a. t. whim

Oh bloggie, how I’ve neglected you. I’ve been painting and painting and painting, in preparation for my month-long show at In Other Words. If you find yourself in North East Portland anytime this month, you should stop by and take a looksy! It’s a lovely non-profit feminist bookstore. Address: 8 NE Killingsworth/ Portland,OR 97211. Buy some books, buy some art, support a non-profit business and make the world better. They’ll also be carrying a few of my prints.

I have many new things to show you. Some of the originals are not available in my shop yet because they are at the bookstore!

wandering panda

Panda Girl (I love this one!)

She’s Not Your Bunny

Another Pretty Face

Goldfish

Chicken and Fish

I had to show you the little upside down Matisse I put on the book. I think it’s cute that the fish likes Matisse.

I have been planting up a storm when I’m not painting. It’s been a busy month. Soaking up what little sunshine we’ve gotten this rainy season, barbecuing when I can, and spending time with friends and family. (Just watched Death at a Funeral, and it had me laughing at every moment!) When it’s a little brighter I’ll take pictures of my progressing garden. It’s come far from the muddy flat mess it was last year! I’m rather proud of it. Hope you like the new works. I am going apply for the July show at Crafty Wonderland with a good friend of mine that makes luscious lotions. So maybe I’ll see you all then!

xoxo

I’ve got stickers in my shop!!! I think they’re adorable. Go look!

Her name is Alice.  She’s based on the pixie-like vampire in Twilight by Stephanie Meyer.  I can’t believe how obsessed I am over a vampire novel!  I love the Cullens’, their characters, their strange beauty.  I’m officially hooked and jumping on the Twilight bandwagon.

Other little things I’ve done lately…

Stripy Socks

In Bloom

Alice won’t be posted for a couple of months, I’m putting her aside for a show in June.  But In Bloom and Stripy Socks will be in my shop soon, as well as prints of Alice.  I’m trying to do more on canvas now.  It’s still rather cold here, but I’m all bundled up and in front of my easel.  It feels good to paint with acrylics again!

So last I blogged, I mentioned a Asian horror flick that I loved.  It was called Shutter, and it makes me SHUTTER!  The images were so eerie, I loved it.

OH, she was creepy!
I had to jump around dark corners for awhile after I watched this one.

Now I’m going to make myself a grilled cheese sandwich, because I’m famished and I love cheese.

xoxo

This is why I LOVE doing ink and watercolor pieces right now. I get to sit in my new favorite chair, with my new ipod set-up right next to me, and a nifty ikea table that holds all my junk. It’s so cozy!

August just had his 8th birthday, with his very first sleep over. It took me a few days to recover. I’m still not quite over it. Two 8 year olds, cake, presents, new toys; I thought I’d never make it. But he had a great time, and that’s all that matters. I must show you this robot I bought him….

I do believe it’s the coolest thing I’ve ever bought. It dances, sees and maneuvers around obstacles, waves hello, shakes it’s head and makes a whimpering sound if you approach it too quickly. Now if I can just get it to vacuum.

I’ve been doing a lot of gardening lately. Neglecting my painting, and trying to make the muddy mess of my yard into something pretty. These bleeding hearts are my favorite thing in my garden right now. I hope I don’t kill it.

Okay so for new work…. I sadly have not much to show you. I finished one commissioned piece, and another for a friend’s baby shower invitation:

waiting for haley

And I just finished another swan painting:

Swans’ child

She’ll be available soon in my shop, along with prints of waiting for haley. Take care everyone! I’ll have to tell you about this spooky movie I just watched tonight soon. I’m a little creeped out! Until then, have a good week. xoxo

I’m back!  With a little bit more color too.  But as soon as I drove across the border into Oregon, it was snowing.  It’s amazing how different the weather is with just a few hours of driving.

Legoland had an impressive display of cities made from Legos…

MADE FROM LEGOS PEOPLE!  AND the little cars moved up and down the streets!  I remember my lego houses having having mismatching brightly colored bricks and a dark green roof, with little blue windows that would swing in and out.

So I lied.  I have no new art to show you.  I have a very good reason!  I decided to check out this silly vampire teenage romance novel that has everyone all a-twitter, Twilight by Stephenie Meyer.  I became totally engrossed and obsessed with the characters (especially Edward, yum!).  I read it in a day, and  couldn’t even wait to get home to by the next book from my own bookstore.  I patroned a Borders (sorry Powell’s) and then quickly ate up New Moon.  But I drew the line at the 3rd book.  I waited after driving 13 hours back home and quickly jumped into my bookstore and checked out the 3rd book.  And it’s my devotion to you lovelies that keeps me from snubbing all my responsibilities and having my nose in the book.  I am obsessed.  So forgive me for not painting, books are my weakness.  I swear that after I finish this one, I’ll get back to work (until the 4th book comes out in August).

xoxo

I’m just waiting around for my party to show up in about half an hour, and I thought I’d say HI to everyone!

