Beady Plans

Higgins and I treated ourselves to some new beads not so long ago...
I have a whole new line of products brewing away in my mind featuring my illustrations.

We're pretty excited about what we plan with them but alas we have to wait for quarantine
to be over to be able to get to the store for the rest of our supplies!  Sigh!!

Ah A Favorite Place

Ah studio time...now matter how long I've been an artist, no matter how much or hard I work...

 The days I get to be among my plants & colours is always one of my favorite places to be.

Sketchbook Peek

Just a little peek into one of my sketchbooks...

Some pieces are fully rendered now whiles other linears wait somewhat patiently.

Working With Rabbits Outside

Here is another Micron ink pen portrait I started back in the summer...

Maybe you can't tell from here but this one is of our Leisel...I'll show you the finished piece soon.

When working outside I need to use mediums that I can pick up & drop super easily because

I am usually watching the buns in the yard at the same time, honestly some days I get no work done!

Just Us & Ice

Everything is lovely & summery & green now but here's another post from a few weeks back...

Us and the Spring melt with our new Canon D750 which is way to heavy but super awesome!

A Pink Leaping Bunny Who Could Want More!

My sweet vegan guy and I have been working so hard on my new website...

This pink leaping bunny was supposed to go on t-shirts BUT for now it's my new site header

and I adore it so so much, I feel like it just brings my website to  a whole new beautiful fresh level...

take a look-see and tell me what you think so far at www.MandySaile.com (bookmark it too please)

We are doing things a bit differently this time around with my website,

we're just tackling one page at a time and uploading & refreshing that page as we're done it.

So check out the changes so far, tell me what you think

& keep checking back cause it's just

getting better and better, so far we're done the Home page, Keep In Touch and Contact pages.

Bunnies, Shadows & Beauty

Some days you just have to tell all the things on your to-do list to *#&@ off
because some days are just for playing your favorite music...basking in beautiful scents...

Snuggling up with you loved ones...petting sweet precious never here long enough soft bunnies...
& watching the slow passage of lovely shadows...I am taking more days like this, hope you are too.

Working, Working, Working

I am whirling in circles between the studios, my new website currently underway & the bunnies...

Things feel crazy but my migraines & headaches have been a lot better the past 3 weeks, hooray!

Lovely Lino

I have a few new lino blocks all cut & ready for printing with a couple in the works, here's a peek...

But I find that I wait until I have a pile of several before I actually get to the process of hand pressing.

Share Sunday

I have only have one link to share with you this Share Sunday & Misa & I hope you'll check it out

because it's oozing with sweetness that'll just squeeze your heart...

It's a 30 minute short called "Stickman"...we LOVE it sooooo.

I know your time online is short like mine but I am positive you'll adore it too if you give it a try!

Happy Holidays

Well this is the last post of 2017, holy smokes, another year come and gone!

I can't wait to just hang out with my sweet sweet man, with the 7 buns with food, Christmas movies

twinkle lights and vegan holiday nog (with a healthy dose of peppermint schnapps of course).

I can't wait to clean my studios.  Do some work without the pressure of everyone seeing etc...

I look forward to some skiing, some bunny snow fort building & closet cleaning, ha ha.

I can't thank you all enough for joining me here and/or all of the other places

online that you connect with the buns and I, time is short & precious so we so appreciate it

whenever we get to be part of your lives even if it's just for a moment or two now and than.

I am so full of gratitude for all of your messages, likes, letters, hearts, purchases & commissions.

I can't wait to see what 2018 brings.

(I truthfully hope it's way gentler to us than 2017 was).

I would like to list all of the things I dream and hope to achieve with my art business

in the New Year but I am learning that life as a chronic migraine headache sufferer

knocks me down even more than I've ever realized before and in that realization
my job in the New Year will continue to be one of learning to take better care of my physical
& mental self and to learn to be more satisfied and content in the quality of my achievements

and in the ferocity of my tenacity, instead of in the quantity of successes under my belt.

