Almost the end of 2010...

...and we couldn't finish the year with some drama.
The past few weeks have been a bit crazy. With the little flood we had after the ton of rain in California... and  our poor cat was attacked be another cat and got a bad infection (now he's $porting a bald $pot in the head and mi$sing a cheek... yes it wa$ $$ at the vet too.) then some of my yearly routine tests came back weird, so they needed more tests and took their time to give me the results (which is by itself very stressing and sickening!) Then my MIL had some problems to fix in her house which my husband went to fix, only to ....break his wrist! :o(
But finally, I heard back from the results, everything is fine with me, which makes everything else a lot easier to take.  I am ready to say good bye to crazy 2010, not that we could keep it anyway, but wasn't it a crazy year? worldwide! It had it's good moments but.... Oh well!

Here's hoping that 2011 is beautiful, prosperous, and more than anything else... full of love and health!
Health is like a clean house... you only notice when it isn't so.

Hugs!

Merry Christmas

May we all rejoice in the celebration of life, the promise of forgiveness and love.
May our hearts find comfort with loved ones and our bodies be replenished with food.
May we get new inspiration to our artistic endeavors and  find the opportunity to share with others again, all the good things we like doing.
Have a wonderful Christmas, and/or any celebration you might have. My best wishes of health, love and happiness.

Many blessings to you, and thank you very much for visiting my blog, see you soon!

Art by Giotto di Bondone

I think I should've waited to have all the presents under the tree to take the picture, but I didn't manage the photo with lights to look good, so ... oh well... :o)
Wow... 293 followers??? sounds like time for another giveaway!! The "almost 300 followers"

ADO Jack Frost challenge

I finished my little Jack Frost but I misplaced my thingy to see pictures in the computer, so I couldn't upload, or even see them... I was so frustrated! But it appeared all ofa sudden on the table. hmmm I think it was an elf, maybe? they love pranks....

So well, here is my ADO paper doll. It was a lot of fun to make!

Pencil sketch

Ink on watercolor paper

Acrylic selection used to paint the doll

WIP half painted

All done!

Oh! By the way, I changed my blog "share" button for the "like" button. So please if you like it, click it, don't be shy :oP  But I think it only works if you are in facebook, so let's see if I keep it or not...

On your marks...

Get set..... Are you ready for the next (and last!!) OWOH blog event?
This brings sweet and sour news to me. I LOVE the event!! I don't want it to be the last year! :o(
But I do understand that it is an overwhelming task to accomplish.

Well, in case you are not aware that it is coming, here is the link!

http://awhimsicalbohemian.typepad.com

IT WILL BEGIN ON SUNDAY JANUARY 3OTH WITH THE FINAL DAY BEING FEBRUARY 17TH.(the day winners are announced) 2011
I will be offering 3 gifts to be announced later on.

More winter ACEO and a WIP doll

First of all... Thanks you!! almost all the girls I listed in my shop were gone the same day!! :oD
I listed one on ebay today, and have more listed in my Etsy, I'm on a roll!

Here is a picture of the new cuties and Jack frost. He is my ADO doll for the Jack Frost challenge:

Jack is going to be an articulated paper doll, very naughty and frozen cold. I don't think the picture shows well the pencil lines, but I will post more on him soon. Oh! And keep an eye open for the new video Slide show on beautiful ADO dolls! I'm working on it, slowly but surely...

I love the little avatar Xo)

Lots of stuff, late post.

There's a bunch of things going on at the same time:
I have been working on my Winter ACEO for a swap. yaay! My new girls are almost all done, I still have to do some finishing touches and take pictures, which seems impossible with this crazy weather. We had horrible winds, I had like a truckload full of leaves, then it rained a lot... which made my street turn into a little river for a while, with all the drains clogged with leaves. There I was last night at 9 pm with my little shovel...fun! (not!)

The other thing is that I finally bumped into the January issue f Doll Collector, where my doll Luna is published (and 2 more dolls I worked on, plus the doggy I made). Such a thrill, double yaay!


And I'm starting a sketch for my next polymer baby, to send in a tour next January. Can't wait to have all those babies visiting again!

A picture of some of the new ACEOs. The other pics are too dark, I will post and list tomorrow.

The runaway gingerbread cookie cracks me up :oP

My art hangs here...

