Etsy Sale this weekend!

I hope that you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving and are now happily full. I'm still looking forward to celebrating Thanksgiving tomorrow with friends and many toddlers. I am battening down the hatches! In the meantime, I'm having a SALE at my Etsy shop this weekend (starting right now!). FREE SHIPPING shopwide & 20% off prints. Please stop by .... no need to stand in line at 5 a.m. for a designer tote bag door prize. Just sit comfortably at your computer and have fun!

Busy busy busy & Last Day for 20% Off Coupon

10x10 inch original painting: "Moon Song" encaustic on 2" wood panel - available here.

10x10 inch original & customizable encaustic painting on 2" thick wood panel : "Forever Tree." Original is SOLD.

5.5 x 6 inch encaustic painting on wood: "Resilience." Available here.

Oh my goodness, have I been busy lately. And today I finished 3 new paintings. Yes, there was a lot of coffee involved! I also had started them earlier in the week (or weeks), and finally had a chance to get them all done & uploaded to Etsy & my website today.

Big news: I'm having a HUGE SALE this weekend (me & the universe, I know!). In addition to my Etsy Black Friday/Cyber Monday sale (news coming soon about that), I will be sending a 20% off coupon for my entire website at www.cathynichols.com to everyone on my email list. Today is the last day to sign up, so please add your email to the subscribe now button here on the blog if you'd like the coupon code. And everyone on my subscriber list is eligible for my free 10-pack of holiday cards random drawing. The cards just arrived tonight, and they are gorgeous. The image is of "Skate Away."

Wishing you many sales & happy Thanksgiving preparations!!! I bought Nicky a blazer & bowtie for the event. Can't wait to see him in his outfit. xox

i am the queen of my imagination (in full)

"i am the queen of my imagination" 7x7.5 inch print on 8.5x11 inch paper. For sale here.

Detail.

Side View.

I was able to take some pictures of my "queen" today, and here she is in totality. Though, I must say, it is very hard to photograph this painting. The wax is so 3-dimensional and shiny that the angle of light must be exactly right (it may call for a professional eventually). You can really see this when comparing the detailed image to the cast shadows included on the face in the full picture. I am feeling the wisdom of Beth's advice to stick to painting 8x8 or smaller. Yet I am feeling a desire to go larger!

I had such a great time creating this piece. I am thinking of yellow for my next work. Yellow and hopeful.

Gift Boxes/ Mini Paintings for the Wall

Hand-Painted Encaustic Gift Box -- "Pink Lovebirds."

For sale here.

Encaustic "box top" Wall Art (buy set of 4 here).

Gosh. I just loved creating these gift boxes/mini encaustic paintings. It was a bit of a challenge for me to photograph 3d objects, but I had fun trying to work in both the painted surfaces as well as the patterned papered bottoms of each box. Then I had the genius insight to photograph just the tops of the boxes on the wall, and voila -- the boxes were transformed into a charming wall-art installation! :))

i am the queen of my imagination

"i am the queen of my imagination" 10x10 original encaustic & gold leaf on 2" cradled wood. This is a section of the image.

I finished this piece today while Christophe took the little ones to Gymboree, preschool and the library. I wish that you could see the whole piece because it has a greater impact in its full square proportions. This painting was such a learning experience for me. I finally got up the nerve to apply a full canvas of color (this blue), and I figured out how to include gold leaf (just rubbed it in -- how easy could it get??!). The crown is mostly gold leaf, and there are also incised gold portions of the star to the "queen's" right.

My favorite part of this painting is the part that made me giggle as I inscribed it. It's word "ME" inside the heart on her chest. After all, she is the queen, and it's her imagination! :) I loved creating this painting so much. It will be hard to sell the original. But prints will soon be for sale on Etsy when I can photograph the whole thing.

Stay tuned tomorrow for some special little gift boxes that I've been creating for the past week. They are super groovy if I do say so myself.

The Full Picture

"Only the Beginning" 10x10 inch original encaustic painting on 2" wood panel. Original for sale on my website.

Here is a shot of the painting on the wall (next to my slapdash floral arrangement).

As promised, I took some pictures of my newest piece to show the whole thing rather than just a portion. I had to take the pictures very quickly because the batteries were dying on my digital camera (and my son was tiring of the 3 toys in his playpen).

Tomorrow I will be doing more painting. Christophe is watching the children AND cooking dinner. Yay!!! Yet he told me I had to "prepare them" in the morning. I wonder what he means by this. Maybe I should dress them in toddler helmets and protective goggles? ;)

Only the Beginning

"Only the Beginning" excerpt from 10x10 inch original encaustic painting on 2" cradled wood panel. Prints are available here.

