AHQU GIVEAWAY!!!

ArtisticHalloweenQueens blogspot is having a super giveaway for this month. Go to their blog to see all the neat items that the artists have donated for prizes.  Its certainly worth taking a couple of minutes to enter your name.

My spookytimejingles debut is tomorrow and I am anxious to see how it goes.  I wasted several  frustrating  days attempting to create my pages for the site and couldn't have done it without help from the lady of Huckleberryarts ( Annette) My gosh. I thought I could just whip in there and have them done easily but NO.  I am so very tired of being so computor illiterate.  I have until the 13 of Oct. to make the next pages so perhaps I can figure it out eventually.  STJ also has a giveaway! So folks, its the time to get your name in for these goodies. 

Spookytimejingles

Come Sunday I will be a bonafide member of Spookytimejingles! It's a fabulous website founded by Dani Nelson of  ambitiousdesigns . It's a juried site that offers to the buyer wonderful pieces from very talented artists who particularly create for Hallowen and Christmas.   Check it out. You won't be sorry!
I have personally put up for sale some great ( if I do say so myself ) items for those holidays.  The lamp I did took forever to complete and the handbeaded stranded I added are perfect for the extra sparkle.  I was inspired this time by the old Halloween cards that featured the pumpkin head children.  I have painted them all arounnd the shade.

For the Christmas page I found a cute stepstool and have painted a vintage Christmas scene on the top of Santa and a line of children all dressed in vintage snow clothes. Santa is handing out gifts.   I love it. Not wanting to leave the legs plain I have added bright green holly leaves with red berries here and there. 

I am working on another lamp now. This one for Christmas. the ideas just keep coming and I only wish I had more time.   Remember to go to STJ on the 13th.

Mothers and teachers

Well mothers will finally have a little time for themselves very soon.  Once the kiddles are off to school they can sip coffee, read then paper or a book, actually watch TV if they are so inclined or indulge in any other seemingly worthy time consumer.
If they have a hobby that has been put on hold for awhile they once again enjoy the fruits of their creative leisure.  Hah Leisure? I know that housework and all the other housewifely duties cannot possibly be eliminated but perhaps just achieved with fewer time constraints.
Now it's the teachers turn to stimulate and educate the hungry little minds of their charges and care for them in so many other ways.
As for me? When I was a teacher AND mother I looked forward to those first days of the school year as a challenge to my sanity.  I discovered ways to cope with insuing problems that I never thought had a chance of being successful.
It's been many years for me now but I still look on these fall days an feel a little meloncholy as they hold some dear memories.  
So mothers enjoy your relative freedom while you are able.  Trust the teachers with your offspring and  give your kids an extra  hug when they arrive home from school.

Good evening all

One of my very favorite sites on which to see  some of the most excellent and unique holiday art around is SpookyTimeJingles.  They have a panel of artists that create for both Halloween and Christmas year round. I look forward to the 13th each month because that is date that the site updates the listings . You will never become bored pouring over all the fun and exceptional new items each month. And they are all for sale!
Now that I have told you about this site let me share my good news. I have had the honor of being accepted to join their panel of artists. I am soooo thrilled.  It is of course a juried site and to be considered is indeed a wonderful surprise for me.
So on the 13th of Sept. be sure and "tune in" to see what I have been able to create for my debut. I hope you will enjoy viewing all of the amazing art there.

Summer is winding down

I hate to think of the summer being almost over. Seems as though it just began.. I have shut myself in the house most of the summer painting or sculpting or whatever creative process rerquires my attention. One thing I DID manage to help accomplish this summer however was a new lawn. In and ahalf years ago a huge ancient spruce tree toppled about 6 inches from the house. The "yard" surroundig the tree was a horrible mess with long roots poking up and rocks flower beds torn apart. It was an absolute disaster. Granted, the house was untouched ( thank you Lord). But what to do about our landsdcape was a real dilemma.
Finally this last spring my husband decided to get busy and chop up the tree. What a chore!!! The root ball was higher than the roof of our two story house!
It took the next couple of months to do what was necessary to replant the entire lawn on that side of the house. Rototilling---pulling out roots and more roots--rolling and racking---- and finally fertilizing and seeding. It wasn't cheap either!

But today as I sit here and gaze out the window I see the fruits of that labor. Little bright green soldiers stand at attention from the driveway to the back fence. Hip Hip hooray!!!!I cant tell you how rewarding that is! Maybe I will take a picture

In the meantime I am trying to finish up another Halloween lamp. I DO love doing them especially with vinatge designs. This one has designs reminiscent of Beistle die cuts. I love it! Stop by and see the finished product or look for it on ebay under HA31 or AHQU.