On Monday I’m heading down to California to visit the family.  August and I are going to Legoland!  It’ll be good to take a vacation, and get some warmth from the desert.  I’m still freezing up here!  I hope you all have a good holiday/vacation/weekend.  I’ll hopefully get some artwork done while I’m away.  I’ve been so busy around the house that the piece above is all I have to show since my last blog.  I know, I’m lagging behind.

Anyway, love you all.  And I’ll be back soon!

xoxo

I got a book of postcards from work full of illustrations by William Heath Robinson. I just LOVE it. It’s called City Living, and it’s just full of *creative* living solutions when living in a small flat. I was so inspired by the above picture that I painted my own version….

I may do another in acrylics this time. It’s been so long since I’ve used my acrylics. I wish it would warm up in my studio already!

I wanted to show you those Arthur Rackham silhouettes I’ve been gushing over. But now I’ve misplaced my book. It happens fairly often when you live in a house with 2 bibliophiles and piles of books everywhere. One day my house will be a library, that or an animal shelter. So anyway, maybe next time.

Tomorrow is the first day of March, my favorite month of the year! Only 22 more days till my birthday. I can’t believe how quickly it came. I’m still figuring out what to do that day. 30 is kind of a milestone right? Am I officially an adult now? I don’t feel like a grown up. I’m still awkward and clumsy, like I’m still growing into this body.

The year of the rat has officially kicked my butt!  I’ve never had a new year begin with so much turmoil.  But I’m happy to report that life is getting back to normal, and things are settling down.

I’m still having fun doing silhouettes, and I picked up a copy of Arthur Rackham’s  Sleeping Beauty which is completely illustrated with his amazing silhouettes.  I’ll have to show you some in my next blog.

It’s quiet around here.  Yesterday it was actually sunny, so I spent all day in the yard racking up HUGE piles of leaves and shooing the chickens away from my poor little plants they’ve been uprooting.  I got a fancy new fridge (I know it’s exciting!).  The freezer in the old one would decide to freeze one day, and not the next.  I’m happy that I can finally have ice cream again!  I’ll spare you a picture of it.  Though it’s the highlight of my week I’m sure you have better things to look at than my fridge!  Then last night August and I went to see Spiderwick, which was fun.  I haven’t read the books yet, but right afterwards we went to the bookstore and August picked up the entire series.

I haven’t been doing as much painting as I should be.  I’ve been catching up on some reading, which I’ve neglected for a year now!  And thinking about what I want my yard to look like this spring.  Next month I’m going to turn 30.  THIRTY.  I’ve decided to give up fast food and smoking, but as the deadline gets nearer…. I’m a little panicked.  I’ve got a whole month to come to terms with my decision.  It’s going to happen.  I should wean myself now so the shock isn’t so great.

Outside it’s hailing.  My toes are very very cold walking around on the hardwood floors.  I think I need more rugs.

Chinese new year is coming up very soon, and my house is a complete disaster!  So as soon as I’m done here, I’m going to start cleaning from top to bottom.  But first I was looking through my studio and online in my shop and I started my new year’s cleaning there.  First I retired many older (and not so old) prints.  Sorry if you had your eye on one.  I can still make a special posting for you if there’s one you absolutely must have and I’ve gone and deleted the listing.  I don’t like having TOO many listings in my shop, it gets overwhelming.

I then went through my stacks of originals and marked some down for the SALE SALE SALE section of my shop, and deleted other listings to just give away to my peeps.  Purging feels good!

I don’t know if I’ll finish cleaning before the new year.  Really, this place is a pig sty, it’s so embarrassing!

Take care everyone, and HAPPY NEW YEAR!  (year of the rat, if you were wondering… not usually good for us horses)

As I was re-alphabetizing the Fairytale section of the Kids’ room at Powell’s today, I (of course) had to stop and flip through all the Arthur Rackham books. The man was truly an amazing artist. I especially LOVE his silhouettes. So inspired by him, I did a couple of silhouettes myself today.

I’ll Lend My Heart to You

Tree Tattoo

I’ve also been wistfully thinking about the many tattoos I want. Like a tree above and the mermaid tail below…

But unfortunately I have too many practical things that eat up my money.

And tonight, as I was watching a Frida documentary, I was thinking how nice it would be to visit Mexico. Visit Frida’s home, take in some sights, and add more little goodies to my Dia de los Muertos shrine. It’s probably been about a million years since I’ve taken a real vacation! Just for fun I’ve been looking at travel books, checking flights, you know…. pretending I’m fabulously rich and can take a vacation whenever!
Perhaps one day… But for now, I’ll just draw myself with prospective tattoos and stare at books of Mexico.

Oh yeah, and the illustrations above will be in my shop sometime this weekend. Have a good one!