Back by Popular Demand... Found Art Fridays!!

"Big Love" new Original Encaustic Painting -- available here for sale.

It has been many months since the fun days of "Found Art Fridays" here on the blog, and I must say that I miss the little community we were building together by sharing our artwork. I had originally intended to start another blog for this purpose, but the idea proved a tiny bit too daunting for my present time contraints. Yet now that little Nicky has started playschool 3 mornings a week, I do have a tiny bit of extra time. And I would love to start up Found Art Fridays again!! But this time, I am going to do things on a monthly rather than weekly basis. So, until further notice, the last Friday of the month will be Found Art Friday here on my blog.

For those of you who are new to the concept, the idea of Found Art Friday is that you (and I) create a piece of art based around a specific theme. Then I will share all of our work on the blog (with links back to your blog). All you need to do to participate is email me at cnichols19@aim.com to let me know that you have a Found Art piece. Then you can either blog about it, and I will swipe the picture from your post, or -- if you don't have a blog -- you can email me a jpeg of your image, and I will post it. Here are some more samples.

I'll give more instructions and information on the Found Art Friday concept as our deadline approaches. It is Friday, January 29, and the theme is -- in honor of Valentine's Day -- BIG LOVE! But, please get me your link or jpeg by Thursday, January 28th. I am so excited, and I hope that you will be able to participate!

A Moment of Gratitude

"A Light Around Her." Print available here.

I am sitting here on this snowy New York day watching the flakes gently drift down from the sky... and I am feeling such a surge of gratitude to so many people. To my mom right now for kindly taking my daughter on a walk so that I can relax. And to my friend, Ellen, because she made me laugh all night last night. To my husband for taking the children to school this morning. To the Nahcotta Gallery for selling my MADLY painting even before opening night (how did you guys do that?!). And VERY much to all of you who are reading this blog today. I appreciate you all so much for caring about the stories I spin with paint and imagination and for kindly logging in to share your thoughts. So THANK YOU!

And, oh my goodness, another special thank you to ANNABELLE today because it is her birthday. She is 3! Thank you, Annabelle, for being such a brilliant, fiesty yet gentle soul. I love you.

Wishing you a great day today! May you feel 'a light around you.'

VERBATIM show opens tomorrow!

The Verbatim show will be opening tomorrow, January 5th, at Nahcotta! My painting, MADLY, will be in the show, and I'm so excited to see how the other artists have incorporated a word into their artwork. If you live near Portsmouth, NH, be sure to stop by the official opening on the evening of January 8th -- this Friday. I would have come to the opening, but January 8th is also my Annabelle's 3rd birthday! :)

My piece for the Verbatim show: MADLY. Prints on sale here at Etsy.

This Boy is a Genius

I just have to share this video of Melissa Moss's son, Sam, playing the drums. He is 2 and 1/2. I truly think he is amazing, not to mention totally adorable. Enjoy!

Le Sapin Magnifique

My husband's family is visiting from France, and he took them on a whirlwind tour of sub-zero Manhattan yesterday. Despite the frigid temperatures, the tree at Rockefeller Center still warmed their hearts. It is so beautiful & will always embody a special spirit of Christmas for me.

Things are hectic around here, and I am fighting an ear infection (probably from creating all of those wax paintings with the windows open on my sunporch -- oops). Nonetheless, I am SO excited for Santa to come tomorrow. It will be our first Christmas in the US in our own home. :)

Wishing you and your family a wonderful Christmas Eve. If you have a moment, I am featured on SprayGraphic in an artist interview. You can read it here.

7 Day Sale!

I'm having a 20% Off Sale this week (Dec. 14-20) on my original paintings. Stop by the Etsy shop to puruse the selections! :))

New Encaustic Painting: "I Know That You Love Me"

My first large 28x20 inch wax encaustic painting on 2" cradled wood:
"I Know that You Love Me." Original is SOLD.

Here I am posing with my painting in the studio. I figured I would take the picture while wearing a matching sweater!

Detail of girl holding flower in the forest.

A detail of the forest.

And here is "I Know that You Love Me" temporarily hanging in our living room until moving to Caffe Portofino this weekend.

This painting is my first foray at making a larger-sized (28x20) encaustic painting, and it is my new favorite piece ever. It was quite an interesting (and somewhat challenging) process. The hardest part was applying the wax in my semi-freezing studio/sun porch. The porch is heated, but when I turn on my heat gun, a fuse blows all the time. So I usually just forgo heat in lieu of art-making! But with such a large area to cover with wax, it was tedius to apply the big sections of color (and to fuse them all with the heat gun). Yet I truly love this painting, and it will be hard for me to part with it.


Yet "I Know that You Love Me" will soon be hanging in Caffe Portofino in Northport. This is because this beautiful cafe has sold 8 of my paintings in the past week!! So I had to create something new to replace them. I can't wait to put it up on the walls this weekend (though it does really match our living room!).