrey kept saying "Ready to go!" poor girl. Luckily, she doesnt have RSV but she does have a small case of pneumonia. Pneumonia!! My poor baby.

Ironically, the girl with the pneumonia seems to be the most energetic of the bunch of us. It's a sad sight. Our yearly bought with the plague I guess, last year it was the flu. But I am so sick of being sick and want to go outside and have energy. All I do is stay indoors and snivel!

Been working on my family portrait commission and its coming along nicely. Really hate how being sick makes me get so behind because there are so many things I want to make for spring! The other day my brother brought me a huge (and heavy) box of solid oak scraps from a custom cabinet maker shop that is a customer of my family's business. Thanks so much to American Oak Interiors! I am always so grateful when people choose to give me their extras so I can make my little paintings. The wood is awesome and I am so anxious to start painting on it! Instead, I seem glued to the kleenex box...

At the moment Audrey is sorting through all my paint and stacking them on the art table. She loves to 'paint' now. Just a while ago she was handing me a bunch of stuff and I turned around and suddenly had something wet in my hand--- she had handed me a big glob of red paint she had swiped off the painting table. Don't you just love when that happens?

Hope all is well at your house! I hope to have more to share very soon! Oh--- and there's going to be a little giveaway soon through another site! So stay tuned!

*sniff*

Time for dessert

As promised, here are a couple of new little paintings I just finished up! I wanted to do something sweet and fun, and who doesnt love cake? These paintings are small, 5x7, done on flat canvas and all ready to be framed. Even have a dash of diamond dust for a little flair and fun. You can find them both in Etsy.

"Cute as a Cupcake"

"Sweets for my Sweet"

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Home sweet home....

Just for fun, wanted to tag on this photo of an old about-to-blow-over house I took over the weekend. It intrigues me each time we pass it coming out of the mountaints. So finally, I managed to think ahead so that we could pull over and I could snap some shots.
There are some beautiful little homesteads when you drive down the little 2 lane highways to the Ozarks. Many of them have seen their heyday, and others seem a breath away from being gone forever, like this one. I can't help but wonder about the people that built this house, the family that lived there. I know once it was probably beautiful, nestled in the wide open spaces with the cattle grazing, the mountains rising up in the horizon..... I'm sure it was once a beautiful place.

Back from the Love Show

My art

Well, we're back earlier than expected from the love show. Baby got so sick, and we just decided it was better to head back home. However, Will and I did make it to the reception for the Love Show in Eureka Springs and I got some photos!


Every piece submitted to the show had to measure 8x8" and somehow involve the theme "Love." There were some amazing and fun and whimsical pieces of art there! When we arrived, the show was already packed to standing room only--- which is a good sign.

However, Will and I are notorious wallflowers so we basically milled through and looked at the art and tried to stay out of people's way.

The peice below was called "Super Love", it was one of our favorites ;)

After the gallery, we headed off to have dinner just the two of us (imagine!!) at one of our favorite Eureka haunts, the Basin Park Hotel. If you just go up to the first floor there's a great restaurant and bar and you can eat out on the balcony, even in winter (there's a plastic cover over it, hence the weird flash in our picture)

Unfortunately Audrey's little sniffle turned into a big ordeal (I will spare you the throw-upy details) and so we just decided to head on home to the flatlands. Which was a bummer, I really wish she could have enjoyed the beautiful day there in the mountains. I did a frantic drive-by at my favorite shop, Something Simple and now we're all back at home with our puppy.

I really hope that the paintings sell but if not, I'm sure they'll make an etsy appearance. Let's cross our fingers for a good sale though!

Now we're just hoping for an uneventful and quiet sunday tomorrow. Have a big fun commission I'm working on, Very New England and very Folky for our miss Alyson. It's always good to be home....

Stay tuned for a couple of fun little whimsical paintings I've almost got finished....

H

My vintage valentine

Last week I decided to get creative in preparation for Valentine's Day and made these sweet little ornments for family (and myself!) to give as Valentines. Each little heart contains a vintage or vintage-style photo of someone they love....For my grandma Nancy, I chose a picture of her and her dad when she was about Audrey's age (top tight) and for my granny Midge I chose a portrait of her mother from the 1920s (center). The other hearts I decorated with black and white renditions of Audrey and one of our wedding portrait. Two of the hearts I kept for me, and I gave my parents a heart with Miss Audrey on it. We all exchanged valentine gifts this afternoon at our favorite little Mexican restaurant over chips and salsa. Vive Valentine's Day!

