A Whimsical Bohemian

Where does the time go?

2012-01-26T11:18:30-08:00

Holy smokes it's been ten days since my last post.........I am currently working on sorting myself out on a few issues while creating new art pieces. My aim is to get my Shoppe reopened very soon so I am working on getting proper photos of everything while continuing to create. ART is THE best calmer there is.....it soothes the soul for sure.

Sneak peek at the ones done so far.............hmmm what do they fully look like??? In due time, in due time.

In the meantime I hope all of you are healthy, happy and following your bliss!

See you soon....hopefully 10 days won't go by again!

OUR WORLD OUR ART NEWSLETTER UPDATE

2012-01-16T10:19:28-08:00

Hello all - I wanted to let everyone know that I found out today that the site I was using for the OWOA newsletter is shutting down for good the end of this month. Today I sent out the final newsletter. I want you all to know that my blog will be updated as necessary so PLEASE check back. IF I find a new site I have downloaded the email list just in case - but for now the information page contains all you need to know:

http://awhimsicalbohemian.typepad.com/a_whimsical_bohemian/what-you-need-to-know-.html

I apologize for this as I know reminders are helpful. Sometimes things happen that are beyond our control.

The post below has the new badge/avatar you can add to your sidebars as another reminder as well as letting others who frequent your blog know about it. Please make it clickable to the above info page link.

As I said in the newsletter the date has not been set yet but I am thinking near the end of March to start Spring. I will be announcing the exact date sometime in February so get those creative juices thinking.

Your support and enthusiasm about this brand new event is wonderful !!! and remember this is NOT One World One Heart anymore...........I know it's easy to call it that after 5 years but this is a brand NEW event with a brand new name: OUR WORLD OUR ART!

Much love and appreciation,

Lisa

P.S. I have a new painting to share in my next post!

New Our World Our Art logo and some quick info

2012-01-10T15:16:58-08:00

I wanted to let you all know no date has been set for the start of this event yet - it is possible it may not be until sometime in March for various reasons. Would be a nice way to start Spring though, don't you think?. So keep watching this blog, sign up for the newsletter if you haven't already, and/or click on the logo in my left sidebar for additional information as it comes in. The next newsletter should go out in the next week or so. This is a HUGE undertaking as you know so things need to be aligned for me to give it my full attention. I am currently seeking employment so it may mean when the event begins links won't be added until each evening. But we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. Oh to make a living with my art!!!

Here is the logo:

Below is a small one for sidebars (or you can copy the larger one to your computer and resize to whatever size you need)- please make it link it back to the URL below (you can copy and paste it) so those that see it on your blog that don't know about it can get all the information by clicking on the logo in your sidebar.

http://awhimsicalbohemian.typepad.com/a_whimsical_bohemian/what-you-need-to-know-.html

If you do not know how to add this to your sidebar as a clickable image and you are on Typepad or Blogspot you can email me for directions (it's really easy). I am so sorry but I do not know how to add an image with a link in other types of blogs.

So that's it for now........Happy New Year a bit late. I am making no resolutions....they always set one up for feeling like a failure if they aren't met. Who needs that? I hope you are well and happy and following your bliss! See you soon!

Celebrating Christmas and a Friends Birthday on the same day.......with ART to share

2011-12-27T13:08:39-08:00

Hello all, I trust you all had a good holiday whatever you did and whomever you were with. It's hard to believe it's over but if I am to be honest with you, I'm somewhat glad. December is a tough month for me as it's a time of remembering and missing my Mom even more and my oldest brother and all the raucaous family gatherings of yore. BUT it is what it is and we got through it - thanks in large part to going to our friends on Christmas day....they may not be family by blood but they are family nonetheless and it made the day very special.

They are our dear friends June and Ray. This is the second year we have gone to their home for Christmas in the lovely Santa Cruz mountains.

(I borrowed this above photo from her blog of their beautiful tree and just some of the decorations)

So BohoHandyman and I made and brought 4 quiches of various kinds and 5 loaves of pumpkin bread......these served as appetizers and were nearly all scarfed down right after we put them out. (that's always a compliment) We actually made 6 of each but kept a couple quiches and one bread at home. The house was busy with people and cooking and a lovely table set when we arrived.

