A New Watercolour

Lately I feel like I am in a creative whirlpool...I have no shortage of ideals, in fact maybe I have too many ideas...I am all muddled up and don't know exactly why...I think...I think, it's because I am not working on the pieces piling up in my sketchbook, the ones that make me giddy and keep me up at night...why am I just not diving right in to what I know will be creative bliss?!  I don't know...but I'll figure it out...in the meantime I'll just keep ploughing ahead, what else can one do!

Today I listed this original mixed media in my Etsy shop, it is mostly watercolour with abit of black coloured pencil and white acrylic paint. It is 5 x 7 inches and will/should slide nice and easy into any one of your favourite 5 x 7 frames.  It is a colour study for a larger piece but I think is worthwhile all on it's sweet tiny little self.

(The Original is SOLD) 

What do you guys do when you get in a creative muddle?

Thanks for hopping in...I think it's time to turn the studio heat on soon!  I was hoping to avoid doing do until November but my already frozen fingers are telling me that's not gonna happen.

Have a good day everyone, see you in a couple days.  XO M & The Buns.

A Day In My Life & Thanksgiving

Ahhh...my days very often consist of simple beauty like this...

...Bunnies, drinking orange juice and licking they sweet little lips, ha ha...

...Bunnies, dozing on their little wooden bed in the warm fall sunlight...

...sitting blissfully amid streaming jazz, planning one of my next projects...

...and than 4:00 hits which finds me hopping my little butt into the kitchen to whip up a yummy guilt-free 'chicken' pot-pie...(the rosemary puff pastry on this dish rocks)...

It is Thanksgiving today...Happy Thanksgiving...no chickens or other animals die in the making of our yearly celebration of thanks!...and boy oh boy I am feeling grateful...

See you Wednesday with a new work.

Ondine...A New Painting & Don't UnderValue Your Studio Time...

I am hopping in quickly today to show you a new little painting which I call 'Ondine"...a lovely mystic from the sea...

She is another small 6 x 6 inch mixed media; acrylic paint, with abit of coloured pencil on a collaged kiln dried block of pine, all with a protective satin coating.



The original is available here in my Etsy Shop for anyone interested...she's one of a kind, and full of charm and whimsy so grab her whiles you can (oh and she's a really good price too!)

Hope your week was wonderful...mine was honestly quite difficult with a really bad migraine for 3 of the 5 days but I am lucky enough to be surrounded by beautiful souls like Jonathan and the bunnies who remind me of the beauty in everyday despite the head pain....

...When I have to move slowly for days after a nasty migraine, when I feel sorry for myself, when I complain about losing days to this head drama I endure,  Jon is there with warm hugs and quick reminders that moving slowly throughout my day, laying on the floor abit more with the bunnies, sitting quietly with my favourite music and sketchbook, snuggling up under blankets with my hot water bottles and watching abit more tv than normal is never a waste of time it's just how some of my days are right now...and he's right...he is...SO...yes in it's own beautiful pain-riddled quirky way, it was a good week I suppose....I did get alot of new paintings conjured up...hopefully next week will be better and I can start painting them!...my situation just goes to show that an artist should never ever take studio time for granted! 

See you next week...Have a most excellent weekend.  XO M & Some Well Snuggled Buns.

October's Giveaway...an original

Hi everyone and a very happy Wednesday to you all. 

So today I am having another giveaway...

This time an original piece.  It is one of my lino-cuts which has been hand-burnished/printed onto beautifully textured/soft Stonehenge paper and than I added some colour with coloured pencils and abit of gold paint.

Interested in a chance to win this piece???

There are a few different ways you can enter your name for the draw, you can do just one or you can do them all....Here's how to enter:

-Your name will be entered in the draw once simply by leaving a comment on this post.

-You'll get another entry if you are a follower or become one (please let me know if you already are or if you've just joined up).

-If you sign up to receive my newsletter, you'll get another chance to enter (if you already receive it, again, let me know).

-And if you mention this giveaway on your blog, well that's worth 2 entries (and if your doing so please let me know).

-Lastly, if you link back to me with one of my Blog Buttons on your blog, that is worth another 2 entries (and yeppers again, if your doing this one let me know)

Lots of ways to enter...looking forward to this one...Good Luck.  The Draw is on October 28th 2010.

