what happens when a sweet young artist studies my work?

Several months ago I received the sweetest email from Ellen, a 14-year-old girl in England, who told me her art class was studying artists, and she'd chosen me as her artist to study.

You can imagine how flattered and touched I was to receive this email.

She'd seen one of my paintings on a teacher's computer, which is what led her to her interest in studying me. I love hearing that these young artists are studying contemporary working artists that they can actually get in touch with (rather than studying, say, Picasso or Vermeer, which is also important, but I imagine young art students probably get much more excited to learn about someone who is actually alive and working and making stuff right now.)

So, Ellen told me that she was supposed to emulate my style and create some paintings of her own, so she asked me questions about my process for creating my work, where I get my ideas, etc. I was happy to oblige and gave her as much information as I could, excited to see what she would create. We kept in contact, and I told her I'd love to see some images of the paintings she created when they were finished-- and I'm amazed at what she sent over.

Oh my goodness! Aren't they wonderful? All 4 of these images here were painted by Ellen, and she tells me she's working on one final piece, a big one. (Hopefully she'll want to share that one as well!) I am thrilled at the way she incorporate my style and techniques with her own ideas. She used candy wrappers as the holly leaves in the top piece-- brilliant. And I love how they all share a theme, Christmas. What a young talent, eh?

*A huge thank you to Ellen for letting me share these here on my blog--I'm truly touched that you chose to learn more about me and my work, and I can't wait to see what you keep creating!*

Blissful Monday

Monday. Breath of fresh air. Or not wanting to get out of sweet, cozy bed. It's both of these experiences for me this morning.

But while I'm slow to get to work this morning, it's a good time to think of all that I'm grateful for this week, right? To ease my way in...

1. My favorite Indian restaurant, which my hubby and I thought had closed down for good (and which we were NOT happy about), was in fact just remodeling! They reopened, and the food is more delicious than ever. Yay!

2. I got an email from my mom about a project that she wants to work on with me and my aunt (her sister.) It's going to be awesome, and I'm super excited to start. (Mysterious, no? More details will come...)

3. Falling asleep on the couch. Last night the book I was reading fell out of my hand and I conked out around 9pm. It was wonderful.

4. My new kitten is in love with me. She trots around the house behind me everywhere I go, sits on my lap every chance she gets, crawls up my back to sit on my shoulder, and snuggles my face. Here is a piece of evidence:


5. My husband. I'm really, truly, so grateful for him. He makes me laugh, he drives me crazy, and he's just the best guy ever. Awwww. :) On the 19th, we passed our 7 years of being together mark! Amazing. And we've been married for almost 6 months now. Time FLIES, whoa.

And you? What are you grateful for this week?

Gizem Vural

How fun is this artwork by Turkish artist Gizem Vural?

Sometimes I wish I could step into other artists' heads to see what's going on in there-- this is definitely one of the heads I'd like to peek into. So creative.

Take a look at more of Gizem's work on Society6 and on her tumbler blog, and become her fan on facebook!

obsessed with bee things

The piece above is what started it all. I was browsing ffffound.com, and I saw it. It was love at first site.

So you can bet your bottom I clicked right over the bee things etsy shop, where my love continued to grow, fiercely and quickly.

I mean, look at this stuff! It's the best, right? If I all of a sudden found a pile of $100 bills sitting on my desk next to me, I would use them to buy everything from this shop. I'm not kidding, I love it this much.

But what really sealed the deal for me are these:

The most adorable screen-printed lunch bags I've ever seen in my whole life. Agh! I've actually never seen screen-printed lunch bags, which makes them all the more genius in my eyes. Can you imagine how cool a kid would feel when pulling this out of his backpack at lunch time? Oh my god, I would feel so cool using one NOW!

Please please please, if there's one thing you do today that you find recommended on this here vast internet, please make it visiting this shop. I think you're going to freak out at its amazingness.

And if you get really excited, you can visit their website as well. It's just as good. And you can follow them on twitter! I love the internet.

Pima Cecelia: a new collection

Patterns patterns patterns galore! I am just having a ball around here lately, with all the pattern making and illustrating and general color-filled goodness.

This new collection of mis-matched patterns is called Pima Cecelia. Isn't that a fun name? There's no hidden meaning there. I just like it.

