2010 in Review

I cannot lie, 2010 kicked my butt over and over. I kept busy all year and I'm so tired and lazy now. In this entry, I dubbed 2010 to be the year of Art, and well, I definitely did my fair share of creativity! I consider this year to be a success. Now a list, of course! This year:

Started learning to tattoo (always a learning experience!), took a family vacation to Chattanooga, celebrated 6 years of marriage, had a photo in "Visions of Glory" (earned People's Favorite), had an interview with the local newspaper (front page news!), drove 13 hours to Michigan with my brother and cousin, discovered a new allergy (yuck!), dipped my toes in a Great Lake, organized an art fundraiser involving local artists (earned over $700 for the gallery), made props for a play and a dance recital, painted a mural for a local church, celebrated Maz's 8th birthday, volunteered for SlowExposures, was Matron of Honor for my dear friend Erica (Maz was the flower girl), painted a mural for the tattoo shop, had a full page spread in a local magazine, painted a piggy bank for a fundraiser, organized a Feline Foto Show for a nearby bookstore, painted a nursery, hosted Thanksgiving dinner at my house for the first time, painted Elvises for Christmas Lane, and finished school (for now?) and earned an Associate's Degree. In between all that, I spent time with friends and family, did lots of homework, and tried to maintain my sanity. Seriously, I was busy this year!

Looking back, I'm quite proud of myself and what I've done. Now to kick back and hang out at the shop for the afternoon, then come home for some video games and tacos to ring in the new year. I'll update soon with 2011's goals and wishes.

Christmas Lane Elvis

Christmas Lane opens on the first Saturday of December and every year the residents of R Street decorate their lawns for the holidays. Every time we visit Christmas Lane, I think to myself, man, I've got to get a my work on one of these lawns. This year, I was granted that chance!

I was asked if I could take the silhouettes of Elvis (meant to be painted black) and make them look like the real guy. I didn't even give myself the chance to really think about what I had to do, I just thought about how much fun it would be and immediately said, "Yes! I can do it!"

I get the large wood cutouts, prime them, then proceeded to stress out. How in the world am I going to make them look like Elvis? I consider myself not really good at realism, and even a couple of my friends shared my concerns. What did I get myself into?

So, I sucked it up and dove headfirst into all things Elvis. I painted for hours on end, and here's the result:

I was so pleased with the end result! And relieved! I think after the client picked the up I spent the entire next day in my pajamas, not doing a thing. Elvis is exhausting!

Here's are some blurry, cellphone photos of some of the progress:

Hurrah for overcoming challenges!

What We're Wearing Today

Since finishing school (FOREVER!), I've been trying to get back in the habit of drawing and sharing. Today I drew a picture of me and my outfit to share with the What I Wore Today Flickr Group.




Maz saw what I was doing and wanted to draw one too:




I hope to draw more of these in the future. I also hope to update my wardrobe asap! I've been in a fashion slump lately!

New Painting, Hurrah!

New Watercolor painting.

New Paintings!

Cherry Blossom Tree Branch Oil Painting on Canvas (24"x12")

Nut Up or Shut Up Acrylic Painting on Canvas (6"x6")
Both are available in my Etsy shop!

It's super nice to get back into painting again. Especially, painting on canvas. I would love to one day make enough money from my art to support the family. One day.


Check out this get-up! I know I built a lightbox awhile ago, but it just wasn't cutting it. So I purchased a foldable lightbox on eBay. But once I opened it, I knew that it wasn't going to get folded up again. Ever. I've got to find a permanent place for it, and get some more lights, and definitely a lint roller. The white fabric makes it super obvious that a black haired dog lives here. The manic part of me wants to reshoot every item in my Etsy shop, and well, that'll be nice, but it's sure to take a long time. Maybe I'll make an afternoon of it over the Christmas break.

Mellow Monday

My father-in-law's house is in the most perfect place to watch the sunset.

