Eden Original - Lover's Eye

I'm painting a "Lover's Eye" for the Cactus Gallery ornament show. Fun to focus on all the tiny details. Working from a photo, I painted most of this with the painting upside-down. Helps to get the shapes right without using your brain to re-interpret what you are seeing. 

Art Lesson - Watercolor Whales

Today we used watercolor and oil pastels to paint some pink dappled whales. We talked about how different size brushes are used to paint large and small areas on the paper. We also talked about how shadows make things look dappled underwater and we learned how to create that effect. Such happy little whales!

Eden Original - Tattoo Anchor Art

New tattoo inspired artwork. 

I'm still trying to figure out what to write across the banner. Any suggestions?

"Anchored"

Acrylic on canvas

36 x 36 inches

Taylor Swift "Blank Space" Video dress

My daughter and I had tickets to see Taylor Swift for her 1989 Tour at Petco Park in San Diego. We found out that her fans love to dress up as Taylor or fun characters inspired by her lyrics, so my daughter asked if I could make her a version of the floral dress from the "Blank Space" video. First step,  a trip to Goodwill to find a similar dress. I found an adult dress, but knew I could take it using the glue gun. It was easy because we just had to cut the hem shorter and take in the waist.

We ripped apart silk flowers and separated the individual layers to hot glue them onto the dress. We tried to pick colors that were similar to Taylor's dress, but didn't try to copy it exactly.

 

We had an amazing time at the show and everyone complimented her dress. She felt like a princess!

Thanks for the inspiration, Taylor!

The Spheres at MacArthur Park

Today I worked with Portraits of Hope at MacArthur Park to help create a massive public art project. The Spheres at MacArthur Park is a massive floating artwork on the lake. Huge floating spheres from 4 to 6 feet in diameter were handprinted by school children and volunteers. 

I was there to help with the installation.

First, I offloaded the spheres, dumped two bottles of water into each to give them a little weight and then inflated them. Once inflated, I helped create weights from river rocks. These were attached to the spheres and they were towed by canoe out onto the lake.

The project was designed by artists Bernie and Ed Massey. It is absolutely gorgeous to see it come together. If you live in the Los Angeles area, please make a trip out to see it. The spheres will be in place through September.

Alvarez Paper Mache Clowns

Some people find clowns creepy, but I really love them. I love a lot of creepy things, so maybe that's not too surprising. I'm on vacation in Arkansas visiting family and while I'm here I love going to estate sales. Today, I stumbled upon a collection of vintage paper mache clowns. 

They were signed "Alvarez Mexico".

If they weren't so fragile, I would have taken all of them home. Aren't they great? 

Each one stood from about 12 inches to 18 inches high!

One of my favorites was this little guy with an egg in a frying pan. I told my husband I wanted to take him home and he said, "so he can come to life and kill me in the night?" Now why would anything this sweet want to do something like that? ;)

Artiscope - Amanda Oleander

In case you aren't familiar with it yet, Periscope is a fairly new app which allows you to link with your Twitter followers and broadcast live to them. It's super fun to use and many creative people have been taking advantage of this new opportunity to connect with collectors directly while you are creating! 

The "Queen of Periscope" is artist Amanda Oleander. She hosted a Periscope art show called ARTISCOPE in Santa Monica today and invited me to come down and check it out and meet her. I have to say, Amanda is a doll and the show was super fun.

If you want to check us out on Periscope just look for me or Amanda Oleander.

See you when I scope!

Faux Mercury Glass

I absolutely love the look of mercury glass, but it's so expensive! So, I decided to try and create something myself using a plain glass head and Krylon "Looking Glass" spray paint. It was so easy and worked really well. 

What you'll need. Any glass object, Krylon "Looking Glass" spray paint, and a spray bottle capable of spraying a fine mist of water. Fill the spray bottle with water and a couple drops of vinegar. 

Now you are ready to turn anything glass into mercury glass...

Spray the back side of your object with water until it starts to form droplets. For this head, I sprayed the inside. Then spray a light mist of the mirrored paint. Let it dry and keep alternating. Spray again with water, spray with paint. Let it dry. Drying only takes a few minutes and it doesn't have to be completely dry to keep going. The water will repel the paint from sticking to the glass and after a few times you will start to see bubbling and streaks in your glass. This is the mercury effect you are going for.

