Animal Wednesday: Pug-Love

This is a painting I did for a gallery a couple of years ago. The gallery was having a combination booksigning/art show where each artist was to paint something from the novel. The trouble for me was I had no interest in reading a historical romance, so the gallery owner suggested I paint the two pugs the main character of the book owned. I "Googled" pugs and Victorian furniture and this is what I came up with for a composition. I chose these pugs for their expressions. I just love them! Overall I was pretty pleased with the painting. A lady from San Jose bought it because she loved the dogs...and she doesn't even own pugs!

Happy Animal Wednesday friends!

IF : Wrinkles in nature

I'm one of those people who finds beauty in wrinkles. Not the ones caused from too much sun-bathing or from smoking. I love laugh lines. And an old pair of wrinkled hands holding the hand of a newborn just melts me.
We have these wonderful, weathered trees here that take a beating year after year by the gusting saltwater air as they brace themselves on the cliffs that overlook the ocean. The salt and the sun dry them out, the wind twists and bends them. They stand like sentinals, the elders among the seedlings looking so wise in their wrinkled bodies. I think we still hold the song of our youth in our wrinkled bodies. And I feel the dragon still sings from within the withered tree.

acrylic on canvas with collaged text for Illustration Friday's prompt: wrinkles. Click to enlarge.

The Pico Award

I was given another award by the very sweet and hilarious Forever Young. She makes us all smile with her never-ending humor in her daily "Giggles!" Thanks FY. Lots of warm fuzzies to you!

Now it's my turn to pass it on by following these rules. I have so many favorite blogger pals, but it says to choose only five. Drats!

The Rules:

1) Pick 5 blogs that you feel are deserving of this award based on their creativity, design, interesting material and their contribution to the blogging community, no matter what language.

2) For each award giver, include the name and the link to the blogger so they can be visited.

3) Include the names of the recipients and a link to their blogs so they can be visited. ( rules 2 and 3 seem the same to me.)

4) For both giver and receiver, show the link http://arteypico.blogspot.com/

5) Publish these rules.

Here are my five recipients in no particular order...

1) Carla Kurt at Wings 4 You Coaching. Carla has come up with a new blog to help us all find our inner artist by giving us really wonderful, thought-provoking exercises to inspire us. I've printed out all of them so far, but I haven't found the time to do them. But I will!! Thank you Carla. You put so much heart, soul and time into these lessons.

2) Emily Townsend, another inspiring journaling lady has a wonderful site that encourages us to get down and dirty and messy and just create! She does some amazing, amazing journal work as well as being an inspring woman in many ways. Thank you Em! You can find her at Creative Art Journal.

3) and 4) are two of the funniest ladies in blogland! Not only are their posts always funny, but the comments they leave for me almost always make me pee my pants! They're talented artists as well with imaginations way out there. I just love them, and if you haven't met them yet prepare to be dazzled! They are (drum roll) Ms. Froggie and Sketched Out. Go see what I'm talking about!

5) And finally, the sweet Princess Pepper Cloud! She made a trip to my studio to meet me and I was so honored. Since then she's purchased three of my paintings! That's not why I'm voting for her though. She's getting this award for her creative use of ants. No matter what the topic is over at Illustration Friday, she manages to come up with such clever ant-ics! It's always so much fun to see where her mind takes her and what kind of trouble her ants are getting into! She also has two wonderful cats, and I'm a sucker for animal lovers.

Please stop by and see these folks. You'll thank me later!

Cactus Monday # 5

Hey fellow Cactuteers...the day nearly got away from me! Here's my late entry, pulled from the archives back when I did the blue armadillo. This one's called "Even The Horses Did A Raindance."

And hey, shouldn't we be called "Cactus-eers?"

Happy Cactus Monday!

