Card #3

Here it is... third in the Endangered Species card series!

Birthday cards

My niece turns three tomorrow. Every year I make her a hand painted birthday card of an endangered species. I can't show you the one I'm working on right now, but here is a peek at the last two years...

This was her first birthday card. The image on the front is the Karner Blue butterfly. I was working on this card in a hotel room during a weekend getaway. Dan had gone off to get take out while I finished it up. I love painting when it's raining outside.

The Black-footed ferret was the chosen critter for the 2nd birthday. The paint is just about dry on the current birthday card, so back to work!

Pawcasso 2011

The snow is coming down hard outside, but it's a great day to be snowed in. I have tons to do to get ready for the 2011 Pawcasso Silent Auction tomorrow! If you're in the Syracuse area, it's a lot of fun and there are some great deals on artwork. I dropped off my auction pieces about a month ago, now I'm organizing and pricing work for the table I'll have in the lobby. Engine has once again donated one of his wire sculptures, and I've donated a print, a jewelry piece, and an original acrylic painting. Dan has been making a contribution, too. He has been making beautiful floating frames for my original pieces. Usually I paint them black, but he made this one out of oak and it looked so nice we decided to leave it natural.


I also want to show you a new piece I'll have for sale. This tiny book is a collection of prints of my Polar Animal series. The book itself was inspired by the work of the brilliant Geninne over at Geninne's Art Blog. She does beautiful work and her blog is one of the first places I turn when I'm in a creative slump.


And in between the snow storms, I've been enjoying watching the goldfinches flocking to the maple tree outside the studio. Even thought they're wearing their faded winter feathers, they still add a nice little splash of color to the gray outside.

Valentine's Day

I painted this for Dan for Valentine's Day. Prints available soon in my Etsy shop!

Surrender

A painting for this week's Illustration Friday topic "Surrender". The garden has definitely given up.

Shhh...

I have to admit that I hesitated to publish this post because I'm pretty sure I'm about to give away one of Pennsylvania's best kept secrets. This past weekend we attended a wedding in Gettysburg. We had made reservations at The Shining Dawn Bed and Breakfast in Hanover. Even though it wasn't right in Gettysburg, we thought it was funny that on their website they mention that the breakfasts are vegetarian, but "meat-atarins" can make special arrangements if they really want to have that bacon with breakfast. Now, there were other reasons too- the place looked really beautiful, but that comment was such a shoe-on-the-other-foot kind of thing that we couldn't resist booking a room. We're usually the ones making special meal arrangements. So anyhow, we arrived late Friday evening and were met at the door by the owners Helen and Bruce. They helped us with our things and gave us a little tour of the main level and then left us to enjoy the house (they live in an apartment on the top floor). Within a few minutes of walking in the door, I had left any stress behind and was completely in love with this place. Some people have talent for sports, some for art, Helen and Bruce are masters of calm.
Dan's parents arrived shorty after we did and had the same reaction. So here is a little tour for you...
Here is the foyer that took my breath away every time I entered. There was a meditation room complete with pillows and Tibetan singing bowls, a beautiful living room where we all spent lots of time reading the books from the zen-themed gift shop (where we later added significantly to our bill),

and my favorite place, the sun room.



The wedding was beautiful and Gettysburg was only a short drive away.

Dan's uncle had brought some presents for Dan that he'd found at a garage sale...



On Sunday morning I got up at 6, used the meditation room and then did some journaling in the sun room, enjoying the fountain, the tea station,

and the gorgeous stained glass windows that changed colors as the sun came up. There was a fridge in the sun room stocked with sodas (we aren't soda drinkers, but we still thought it was pretty cool) and a basket of complimentary snacks.

I spent the rest of the morning there until breakfast. And speaking of breakfast. Poached pears, pineapple parfait, German apple pancakes... need I say more?


The town of Hanover had some fun little shops, too. There was the Clark's outlet, a great bead shop, a coffee shop/tanning salon called The Bakery...odd combination, cute name, and a baker that seemed to enjoy giving out free samples! We were NEVER hungry on this trip. Then Dan spotted the penguins in the gift shop window. I could tell from across the street they'd be coming home with us. Here is a picture of the same shop from a book on Hanover history that we found in the reading room.


So we headed home on Sunday completely relaxed and loaded down with boxes of shoes, some medieval armor, and a bag of penguins. What more can you ask of a weekend road trip?

Happy Holidays!

The cards are mailed out, the shopping is done and Mother Nature has provided a beautiful winter wonderland in my back yard. Dan and I went for a quick walk when I got home from work on the 22nd to see all the ice on the trees. I love living up in the hills. It was raining on my way home, but I knew when I hit a certain elevation (about 2 miles from home) it would be snowing. Now on the 24th a light dusting of snow has covered all the ice on the trees.


Most of the presents are wrapped too, but we had a little problem this year. We did some rearranging of the livingroom furniture which meant the tree had to go in a place where we cannot barricade it from the animals. This is a problem because the cats like to eat the ribbons and the dog likes to unwrap and eat the presents. So I bought a little tree at Michaels and put it on a table in the studio. We've been able, so far, to keep everything safe in there. The cats can still get in there if they try hard enough, but they've been more interested in all the empty boxes lying around the house from Amazon deliveries.


I've done a few paintings, but I have to wait till after Christmas to post them!
I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday!