SALE! Original Light Reactive Paintings - One more week!

I'm back.

Well, not in spirit. In fact, I find this whole place irritating and cold. Life should be perpetually 79 degrees and served up in half a coconut shell. But I'll get to Hawaii in a few days. I'm still decompressing.

The short version is, it was 3 universes of awesome. Just so you know.

Did I mention I've been having a sale? No, no I didn't. Sorry. I was going to end the sale upon arriving home after vacation, but then I realized I hadn't actually told anyone about it. A super-secret unadvertised sale doesn't help me or anyone. Most of the smaller pieces have sold already, but there are still some nice mid-sized and larger paintings available. :o)


If you've ever wanted one of my paintings, now's the time! The truth is, I only have so many to begin with. I work slowly and don't have a huge stockpile of art, so when any one particular piece is gone, it's really gone. If you like one of them, get it now! It might never exist again. Colin always makes me promise to "paint another one" like those I've sold, if he was particularly attached to it, but I rarely do. My art takes so much time and personal investment that it's hard to want to paint something I've already invested so much emotion into a second time.




Everything is 20% off. I'm extending the sale for one more week, to give people a chance to participate. I'm happy to work out a payment plan for you, at the sale price. Payment plans are great!

Locals! Meaning, Orange County. Maybe LA or San Diego if you sweet talk me. I will drive the painting to you myself! Furthermore, I will take an extra $100 off any Original Painting, since I don't have to cover the cost of shipping. Yay!! Just let me know, and I'll adjust the listing for you before you buy. :o)



As always, 10% of all sales are donated directly to Acres of Love.

Yay!! A sale!! In my Etsy shop!! :oO

Floataway Studios: An amazing photoshoot with Mary & Scott

Two weeks ago, on January 1st, Colin and I had the pleasure of driving up to Santa Monica Pier to meet the lovely Mary Frances and Scott Chrisman of Floataway Studios, a brand new photography/videography team for engagements, weddings, and people in love!


Mary and Scott are destined to be hugely successful in their new venture together. It was an incredible experience working with them. Not only are they fun to be around, but also impeccably professional. Having done modeling work before in my life, I can tell you that Mary and Scott were both excellent at making us feel comfortable and at ease in front of the camera. They encouraged us, and made us feel like we uniquely special in our love and how we looked in the images. If that's not one of the best traits of a photographer shooting couples, I don't know what is.


Aside from that, I've worked with a wedding photographer before, and I know others in the industry. Mary and Scott have a talent and eye for this work that surpasses any I've seen, including people who have been in the business for far longer, and are considered among the best. Soon, the rest of the industry will be keeping an eye on these two. Mary and Scott are unique in their talent, and the images I've seen from various couples in their portfolios prove it. Their style and creativity is something I just haven't seen before, and their youth and spirit are clearly going to push them through the ranks of the highest caliber of photography. It was such an honor to be asked to join them in this journey at the beginning. Thank you both so much! I can't help but want to take the energy of that very first day of 2010 and carry it through the rest of the year, maybe even the decade.


I could easily post so many more images. No, really, it took me a ridiculous amount of time to just pick these. But, I want you to go to their site to see all the rest!


Well, okay. Just one more thing. Did I mention that Scott made an incredible video as well??

Shayla+Colin:Engagement from Floataway Studios on Vimeo.

I highly recommend Floataway Studios for any of your photography and videography needs. Mary and Scott will make your love shine.

30

Today I am 30.

Whoa.

Wishing . 8x10 . 2010

1. natural light (near a window)
2. artificial interior lights
3. interior and UV lighting combined
4. UV lighting (blacklight)
5. no light (glowing in darkness)

Every so often I make a painting that seems to combine my imaginings of both the distant past and the distant future. Wishing is one of those. :o)

In this piece, I also included a top layer of finely dusted sand, so that the sand itself was displayed, rather than simply used for texture. You can see all the variances in each little grain of sand. There are different colors, sizes, shapes. It's like when you pick up a handful of sand on the beach and watch as it slips through your fingers to the earth below.

Wishing is available in my Etsy shop. Also! I'm having a 20% off sale on everything there. The sale lasts until January 28th, when I get back from Hawaii. Check it out. :oD

Happy Birthday, Grandpa

Today is my Grandpa's birthday. He would have been 86. He was an actor, a baseball player (he was even drafted into the Brooklyn Dodgers before the war), a navy veteran, an Elk, and elected to local government. He was Greek and French, and in his youth had black hair and dark skin. He whistled all the time, and constantly sang songs under his breath as he puttered around the house. He tried teaching me to swing dance, but I was never very good. He collected rocks, and had his own rock cutter. When I was 16, he bought me a dog, the best dog in the whole world, who's sleeping next to my chair as I type this. He loved history and science. He died before the Angels finally won the World Series. He never knew that I would ultimately end up an artist. He didn't meet my husband, who reminds me so much of him.

When he was alive, we always celebrated our birthdays together, because his was on the 11th and mine is on the 13th.



I don't think I've enjoyed birthdays as much since he died.

My ornament!

Forget what I said about not being able to show you my ornament.

Thanks to the generous picture-taking of a couple of friends, and one awesome video blog by Jessica Doyle, now I have visual proof of my 2009 Christmas ornament!



Yay. :o)


Thanks Madeleine for sending these! This shows it glowing in the dark. It also lights up bright blue and green and crazy with a blacklight too. I'm just sayin. You people and your fear of blacklights. ;o)

Here's Stephanie's kitties being fascinated with the sparkle reflecting on the ground. Heh! :o) That's awesome, thanks so much for catching that.


Hooray! And there you have it.

Until next year.........

Video blog! (or Vlog, as the kids are calling it.)

Wooo!



Yay. After owning this computer for over 3 years it just occurred to me that I can take videos of myself! TALKING! Thrilling. I can see it on your face.

Strangely, it was only after we started playing with our snazzy new Canon powershot (which has HD video) that this idea came to me at all. I've seen other people do it. It looked fun when they did it. I wonder how they did so?

::lightbulb::

Anyway, many thanks to Jessica Doyle for giving me material to talk about in my first video blog. I LOVE your ornament! Thank you thank you!

Also, thank you for pushing me into figuring out my goals for the year. I'm working on it now. :o)

To the future! Loving 2010 already.

It's not too early.

Colin made a new Fat Ninja Valentine this year!!!

Available in packs of 5 and 10. :o)

There's a few packs of last year's design left too.



As well as COMBO PACKS of 10 and 20! Woooo!

We officially live in the future.

(I took this picture on my patio. The clouds were bizarre and magenta and swirling across the sky at dramatic speeds. The bird was a happy accident.)

We have lots of plans for 2010. (Not all of which revolve around traveling, but some.) Most are business related. We're formulating ideas and want to implement them. I may even sit down and write out a list of goals for the year, so I have a reason to guilt myself into accomplishing them! (I hate lists.)

I think mostly we are enjoying being adults, enjoying the freedom and power and responsibility that brings, and want to take that enjoyment and focus it into accomplishing more of our adult goals. We both have lots we want to do in life, so we best start yesterday in getting on with it.

Fortunately, just about now, we finally feel capable of making it all happen.

:o)