Art Candy

Tomorow is another day...

I think that my mother said it best..."tomorrow is another day." I beleive she capped the sentence off with honey or sweetie but those words still resonate in my head when I have a bad day or when things are just not working out the way I had hoped. I have been working on images for an upcoming line of greeting cards and was having a tough day when those words of encouragement popped into my head. I decided to create an image befitting those words and the painting below is what I came up with.

I chose cheery colors to lift my mood but I think that the position of the figure says it all. Hopefully someday soon this card image will give someone else a boost on a not so great day too.

Hola!

I have been working on a series on and off revolving around Latin America. I am always drawn to the colors, shapes and music. I find it happy and uplifting and therefore it must be immortalized in pastel! This is one of my newest pieces the working title is Latin Lady, I know boring. Hopefully inspiration will hit and I will come up with something better before my spring exhibitions hit.

Puppy Love

I think that it is safe to say that this painting was inspired by my children playing with our dog sam. My daughter Emilie is the child version of the dog whisperer. Sam and Emilie came into the family right around the same time, so they have grown up together. Sam is now an old man and Emilie is in her tween years, but they still manage to have a lot of fun. Sam is a 70 pound English Pointer who enjoys being a couch potato and doing what we call the bone dance. 

Baby's got a brand new bag!

It's been a while since I have posted a thing and I feel like I am being neglectful. It's not that I'm not getting anything done, its just that I seem to have a lot of irons in the fire. Two years ago I started making bags as well as paintings. It was like the utilitarian sculptural extension to my artwork. If you can't hang it on your wall, hang it on your body. Now I feel like a human juggling act... bags, paintings and oh yeah, kids. I thought I'd post some images of the bags that I have been working on as of late. They can be found on my Etsy shop site Urbangypsydesign .

Feeling Fowl

I guess you could say I have been in a fowl mood lately, and have headed back to the barn yard! Every year I do a series of small bird paintings to bring to the art fairs as an option to my larger paintings. This year I thought I might try my hand at funky hens and roosters which I have dubbed my "Fancy Fowl" Series. 

July Flame

Summer is a time for weddings and romance! I painted this image with those thoughts running through my mind. While creating this piece I imagined that this couple was having a summer fling that could possibly lead to more!

A Little Time To Indulge

Lately I have had indulgence on my mind, probably because I have been curbing my enthusiasm for my favorite goodies in an attempt to take a few... more like 20 pounds off. When I get home from a long day at the studio and an evening of carting kids here and there, I want my comfort foods. Usually my go to comfort foods are ice cream, chips and wine... Not necessarily together but usually in the same evening. In an attempt to change my habits I went on weight watchers, started exercising more and added more fruit into my life to get my sweet fix. The weight came off and I found that I could still indulge in some of my favorite things... I am so against deprivation! This image isn't a self portrait but more of a story about any girl who has had to curb her enthusiasm for her favorite comfort foods in the hopes of getting back into her skinny jeans!

Seems Like Yesterday...

I am always amazed at how fast time goes by. It seems like yesterday that I had four little kids under 5 years old and was doing my best not to go crazy. Two of those babies are now teenagers and two are tween-agers(10 &12 year olds). Does that mean I'm getting old too? Can't be! I love their ages now, but I do miss the curious babies that they once were... minus the diapers and tantrums. That said, I am posting my latest pastel for all you moms out there that have grown kids and are wondering where the time went.

No Reservations

I wish I had more opportunity to travel and draw inspiration from other places and cultures, but alas I am destined to be homebound until my children are out of the house and I have more money. So to get my travel fix, I like to watch Anthony Bourdain's show No Reservations. He goes to the most interesting places, and because I am a fan of food of any kind, I like to see what people eat as well. My inspiration came from one of the episodes that focused on Columbia. I made up a faux market place stall complete with a shop girl in those bright colors that I love so much.

Mama Mia!

Ever have a day, a week or a month when inspiration is non-existent? I start banging my head against the wall around this time every year. Stuck inside, with no place to go and nothing to see all I have is my imagination. I decided to paint over one of my older paintings that I wasn't happy with to get out of my rut. It had many incarnations, abstract, green, red and then it finally morphed into this painting inspired by my pot rack... who knew? I added the mother and baby toward the end... the kitchen felt empty with nobody in it. Since my life is full with kids and food it seemed fitting. The only thing remaining from the original painting is the bird in the middle and even that morphed just a bit.