I am dancing in the clouds.... It is with great pleasure that I show this links to the Art Show in Moss, Norway. I am lucky to be part of it with 2 Frida art cards that were mailed to help get funds for books in their Library.
David Samdum had this great idea of making the first Twitter and Art International show and has done so much work to put all of this together!
I blurred the other art but click on each pic to see the walls as it is displayed. .

One already sold in the first day! :oD I wish I was there... cold, snow and all!

I am never ready for December

I don't know about you guys, but December always sneaks in on me! I am never ready for it, always in shock to see that a whole year is almost gone. The ground has been covered in ice the past 3 days and I'm not done with my list of goals for the year! ;oP

Well, I sold many ACEO in my "Etsy code" sale, Thank you!!! That gives me room to make new designs, and the result is this winter theme girls:

I am not remotely close to be done, but I sketched and inked a few and I'm liking them a lot, modesty aside, of course XoD

From whatever part of the world that you are coming to visit my blog, I want to thank you for stopping by and taking the time to read my postings. ♥

Thanks Giving Sale

As the end of the year and Thanks Giving Day approach, I have many things to be thankful. Most of all, my family, our love, health, and the time we can spend together. I am infinitely thankful everyday,  and I pray everyone feels as thankful in their lives.

This year was interesting and I feel blessed: in my family, I accepted that now I am the shortest person in my home (kids... they do grow fast!); I won awesome giveaways (to my delight), made new friends, enjoyed clay babies traveling by my house (Touring babies!); was published in a magazine (Thanks Cindy :o*); Art and Craft wise I reopened my Etsy shop,which I had left on the side (same for ebay) for a long time, while I learned and practised doll making.

And that's where I want to give thanks to everyone that reads my blog.
I am offering a 30% off CODE on everything in
my Etsy Shop: Dolls, Paintings, ACEOs and Custom Portraits.

Take a look and hopefully you will find something you like. Will be going on from today till the end of the month, on Nov. 30th 2010. First come First serve, as I don't make 2 of the same once they are gone, they are gone for good! Read code below picture.

Code: THXGVNAYALA Use it at checkout to get 30% off.
Does not apply to shipping.

Nice Friday and great doll video

Yesterday was a fun day. my husband had a day off. We did a few things around the house fixing things here and there, went out to have lunch, then to the books store, looking for the Doll Collector Magazine where my doll Luna is published (Along with Selene and Victoria!) But seems they still don't have it in town. Oh well.... I got the magazine Art Doll Quarterly with Jane DesRosier dolls. I also saw Cristina Alvarado's work in the article about women studios, I was thrilled, I love her pictures!

Also bought a cool book on acrylics, Oh what a treat! I'm happy!
At night as I was going around online, I bumped into this wonderful video by Yuyi Morales illustrator/doll maker, of how the book "Mi Abuelita"(written by Tony Johnston) is made. Isn't it awesome? I fell in love with that cat!! The pictures were taken over a period of 3 years. This is love you guys, loving an idea and sticking with it until the end. Thanks for sharing Yuyi!



Have a beautiful rest of the weekend!

WIP painting

Here's where the painting is at this moment:

Hair, face and blouse are different - collaged with fiber paper- now she has an earring. I am working too slow on her, but enjoying it. Actually, working too slow in everything!  Days ago I had the great idea of hurting my back, and it has been difficult to do things. I'm a bit better but good grief, we don't ever thing of our back, until we have a pain and can't do a thing. Perfect excuse to skip the cooking :oP

Blank

So after thinking about it off and on for literally months to no end, probably about a year... I decided to go blank. No background. In many monitors my background was not even visible... so some people won't see much change, salve the new banner.
Feels roomier in here! Goes better with my website too.
Good bye old look, you were very nice to me ;o)

Now I have to go around and do the other banners. I already changed my flickr and twitter.
Thanks for visiting!

Featured, Revolution and Recycle day

I am being featured in this beautiful blog: Wymzee Art and Friends Thanks Linda!!!

Happy day of the Revolution to my Mexican friends! Not Independence day... not Cinco de Mayo, but Revolution day. Hope you enjoy the holidays. Many blessings, peace and love for that beautiful land.

Today we also celebrate the Recycling day. I just learn that thanks to WikiHow. I do. Cans, boxes, magazines, plastic, paper... you name it, I recycle!

