A Fanciful Twist

A little art, here and there...

Even though my loftish space is one door away from my studio... I think I should perhaps put a cot under the little white cottage table in the studio and move right in.  I have been in my little space in the world, hidden away.  Making friends with little characters.  Some have such deep personalities.  So much going on in little worlds appearing on canvas.

All this talk means my "A Fanciful Twist"  Etsy shop, will be getting an update tonight.  Here are some photos of the new art pieces...

      

The name of this piece is "Cupid's Revenge."  I See the girl as Psyche, like a butterfly, her heart, fluttering.  Full of unexpected love...  This is a larger scale piece. And, a very wonderful square shape. Quite an enjoybale size to work with actually.  24" x 24" x 1.75"

      

The canvas was prepared by decoupaging old paper bags onto the clean surface.  They were a smaller and thinner size than the average super market brown bags.  I found a package of this lovely stuff in the old canning shed that is now my gallery.  Why is it that even sandwich bags were better in the good old days? The paper is almost like specialty paper. Crunchy and crisp, with a lovely hue...

      

I had fun drawing this girl.  She has alot of movement in her... I also had cupid swirling in my mind.  What I do is draw the pieces on parchment card stock, with pencil.  I then cut them out and decoupage them to the canvas.  Like a paper doll of sorts...

      

I think I really enjoyed working with this size because it reminds me that my roots in art are as a large scale painter.  I know this size is not that large, but it is a small reminder.  Works I do for people in the interior design realm are quite large, and so you have a lot of room to let your composition unravel... Said pieces are usually destined to live on a big blank wall.  Fun stuff, that large scale work.   Although, sitting with a smaller piece, and getting into the details with my favorite size #1 brush is quite satisfying. I guess it is safe to say, I love it all.  From big to small, just as long as I am creating...

The next piece is titled, "The Mime's Daughters." 

      

      

I have this vision that the first mime painting I did, "The Rescuing of the Mime," may have been their mother,  as a girl...  Being rescued by the hot air balloons... She had lived a whole adventure, in her own right.  And now, the story changes, years later,  as there are now two daughters who must continue with the show.  I think the mime's are also expected to do "audience gasping" tricks. A tad forlorn, they are...

      

Although, you migt hear the story about who they are, being told a bit different.  That would be fascinating as well.

      

I am really enjoying the papers and buidling on the canvas.  It is messy, but so fun.  Sometimes I run out to do a quick errand and things happen like, I hand my credit card to the sales girl and I notice I have glue dried and scaled up and down the lower half of the outside of my arm.  Or, someone comes up to me and tells me I am bleeding.  As I have red paint on my toes and again, outside of my arm or elbow... Sheesh.

The last girl to share tonight was an absolute charmer.  She is one of the "Super Bake Girls", and appeared so unexpectedly.  Chatting me up as I was painting bows in her hair. Only, she was not speaking English. So, I would nod and smile.  I would softly whisper yes in every language I could think of.  Dah, Ne, Si, Oui, Ja.  I think she understood me in the end...  And, I think she said her name was Olivie.

      

So, we will call her, "Super bake Girl, Olivie."  The tablecloth in this piece is actually fabric.  The brown base of the table got cropped out of this photo, but there is a table base...  Olivie's skirt is made out of many layers of paper.  Has she charmed you too?  I want her piece of carved tree, candelabra.

      

I really have to try to not forget all of the different styles & mediums I like to work in.  It is so easy to get comfortable in one style and forget the ink drawings or even the oil pieces.  Olivie is not a paperdoll. She is drawn and painted onto the canvas.

      

I think Olivie is one of those girls, who chats and chats, then just as a guest comes in, she becomes quite quiet, until she warms up to you.. And then it is all chatter and laughter, once again.  Oh, and she is on one of those super extra thick canvas'.

That is all I have to say for now as I scadaddle.  On my way to update the shop. See you soon!!! xxo

What a Crepe-ee Day...

Hellooo Hellooooo.  I am on a creative flow... In the studio working away.  But I came up for air to simply say, " It has been a downright fitful, crepe-ee day!"

      

A fitful day in the sense that... Well, I had a fit this morning.  Yes. I have those occasionally.  Think of it, like the little girl, I mean, the lovely little girl... You know the one with the bows in her hair.  Who is trying on shoes with her mom at Buster Brown.  Think 1979.  She has an angelic face, and golden curls in her very long ponytails.  Her mother slips a red leather shoe onto the tiny foot, and asks "do you like these sweetie?" And the little girl turns pink, then red, then purple, then Aaaahhhhhhh." F-i-t.