I think they turned out so sweet! And they look so pretty with some vintage buttons sewn on! I made the hearts out of a velvet Christmas dress of Audrey's.... I mean, it's not like she'll wear it next year, ya know? I printed the photos off on t-shirt transfer paper, ironed them onto muslin, cut them out as squares and then sewed them onto the velvet using that crazy zigzag stitch I love.

I like them! I love the velvet. Everything looks better in velvet, don't you think? I'm pondering making more of these to sell at shows to showcase some of my massive vintage photo collection. What do you think? Sweet hearts for all year....

Happy early Valentine's Day everyone!~

H

Thinking of spring

Who doesn't love a good spring ornament? Well, if you like your ornaments out all year round, I have a treat for you! I have made four little folk art ornament featuring my little painting "Blossom." Evidently she was coveted by a few of you and she moved in and out of the etsy shop pretty quickly. However, with these little ornements, you can have your own little "Blossom":

You can find the etsy listing for the ornaments here.

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Lately I've had a fellow artist with me in the studio. Her prefered media? Charcoal. She's also gotten into my china markers, which I like to use in my paintings because they give a hard black line but are very eraseable (they look almost exactly like charcoal pencils except they have a waxy, almost crayon looking lead instead of traditional charcoal). Audrey has also tested them on the back of my studio chair, and luckily they are very eraseable from that too.

This little girl is such a character. I can tell that she already loves art. Her new vocab words include "Make" and "paint." She is also very supportive of the funny looking pillows I make, she says "Pretty!" and then runs off with them. I will take that as a compliment.

Have a busy week ahead of just random busyness...and then Friday we're heading out to the Ozarks for the Love Show. I've got two paintings available in the gallery and there are around 50 artists participating! This is my first out-of-state show, so it's exciting. Hope all goes well!

Til then....go check out the ornaments!~

H

Soft and Fuzzy Monday

I think every once in a while it's time for gratuitous bunny shots. You see, I've always loved bunnies (I even call Audrey bunnie) and bunnies were, in fact, my first babies.
When Will and I first got married we lived in a second floor one bedroom apartment-- it was like a tree house! And although he had only had one (very skittish and moody) cat in his life, I was used to a life filled with all kinds of critters (thanks Dad!)
So it wasnt long before I was pining for a little something to cuddle. And that's how Belle and Sebastian came into our lives:

They were a pair of dwarf lop rabbits. We named them after the scottish band Belle and Sebastian, not the Disney charaters ;). Above is Sebastian. He was the first baby. Isn't he sweet? He came first and then we got Belle, below:

When we moved to our house we also aquired some kittens, including miss Sophie. We read that the cats and rabbits could get along well if we introduced them while the cats were young. That way the rabbits could get their bluff in on them and the cats wouldnt see them as a chew toy. Sebastian was always a grouch to the cats, he would chase them and nip at them. The kitties didn't like Sebastian.

However, Belle loved the kitties, and she would follow them around and sniff them. It was so adorable. The kitties, after run-ins with Sebastian, were a little leary of her though. See exibit A below:

So I hope you've enjoyed your dose of soft and fuzzyness. I know I have! That will be all for today ;)

Beauty, art, and a good cause

For the past few days we've had the windows open and a sweet southern wind blowing through the little house. And I mean, it's really blowing. We're all looking a little windswept lately. Today it was almost 75 degrees. Try not to be jealous ;)
This winter I decided to keep roses and this time we're admiring dusky purple roses. I took a photo of one little bouquet I have in a mercury glass holder. Actually, its a candle holder, but works just as well as a vase!

It's been a few days since I last posted, but I have been quietly keeping busy. Still fussing with the sewing machine. Made another pillow, this one with Blossom:

I think it's safe to say that I am not a pillow maker. I think now, I will probably stick to ornaments. My pillows are fine for my use, but I'd hate to see someone a pillow made with my sorry sewing skills ;) I think the tote idea is a good one though, I think I will look into that! What do you think of my latest sewing collage?