It's December. The holidays are quickly approaching and I'm quietly stressing out about the end of the quarter of school. I'm hoping I pass so it'll be the last class I take. I just want to stay home and paint, draw, carve, and take photographs. I should have a new painting to show off tomorrow! I'll get back into the swing of blogging this week, promise!

On My Desk Wednesday

I got caught up in my most recent large projects and it seems I've forgotten the blog. Well, I haven't forgotten, I just didn't have the energy to put into it. Today, though, is a brand new day. And I'm all about getting back into my own personal projects. Above, you'll see a new small print inspired by one of my favorite movies, Zombieland. I'm cleaning it up a big and when the block dries, I hope to make a few prints to put in my Etsy shop.

Nursery Mural, Complete

I'm slowly but surely wrapping up some large projects this week, so I'm not too worried about updating the blog. Last week was just the same, and full of visiting relatives and friends, so I didn't have time to think about much else, especially the internet.

I've been wanting to do a progress video on any of my large projects, and this nursery mural was perfect. I took a photo every twenty to thirty minutes then made a short video. The song is "Sleep" by The Dandy Warhols. I've been quite obsessed with them since seeing them a few weeks ago in Atlanta. They played an amazing show and afterwards I got to hug Zia, my favorite member of the band.

Enjoy the video and let me know what you think! :)

Painting a Nursery

This afternoon I started working on a nursery mural for a client. I brought Maz along since I she's a good kid, and I could use the company while painting. She's also a big help whenever I need her. After playing her DS, then reading for awhile, she got bored and started playing with my camera.


She got some shots of me working. I have some progress shots of the mural, but want to save them for another little project.


Maz also took a picture of my new paint/tool carrier. I found this Stanley Utility Tote at Walmart yesterday and couldn't pass it up. It's perfect! It holds paints, paintbrushes, rags, plastic containers, and everything else I need to take inside to work on my murals. I love it.

On My Desk Wednesday

Just last week I said, "I'm sure I'm going to get sick soon. I've been way too busy lately." The universe tells me to take a break the only way it knows how: by giving me an awful head cold that makes me completely unmotivated to do anything but sleep on the couch.
So Monday and most of Tuesday were spent doing, well, nothing and it was nice but I knew that time was slipping away from some of my projects. On the other hand, the cold made me not give a crap about deadlines. I didn't even do homework for my accounting class! Insanity!
I finally started feeling better yesterday afternoon and after I put Maz to bed I went down to the studio and started carving a new lino block. This is the first time I've attempted script letters in any print, so I'm curious if it'll turn out ok. At least I remembered to flip the drawing before copying it to the block!

Here's to Vitamin C and lots of warm tea!

Giving Away Art!

I let Random.org pick a winner for the Framed Edie Print:

And the fifth comment to the giveaway blog entry was:

Thanks to everyone that came by and left a comment! You definitely made my first art giveaway fun!
I'll probably do this again soon!

Naked Mole Rat!

Mazzy was assigned an animal project a few weeks ago. She had to pick an animal, write a report, and create a habitat for it. She picked the Naked Mole Rat.


We made a plan for the habitat and gathered supplies for it. Here we have a shoebox and green flower foam.


We glued the flower foam in the shoebox, then carved away bits of the foam to make a sideways view of an underground tunnel.


Then she covered the foam with dirt colored Model Magic. We covered the outside of the box with brown craft paper. She rolled roots from lighter colored Model Magic. Then she formed a mole rat from air dry clay.


And we're finally done!


Here's a closeup photo. Maz and I are quite proud of our hard work. And we could probably tell you everything you want to know about naked mole rats.

Monday Mail Call & An Awesome Thing

Postcards from various swaps on Swap-bot.com. Hooray for mail!


A few weeks ago, I was contacted by Kitchen Drawer magazine, a local publication that features the good things around the area. And of course, I was stoked and agreed to be photographed for their Day in the Life page. It's a good representation of how my Fridays are (Busy busy busy!). I'm so glad my family, my dog, and my buddy Heather got to be a part of this with me.