      

The doll girl freaks out, screaming, "I hate these shoes, I hate these shoes." Ponytails fly out of her hair.  And, her mother, trying to do anything to get the munchkin to calm down, starts asking questions. "Do they hurt, do the red shoes hurt?"  "I'll get you a cookie? A pretzel? An Icee?  A lollipop."  But all the little girl can do is throw herself on the floor and kick and scream, stopping only for a long breath followed by, yet another wail... (photo by Jill Greenberg. From the "End Times" Exhibit)

The truth is. The little girl didn't know why she had a fit then, and doesn't know why she has them now.  (Only, now that she is a bit older than 4, the chances of hormones playing a part, is a bit higher)

Well, that is what happens around here occasionally.  The girl throws a fit.  And her manny tries so hard to make her feel better.  Even offering to drive her back to that little old town village to purchase that unnecessary treasure.  (Which they did, details to follow in next post)

But, she decided.  No, I will not fall into fit-dom.  I will make Crepes...  Crepes served with regular and white peaches.  Peaches that have been cooked in brown sugar and butter...(it is so fun cooking at Mr. Lovee's.  He has such a down home array of cookware.  Like cast iron pans, and heavy duty glass saucepans.  Tres interesante for cooking, I'd say)

       

And, so it was a  fact. The crepes saved, the crepey day...

Pour

      

Tilt pan around and around (with mits on), to even out thickness.  Wait 20 seconds.  Flip with tip of fingers. (Have some with raspberry jam too)

      

      

Make some artsy ones for fun....

      

Now, stay for a few, while I get back to work...  I am running back to the studio.  I am so annoyed at myself for not having the paintings I have completed ready for viewing today....  But soon, sooner than soon... xxo

Oh, and look at tonights sky from the front yard... Halloween is a comin'...

      

Has it ever happened...

Has it ever happened, that you are skipping through life, delighted and at peace... Humming along, when all of a sudden you feel yourself getting sucked into one of "life's little cracks?"   The kind where your favorite shoe slowly starts to slip into an abyss, and your knees turn to water... The kind that makes you feel like the thread of a long balloon, is slipping out of your fingers...  You might find yourself  in shock, other times in dismay... Those times that feel like, only one little grey cloud has formed  in the sky, and you know it is just for you...

      

It seems that many people that I love and care about are going through times just like this.  Some are work related, some health related, others are relationship related.  So many life things swirling about...

Many people out there, right at this very moment, feel like they are spiraling down into some unknown place...

      

I for one am a purveyor of trying to see the hopeful side of things.  Of keeping the faith.  But, sometimes life just throws you a curveball.  And, I try not to discount a person's feelings.  The term "get over it," does not sit well with me.  Sometimes a person doesn't have it in them to be strong.  We all need a little nest that we can hide in and sob...

      

You just might wake up to find a little unexpected cloud. When these things happen to us, are we ever prepared?  Do we have a place to crawl into to feel warmth? To be held in a protective cocoon?  To have "numb" time.  I feel helpless sometimes, in that I can't help my friends.  I lend an ear.  I lend my time and my heart... And maybe, that is all a person really needs?

There aren't just the stairs that seemingly lead downwards...  There are stairs that lead you upwards... The destination point, might seem unknown as you start to climb... But, after a bit of a childlike fit, I always try to climb... Searching for a happy space once again...

      

One thing I love is that I can call on my family. Even when I don't realize that I need them. I might take that impromtu visit to my parents house.. And as I enter the house, I hear my dad holler, "I just bought some Pan Dulce." (Spanish sweet treats.)  He follows that with "just because you were coming..."  And I think, "Why this is a cozy little nook, I so needed this..."

      

As I head for that first sweet buttery treat filled with a smooth mild cream cheese, I think. "Boy my dad is funny." And I realize that my mom has not only set this on her usual pewter tray, she has used thick pink doilies.  I am blissfully aware that the Pan Dulce, the doilies, the coffee brewing...  These are snippets of love...

      

And, as we stand around chatting. Taking little pieces here and there (My mom repeating  "get a plate"), I know this is my lovely cloud on this very day. Above all, I know that this is where I am totally safe. Safe to be me. Safe to cry. Safe to share.  And, I realize, this is something special...

      

We continue to nibble, never taking plates.  Sharing stories back and forth.  Loving each moment.

      

It is lovely to have a little place to go to, when in need of a friend or family member.  Some of us, like to cope alone. Retreating to a quiet space to read or write.  Others enjoying a group of people, to sing and carry on with...  I for one, am simply glad, that I have found you and you have found me... And, on occassion, we can just open up like this and chat...

