Studio

This is my little dining room/studio and that is the current canvas I'm working on. Heres a closeup shot

As much as I'd love to go take a walk in this 17 degree weather and do a little slipping and sliding on the ice...I'm not allowed to go outside until this is done. Today WILL be the day! It is marathon painting day in the studio! Everyone have a great day whatever you do!

Dec 12th- REST!

Yesterdays Handcrafted Holiday Sale went wonderfully! I arrived to find that one of the boxes (my special Jaguar box with mosaic tiles) had already been reserved as a wedding present! How special! Met so many wonderful vendors with beautiful stuff to sell and the people who came in to buy were all in wonderful moods, sipping wine and nibbling Christmas cookies (the frosted cookies were like little cupcakes, I had to remind myself of Pilates and not go for seconds) and BUYING! It was great to see people walk out with little bags of this and that. I had a few painted records, record mirrors and boxes sell and the Christmas cards were a big hit. I did well!
So glad that small businesses and artists and artisans can still do a little business in this economy right now. I had so much fun, it was nice to get out and be social. I took some photos of everyones shop (some are a little blurry, I apologize) and bought some tiny affordable gifts as well. Here are some photos from the handcrafted Holiday show at TEATRO DALLAS.

Sara Cardona who coordinated the event was selling some wonderful original paintings by Bangladesh artist Ali Akbar for $15 (framed!)


total cute explosion at this very kid friendly booth!



Such beautiful jewelry in amazing color pairings, I loved the garnet and wine colors best:


Jim from Mimi's Bees treated everyone who passed by to a little spa for your hands with some amazing exfoliating scrub...needless to say EVERYONE was walking out with little tubs of that stuff. Amazing!



loved the Latin theme at this table, lots of stuff for little bebe's and cool stuff for adults too:



really loved the little "Pio Pio Pio" bebito shirt




My booth neighbor was Maria Teresa Pedroche and she made the most wonderful little milagro soaps, there were blessing hands, corazons, ojos (eyes) and all kinds of designs, some had shells and flowers pressed into them and irridescent food paint made them shimmer! Did I mention they smelled wonderful?



It was a great day full of busy-ness and business. Today I put my gridwall back up, put everything back into place in my studio and after getting my own Christmas cards ready to be mailed I'll be taking a break from the studio to REST and do real life stuff. It's been a busy and eventful week- this little bee needs a day to rest!

Some Kind Of Wonderful

Every morning before I get out of bed I thank the powers that be for everything. Life, Health, Friends, Family, Shelter, Food, Clothing, Love and for the ability to work with my hands to put food on the table. The feeling of gratitude is overwhelming.
Leaving the house to go to the post office with a heavy bag to ship off to customers- WONDERFUL. I will gladly carry that heavy load!
My Black Friday-Cyber Monday Sale was GREAT! Sold lots of pieces to friends and strangers. Truly a time to be thankful.
Yesterday was Cyber Monday and completely dead in my shop until the sun went down. Promptly sold both of my English Tea Boxes, a hefty handful of holiday cards and a record mirror! Thankfully my trip to get supplies yesterday was fruitful and I have lots of blank boxes and more mirrors for making. Happy, yes I am happy right now. I love making things for other people to enjoy!
Now that the sale is over I'll be getting down to the commissions I've got and still offering some deals in my shop: FREE shipping on Holiday cards until Dec. 10th and $3 off RECORDS in the U.S until Dec. 10th. Got some stuff to pack up nice and ship away, busy day! Have a wonderful day!

Have paintbrush will travel

Keeping your eyes open for opportunity is a great way to not be on the far side of the house when Opportunity comes a-knockin'. Woke up to find that I've secured a gig for next Saturday...painting! I'll get a nice days pay for a few hours of painting work and I get to get out of the house and hang out at the mall. I never go to the mall. Maybe once a year. Will have to fight the temptation to go into Bath and Bodyworks and spend all my pay.
Thank you for listening Universe and please keep it coming!