Kitchen Drawer is all sorts of awesome, and you can view the latest issue online here.

Sunday, Sunday, Sunday

The other day I tweeted about how I miss crocheting. I haven't crocheted in over a year, and with the arrival of super-cold weather in the South, so did the hankering to make a hat for the kiddo.

It's like riding a bike, you just don't forget how to do it. I bought some yarn, found my crochet hooks, and soon I had the beginnings of a hat. I'm a little concerned about the stress on my wrist, as I usually am, so I'm going to try to take it easy. Crocheting is, to me, awesome to do while watching t.v. Especially since I always feel like I'm wasting time when I'm watching a show (not during Dexter, of course!), and crocheting helps me feel productive.

I just signed up for Bloglovin'! Follow my blog with bloglovin.

Foto Friday

Foto Friday: Where I upload all the recent pictures from my phone and share them with you!
Reading Nicole Georges' zine Invincible Summer while eating lunch. I want to be Nicole's friend. Yep.


Halloween bonfire with friends. We were wondering how big we could get the fire. Well, pretty big, actually.

This past Monday we saw Interpol at the Tabernacle. It was our third time seeing them live and they did not disappoint. Their set list contained songs from all 4 of their cds and we were pleased to hear our favorites. They're an amazing band, and play a solid set every time. I'm sure we'll buy tickets the next time they visit Atlanta.

After every show we see in Atlanta we stop and eat a late dinner/super early breakfast at Ihop. They had a new treat and I couldn't pass it up. Coffee w/ whipped cream and chocolate chips? Sign me up!

Small Bouquet of Daisies

Here you see two stages of ten mini paintings I did. I spent about 4 hours total painting itty-bitty daisies on 4"x4" canvases to be given away as favors for the local Chamber of Commerce Annual Banquet.

The Arts Council asked local artists to donate their talents and art for 300+ goody bags to be placed at each seat. We had over 10 to 15 artists give us small items, ranging from pottery to painting to photography. This was a great event to promote our local artists, for a very low cost, and show the community the talented folks we have living here. I was very proud to help out with my time and talents, and I hope the banquet attendees appreciate the artwork they got to take home.

It's November! Let's Have a Giveaway!

I've been wanting to host a giveaway for weeks! So let's give something away, shall we?



I'll be giving away a framed original lino block print. A year or so ago, I had the chance to display my work at a nearby college campus. So I decided to do a series of block prints of portraits of people I found interesting. I named the series "Good Company" and you can see most of the images on my Flickr. Edie's print came about right after I carved and printed Andy's portrait. I figured I couldn't have Andy without Edie, right?





Edie's portrait is printed with blue ink on brown, kraft paper. The image is mounted on a purple background, matted with a simple white mat, and framed in black. Picture wire is attached to the back. It's a serious, professional frame for an easy-going, colorful portrait. Image size is 8"x10", Frame size is 11" x 14".

Want to enter the giveaway? Here's what you do:

• Click on over to my Etsy shop, and take a look around.
• Come back here to the blog and leave a comment on this entry with a. your favorite item from my shop and b. your email address, or some other way to contact you.

That's it!
I'll choose a winner using Random.org on November 14th. I'll email the winner for a mailing address and I'll ship this baby off to you in time for Thanksgiving dinner!

Any questions? Feel free to email me at: fawnederosia AT gmail.com

Happy Halloween!

I hope everyone had a safe and happy Halloween! Our Halloween was busy, busy, and full of friends and sweets! There was also a cat up a tree, a new trick or treating area, and a spooky kid that popped up out of nowhere as we walked through a dark park of the neighborhood.



Here's Mazzy's Pumpkin. Last week we were invited to a pumpkin carving party and since Maz is still too young to use sharp carving tools, we bought her paint to decorate her own little pumpkin. She painted a dark night with a full moon and skeletons and ghosts emerging from the ground. She's got a spooky imagination, that kid!

Currently!

