Happy Halloween

From my Spooky Family

 May your day be frighteningly fun and fulled with ghoulish laughter.

Tis the season

For days and evenings spent sketching and painting as Holiday orders start rolling in!

I love those wonderful customers who order their custom Christmas gifts before the holiday rush sets in! 

I just finished sketching and painting three custom ornaments for one customer - they will be going into the kiln tonight, along with an engagement and baby portrait ornament.

 I love the sense of fun expressed in this wedding portrait.  The couple is on a football field and you can see a school in the background.  This setting obviously holds a special place in the hearts of the bride and groom.  I would love to hear the story behind their special picture.

I adore this little girls hat, which is probably as tall as she is.  An outline pen is perfect for outlining the painted portraits.

 For this engagement ornament, I had to crop together a couple of different photographs to create an image of the couple in front of Disney Land - where they are set to be married come March 2012.

Now...off to the kiln for the firing process.   If you are interested in seeing more custom ornaments, or in placing an order ~ just click here   And thanks for stopping by!!

The Storyteller

And the patient pup...

 

 

Our sweet, and very patient, pup helped me watch my niece a few weeks ago.  These images were just too cute not to share.

In Memory

Susan Moss Bernhardt

July 18, 1961 - October 19, 2011

 

In my studio

Working on a custom wedding portrait Christmas ornament

I recently received a request for a custom wedding portrait ornament along with this gorgeous picture.  I had to smile at the hands clutching onto the grooms arm - mothers do love their sons!  I am just about 100% positive that will be me when my son eventually ties the knot.

 Since the photograph only included the bride and groom, sorry mom I couldn't include your portrait in my sketch.  But I hope I did your handsome son and beautiful bride justice.

For me, painting figures on bisque is much different than painting them on canvas.  In painting with acrylics, the colors are visible as soon as they're mixed on the canvas.  Yet with glaze paints, the colors aren't true until after the piece is fired in a kiln.

The ornament is in my kiln ~ and I won't know how my mixed colors look until after the firing process is finished.  Here's hoping for the best :)

And...fresh out of the kiln...the finished ornament!  What a big difference between the unfired and fired glaze colors.  So happy with the way results of this custom piece.

If you are interested in seeing a few of my finished custom portrait ornaments, just click here

Our happiest of days...

I received this photo and lovely little note from an international customer who ordered a set of my VW van cuff links this past summer.

"just thought you might like to see, they were wonderful on our happiest day"

 

 

I love it when a grateful customer sends me a photo of their purchase.  It is such a thoughtful gesture and one very much appreciated.

Thanks again Marije!

Love these!

Performance based paintings by Ana Teresa Fernandez

Exploring the physical, emotional and psychological boundaries and stereotypes imposed on women and their sexuality.

Ablution

  Untitled (Performance documentation)  Oil on canvas

"Ablution is a series of paintings that derive from performances that submerge the body into specific sites, addressing rituals of cleansing and maintenance, focusing on gender, labor, sexuality and race." 

Telarana

 Untitled (Performance documentation)   Oil on canvas 

Ana Teresa's first paintings in the body of work titled "Telarana" were of women dressed in Tango attire, performing cleaning activities or domestic chores in private and public spaces. As in Tango, the women duel with their partner — the environment.

  Tang

 Untitled (Performance documentation)  Oil on canvas

Her attempt to use the body as a symbolic and measuring device for exploration that pushes and pulls the space to its limits, activating it until one feels it pushing back. This dance references the battle between media and predetermined gender notions and expectations, versus instinctual desires and self-empowerment.

 Untitled (Performance documentation at San Diego/Tijuana border )

Ana Teresa's work investigates how women identify their strengths and sensuality in performing labor in which there is no visible economic or social value, and which is frequently considered “dirty.” She also subverts the typical overtly folkloric representations of Mexican women in paintings by changing her characters uniform to the quintessential little black dress. Wearing this symbol of American prosperity and femininity, the figure tangos through this intangible dilemma portrayed by a multiplication of self and the endless and futile task of cleaning the environment to accentuate the idea of disposable labor resources.  

You can see more of Ana Teresa Fernandez' work by visiting her website here