Spent yesterday finishing the Mondrian record and completing a Chinese folk paper cut design record. Read a TON about marketing, what I need to do to sell for the holidays and how to take better photos. I am experimenting with these settings I never knew I had on my camera and practicing "styling" the photo. Here is my simple attempt at staging with my Mondrian record

Staging makes the photo a little more interesting and creative. It will draw the viewer in for a better look. Need tons of practice with this but will have plenty of opportunity to practice.
Today I'm working on Christmas cards and gift tags. Found some wonderful paper in my stash of remnants I can't wait to start on. Crafty weekend for me! Look for me at the mall next weekend, I'll have more details on where I'll be this week. Until then- have a great weekend!

Hump Day

Happy Wednesday everyone! Yesterday found me busy in the studio working on vinyl, finished this Mondrian record and sold it not long after posting! I really needed that sale to perk me up, I was having one of those bouts of the blahs I couldn't seem to shake. Big thanks to my official Oak Cliff collector Kevin who bought the record. :-)
I also finished a small record mirror that looks suprisingly well on my studio wall. Hmm, will have to make one for my own keeps.

Did a lot of experimenting with materials yesterday and also different spots to photograph indoors. Trying to ramp up my photo quality. I've decided to make a small "staging" area where I can photograph some of the pieces on the wall. Will take some time to get it right but should make for some lovely photos.
Working on another Mondrian piece today and visiting the post office to drop a Beatles record off. Feeling blessed.
Theres a little rainy cloud icon on my weather bug for tomorrow...hmm, good painting weather.
Jump over the hump and make it good!

The Big Weekend!

I have two art "thingies" in one weekend, well one is a LIVE art event where I'll be painting live for everyone to see. Wanna see how I create my vinyl record art? Come stop by ART&COFFEE -a live art experience on June 4 at IT'S A GRIND coffee house. You can come watch me do LIVE painting along with other artists and there will be live music too! Come snatch some fresh painted vinyl(record featured below will be up for grabs)! I have been working all my live-long vacation to stock up the gridwall with new works so come support!
IT'S A GRIND
2901 Indiana Blvd Dallas TX 75226
7:30pm - 10:30pm (FREE and ALL AGES WELCOME!)

the other thing is GINGERAMA- the art of the redhead at the Fallout Lounge. I made two pieces especially for this so if they strike your fancy come buy them(record featured above is up for grabs) -some of the proceeds benefit the Humane Society! ♥
Fallout Lounge
835 Exposition Avenue
Dallas, TX 75226
7:30 FREE ($3 sangria specials)

The Shape of Things To Come

Right now our album is being made into little round cd shapes and in 2 weeks we'll have em in our hot little hands! This is just an 11 song debut, a history of all the songs we've written together with our old drummer Chuck Spurlock who is no longer in the band. Putting out this album has taken it's toll to be sure but I think we're ready to move forward up the mountain with our new drummer Guyton and get this record heard. We pressed a small 500 run so if anyones interested in getting this album let me know, we havent even discussed how much we're charging but it won't be expensive.
We had our first practice in 9 months yesterday and it wasn't as catastrophic as I thought it would be. However I did learn two things, one...my fingers ain't what they used to be and two...my guitar needs to go to the hospital finally. Alignment, intonation, the whole 9 yards....poor baby. My gigging amp is blown as well so being in a band ain't cheap! ;-(
Aside from getting this album out I'm juggling the June ART&COFEE show coming up as well as Gingerama in the same weekend. It's a good thing I have vacation next week, I think Im taking 2 solid days to work on record art before pushing it all aside for some R&R. Ok maybe 3 days...I know myself too well.
Remind me to post my hiking adventure here...let's just say it was not my intention to try and kill my boyfriend and there is a magical princess on a dashing steed who makes an appearance as well! Interested in The Shapes? We're linked in the sidebar of my blog!

