Meet Cleo!

I realized I haven't introduced you yet to our new addition to the family! We've had her about a month now. She's very cute, even if her eyes are a little "dull". Well that's what we've decided! She's a very bold little cat and loves to play fetch. She's the second cat I've had in my life that plays the game. And she is VERY good at it! She needs to give our dog Ziggy a lesson on it. But oh, the trials of a little cat in the house... climbing on your things and knocking everything over, chewing your stuff, interrupting your crocheting because yarn is just so much fun, waking you up when you're in desperate need of sleep, and let's not forget ALLERGIES!

Now I don't know what I'm allergic to, but they have coincidently gone hay wire right around the time she arrived at her house. But I always have had cats, this is my 3rd one right now. Only sometimes do my allergies go off, even when a cat is constantly in my house. So why now?? My other cats come and go, in and out, throughout the day. This cat so far is in all the time.

I just don't know, but I am going a little crazy with the allergies going on for so long lately!!!! Maybe it's the dry, dry, weather we've been having, and drought. I really need for that to change NOW!

TOC - Peace - Pendant

Last night the Theme of Consciousness on Jim Ladd's radio program was PEACE. I requested, and heard, "Throwing Stones" by Grateful Dead. I cheated this week on supplying any art onto his site. I had so many "peace" images already available, so I used them instead. I painted this Peace Girl about a year ago.



Just last week I made a print of this image into a resin pendant. I'm so happy that I got a new mold for making my pendants. It's nice to have a variety of shapes.



I also just recently made the packaging for them. They're all ready for gift giving, and are available in my shop now.



This is a vintage drawing of mine from 1990. It was perfect last night while "Imagine" was being broadcast. I like the Strawberry Fields Forever clothing. It's one of MANY Beatles images that I've done over the years.

A Rainbow of Chard

This chard was just too beautiful to go and be eaten and not have it's picture taken! I could not make anything more lovely than this piece of art from nature. So I got out my handy camera, took it's pix, then pulverized it into juice. It's yummy mixed with apple, carrot, celery, beets, and parsley is always a must for my juice. Healthy goodness!

Getting ready for Christmas

I'm trying to get more Christmas items in my Etsy shop. Although I'm a little late, as usual! Really organized people have been onto Christmas items far longer.

These cards were printed from my stamp that I designed and carved. They were printed with acrylic paint and dusted with fine fairy dust.

This design is a sassy little elf. She's all ready for her party, martini in hand. I love how retro she is. I'm big into all things "Retro Christmas!"

The colors are not your traditional Christmas colors. That's how I usually make my Christmas cards.

Those of you that receive a physical Christmas card from me may recognize this as my 2006 design. I've been creating a new Christmas card design for 17 years now. This elf was the second time that I made them from a hand carved stamp. Usually they have been copies. I better get busy and think up this year's. I wonder if I'll ever run out of ideas?

Here they are in my Etsy shop.

Etsy Pick-O-The-Week - KeriRounding

These felted brooches are purty-purty! They are created by KeriRounding over on Etsy. These little anenomes would surely look alive perched on your clothes!


They are made with "a mixture of wet and needle felting techniques." They are not your average looking brooch, and the colors are quite stunning! Go to kerirounding.com for more!

Theme of Consciousness-TOC-World

My drawing for TOC this week was a little hokey! But it's pretty fun, and light also, so I like it.

Jim Ladd and Theme Of Consciousness started streaming this past Friday. In honor of Jim finally going world wide, the theme was "world," of course. Anyone who enjoys free-form rock and roll should listen to Jim. They only allow him to stream on Fridays, 8pm-1am (Pacific Time). He's on 95.5 KLOS.

I just love any theme/challenge to try and think up and create a piece of art to match. Some might be clever, others are just fun.

Vintage Record Cover Box

I started making these upcycled record cover boxes a few years ago to uniquely wrap any gift that would fit into them. Last year I started offering them for sale. And I'm happy to have even more to choose from this year.