I have a fun task for you, too: are there any themes you'd like to see me create patterns around? For example, a few that come to mind off the top of my head: pirates, Estonia, ocean life, bugs, articles of clothing..... ooh, now I'm full of ideas! Anyway, let me know if you have any brilliant ideas for me-- I'm looking for some new inspiration. :)

new paintings of a little girl variety

I'm working on creating some new paintings for a couple of upcoming shows, and I wanted to share a couple with you! The one above is called "The Beachcombers"-- and the black and white version below is how it initially came out of my scanner onto my computer screen. Obviously not what I was initially going for, but I sort-of love it, don't you?

The piece below is called "Tire Swing." Both of these are 8x8" and painting on wood with acrylic, india ink, and oil paint.

I'm trying to decide if either of these would be good additions to my etsy shop as prints... thoughts?

Blissful Monday-- this week in gratitude

I'm going to get right to it today, because there's a lot of goodness around these parts this week! What I'm most grateful for this week:

1. Our new kitten is on the mend. She's been sick for a couple of weeks, and she's finally acting like a real kitten and starting to get healthy! This is terrific news in our house.

2. I'm working on a kids book with DANIELLE LAPORTE! She's doing the writing, I'm doing the illustrating, and needless to say, I'm beyond thrilled. More on this to come sometime soon, I hope...!

3. Yesterday morning I woke up without an alarm, ate breakfast, and decided I wanted to get back in bed to read a book for a little while. And I did it. Now, this might not sound like anything incredible, but for me, it's a big deal. I have a very strong "work work work, all day long" mentality, so the fact that I'm learning to take it easy a little bit is BIG.

4. I helped my little sister make a decision that needed making at the very right moment. I like to say I swooped in and saved the day. :)

5. A realization about myself. My favorite kinds of realizations are the ones I have while I'm drawing. That's what this was.

What about you? What are you feeling most grateful for right now?

On a roll with the patterns...

Here are two more that came to be a couple of days ago. I'm having way too much fun. :)

Nathalie Otter

I found Nathalie Otter's work over on the Behance Network, and I love her ideas and sense of humor.


I mean, look at these illustrations!

So fun. Check out more work from Nathalie on her website and her Behance page.

Lotta Nieminen

I think I wish I were Scandinavian. I think all the artists and designers there have the most fantastic sensibilities about them, and Lotta Nieminen is no exception. I love her work.

She's represented by the super-cool agency Pekka, based in Helsinki, Finland, and you can find more of her work right here.

Aren't her textures the BEST? Wow.

a sneak peek at a brand new pattern collection

Pattern design! Love of my life.

I've been hard at work on some new patterns and collections of patterns, and the peek above is a collection called Salmon & Moss.

Surtex is coming up in just 4 months, and I want to have a million patterns to take with me! OK, maybe not a million, but as close to that as I can get. :)

super happy times: by jordan metcalf

I'm digging these die cut gift tags by Cape Town, South Africa-based artist Jordan Metcalf this morning. Aren't they great? I would definitely use these to dress up my gifts.

Check out more of Jordan's work on the Behance Network and on his flickr page.

Blissful Monday

Ahhhhh, Monday. The sweet anticipation of a new week. I like it.

On my bliss list today, as I begin this new week with gratitude:

1. My new kitten, Juneau. The poor dear has an upper respiratory infection and wants to sleep and cuddle all the time. She is just the sweetest thing ever, and my cat, Anika, is starting to love her already, too.

2. Dinner with fun friends who were passing through Atlanta. Thai food. Yum.

3. I went to the Atlanta Gift Show at Americasmart for the first time ever. Holy moly! 3 buildings and 18 floors of showrooms and booths = inspiration overwhelm. It was a fun and exhausting experience!

4. SNOW DAY! It snowed the teensiest bit here on Thursday afternoon/night, so everything was closed down on Friday, including my husband's medical school, so we got to have a snow day, which we thought was hilarious coming from Colorado, where NOTHING shuts down, even where there's 3 feet of snow!

5. I'm finally working on designing some new patterns for Surtex, and I feel the obsession beginning to rage again. Bring it on.