      

Curious, Curiosities, Curiosidades

There once was this funny little girl.  She would whisper for hours with her dolls, practically crawling inside of her magnificent dollhouse. 

      

She dressed her dolls in jewels and gowns... Dreaming of times and places she could have never lived in...  Her mother referred to her as Contess Frangipani.  She dreamed herself as Cornelia Sweetflour... But her real name would always be Vanessa Valencia Cola Pestilencia. 

She announced proudly to boys and then men, that she would never give up her name.  Joyously encouraging that they might take on hers...

          

She dreamed she would always be the same little girl. Only wishing to be older so she could have treasure chests filled with jewels... She dreamed this while sitting in the grass, under big trees, plucking leaves off of flowers & nibbling on treats... She made her own wishes into the wind...

      

She grew up in a little village that surrounded a very very old wonderul church.  The church had beautiful stained glass windows, and sky high ceilings, with dark wooden beams and medieval designs... Two giant angels, hovered way up above ... Sometimes she'd visit alone.. A wonderful escape. When noone was around she would find peace & relish in the wonderful scent of an old beautiful church... Candles and incense...

      

She was fascinated with fountains and old garden statues... She knew that when she grew up she would have statues like the ones in old cemetaries, strewn throughout her garden...

      

She wanted to be a bit like Miss Havisham (some of you know her as Miss Dinsmoor), sans the whole, left at the alter mean hag thing.  Going more for the old gowns and collapsing old, mansion  effect... Still, always the dream of a perpetual dress up party loomed... And jewels, jewels, jewels...

      

Oh life was not all perfection for the little miss.  She had the regular school tauntings, and the usual teenage angst... But she had a mother who sent her off to school with sandwiches shaped like hearts, and freshly baked delicacies...  Of course, she didn't realize the tenderness of her mother's doings until she was a much older girl. But the memories were blissful... (Oh, and she had a father too, who would drop anything he was doing to fulfill the munchkins every whim - almost-  he also had a paddle that said, "heat for the seat." But that is a whole other show, as they say)

The girl worried all of the time, that she would forget her youthful desires.  Fountains and statues, jewels and perpetual dress-ups... Curio cabinets filled to the brim!!!

      

She went off to University and got a degree, she went through lots of loves and had some horrid jobs... But the good news was... She never did forget that little girl inside of her... And, years ago, when she was ready... She schlepped home a fountain, and a bizillion other treasures...

      

Oh, the love of the sound of a trickling fountain...

      

The girl still plays dress up, and has quite a ball, alone in a drawer, like those days in the dollhouse.  But now, she has many jewels that suit her fancy (and budget, afterall she is a single girl making her own way in a great big world).  The good news is that when she comes home with that huge piano (she already has 3) and a bag (s) of loot.. She has noone to yell at her, or ask to see the checkbook. heehee.  Although, Mr. Lovee might slightly over-react at the amount of loot she hauls to Catalina.

      

You might be asking yourself, Why today's tale?  The purpose is quite simple.  To remind you to try to never forget that girl inside of you. No matter what age you are. No matter how many kids or husbands, you've had, or haven't had... There is still a girl in you, who might want to play dress up... Who might want to eat chocloate croissants in bed and listen to weird old music (one of my faves). 

      

A Girl who might have a heavy heart and need to be reminded of the precious person she holds inside.  The outside really is only a tattered case, for a magical violin... It is inside that the song still plays...  You are never too young to know this, and never to old to remember this... No matter what age.  Now is the time to play & above all, to nurture your soul...

Do something silly, have a ball of your own... Play dress up!  Wear you favorite jewels to the grocery store.  I know I do...

      

And for those of you girls, who are still quite young... And feel like you are running out of time to get things done... Rememeber there are no rules for when it is time to find the perfect man, no rules on when to have babies or when to find the perfect job.  Take a deep breath, dance around, embrace your age and who you are... You'll look back and be glad that you did...

We all change from day to day. Who you were at 25 will not be who you are at 35, and so on...  Don't rush the choices. By golly, we have so many of them!

I know for me, I am still a girl inside.  That girl who used to dream.  The little girl in me, thanks me everyday for keeping her around... Although, sometimes, we go a little overboard with the collecting...

      

Just a few days ago, I thought of my wonderful mom, and her love of all things dress up.  How she has kept her "girl" alive. She is funny and youthful.  She has helped me to know how to nurture myself, and supports all my crazy choices...I missed her lovely heart shaped sandwiches, dolls, jewels and pink galore... So I jumped into the car and drove out of town, off to visit her and my dad.  I warned noone. Hence my disappearance  ;)  I knew, when it was time, for their always "little girl," to make a much needed visit.