Etsy Blogger Of the Month ~ Donna Pool

Donna says she used to love looking through her parents and grandparents old Life and Look magazines as well as old photography magazines. She now recycles many of these images into vintage buttons thus preserving tiny bits of history and creating a fascinating little peek into the past. I love the nostalgia and innocence Donna captures in the vintage graphics of her buttons.
If you feel like taking a peak into the past, check out her blog or shop on etsy.

Work I covet

Beth Hannon Fuller writes that she is an illustrator/artist who, in 1999, started working with Jennifer Niesslein and Stephanie Wilkinson on Brain,Child, The Magazine For Thinking Mothers. Since then, she has been illustrating and drawing up cartoons and art for their award winning magazine. The art represented in her shop is "art just for fun". At night after a day of busyness, she sits down in her studio with good music and draws up whatever was in her mind that day. Get a taste of her art work by visiting her etsy shop, or check out her ramblings and the new art she creates almost everyday and posts on her blogspot.

Wow, What a nice post!!

Jackie,

Thank you so much for your wonderful comments about my whimsical plates. How nice to have such enthusiastic feedback on my art work! Truly appreciated.
Click here to see Jackie's article:
http://etsyitemoftheday.com/whimsical-trend/comment-page-1/#comment-92
Cheers

Best Friends

Girls Night Out

Is there anything better than a best friend? Someone whom you know you can count on, no matter what? I feel so fortunate! I have 2 best friends whom I’ve had since high school. (It’s been a long time, but we don’t need to discuss how long!) And 2 rather new best friends whose sons were my son’s best friends in high school and now in college. We call ourselves “The Moms” and get together once a week for breakfast. What started out as a casual friendship has turned into something truly meaningful. And I can’t discount the beautiful bonds of sisterhood, and sister-in-law hood. Just as I can’t imagine my life without my husband, children, and family; I can’t imagine life without my best friends.
Cheers to all those special people who share our laughter, stories, tears, and dreams.

*******REASONS TO CELEBRATE*******

So many reasons to celebrate!
Reason One: Yesterday, my husband, daughter and I headed to UVa to watch our son compete in a college club swim team meet. It was great to see him back in the pool again. We’ve been going to swim meets with him since he was in the first grade. Now that he’s in college, we’ve been missing the camaraderie of the swim community, and the hard benches and humid air of the swimming pool. Never thought we’d miss the sore tush, permanent smell of chlorine, and never-ending pile of damp towels! How wonderful to be able to experience that again. Afterwards, at dinner, we were thoroughly entertained by him and his “belly-busting”roommate. What a great day!

Reason Two: Today, back at home, we got an afternoon snow shower with big, white, fluffy flakes! Totally unexpected! I enjoyed watching my daughter and dog running and playing together. Reason Three: Great art class today! And then a pizza and birthday cake celebration with my husband’s insanely large family. ;)

Celebration Plate:

In gratitude for the special people who have touched our lives, we celebrate their unique gifts, accomplishments, and support. We honor our mothers for their gentle gifts of love and devotion and our fathers for their knowledge and strong shoulders of support. We remember our best friends and the hours they spend listening to and laughing with us. We cheer on the success of our brothers and sisters. We express delight in the accomplishments of our sons and daughters. With each day we have an opportunity to express our gratitude for and celebrate the special moments and people in our lives.

Hand painted Wedding Platter

My sister-in-law asked me to paint a platter as a wedding gift for a good friend of hers who is getting married in April. The wedding will take place at The Oaks Inn, an eastern Shore waterfront country inn, near St, Michaels, Md. The Oaks, built in 1748 as a private residence, and completely renovated in the late 1990’s, is a charming example of antebellum architecture. A truly enchanting location for a wedding! After sketching out ideas last night, I started painting the plate today. Fingers crossed all comes out ok!

Commissioned Works of Art

Below are a few custom painted portraits, triptychs, custom cuff links, and painted portrait pottery.  Created from your photos these make unique holiday, anniversary, wedding, or birthday gifts.

HAND PAINTED PORTRAITS ON CANVAS:
 

 Beach Children
See the painting in process here

 Grandfather and Grandson

Family Beach Walk

 

 Family on the beach

 Portraits on Canvas From Vintage Photographs
Mother/Daughter and Father/Son

See the painting in process here

PORTRAIT TRIPTYCH
Hand Painted Canvas on 3 Natural Wood Blocks.

