A

The first of our new alphabet series is up!

Aloysius Alligator and his Accordion-

I incorporated several A's into the design, one on his overalls and 7 on his accordion.

. . .

Also, the sun came out for a little while today hooray!

So we made our first trip of the season to our favorite produce place-

When we lived in Florida, the approaching Summer was met with dread. 

But here in Oregon it is a happy thing.

Ginger Root

While College Girl was visiting last week she put together an Etsy shop to try to sell some of her artsy goodness. Everything in her shop is an original, just like her. While she was here, she made little paintings-

Little paper cuttings-

 And combinations of the two-

This one's my favorite, as my favorite Little Red dolly is modeling for it and it has such a dreamy quality.

And, like her mom, College Girl's a fan of variations on a theme-

She's nervous putting her stuff into such a public forum, but she's a brave kid. Sitting at my worktable while we both do our arty thing is so. . .well, there are no words for how amazingly wonderful it is. I've always felt like the luckiest mom in the world.

Today's Table

Snapshots from today's worktable--

 Our first dog! Funny that I haven't made any dogs before; they're my very favorite animals. My kids think that's a totally boring favorite animal pick, but dogs are amazing and funny and come in so many varieties.

Our Alphabet Project is chugging along now that I'm back amongst the living. A-F are getting their finishing touches today. Then they get handed over to Dylan to get their pictures taken and listed. I'm still deciding if I want to list them as they get finished, or if I can wait until the whole alphabet is done. My decision-making apparatus seems to be on the fritz lately. Took me way too many hours deciding on colors for that little boat up there. Decisions, decisions!

Hope you're all having 

a decidedly nice day.

Today's Table

A is for. . .

James Soyer

We got a note last month from England saying that 12-year-old James was about to have his 13th birthday, and all he asked for from his parents was a piece of our artwork. We were honored! How many kids are becoming art collectors at such an age? We figured he must be a very cool kid (with impeccable taste, of course). We were so right, what an artist! Upon checking yesterday's mail, we were completely thrilled with an amazing assortment of drawings that he made for us.

Chock full of anthropomorphic awesomeness!

Brilliant!

Thank you, James.

I'm off to get a frame today so I can hang our favorites up in the studio.

There are not enough exclamation points!!

What do these three 

have in common?

Gerard

Paisley

Katie Pillar

They're all off hobnobbing with super cool movie-maker types, including Ron Howard (who we love)! We just saw this little behind-the-scenes video and spotted them!! A total of eight of our pieces have to potential of being included in this awesome project ! We've been holding on to the secret for some time now, but I guess it's OK to talk about now since Dylan discovered them on YouTube.

(You can spot Paisley at 1:18 of the video,Gerard at 2:26, and  just peek at Katie Pillar on the desk by Ron Howard at 2:42.)

Ipso Facto

I'm still benched. Getting anxious to get back in the game.

Nothing new from me yet though. But. . .

. . .College Girl made this. 

And I made her. 

So. . .

From the Sidelines

I've been begrudgingly benched for the past few days by my uncooperative lungs and the shaky-inducing medicine used to whip said slacker lungs into shape. I can't remember ever having gone so long without some sort of weapon of mass creation in hand. Anyway, without anything fun and/or interesting issuing from myself, I'm stealing Dylan's latest shenanigans.

You can see his thinking behind this royal arachnid here.

I do so love that silly silly man.

Today's Table and My Favorite Cup

A-F are well on their way in our new alphabet series. I know that bug girl there looks like the same one that was on the last post's table, but she's not. That one was number 2, she's number 3.

I think all artists have their very favorite tools. I'm no exception. For instance, I always use plain white Corelle plates for palettes and the same chunky mug for my paint-water.

Dylan's mom made the mug. She's a potter (currently making these gorgeous candle pots), and the most wonderful mother-in-law. The mug always reminds me of her. My first taste of making art as a living was doing clay stuff with her. She was so encouraging, and so generous with her time. Many many years ago, well before I decided to major in art, we did a couple of shows together with her making the pots and me doing the surface decoration. Through her I found out I had a knack for sculpture. I really could go on and on about why she's so amazing, but this isn't a Why My Mother-in-law is Super Cool post. 

Is there someone in your life like that? 

Someone whose presence opened doors to previously undreamed-of possibilities?

I am very lucky, I have many.

Today's Table

Truthfully, this is yesterday morning's table. By now all these cuties are well on their way to 4 exotic destinations-- New Jersey, New York, New Zealand, and Ohio.  

Today's table is weirdly empty while we work out the patterns for the first pieces in a new alphabet series. Each letter has 2 references, like A is an alligator with an accordion. It was especially hard to come up with something for I. And X will just have to share with Y (Yeti with a xylophone). 

So now I have all the letters' representatives roughly designed, but lots of them will need tweaking as we get the patterns just right. A's alligator was all wrong. 

Back to the drawing board. *insert evil scientist laugh here*

And the winners are. . .

So everybody that entered my little giveaway went into a hat (and when I say "hat" I really mean "little pile of paper bits"). Each hat represented their favorite paper dolly pick. The hat for Little Red Ridinghood was the fullest. Anybody who didn't pick a favorite got put into the least full hats. I'm not telling which dollies got the least faves because I don't want to hurt their papery feelings.

8 dollies, 8 hats, 8 winners.

Little Red goes to OliveraPlants.

Ellowynn goes to Curious Folk Art.  

Lula goes to Kai.

The Queen goes to adelespookyart.

Ellie goes to Sharon Bloom.

Alice goes to Five Roses-Prim and Pretty.

Calliepillar goes to Sylvia Smiser.

Clemontine goes to Jodie.

(If I didn't contact you it's because I couldn't. So if you haven't heard from me, please send along your e-mail so I can get your address.)

Thank you all for playing,

and for all the kind words and encouragement!

Mother's Day

Gustave Klimt’s  "The Three Ages of Women,” detail, 1905

Wishing a peaceful Mother's Day

to all the mothers out there.

Crafty Wonderland Score

We got ourselves some goodies at Crafty Wonderland-

Prints from Jill Bliss, Renee Staeck, Anna Todaro, and Roger Peet.

One of them is for my mom. 3 are Dylan's picks. 3 are mine.

There were so many more things that we wanted! Maybe next year. We got there 10 minutes before opening on account of the first 200 people got goodie bags. Wow, did we underestimate the draw of crafty goodness! There were probably 600 people in line already when we got there.

Despite the lack of goodie bag bounty, a lovely time was had by all.

Can't Wait!

I'm going here this weekend! I'm not selling, I'm just playing. And I get to meet lots of local artists and lots of people that I've hearted on Etsy. If I'm not too shy to say hi. Which I probably will be. And I'm so going to buy myself something frivolous on account of it's Mother's Day weekend and I'm a mom and all.

Ellowyn

Now you can print your own Ellowynn for free over at My Owl Barn.

Finally! And a Give-Away.

Our very first batch of paper dolls is finally ready.

Hooray!

here

 In celebration we're giving some away! 

Just leave a comment telling us which one you like best.

We'll pick 8 people at random next Monday (May 9) and send them their favorite.