This cover is particularly special, in my opinion. Brad first told me it was "Father Knows Best." I wasn't sure. But after reading the back cover I discovered it was the "Donna Reed Show" family. I didn't recognize Donna Reed. I know Donna Reed best as Mary from one of my most favorite movies, "It's A Wonderful Life." This photo is her in 1964. But I thought that made this cover even more fabulous!

I collect these records all year, well I always collect records of all sorts and have for over 20 years now. I use only records that are beyond their use for music, either because of damage, or just plain boring, and insignificant. But the images on old records are simply too much fun to let go to waste sitting in a stack. So I love to give them a new life.

Once I started selling these boxes I started coating them with layers of acrylic medium and a final glossy varnish. The covers can get pretty brittle with age, and these coatings make the box more sturdy. I also add a piece of matching decorative paper for the bottom of the box.

They look so lovely just tied with ribbon sitting under your tree. They are a great way to hold your cards, stationery, or other little trinket items. They fit in perfectly with any vintage inspired Christmas decor. They are just so cute!

I've got some for sale in the Christmas section of my Etsy shop, now.

Art Lesson - Foreshortening - Self Portraits

This is a good lesson to do with fifth graders. I did this lesson with my son's class a couple of weeks ago.

First I attempted to describe to them what foreshortening was. I was mainly trying to just introduce the word to them. I had an example of a drawing using foreshortening. I showed them my example first, and asked them who might see this view. I was pleased when they said an ant. Then we did the drawing together. First shoes, hands, head and body. We talked about the patterns on their shoes. They could try to simplifiy their shoes, or make up their own pattern. I talked about the details of the hands a little. We discussed breifly the basic porportions of a face... the eyes half way down the head, etc. I had them personalize their clothing and hair and maybe to add a hat. We drew in pencil first, then outlined in black markers. Finally they colored in with crayons. If they had time, I encouraged them to color the back ground, trying to make it a contrasting color. A background color really makes the design pop. Drawing the body was a little hard for some kids, so I was needed to help with that a little. It was a perfect lesson for fifth grade, not sure if I'd go much younger. It took the whole hour, with only a couple not finishing the project. That was perfect.
I like how Wesley (above) and DS (below) drew Mr. Toast and friends on their shirt. Even my son advertises for Etsy sellers!

I get my art lesson ideas from a lot of different sources. Sometimes they magically pop in my head. A lot of times just looking at adult art gives me an idea for a kid version. Other times I search books, and the web. This lesson came from theartkids. They have a lot of really good art lessons for kids.

Etsy Pick-O-The-Week - elsita

I'm amazed with this paper sculpture created by elsita! It is quite stunning, as is everything in this shop on Etsy!


Along with the paper sculptures, you'll find very charming toys both of the 3D variety, as well as 2D paper dolls. If you ever watch the sold items on Etsy's Time Machine 2, you've probably seen some of elsita's work fly by. Her work is of such fine quality, it's just no wonder. You'll also find her original and prints of her very adorable illustrations. She also makes jewlelry, clothing, bags, needlework and books. A very sweet shop, indeed. And an added bonus, that I always enjoy, elsita has a very enjoyable blog as well. If you haven't yet discovered elsita, then by all means you should go check out her shop NOW!

Theme of Consciousness-TOC-Ride

Tonights TOC theme was "ride". I made a lot of requests with a lot of them being "cowboyish." Near the end of the show, Jim played one of my requests, and I even got the credit for it. It was "Me and My Uncle" by the Grateful Dead. He was playing a very cowboyish set, so I hammed it up. During the Dead song, I commented "Yee-Haw" on Jim's Myspace page. So when Jim came back to announce who had made the requests he said "Me and My Uncle was requested by Saffron on MySpace... Yee Haw!" That was pretty funny! I knew being corny would get some kind of notice! Not sure if my humble, drawing addition to the comments was noticed or not. But I do like the little cowgirl ridin her pony!

The good news is Jim Ladd's show will start streaming next Friday. I'll be sure to post the link when it's available. He'll only be streaming on Friday's because of some weird laws that keep him from completely being himself while streaming. I take it, since Friday is all requests, he's found a loop hole to jump through, and bypass this restraint. So that will be cool. Although it could be late for you out on the East Coast since he's on from 8 pm - 1 am, Pacific time!

