Turkey with all the Trimmings...

Hello Lovelies~

I hope this week after the Thanksgiving holiday finds you all doing well! So much to share as usual over here in wintery Maine. Let's get down to the business piece first, shall we?

To start, after several years of not painting, I was doodling and got inspired to do a series of work inspired by 60's children's illustrations. The Top Crown Series, as I've named it, is now complete and listed in the shop for sale! These mini paintings are so cheery and fun and each piece is also accented with glittery details! I love them very much and I hope you do too. I think they will make some people very happy this holiday season!

What else? Oh, well STAG is also being stocked up with wonderful, unique, high-end vintage items for the holiday season! What better way to say you care to the men in your life than to give a special gift that you can't get at the mall? I even have some pretty things for the ladies out there, as well as vintage holiday decorations that will brighten the homes of the customers who snap them up! Just a few of these great items are shown below.

These golf shoes are about the craziest thing I've ever seen in men's footwear. Like clown shoes with a purpose.

For the ladies: A purple 100% wool blazer. Beautiful.

And for those of you who have a hard time thinking of things for that special someone, I am doing a Stag Item of the Day every weekday between now and December 20th to get those ideas percolating. Those will be posted on the STAG Facebook page!

It's not all work and no play around here, Lovelies! Oh, no. Thanksgiving was this past weekend and I joined some very good friends for a day of laughter, friendship and good food. (When your family lives across the country, your second family becomes as dear to you as your real one.) I did the baking, which included a lemon torte (hard to do, but I figured it out) and a pumpkin cheesecake with a candied pretzel crust (easier to do because I've practiced). Both were delicious. (Well, the whole day was delicious, frankly.) What a wonderful way to kick off the holiday season. I'm a very lucky girl!

This weekend, I plan on decorating my own place for Christmas and I'm very excited! There's nothing better than sitting in your living room reading or drinking a glass of wine with just the light of the tree on, no? And I will be playing my Christmas records the entire time. Because, you can't beat Bing Crosby's voice on a record with a little hiss and some cracks and pops. Don't you agree? Happy Winter, Lovelies!

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Glittery Goblins & Sunny Islands...

Hello Lovelies~

I hope you are all doing well out there! Things here are so good I can barely stand it. To start, exciting news, I recently shot the crew over at Jack Tar 207 (an alternative lifestyle blog and creative team out of Portland), as you all know. (I've actually modeled for them as well.) They're doing great things in photography and fashion and just a whole ton of different things. Well, they were just featured on The Huffington Post! And one of my photos was featured in that article. Very exciting stuff for me personally since I enjoy and respect The Huffington Post immensely. Congrats, Jack Tar!

What else? Oh, I had mentioned a post or so back that I was hired to shoot the Color Rad Color Run up in Brunswick recently. Well, I finally have a couple of shots from that day to share. Because I had more studio experience with lighting etc., I was asked to shoot the photo booth at the end and I was so happy to do it! Great opportunities for those color-covered candids. Take a look! (That baby with the white-blue eyes was my favorite...)

As I mentioned last post, I've really been trying to build the lifestyle portion of my portfolio recently for new client work: people doing everyday things, scenic views, day-in-the-life type shots. Well, I decided to try to grab some Labor Day shots over on Peaks Island this past weekend. What a beautiful island and a perfect time of year: a perfect combination of colorful island flowers, bright boats and also some early fall foliage. I managed to shoot some real winners! Here are a couple and you can see the rest over at my Flickr feed.

So, as some who've followed this blog for a long time know, I used to paint. A lot. Painting was my primary artistic medium and I was fairly prolific. Well, when I fell head over heels for photography, I found I was too busy to produce both, so my painting fell to the wayside. Now, the only time I pick up a brush is if I get a commission (which, I find I actually get those more than when I was trying to get them), or when someone very special has a birthday or other special event. Well, it was the latter that got me to bust out those brushes recently to create my latest piece: Space Goblin. Like my artistic photography, most of my paintings are bright, whimsical and completely twisted. This little murderous goblin is no exception. Oh, and glitter. Lots and lots of glitter... Take a look!

