Teething, arg

So the little man is a drooling cranky monster baby. It is impossible to get any painting done at all! Poor guy is completely miserable; can't eat, can't sleep... his whole word is crying and drooling. Where did my happy baby go?

I had a couple holiday pieces planned and a few little surprise paintings-one day I'll get them done! Right now I am working a tiny bit at a time, its like a Zen exercise... a painting one stroke a day... without the mindfulness normally involved.

Etsy Treasury!

Chrisy from Sophism Press has featured my painting in an Etsy Treasury. (Protecting)
Being a complete Etsy-newb I didn't even know how to make these. But they look like fun! It's a giant fun mosaic wish list of Etsy items!

Click to get to the full Treasury!

3 months!

Happy 3 months little elf baby!
You'll look at these photos soon enough, and know just what dorks mommy and daddy really are. Next up, tunic, sword, and shield. So you can be a proper elf baby!
Grandma and I made that green Link-hat out of a green scarf I had. Its one size fits all, I can wear it! Daddy thinks I look super-duper silly in it. We also made a striped guitar plushie, its perfect sized for your right now! I haven't stuffed it yet, because I want to get the right stuff, in case you rip it apart or something. Choking on stuffing = bad times.

You drool all over the place now, and chew on everything. You've found your hands, so now every time you see your fists, you put them in your mouth. No, not one at a time. You see one, and then try to fit BOTH in your mouth. Then you slobber everywhere. Fun times! Now you are very cranky at night, fussy and crying for seemingly no reason. You have a hard time eating, you just chew on the nipple and then cry. You have trouble getting to sleep at night, and then you have trouble staying asleep. Sometimes we look at you whimpering and flailing in your sleep and wonder what could be the problem. Nightmares? Gas? We think you are teething, at three months, teething. Ah, what a special hell this will be. My poor little elf-baby. At least you are happy to see me in the morning.

You get one nice long nap during the day and then its play time. You hate tummy time. It makes you yell and scream and fake-cry. We call it fake crying because its more like a drawn out whine. We don't think you'll ever roll over again, or learn to crawl. You don't like laying down on your back or tummy. You want to sit straight up or stand. Maybe you'll skip crawling and just start walking.
I can't imagine the trouble you'll get into.

love,
Mommy

Sketches of Selena

Sketches of Selena (nickname: Nener) and one squid (not Nener.)
From 2 pages in my sketchbook, consolidated into one. I was supposed to be drawing a caricature of her, but painted that portrait instead... Some of these sketches are parodies of more famous artist's styles, but I'm not sure that is very apparent now.

Tattoo portrait - Selena

Tattoo portrait - Selena
Acrylic on wood

My friend Selena has everything I could ever want in a chest-piece: A skull, a Day of the Dead SUGAR Skull no less, cup cakes!, roses, lollipops, sprinkles, hearts, ice cream cones... I have a bit of tattoo envy. And I love love love tattoos. I have one, a gorgeous rose on my back, and would love a million-an-a-half more... But money, and a job that would certainly not allow my dreams of Circus-sideshow style tattoo-dom, cut my dreams short. Which is fine, because I keep doing all these fun tattoo - portrait paintings. And living vicariously through my friends.

more realistic, less realistic

Sleepy eyes
I like this one, heavily referenced from a photograph. Acrylic on paper.


Underwater
Her whole shoulder/torso/body perspective is very unflattering, and I also tried a purple-pink skin tone thing that didn't work out. Acrylic on paper

Onward!

Little studies on little pages

Quick & dirty little studies for (maybe) larger pieces. I like to make a mess with paint after sketching to figure out composition and colors. (I like to make a mess with paint, period.) In all honesty, they are sort of like paint-sketches, or is that the definition of a study?
They are acrylic, karat liqua, and crayon on book pages. Farmer Boy, if you wanted to know. Scandalized at first by the idea of trashing books, I just sort of realized I could start with books that were already falling apart.

Etsy!!

I did it I did it I did it! I did it~ whew! I listed two of my original paintings on Etsy.

