Sacred Heart

Not too long ago I had a customer request a little sacred heart painting, done out of my own imagination. I always love those projects where the customer says "do what you want!" ;)

I finished it up last week and mailed if off, and now that she has the Prairie Sacred Heart I thought it was time to share it here :) Of course my little heart takes place over a sleepy prairie village with a pretty little white church connected to a cluster of homes. And you know me, had to douse it with some crackle finish. Everything is better with crackle!

I've loved the look of sacred hearts, though I cant say I've ever painted one, since I was in high school. I was rather obsessed with Romeo + Juliet when it came out in the '90s, I even painted an angel Juliet on the wall of my bedroom :) I think that movie inspired a love of catholic-style religious imagery, talk about ambiance!

And speaking of religious imagery and art, I recently borrowed these books from our church and they're pretty fascinating. I've always liked icon art with its strong lines and deliberate distortion. That probably sounds familiar when you think of my own art ;) These books are interesting because they describe painting, especially when working with icons, as a form of prayer/meditation which I totally relate to. Painting seems to be the only way I can quiet my mind and fully focus without random thoughts popping in. No wonder I'm addicted to it.

It's only natural then to ask, how does painting (or crafting or writing or whatever you're passionate about) make you feel? Why do you do it? Does it give you something you get in no other way? I'd love to hear about it. And I hope you get a chance to do a bit of it today and every day!~

Til next time...

H

PS: Many thanks to the blog Once Upon a Tea Time for this lovely little feature on my artwork! Very, very sweet :)

What Would Jane Austen Do?

It seemed only appropriate that Jane should have her own mug. And what more fitting lines to ponder than 'What would Jane Austen do?" I just finished this mug last night and I think it is already one of my favorites! This one I've listed on etsy, and you're welcome to go take a look...

Lately it seems I've been indulging my inner-Anglophile :) the weather has turned gray and chilly and misty, and I find myself pretending I'm out on the moor instead of the old soggy prairie, you know, just for some ambiance ;) My friend Holly also turned me on to this new BBC drama, Downton Abbey which you can watch instantly on netflix. Oh the drama and intrigue! Oh the pretty outfits and hair!
And speaking of anglo-drama and Austen, I thought you'd like an update on the rabbits :) Just last week we found the last baby boy a good and loving home and are down to our final family unit! Mr. Darcy, poor chap, did go get fixed last month so that he is able to live with the ladies now. It was only a few days ago that I reunited him with his longtime love, Lizzie, and introduced him to his daughter, Lilybel.

Rabbit relationships are a tricky and delicate business, not unlike people. I worried that my adult pair would fuss at each other, or fuss about the baby. But it's all been quite precious. When Mr. Darcy first saw Lizzie, he started humming like a bee and nuzzling her face-- the humming being a noise of supreme happiness that rabbits do only rarely.

When they were settled and rebonded (yes, rabbits do make bonded pairs!) I tentatively introduced the baby girl, watching very closely to make sure no one got overly territorial and tried to hurt her. Instead, Mr. Darcy gave her a sniff and started grooming her, adorable daddy behavior :)

I feel really lucky and relieved that they all live together so relatively calmly, and hope it continues once Lilybel reaches hormonal maturity (knock on wood!) I think most of the success stems from the fact that my adult pair has lived together since they were very small babies, and the daddy rabbit probably took to the little one so well because she has Lizzie's scent all over her.

And so...Bunny Pemberley is complete :) Just as Jane would have wanted it :)

Oh la la! More Maries!

Hi guys! I've been busy painting on anything that will stand still ;) This time its soap dispensers! Aren't these ladies adorable? I just listed them HERE in my shop :)

Prims!

So yesterday it finally arrived in the mail--- the latest issue of Prims Magazine.....

I was so excited. Not just because its one of the most beautiful art magazines out there, but because three of my little dolls appear within its pages! And not just on one page...or two pages....FOUR pages dedicated to my Sisters of Button Place:
I was pretty much beside myself with excitement when I saw the proofs for the layout a few weeks back. It was one of those 'call and tell your mama' episodes :) I love how they arranged my girls and brought out their beauty. These three dolls are called Minnie, Nora and Sadie, all after women long passed in my family. Minnie was my great-great grandma and although I never met her, I often played with a large rag doll she made my granny when she was a little girl. That doll is still around and still lovable and sweet. So its only fitting perhaps that these little dolls were a nod to her.
There are some great artists in this magazine, and I'm amazed to share ink with them. Junker Jane's dolls are a particular favorite, and I love love love Nicol Sayre.

I am just so excited to get to do these things that I've been in love with since I was little, and that people like to see it and actually put it in magazines, or buy it for their homes. It's such an awesome and amazing feeling!

I hope you enjoy the magazine--- its just pure magic from cover to cover. It hits bookstores and craft stores on April 1. Enjoy!~

h

Japan Auction Ends Today!