So I hope you'll join me again in the New Year, I am sure without a doubt that whatever

the buns & I get up to in and out of the studios, that it'll be whimsical, colourful

and my biggest hope as always, inspiring.

Thank you again so so much for always taking time to join me here.

See you again soon XOXO

Art & Buns

Recent days are feeling long and cozy in the studios, as it quietly snows almost everyday lately...

As I pack up orders and move around from room to room from project to project and bun to bun.

One Of My Favourites

My dear friend, mentor, inspiration and high-school art teacher Dave Carlin
has had an exhibition "50 years in the hole"
running at the Alex Dufresne Gallery in Callander
(I highly recommend a visit if your anywhere local to me before it closes this coming Saturday).

 Dave means so much to me because of his strength and zest for living,

but also as an artist who is never ever done pushing, learning and growing.

I am a very proud and happy owner of several of his works and every time I pass them

I am not only inspired to dig deeper into what I do but I am happier.

 I am happier because they remind me of how important it is to have visual splendor in the world.

 They remind me that it's a amazing thing to share our stories and vision....

and very much like Dave, I jump on every single day that I get to create

& add a spark of beauty to the world.

I am was so so lucky to have had someone like Dave in my early life as an artist

& I am extra lucky to still have him in my life now as an established artist...he continues to push me.

I hope every artist out there is lucky enough to have a 'Dave' in their life...

if you don't, seek one out because it sure does make life that much more inspirational...

and to me, inspired living is one of the big things this is all about XO.  

Colouring Feathers

Another new bird is in progress...

you can see my golden monkey pushed off to the side...

that is just for now, I haven't forgotten him

it's just that coloured pencil is so unforgiving with mistakes,

so if I am very unsure of how to move forward like on the background of the monkey...

than I put the piece aside & start a new one till the answer comes to me...

sure sometimes you have to push on and work it out but I listen to my gut
and if it says to me 'nope, not right now Mandy, give this one a small breather'.

I am usually glad that I did listen to my gut.

BUT I can't WAIT to finish him...I am thinking the background will be very dark & stormy.

Cuteness & Carving

I carve my linos in the mornings...

She stretches and naps with a full belly looking all adorable...it works for us both.

A Typical Day

My days look a lot like this lately...
I spend a lot of time outside with the different buns,
sketching, often stopping for heat/cold packs for my head & cleaning up for Winter.
I am out there rotating between 7 buns;
Korra-Soleil, Misa Adora, Henrie Biggens,
Leisel The Weasel, Yuuji Pudding,
Jaky Jelly Bean and Flynn the Flea...
I miss having 9 buns in the house...
but I keep busy whiles desperately missing
the dearest hearts no longer here...

Than after the chilly air chases us all in,
as dinner cooks, everyone settles in for a cozy evening
all together blessedly inside.
And as the sun slides away for another day
(and with running around & errands done)
I usually curl up and continue my sketching inside,
or if my head allows more serious work,
I'll dive into my colours during tv shows,
and  in between rabbit snugs & pain rests...
this is often our usual Fall routine...
all goodness and beauty intermingled with tender tender hearts,
all rotating around each other late into the night.

What does your Fall routine look like?

Art & Buns...Goodbyes...Buns & Art

Whenever I loose a bun-babe part of my mourning prcoess always brings two plans to mind!

1) to never adopt an animal ever ever again

because it hurts too damn much to say goodbye!

(I don't know if my brain has fully processed that Min-Min is gone

even if I just paid for his private cremation & confirmed what's to be written on his urn!)

and 2) to pack away all my art supplies

because I feel like I'll never be happy again so what's the point in making pictures!

Sometimes these feelings stick around for a short time, sometimes longer...

but who am I kidding...it all comes back around to buns and art doesn't it!

1) adopting animals and giving house rabbits a good home is what I am made for.

It's a huge huge part of what makes me tick and what makes me happy.

2) when I am happy I make art because how can I not be so inspired by all of these furry souls.

Oh I'll be okay...Misa is helping me, all the others are helping me, my art is helping me.

I will carry on Elsie's, Min's & every-buns else's spirit in my heart and ultimately in my work XO.