New Lamps! and a few fun announcements!

It was a very busy weekend!  And even though I got a fair amount accomplished- I always feel like wish I could have done more.  Lately everything has been taking more time than I initially calculate- maybe I need to adjust my internal timer!?
 The lamps are done- hooray! Here's the before:

and the after:

Not too shabby right?  and remember- these were the original lamps to the house- probably circa 1920.  I took a can of silver spray paint that was in our basement work room- and went to town! The most tedious part was disassembling and reassembling. (so tedious that I broke one of the original panes of glass:(, and lost some of the attachment screws- to adhere the lamp to the ceiling- this has resulted in not 1 but 2 trips to the local HD-uggghhh.


Saturday afternoon/evening was spent with my dear friend- Lola.  We did a lot of talking...as usual- so much so that we only left ourselves the last 30 min. of a 5 hour visit to take photos of each other for our new "head shots"- but we are happy with how they came out!  Lola is a photographer by trade- and suggested that I use a prop- I was hesitant at first- but finally relented- and I'm so glad I did- they came out adorable if I do say so myself!

The "purpose" of our visit was to lay out an initial plan for our upcoming art show!!!!!  We are very excited!  It will be a collaborative show of both our work, some for sale, most for display!  May 7th 2011 is the tentative date!  Put it on your calender folks!  Everyone is welcome!!!

We also spent a nice amount of time sharing business ideas (as we are both artists and bloggers).  From this inspiring conversation came my decision to list my paintings in my new Etsy shop. I figured it was another way to further my business and share my art with even more people. For those of you who aren't familiar- Etsy is a wonderful place to shop for vintage, homemade, and just plain FABULOUS items. It's a wonderful place to buy gifts!  Here are a few of my favorite Etsy purchases over the years....

(seller no longer listed)

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http://www.etsy.com/shop/LolaRain

http://www.etsy.com/shop/cozymemories

http://www.etsy.com/shop/PersnicketyHome

Ohhh- and one last thing- I was honored be included  in my first Etsy "treasury".  It's a group of items from throughout Etsy with a specific theme that a seller sets up.  The title of this treasury is Warm Winter White.  It's pretty cool.

That's all I got.

I hope you all had a splendid weekend, and a peaceful MLK holiday!

New Painting!

Here is my latest painting

It is inspired by some vine prints that I noticed on the side of a building recently while playing in the snow with the angel babies...now that winter is here- I will be using alternative materials in my upcoming paintings. This is a 30" x 36" mixed media piece (acrylic paint, watercolor pencils, graphite on a 1.5" wrapped canvas).

Here is my special material- a paint that I use in a lot of my paintings.  I love the dirt-like quality to it- it's the perfect material for my current collection. The consistency of it is really more like a powder suspended in medium- it's very cool.  I was introduced to it by someone I went to grad school with- who was working on a collection of space-like paintings.  It adds a lot of depth to straight black paint.  I use it as a glaze/wash- often diluted in a spray bottle.

On a depressing note- here is the warning on the side of the jar....

 

How lovely....note to self- get lock for studio door.

On another note- I am sewing curtains this weekend- and *hopefully* finishing up the mural that I am painting in Baby B's room...very exciting- can't wait for the final reveal!

Here is the fabric- and along with it- I have a rather long story.

Basically- the fabric was chosen (after much deliberation), ordered, and received.  I then cut it (with plenty of leeway for shrinkage and hemming) and washed the fabric.  WELL.....it shrunk 7" in length! YIKES!!!!  I nearly had a heart attack (then took a step back and reminded myself that it's only fabric:) 

I called the company Premiere Prints Inc. (I've referenced them many times on this blog)- and in my sweetest, most professional voice explained the problem- well....they were AWESOME!  They replaced the entire 7 yard piece (I just paid to ship the shrunken fabric back to them)- and within 2 weeks time- they shipped me a bolt with 8 yards on it! 

Awesome customer service is key to a successful business (but less and less common nowadays?!)

I highly recommend them. They have great prints, on upholstery weight fabric- for $12 and less a yard. Check them out!

(This fabric is their Glam print, in the Wan/Natural color scheme.)

Have a great weekend!