Crap shoot

Another one of my 3x3 canvases for the Canvas Project. My word was crap shoot, and I had these really cool red dice to work with. I need to photograph it better, but for now you get the idea.






















I had the dice and loopity-loop going on and asked my daughter what to do for the background and she suggested a game board, well I was sort of thinking gambling, casino themes, etc. But then I started thinking about the graphic elements of a game board and added the blue tissue squares to make a sort of Mondrian-like piece. Also, I must be in a patriotic mood with the red, white and blue theme. It ended up being a nice little study. fun, fun!!

I heart griffins

Not really, but "griffin" was one of my 5 words that was given to me for the Art House Co-op Canvas Project 2. I racked my brain for creative imagery that would not be so obvious or cliche. But all I could think of was a tattoo or clip art.






















Well, I actually decided to go obvious and a bit mainstream anyhow. The rainbow colors are a reference to the groovy 60's and the griffin itself is royalty-free clip art that would most obviously be used as a tattoo! The mystical Chinese characters give a sort of "underground" feel, like if your were getting your griffin tattoo done in Chinatown or something. Fun, eh?

Madame Lapin on a block

I'm slowly building a collection of little blocks based on a lot of work from my show. Madame Lapin proved to be a favorite, so I'm doing a few of these and start some giveaways. I sold the original to one of my good friends and thrilled that I get to visit the madame if I want!






















I'm thinking of creating some other characters in this series, but trying to decide if I should do a woodland theme (which is hot right now) or maybe a rain forest theme? Just throwing around ideas. I should ask my girls "what kind of animals do you want to see in a dress?" LOL! Maybe I'll go through their stuffed animals, dress them up and see what inspires some sketches. Seriously people, is this some crazy talk? I'm laughing at this post now.

Lillibands for fall

It's that time again! I'm working on the fall catalog for lillibands and it is always so much fun to design. I'm trying to come up with some fall-like imagery to incorporate in the background and borders. I think I'm going to use some watercolor and pencil drawings of acorns, tree branches and red, orange, yellow impressionistic-like leaves.















This season, Jen is introducing LilliWear, and collection of tshirt dresses, pocket skirts with matching tees and, my favorites, the little linen safari dresses pictured here. They are adorable and I especially love the ribbon tie on the back. I hope they are received well and can't wait to hear how Jen does at the next Mart show in July!

The models, Marly (my daughter) and Lilly (Jen's daughter) were so excited to wear these little numbers and show off with some dance steps in the lawn.

Been Caught Stealing

Have you ever been caught stealing? I have, and I can't remember how old I was, maybe 9 or 10, but it was when we used to walk to the hardware store from my friend Julie's house to buy penny candy. We usually did pay, but one time I got talked into a "group theft ring" where each of us would take a piece of candy and walk out the door separately. Well, that was a bit too obvious, because the clerk noticed each of us acting peculiar and called us out.






















Fortunately, these were the days that if you got caught shoplifting they didn't call the police or anything-just a reprimand enough to scare the pants off! This mischievous girl got caught, but she doesn't care and would do it again! Inspired by Jane's Addiction's song Been Caught Stealing. The original was sold at my show, but the print is available on my Etsy site.

Madame Lapin

C'est vrai, je suis belle. I will be very sad to see this little one go, I sold it on my opening night. The show closes this weekend and I take it all down on Tuesday, so if you haven't seen the collection yet, get on down to Steinbeck's and take a look! I will be finally posting all the work to my Etsy site and will also start listing some of my little blocks too.

Utter bliss

Oh yes, it is so wonderful at the beach. We are spending the week in Destin in a beautiful home in a community called Destiny by the Sea. Our friends the Kamean's we're generous enough to offer their beach house to us for our vacation this year! Yes, believe me, we feel extremely lucky and are so overwhelmed by their generosity.

We usually go to St. George Island twice a year. It is our most favorite place to visit. It's quiet and very un-touristy-quite the opposite of Destin! But with the kids, it's been nice here, Karina met a friend on the beach and we ventured out to Fuddpucker's and fed the alligators yesterday. Lots of putt putt golf, water parks, etc. SGI is still #1 in my book, though.






















After my show and all the stress of work, life, and obligations, it's been a welcome opportunity to do absolutely NOTHING. I mean, I haven't even read my book that much, just staring at the ocean, playing with the kids, having cocktails at random hours (oh yeah) taking walks. But it took about 3 days to let go of it all and really feel rested. The kids had to settle in to the new digs (us too) and the routine is becoming a bit more happy-go-lucky. With 3 days to go, I'm going to make the most of it, so bye-bye until I get back!