Outdoor Studio Days Are Numbered...

Brrr...it's getting chilly around these parts...abit too chilly lately to bring everything outside for some serious work...I am abit sad every year to say goodbye to my lovely outdoor space...sure we go out in winter with the buns for a couple hours everyday if it's not too cold, they love the snow but of course it's not the same...so I thought before I start to pack everything up for the winter, I'd show you my beloved outdoor space/studio...

...here's my coloured pencils set up in the large 'gazebo' (which Jon and I made our selves)...

...and here is my easel with a coloured pencil in progress (I am trying to work upright these days to help save my neck and ward of the head pain perhaps, so far I don't notice a difference but I'll keep at it)...

...my favourite colour is red, it's everywhere in our home, and I couldn't resist adding it to the outside too, especially on the garage door...

...I take frequent breaks when working with coloured pencil, because my work is so detailed etc it's important for my hands, eyes and back...so on some of those breaks I'll grab a book and sit on my sweet pink bench by the 'pond' (which has been emptied out for the fall in this shot unfortunately)...

Ella Luna and Roo are always close by...they bask in the sun, play at my feet, bunk & bink, dig holes and nibble on grass all day long as I work, it's just lovely...

...Than there is our upper deck, which I love as much as the big gazebo...(we made this one as well)...
I might take a break or two up here with a book and a cup of tea...

...It's one of Ella's favourite hang outs too...she's there under the red rocker in this shot but you can barely see her, ha ha...she's afraid of the big black crows so it's important that she has lots of things to hide under (even though they couldn't carry her away)...

I spent lots of time out here in the summer....I love it so (despite the hot tub humming of my neighbours!)..the twinkle lights & candles at night are wonderful..

...but usually my main set up for studio work is down in the main spot, that is Roo napping under the table but again you can barely see him...(we also made this table)...

psst....we also made that fountain against the fence (which we also built, ha ha) and the sweet colourful table to the right, we also made...we really take pride in working so hard for our sweet little home...

...Anyhoo...that's where I spend most of my summer days...my outdoor studio if you will, my little slice of heaven (until the hot tubs came into play!)...

Do any of you work outside???  If so feel free to leave a link in the comment section to your outdoor studio spots...

Okay, well before I get productive I am off to enjoy abit of time under a soft warm blanket with a new book and a cappuccino...Hope you have a wonderfully cozy and productive day too...

See you Wednesday for a new giveaway (this one is an original so don't miss out on it) and than Friday for a new work...

XO M & The Buns

There Is Light In My Darkness...A New Painting

Hi everyone, I am so excited, the sun is out, the skies and blue and clear and so is my head, yayyy...

And on this lovely pain-free day I have a new painting to show you.

It is called "There Is Light In My Darkness"

It is another small one at 6 inches by 6 inches and it is acrylic paint with a tiny amount of coloured pencil with some red rhinestones on a collaged canvas, all which has been sealed with a protective satin varnish.

It's not in my 'normal' style but heh a gals just gotta diverge from series work once in awhile doesn't she! Okay okay, I know I diverge alot, but heh I follow my creative moods to the  direction/medium they want to go in and my usual saying enters here "It is the magic that is me"! 

This little painting stemmed out of me having a very difficult month, with some major stresses regarding neighbours & our home, to Ella Luna's abscess (which the doctor says will likely never go away), to that awful 3 week cold and also a migraine/very nasty headache that lasted almost everyday for 3 weeks straight on top of the cold...well the last few days I've really had to play some mind games to get myself through what felt was endless discomfort & some major pain...I kept telling myself 'It's okay, you can stand this, it'll end..There Is Light...it's coming...the pain WILL end..." that bit of positive thinking/hope was the starting point for this image (which was made in the middle of all the throbbing & thrashing)...

What do you think of it???

The original is already available in my Etsy Shop, click here if you're interested.  Prints will come soon.

Today is World Vegetarian Day...so cook yourself something yummy & guilt-free.

See you next week..Have a wonderful weekend & Thanks so so much for hopping in.

XO Mandy & The Buns XO

More City Shots...

Hi everyone, I really wanted to share some more shots I took when we were last in Toronto a couple months ago...these are some of my new favs and I admit right now these city shots are making me miss Toronto abit...we lived there for 5 years long ago...maybe someone we'll move back...I dream of Portland but that isn't a possibility with Jonathan's line of work and my fear of earthquakes & Portland being right on the 'ring of fire'...anyhoo...let me show you...