There were 12 people for dinner that included us... Ray and June, June's parents who came to stay for the first time from Nevada - it was wonderful finally meeting them, both are so sweet and her Mom is a very talented needlepointer and plans to join in OWOA in Feb..... one of her sisters (who I hadn't met before either) came for the first time as well and she is a crack up......There was also Ray's Dad

who is as spry and sharp as a tack, still lives alone and drives over the hill..... and he is 92!!!! (the above photo was taken last Christmas while we played a game, he's wearing one of the party hats I brought for June's birthday that year) After meeting him I formed a mad crush. Sadly I didn't take photos this year...I was just too busy visiting.

Ray's 3 grown kids were there too......and Ray's best friend Mark (who I've come to consider a good guy friend) and us. It was a great group.Their home was decorated up beautifully, the long table set so lovely and all the food was served with love.

But that's not all we celebrated that day, you see June was born on Christmas Day so of course that is celebrated separately......later after dinner Ray brought out the cutest snowman cake made by a friend of theirs (sorry you can't see the front of him but he had a real carrot nose and real twigs for arms)...

The other cake was made by Ray with three snowmen atop and a big # "2" candle instead of a bunch of candles. He used a 2 to celebrate it was their second birthday/Christmas together. How sweet! I was so chomping at the bit to give her my gift ALL day but I waited....we did the singing, the cake and she opened other gifts first and then......

(By the way for those of you who have done One World One Heart over the years.....Ray and June are a love connection that came from the 2010 OWOH event. She had wanted to set up a blog AND be a part of OWOH after hearing about it for so long...so that year she did. A blogger in Montana who "met" June through OWOH that year saw where June lived and informed her she had a male friend who also lived in June's area and thought perhaps they'd be a good match. She and Ray ended up emailing one another, finally met in person.....and the rest is history. How about that? I laugh that I am responsible for them meeting in a six degrees of separation sort of way) Anyway.........

Insteading of wrapping the doll I set her in a plastic bucket padded at the bottom and lined in a garbage bag then surrounded her and covered her with a towel. When it came time for June to "open it" I had her close her eyes while I took it out to place her on the table. As I was placing it on the table everyone was gathered around and let out a sort of gasp sound (to my delight) which sort of freaked out June as to what the heck I was doing. I then had her open her eyes.....she saw it, started to cry and then grabbed me in a hug. (luckily BohoHandyman thought to grab the camera)

(just the reaction I'd hoped for)

Here is the backstory of the gift......(before I show you)..... June is a very talented artist who in 2010 decided to do some art with more whimsy to it thus she did some watercolors of various characters. From those characters she began writing a story that has since become an entire book she is hoping to get published. I've read it and it's REALLY good....one of those characters became her favorite and THAT was what I decided to base my gift on. I studied her illustration and she began to come to life. Keep in mind even though I knew I wanted to make this for awhile I didn't start until the morning of December 20th - (talk about putting pressure on yourself and having to work on it truly 10 hours a day) But it was a labor of love. I am always tweaking and touching up and reworking so it could have even been better had I given myself more time...but she is sweet nonetheless and she giggled as she came to life (always a good sign).

click images to enlarge.

This is a closeup of her original illustration of Mathilda Wickcliff

Here is Mathilda come to life in the form of the "art doll" I created for her

This is the full illustration (I only did Mathilda)

This is the full piece. The various elements around her represent elements/characters in the story. In her right hand she is holding up an actual leather bound book I made with the title of the actual book on the cover. The character likes to have tea parties so I have her holding a cup of tea and she LOVES her music CD's so I incorporated that too. The stump she sits on is from our orange tree which represents the Grandfather tree in her story and the key represents a major element in the story as well. I need to have June measure the height of the entire piece (I forgot to do that) but it's definitely over a foot tall.

This is Mathilda from the back, again the items you see are representations of other characters in her book. Too long to explain each one. The back of her t-shirt says "The Musky Deers" which also comes from the story.

This is her from one side.

This element represents a part of the story where the 3 children go through a "Gateway" that is surrounded by a gel-like water. I put an LED tealight behind it for the glow - she can turn it off and on.

The surprising (or maybe not so surprising part, is that except for one thing I had everything else in my studio stash) It has really helped to start up the mojo again and now I plan to bring to life some of my own illustrations and perhaps for others who may want to special order a 3D image of one of their own illustrations ......... Email me if you are interested!!

After all of this we all sat and played a game I'd not heard of before - it was fun AND frustrating...... it's called What's Yours Like?....... click here and watch the video on how it's played....you may want it for your next gathering.

Well my friends this has been a LOOOONNNNNNGGGG post. I hope you are all relaxing from all the food, drink and festivities! I'm off to think about my next 3D Illustration Doll while having a slice of Mediterranean quiche.