Happy Halloween!

Amazing! I got this posted before midnite! My life is too busy right now, so I'm sorry that I haven't been up on things lately. On top of the hectic schedule, there's also the image issues that blogspot's been having lately. I hope those probs are over.

We had a fun time down town for the annual Halloween Parade and Carnival. Wesley was Frankenstein, I was a very purple wizardess, and Brad was creepy with an arrow through his forehead (yuck). My house is a COMPLETE mess, with the puzzle-of-a-closet completely tore apart. On account of getting my costume together pretty last minute. My costume from 7 years ago, Mary Poppins, had to change... couldn't find my Mary hat. Oh well, there was another M.P. in town this year. So my unique wizard did fine, and it was the first time I had worn this lovely purple dress from the thrift store. I also had THE tallest hat in town on, one that I had made for Wesley when he was "Dark Magician" from Yu-Gi-Oh, back in first grade.


It was a very lovely evening, and quite balmy, well, at least until about 7 pm. The trees seemed to have changed color early this year. The oaks are past their prime, and have changed from orange to brown, ready to finish with their dropping of the leaves. And everything is still quite ready for rain.

Enjoy your All Hallows Eve! What's left of it!

NibbleFest-Shadows

Here's my October entry for NibbleFest. The theme is "Shadows".

Is this kittie Naughty or Nice? Its evil side seems to be showing itself.

This is an original acrylic ACEO (2.5x3.5 inches).

-SOLD-

I've been preoccupied with thoughts of fire this week, as most in Southern California. I feel for all the people affected, and since I too live in a fire-prone forest, my mind has been filled with intense worry. I feel so very blessed that our mountain is not on fire this year, and I say that as I knock on wood. A minor thing that happened as a result of the weather, we were with out power for 30 hours. That is challenging! But again I say how blessed and lucky we are at this time.

So because of the circumstances I'm a little behind. I hope to have my Etsy Pick-O-The-Week up tomorrow. The rest of my week is crazy-busy, so if you don't see it up on Thursday, then you can find it here probably on Monday. Some times wednesdays are so busy, and I was lucky to get this little painting done!

Hang in there So Cal, and I'm praying for rain!! Oh, and a gentle rain, not mud-slide-causing rain!

Theme of Consciousness-TOC-Questions

The theme for TOC this week was any song with a "question" in the TITLE. That was challenging to come up with a drawing to go with the theme. But I did come up with this. I wanted to get this posted when Jim played one of the many "who do you love" songs. I even had a feeling he'd do a set with a variety of them, and I was right. Luckily he did these songs later in the night, so I was able to get the pix on during the second one, The Doors version. I like that one and the Quicksilver Messenger Service versions a lot. I would've posted it during the first song, but so many hang ups kept going on. You name it, it malfunctioned. It's so frustrating when I'm in a hurry and dumb little things go wrong with the computer!!

Anyway this is just a simple little doodle that I love to do on a Friday night. No pressure to sell, just have fun and be imaginative.

Evidence of Fall

OH, Yay! My images are able to be uploaded! Well at least some of them!

It is a beautiful time in Autumn, in the mountains. This is a pine forest, so we have mainly trees that don't change colors. But there is still quite a bit of color-changing happening. And that makes for a lovely scene, everywhere you go.



I took some shots last week while out in about around town. There are many cute, quaint cabins all aglow with their colorful trees.



I really need one of these extra vibrant Japanese Maples.

Soon I'll take a photo of my own yard on display.

No PHOTOS

I've been all ready to post some Autumn colors. But so, so sadly Blogger seems to be having difficulties. I can't upload photos at this time. Hopefully they fix it soon, because I really don't like these postings without photos!

Paper Clay Halloween Figures with Greeting Card

I had too much fun making these little characters out of paper clay! They're little "action figures" with moveable arms and legs. And as an added bonus I've listed them on Etsy with a somewhat matching greeting card.

The cat is a little goofy, while this pumpkin is a bit more serious.