 I loved the mirror play on this building..there is never a boring visual moment in the heart of Toronto...

...I love this mirror play of the blue skies and clouds of that day, I walked past this building almost every week for 4 years when I attended OCAD...

Jon has to go to Toronto sometimes for his job and his meetings, etc are usually in a cluster of the city where the building generally look like this...beautiful I think...

We decided to pop into my old romping grounds called The Riverdale Zoo, it was a couple acres of really foresty land full of farm animals like goats, swans, bulls...and I'd go there often in between classes to center myself...this beautiful church is part of the area and though I'd never step foot inside, I always did and still do appreciate the beauty of the outside structure...

I so loved the warmness of this bench in the evening sun...I think I might do a coloured pencil from this shot...

and I found something so simple but lovely about this open door way and stairs...and the reflection in the side window is pretty cool...

 ...and this is a window in the side of the big barn...I am a sucker for photographing old barns!

This mural is in cabbagtown, just by the Riverdale Zoo, I thought it was pretty catchy so I hung out the truck window to get the shot as we zoomed past in haste to get to one of our favourite vegetarian restaurants...

...Kensington Market is a crazy busy part of the city and it's one of my favourite places, it's full of strange people and 'normal' people who seem to intermingle harmonously, there is a feeling that nobody gives a crap about what your doing or who you are, your able to just be there wholey and fully in your own self and I find something really relaxing about that.  There is always lots to see, hear and smell and I have fond memories of strolling around with my best friend on a hot summer day arm in arm just looking and finding and muching on a big carton of fresh strawberries...this time I found some new murals I had never noticed...check out this Mucha-inspired one...

...and I quite liked this one, something about it was very sweet...

...there was also this one...

...ah but than we hit our favourite 'King's Cafe', and down to the business of eating we had to get.  Everything in the place is vegetarian and soooo delicious.  (If you visit or are in T.O, and have not yet been to this place, we highly highly recommend it).

When we go to the city we like to revisit an old favourite restaurant and also try at least 1 new place and we came across this place, 'Herbivore' that we can't resist trying next time...check out that door 'Closed at Sunset', I've never seen that before and I just love it, ha ha...

..and what non-meat eater/animal lover can resist a place that doesn't allow people wearing fur!  SOOO awesome, I tell ya, I've not even been in yet and it's a place after my own heart, ha ha.

I really like where we are at this point in our lives, all the decisions we've made are to get us where we currently are but sometimes, just sometimes and once in a blue moon I can't help but wonder where/what we would be like now if we had chosen to stay in the big city...hmmmm....but than I realize we wouldn't have had all the bunnies who have graced our lives since we've moved back home so that right there alone is the clincher that I'd never go back in time and restart... 

The haunting possibilities of 'what if's' is something I've learnt to stay away from...living fully in my own present is key and defiantly makes for more beautiful and fulfilling days...

...I wanted to share my most favourite shot for last....a pigeon nesting on a really old building...LOVE IT....I think this might make a really night coloured pencil as well....



....well that's about all for today...thanks for stopping in and having a look...

Do tell me, which is your favourite photograph??? 

I think some of these will be in my photo shop as soon as I get all of that figured out!

I am off to help a friend hang their exhibition, I just hope my head behaves!!!...

See you Friday with a new piece of work...

Prenella, The Swan...a new painting

Good Monday everyone on this chilly fall day, I have a new painting to show you.

It is called "Prenella"

It is another sweet/small piece measuring only 6 inches by 6 inches and it is coloured pencil and ink with abit of acrylic & of course some sparkles, on a kiln dried pine block, which has been sealed with a protective satin varnish.

I don't know why she's called Prenella, I think the pink beauty picked it herself because when I was finished and asked myself 'now what would a swan who looks like this be called" without a second passing "Prenella" popped solidly into my head....

What do you think of her?

She is in my Etsy Shop available for purchase right now.  I just know she'll be perfect for someone out there...

Have a great day today everyone, stay warm, snuggle some furry hearts and we'll see you here on Wednesday because I really want to show you some more of my favourite new city shots. 

Until than, Be Well....