Oy! I know, everyone is on Etsy. Listen, I've been thinking about doing this since 2006 or so, set up my name in 2007. Here it is 2009... and I finally listed two of my paintings!
I always just paint for myself, especially now, but I am already out of space to hang and store all of my pieces. I seriously have no more room, my poor shelves are a cluttered mess, and what is worse, a lot of my paintings are living in drawers, hidden, stacked on one another. I'd like for my girls to get out there in the world and have new, loving homes, so I can paint more.

I'm always so scared of putting myself out there, but I gave birth (!!I'm a super hero, now I can do anything!!), surely I can list a couple paintings on the internet.
What a thrill! What a relief.
So far I've only listed two: Protecting and Storybook Mermaid. Very affordable originals, 11X14 for just $45.00.

Etsy: Your place to buy & sell all things handmade Katlandia.etsy.com

Two Finished!

Shooting Stars Tattoo
Acrylic on a wood oval plaque, about 5"x 7"
I love the retro style of this girl, and the color purple! I think I might do more. She's a big favorite right now.


Luna Moths
Pencil and acrylic wash on wood
TINY!
This was the study for the huge painting in the tea party post. But I really love this one so much more.

The Gourd Girl

My major in college was Illustration, but everyone was required to take a semester long 3-d class. While everyone was working with wood, I brought in a tote full of gourds. Wait- let me start at the beginning. Listen: growing up I hated gourds! My mom would try for mother-daughter bonding time, with gourd crafts. Oh, how I hated gourds! What teenage girl, artist even, wants to work with a medium that you have to scrub mold off of before you can even begin to work with it? That was a big NO thanks, I'll be in Katlandia, drawing mermaids and fairies. Still, I decided to work with gourds for my college project, due mainly to the fact that I had gourds around the house, wood... not so much. And my professors loved the project, and told me gourds were definitely the way to go, for me. But.. but, the whole MOLD issue, not to mention the need for a really good dust mask if you are opening those babies up, and a small aresenal of power tools.. oh no thank you. I'll be in Katlandia, drawing pretty girls with butterflies.
Still, every Christmas my mother did a local art fair, and I would always make a bunch of holiday gourds to sell. And I was showing up at the local Gourd Show to buy gourds, and mingle with gourd growers and enthusiasts. (Can you imagine? These people wear GOURD HATS!) And I was painting, carving, weaving, and sculpting on more and more pieces. Which led to entering gourd pieces in art contests, which led to placing, which led to big pink rosettes that said, 'Judges Choice!" and "First Place!" Which led to my gourd work being in galleries. Which led to people only remebering me for the work I did, "Oh hey, aren't you that Gourd Girl?"
The entire time I'm trying to convince myself, that really, I'm not all that into gourds.
Oh, but how I love sculpting. And isn't it convienent when you have a nice, all natural, armature just sitting about?
Oh dear, I really think I might be that gourd girl.
I don't really share too much of the gourd work I do here, because this is Katlandia, home of mermaids and fairies and whimsical paintings of girls with birds and butterflies and flowers. Not gourdlandia, home of all the other things I do... but they keep sneaking in here and there. Gourds are tricky little things, yes they are. I'll start with the Santas. After years and years of doing holiday shows, I just make Santas without a sketch before hand. Straight from my head to the gourd.
This guy's photo looks kind of like a mug shot... whoops. Please excuse the cell phone pictures! He's sculpted with hand-made paper mache pulp, paper clay, and polymer clay on a banana gourd



Another banana gourd, and a Tenessee spinner make the base for this Santa, he is sculpted with polymer clay, then painted. His hat is fully sculpted, but I only have a decent picture of his front. >_<;; yarg! He's my workshop Santa, making toys for Christmas. (I even sculpted that little candy cane in his pocket)



Here is a group shot of the last three. I love that other Santa's expression. You can't really ever get tired of painting Santa, you can change his face in so many ways and everyone still understands who it is. He is made with a banana gourd, Tenessee spinner, and sculpted with polymer clay.



And here is a better picture of the blue and teal polka-dotted Santa ornament.
I really enjoy using nontradition colors, years of straight red and white Santas gets super old!
His face is sculpted with handmade paper mache pulp, it really makes him look ancient!


I have a lot more I can share, you start the Christmas season early in the crafting world! By the time Christmas rolls around I need a nap!