I made Paul's birthday card a homage to his favorite Schoolhouse Rock song.


It also came with these additional interchangeable balloons (below) to demonstrate the subject of the song, so that he could replace the long balloon with the shorter "Happy Birthday to You!" Get it?

More Rufus Xavier Sarsparilla goodness; this made me laugh out loud. I would love to see Schoolhouse Rock performed live! (Heck, I would love to be in Schoolhouse Rock Live.)

And though I will always have a warm spot in my heart for Rufus, my personal favorite can always be recalled with the lyrics: "He was a hairy bear/He was a scary bear/We beat a hasty retreat from his lair/and described him with adjectives."

Watercolours, trying to use as much mud (sludge colors from the mixing colors in the middle of my palette) as possible - and no pencils or undos.

More work on the posters ... you can see how they go together both facing and back to back. Please excuse the paintbrush holding the corner down and my fuzzy camera skills.

[Update - more pics here.]

This is a sketch for a set of posters I'm working on for the NZUSA - they have a great campaign called "Thursdays In Black". Originally, it was just going to be one poster, but they liked the sketch so much, they decided they wanted one with a man in it to match!

The interesting thing was that I had always thought of these pieces as facing each other, but I think I like them even more if you put the two trees together - like they're sitting under the same tree! I didn't draw them that way, but as I was moving them around to paint them, I saw the connection between the two. So I made sure the trees matched as well as the ground - so they can match them up both ways, if the two are ever hanging next to each other. They're painted in watercolour and acrylic. Each poster will be A2-sized, which means I get to break out the big brushes!

Scroll down to see work in progress....

Friday sharing time! This animation is made by my brother, who some of you know online as the mastermind behind Egotistical Productions. I remember this when he was animating it frame by frame and filming it with a hand held camera. He wrote it, does all the voices, sings, and oh yes, animates the whole thing. (Did I mention he is also a super-genius? But I digress.)

You can leave him a comment here.

This morning I did something that I find a little scary.

In an effort to cross something off my new, unbroadcast-as-yet Big 35 List, I made up a sheet for prospective galleries who might be interested in my paintings. I haven't had any art hanging up anywhere other than my house (okay, and my mom's) since college. I figure, what can I lose? So three copies went out to the art association, in an envelope with a Muppet stamp on it for good luck. And of course, these are just three of all the other bits of art I have floating around here. Stands to reason someone, somewhere, might want to show one of them?

Anyone who's interested in a PDF, click here to download.

Hands down, this is my favorite clip from Sesame Street ever. Imagine on, baby!

Happy 9th anniversary, dearest one.

I heart Ebay! We found the set of Childcraft encylopedias I grew up with from 1974; these two volumes above fed my need for artistic knowledge with tons of information that made me think. If you have kids in your life, I highly recommend trying to snatch these two volumes up. They ROCK, and you can get them for a song.

Volume 13 - Look Again - (top) Shows many representations of various works of art with discussion questions. A great intro to art for kids. The Magritte (and more fantastic works along this line) made a great impression on me.

Volume 12 - Look and Learn - (bottom) Discusses symbolism, the history of typography, advertising and trademarks, color theory. I swear I knew things in college the rest of my art class didn't, because of this book.

Now get this: my library was getting rid of their set from the early 90's. I grabbed them up with glee (and $5) and found out when I got home that surprise! my two favorite volumes were gone. Art replaced by (gulp) "Mathemagics." And since then I've been on a mission to find those lost volumes. I now have two complete sets, which are known as "the ones you can read anytime" and "the ones you have to ask Mama to read with you." And we sit down together, share art, ask questions, discuss. They are only 2 and 3 years old, and they get it.

If you're looking for the whole set (they're great!) search for: Childcraft: The How and Why Library 1974. The 1975 and 1976 editions have the same covers and issue titles, and may be the same. We wanted the whole set, but you can purchase individual volumes for $.99 in some cases. Of course, the volumes on science are quite out of date, but the ones on literature, animals, and plants are virtually the same.

Or would you rather be a pig?

(Detail: click for full image)

Something new! Every Friday, I'm going to post something that inspires me, makes me happy, or is just plain silly. I was going to post only movie links but may branch out to websites and books if I feel like it. Basically, I love this (whatever I'm going to share) and I think you will too.

For my first share: a scene from my favorite Beatles movie, Help!

You've Got to Hide Your Love Away and The Amazing Adventures of Paul on the Floor.



A fan has sent Ringo a sacrificial ring from her temple. According to temple law, the wearer must be painted red and sacrificed. There's only one way to take the ring off, and Ringo doesn't know what it is. (I hope that I usually won't need to set up the videos, but honestly, you're not going to have a clue what's going on if you haven't seen it.) Go watch!

One of my two year old twins, Angela, has gotten interested in drawing. Not her drawing, but sitting on my lap and making me draw on command. It's fun though, and gives you a lot of insight into what's going on in her little head.

This doodle started out with "I want some ducks, walking up a hill." That led me to ask what was at the top of the hill, and we branched out from there. Of course, we had to have a pony, and the myriad of other animals that inhabit her dream world. My main contribution was adding Angela (and her Purple Pony) dreaming away. I also like how all the animals I drew for her on the back of the paper showed through on the scanner... we can say it adds to the dream-like quality, okay?