I wish you all peace and I thank you if you read this entire post - always appreciated!

Love,

Wishing all of you.......

2011-12-21T09:01:23-08:00

A VERY HAPPY, HEALTHY, PEACEFUL & MAGICAL HOLIDAY!!!

LOVE, LISA

XOXOXO

A long post....house stuff first then some OWOA business

2011-12-07T12:22:38-08:00

Greetings everyone..........I suspect you are in the midst of Holiday fever......shopping, decorating, baking, making lists etc. Then again maybe you're like me and you're just going with the flow. Either way I hope you're taking time to just breathe and enjoy!

I have a couple more home projects to share........things evolve on a daily basis around here....my head spins. Nary a Christmas decoration is in place yet BUT this weekend we hope to accomplish that providing things are put back in place.

Since we did the kitchen makeover I found that living with certain things the way they were just didn't work for me so, of course, I changed some things. One being the kitchen table. I had replaced the original rectangle with a round one but I knew after all this time I wanted to bring back the original one but revamp it AND find some cool old benches. Well we found a long bench that BohoHandyman cut in to two and then made new "legs" using the original as a pattern since cutting it in half there weren't enough for both ends of 2 benches. I will not be painting the benches. I have never liked the orangy finish on the table so we took it out back and I proceeded to sand it with a hand sander. The intent to bring it down to plain pine and a more rustic, natural finish....well to my utter disappointment it's not even a pine table...oh no. It was painted to look like one including knots that disappeared the minute I sanded them. So what's a gal to do...PAINT it of course. And while I was at it I decided the shelves we had on the wall were too white AND the hutch was too big in there so the shelves are now black and the hutch replaced by a find from my fave consignment store...........see what I mean about evolving.

You can click photos to enlarge.

Before:

After: (top painted with Annie Sloan chalk paint in "CoCo" and the bottom with "Chateau Gray"{which is actually a green tone}) I prefer a more rustic look......French farmhouse???

One of the end arm chairs to the table is waiting to be painted and the seat recovered to go on the open end. (only so many hours in a day) I am still deciding on the perfect center piece and I have 3 plates waiting to be hung on the wall below the chair rail. Have you heard of these? I had to order them.

Another change was the front door on the inside.......it's a metal door made to look wood and ready to paint or stain. It's been plain for years.....that is until 2 days ago. I wanted drama!

Door before: (photo taken when we first started to look at wall colors etc)

Front door after: I painted it 3 colors until deciding on the faux aged look with teal. In person I must say it's fab. (that's the new wall color and trim painted with Ben.Moore "Hush" on the walls and "Elemental" on the trim)

Base boards aren't painted yet as we plan to replace them with new, higher ones.

And finally the new living room curtain panels......I had different ones from Pottery Barn in there but decided I want to use them in our room and replaced them these.

They really bring a "happy" feeling to the room, the deep teals and turquoise, red and persimmon and sage greens in the print go with everything I have. I like mixing things up in terms of rustic, Frenchy, plain, bold, and so on. Strangely they are similar to the area rug.

Trust me I didn't plan for that to happen and I know to some the two together may seem a bit busy but trust me it just works!

And finally..........are you bored to tears with all my house stuff yet? We did find the same fabric that is on the settee I found (see post below) - BUT in thinking about it and having cats we decided it was not sturdy enough as it's really a drapery weight, silkier fabric. So I kept looking knowing I still wanted it a rich ruby-like color and found this:

This is the best photo of it out there and does it NO justice whatsoever......the background is deeper, rich and luscious and the chenille damask is a lovely golden dark taupe. (and it picks up the deep color in the curtains too) Hopefully I'll have the fabric after the first of the year and can get it over to the upholsterer. I can't wait!

Of course the walls are still bare, we need a coffee table and the accessories out.........that's a whole other project. This is why I wake up with "monkey brain"....thoughts swinging from tree to tree. AND not to mention if I don't do some art soon I may explode!

So there you go, you can wake up now....splash a little cold water on your face and you'll be good to go! HA!

NOW on to OWOH business:

I wanted to let everyone know that I sent out an OUR WORLD OUR ART newsletter today......a very short one regarding new date information. This new event will take place at the end of February in to the first couple weeks of March 2012. I decided to push the date back so that everyone can relax and regroup after the holidays and New Year. I will send out (as well as post) the exact dates after the first of the year. IF you have signed up but did not receive this new one or have not received the first 2 newsletters with all the information sent earlier this year...........you can now click the flyer in my left side bar to get up to date. I realize there is a lot to read there but this way you can go back to it, copy and print it to read later....whatever you choose. PLEASE NOTE: By signing up to receive the newsletter it does not obligate you to participate in this event. When you sign up in the upper right sidebar you are merely saying you want to receive information about the event, it does not obligate you to participate. If you do not wish to receive the newsletter anymore you can opt out by clicking on "manage my subscription" at the bottom of the newsletter page.