Just a kind reminder--- the auction for my painting Mori Girl ends today! 100% of the proceeds goes to aid in Japan. It's a great cause, and a cute little painting!

Go HERE to place your bid! :)

Oil Field Beauties

I think this probably happens to everyone when you grow up. You feel like everywhere, anywhere, is better than where you are. Friends go off and explore big new cities, they move far away as if the only way to find the adventure in life is to get away from here.

However, as one who didn't get away from here, I see it as a good decision. Sure, there are times when I'd like to go on some wild adventure, but here is quite alright too. Just like Dorothy found out, sometimes all you need is right in your own backyard. And mine just happens to be in the middle of America, where cow pastures abound, oil rigs are a part of the everyday landscape, everyone owns a pair of cowboy boots (sure, I got a pair! They are embroidered with flowers though, lol) and people look each other in the eye and even smile as they pass. I think that's quite alright :)
I can claim my Okie status back about 4 generations. So we've been around a bit. We must have liked this place if we've stayed this long. Erratic weather, wide sweeping plains and little towns must suit us just fine. The other day I was thinking up another old timey painting, when I thought about the photo above. Taken in the 1920s, it shows my great-grandma Pansy (standing on the right) with some girlfriends on a dusty country road, probably in Kiefer. Grandma grew up on an oil lease out in the sticks. Family photos of her as a young woman show her dolled up and coiffed, with oil derriks standing like bashful strangers in the background. It's just so country and so Oklahoma.
I love these girls' faced and their fancy hairdos contrasted with their country setting. Because country girls like to get dolled up too!

The original for this painting has already been claimed :) most fittingly by a family member and we've named these girls Ella and Carolyn after her grand-daughters. And incidentally, all of us are descended from Grandma Pansy, whose photo inspired the whole thing.

But don't fret if you like these girls--- I'm offering prints! You can have your own little country girls by visiting the shop HERE.

And of course--- my auction of an original painting to benefit Japan is still live! Please do go take a look if you're interested. Get some original art and help a nation in need, what could be better?

Til next time,

H

Art for Japan

As you've read here on the blog, my whole family has become besotted with Japan in some way or another over the past few weeks. So you can imagine how sad we were to hear about all the terrible natural disasters and emergencies going on in Japan because of the earthquake, tsunami and now nuclear crises.

The other day I was thinking to myself about what I in particular could do to lend a little help when it hit me-- I could paint for Japan. So that's what I did. I created this painting, called "Mori Girl' and I've listed it with eBay to auction off to the highest bidder. 100% of the proceeds (after eBay fees) will go to the Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami Relief Fund - a GlobalGiving Project.

A few years ago I took part in a group art auction to benefit those effected by Hurricane Katrina and it was a really satisfying endeavor. I can offer help by using my own personal talents, and you can offer help and get some pretty art in return :) pretty win/win/win I think :)

If you'd like to place a bid, please go HERE to my auction.

And if you're wondering what a 'mori girl' is, well, I just learned myself! "Mori Girl' is a type of fashion/lifestyle in Japan. 'Mori' means 'Forest' in Japanese, and the aesthetic is a winsome, old fashioned, nature loving girl who looks like she might dwell in the forest. Once I heard of it and saw 'mori girl' fashion, I was totally smitten with it! It's like 'Little House' meets Kyoto. Its dreamy and sweet and off-beat.

So if you'd like your own little Mori Girl, and help the people of Japan at the same time, please do make a bid! Lets help our Japanese friends.

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Also! I didn't forget that the giveaway ended today! I just selected the winner at random (after my hand quick aching from writing out all the names, lol!) and the winner was Geri Centonze. Congrats Geri!~

Giveaway! Mr. Darcy hand painted mug

Oh, Mr. Darcy. He's been captivating readers around the world for nearly 200 years. Not too shabby for a man who sometimes botches marriage proposals and doesn't always know the right thing to say. Yet still, millions of us seem to love him any way :)

It's been a good long while since I had a giveaway around here, and so I thought we should change that! I am now offering one of my hand painted mugs with a portrait of a dashing young regency man with "My Heart Belongs to Mr. Darcy" written on the side.

Because really, what is better than curling up with a little Jane Austen than curling up with a little Jane Austen and a cup of good hot tea. (or coffee! or cocoa!) And we all know everything tastes better when it's in a pretty cup ;)

And so I'm giving you the chance to win this mug so that you can enjoy a little Darcy with your tea and crumpets :) All you have to do is leave me a comment here on this post and you'll be entered to win!

So--- who is your favorite literary hero? Do you have a Mr. Darcy in your life? Are you a Lizzie Bennet in a Caroline Bingley world? Well, we all know who wins in the end ;)

Can't wait to hear from you! And good luck! Contest will end Monday March 14 when the winner will be announced.