A Plug for STJ

If you buy something from Spooky Time Jingles artist's , part of the sale price will be donated to Animal rescue. Its a drive to collect money to help the neglected and abused . A good cause! Also I have been clicking daily on the AnimalRescue site. One click a day donates kibbles to hungry cats and dogs. How can you go worng and it only take a minute. I have them send me a daily reminder and when I open my email message box I automaically go their first. Please help and thanks in advance.

Back to art----I should have my little table done today but as I said in an earlier post I cant seem to get away from adding more details when anyone with a brain would consider the piece FINISHED.

Tomorrow it will be

100 days until Halloween. I saw that in discussions in my new group AHQU. Thank you for asking me to join. Lots of very talented folk in this group.
I am still working on that table. I dont know if anyone else does this except Tammy from Light and Shadow but if something isnt "perfect" in my eyes I simply "erase" it which usually entails painting over the whole dang thing. I painted thr dancing witches on the hexagonal top and drew in some smaller designs with witches on each side ( in pencil). After drawing them in, I didnt like them because I think it would take away from the nice top design and would look too "busy". So I had to erase with an actual eraser but then I had to paint over each side as the erasing removed a little of the shaded paint. Long story. So now I am reworking the area from the top down. I think I will add a bit of fun to this with some hanghing Halloween colored beads from the rungs on the legs. Darn beads are so spendy. Anyone have any ideas where I can buy glass beads on the cheap. Aint no such thing!!! lol I think you'all will love the table though.

Another project in the making

I will have to take a picture of my workspace. It is on the living room flowwr like always. I have just started a darling table. I found it on ebay and though I paid more than I wanted, it was just too cute a shape NOT to buy. It will lend itself well to a Halloween theme. I am trying to do one of those dark to light fades of color on the sides. That is soooo difficult unless you use an airbrush. I also have a had some luck using pastels to fuzzy the lines between colors. It works well most of the time. Then you just spray with a matte sealer over the pastels and go on with the rest of the designs. Think I will post a couple of pics here so you can see what happens with that process on this table. Anyway, thanks for looking. Talk atcha' soon.

Too many ideas- not enough time

I have posted a couple of pics of my latest painting that was commissioned by a lady who wanted a "portrait" of her home. Actully I do like architetectural subjects- basically buildings with interesting features and have done a few of downtown Cannon Beach businesses. The town is a unique little artsy community with lots of nice galleries and good restaurants and beautiful cedar shaked establishments with lots of ginberbread and fun details.
But now that I am through with her piece I have several items that I have collected to "do up" in Halloween colors and designs- probably vintage since I love the old Halloween postcards etc. I have a great little side table I found on ebay for a song. It will lend itself quite nicely to witchies and ghosties. The top is octagonal. I also found a darling gumball slot/machine bank that is dying for a redo. Gad, I have tons of great items that I would love to finish in time for Halloween. I sure hope I can work faster than I usually do. Unfortunately I am easily distracted so I will have to take the phone off the hook and refuse to answer a knock on my door and send my husband out for pizza if I want to get anything done. Oh and, I won't hear the garden crying out for attention. Good luck

New Stuff

I have been very busy. That's good I guess but it, leaves me precious little time to do the blog thing. I am working on a 16 by 20 painting of a house. Yes I said a HOUSE. Sound exciting? Well I DO like to paint architectural beauty and this house is very picturesque. The owner wanted a painting of her home and I needed the money so-----. I am enjoying it though and am pleased with my progress. I just listed a couple of goodies on ebay for Halloween. The big lamp is really quite nice if I do say so myself and the little table turned great. I had sold it before on ebay for a good price but the buyer had what some call "buyer's remorse" whatever the After I finish my lastest painting I think I will do a table. I found a small ornate side table that will lend itself well to my favorite vintage Halloween designs. More later

New Projects

Good Morning,
I'm posting in orange as I am feeling more Halloweenie as the days pass and we approach our favorite holiday. I have so many ideas floating around in my head - too many , to be honest. I have a commissioned painting to do. If of someone's house. Doesnt that sound like fun. Actually I like painting unique architecture and have done paintings of some of the unusual buildings in town and they have been well accepted. I will however work on my Halloween items along with the house piece. There are three pieces I want to offer for sale by Halloween. They are items I found on ebay and are going to be very time consuming but quite fun I think. One is a slot machine that I have had for ages an ages. Another is a republica vintaghe gas pump that would be darling if it dispensed witches brrom fuel. It is a liqour dispenser now. I also have a wonerful cabinet with drawers and shelves and mirrors. So you see I have a lot on my plate and hope to accomplish everything I want by Halloween. So I dont dare get sick again!!!

