Halloween Pixie's at Roger's Gardens

See My Spun Cotton Original Art at Roger's Gardens

I was very honored to be a part of the 2017 Halloween Boutique at Roger's Gardens in Corona del Mar, California. The theme this year was "magic & mayhem," and that's what happened when I let some Halloween pixies loose! The above piece was one of three large spun cotton pieces I created for their event. I had so much fun letting my imagination run with the theme!

If you are in the area, check out the nursery and boutique. Roger's Gardens does Halloween like no one else! Themed rooms, original art, lots of Halloween decor to buy, what could anyone who loves the holiday ask for! Just watch out for the pixies!!  

Join Me at Spirits in Sanford Halloween Art Show Oct. 6 & 7, 2017

Halloween Hitchhiker Fun

Spun Cotton Halloween Hitchhiker

What fun to hitch a ride on a black cat for Halloween! This is my latest offering for the EHAG Emporium blog sale, that happens every last day of the month. You can read more about my spun cotton and paper mache candy box offering in my etsy shop, where you'll find more photos and pricing. Perfect for tucking in some sweet treats or your favorite Halloween jewelry. Meow!!

Halloween Fun!

What fun I had participating in Halloween and Vine this year in Petaluma, CA!! Seeing friends and meeting new collectors! I didn't get many photos, but if you head on over to the H&V Facebook page, you'll see all the show goodness! I did snap a couple and will get them ready for my next post, AFTER this weekend!

I am getting ready now for Spirits in Sanford, Sanford, Florida, this weekend, Friday, Oct. 3, for the champagne preview  and costume party (don't forget to RSVP! (407) 323-2774), $20 per person includes Sat. show, and SO much fun! And then the show on Saturday, Oct. 4, from 10 am - 4 pm, $5 admission. If you "Like" the Spirits Facebook page, you'll get all the show news and see the sneak peeks from artists participating.

And in between shows, I am listing my original watercolors on eBay still! The one above is a larger format piece, 4-7/8" x 8"....at least it's larger than my usual ACEO size! You can see all the painting details if you head to the listing here.

Tis the Halloween season and I love kicking it off with these two fabulous shows!! Hope to see you this weekend!

A Black Cat for Halloween Candy

Black Cat Halloween Candy Box

The EHAG Emporium is open tonight at 9 pm! My offering this month is a spun cotton black cat complete with a vintage style bottle brush Halloween tree and tiny white pumpkin. She was created using techniques from Victorian times, and all sit atop a paper mache candy box.  The piece measures 8-1/2" tall by 3-1/2" in diameter. The words "Happy Halloween," adorn the lid on the front and "trick or treat" are on the back. Perfect for a vintage table setting or to go with your Halloween antiques. Don't forget to check out the other offerings available from my fellow EHAG artisans at the Emporium!

SOLD

Doing the Halloween Jig!

It's time to celebrate Halloween with a jig!! This is my latest ACEO original painting now available on eBay! Check my offerings every Sunday evening, when a new one will be listed. Enjoy the celebration!

Getting Ready to Teach My Online Workshop

July 16 is just around the corner, and I'm getting ready to teach my Halloween Witch Lighted Theater class at ArtfulGathering.com. 

You will learn how to assemble low-watt light assembly to light up all the special details we put inside the theater. I made getting the light supplies easy, by offering the light kit in my Etsy shop. 

We'll use recycled items to create the majority of our theater. And if you are a Halloween fan like I am, you probably have many of the supplies already in your art stash!

Plus, if you don't have a porcelain china doll head,  I will show you how to substitute the witch's head with one made of paper! We will have fun and you will learn lots of new techniques!

Hope you join me! Register at ArtfulGathering.com. Look forward to seeing you in class come this July!!

Let the Halloween Mischief Begin!