Of course, I DO have a new painting to show you! Its a sweet little simple spring painting called "You are my heart"

This is a special painting, because it will be auctioned off to help support young mothers and their little ones in the Louisiana area. All proceeds from this painting will go toward the Restoration Pregnancy Resource Center in Hammond, Louisiana at their fundraising auction held Feb. 27-28.

This is a great cause--- here's a little info about the center:

"In 2001, Restoration House became solely a crisis pregnancy center. However, the services offered have been expanded to provide a wider array of help options to the women who participate in the program.

These women are now offered the opportunity to apply for Medicaid benefits, they are given the chance to attend prenatal, childbirth, and parenting classes, they are provided with information on sexual integrity, and they are given the chance to complete their education in the GED program. The mission of this ministry is to both preserve the life of the unborn, but to also improve the lives of these women and their children by giving them the life skills they need to prosper.
Since its inception, this organization has ministered to thousands of women and families experiencing an unplanned pregnancy. In addition to saving the lives of babies and helping women see a different and better way to raise their families; this ministry has given them a view of the Lord and His plan for their lives."

More info on the center can be found at their web site here: http://www.resthse.org/

Foray into fiber arts

Lately I've been seeing some beautiful artwork that incorporates fabric and fibers and also seems some awesome art in quilting magazines (whodathought). So the other day I wanted to experiment and slowly approached Madame Sewing Machine.
My first experiment resulted in this pillow--- which I didnt realize would be a pillow until the project was mostly done ;)
I started off with a fabric transfer of one of my paintings (Angel In Blue, which now leads a very happy life somewhere in Spain) and started sewing on the image with different stitch patterns. I gotta say, I love the zigzags the best! I better watch out, or everything I make will include zigzags.

After sewing the transfer to one piece of cloth, I then sewed that 'collage piece' to a piece of burlap just because I liked the texture. A trip to Joanne's had me finding some stunning red linen on the sale rack and suddenly, voila, a pillow was born!

I do like the idea of creating a collage with fabric. Sewing haphazzardly, it doesnt matter if its not perfect--- that's the look I'm going for! That is the beauty of folk art!

I've been experimenting now with smaller pieces, and I'm thinking I might make some ornaments. In fact, I have made some little ornaments for Valentine's Day but they are for gifts. I can't wait to show them to you, they turned out so sweet.

But this is it.....my big experiment of 2009 (so far!) What do you think? Do you like the idea of art in the form of a fabric collage? I like the thought that an ornament (or pillow) is art that is functional. And it's sort of a revelation to me that sewing doesnt have to mean perfection. Sewing for art's sake can be whatever I want to be, big jumbled mess and all!

*************EDIT**********

Have had some inquries about the fabric transfer--- basically this one is an iron-on. I bought a pack of iron-on t-shirt transfers (you can get them at a hobby store, probably wal-mart or even the office supply store) put the paper in the printer and printed it off. My printer actually has a 't-shirt transfer' setting which was handy, it makes the image a reflection so that any text and images on the transfer paper come out facing the right direction.

After the transfer printed off, I iron it onto some muslin, following the transfer directions. and that's how I made the picture!~

Miss Vivian painting

Here she is, Miss Vivian. She's now available for you to snatch up on Etsy!

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Not much going on here at the moment. Wishing I could go on an adventure!
My hand has been hurting and that's slowing my arting down. How many of us artists out there suffer from shoulder and hand pain? I've been dealing with this since high school. I would love to say it's from some spectacular sports injury, but no...I guess I mod podged myself into chronic shoulder and hand pain. *le sigh*

This weekend I was whispering some serious sweet nothings to my sewing machine. We were doing positively marvelous until the bobbin ran out and all hell broke loose. In trying to load a fresh bobbin I somehow managed to cause all the bobbin holding what-have-yous to come tumbling out of the machine. Now that was fun, trying to guess where it all went again! So yeah... after all my promises to the sewing machine...there was some yelling (and pounding of bobbins. Stupid little things.)

However, I did make something kinda neat and am working on some other little things. Will share soon!~
H