Over the weekend at the book store, I bought the most beautiful recycled paper art journal.
Which brings me back to the original idea of posting a painting that I am recycling:

I painted it years ago, took it to the County Fair, got a little ribbon for it, listed it online and didn't reach my reserved price. It went to the closet for a while till I decided where to hang it or to list it again.
Well, years later it is still waiting and I don't paint that way anymore. In fact I have not opened my oils in a long time. At this point I could list it again to let it go, or re-work it.

I did a little research, hoping to paint with acrylics on top of it, but everywhere I read it simply doesn't recommend to do it, which makes sense even if I wanted to do acrylics. So.... I will gesso it, repaint and show you the results later on.
Along with that one I have some other tropical paintings that I had forgotten. Out of sight out of mind....?
What do you think?
UPDATE HERE

Music while painting

What music do you play when painting? I love all kinds of music, mostly soft rock, alternative and whistle along all happy.

Well, some days ago I heard an awesome song in the car and couldn't catch the name.. same thing next time... just kind of heard the name of the singer half way... Christina ...something. Agh! I went to look for it online by the lyrics, since I had no idea of the name either. This is the video, and I LOVE the song!!!! Jar of hearts, Christina Perri.



Enjoy!

Work in Progress and a blog Award

 After realizing that I was attacked by a Bipolar Muse, who pushed me in every direction at the same time, I decided to cool my horses (or is it hold my jets?) and go baby steps on one painting only. I will worry about the others later. Here is what I worked on so far, and you can see some WIP

She still needs more work, highlights maybe a flower and earrings...

Now the award: Campbell Jane gave me the Versatile Blog Award icon, which gives me the perfect opportunity to talk about me (Like if I don't ha!) so, here are 7 things about me, that you are dieing to know:

1. My inner child is the one that makes the rules around this house...
2. I can remember almost every sound of any instrument in many songs ranging from many decades... but hardly ever remember the name of the song :oB
3. Can't stand watching sports, I fall asleep unless there's someone I know playing.
4. I like to play marbles and make puzzles.
5. I love movies! I could go to the movies every day... only that not every time they have something good to watch. But I love to see the camera angles, the photography, the acting, the period costumes... or if it is a cartoon, I like to pay attention to the animation, textures, details....
6. I think Rupert Penry-Jones is super cute (Sorry Mr. Darcy)
7. I'm really rotten at giving blog awards... I'll put it on my list to find a blog that doesn't have one, and deliver. I don't want to just go and take it to the next person who got 7 of the same, that week :oP

Hard to restart

BEWARE, whinie post ahead! :oP

I guess I'm not the only one that leaves a project half way done, for one reason or another? This year was the time for me to finish many of them. Some projects were left unfinished because they were not going well. Some were fine, just merely left to dry, but then life got in the way and the poor painting got moved to the side and more stuff piled up around it.

And I am finding that sometimes it is hard to restart! Pick up where I left, and get back that idea I had originally. I really don't do much sketching, so if the initial inspiration is gone... it is really gone.

When I am making a doll, it doesn't matter, because the doll will look the way she wants. I hardly have any saying there. I start with one idea, and end up with something completely different. Unless I have a challenge, where it HAS to be one thing or another. I can leave a doll part (usually heads with no hair) and come back to make a body, etc...

But for paintings, I have to confess, it is taking me a long scary while to retake the canvas I left unfinished! Particularly the biggish size, not ACEO. I just look at it and start sweating an get this horrible feelings of going and wash dishes or iron some shirts! That's how bad it is, I'm telling ya!

I am not, not, not going to leave them unfinished.  The only solution is grab a muse by the ear, and start painting. The right muse, that is. Latelly I have been visited by all kinds of muses, so many ideas! Remember my old post where I was complaining that I lost my mojo? Well, now I want to do everything at the same time, running in every direction. But I don't want to start on more stuff without finishing first.

What do you all do? Run to the tele or fridge? Start something else? Pile stuff in the closet?  Just now I was going to paint, then I ended up coming to the blog because after all.... I had not posted in days. :oP
I have been actually painting new things, but I want to deal with the unfinished ones.

OK I have to go now. There's some funny noises in the pantry... hope to catch a thieve.

