This year I decided to be smart and post ahead of time that...well...I can make art if you want art for your holiday gift-giving.  I usually forget, or wait too late...but just putting it out there. 

Yep, I make stuff if you want to give art for the holidays, or if you want custom holiday décor. Some things that folks have ordered in the past include custom-order whimsical trees with family names painted in the ornaments, shoe paintings that spell out names, random fun shoes, various fun and funky angels, painted stemware, and also hand painted ornaments. Some prices are listed below, contact me with any questions. Most 'available' art in my CED blog (originals unless otherwise noted, not prints) is available to purchase, inquire about specific pieces for pricing info.

And  I do commissions, they start at $100 and then go up depending on how much work it will be for me, size, materials, etc.  Contact me with details about what you want, including size info and I will give you an estimate.  Once I receive the $50 deposit I will begin the piece(s).  I have a few commissioned pieces that are on my drawing table now, if you are wanting delivery by Christmas I would need your order info as soon as possible so I can do a good job and get it to you in time.

You can also purchase adult or child art lessons, or contact me to find out about fun at-home art parties, a venture Jessie, Sofia and I like to call Tipsy Art.

There.  That's it, I think.  If you don't buy my art, buy someone's- support your local artists.  We are putting ourselves out there, making stuff with our own hands and just doing our thang ; )

...two and a half day work week, I'll take it...my students were total rock stars today, making some awesome cards to send to the troops...today was made for artin'...document camera turned on, the hum of pencils, markers and crayons drawing on paper...and I was even able to draw some myself, a working studio.  Finished up CED #324, then my two Harper's Bazaar-inspired fashion illustrations, with input from the kids, my biggest supporters and critics.  Love it.

But...ummmm...I am a little...okay, waaaaaaay behind...on the inventory.  Hence the 'lament'..I am regretting deeply my lack of organization/keeping up with all this art.  Let's just say that the last time I sat down and really did inventory, yeah...looks like that was in...gulp...August.  OMG.  Seriously. Making the art, that is easy.  Trying not to step on the mounting stacks of drawings and keeping track of it all...that's a little tougher.

So I took a picture...it really doesn't do justice to the amount of pieces I need to catalog.  It is daunting and motivating at the same time, seeing that work.  Not going to happen all tonight, but I can at least get started.  I have a few side projects to work on tonight...so looks like I know what I will be doing over Thanksgiving!

Backtracking a bit...here is some info on the origin on the piece I started yesterday...

Sometime over this summer when I was cleaning up my studio area (aka, 'where I took over a corner in the kitchen with all my art madness') I found a sketch that I had made...I don't know when, 2008-2009?  I am pretty sure that I made this sketch when I was in graduate school, it looks like I was making notes on art nouveau ...so this is my best guestimate as to when I created this sketch.  

But regardless...it was tucked away in a sketchbook...and we were reunited. I put that sketch on my bulletin board, with the various other items that I pin up to keep me motivated...and it got a little faded, but it was still there...waiting.

On Friday morning, when I woke up and couldn't get back to sleep I went and sat at my art table, eyeing my new watercolor pencils...I glanced up and saw this faded sketch and knew that I had to work from this.  So I did.  I basically kept the same image, did make a few changes and additions.  I went with the exaggerated eyes that I love so much, and then stretched out the neck and body in a very mannerist treatment, using elongated proportions.  The face is serene and also sad, my feeling on that particular morning.  I kept the swirling hair that I love so much, very much in the style of art nouveau...then added butterflies and also the calla lily, from which the figure emerges.

For me, butterflies have become very symbolic of Amy.  Her death brought about a change in the lives of all that knew her...when I have searched for the meaning of butterflies I have found information tying butterflies to the soul and change in many cultures.  It just made sense to add the butterflies, the one in the top right leaving mandala motif, as if leaving this realm. As for the calla lily...this is the flower that I always associate with Amy and her passing.  I know that traditionally, calla lilies are associated with funerals...and oddly enough, weddings.  Go figure.  There were...so...many...so many flowers at Amy's funeral.  When I think of those days right after, the wake, the funeral...it is all a blur.  But I remember the smell of all the flowers...and the image of the calla lilies that would accompany my friend into the next part of her journey.

I guess that was my attempt at analyzing this particular piece.  It is a tribute to my friend.  I made it out of love, and it will be sent out to John and Jennifer next week to go along with all of the other art pieces that I have made to try and show how much I love and miss Amy in the language I know best- my art.  

In other art-related happenings...I finished my CED for today, #322.  After completing my piece for Amy, I couldn't help but have some of the elements carry over into this piece.  I started with the graphitone pencils for the rendering of the face, again going with the exaggerated proportions in the facial features and the neck...and kept my new watercolor pencils.  I love these new pencils, they go on smooth, tons of pigment...when I add the water, my paint brush literally glides across the paper. Love...and I just may commit to drawing Oscar de la Renta in my daily pieces for the rest of the month. I love the vintage styling for the fall runway...yep, just might have to stick with this and see where it takes me.

Ummmm...yeah, so anyway.  That was my day in art.  Completing the piece for Amy was such a serious endeavor, draining and cathartic all at the same time.  In many ways I needed to create my daily piece just to get myself back together.  Lot's of ideas swirling around in my head...swirling like Mucha's 'macaroni' hair...swirling like butterflies...

And now...something else that is on my mind.  Tomorrow is November 16th, and if you know me then you know that it is a very significant day. It marks the day that my best friend, Amy German, was killed in a car accident.  

I have been thinking all day about how November 15th is also important, as it marks the last day that she was alive and that I saw her.  You never know when it is someone's last day, I guess that is what I am thinking.  You never know when it is the last time you will have to look at them in the face, to hear their voice, their laugh, to be beside them.  You just don't know, until it is the next day when they are gone.  But you had that last day- what did you do on that last day?  This is what I have been thinking about today.  Tomorrow marks 17 years since Amy passed, and the day after marks one day that she has been gone longer than she lived...John and I were talking about this and it really resonated with me. 

So tonight, I tried to focus on the days before she passed. Not one day in particular maybe...just...that time before she was gone.