The point is that inspiration can come from the smallest of sources, and that sharing your art with others - and occasionally allowing for a pint-sized art director - is great for keeping your drawing muscles loose and limber.

Forgive me, but what comes to my mind when I hear "clean" is,

"Is this your grandfather, then?"

"He's very clean, isn't he?"

(While I couldn't locate the exact clip this is taken from - it's at the very beginning! - I did find the train scene. "Have you seen Paul's grandfather?" "Yes, he's concealed about me person.")

At church the priest was talking about the miracle of the loaves and the fishes, and what a phenomenon Jesus was. Sophia leans over and says quietly, "What's a phenomenon?'

I whispered back, "Pa ti pi ti pi."

"What?"

I sang back, quietly, "Phenomenon, pa ti pi ti pi."

The hugest grin spread over her face, and while she listened while I told her what the word really meant, that didn't stop her from dancing every time the priest said "phenomenon." Which was, seriously, about 15 times.

Paul noticed, because although my kids dance frequently at mass, it's not usually during the homily, and asked what was going on. I whispered, "Phenomenon, pa ti pi ti pi." Pretty soon the other two were doing it too, and thankfully, the homily was over before they started dancing and singing.

Please, for crying out loud, tell me I am not the only person that would have occurred to?

I love, love, love to draw people. Inspired by Norman Rockwell, who drew from life as much as possible, I try to get my family to pose for me. If I need a hand, or a mouth, I turn to one of the many mirrors I have in my studio. (One, which I love, is an ornate affair with three panels, so it can stand up by itself. Whatever you're drawing is reflected from three angles, which instead of confusing me somehow makes me appreciate its three dimensions more.)

When all else fails, I have my highly prized backup materials: figure drawing reference books. All of mine come from either book sales or family member's attics - they are all from the 40's or therabouts and feature studies of human anatomy. (They also seem to feature a lot of naked women in high heels!) Proportions, ratios, and the insistence to draw, draw, draw are all outlined carefully. Also important is the attention to detail for bone and musculature structure - something that I think even in my figure drawing class we maybe spent two days on. I have one book that's only studies of hands. How cool is that?

Take a look on Ebay or your local library's book sale - or poke around in grandma's basement. I have about five of these books and they were all either free or about $1. And the value they give - for both reference and pure artistic enjoyment - is priceless.

On Thursday nights, we get the kids in their jammies and walk to the park for their concert series. Paul had the camera on hand and managed to take this little video of us twirling around to the music.



Click here to watch the dancing.

Sophie is in white, Petey is the little blondie, Angela's in yellow with the binoculars, and I'm the tall one. Enjoy!

Color me VERY happy! I still have minor fixes to do here and there, but for all intents and purposes, I'm done with the redesign.

And the stories here (go, click on Italy, the second box) are finally told in the settings I always wanted them in.

(Insert large sigh of contentment here.)

What are you waiting for? Go, look at the new homepage, click around the site, come back here and tell me it's gorgeous! Go!

I get asked all the time, "How the heck do you have any time for artwork?" "Where does this energy come from?"

The answer is that I learned long ago that I needed to prioritize.

For a little background, I am the mom of three kids, aged 3 and under. I have a day job. I paint a lot. After my twins were born 10 weeks early and spent 2+ months in the hospital while we were also taking care of their 1-year-old older sister at home, I had severe post-partum depression. (I actually hadn't come out of it from the birth of their sister, but that's neither here nor there.) In any case, I got a big dose of Reality and What's Important and What's Not.

I learned that at the end of the day, What Was Important to me as a person - not a mom, not a wife, not the cook/manager/whatever of the household, was that I had time to paint. I went from painting once a week - on a special "Art Night" when I had hours to myself to paint and my hubby would watch the baby - to a desperate need to paint every single day, so that I could say I had done something for myself that was not baby-related. Sometimes that was what got me through the day - knowing that I could paint in 10 hours, when everyone was asleep and between feedings/heart monitor checks/medicine doses. I could paint whatever I wanted and not show anything to anyone, if I didn't want to.

While the depression is thankfully gone, and the kids don't require the intensive care they did in the early days, that need to create every day hasn't left me. In our house - and I think I say this so much I'm going to frame it and hang it up - we say, "Art is More Important Than Laundry." If I have a kid-free hour, you will most likely see me stepping over the laundry basket (clean!) to get to my paints, pencils, computer. And I have the complete support of my family, which only makes it better.

"I learned, again and again, the lesson of creativity: the painting I make today, the drawing I do today, the poem I do today, is meant to save my life today."
~ Judy Collins, Singing Lessons, a book I totally and whole-heartedly recommend.

I'm reprising a favorite post (because I loved it so much, and because it has nothing to do with web pages or potty training)!

1. First, recommend to me:
* a movie:
* a book:
* a musical artist, song, or album:

2. Ask me three questions, no more, no less. Ask me anything you want.

3. Paste this into your journal, allowing your friends to ask you anything.

Who's first?