Sloatsburg show coming up

Here is the painting I am doing for the Sloatsburg Show in May with the Group of Nine. Each month we are painting a different town and showing in that towns Library, we give a percentage to the library from each sale. So far we have done Highland Falls which was a smashing success.

I think I am at a crossroads with my art right now. Although I love to paint en plein aire, and do these impressionistic works, I find myself wondering if it is really realistic to expect to dedicate so much time and materials into it. I paint for my soul and for relaxation but the pressure to produce and sell is getting to me. I have never found myself to do so well in a competitive athmosphere and the stress really gets to me, but that is in any aspect. My hubby says I'm an over achiever, is that such a bad thing? I like to do well at anything I try but its not life or death to excel. I think everyone tries to do their best when that do things.

Anyway... I am aiming for a drama free week. And for those of you who dont know I have added the task of repainting all of Pine Bushes windows this week for the Walk of Hope. People are taking down their aliens to be replaced with purple butterflies, each one carrying the name of someone who has been affected by cancer. If anyone would like to donate one in memory please contact me, the cost is $5 per butterfly, all goes to the American Cancer society.

Fairies vs. Aliens

It was an extremely successful day across the board. Not that a whole lot of money was made but more importantly a whole lot of people were happy. That spells success to me!

Here's a picture of 3 of the 4 Ladies who made it happen, that's LynneAnne on the Left and Sue on my right, incredible, noble ladies they are. The 4th is Judy at the Stewart's shop in town, they generously donated all the yummy ice cream.

What was great was after the kids found their required Alfie's they continued looking for ALL the Alfies. That's how much fun they were having. And to top it all off people where saying things like "I've lived in this town 20 years and I've never even been in half these stores!" That is cool yah.

Even channel 6 news came out to record the event. The nicest reporter and believer Doug came out to interview us and the town folk. Then he and Lynne went to a cow field in an attempt to get Doug abducted. I gotta follow up on all that.

But my highlight was my visit from the good witch Sarah. There's a few people that you meet in your life that you know have made an impact. She and Lynee's daughter, Tyler are two of them . Tyler is holding theleft side of thebanner in the following picture. These really cements that I want to do work with the Make-a-Wish foundation. I have to fill their paper work tonight, Hubby meets with them Thursday maybe I can tag along then.

I would sincerely like to Thank all the people who participated in this event, all the children, the business owners, our pit crew and All the believer's who encouraged us, loved us and kicked us in the a** when things got a little hairy. You guys ROCK!

And a special Thanks to our promoter and president of our fan club Vicki who always was there to calm us down, make us tea and remind us to just breathe. If it wasnt for her I would have turned blue and passed out in front of the Clever Caterpillar, now that would have been a sight, I would have looked like Veruca Salt from Willie Wonka but in a rainbow tutu and stripey socks (oooh the visual)

Adventures in Face Painting

Ahhh Adventures in face painting. So along with being Miss Pickles the Storytale Fairy, I have decided to add the Face Painting to my repetoire. The theatrical make up is bought and I almost...almost, bought the professional carrying case. It was quite , way , insanely expensive for what it was and there was no way I would be able to explain that purchase to the man so I improvised. I bought an old hard body suitcase at the thrift store and here is the result. I love it and I think I should do some more. I seen in a magazine how they turned one of these into a traveling kit for crafting supplies, something that might come in handy when I take the girls to the park this summer.

Here are my first attempts at face painting. Here's my little kitty, she looked in the mirror in awe and said "I'm a real cat" then pretended she was for hours,

ROAR!!!!!!!!!! This big lion is mid pounce. Its amazing how much fun we had face painting at night. Each girl would get their face painted twice before bed.

And here's the seal, She really enjoyed playing this character, especially at dinnertime when we had to pretend we where throwing her fish as she would do seal-like tricks on her chair. What did we have for dinner? Fish Sticks of course!

Middletown Thrall Fairy Display

I finally have the Middletown Thrall Library display up and the pictures. I had so much fun creating this display since yo all know how much I love Fairies. This is the whole display. I painted the backdrop and added what else? Glitter, so it really sparkles inside the lighted display case.

I hung some silk cherry blossom branches across the display which I was able to suspend the fairies from to really give the whole thing some dimension.

The upper right of the diplay is a chandalier suspended from the top of the display. On it is some fairies and the cutest little birds nest.

On the bottom of the display has real wood and moss and mushrooms I gathered from the woods at my house. The girls and I had so much fun hunting through woods for special fairy stuff.

I'm doing a circus theme in July...are you suprised?

Wax on, Wax off

Signs of Spring...for me its the amazing fiddleheads that emerge through the debris of autumn and winter. I've always had this fondness for ferns, growing up my mother would take us into the woods in spring to harvest these wonderful things. The smell of thawed earth and the crisp snap when we would break off the tender spirals that were luminesce with new life. Oh yes, I love fiddleheads.

We ate them, you know. I remember her cooking them then freezing them and we would have them all year. They're sorta portabella-y in that meaty way.

This painting started out with spirals of tissue paper mounted with white glue on plywood, it sat there for weeks and weeks before the image unfurled itself to me as my beloved fiddleheads. Its a mixed media piece using acrylics, tissue paper, beeswax, oil pastel, pearl-ex.

"Home is Where the Heart is" another mixed media piece. This one is in a private collection in Washinton DC. This photo fails to capture the luminosity of this piece. To the right are squares of joint compound I put on plywood, then engraved elemental images into them. This is one of my favorite pieces, I think because of the black and white parts. I really need to get back to doing some more of these.

These were pieces that I did from my heart right after the fire, they were my therapy, my escape from the reality of losing so much, not everything but so much. Hours I would spend on each one, becoming lost in the movement of melting wax and the blending of the oil pastels and your fingers control which way to bend the colors. These were really the first pieces that I did for me, not caring what they came out like, who would see them and if they might sell.

Lucretia's Good Fortune

Meet Lucretia Nina's Crow. I made her for Nina with Happy Herbs Soap. She almost didn't get her, you know how I am with my Art BUT I did make Lucretia especially for her
so it just wouldn't seem right to keep her myself. Here she is in her new home at 2 Crows Cottage. She seems very happy there.

So What's up with the Good Fortune? We'll it wasn't really my Good Fortune as it was my Daughters' Good Fortune. As we were going to grop off Lucretia, Nina's neighbor was throwing out a whole bunch of toys, a play vanity and kitchen and a bunch of toys perfect for the sand box. Needless to say the girls are outside as I type, playing and setting up their playhouse. Thanks universe and Nina's neighbor!!!!!!

Pepe and Random Things about me.

My Friend Carrie at the Accidental Artist blog painted Ocean Beach and her post was quite moving and poignant. I have this whole amusement park, carnival theme in my life...for instance it is true that for the last 20 years of my life I hear circus music in my head, not the creepy hurdy gurdy stuff, okay that sometimes but mostly the dut dut dut da dut da dut da dut da. You know the one? Also I hum elevator music and frequently sing the words to "Do you know the way to San Jose" but those are the only words I know to that one, which is then proceeded by dodododoodododoododo. Which drives my husband crazy.

Sometimes I sing like a west indian and I do this really mean rendition of Motley Crue's "Home Sweet Home" as sung by Rabbi Filerowitz. Yep this ones for you Carrie.