The winner of my blog giveaway is....

Hi everyone! The winner of my Birthday giveaway of an original shabby chic painting is post number 4, so congratulations Marlene! Please contact me with your address

Thank you to everyone who participated. There will be more giveaways in the future :-)

Wee witches and windy days

Better late than never. I painted this 'wee witch' for the Melange Challenge, but I missed the deadline :-(

Today was one of those days when you just want to stay in, lie on the couch with a cozy blanket and cup of coffee, and watch episodes of Everybody loves Raymond. At least I do :-)
It was windy, dark and stormy. The sky was an eerie shade of black and grey, and as I write I can hear the wind howling through my window. Fall is definitely here, and I love it!
I started the day with my favorite breakfast which I can only make when I don't have to work. It is a healthy french toast and I will share the recipe with you. I can't remember where the original recipe came from, but I may have modified it..this is how I make 1 serving:

Healthy French Toast
First get your sauce ready...in a small saucepan add some frozen blueberries, raspberries, and half a teaspoon of honey. I add a spoon or so of water...cook them under medium/low heat until the berries are fully thawed and the mix is bubbling. Set aside.

Add some butter to your frying pan, and melt over medium heat.
In a shallow bowl beat 1 egg, add a bit of soy milk (or almond milk) cinnamon, and some powdered cocoa or chocolate if you have it. Add 1 tablespoon of ground organic flax seeds (very healthy for you, and easily found in health food stores). Dip 2 slices of whole grain bread in the egg mix. Cook in your pan until ready. Place your french toast on a pretty plate, cover it with your berry sauce. Sprinkle with powdered sugar and more ground flax if desired. Enjoy with a big mug of coffee.

Don't forget that my birthday giveaway is tomorrow, so if anyone is interested in winning a shabby girl painting, here is the post to comment on : here

Lastly, I have been messing around with my blog background, so if anyone has trouble with it, please let me know.
Have a great day folks :-)

New ACEOs and a Giveaway

Hi folks! I finished a couple more mermaid ACEOs. Lately it seems like all I do is mixed media paintings, and it was nice to see how my work has changed from a year ago. The scan doesn't do them justice, they are very colorful and sharply detailed, and I am happy with them. For those who haven't heard of ACEOs, they measure 2.5 x 3.5" which is the size of a playing card. So in other words, itty bitty artworks, lol. What a difference a year makes, I now have to put on reading glasses to paint the details!


Now for the details of my giveaway. Since my birthday is next Tuesday, I will be offering a chance to win an original painting. Up for grabs is this shabby girl, on 6 x 12 piece of wood. I used lots of media on her, and the background is bees waxed. There is lots of texture and layering going on and she even has a necklace of Swarovski crystal beads.
She is a prim little princess on a shabby background, and if you would like a chance to win her, all you have to do is leave a comment on this post. Please make sure I have a way to reach you if you do win.

I will use a random number generator at approx. 9pm Sept 29th to choose a winner.
Good luck, and thank you for helping me celebrate my birthday!(shhhh, my age is a secret!)

Wicked Treasury and my lucky week

hi friends! I was pleasantly surprised to find one of my creepy kids in a wicked treasury on Etsy! The one painting I was unsure of fits perfectly in this halloween themed treasury. I'd like to thank the EBSQ Treasury Queen Christi for including me.

This was a very lucky week for me. First, I won a blog giveaway at Vintagesnapsandscrap.
Next day I found out I won a prize from Alwaysartistic
Next win was with Marlene's Musings
And if that weren't enough, Tapestry316 let me know I won on her blog as well!
This all happened in a 4 day period. How freaky is that??
I'm thinking a lottery ticket purchase may be a wise idea right now, before my luck runs out, lol!
I want to say thank you to these lovely ladies, and now I will be waiting for my goodies to arrive in the mail :-)


I'm just finishing up a couple of new mermaid ACEOs and will show them in a day or so...and my birthday blog giveaway is coming soon!

Witch's starry night

Hello friends! As promised here is my first witch of the season. She is part of my series of winking girls, with very big hair. I can't believe I haven't yet thought up a name for this series! I was thinking of 'winking divas' or 'party girl's but neither sounds right.
I have a few more planned before I finish. Coming up is a Christmas fairy, and an ice princess. I can't wait to work on them!

This weekend I had such grand ideas about all the work I would accomplish. Well, let me tell you, what a waste of time! I couldn't manage a single painting! First of all, I started work on my second creepy kids painting, and it's just not working out like I planned. I think I may paint over the whole thing...and if that weren't bad enough, I wanted to do this week's challenge over at Melange Team. The topic is 'wee witches' and I thought, no problem! You should see the disaster I came up with!
It is so frustrating, since time is so valuable, that you want to make good use of it.

