Beautiful Ladies & Ghostly Gals

Hello Lovelies~

So much to share as usual! First off, as promised, here are some of the vintage hat shots from my recent studio event for the ladies! Everyone had so much fun. You may view more here.

And speaking of photos, I am always on the look-out for things I can use in my photography and at any given time I have approximately 10-15 projects going. Well, a trip to a local army surplus store yielded a surprising amount of stuff I can use in upcoming projects, including a Cold War, sexy Russian spy themed shoot I've wanted to do for awhile. This coat was great. It had all the original buttons on the front and a great Russian look to it. Now that we have some snow on the ground up here in Maine to lend a Siberian look to things, I will be kicking that project into high gear. Standby!

Oh! And remember a few posts back when I posted about buying Liza Corbett's Sweetheart Come piece? Well, it came recently and it looks amazing in person. The detail and level of craftsmanship are truly amazing and I couldn't wait to hang it right up above our bed! So, here are some shots of it hung up and looking snazzy.

And speaking of crazy (not that we were), yesterday, my Sweetie and I were out driving around doing errands, and we looked over at a car parked next to us and we saw this action. Yes, that's a tropical bird on the steering wheel in a car in Maine during the winter without the car running. I guess Polly just wanted to drive, eh? Poor thing... but it was hilarious to see.

And speaking of hilarious, have you heard of Randy Regier? He is an artist who takes vintage and new toys and creates tongue-in-cheek toys with packaging and everything. Check out his work, it's very funny. My two favorites were the Godforsaken Astronaut and the Bonnie & Clyde car. Great fun.

Let's wrap up with a movie suggestion, what do you say? Do you like Wes Anderson movies? (The Life Aquatic, Rushmore, Fantastic Mr. Fox.) I do. And apparently, he's releasing a new one this spring called

Moonrise Kingdom that looks just as quirky, colorful, random and funny as the rest of his work. I can't wait to check it out. What's your favorite Wes Anderson movie?

Until next time: unpleasant dreams...

Seances, Squids & Soldiers

Hello Lovelies~

I hope you all had a wonderful, relaxing holiday season. Mine was hectic and fun and over too fast! I have a lot to share with you this week. In the photography arena, I am done with Red Army #2. Only 2 left to go! I also played around with some new filters and techniques to create a sort of wood grain portrait of the same model. I love the moodiness of it. What do you think?

And, I just did some holiday portraits for a client I wanted to share. These wee ones were so cute and so photogenic, it was a pleasure. She was very happy with how these came out. See the rest here.

I have listed a print in the shop for the squid lovers out there. You may remember my Last One Standing portrait series for that competition that I showed you recently. Well, due to positive feedback, I've decided to offer the below shot as an archival print HERE.

Enough business, I want to share with you the best gift I received this holiday season! I am so excited about it. I have admired the work of Liza Corbett for a long time. Her softly executed portraits of women, and surreal landscapes are just spellbinding. Well, she had a show this month in California of some original work and I got one of the pieces for Christmas! The piece is seance-inspired and it's called Sweetheart Come. Take a look. (The hands and her veil are my two favorite things about this piece...)

I also took a spin through my local thrift store to take a look through their records (this is how I get all of my albums, they're so much cheaper there than at a record store). I was not disappointed. I found this classic Herb Alpert album I've wanted for awhile and a great Frank Sinatra and Friends Christmas album! Good stuff.

I would like to wrap up with a movie recommendation I recently re-watched and enjoyed immensely: Bell, Book & Candle. A campy classic starring Jimmy Stewart and Kim Novak, the movie follows some witches as they get up to mischief and Kim Novak's character eventually gets Jimmy Stewart to fall in love with her. Pretty pedestrian fare, but the outfits, the sets, the Zodiac Club, and the whole witch angle were wonderful. Take a gander if you need a movie to curl up to some night.

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.