IF : Primitive

I had to pull from my files for this week, not because I couldn't think of anything but because I'm too busy with work and other commitments right now. But I think this image fits as a primitive portrait. It's a collage I did last year that all came together without a plan. I resonate with nature in a spiritual way. Any time I'm feeling out of balance I go outside to be in touch with something bigger than myself and my problems. I almost always come away feeling reassured and hopeful. I call this collage "My Sacred Self." I hope it resonates with you.

Animal Wednesday : The Eyes Have It

This is a mini painting I did for the gallery and is now the only painting left at my etsy store. I love white kitties with different colored eyes. I'm pretty sure they know how cool they look!

Happy Animal Wednesday!

Cactus Monday 4 : Have a seat...ouch!!

I found this wonderful sofa when I was "Googling" cactus images today. I was going to try to get to the studio to paint one but then thought I'd have fun with this instead! I played around with my greeting card program and added the lizard, bird and flowers. (With apologies and thanks to the folks who created the sofa image. This was just for fun!)

Mr. Chameleon looks comfy on this couch but I don't think I'd last a second! Happy Cactus Monday Cactuteers!

IF : Fail at a new attempt

Today was one of those days that I couldn't stand to be in the room with myself because I was so miserable. Have you ever had one of those days? The day started out okay because it started with animals I had to care for and I love every one of them. After that I was looking forward to some quiet time at the studio to work on my illustration for this week BUT it is the weekend of "Good Old Days" in Pacific Grove which means good luck finding parking anywhere within 10 blocks of the studio and good luck blocking out the NOISE of the bands and the SMELLS of the generators and burnt meat and my studio was right across the street from the NEVER-ENDING-DRUM-SOLOS and honest to God I thought I was going to lose my mind. So I took a deep breath, well, deep enough so as not to be filled up with gasoline and seared pork, and I embarked on a new project. I attempted to paint a mandala because I bought such a beautiful mandala painting this week and I was so inspired to try one. The outside music made my brush go faster than I wanted it to and I felt rushed and disconnected. I tried to get in touch with my "inner music" but couldn't. The more I painted, the more I felt I was messing up. I finally put my hands over my face, took a deep breath ( almost sobbed) and then decided what I painted was finished enough. Then I poured a glass of wine (hey, don't judge, it was beyond five o'clock!) and used my rubber stamps to do another mandala.

I do feel this was a failed attempt for what I was trying to accomplish, but if I find myself afraid to fail, then I'm holding back from trying new things. So here you go. Two mandalas, two approaches.

first mandala: acrylic, watercolor, colored pencil

second mandala: rubber stamps, colored pencil

For Illustration Friday prompt : Fail

Animal Wednesday : Nesting

This is a painting I did a couple of years ago in my very first studio. It was a musty old place with too many spiders in the back of someone's home. But it was my space and I came to love it. One spring I watched a little sparrow carry pieces of straw and other things to help build his nest. I was doing a lot of trompe l'oeil in those days, so I thought how wonderful it would be to paint a bird making an offering to a painted nest because he thought it was real! This is how it turned out. That's also the brush and paint cloth I used that I added to the picture. One of my husband's co-workers bought it for his wife who collects bird paintings. I kind of miss this one because it was a little personal, but it sure makes me happy to share my art. Happy Animal Wednesday...and yay spring!!

Cactus Monday # 3

Directions to my house : Turn left at the blue armadillo.

This is a drawing I did a hundred years ago for a greeting card query. I thought it would be a good fit for Cactus Monday!

IF : Save

"I've saved these beautiful blue things just for you, and perhaps when the moon is full and rises just above the bower we'll have our magical encounter. I'll be right here, waiting. I'll save this spot for you."

Read about Bowerbirds here. If I were a bird I'd totally be attracted to these guys because blue is my favorite color!

For the Illustration Friday prompt: "save."

acrylic and colored pencil on patterned scrapbooking paper

Animal Wednesday : Happy Spring!

Nothing like a few tulips popping up after a long winter to put a spring in your step and a lift in your mood! Yay...warm weather ahead!!