The BIG REVEAL and a Give Away!!

My favorite part of Extreme Home Makeover was when cutie pie Ty would yell, "MOVE THAT BUS" only to see the people totally freak out over their new homes.  I mean seriously freak out.  Now that is true joy in its rawest form.  So, I've moved the big bus, revealed my new blogging home and am hoping you're doing a little happy dance like ME!  What do you think?  I've been working away at it for a week now and couldn't wait to share the reveal.  It's very ...well.....ME.  It's just enough orange to make me smile, Mattie blue and of course, includes a Mattie bird.  And she is what started me down this whole road to artistic freedom.  So there you have it.  My great identity crisis didn't last too long.  I don't like to muster over things too long.  Wastes energy and precious creative time, don't you think?

Now don't worry, I'm not going to be just painting birds again.  I will still be spreading love on bikes, sharing my love of camping through a cute RV or two and of course heading down the dirt road in my Chevy.  But Mattie will be tagging along in more paintings and will be introducing her social circle more.  Maybe even adding a new character or two.  There are 4 cats, hamsters and a turtle muse in this house too.  Oh the joy I have in my heart right now for this little artsy life of mine.  sigh.......

Now on to the exciting news.....the GIVE AWAY!   A new product I'm introducing this show season are these fabulous art boxes with print of a favorite painting.  The boxes are about 2" deep so they can hang on the wall or nestle in a favorite bookcase.  Just about anywhere you place them will add a flair to your decor!  So how do you win one?

Let's see......I'd love to hear in the comment section what your favorite art material is.  Yep.  I love me some art supplies and would like to hear what you love to use!  I'll go first.  My name is Jenni and I LOVE heavy body opaque acrylics.  Now it's your turn!

PS  The drawing will be held on Friday afternoon!

Paging Dr. MG......Paging Dr. MG

FIRST, tomorrow you must come to my blog!  Cool things revealed and a give away!!  Well, cool to me anyways and I am thinking you'll like them too :). 

But today, since my internet has been most unkind to me for a week, I finally have a cute Mailey story to share.  Oh how I love being her Mother.  So Friday night Mailey and I had the house to ourselves.  I was pooped for some reason so mostly I laid on the couch in and out of sleep.  She kept coming in and asking for things like, "Mom, where's the white string?  Mom, where's the tape?  Mom, where are the band aids again? Mom, where are the safety goggles?"  etc.  Finally she came in and said, "I'm all ready now."  OK.  For what?  "Surgery Mom.  Pinkie has a hole in her heart and I'm about to fix it.  Want to watch?"  Um yeah, can I bring my camera?  "Sure"  So here are just a few of the pictures I took of Pinkie's heart surgery:

As you can see her heart did indeed have a  large black hole in it.  This is Dr. MG putting Pinkie to sleep.  (with the cap to my water bottle)

And here she is performing miracle open heart surgery with the hottest new tools in medicine, patterned pencils.

Here's a view of the surgical center (my bathroom).  I tried to point out some things on the photo. Seriously guys, I don't know where she gets some of her ideas from.  The wrapping paper box IV stand, heart monitor, and wii remote?  Man, she is totally going to be inventing something one day HUGE.  There were many more steps in the surgery including using my GAP artist perfume for cleansing, cleaning of the wound with q-tips, listening over and over with her scope, etc.  It was really fun to watch.  In hindsight I should have videoed it.  Could have been a Utube sensation!

And here is Pinkie all bandages up and ready for the recovery room.  As you can see, she is still hooked up to the IV for careful monitoring over night.

The next patient was Africa, a wild elephant who had a broken nose.  Here once again we are putting the animal to sleep.  She was not just a doctor for animals Friday night either.  American Girl Doll Kit had glass removed from her foot which required 6 stitches and birdie had paper removed from her eye from the owners who were carelessly shredding paper too close to her cage.   Yep, they all had a story.  So that night they all slept in the recovery room off the surgery center.  Unfortunately, the center had to be moved to her room the next day.....we did need to use the potty at some point.  :)  Today she made the den a GIANT kitchen.  Haven't gotten photos of it yet, but I really wish my stove was as big as the one she made out of a box.  Yep, always an adventure in this house!

Hope to see you back here tomorrow!!  Enjoy your Monday.

