Findings and Collections...

Hello Lovelies!

Well, I am back from my great antiquing expedition and I found some choice items. But first, let me say that the people watching was almost the best part. I saw a woman completely wrapped in fur sables and a hat and gloves... and it was 75 degrees out. I saw a booth dedicated to chalkware cats (I'd never even seen one chalkware cat, let alone that many). And I saw more mullets, cigar smoking women and Happy Meal toys than I care to ever see again. 

Below is some of my stash, this is just the paper stuff. I picked up some great Victorian cabinet photos of ladies you may see in my work in the future, an old copy of Argosy which is great since I love old men's magazines, a couple of girly calendar pin-ups and a great original watercolor portrait. I love Brimfield!

  

Moving on, I am currently working on some paintings for my gallery co-op that I'll show you Lovelies pictures of in the next post. So, in lieu of my own work, I thought I would show you the work of yet another great Etsy seller. I love cabinets of wonder and Aldetha's pieces are an amazing display of eye candy for those who also like this type of work. Even her profile description is great. Here are some of her more high-end offerings.

And let me conclude with another movie review Lovelies. Some of you may like Michael Crichton for movies like Jurassic Park, but you need to go way, way back for the real gold. Westworld, starring Yul Brynner, is a wonderful combination of a creepy/interesting plot, robots, suspense and vacation resorts gone really awry. (Sound familiar? Only this one doesn't have Veloceraptors and a ton of CGI and overacting...) All of the effects were really executed using models and sets and clay-o-mation and the idea is really cool too. Just don't rent the sequel folks. I give this one 4 out of 5 corncobs.

Until next time: Unpleasant Dreams.

Dark Musings...

Hello Lovelies!

Well, as usual, the business first and then we can play. I need to mention a couple of fellow artisans and bloggers who lately have mentioned or featured me in their blogs. First, an absolute favorite of mine, Cabin & Cub has given me the Kreative Blogger award! If you're unfamiliar with her work, this collage is entitled Dancing Donkey:

And Stella over at Laundry (a wonderful blog), did a little feature on The Stapelia Company after she saw one of my items on Etsy. Thank you Stella! 

As some of you may or may not know, I have a pretty important meeting tomorrow with a gallery in the area to show some of my work and hopefully (fingers crossed), get accepted into their art collective. I am doing a series of 3 paintings just for the meeting. It will be entitled Bonny, Clyde & The Reaper. Here is the first, Bonny, which is a totally new style I'm playing with. How do you like it? Wish me luck gang!

  

I have discovered (or rather rediscovered), another very talented artist on Etsy who also happens to be a fellow team member on Cabinet of Curiosities. Liza Corbett's work is dark and detailed and absolutely delicious. The piece with the hearts below, entitled Margot II - The Nest is really so great I can't say anymore.

  

And let me leave you with the usual humor/movie review/random observation. I just read an article about a woman whose underwire in her bra blocked a bullet and saved her life. Is this real life folks? Yep. She was shot through the window of her house and the bullet bounced off of her underwire and didn't even break the skin. Talk about Wonder Bra, huh?

Until next time: unpleasant dreams.

It's all about you...

Hello Lovelies!

I want to start off with a small piece of business, I have been Indie Spotted again! Looks like Hookah made the cut which was very nice.

And now I'm dedicating the rest of this post to other artists whose work I think deserves a little attention. I've mentioned before that I'm part of the Cabinet of Curiosities team on Etsy chock- full of artisans who create some pretty unique things from soap to jewelry to artwork all with a little bit of a dark side. Many don't know about this team so Covetables #2 displays only Cabinet items so you can get a little taste of the darkness...

1. penandpaper

2. bloodmilk

3. imogenefroward

4. gloilocksandbody (wonderful soap that's beautiful AND has some unusual scents)

5. twigsandheather

6. thecuriousnomad

7. swanbones

8. thunderwing

9. tartx

I was wandering around the Internet today doing a little research on albinism for a possible project and I stumbled across a man after my own heart. Matt Hoyle is a photographer whose collection entitled Barnumville features real sideshow performers who still perform at the few remaining venues in the U.S. all beautifully photographed in black and white. Go take a peek under the tent folks...

And I discovered another little gem of a website called Letter Pressed, I'm sure some of you have seen it. But there's an off-shoot with limited edition letter pressed art that is wonderful. Here are some samples:

   

Okay, enough playing around, off to do some new work. 

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Mission Accomplished...

Hello Lovelies!

A whole lot to cover... first of all, the Alice in Wonderland series is finally complete and the final piece entitled Mad as a Hatter is listed in both shops. I'm really happy with how it came out (and yes, those are skulls in the vase):

MAJOR BLOG FOLLOWER DISCOUNT: I have decided to give you loyal followers a break on the whole set. From April 13-20th, if you buy the set (it has its own listing), mention "BLOG" at check out, and I will reduce the price down to $55 for all 4. 

The Cabinet of Curiosities Team on Etsy (of which I am a member) has a Facebook fan page now. (For those not familiar with the COC Team, it's comprised of  "purveyors of wonderful, whimsical, odd and obsure delights" that really can't be found anywhere else.) Stop by the page and become a fan to keep up with all the wonderful doings of the Cabinet.

This past week I was featured in an Alice in Wonderland themed treasury. It sure is a handsome group of items (especially that leather rabbit mask that I'm now coveting).

Small world story for you folks. Last week, I found a wonderful web gallery of affordable and top-knotch original art called Enormous Tiny Art. I was so impressed I tweeted the link to let people know about this great discovery. Last weekend, I went down to Portsmouth for my birthday and I wandered into a gallery and things looked familiar and darned if it wasn't the actual gallery itself! I didn't even know it was that close. After seeing all these great pieces up close, I fell in love even more. Stop by folks.

And while in Portsmouth I picked up the cutest sticker and I thought I'd share. It looks like Camilla Rose Garcia's work (which I love), but it isn't. I don't think I can bring myself to actually stick it on something... 

Until next time: unpleasant dreams