New Customizable Wall Art

I had a lot of fun this week creating some art blocks for children, and one of the things I stumbled upon was this new idea to personlize my "Little Start" art block (guitar piece). This original painting actual resides in my son, Nicky's room, but I created a print on wood for a baby named Logan this weekend, and I just love the effect of adding his name in cut paper! I'm now selling these customizable prints on wood at my Etsy shop.

And, PS, I wholeheartedly apologize to all of my lovely Found Art Friday participants, but I completely forgot to post a theme this month. Duh. I have just been struggling to regain my momentum for the past month after being so sick in April. But I am definitely feeling well again. Thank goodness. But, in terms of FAF, I am going to randomly pick a theme right now from a word generator. Here it is: ORDINARY. Oh my. This is a tough one. Well. Since we only have one week left, I suppose this FAF is for the true creatives out there! I am going to try it. :)

Grandma, where are all the Easter Eggs?

Tiny Portrait #2 in the Penny June Series. 5x7 acrylic & cut paper on wood.

Here is another portrait of the adorable PJ with her maternal grandmother. They are actually attending an Easter Egg Hunt in New York, hence the cute bunny ears. Though, personally, I don't think animal ears should be reserved for holidays. Grandpas are coming soon...

Baby Love

Tiny Portrait of PJ and Grandma Toni - 5x7 inches, acrylic on wood panel.

I finished my first in a series of 4 tiny portraits featuring this beautiful baby and her grandparents. Of course, I used a snippet of Basic Grey paper to create PJ's pinafore. Then I used the peach color for Toni's shirt. I think the colors are very springy. I so wish this had been completed for Mother's Day, but time is so short now that my husband is working away from home. I run back to work after dropping Annabelle & Nicky off at playschool. Then, by the time I set up my color pallette, I only have an hour to work. But today there is a nap happening (for about 4 more minutes!).

I hope that you all had a wonderful Mother's Day and that you were celebrated (you DEFINITELY deserve it, moms!!!)

A Tiny Portrait in Progress: Grandma & Baby

I've finally started the 4 tiny portraits I will be doing of this beautiful baby, Penny June. Her parents ordered a tiny portrait last year of themselves with her as a newborn, and they have commissioned me to paint her next with each grandparent. Here she is with her Grandma Toni at the lake. I just love the expression of joy on Toni's face and the way that Penny June is gazing at her adoringly.

Happy Found Art Friday: GOLDEN

"We Are Golden" by Cathy Nichols (me!)

"Royal Perch" by Megan Woodward Johnson.

"Golden Bird" by Emma Talbot.

"Golden Hour" by Gina Lee Kim

"Speech is Silver, Silence is Golden" by Louise Gale.

Lovely Golden Plastic Stars photographed by Veronica Diago.

(See her whole "gold" series on her blog.)

"Golden Boy" by Cathie Carlson.

"Golden" by Heather Kirtland.

"Golden" by Pippin.

What a gorgeous grouping of pieces here for April's FAF! The golds, oranges, blues, greens and purples everyone has used truly resonate with my feelings of emerging spring here in New York. And I love that we have so many interpretations of "golden" here -- both emotional and aesthetic, figurative and abstract. Thank you so much, Pippin, Heather, Cathie, Veronica, Louise, Gina & Emma for making this such a pretty post.

Print Giveaway on Style Lush Blog!

Good morning! Thank you all so much for your sweet congratulations on my Artful Blogging article. You know, I'm actually just as proud of the writing in that piece as the artwork. I hope you can dig up a copy somewhere in your neighborhood.

This week, the wonderful blog, Style Lush, is doing a giveaway of one of my prints. The winner gets to pick the print they'd like from my Etsy shop. So if you need a Mother's Day gift, this may be a great opportunity. You can find out the details here.

Thank you to the artists that have already sent me their "GOLDEN" FAF image. I've just finished my piece tihs afternoon and can't wait to do the post!

I'm in Artful Blogging Magazine!

Yay! The Summer 2010 Issue of Artful Bloggging just arrived in my mailbox yesterday, and I couldn't be happier with their gorgeous 8-page feature on my work! Plus, there is my "I'm the Queen of My Imagination" painting right on the cover (plus a snipped from "Little Darling" in the upper right).

In the article, I talk about my joy at meeting friends and building an online community through blogging.

And, as promised, I devote quite a bit of ink to our "Found Art Fridays" project! Speaking of which, this coming Friday is April's "Found Art Friday," and I am already working up a piece for our beautiful and springlike theme: GOLDEN. If you plan to participate, please email me a link to your blog where you've posted your "golden" piece or a jpeg of the image (if you don't have a blog) by this Thursday, April 29. I can't wait to fill the blog with gold...