lately, wanderings and paintings

Been working on a lots of new paintings.

White-washed layers have been consuming my painting time.

Sketchbook pages, ideas, plannings. For the new year and now. I keep playing around with variations of a sketch of this one woman….

Bits.

I found the loveliest roll of 1940’s wallpaper along a driveway, discarded.

Last Saturday I went for a snowy walk oh so early in the morning. So cold but I got to see the sun rise over the silvery trees!

Another brooch from tinyhappy. So lovely…not only because of the teeny-tiny artistry that goes into each one, but because they are made with real wool felt and hand dyes threads. These little touches really make them so uttely amazing!

I am so excited for this new year! I have some exciting art news for you that I can’t wait to spill!
Happy Holidays Everyone!

sketchbook

I just thought I would show a preliminary doodle in my beloved hardbound sketchbook, which follows me around everywhere.

I usually take up many pages in my book before it comes together.
Happy fall, all!

sketches

Hello hello! Happy autumn to all! I am so excited about the season, the thought of it all is too much! I am enjoying late nights with my sketchbook. I have two books for sketches, one with scratchy doodles (the kind I chicken scratch so I don’t forget) and one with more refined drawings. Keeping up with the fall goodness, staying inspired and making many plans for future paintings.

Graphite on hot pressed watercolor paper, 8 1/2 by 11 inches

a bit on how things come together

Sketching faces on cotton watercolor paper (my favorite!). Still undecided on the hair.

Sketch of scarlet tanager’s in my giant book from June (the pages do not fit into my scanner)

And a collage of it all (with my hand and favorite papers) in my watercolor album.

Just playing around, process journaling.

A giveaway will be posted Monday, so please visit soon to enter!

and sunshine when she dances

Walking through the woods along a rambling brook and I spotted these terrific, vibrant yellow blooms growing amongst the composting autumn leaves of last year. They are so beautiful, so dainty with brown and green spotted-leaves. They are growing in clumps along a woodsy stream, in an almost swamp-like area. Do you you know what they are called? Oh please tell!

sketches, collaged snippets of inspirational fabric, notes in the watercolor album.

She has the sense that something is following her. Maybe feeling a bit vulnerable.

and this very sweet (and very tiny) gypsy cart (which I hope to see again tomorrow).

It’s used for story-telling at the Spoutwood Farm Faerie Festival.

Happy May Days to all!

new lockets and fig buttercups

Two bits of good news. I am not mia or forgetting about this blog! I have some major time-consuming work obligations right now (which take up part of my weekend as well) but come the end of May it will end and I will be less busy! Also, I look forward to a relaxing, painting-filled and totally free summer in the coming months. I have been using this time to go back to the well, so to speak, and sketch, plan, journal. I hope to revamp this blog with more of my process, my inspirations, sketches. Would you like to see more of my sketchbooks? I’d like to know! The second bit of news is of a shop update, with a couple of lockets that feature my sketchings and bits from my oil paintings.
A preview of a vintage locket that will be in my shop within the next few days…

Close up, the blue bird is taken from Pulling on our Ribbons and Hair. I think I’m going to tie a piece of vintage fabric to the top of this one.

And the gal from the locket graces the inside of my giant sketching book/ journal.

I ventured to a swampy glen down the street to take some pics of my lockets. There are the most amazing flowers that carpet the entire woods floor, creating an almost day-glow effect. They are called Fig Buttercups, or Pilewort and they grow in moist areas (and often mix with the skunk cabbage, which is abundant here as well.)

A close-up of these sweet little perennial blooms.

I am so grateful for each and every one of your comments here! It keeps me going, inspires me to post more often… Thank you!!

sketchbook and a rainy day meadow walk

Sketches are building up all over my floor! The lucky ones are neatly organized in a very big book. I try to do at least one a day, in the book or scribbled on scrap paper.

So now I need to post them more. It’s pretty much the only thing I do right now.
and…

A scene from a usual walk, above.

Lovely lush moss growing on a woodsy ledge in front of my parents little house.

spring!

getting ready for a new year

In cleaning my studio room today I came across some additional lockets that I had stashed away (and you can preview three of them in this post. I’ve already decided that my mini print locket days are near over, as time to source is scarce, and I am not out thrift and antique shopping much anymore. So I’ve decided to use up the lockets that I already own and offer them in my shop within the next few days…so keep a lookout if you are interested!!
AND…(in the theme of cleaning out the studio) I found a few sketchbooks/ journals that I was meaning to customize. So look forward to that shop update too!

Some time off and I’ve been playing nonstop with paints! I hope this new year is more productive for me. I’m off to a good start though… A little peek of one, unfinished and waiting for paints to dry…

And a scan of today’s inspiration, winter ferns found peaking out of the snow today and pretty vintage lace.

And sketches and sloppy notes

A beautiful new year to all.

This past month

While I have been away….

Dreaming of wintery things and taking long solitary walks through icy fields and woods.
Dreaming of ancestors and lace, ice and wildflowers, little gardens that withstand the snow and cold, honeybees and the sea…and art (this is where I tie it all together!)

And it’s not even winter yet! The iciness is lush to me, lusher than the greenest well-kept garden. And I love the color grey so winter and I along just fine. Today:

It was too cold to walk and daydream at the same time today, which broke my heart. I thrive off of long walks and daydreams.

A section of a delicate embroidery wall hanging that I found last week. I can imagine this the Queen Anne’s Lace is covered in icy and frost. A frozen field of wildflower remains.

Like this…

An abandoned nest covered in snow in a wild rose bush. I came home the other day with bloody hands from taking these photos. The thorns tear right through the mittens and destroy anything wool!

Personal imagery from the sketchbook. Been working with these particular images for some time now so we’ll see where they go. I normally don’t feel comfortable posting images from my sketchbooks/ journals but I think it’s important to show parts of the source, the process, the innerworkings…