New Triptych - "HELLO SUMMER"

Click the image to purchase prints on ETSY.

Well... I was all set to do a commissioned piece yesterday, but we had a little accident with the wood (seems it's time to buy a new saw). So I did this one instead. It was our first sunny day on Long Island since I returned home from brilliantly lit Los Angeles, so I was feeling YELLOW. It's a 3 piece mixed media painting on wood. It was a lot of fun, but I realized that yellow is a lot harder to work with than I'd imagined. I'm not sure if it looks better in this order or with the bicycle in the middle. I'm liking it this way right now.

On a less than happy note, I just want to remind all of you parents out there to lock your stairway gates. I was home by myself painting, so I didn't lock the gate as my 15-month daughter wasn't home. Then she arrived with Papa and, after helping me put away the groceries, she wandered off to play. A few minutes later, I heard a terrible thumping sound, and I realized, with horror, what had happened. Annabelle had climbed up the stairs and tumbled down several flights of them (only her pacifier on the 6th step held any clue of her actual ascent). My poor baby!!!! We took her to the doctor right away, and she's totally fine. Luckily we just finished having the stairs carpeted. Thank God. I have never been so scared & had nightmares all last night about an ungated, ultra-wide stairway threshold.

I am now locking the gate even when I'm home alone (just for practice).

Cover of Canvas Magazine!

Well, I've finally returned from my beautiful vacation in Los Angeles. It is a bit dreary here on Long Island in comparison BUT I was happy to find that my painting "Blue Bicycle" was chosen for this month's cover of Canvas magazine. What a nice surprise!!

Despite this great news, I do miss my friends and loved ones in California. One of the highlights of my trip was spending the day painting with Marisa of Creative Thursday in her gorgeous, sunroom studio. She has pictures of our creative day on her blog. I'm wearing an atrocious t-shirt and maternity sweatpants but having a fun doing a commissioned abstract piece for my dear friend, Catie. I was worried, but she loved the piece and is placing it in her new condo by the ocean. I must say, I'm a bit jealous of my own artwork's new home!! :))

Before I sign off, I want to add a special note of thanks to all of you out there who were kind enough to wish me congratulations on the pending birth of our baby boy!! That was SO sweet of you all! Plus, I had a great time checking out all of your blogs & finding some new favorites to visit! Thank you!

Oh So Pretty at Santa Monica Airport Artwalk

I had such a nice afternoon wandering through the Santa Monica Airport Artwalk today! And, along with viewing some fabulous art, I had the great pleasure of meeting a new clothing designer -- Sossie Vanek Wheeler - - of Velvet Ocean Designs.  I completely fell in love with her quirky, whimsical clothing line and warm personality. 

My only regret is that I didn't bring my digital camera to capture her organic orange velvet dress (oh, yes, and that I didn't BUY it because I'm 6 months pregnant and wondering if I will ever fit into normal clothes again!).   

Her clothing can be purchased online at Polka Dots and Moonbeams OR if you are lucky enough to live near Santa Monica, you can buy them directly from Sossie at her studio in the Santa Monica Airport every first and last Sunday of the month or by appointment.

It's a BOY!!

I'm happy to announce that we are expecting our second child -- a BOY -- in July!! We wanted to wait until the amnio results were in before making the announcement, but we have the results, and it seems our little one is fine (so far, of course)! YAY! We can't quite agree on a name, but hopefully he won't be "baby boy" for much longer. I'm so glad that Annabelle will have a little brother to play with this summer... only 18 months apart...

And, as luck would have it, Real Simple Online has just done a fabulous round-up of affordable children's art.  It was a happy surprise, too, to see that my new piece, "Sanctuary" was included among the 60 artworks and artists listed! Prints of this piece are on sale at my ETSY store, the original is for sale through my website and will soon be hanging in the Ten Women Venice gallery.  The list is wonderful -- and I've found so many new artists to decorate my nursery, too!! It couldn't have come at a better time! Have a happy Saturday & Easter everyone!! I'm currently on 'vacation' with baby Annabelle in California.

Happy Monday ETSY Print Sale

Good morning! Here is my latest "Happy Monday" print for sale on my ETSY site: "Think Pink." I just love the festive colors and springy feeling in this one. And it will be my last ETSY sale for a few weeks as I am going on vacation to first Florida, then California until 4/5 starting tomorrow. I can't wait to see all of my friends in Los Angeles!! :-)

Lots of New Original Artwork for Sale!

I've finally uploaded a ton of original new paintings to my website. They are all for sale starting this evening. Yay! The sad fact is that I had time for this enormous undertaking because my whole family spent this afternoon in my office/studio -- me, my fiance & our 14-month old daughter. It was truly dreadful, but we had to be here because we were having our entire upstairs carpeted, and Annabelle doesn't yet know how to get down from the stairs. She just climbs them and gets trapped up there. And, apparently, the workers didn't know how to use a baby gate. Hmmm.... oh well! We survived!! And the new carpeting looks gorgeous (despite Annabelle's immediate christening of it with orange-colored, spaghetti dinner barf). Yummy. ;-)

My Treasury is on the ETSY Front Page!

I must say, I'm even more excited than if my own artwork had made it there! I feel like the curator extraordinaire. Yay!

http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list.php?room_id=32683