This event is a BIG job and I really need to not only prepare as the host but as a participant as well......it takes a LOT of time so this new date is important for myself as well.

Soooooo...now it's time to end this novel and do some more "stuff" around here!!

See you soon..........hopefully before a week or more goes by!

Love and dreams of sugar plum fairies,

Lisa

OH how I love a good deal!!!

2011-11-29T12:11:54-08:00

I had to share my deal of the century and why I love Craigslist! For those who read my blog you know I have been redoing, repainting, repurposing this and that to get my living room just the way I want it and a couple things in the kitchen as well. It's slow going.......mostly because I have changed my mind so many times. But that's another story........... (hint: we changed the wall color).

Anyway........I like going to my favorite consignment store and have found many things there that are now in my home for amazingly low prices. Along with that I scan Ebay and Craigslist quite often....sometimes with nothing in mind but checking out random items...... but most of the time I have a purpose. This time I wanted to find a nice comfy chair or love seat to complete the seating area but could not afford brand new. So last Friday night...late...I was trolling through Craigslist when I happened on a listing for an antique love seat. I emailed the seller for dimensions. He finally wrote back and we did some measuring to find it was the perfect size. I emailed again and called to arrange to see it which we finally did on Sunday afternoon. Turns out it wasn't antique, which was fine, it was from Calico Corners (inside tags). Calico Corners sells furniture, custom upholstery and design services, high end fabric and custom drapes etc. It has damage from what appears to be from a cat and the top has a large faded area that appears to be sun damage (not sure). BUT the frame is SOLID as a rock. I took it to our upholstery go-to guy and he said it's a very well made piece and then he gave me the estimate to reupholster it for labor only (which wasn't horrible). We are going to wait a month or 2 before we have it done....besides I need to find the right fabric for a great price!

SOOOO.....I went to the Calico Corner website and there I found the settee (they don't call it a love seat) and I almost choked when I saw the price BEFORE fabric was added. Which brings me to why it's the deal of the centry.

Pardon the image quality as I had to print it and scan it because it wouldn't let me save it directly. This is an image they show so you can see the piece in a home setting.....well it turns out they are showing it in the EXACT fabric of the one we bought. The price from the site:

Frame price: $1,479 - Plus cost of fabric.

Now here is the one we bought. The man selling it said his wife had bought it (he didn't know from where) with the intent to reupholster it. Sadly she passed away a couple of years ago and he had no intention of doing anything with it so he decided to just sell it.

The cushion is amazing and even has down in it. The back padding is a perfect feel too. I truly do love the fabric - the ruby wine color is amazing in person. The back is high so your head can lean back comfortably. Sadly the entire back side is fine except the side edge where it was scratched on. The seat cushion is in great shape but for a couple wee pulls that can be snipped. You can see the area at the top where it has faded. (maybe even from water??)

You can see some of the scratching on the left side bottom arm.

Overall it's truly a great find. We vacumned it really well and Febreezed it so we could bring it in until we redo it (the photo is of it in my home). I didn't want to store it in the garage, and besides we can throw a cover on it and use it until it's redone as it's quite comfy AND 2 people can sit on it.

Now that you have all the details are you wondering what we paid for it???

Here you go:

$25 !!!!! yes, you read that right......$25.00!

I am thrilled!!! I am going to call Calico Corners to see if they still carry the fabric but I know if they do it's going to be beyond our budget. Never hurts to ask though.

Have you found a fabulous deal??

****************

I am still deciding on the dates for OWOA........could be February this time. Everyone needs time to get the holidays completely done with and time to create for the event. I will announce it in plenty of time. I still don't have a logo nailed down.....if YOU have a good idea for one I am open to suggestions....just email me.

In the meantime I guess it's time to think about Christmas........

Stay well, stay warm, stay creative!!!

I am thankful for you........

2011-11-23T08:38:21-08:00

click image to enlarge

And speaking of connections..........the next OWOA newsletter should go out next week. If you signed up after the first ones went out thus have not received all the information so far please let me know and I will forward them to you. I will also be doing a blog post all about it before the end of the year.

Keep those creative juices flowing!