Okie-Tokyo

So lately we've had a pretty family-wide obsession with Japan. I blame my smitteness on THIS SITE. Goodness gracious. I've never seen such adorable things! I bought some fabric from there but I was a little nervous to take the scissors to it just yet, so I made this little dress to practice on:

I'm glad I did it-- the dress came out nicely over all but I did learn a ton about creating my own pattern and just sewing a dress in general. The bright floral fabric seemed a bit Japanese-esque to me, so its only fitting it was the practice run, right? now my little miss is lounging in it watching a Hayao Miyazaki movie (her current Japanese obsession!)

So far, this one, Spirited Away, is her favorite. They're pretty interesting films! It's interesting to me that Japan seems to have its own little love affair with western culture, and you can see it in their animated films like this one, and even their crafts. I think that is what is so appealing to me about it all--- seeing vaguely familiar things like little dutch girls or Russian stacking dolls viewed through an eastern perspective. It's pretty darn adorable. I mean, just look at these craft books:

I've seen some pretty adorable little outfits on the web that came out of this little book. Alas, this particular one is in Japanese so you'd need to be able to follow instructions by graphics alone. At Super Buzzy they have a good stock of these Japanese books in English though, and I'm sure one will make it's way to me some time down the road :) Just looking at them makes me melt a little, that's for sure :)

Anyhow, that's what's going on over here. A little Okie-Tokyo love :)

What's your current obsession?

Made to order

My business manager, er, husband had a great idea yesterday. He suggested that I decide on a set number of styles for some mugs and then offer them made to order. So if you're coveting a Marie then well, I'll make one up for you real quick!

You can find Marie mugs, the Mr. Darcy mug and the Regency reading girl mug all made to order HERE in my shop. And boy do I have more ideas!

I'm so glad you all like the dishware idea! It's been lots of fun :)

A note on the made to order stuff though--- it takes me a good couple of days to get each mug completed and ready to be used, so it will be at least 48 between purchase and mailing. But that's not too long of a wait for hand painted loveliness, right? I thought not ;)

A lady and a gentleman

I've been painting more mugs :) these are some brand-new designs. I thought I'd go more modern than my 17th century Marie Antoinette era...to the Regency era ;)

The mug featuring the dapper young gent says "my (heart shape) belongs to Mr. Darcy." It's super cute :) And the cup with the bookish young miss says "lost in the pages." You can see more photos of them in my shop, HERE.

What are you up to this early spring day?

~H

Spring Romance

Lately I've been romanced. By warm days and birds tweeting and little crocus popping up and trying to sweet talk me into believing its spring. I know that it's probably too good to be true, but I don't mind being lied to ;)

Of course it didn't help that my seeds arrived the other day from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. If you've never heard of them, you must check out their catalog. It's gorgeous, and full of so many interesting and old timey plants. All of them heirloom and passed down from generation to generation. The stories themselves are even amazing, from the Okra seeds that were given to a rural family 100 years ago by a Creek Indian woman, to heirloom watermelon from ancient Iraq, many of the seeds come from backgrounds worthy of a novel.

We actually went to the Spring Planting Festival at Baker Creek which is in Mansfield, Missouri (sound familiar? It's also the hometown of Laura Ingalls Wilder! Hello!) last spring and had a wonderful time.

This year, more than ever before, I'm really gung-ho about being more self-sufficient and buying local. I've got lots of schemes about planting a new vegetable bed, I've started trying to make more of our snacks and breads on my own, and find ways to buy things on a more local scale. I was excited to find that in my area there is a winter option to the farmer's market so you can buy lots of locally made products all year round.
The market is called The Tulsa Clean Food Market and I was able to get a tub of real butter, fresh from the farm breakfast sausage, lavender sugar and a dozen eggs for under $20. I opened up my pack of eggs today and was so enamored by all the pretty colors and shades and speckles that I had to snap a photo ;)

All these little things has me feeling very motivated and exciting for the coming year. It may not seem like much to plant a packet of seeds or buy a bag of groceries from a local farmer instead of the grocery store chain, but all of these things, when they are added up, I really believe it make a difference.

If we want to make a change for ourselves and our world, we can vote everyday for the change we want. And that vote is cast by our dollars, and by our actions. And when you're a little Type A like me, that's a comforting thought :)

Now, who wants an omelette? ;)

~H

Belle Marie!~

I just finished another plate! Who doesn't love Marie, right? :)

"Belle Marie"

This plate with hand painted and is one of my favorites. I just can't stop with the big hair ;) I think those old decadent looks go well with the line drawings too. They had so much detail, in their dress and their hair....
I've listed it just now in my shop, so take a look if you're interested! Hope all is well with you and yours :) Its so sunny and nice out today here. I hope that means spring is really on it's way!~