found!

my heart wants to paint.  i have been walking by my pile on empty canvasses and bare wood discs all day long and i know (i know!) that if i even try to get one out that something terrible, like a spontaneous brush fire in my living room, will occur.  it's not that i have a large amount of incredibly dry brush in our home - it's that these last 24 hours have been hard.  i would rather wait for this 'whatever' to pass.

part of the 'whatever' is my little fox who is slowly getting back to his normal.  i cannot wait.  i miss my happy baby.

my free time today has been dedicated to the business side of art making.  pricing and inventory-ing, and figuring out how i will package and so on and so on.  it is tedious, but it is the kind of thing i can drop quickly and for hours if need be.  painting seldom allows such interruptions.

in my diligent (and at times ocd-like) inventory-ing i rediscovered something i had painted a few months ago.  it got put on a shelf because it was larger than the others and wouldn't fit in the same box.  she's pretty so i will show her off.

calliope

i have a thing for peacock feathers but had never painted one before this.  i think it went well.

i am setting a goal for myself for tomorrow.  there is this small town mini-event happening tomorrow evening.  i want to go, but i am requiring that i start and finish something art-esque tomorrow before i can go.  fingers crossed.

jo

is it time for bed, yet?

apparently my little fox has a very sensitive stomach and even mild changes to his formula make him very irritated.  i got about 3 hours of sleep last night.  i function like a swiss watch on 10 hours.  i can survive on 5-6.  3?  3 simply does not do.

we have the formula issue figured out and hopefully resolved, but it is 7:30 and it feels like boulders are pulling my eyelids down.

today did have some highlights . . .
1 - brunch with an old friend.  we are in different places in our lives, which seems to be a common thread in all my 'old' friendships, but it's really great to reconnect.  one of the perks to staying planted in one place is eventually everyone comes home and you get to see them again.
2 - i mailed off my application for the upcoming art walk.  i actually took the whole packet into the post office to make sure i put the correct postage, and then realized that the address i was sending it to was a p.o.box in that very post office.  i paid $1.50 to deliver the package myself, and i was told that it would arrive tomorrow.  really?  it'll take until tomorrow for you to walk it into the next room?  i digress . . .

my peach had her first sleepover at a friend's house the other night.  this particular friend lives directly across the street, which makes for a great first sleepover.  it was her friend's birthday so she asked me to make her a headband for her gift.  my daughter - she was like a regular customer.  she picked out the colors and everything.  turned out pretty cute:

 

front and back

i just recently started adding a little something on the back side, so i guess technically it is reversible.

some other headbands i've got lying around:

i am always working on new ideas for these and they are super fun to make.  they are also completely adorable when worn.

did you know that a sleep deprived state can feel like you're drunk?  it's not all bad, but i need to wrap this post up before it gets indiscernible.  tomorrow is slated to be a lazy, pajama wearing day.

goodnight.  wish me luck.

jo

happy labor day!!!

church picnics are like a slice of heaven for me.  attendance prizes, games, plant/craft/cake stands, face painting, quilt bingo, running into old friends and making new ones.  i got to spend my day with my family and friends.  can it be any more awesome?  as i sit here typing one-handed while holding my exhausted little boy in all my sun burnt glory i can assure that yes, there was one way the day could have been more awesome - i could have won a quilt.

i love quilts.  i do not actually own any quilts because i love them too much to ever use them but cannot bare the thought of the loveliness sitting in a chest somewhere not being loved upon.  some day i will have a quilt in my life.

so today you get to see the closest thing to a quilt that i have ever made:

it's just a little pillow.  more patchwork than quilt, but that's all i got.  even this is too precious to use and thus it lives in a storage tub in the basement.  so, so sad.

apologies for the short post today.  nothing ends a day with family quite like cuddling on the couch.  i highly suggest it.

jo

meet dorothy . . .

it has been a very busy holiday weekend so far!  my yesterday was so jam-packed that i didn't have a chance to get on here.  i guess it's a good thing that i never vowed to post every day, huh?

so i have come up with a plan for those days when i have nothing or no time to post . . . i will feature another artist.  it seems that over the years i have surrounded myself with creative people who are extremely talented in their chosen media.  these 'featured artist' posts will start soon, as soon as i get it all organized.  i know you'll love it.

in honor of labor day i will be sharing with you my labor of love for these past two weeks.  allow me to introduce 'dorothy' . . .

dorothy

2010

i know there's a lot going on.  she's bright and colorful and busy and she makes me happy.  hopefully she will make somebody else happy, too.

some in-process pics:

background and first flower.

some flowers done, others in-process.

more done.  more in-process.  wondering if it's possible to run out of color.