And slightly demonic and creepy... here's a Halloween devil...

There's also a reproduction print being used for one of the cards. A painting from 3 years ago. This guy is out "Hitchin' and Trickin'!"

If you like them, then by all means go to the Halloween section of my shop on Etsy!

Etsy Pick-O-The-Week - babastudioPrague

Look at this ever-so-wonderful Esty shop that I just found over the weekend! How hard to find a favorite thing in this shop. In honor of Halloween I chose this eerie loveliness..."beautifully vampiric" print which is on this fabulous bag!

babastudioPrague is a most unique shop with fantastic limited edition prints, some of which are printed on wonderful cotton and silk shoulder bags, totes, and wristlets. Plus their lovely images are being made into a tarot deck featuring the delightful Bohemian Cats. The Baroque Bohemian Cats' Tarot is a wonderful place to look at all the cats as tarot images.




The shop owners describe this shop best... "At "baba studio" we love old stories, strange symbols, fragments of images... We're surrounded in Prague by art and architecture of the Baroque, Rococco, Victorian and Art Nouveau eras."

"The Knight of Wands is a Siberian cat from Moscow (now living in Prague). As one of our friends said on seeing his portrait, 'If that cat was a guy I'd go out with him!'" (taken from their description of this handsome hero.)

I have to agree. And he does remind me of my own Phoebus.

If you are mainly interested in their cats, it looks like they are starting a new Etsy shop exclusively cat-like...BohemianCats. Both shops are equally wonderful, and if you're looking to buy me something, I'd love anything there!

And go to the blog, it's also very enjoyable!

In the Treasury... BnR!!

That's right I'm in the Treasury. It's no easy feat. I was in there before, but it's been quite a while. I guess you've got to be known, or somehow seen through the thousands of other sellers.

Unfortunately the person who is the curator of this treasury doesn't say if you need to buy that actual item, or any from that shop. I personally would've chosen a different item of mine. Something more likely to sell. Not that I don't like this art box, it's just that's it's the only one I've got, and I've never sold one. Just not my most popular item. I wasn't even sure I would renew it when it's time was up.

Buy and Replace is a good way to get some exposure though. And that's what it's all about. Being seen, somehow! So that's me, the third one down on the left. See that treasury here. It's up until Wednesday, 7am. Buy something and be featured in it's place. Well at least I got a Christmas present out of it! SSShhhhh!

Edit... I guess I was wrong. The little box ended up selling in no time. :)

Theme of Consciousness-TOC-Roll

Last night was Jim Ladd's Theme of Consciousness Friday with the theme of "Roll." So I doodled a little ditty, and this is the result. I love the pressureless feeling of just doodling for fun. But since I wanted to post it on Jim's Myspace page, well, that added the pressure back into doodling! And since my day was so busy with an art lesson, a meeting, and a long, but fun, school event, this was just all I could pull together.

I did the "Pattern Turtles" art lesson with a class of kindergartners. This is now an annual art lesson for kindergartners. Well the highlight of the day was when one talkative little boy asked me what my phone number was! It was just so hysterical, and definetely a highlight of the day. That and seeing my son sing "Happy Together" with his 5th grade class, with much of the class all decked out in 60s finery, including my son with his blue John Lennon glasses. What a joy!

Button Sampler on Note Card

I've finally finished this little project that I've had in the works for a month! I had these little buttons made during my comings and goings this summer. Then I had to draw a little design to go with the buttons, and made that drawing into a card. Just a small, simple little note card (invitation sized).

It's a sampler of some of the many women that I enjoy painting so much. Four different eras of women... 1) The modern pink-haired, punk girl with apple-"Forbidden." 2) The ever so elegant original Gibson Girl, "Evelyn Nesbit." 3) The sad-eyed flapper girl, "Pretty in Pink." 4) The lovely "Citrus Goddess" with her hair of lemon, limes and oranges.

Four little flower lovelies, all in a row. The words written across the card read "In a field of many flowers, you're the one I pick."

It's a card and gift all in one... All ready to give, or receive!

They're for sale in the shop on Etsy.