Current book: See Above. You'd think I know what I was doing by now. Haha.
Current album: Whiskeytown's Pneumonia & anything by Interpol.
Current shame-inducing guilty pleasure: Procrastinating. Ugh.
Current color(s): Grey and black.
Current link: Facebook, too much time on it lately. Ugh x2
Current fetish: Planning, making lots of lists, marking items off the list.
Current drink: Coffee coffee coffee!
Current wish-list: The common-sense to get to bed at a decent time.
Current favorite song(s): "Crazy About You" by Whiskeytown.
Current triumph(s): Figuring out some Accounting stuff.
Current celebrity crush: Ryan Adams, for a long, long time.
Current indulgence: Too much coffee!
Current slang: "Aw NERDS!" (trying to cut down on the bad language w/ Maz around.
Current excitement: Mitch O'Connell approves of my mural. STOKED!
Current mood: Determined. Doing work, son!

Mural at the Tattoo Shop

I've known for many months that I would LOVE to paint a mural on the walls of the tattoo shop. A few weeks ago I had the chance and the time to start a new project. I knew exactly what I was going to paint: a Mitch O'Connell girl from the cover of his book, Mitch O'Connell, Tattoos.

I emailed this fabulous artist for permission to use his artwork. He responded within minutes with, "I would be flattered! Please send me a photo when it's done so I can post it on my website!" I was/am completely excited to hear from him so quickly!

So I borrowed a friend's projector (I need to buy one of my own, one day!) in order to easily and quickly trace the image on the wall. It stayed like this for several days.

Then come the first layer of paint. The original image has a lot of white highlights, and I figure since there's already a ton of white surrounding the girl, I should just fill in her bodysuit with blue. We also decided to take away her kitty ears and tail, as well as her pearl belt and necklace. Do you know how hard it is to paint perfect circles??? Well, I didn't want to find out.

Adding more shading. I made her a redhead at the request of my bossman. He loves them redheads.

And here you go, the complete image. You can see the jewelry case & flash rack on the right. The girl's quite large and impressive. I'd like to add more images around her but for now she's good on her own.

I really am proud of her. I will add Mitch's signature the next time I'm working at the shop. There are a few pencil marks I need to erase here and there, but you can't see them in the photo. I just couldn't wait to show it off on my blog. 

Thanks so much for your permission to use your image, Mitch!

Blast from the Past

In 1994, I lived in North Alabama. My dad would visit me and my brother once a month and we'd spend a weekend checking out all the flea markets we could find. These ceramic figures were unpainted when I bought them, and I remember trying to mix a decent turquoise color with the limited paints I owned. I'm pretty sure this was in the middle of my childhood obsession with everything Native American (still slightly obsessed). In fact, I still have a dreamcatcher that was purchased at the same flea market as the girl and fox figures, hanging over my bedroom window.

I thought about these figures weeks ago and was determined to find them at dad's house and photograph them. I was happy to see that I dated them on the bottom. In 1994, I was 12 years old, in seventh grade, and shy as all get-out. Then I do the math: I painted these 16 years ago. SIXTEEN YEARS AGO! Are you kidding me?

Dad loves these figures and he mentioned several times that I am not allowed to take these home with me. I'm glad he loves them as much as I do. I should do some more digging around to see if I can find any more vintage artwork!

Things I Love Thursday

Some things I'm diggin' on this week:
Back to class and trying my best to learn the beast that is Accounting, wearing new clothes and makeup, spending extra time with the kiddo thanks to Fall Break, unexpected evenings off of work, many projects up ahead, making deadlines and participating in good things, good nights of sleep, staying up late and reading a good book, reconnecting with old friends from high school and giggling over the attention, making plans for Halloween, this photo:

The new season of Dexter!, Jack Kerouac's Rules for Spontaneous Prose, My Paper Crane's catbus pinata, rediscovering Evan B. Harris' art, & Uncle Envelope (I need to sign Maz up for this asap!).

What are you lovin' on this week?