(here you can see one of my layout tricks - little wooden discs with different colors on them to figure out what color flower should go where)

flowers all done.  time for the flair and highlights!

done!

details of the final piece:

i hope that i didn't let you down.  she took me a while to finish but i am pleased to move on to the next project.

tomorrow is our church picnic.  it's a pretty big deal for my family, partly because it is held about half a block from our home, and partly because the weather tomorrow is supposed to be unbelievably gorgeous.  today i am hoping to make something to donate to the craft stand, depending of course on my little boy and if i can keep myself from wasting the day away on long walks on this lovely st. louis day.

we'll see.

jo

redemption

to make up for my missed post yesterday . . . 2 posts today!

really big news - i believe i may have finished my big painting project that has tied me up all week.  no, you cannot see it, yet because it is late and i have some small details to clean up.

rather, by numerous requests (yes, more than one person has asked me) i am going to show off a little of my airbrushed stuff.  very little, actually. 

my husband asked me last year to help come up with a logo for his company.  i was working as an airbrush artist and had some down time so i make some examples for him on t-shirts.  here they are:

i just realized how obtrusive those watermarks are with a grey background, but you get the idea, right?  ignore the chalk marks all over the shirts, as i took these photos before they were washed.

hmmm . . . that didn't really show you too much range, did it?  okay, okay.  just a few more.  these are just random shirts i made out of boredom.  the flower one i made for my mom (aren't i a good daughter?).

 

tis past my bedtime and i have to work (yes, occasionally i do go to work) in the morning at the same stand where all these lovelies were made.  who knows what i'll have to show you then? 

sweet dreams.

jo

success and failure

it happened.  i did not post on this blog yesterday and it was my first missed day.  i am sad, but i guess that family has to come before blog every now and then and that's what happened last night.  failure.

oh, but success!  i finished one of my projects this morning!  no, it's not the big one, but i am extremely excited to reveal.  and even more success . . . i took in-process pictures!

some robots sketches from my sketchbook.  i needed five figures for this project, and it was decided that robots were the coolest way to go.

from here i figured out order and drew out a rough draft on the board i was to paint.

in process . . .

done!

roboWiley

2010

(the right side has been cut off a bit, not sure why)

so there you have it.  i hope you are excited as i am.

it is a remarkably gorgeous day outside today and i have already been artsy and crafty for the day so i intend to get out of the house for a while.  if your weather is anything like ours i suggest you do the same.

jo

cinderella?

yes, it is nearly midnight.  it was quite a day.  my little man is just not feeling well at all.  i am making an attempt not to complain about being a mom (which i love) so i am afraid that you don't get to hear any of it.  i'm sure you are heartbroken.  typing one-handed so be forgiving (shout-out to all the multi-tasking nursing mamas!).

i did a bad thing.  i started another painting project before finishing the other.  you see, even when he's being a demanding crabby little terd he still lets me have some fun.  he'll make a great husband one day, don't you think?  i am so excited about this new project - i cannot wait to show you.  but i will, wait that is.

i am really tearing through my archives these days, but it's a lot of fun to think of what i've done.  i often get new ideas when going through my old ones :)

i showed you an example of my drawing a couple days ago, so how about i share the first drawing where i developed my 'jo method' . . .

'vague'

2007

i cannot recall nor can i whip out a measuring tape right now.  14"x28" is a sporting guess.

the theme was loosely assigned.  anyone who knows my husband should peg him for the model, although his mouth is slightly smaller.  i would show you his photo for comparison, but i might have an easier time catching bigfoot on camera.  he's not a fan of having his photo taken :(  but all through art school he would sit and model for as much as i needed.  he's a good husband.

four minutes until i turn back into a servant.  goodnight.

jo