And let's wrap up with this amazing artist with an amazing Etsy shop that I found recently: Derrick Castle is the owner of Straw Castle and he is a crazy good artist. His illustrations style is woodblock meets vector and his subject matter combines Native American imagery with motorcycle gang art and some Colonial America mixed up with skulls and southwestern influence. What? That's right. Take a look:

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Red Invasion...

Hello Lovelies~

I hope you are all doing well out there. Things are very busy here! So much to share. To start, as promised, I have uploaded all the edited shots from the recent engagement shoot I did for a fun couple (and their dog) who were really up for anything. (And yes, there was glitter all over the studio when we were done, but I think you'll agree, it was worth it!) There are a few of those shots below, and the rest are in my Flickr stream here.

And some of you may remember that I decided to do a Fun-A-Day Project the entire month of January. Fun-A-Day is a way to incorporate more art time in your life by doing a piece a day for an entire month. For my project, I decided to shoot one red thing per day using the Instagram app on my iPhone. I now have 30 shots done and printed I will be showing them this Friday for First Friday here in Portland at the SKG Gallery. Here are some of those, and the rest are here.

And speaking of red, I have just completed the third (out of four) shot in my Red Army Series. I love how these are coming out. And if you're new to this conversation, this series subtly depicts the true power behind the man, as well as showing some of the very young faces that could have fought in wars past when even teenagers were made to serve.

And speaking of a sort of classic, timeless look, I am loving illustrator Jonathan Bartlett's work lately. He has an almost surreal style that also features timeless fashion and character choices that elevate the strange themes to beautiful art. Take a look at some examples, great work. I especially love those rabbits in the venus fly traps.

Let's wrap up with a blog recommendation, shall we? Have you heard of Black and WTF? I've put some examples below, but you could get lost for hours in the pages of unusual, old black and white photos on this blog. Great stuff. Check it out.

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Glittery Garland and Shimmery Ampersands...

Hello Lovelies~

I hope you are all doing well out there in the world. I am doing very well over here! To start, I am diversifying into engagement photography and I shot an amazing couple over the weekend. I offer styling services with my engagement shoots so people can pick unique clothes that really compliment their look. Well, this couple was all for it! They looked adorable. I will post some shots from that next week, but here are some pictures of the things I made for their shoot.

Mini corsages are all the rage for boys this year. I made this one out of felt and put it on the girl!

I made this glittery ampersand to use as a prop and it looked really good under the lights.

I see cool garland everywhere and it's always astronomically expensive, so I made my own! Looks like a 1950's prom. I love it.

If you're local and want to book a shoot, give me a hollar on my Facebook wall. It's a ton of fun.

And, I found the most amazing thing in a recent junking escapade, Kiddies! I have been looking for bull horns for above our mantel for years but they're always too expensive or damaged or have an ugly mount etc... Well, imagine my delight when I came across the huge pair below, complete with hair and an inscription that says: "Tijuana, Mexico 1969" for $40! I love them and they're hanging above our couch now (the boar I mentioned months back is above the mantel). What do you think?

Speaking of vintage goodness, a friend recommended I check out Jena Ardell's vintage-inspired Polaroid work and I'm glad I did. The faded colors and fun angles look like many of the Polaroids you see from the 60's and 70's (back when they were throw-aways, not objets d'art). I especially enjoyed her Wanderlust series, some of which is below.

I found a great shop on Etsy recently that makes handmade pillows that look retro and like the type that my Grandma had on her couch. MillsDesignCo also carries vintage items, but it's really the pillows that reeled me in. My favorites are below, but she makes a ton of different styles. I would like about 14 for my couch.

And I'd like to wrap up with a movie recommendation. I'm not sure if you've heard of Roller Boogie, but if you haven't, you're going to want to check it out ASAP. It's from the 70's, it stars Linda Blair and Jim Bray (some random dude who roller skated a lot back in the day), there is a ton of ridiculousness, oh, and there's Linda, playing a flute and rocking a side ponytail (as shown below). It's hilarious and it's on Netflix instant play right now. Go watch!

In this scene, Linda is thinking "Wow, and I thought I'd stooped as low as I could doing The Exorcist."

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...