Not Strictly Illustrative

I'm a kid who can't decide which interest to pursue 100% of the time. I juggle about three projects over the course of a week. For example, this week's docket includes Oil Painting some fruit, The Quilt (that may just kill me), aaaannnnnd.... whatever I feel like. I might work on one of my comic books, or my website or maybe I'll just go make some cinnamon rolls. Who knows. 

Anyway, I made these little gems. I call 'em "Snifflelopes" (sniffle+envelopes). The fabric protects and hides those ugly plastic pouches for travel kleenex's. Mine always get thrashed in my backpack or purse, so my sister and I came up with these.

Peppers

I thought you kids might like to see my process a bit. So I pick out some luscious peppers at my favorite local grocery store. 

I did a quick sketch to solidify my composition. 

 As you can see I don't do a pencil sketch on my canvas. I thin some oil paint with turpenoid and start going at it!

 Mixing oils with a palette knife instead of on your brush keeps it from getting muddy.

Background first, of course....

 ...then a rough underpainting for the peppers.

This is what I call the ugly stage...

Can you see that little brown spot on the yellow pepper? Yeah... the peppers were starting to go bad (literally molding and wrinkling), so I HAD to finish. Rotting fruit creates quite the deadline. I'm pretty pleased with it though.

Fools and Spools

With my new job with Valli & Kim (quilt store), I'm constantly thinking about fabric, quilting, tutorials and how to market it. A card like this would be perfect for any sewer in your life. This one is going to one of my sisters... I think.

Spicy!

I'm sending this little gem to my twin sister. We're fraternal, which means we don't look alike. She's awesome.

Hydrangea Inspiration

My new friend Kat, loves Hydrangeas and buys them when ever she can to have them fresh on her table. And this is a cool flower I make out of a billion tiny hearts (what was I thinking??!!!). I should give this to her, but I'm seriously thinking of keeping it. It's freaking cool and besides, it took about 2 hours to make!

Yet another outlet for my Food Obsession

I couldn't think of a good pun to put in this thing because... ya know, what rhymes with carrot? So, my dear husband came to the rescue. "I love you veggie much!" Perfect! Thanks hon!!!!

Tee Hee

Some more Valentine's Cards for your viewing pleasure. I do a little sketch in my notebook then I draw it bigger on some scrap paper. I cut out the more difficult shapes then outline that on the colored paper. Tada! Now that you all know my secret, I expect at least 5 cards this February! ...... no really. I love getting stuff in the mail.

I really have been doing stuff

I got a job!!! Well, two jobs. One is canvas wrapping gig: my employers (Solart Designs) prints photos/art on canvas and then we wrap them on frames, then ship it. My other job is as an online marketing/blogging person for my favorite quilt shop: Valli & Kim. In between jobs I've been keeping very busy trying new recipes and attempting to finish some projects.

 Oil Painting. The pear is an overdone classic, I know, but Mike ate all the peppers I was planning to practice with. As soon I finished this one, he ate that pear too.

The Quilt Saga. This project has been going for about 8 months now; collecting all the fabric and putting it together. Each block has 100 squares in it and takes about 2 hours to make. This half of the quilt has 1,830 squares in it. I'm hoping to enter it into the state fair. 

Valentines Day Cards. I make 'em my self and send them to family and a couple friends. This all started when I began exchanging Christmas cards with my high school friend Amber and one year I was ridiculously late sending it. Now, I figure to save me hassle during the holidays, send it in February! 

So these a just a few of the on going projects.... I'll do my best to be more diligent in posting on a regular basis. New years resolutions and all that.