oranges and merengue

Finally a day off and the sicky spell I've been under seems to be going away. Woke up today full of creative energy so I think I will tackle my studio today. Sold a L'Orange and have to make another for a customer. I am loving that I now have a working printer to help me with my fonts and designs, the possibilities just grew by leaps and bounds!
Woke up to an email- someone wants to give me a stash of their old records. BY ALL MEANS! Please pawn off your Barry Manilow, Barbra Streisand, Loverboy and Hall and Oates on me..I will turn them into recycled record art and they will be loved once again!
I have also discovered a better way to attach the hangers on the backs of the records. Good ol' glue gun, is there nothing you can't do? So the records are just getting better with time and hopefully I'll have some time to work on a canvas soon. Theres a big juicy blank canvas sitting in my studio and I'm itching for some gallery time.
Speaking of which, I have had the pleasure of meeting up with an Art group in town called ArtLoveMagic that just seems to be doing the most amazing stuff. They throw art, music, live performance shows and they all seem very inclusive and open minded and dedicated to giving opportunities to artists wherever they can. Really?! In Dallas?!
I was fortunate to meet up with one of the founders over a big hunk of Norma's merengue pie and discuss the possibility of collaborating on something. I left with a good feeling in my gut that at long last I have met some people with some common ground after dealing with a lot of negative, pretension and territorialism that seems so rampant in this city. This feels good and I expect some good stuff to arise from this. If anything I definitely left our meeting inspired and hopeful.
Reconnected with an old friend who is helping me get my website back up to speed. So thankful. So thankful for nice friends who pop out of the woodwork with a smile and a helping hand. (Thank you Ryan Simpson!)
Hopefully my next post will find me telling you about The Shapes album thats about to be released. Heres a teaser photo of the cover...I really can't wait to get this thing OUT it's been years working on this thing and it only clocks in at like 31 minutes or something. Just a little heartfelt rock and roll album from a little band in Texas. Thanks for reading and have a great Sunday!

check the sidebar on the left for a link to The Shapes facebook page!

Lollipop Shoppe's Rock and Roll Circus!

It's been 6 years doing it up in Dallas with guest dj's, fashion designers, artists, bands, photographers, dancers and a whole host of creatives who have passed through our doors. We'll be hosting our 6 Year Anniversary Party at the beautiful and historic Sons of Hermann Hall!
Join us upstairs for a Rock And Roll Circus~ come as you are or dressed as your favorite star! Prizes for best dressed rockstar/ circus character. Come dance among the stars and check out a hot set by musical guests "Black and Blue"-a Rolling Stones cover band sure to get you dancing. Guest DJ G will be on the decks to help get you in the mood and of course the Lolli Dollies go go troupe will show you how to shimmy!
Come see the Rock and Roll Circus Art Show featuring works by: Frank Campagna, Erik Schuessler, Richard Ross, Tempest Thompson, Sue Keomounghounh, Vanessa Neil, Jonathon Kimbrell, Carlos Canul, Edward Ruiz, Corbett Sparks, Tigerbee and Jim Thompson. Buy a piece and support local art and The Lollipop Shoppe.
Enjoy amazing feats by local performers! JEFF PLUNK, the one wheeled wizard, Logan the juggler will be on hand to wow and amaze! ALABAMA and her hot hula hoops! JET Spectacular Spinner of the Glowing Poi!
Makeup and Photography booth-come have your pics shot with real guitars rockstars, treats and freebies and more, be sure to get there early for one of the signature cd's from Captain Groovy!

***New Sponsors! AllGood Cafe in Deep Ellum, MAKE STUDIO and CLIFF NOTES both in beautiful OAK CLIFF, PARKER HAWN VINTAGE and GRATITUDE VINTAGE CLOTHING-thanks for your help, discounts and donations!

Parker Hawn Vintage is offering a $10 discount off any $20 or more purchase if you mention you're "going to the circus"! And Gratitude Vintage Clothing is offering a solid 10% off if you mention Lollipop Shoppe!

Parker Hawn Vintage
AllGood Cafe
Make Studio
Cliff Notes Prolonged Media
Sons Of Hermann Hall
Black and Blue band