Sense of Anxiousness

So remember earlier this week when I said I feel like something big is coming?  Well, that sense of  anxiousness has set in and I really can't shake it loose.  It all started with the painting of Lily and Mattie, the feeling that I need to step it up and make a decision about my identity.  Maybe that's not the best way to put that, I mean my identity as an artist and the business side of it all.  Sooooo, my internet has been down pretty much all week which has given me an excuse to work on some ideas.  Man I have so much to share with you guys!  So many ideas, so many thoughts.  But alas, my family seriously will not let me have 5 minutes in here without interruption to write my thoughts down for you, sigh....  I'll be back early next week though when the house is quite (except for the snoring of Lily).  For now, here's a blueprint of things to come:

Folk Fest 2010

You know you've arrived at an amazing Folk Art Show when you park next to this:

I think I should have kept my old red van after all.  Mailey, William and I could have totally had a blast creating it into a masterpiece...oh well.  This is Folk Fest 2010.  A show that is held in a huge trade center about 1 hour north of my home.  I have to tell you, last year I was a bit skeptical about bringing my work to this show.  It seems so big named, and well BIG.  You see, this is a gallery run show.  Especially in the old days I hear, you had to be represented by a gallery to come.  Mary Jane Potter of Matilda's in Alpharetta is representing my work.  It's a really nice situation.  She rents the booth and lighting.  We all gather to hang, and then come and go all weekend as she sells away!

This year I wasn't going to be participating, but as you know, my unfortunate situation with the solo show came about.  In fact, this was the VERY weekend I was to host that show.  I brought all the paintings that were intended for Birmingham to this and boy am I glad I did!  What a wonderful response to my work.  Much better than last year.  Lots went home to happy families, and one will be receiving her large custom painting very soon!

So here we all are:  Me, Sandy Erikson-Wright, Barbara Olsen, Mary Jane Potter and Allison Strine.  You can see more pictures of the show here on my facebook page!

The Adventures of Mattie and Lily

I should be telling you all about the Folk Fest this morning and how amazing it is.  I really should.  BUT, when I got home Friday night late from the opening I had a restless night of sleep and something urging me to PAINT.  I struggle with many things surrounding my art career, but never about what to actually paint.  In fact, I have an entire black sketchbook full of little sketches waiting to come to life.  You know what most of those sketches are of?  A little bird named Mattie doing a wide range of things with friends.  Yep.  That little bird I just can't set free.  And these were the ideas in my head that kept me up all night:

As you can see I drew two out and one is totally finished....I think.  They may have a little conversation on the canvas, may not.  Overall though, I am YIPPEE skipping for joy.  And so is Lily, my little muse.  I've never painted a dog for real, I mean I've showed my art students, but I've never included dogs in my paintings to sell.  I think I like this little adventure.  And how big the canvases I chose.  Really, this is out of my element these days.

So the little bird that opened this enormous art door up for me may be making her way into the canvas a little more.  As I flipped through the sketchbook full of ideas I really got excited about her future.  I know when you feel this kind of excitement about something it's usually an indicator of something really good about to happen.  And I am very ready for that something good.

Widdle Happiness

I've got an agenda going for the next few weeks prior to "Show Season" starting.  It's 5.5 weeks and counting, a little too quickly for me!  This week my goal was jewelry making.  And today I did this:

They look like little ants on a picnic almost.  But in fact they are about 200 widdle charms that I hand dyed.  Yep.  One by one dipped, placed in baking soda mix, water then dried so as not to rust.  Whew.  Smelly too.  And I've got lovely fingernails to prove that I did it all by myself.  I found that when owning a retail store it was more cost efficient to buy in bulk when you can.  And now that I've found a resource for my charms, I did just that.  And I am super excited about this little find in that shop:

You can squeal....I did.  Isn't it the cutest thing ever???  Just like the campers I paint!  I also have now a wonderful supply of trucks, lock-n-keys, woven hearts, RV campers, butterflies, paint palettes and bikes.  Oh the possibilities are endless with the words to go with all of these.  I've been stamping away this afternoon in hopes of having some for the FOLK FEST this weekend!

Morning Sunshine

This morning I have this overwhelming sense of joy.  Don't really know why.....but it feels like something big is about to happen.  You ever get that feeling?  Of course I am hoping this sense of anxiousness is followed with good news!

I wanted to share with you two paintings that will be flying over to Birmingham, Alabama today entitled "Morning Sunshine".  Anne called me awhile back after seeing my work at Seibel's in Homewood.  She wanted two paintings for her daughter's first "big girl" room.  And here they are!

She's thrilled, and so am I.  It was my first time to paint since learning that my solo show was canceled.  I've had to take a break from the brushes....but now I'm back!  Here's where they'll be going.  Isn't this a gorgeous room??  (Sorry for the fuzziness, it's really low resolution which I can do nothing about.)