We live and learn ( I hope)

I was so excited to list my new witch music box. I think it's one of the best things I' ve done especially since I am NOT a sculptor or dollmaker. Naturally it took way too long. But boy oh boy did I screw up when I listed. I evidently ran out of spaces and only managed to HA3 in the title instead of HA31. So no one who follows my Halloween artists group will see it. I have a few bids on it thank goodness because the bidders must have looked at "see others items by this seller"when they brought up the coffin music box. So folks I have certainly learned something today and that is be very very careful when I list to include everything I need so that the most viewers will see my work. If they dont see it, they cant bid on it. DUH. I have all but finished a small lamp and I am very much pleased with this one. I love the colors this time. They are a little different for me. I will post it tonight. I hope you look at it.

My newest offerings.

I have neglected my blog for far too long now. Shame on me. An email from someone who commented on my latest ebay piece prompted me to get off my behind and do something other paint .
I am going to try and post some pics of more of my wokr here. Bu as most of you know from HA31, I have absolutely NO technical skill whatsoever. Things that come naturally to most when it comes to computors are like PAINFUL for me to attempt. I think I may try to have a blog designer help me out. Course' I will have to be the one who does the posting after the designing. UGH
So here we go with a couple new pictures ( I hope).

Losing a friend

I've been neglecting my spot here for awhile. Not that anyhone will miss my witty posts but nevertheless I thought I had better explain. Roise, our dear 18 yers year old long-hired calico kitty had to be put down and I can tell you it really tore me up. Why is it we get so attached to our pets? I miss my some of my pets who have passed a lot more than some of the people I know who are gone. I guess part of it the unconditional love thing. They love you no matter what. It always seems when I am blue or depressed or sad or just i need of a little kindness that my kitties sense this and gove a little extra love- or is it my imgination? I don't have a clue but I do know that they are a comfort to me in bad times. It has taken me longer to recover from her passing than I thought it would and so I have been rather unproductive for many days now.
And now on a lighter note, YEA, we didnt owe anything come tax day and I was sure we would. I cant believe it. Its a first. So with a good thought in mind I am staring another Halloween lamp for EBAY even though it does'nt seem that anyone is buying these days. Can't say that I blame them. Things are tight. Severaol of the smalll businesses here in our small town are having to close their doors and its a cryin' shame. Friends and folks we have known for years are going under. So far we have been able to stay aloft but that certainly doesn't men we are safe forever. I will pray for our nation and for our leaders and hope that God will forgive us our greedy pasts and save us from ourselves.

What's Next?

Once the stage is set the creative thinking is supposed to kick in. All that is necessary to begin a project is right in front of me. I've had my morning coffee and completed all the little morning chores.....

My mind is a blank! I am just recovering from a bout of COPD ( chronic obstructive pulminary desease) . It takes a while to feel back to normal, whatever that is...What with shortness of breath and coughing, not a lot of sleep and it does take it's toll.

I think I will take one more day to fully recover before I attempt to be an artist!

Setting the Stage

Clouds the color of old t-shirts scud across a cold gun metal sky. The rain is the kind that soaks you even though it looks like just a light mist. I stare into space from where I sit with my back against the couch and my legs crossed in front of me. The tools of my passion are spread around me. To my left in front of the window seat that faces south are boxes and bags of supplies, hundreds of bottles of acrylic paint, three different sizes of empyt cans holding paint brushes from size 30/0 to #10, A large empty plastic Kirkland Macadamia Nut container for water, flat tins of pastel pencils and boxes with stick pastels, things to hold erasers, charcoal, scissors, carving tools, colored pencils, crepe paper, wooden objects of various sizes and shapes, beads ( every variety and color), stacks of papers with pictures and ideas procurred from the internet, mod podge, glue, spray varnish, a bag with glass beaded fringe and on a small desk type shelf unit in the corner a new HP printer with fax.

The above items gobble up a 6 by 11 area in my living room and another 6 by 10 ft bump out off of the living room sags under the weight of more art stuff!
In the secondary supply "room" are boxes of all shapes and sizes, lamps, a couple of different music boxes, canvases from 5x5 on up, wooden plaques, small chests and cabinets, a slot machine replica bank, a cool old fashioned gas pump that disperses liqour when filled, small noisemakers, a wooden truck, a jack in the box, a doll sized chair, a small walnut coffin with brass handle carriers, wooden trays, and various other paintable items.

So here I sit on a stained sheet spread out under me and under my paint area
still staring into space. The TV is on ( I like to "listen" to scarey movies ) as I work. Everything is in place and as it should be.

( stay tuned for the next installment )