Sure enough, it had to be Panzón and not a muse.

Dia de los Muertos

I'm posting this late, but here's a little silly Dia de los Muertos "Panzón Art".

Sugar skull kitty Xo) ... Can you hear him purring?
(Me either LoL)

Trick or Treat?

Do you like sweets? I have some eye candy, for all the artsy trick-or-treaters!
A collection of a bunch of ACEO mini paintings I have done through the years. I did not include kitties and a lot of other stuff because of the time limit. As it is, it lasts 10 minutes...
The sound will not work till much later tonight, sorry about that :o)

Hope you like it!

All done and pretty.

I finished the cards from last post and if I may say o myself, they turned out purty. ;o)
I did pattens I never did before, just went nuts with the circles hehehe I particularly think the one with white circles turned out quite different from anything I've done before. Same for the one with the piggy and the bubbles. I wish I had a profound reason to it, (piggies and bubbles?) but the reality is that I was stuck, and instead of going for a solid color background I decided to make a pattern. Since I like polka dots, I just went polka on it :oP

Sometimes the result of being stuck is good, it can bring new elements to our work. Some other times... we remain stuck.

A tip I'd like to share for those times when we get blocked somehow: Get out your magazines, books, or go online for something unusual for your style. Get inspiration from shapes and patterns you have not done before. I was actually aiming for diamond shapes but ended up with circles.

 

I will be listing tonight in my Etsy shop with bigger pictures.

What should I title this?

My monitor got sick. It started to blink, then flash, it was more time in the black than in the light till it finally, quietly, fainted. So after a couple of days of that, we reluctantly went shopping for a new one. I did not want to spend the money nor did I want to change to a new one, so we also tested the cable.... then another machine.... then a couple of other geeky things and finally after a couple of days, instead of spending 300.00 we spent 4.00 bucks. Cool hey?

I was really happy! Turns out a huge number of parts for Taiwan were bad, making many monitors flash (thanks google!) so my two heroes (hubby and son) got their soldering stuff out and voila! fixed it! Don't ask me exactly how, because I have no clue. I am just happy they picked up the mess and the monitor is back to normal. And I don't have to use that dreaded portable with the tiny keyboard!! I really don't understand how some people surf on their cell phone. I don't care how fancy the phone, I need a decent size monitor and keyboard, thank you :oP

Now, for the artsy update, I have been sewing more than I bargained for :oP and also spend a few peaceful hours drawing then inking some new ACEO. I am ready to add color!

I will be listing this week.

10-10-10

I just had to post in this cool date, and at 10 minutes past 10 o'clock too ;oP

Our Birthday

Today is my birthday. And my daughter's birthday. And my dad's as well. Oh, and John Lennon's too.

My plans for the day? Going to the movies to see something silly, then lunch, most likely pizza or sub sandwiches; then coming home to listen to loud music while eating cake. All of this in the company of a bunch of 13 year old girls.... LoL
That should be invigorating ;o)

pic by Clk

 Update: 

We had a great time today. We went to see "You again" and I loved it, was really good and the end really punchy, great music! They had an Art show in the Plaza outside the movies and we went to see all the wonderful art, which was pastels on the parking lot black top. Such marvelous work, so sad to know they will wash out! There was live music too, they were playing The Beatles! It was a lot of fun. Lunch was fun too and when we came back home I had some pretty flowers waiting for me from my sweetheart :o)

Plus we had chocolate cake! 

 Another Update: 

Turns out that the Annoying Orange share's the same birthday too! LoL

How to paint the "bone" look

Here's a little tutorial on how to give the appearance of bone:
Sculpt the figure you want in white clay. Can be polymer, paperclay or any other air dry.

1- First thing you do is gesso it, with the solution a little diluted with water so you don't lose detail. In this case I had a lot of "cracks" that I wanted to show. Use a soft brush so it won't give you deep brush marks. Let it dry well.

2- Once it is dry, give it a coat of watery black acrylic paint. Not too watery, so you really stain the gesso. Let it dry for a couple of minutes.

3- Get a wet sponge and rub the piece until most of the black paint is gone but not so much that it shows the white gesso again. Let it dry. Make sure you stain your under your fingernails as well, eww!