This piece is a bit of a departure for me as it is a free-form sketch/collage in wax. I could only manage to capture part of the original painting on my scanner (it was too big), but I think it looks kind of cool cropped. I do, however, intend to photograph the entire piece as soon as the sun decides to return to our rain-drenched city.

The inspiration for this painting is the Chicago song "Beginnings." I have not been able to get the chorus out of my head for 2 weeks now -- I've even etched it into this piece in tiny letters. This is such a happy song. Try singing the lyrics one day when you're in a bad mood, and see if it cheers you up.

Thank You for Being "A Friend for All Seasons"

"A Friend for All Seasons" holiday cards available here.

As a way of thanking my best customers & friends, I will soon be sending out a 20% off coupon to my email subscribers -- and I will send one randomly drawn name a set of my brand new "Skate Away" holiday cards and envelopes as soon as they arrive! If you'd like to join my mailing list just enter your email in the pink sign-up box at the top of my blog. And thank you as always & ever for being "A Friend for All Seasons."

Wishing you a continued happy "pre-holidays!" xox

Hoo Hoo Hoo, Merry (not quite yet) Christmas

"Hoo Hoo Hoo" available here for the first time as a print for Christmas 2009!

Yes, I know. It's only the beginning of November, but I passed by a huge inflatable Santa Claus on the way to Gymboree this morning and almost started hyperventilating. I always get way too stressed out over holiday shopping (mostly because I wait until the VERY last minute), and this year we are actually hosting relatives from France, so .... well... I'm starting early this year. Or at least I'm offering this happy little santa owl print at my Etsy shop right now. And some holiday cards featuring my little "A Friend for All Seasons" reindeer. New cards will be arriving after Thanksgiving, too. Now I guess I need to do start shopping. xox

Beautiful Mini Paintings By Melissa Moss

Double-sided Mini Paintings by Melissa Moss. Available here in her Etsy shop.

My lovely and talented friend, Melissa, has just posted 25 new Mini Paintings in her Etsy shop, and I just had to share them with you (before they're all gone). They are hand-painted tiny paintings that are strung from ribbon so that they can also be used as holiday ornaments. Best of all, they are only $35 each!! Check out all the paintings for some serious eye candy.

24 Hours in Portsmouth

First stop, Nahcotta Gallery. We paid a visit to the lovely Deb & Abbie, and I dropped off "MADLY" for the January 8th Verbatim show. I also showed them my new encaustic work (oh so professionally carried in a Halloween Jack'o Lantern bag -- at least it matched my outfit). And Brock & I checked out some of Rose Umerlik's gorgeous paintings. Her show is opening there tonight!


Then it was on to a walking tour of Portsmouth. And some delightful wine & very intricate, complicated food that I can't remember too well after the wine at the cozy, jazzy Black Trumpet. Finally we settled back in for the night at the perfect Ale House Inn.

Good Night, Portsmouth. You were one cool town.

On the ferry home (from CT to NY), I received the happy news that two of my original paintings -- "Together You Are Less Lonely" and "A Home for Bluebirds"-- had sold at Caffe Portofino that evening.

I can only say of the last 48 hours -- YAY! and THANK YOU to my mom for watching the babies and to Christophe for being the designated driver on this whirlwind road trip.

Introducing Brock Villagebrook (here with Faythe Levine)

Faythe Levine, Brock & I

Meet new Travel Kitty (attached to my orange scarf) -- Brock Villagebrook! I purchased/adopted him from the lovely Lisa Dalton at the screening of Faythe Levine's Handmade Nation last week.

If you can't see Brock clearly here (and really, who can?), don't worry. Christophe & I are going on a small road trip to New Hampshire until Thursday, and Brock will be certainly be peeking in for some photo ops. We are going to the Nahcotta Gallery to drop off my painting for the Verbatim show this January. And we are very excited to see some more fall foliage and to sample the great shops & restaurants of Portsmouth.

Glow

"Glow" 5.5x5.5 inch original encaustic painting on wood. For sale here.

I've been so overwhelmingly inspired by the gorgeous fall colors here on Long Island. There is a certain tree that I pass by every day, and it just burns the brightest, most spectacular red. I feel like it must be shining with all of its might to stave off the inevitable loss of its leaves and onslaught of winter. This painting is dedicated to that pretty tree (and to all of us who warm the cold days with out brightness).

PS -- right now the original of "Glow" is for sale at my Etsy shop, but I can create a print for you if you would like. Just email me!