"Halloween Mischief"

Although it is still wintry and cold outside, I have planned a year of exciting events and art opportunities celebrating Halloween! Foremost is more painting!! This original mixed media linoleum block print is now available on eBay, and it involves quite a process.
     If you are wondering how a "print" can also be an "original," I'll explain.
     I draw the image and then transfer it to a piece of linoleum. Then, I hand cut the image using tools that scoop out the semi-rigid linoleum. I actually carve out the positive, or the white areas. Using a brayer, I spread ink all over the linoleum and then press it onto watercolor paper. It takes a few days for the ink to dry, and then I'm ready to paint and pencil.
     Each print has to be inked, so no two are exactly alike. Most importantly, I hand paint and embellish each, so the originality of each is enhanced even more!

     I love the glowing affects the linoleum block print process provides. Watch for more of these unique pieces as the days progress to Halloween and for exciting announcements of new art events!

Spirits in Sanford to be this Weekend's Spooky Delight

Friday night, Oct. 4, and Saturday, Oct. 5, witches and skeletons, cats and bats, will be out and ready to go to a new home during the 5th annual Spirits in Sanford Halloween art extravaganza, in North Florida. If you haven't been, the Friday night costume party is frightful fun complete with champagne and appetizers as shoppers select their favorite items from the talented artists displaying their works. Don't forget to RSVP! Head to the website for more details.

Saturday is sure to be a spooky delight, if you can't make the evening affair. Cost is $20 for the Friday party (which also gets you in on Saturday too) and $5 on Saturday. Look forward to seeing all my friends and collectors. Happy Halloween!

Cackle, Cackle, Cackle!

"Join the fun!" this wicked witch seems to say. The latest sneak peek at one of my spun cotton creations making its way to the Halloween folk art show Halloween and Vine, Sept. 28, 2013. I look forward to seeing all my friends at this annual event. It really kicks off the Halloween season for me, with all the spectacular art and bright orange and black decorations. For more information, head to HalloweenandVine.com. Look forward to seeing you there!  

Spun Cotton Witches Sail on the Moon

I love the old spun cotton ornaments of the Victorian age, and so I have been creating some of these little treasures with my own twist. I painted a vintage-style witch's face in watercolors and now use it as the face on my spun cotton witch. This is a sneak peak of a piece I will have available at the upcoming Halloween and Vine folk art show in Petaluma, CA, Saturday, Sept. 28. 

I will have other spun cotton pieces available also at Spirits in Sanford, a Halloween folk art show in north Florida's town of Sanford. The fun part about that show is the Friday night costume party and preview where you dress up, enjoy champagne and appetizers and mingle with the artists to preview and purchase art before the show on Saturday. The cost is $20, and allows you to come back on Saturday to shop some more. You do need to RSVP though. It really puts you in the Halloween spirit to be surrounded by the fabulous Halloween art and having everyone dressed in costume.

It's feeling like fall here in North Florida, where the ancient oak trees are starting to shed their leaves. I hope fall approaches where you live too! 

Halloween Time with Pen and Ink

I love using pen and ink to create these small illustrations. On this one I decided to use colored pencil instead of watercolors. They do create a very vibrant hue, when coupled with the black lines of the india ink. It is the standard art card size of 2-1/2" x 3-1/2" and is now available on eBay. Halloween is approaching!

Witches and Bats Float from the Great Pumpkin Cauldron!

Witches and bats, ghosts and cats are bubbling up in the great pumpkin cauldron! I am working on more linoleum block prints, with each one being carefully hand painted with watercolors and then tinted with other media. I love the striking colors of fall, and they are even more pronounced in my latest lino cuts. I will have several originals at upcoming Halloween folk art shows. Stop by and say hello!

Sept. 28 • Petaluma, CA

http://www.HalloweenandVine.com

Oct. 5 • Sanford, FL

http://www.SpiritsinSanford.com

Who-who will be there?