What's on your bliss list this week??

candice leick

i reaaaaaally like this image by candice leick. a lot.

she has a lot of cool packaging design on her website, too, that's worth an oogle. so pretty.

more paintings on canvas, a little bigger this time!

"here, now"

More new paintings!
I've realized I've hardly been sharing anything of my own here lately, and I'm hoping that will start changing now that 2010 has rolled around. These 3 paintings are all 10x10" and painted on canvas, also for the "Peace, Be Still" show that I mentioned yesterday at Flourish Studios in Chicago, which opens today. (The opening reception is January 15th from 6-8pm.)

"heart, head"

I think I'm going to make these into prints to put in my etsy shop. Good idea? I haven't added anything new to my shop in too, too long.

"peace"

Do you have a favorite? I'd love to know!
(If one of yesterday's 5x5" paintings was your favorite, I'd love to know that, too!)

painting on canvas for the first time in years

These little paintings are done on the cutest little 5x5" canvases I've ever seen-- I wished I'd ordered a whole box full of them when they arrived, because they were just so tiny and adorable.

These paintings are going to be part of a show at Flourish Studios in Chicago, opening tomorrow night. 12 artists have created 6 pieces each on the these 'Peace, Be Still," 3 of which are each 5x5". This means 36 5x5" painting all hung on a wall together! Fun. And I love this theme. I went with the idea of inner peace for my paintings....

If you're in the Chicago area and are interested in the show, the opening reception is January 15th from 6-8pm.

Tomorrow I'll show you the other 3 paintings I created for the show, also on canvas. Normally I paint on wood or masonite, so the canvas took some getting used to! I haven't painted on it in years...

A new addition to our family!

This is Juneau, our new baby kitten.How cute is she?? We adopted her last week, but she had to be spayed before we could take her home, so we finally got to pick her up yesterday evening.

She is a little LOVER kitty. She snuggles and purrs and sits on our laps non-stop! She's not a fan of our sweet kitty Anika yet, but hopefully that'll change soon. I want them to be the best of friends!

Spring Episode 2: Goals & Intentions

Good morning! Before we all went on holiday break, my lovely Spring cohorts and I recorded our second video, and it's up on our website today! (I've obviously posted it here as well.)

The theme of our second episode is very timely with the new year. Goals & Intentions! We talk about the difference between resolutions and intentions, why some work and some don't, how to have intentions AND goals in our lives, and so much more. You're gonna love it! And, we just couldn't stop, so next week there'll be a second, shorter video on the same topic. Yippee!

Click on over to the Spring website,where we announced the 5 winners of the gratitude journals from our first episode We also have a brand new giveaway this time! (Hint: it's something made by me...)

Have a terrific Tuesday!

Kime Buzzelli

Check out this amaaaaaaazing work by Kime Buzzelli. Holy cow, the color and looseness and feeling of spontaneity is killing me. KILLING me! I love it.

You can find more on Kime's blog, the Moldy Doily.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Friends. It's 2010!
What do you think about that?

Here is what I'm declaring.
- 2010 is the year I am able to financially support both myself AND my husband on my income as a self-employed artist/illustrator/designer. (He is in medical school, so we have loans loans loans...)

- January is the month that I let go of my addiction to checking my email. Productivity and focus, here I come!

- I intend to practice meditation and read a lot of books.

- I intend to deepen my connections with my family and dear friends.

- I intend to streamline and simplify. EVERYTHING.

- 2010 is the year of insane abundance and gratitude!

[What are you declaring for 2010?]

And my bliss list from my time away for the holidays:


- my brother-in-law and sister-in-law had a new baby girl, named Sophia, who I got to meet when she was just 2 days old. What a miracle babies are, no?

- I got a fabulous new gray coat that I'm in love with.

- My husband and I adopted a new kitten! Her name is Juneau. She is getting spayed today and will come home tomorrow, and we're so excited to discover her quirks and personality. I love kittens! Hopefully our your-old cat, Anika, will love her, too. I'll post pics soon!

- Visiting Pasadena, CA for the first time ever and LOVING it. I want to move there.

- Staying in for New Year's Eve and making a vision board with my husband of what we want our dream life looks + feels like. It was a nice way to welcome the new year.

***
I hope this brand new year is a refreshing, mindful, and inspiring new beginning for you!
2010 is going to be the best year ever. I believe it.