 See the work in process here

CUSTOM PHOTO CUFF LINKS

PAINTED PORTRAITS ON POTTERY

 

If you are interested in a commissioned piece please contact me through the contact button on my side bar.   

My Irish Grandmother

As St. Patrick’s Day approaches, I find myself thinking about my sweet Irish grandmother. She, and my grandfather, came by boat to the States in the late 1920’s. They both came through Ellis Island and settled in New Jersey; where they met, married, and raised five boys. My grandmother would host afternoon teas for the other Irish and Scottish immigrants who lived close by. This social time gave them an opportunity to share news from home, catch up with one another and, welcome those who had recently arrived. This traditional gathering continues, with her granddaughters and their friends. We gather now for “Girls nights out” with ‘tinis instead of tea. So for her, and all the other Irish women who established new lives here in the States, I raise a toast…Slainte..

Recipe for Green Tea Martini

Ice
1 ounce green tea, chilled
2 ounces citron vodka
1 teaspoon Cointreau
1 teaspoon simple syrup
Orange twist

Fill a shaker with ice. Add green tea, vodka, Cointreau and simple syrup. Shake well and strain into a cocktail glass. Garnish with an orange twist.
Simple Syrup
equal parts sugar and water, dissolved and chilled

This is why I love what I do.....

starfish buttons ~ custom order

charcoal sketch class

Today was one of those days that help keep me going. I had two great groups of students for my art classes, the pottery pieces I fired overnight came out looking "sweet", (Jeni will be happy to hear that her starfish buttons and necklace are almost ready for shipping), and my pottery plates were featured on Cheryl Van Dyck's art blog: http://lavendercottageoriginals.blogspot.com/. What can I say but, "Thank you Lord for all my blessings!"
Cheers!

Back to work

Yesterday morning I awoke to a kiln disaster! After firing a BUNCH of hand cut and hand painted pottery items in my kiln Wed. night, I was so excited to open the kiln and see my finished pieces. The pottery looked good, but upon trying to take them off of the kiln shelf realized they were all stuck to the shelf! For some odd reason the glaze had melted through my kiln paper and onto the kiln shelf. I had to scrape every single piece off and into the garbage. ARGHHH ~ all that hard work and time staring up at me from the bottom of my trash can!
So....back to work....new pieces were cut out of clay, and are now sitting under a low running ceiling fan. Hopefully they'll be dry soon so I can get them into the kiln for a bisque firing.

Whew! Another day, another reason to create! :)

Production Day

A view from above my work station...today's task...glazing all my hand cut pottery pieces, and getting them into the kiln. Tomorrow's task, getting them ready to post on my etsy site ~ MagicMarkingsArt.etsy.com If all goes well, they should be on the site within a few days.....

Busy Sunday

WoW….what a beautiful 65F winter Sunday! A day like that gives a kick to the winter doldrums! It was a busy day for me with a Pottery Birthday Party early in the afternoon and an Art Quilt class later in the day.

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, the birthday girl selected heart shaped bisque plates for her guests to paint. The girls drew free hand, and also used cookie cutters to trace a design onto their plate. They were an artistic group, and it was fun to watch the development of their creative ideas. The plates were fired in my kiln last night, and in a few hours should be cool enough to remove. I can’t wait to see what they all look like, and will post a picture of their fired art work.

Look for the step by step progress of the Art Quilt class by clicking on the photo for that class.

Enjoy your day. Go create something!

Art Class - Mother/Child Portraits

My first art class of 2009, mother/child portraits, ended this past week. During the four week long class students learned the history and painting style of impressionist artist, Mary Cassatt. Using an impressionist painting style, students painted a portrait of themselves with their mother. The results were beautiful.

To view students progress and finished portraits, click on the picture.

Happy Birthday Shannon

HappY BirthDaY ShannoN!

Have a wonderful "It's all about Me" day.

xo ~ me

Getting the hang of this

Being a visual learner, it takes me a little bit longer to get the hang of all this computer stuff. Yesterday I conquered links...now I have to make sure I don't go link crazy. Although it is the way my mind seems to work..."linking" from one thing to the next.
Have a SUPER day