4- Once it is dry you will give it a dry brush coat with just the tiniest drop of yellow paint, dust the brush on all the bumpy areas, making sure it looks transparent and not solid yellow. If you painted it too much, get the sponge and rub gently. Let it dry, that should be really fast.

5- Give it another dry brush coat of white paint, making sure you neither cover the black or yellow, just highlight the bumps.

6- Detail with more black paint as needed, dry, varnish with Satin finish and you are done! You can do a whole body or just parts. In this case I added a magnet.

You can have a cookie now :o)

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Halloween and Dia de los Muertos

I have been doing a lot of sewing, and a bit of claying. The sewn items (hats) are all sold to my delight, thanks to my kid who is turning out to be a great advertisement machine LoL but now I have nothing to list in the new shop. I guess everything will have to be listed as custom, so I can have the listing up.
The clay work is mostly skulls. I have been having so much fun making them! Here's a sample photo:

 

Many layers of paint and satin varnish and you have the bone look. Only that I also added a magnet so they can decorate your locker or fridge in a macabre style :oP

Usually I go for the whimsical and sweet, but this time I went more for texture and dark.

Quick post

Wow, October already! It's Sunday night and I have been busy with all kinds of house things this weekend, including some very sweaty gardening. I have great plans for my back yard, but Scruffy insists on helping so things will go very slow.
At least she is ready for Halloween! Yup, she's going to be a hot dog hehehe

And here's Panzón, a reluctant model for our New Shop, where we are listing all kinds of little crafts.

 

He told me that for Halloween he wants to dress as a penguin.... :oP

What's on your table?

As I was cropping pictures and have them ready to list on my shop, I went to check twitter, and I was admiring Gary Reef's MASKS which reminded me that in my past life (before I had kids and had to hide the clay) I used to make all kinds of free hand pots and masks. I think after all these years I only have one, that I am surprised it has survived all this moving from one city to the next without being fired.
Here it is:

This anguished little guy had more company.... but I have no idea what happened to them. All the negative feelings like anger, loneliness, etc... since I always make smiling people :oP
Hmmm Now that I think about it, there's another one much bigger but that one is fired, and tucked in in some mysterious box, next to my collection of skeleton keys.

It makes me feel so good to see more people that make such a variety of media and work. I know, some people say that to do something really good, to do ONE thing (Reminds me of the movie City Slickers) But there are some of us who love too many things and have this itch to learn and dig our hands in all kinds of different techniques, mediums, styles....

Last year I left a bunch of online groups to concentrate more on learning and doing, and it has been a good thing. My table is full of new projects, and I have been actively working on finishing the work I had left half done for months.
The only tricky thing for me is, when I come to the computer to crop pictures, list and check emails... I end up using up so much online time! XoD Because I love reading what others are doing, and love visiting blogs....
So I have to kind of do it fast. Therefore, I am gone for now my dear friends! But before I go, tell me what's on your table? Are you painting? Sculpting? Sewing?

Whatever you do, I hope you enjoy your day, and thanks for visiting!

My weekend

Well, this was quite a weekend I have to say. We went to the county fair on Saturday... walk like maniacs for 5 hours, but had fun. I have to go again because I could not go into the art exhibits! Usually that's where I start, and then all the crafts, food, crafts, plants... stuff, then at the end the rides. This year I was talked into start the rides first and we never got out of that LoL
Sunday we went to have dinner to a place we used to love. I won't say the name, but it was sad to see they just lost my business. The bread was burnt, the food was all wrong, (my plate was full of onion, and if you know me, you know I hate it LoL)  the soup and salad never arrived, so at the end, we were offered pie instead, which made the kids happy. That is the idea of pie... because we waited forever and the waitress never came back. We left to pay and there she comes with some boxes. Well, let me tell you, when we got home and opened the box we saw a sad, violently slapped, well destroyed slice of pie. Hmm... I wonder if the cook was having a bad case of PMS day? (Pie Murderer Syndrome)

As for art, I am having a 99 sale on a Mini Painting on ebay. I rarely recommend that, because if it sells for that I'll cry, but at the same time, in some cases the 99 cents are the ones that sell for a high price. Hard to tell, but I'm taking it as an experiment with a Kleenex next to me :oP

We made a few crafty projects to list in our other little shop (hats and magnets) but my daughter sold them all to her friends. That is great!! ... but if we ever want to open  that little new etsy shop, we better have something to list ;o)

 

Detail of: The last leave

Happy Spring for all my southern friends! And for those in the north hemisphere, enjoy the fall. We will have still hot weather in my area (39C /102F), but I know it is cold in some places.... hope whatever the weather, you can have a chance to enjoy it.
This reminds me of the poem: "weather the weather is mild, or weather the weather is not, we weather the weather, whatever the weather, weather we like it or not"

Illustration Friday "old-fashioned"

I love old fashion ways, old fashion gowns, in general, old fashion styles in most things...