Ok, I decided to include a picture of the two paintings I was working on, even if I am embarrassed by them, hahah! I think it is good to show people that not everything you do as an artist works out. Sorry for the bad photo, but it is evening, so I had to photograph them on my kitchen floor. Believe me, daylight wouldn't make them look any better. So, what do you all think? Should I try and save them, or start over again?
(I can't believe I am showing you this, lol!).



Ok, before I forget, my birthday is coming up the end of this month, and I am doing a giveaway. Haven't decided on the prizes yet, so stay tuned, I should have details shortly.

I love Blythe :-)

I absolutely love Blythe dolls, but my wallet doesn't, lol! They can be quite expensive! So here is a painting of one of my favorites. I think I am going to keep this one.
She is now hanging with sheer pink and teal ribbon in my living room.

Coming up in a couple of days is my first Witch painting of the season. I love Halloween!

Kids that creep

I am already thinking of Halloween, thanks to some of the blogs I follow. It's all your fault, haha!
This creepy little girl painting took me many, many hours to do. It looks like it would be so simple, but it wasn't. I wanted it to look very primitive, and shabby, and it went through many changes until I was pleased. I tried using the one step crackle, which was crap! I don't know if maybe my bottle is bad, but I have used it in a few paintings, and I can't see any crackle. I ended up using the Tim Holtz Crackle paste, which I love.
Anyway, I am not giving up so easily, so you can expect more creepy kids (oh sure, I can say that now, but if another one takes me this long, who knows, lol!).

This next painting I took to work to show a friend, and someone snapped her right up. I have mixed feelings about selling my originals, especially when I just finished and haven't had a chance to enjoy them yet. On the other hand, it is going to someone who loves it, and getting paid for something I love to do is a bonus, lol!


Last week I took part in a 'flash mob'. I work at a University, and my workplace was doing it and looking for volunteers. It sounded fun so I signed up. If you have not heard of a flash mob, it is when a bunch of people freeze in place. You may have seen this popular video on Youtube of the one that took place at Grand Central Station. We had to freeze in place while reading a book, to promote the library, and it was funny to hear the students reactions.

Ok, back to work...I am painting a witch portrait :-)

Too much pink?

Here is the second party girl portrait as promised, and now you see why I warned you about the pinks. I did try and distress it a bit by adding some burnt umber glazed around the painting, to dirty it up a bit...but I kind of like it bright and sparkly. It was fun to experiment a bit, and I finally got some use out of those Halloween stickers I'd picked up (crow and tree).

Well, I am sitting here watching 'So you think you can dance Canada,' and enjoying one of my favorite Greek desserts, which is simply plain yogurt, drizzled with honey, and sprinkled with walnuts. Better than junk food! I thought I may as well update my blog during commercials.

For those of you who are fans of the movie 'Twilight', there is a new series that starts this Thursday called 'The Vampire Diaries' and I can't wait to see the premiere. I hope it's good, since I used to love Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and have not found anything to compare...(I know lots of people talk of True Blood but I don't get the channel).

have a great night folks!

Some sparkly fun

Ooh la la! this fine French diva has a party going on in her hair :-)
The second painting of this new series has an insane amount of pink in it, I think it's too much even for me, lol! I will show it in a couple of days.

Hope you're all enjoying this fabulous long week-end!

Goodbye lazy days of summer

I am always excited this time of year, when fall is just around the corner, and when the days are getting shorter. I am sure some of you parents are happy to get the kids back in school. One of my favorite commercials has parents gliding around getting supplies while the kids look glum, lol! Check it out here on Youtube for a chuckle.

I love folk art, and have been trying to create some primitive shabby paintings in that style, but don't always succeed. I keep trying to 'pretty' them up. At the top is my latest painting in the folk art style, so instead of over-thinking it, I should just shut up and paint, lol.
I titled this 'Emily's first Day' and put her for sale in my Etsy shop.

The painting below is more recognizable as my style. It was supposed to be a folk art painting too, but after trying to force it to go in one direction, I finally gave up, and let the painting tell me where it wanted to go, and this was the result.
She too has been added to my Etsy shop.

Life is easier when you go with the flow

Illustration Friday - Magnify

Adriana pleaded with her mom not to leave her alone on her first day of school. Having moved to a foreign country where she didn't speak the language magnified her fear.

I hope this isn't a stretch for this week's Illustration Friday word. I originally set out to draw something in my journal for back to school, and thought, hey, this might work! I remembered my own first day of school, and yes, I was thrown into a school where I couldn't speak English, so I totally relate to this little characters fear, lol!