Just keep at it until you start to see the mirror shining. You can then blot your item carefully with paper towels. I'm really happy with how the final item looks. It would look right at home in Anthropologie (my favorite shop).  If you do it on a vase, you will have to put another smaller container inside to hold water since this surface is delicate and will not be good for cut flowers. Give it a try, it's super easy and makes a really impressive piece.

Eden Original - work in progress

Here's another new goldfish in my latest painting "Butterfly Heart".

I'm having such fun painting these little fish. When I was a little girl, I had some of these fancy goldfish and I've always loved their fat bodies and translucent fins.

Painting them reminds me of that pretty fish in Pinnochio. Remember?

Happy Fourth of July 2015

Just got to Downtown LA for the Fourth of July celebration and fireworks... What do you think I found? A community mural project! So much fun. So, I jumped in and started painting with the rest of my family. Fun times. Happy 4th to everyone!

Hausfrau - audio book

When I am painting, I often listen to audio books. I had to share this book because not only is it a wonderfully sad and beautifully written story, but also the cover art is amazing! 

I love the faded flowers against this blue. It's gorgeous.

Mural - North Hollywood

Most people don't walk in LA, but my car is in the shop, so I decided to walk about three miles back home. As I walked I came across this beautiful mural painted on a theater in North Hollywood. Isn't it gorgeous? I love the use of yellow and purple together. Amazing! Of course, I had to stop and take a pic to share it. LOVE when I find public art and I'm not expecting it! This makes me happy. #artattack

Eden Original - Butterfly Heart

Starting to fill in some more fish on my "Butterfly Heart" painting. Shapes and shadows... here we go!

Gallery Show - These Birdly Delights

I'm at the opening for the 7th Annual BIRD themed show at Cactus Gallery!

Come out and join us. 3001 North Coolidge Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90039

Arclight Contest - Pulp Fiction

Another entry for the Arclight Cinemas photo contest. This time I recreated the classic pic from Pulp Fiction using my daughter as Mia. I think she's got the attitude right. If we win the prize is free tickets for life. Fingers crossed!

* Update! We didn't win, but this one was chosen as a finalist.
So, we got two free tickets. Thanks Arclight!

Eden Original - work in progress

Starting to paint some happy little goldfish onto my painting "Butterfly Heart".

One of the themes of this painting is how we appreciate uneven coloring in animals, but in humans it is seen as something to hide or cover up.

Show your stripes. Be proud like a tiger.

Arclight Contest - Say Anything

Arclight Cinemas are having a contest to recreate your favorite movie scene. I decided to go for a really novel approach and make a salad out of an 80s classic! This is my version of "Say Anything" with John Cu-cumber. Fingers crossed that the judges appreciate my sense of humor! 

Eden Original - Ornithophobia

Just completed my birdhouse for the next show at Cactus Gallery, "These Birdly Delights". On display, there will be many birdhouses and paintings inspired by our feathered friends.

My contribution is an homage to the Alfred Hitchcock film, The Birds. My favorite scene was the birds slowly collecting until they weighed dow the power lines. The pupil in the large eye is actually the door of the birdhouse. I am a huge fan of Hitchcock movies, so this was especially fun for me. 

Please come to the opening reception at Cactus Gallery on June 13 6-9pm.

3001 North Coolidge Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90039 

Art Lesson - Frida Kahlo

Often my students create work that is better than I imagine (and I can image some pretty great stuff). I'm so proud of their interpretations of the portraits of Frida Kahlo. Just beautiful. 

Oil pastels on grey paper.

Art Lesson - Claes Oldenberg

We really were hungry by the end of this lesson! Making paper sculptures based on the whimsical work of Claes Oldenberg. We cut, stapled, glued, and stuffed giant pizza slices out of construction paper. We put them all together to make one GIANT pizza! Really cute project, but they wanted real pizza when it was over! Ha!

Art Lesson - Kenny Scharf

Today we made some fantastic colorful drawings based on the wonderful Kenny Scharf. 

Kenny is an amazing guy and the kids loved hearing that he actually went to the same school when he was a little boy. Fun facts! We worked on black cardstock with oil pastels for these awesome versions of his fun pop art donuts and his "red scary guy".