MeltedCrayons...

12x12 Woodlight Waterfall

2015-05-22T13:03:00.001-07:00

These little ladies were commissioned as a wedding present for a couple a few months ago. I get pretty excited about anything woodland with lots of green. They are Acrylic on stretched canvas.

The Gallery Wall and “SURVEYING the STORM”

2015-05-22T12:34:00.001-07:00

Lady Alight

2015-05-22T12:06:00.001-07:00

Rust Red Door Hobbit Hole

2015-05-05T07:05:00.001-07:00

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I had so much fun making this for a friend of mine. It’s on some heavy duty handmade watercolor paper. I have not painted a large scale watercolor in a long time and this paper behaves a great deal differently. In the end, i like all the bumps and texture in it and it can soak up so many layers of washes that I may have gotten a little carried away. I was in full on garden planning mode so I added patches of lavender, a pot of rosemary, a hydrangea bush, some hostas, sweet potato vine, a climbing hydrangea, and a sprinkling of red poppies in the foreground fields.

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Some recent playful watercolors

2015-05-02T09:34:00.001-07:00

Easter in Charleston

2015-04-10T09:08:00.001-07:00

You know it’s going to be a good day when you find an Easter pony! This was hands-down the softest pony i ever felt- somewhere between baby duck fuzz and kitten levels, like little Sebastian here spent everyday bathing in fabric softener while getting his nails painted. Who knows? Maybe this is actually how soft ponies come in real life. I’ll have to pet a few more ponies for research purposes.

You also know it’s going to be a good day when you give yourself free reign on your coffee and sugar intake. If you’re vacationing it doesn't count right? We grabbed some coffee at the bakery SUGAR (where the pony was). Also we ate jeni’s ice cream TWICE in one day (don't judge) ((it’s really that good)) along with sampling honey at the Savannah bee company.

We walked a route all around the king street, the battery and pretty much everywhere in between. We poked our heads into the secret garden/dead-people-resting-zone full of shade and flowers and markers from the 1800s. The entrance to the church that maintains the area is directly across from the book preservation library on king st.

Equally enjoyable was the perfect spring weather, freshly planted window boxes and shady live oaks. We stumbled upon an open estate sale and went up into a house to look at antiques and costume jewelry. I suppressed the urge to talk in only old-lady-british-accent while pretending to be able to afford 100$ teacups.

AN ETSY-FULL IDE: march inspired spring bedroom

2015-03-19T09:13:00.001-07:00

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THE WALLS : 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. THE BED : 8. 9. 10. 11. 12.

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The Whole CHICKY

2015-02-23T09:40:00.001-08:00

Sometimes you get together with your friend and cook mouthwatering buttery chicken goodness. We layered up on parsnips, carrots, turnips and cauliflower because I'm allergic to potatoes. Basically if you squint your eyes they are the same thing except more color and flavor. We could rebrand them “fake potato mix”. Personally, I think they are better. I’m not hating on you, potatoes, I’m just saying that if i had to choose, I'd go for the rainbow assortment of root veggies.

We also slathered the sucker up with compound butter and better yet we DIDN’T DROP ANYTHING on THE FLOOR. The 5 seconds of pulling the nasty giblets bag out of the cavity gives a mild echo of despair. Then stuffing the lemons and onion back in seems equally violating. Then you forget all the gross stuff by the time it comes out of the oven glistening.

SHE WENT AND TOOK PICTURES OF HER DINNER AGAIN…

2015-02-19T15:56:00.001-08:00

I haven't done any food photography in a while and I thought I’d play around with my dinner tonight. You see, over Christmas, my wonderful parents gifted me with a Dutch oven…and it’s the best thing ever. Tonight I marinaded some chicken in spice, herbs and honey. I seared the sides in some olive oil before adding some stock and broccoli and let it slow roast on low for about an hour. My go-to is to plop stuff down on some quinoa because it’s hearty and filling and feels super pretentious in a sentence.

Have I ever expounded on my love for arugula and fruit combo’s? Peppery lettuce mixed with a tangy/sweet fruit just hits the spot for me. Also, blood oranges at Trader Joes right now, I did a happy dance in the store. They are my favorite fruit of all time ever!

Salad dressing : Salad:

1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp blood orange juice
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
arugula
pecans
shaved parmesan
chopped honey crisp apple

Tapir illustration

2015-01-29T13:16:00.001-08:00

soft chalk pink tree

2015-01-29T13:13:00.001-08:00

Woodland Snuggle

2015-01-29T13:12:00.001-08:00

Sometimes you gotta just let yourself go and see what you make. I started drawing this without a plan and it was purely for relaxing.

Wheat Way

2015-01-29T13:08:00.001-08:00

this little sweet thing is up in the etsy shop here

MISTY MORNING

2015-01-29T12:59:00.001-08:00

Two weeks ago I had the privilege of romping around in the woods at the wee hours of morning. There’s just something magical about mist+fog and a little coffee in my cup to make my mind aware that mornings are actually wonderful. I should do this more often….as soon as winter goes away.

sunset hill 12x12 oil painting

2015-01-29T12:55:00.001-08:00

PUT A BIRD ON IT

2015-01-14T10:15:00.001-08:00

Exactly one score ago, a very awkward 7 year old with giant glasses, stumbled up to the library counter with a stack of books on origami. My art teacher had played 1000 paper cranes in class. It was incredibly creepy and I had nightmares about Hiroshima for a long time as I was seemingly innocent in things like history or people wanting to kill each other. However the art of folding paper was something new and exciting and I latched on like bubblegum stuck in hair.