More watercolor goodies in store for upcoming fall shows! A work on progress. Who-who will I be seeing there? I hope it's you!...Iva

Work in Progress for Fall Art Shows

When the hair on the back of your neck stands up, beware. Someone, or some thing, is watching you! I'm working on more pen and ink pieces for my upcoming Halloween art show schedule this fall. I hope to see many of my collectors and friends during the following events:

Halloween and Vine

Saturday, Sept. 28, 2013

10 am - 3 pm

Petaluma, CA

HalloweenandVine.com

Spirits in Sanford

Saturday, Oct. 4 & 5, 2013

10 am - 3 pm

Sanford, FL

SpiritsinSanford.com

"Never Met a Pumpkin I didn't Like"

Sharpening up my drawing skills for a season of Halloween illustrations and paintings. I've been playing with linoleum block prints and love the texture they add to a piece. But for now, my micron pen is getting lots of good use!

A New Year with New Paintings

"Celebrate Pumpkin Carving on Halloween!"

It's a new year and the first of my 2013 paintings will be available on the EHAG Emporium, Thursday, January 31, at 9 pm Pacific. As a member of the Eclectic Halloween Artist Guild, my talented fellow artists and I hold a blog art sale the last day of every month. I am going to try my hardest to participate in every one this year! (Hmmm.... a 2013 resolution, perhaps?) 

You don't have to wait until the last day to see the new piece. YOU get a sneak peek at this 12x16 acrylic on artist canvas piece right here on my blog!

I love the idea of an old fashioned Halloween where kids rule the night and are free to enjoy the innocent and naive spirit of October 31. What could be more fun than an old barn filled with pumpkins  lit by cafe lights, bobbing for apples and your friends and siblings all dressed in costumes and gathered round. Well, I can think of one...getting candy! So after the carving, everyone sets off to trick or treat!

Happy Halloween! See you at the EHAG Emporium!

Spirits Are High

The last month has flown by with so much happening! Let's see:

• a two-and-a-half week trip to Northern California for Tinsel and Treasures and Halloween and Vine - both fabulous shows!!
• a week in between to visit my parents in Reno, Nevada. The evening sky is pictured above - and I didn't even change any of the photo settings it was that beautiful of a sunset over the Sierra Mountains!
• fly back to Florida and a week later Trevor and some college friends come home for the weekend and we all head to Gainesville for the big SEC football show down between LSU and the Gators (not the outcome we would have liked)
• a week later head to Spirits in Sanford, a Halloween folk art show about 30 minutes from Orlando in the historic town of Sanford. 

Whew!!

Now it's time to relax and enjoy fall and my favorite holiday - Halloween!!

Here are a few more pictures of my recent adventures.

The setting moon over the Sierras.

Playing catch in the Truckee River with Gutzi, my parents lab.

Say "Cheese!" mom and dad!

A pen and ink with watercolor of mine I sold at Halloween and Vine.

One of many amazing pieces from folk artist Jack Roads at Halloween and Vine. My good friend Colleen Moody was lucky enough to snap this piece up. Jealous! Although I did get a wonderful piece of his work too, pictured below!

 

Seeing my work published in Orlando Home & Leisure magazine! Yay!

Fellow folk artist Jorge de Rojas and I pose during the Friday night Preview Costume Party at Spirits in Sanford.

And this is just a small part of all the happenings in my world. I'll be finishing my decorating of our Florida house for Halloween and I will post some pictures of that next. Until then...

Pumpkins Soon Will Abound!

The recent full moon in all its splendor makes me think of the months to come. Pumpkins, black cats, spooky houses and then the big day...Halloween! Still working into the wee hours in my studio on paintings, sculptures and all manner of holiday fun. Hope to see you at one of my upcoming folk art shows! Yay...fall is almost here!

Magical Parachutes for Halloween

There's a goblin at my window,

A monster by my door.

The pumpkin at my table

Keeps on smiling more and more.

There's a bat-like shape in the sky

A pumpkin sprite with legs of green.

He's parachuting through the air

Just in time for Halloween.

• • •

Join my email list to receive news of my latest creations, like the one pictured above. (Actually, this stunt was all part of his bucket list.) He will be making an appearance at the folk art shows listed here that I'll be participating in this fall.

Happy (early) Halloween!