Just a quick note, sort of...

I have been drawing and painting. I also have been playing in my mind with the idea of another Etsy shop that will hold all the other smaller unrelated things I like doing, but I have seen advise in why not to do it and why to do it... confusing! At the end, I decided to open it, I'll post the address when there's actually something listed there ;o)

Oh! I also have been clicking around my kitchen, trying to capture something fabulous and exotic for Gary's challenge, but frankly, my kitchen is a weird place, mostly undiscovered and unpopulated LoL

I used to paint there until we changed the rectangular table to a round table that I simply don't like for painting. I need corners to have all my stuff! Since it has very nice light I usually would end up with a canvas on the counter but... I have not been painting on a larger canvas for a long time... and although I cook every day, I am not in love with cooking, so I prepare the things, set the timer and walk from it till it's done. Not to mention that we are in the process of giving the poor stove an intense face lift, as one of the burners ended up completely discombobulated (No, it wasn't my cooking!) :oP
I think however, that I might have something for the challenge, reflecting light on the sink... I'll post it in the next one.

For now I'll show you a bit of what I have still in paper: One happy dreamy girl, and one sad and crying...

If you are seeing this from Ning and want to visit the blog click on the post title and it will bring you to the blog. I just discovered that :oP
Hasta la vista, baby!

Redanny's giveaway

There's an adorable little baby fairy in Red Anny's blog, as a giveaway. Just look at her, so cute!

Molto bella fata! :o) ...I just had to say that!

More ancestors

Here is one of my favorite pictures, mostly because that beautiful baby in the center grew up to be an amazing woman with the most wonderful giving heart.  This is my grandma in her christening day in 1920:

She gave me a wall in her house to make magic with a chalk. She gave me complete acceptance, inspiration, and all the patience my young parents didn't have for a very restless girl like me. She taught me how to climb on walls (to my poor mama's dismay), how to sew, how to make delicious  "buñuelos" like this:

She knew how to play the piano, violin, guitar. She could sing like the angels, and shoot a rifle like the best.

...and she celebrated any silly thing I made from the time I was born, till the time she went to heaven a month after she turned 81. I miss her dearly.

And to finish this post with a splash of color I'll show you a really cute picture of Panzón taken this morning, in one of his favorite spots.

I am working in new paintings and little sculptures, I will take pictures soon, keep an eye open!

Ancestors and a Listing today

I have been learning about my ancestry. It is such a wonderful thing! It all started when they asked my son in History class to gather information about his ancestors. From my mother in law they can trace all the way to the 1700's from the French and English people that made her family. From my part I can say I never was interested in digging in the past. I know my grandfather had some cousins in Spain. I got to meet 3 of my great grandmothers. So it didn't sound too much into the past to me hehehe
Anyway, I now have several generations pinpointed and have learn of their tragedies and triumphs. It is interesting to know I have bright teachers with a school to their names, a radio personality (before the TV existed) a priest, two politicians ....and a bandit who was smuggling spirits during the prohibition!! LoL Doesn't get any better than that!

I listed this little ACEO girl on ebay. I like her a lot and the inspiration came in part of Frida, one of my favorite painters, but also from a wonderful OLD picture of one of my ancestors.

See the picture and tell me what you think. She is the mother of my great grand father on my dad's side of the family. Isn't she a pretty girl?

In 1902 she became the mother of the man who 37 years later became the first Mayor in their little town.

They are going fast!

I was going to post about the new ACEO listings of Halloween/Dia de los muertos art, in my Etsy Shop but half of them got sold within hours. So THANK YOU Beautiful buyers!!
Here are the finished ACEOs before I mail them, I tried to have them kind of like in the past picture :o}

I will list on ebay too, so keep an eye opened.