I’d already perilously started trying and discarding crafts. Like taste testing I plowed through crocheting, (womp womp), knitting, (I made a scarf once). I tie died t-shirts. I glued cotton balls together. I latch hooked half tiny rug BUT FOR SOME REASON paper, folding little pieces of paper was MAGICAL. I started folding paper birds from my church bulletins, flowers from my starburst wrappers and this one time I put glitter everywhere and made GLITTER ELEPHANTS! because sparkles y’all, sparkles.

Looking back, I think i must have been the most annoying kid on the planet, spreading my glitter and paper bit trail for all to share.

Sometimes when I am talking, I still fold. It’s incredibly relaxing & it’s a really great distraction for kids. I think any adult that can magically produce a flying bird reduces their scariness levels. This has been my go-to project for rainy day’s while I nanny’d. So if you’re bored, go grab a paper square and try. There are about a zillion different tutorials on youtube!

CLIFTON SON OF TARA

2015-01-14T09:46:00.001-08:00

Nothing spells out class like painting off paper plates and a giant piece of cardboard on your bedroom floor. It’s so cold that I couldn't work outside, so enter stinking-up-the-bedroom-with-oil-paint-fumes.

This giant monstrosity of a painting was for a friend that fights in dagorhir. I’m not 100% in love with how my riders proportions turned out but it was good for me to try to paint things beyond blobs. I’m good at blobs. Not so great at straight things. Learning curves are a pill.

Clifton was really cool and brought me duck feathers so I can make earrings. I’m stoked. Good friends bring dead ducks over. Its a thing. He sent me a picture of the painting in it’s new home next to the TV playing Lord of the Rings. It was a deep set moment of nerd accomplishment to know my painting was hanging up and being enjoyed.

STORY OF MY LIFE

2015-01-14T09:33:00.001-08:00

I made one of these to sit above my desk for a little while. Too often i get sucked into the internet and pinterest telling myself “I'm working! see, I'm planning” …only to never actually start. Or worse, to over think something during the middle and never finish. A goal of mine for this new year is to limit my social media time so i can spend more time creating. Good luck to all of you over-thinkers out there!

A Few Snapshots of Thanksgiving

2014-12-03T20:43:00.001-08:00

ARTIST DANNA RAY

2014-11-20T09:10:00.001-08:00

Perhaps because it feels so cold and foggy, I’ve been enjoying South Carolina Native’s Danna Ray’s rustic paintings inspired from the natural world. I particularly love the frosty mist and muted colors of the pieces below. It’s inspiring me to study those muted neutrals. I love the calm atmosphere a well mixed grey can give, especially as the warm and cool undertones play against each other. Here work can be found here http://www.dannaray.com/ and her etsy shop is Here.

ARTIST MICHELLE MORIN

2014-11-20T08:56:00.001-08:00

Every now and again you come across an artist who is just unbelievably talented and you need to sit and stare at the work to appreciate it. Artist Michelle Morin has her prints available in her etsy shop : UNITED THREAD. I seriously just love all of them. Her watercolors are meticulously layered and thoughtful with playful strokes. She mixes colors and patterns and textures and the end product is a busy but unified piece that begs you to study the details. Seriously, go ogle.

Art Loeb Trail, Pisgah Mountain

2014-10-14T16:43:00.001-07:00

Last week I took a little day hike with a friend so we could find some fun photo shoot locations. This little trail area is absolutely gorgeous and such a refresher to be up in the mountains again. There is a wide open ridge that overlooks everything and plenty of orange fall glory all around.

PUMKIN MUFFINS

2014-10-14T15:55:00.001-07:00

I’m pretty sure a post like this should accompany some words, or possibly a recipe or two and some nicely laid out steps of how we made these muffins. In reality I didn't actually help bake, I sat on the counter and talked and took pictures and left the hard stuff to the pro (that would be Anne). She is the best and I much enjoyed our rainy October catch up time.

Conte Charcoal

2014-10-13T10:28:00.001-07:00

I have been working on a drawing technique where you work from fuzzy to form and I’ve had a lot of fun trying to get people to look like people. I’ve never been good with anatomy or proportions so this is a huge learning curve and I've put off getting better in this area. My friends have been loaning their faces so i can practice which is equally amusing. I’ve done a few sketches on newsprint each night to keep it going.

BLACK WHITE & GOLD

2014-10-13T09:52:00.001-07:00

an earthy mix of Etsy finds for this fine Monday. I think these would be fun in an entry where you could put a bold dark color on the wall like black or navy. The textiles and art remind me of cold winter nights and camping. I’ve been drooling over those iron wall bookshelf hooks for a while. They’d snazzy up an office or reading nook.

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