Welcome 2015

A brand new year to start fresh and make new memories!!
There is always soo much to look forward to in a new year. Travel, friends, opportunities, and all the unexpected surprises that make each year special!! I hope there are many grand ones for all of us!
I have new things in store for my Torn Paper Paintings....such as having my website updated soon as well as some special stealth projects in the works.
Also, my amazing husband and I both have a big...yes..Big birthday coming up this year...so we'd like to take another wonderful trip in honor of that too. Also...we still have more of our big backyard landscape renovations to complete this year. I'm sooo looking forward to that as well.
Sooo....cheers to all of us.
Here's to a big year ahead!!!

Time to breathe!!

Yes....seems the month of Dec flew by with all it's busyness and holiday festivities!!
With Christmas behind us...by one day now....it's becoming time to breathe a bit. That is....after all the clean up is done...lol
I find myself up to my ears right now in cleaning up the wrapping closet. It's amazing how much paper & ribbon sprawl can happen!! I think I finally have it all "under wraps"...lol
I would love to have a good part of the clean up around here done by New Years!

I'm actually looking forward to some quiet time after the 1st of the year when I can sit back and plan.

I'd like to make plans for what will happen with my Torn Paper Paintings in the coming year....what I'll create & how differently I might promote it as well as what changes may come. Looking forward to big things.

I also want to plan for the rest of the backyard renovations such as the next step....the new deck as well as all the new plantings/gardening that will need to be done to enhance the new look.

Mark & I have also been talking about what we might like to do for a special treat for ourselves for both of us turning 60 this coming year!! We've been talking about planning another grand trip....maybe Greece or Ireland/Scotland.....or.....who knows. Fun to think about & plan.

Yes...2015 will be a banner year....I'm sure of it!!!
Sooo....until then.....I'm going to step back, breathe, and start planning!!!
Have a terrific New Year!!

A new year - another fresh start

Yes...don't we all think of the start of a new year as being a whole new fresh start again?
I know I do, soooo....cheers...lets look forward to a bright shiny new one!!!
One of my goals this year is to hopefully teach more Torn Paper Paintings workshops this year. I ran a couple last year in some new areas and they were a great success with the organizers wanting to do it again this year!!!
I'd love to find some available venues to hold these workshops in other parts of the country (and beyond) as well. I just love to travel...so adding art to that would be the very best mix.
Anyone who is out there and knows of a venue in their area where they'd like to see a workshop...pass my info along and let me know!!  Maybe we can make that happen.

Right now I'm busy running some new design ideas around in my head. The long very cold New England winter can be the perfect time for that. It helps to keep warm thoughts when planning more "coastal" images!!
One of the subjects that has done well are my mermaids. While working on my latest....Lilith during Dec...my Siren Sister sold at The Little Beach Gallery.
I see many more of them in my future!!
The second biggest seller it seems......seagulls!! Who would have thought...lol  I have a new one in the works right at the moment. The gallery is already in need once again.

Soo...as I sit by the fire with a sketch pad and thoughts of summer....I wish you all a shiny new start to a wonderful new year ahead!!

A very happy New Year ahead...

I know mine will be....and I hope yours will be as well.
I've had an amazing 2012 with my family, my art, traveling....I've been blessed and am so very thankful.
Next year I hope to make more great strides with my art. Been setting new goals already. As for the family...well...I know that later in the year there will be a wonderful wedding...my daughter Sarah has recently gotten engaged...so this is a big event I'm looking forward to.
I of course always hope that there will be more travel in my future....I soooo love to travel.
Make goals...think positive...and move in the right direction.
Anything is possible...really!!!
Have a happy 2013!

Happy New Year

I hope the new year is filled with joy and happiness for all.
This past year was one of great highs as well as extreme lows for most of my family. We all held tight and got through it. I know we all have to take the good with the bad and there are lessons in each for all of us....nevertheless....it is sometimes really difficult to understand this in the moment.
I am hopeful that we will all find more of the positives coming into our lives in this new year.
Time to set goals, look ahead, and start to move forward.
Hug all your loved ones and never take a moment for granted.
May there be much peace and happiness this year! ♥

2011

Happy New Year to all of you!!
Hope all your goals and wishes for the new year come true.

The beginning

2010, the beginning of a new year...new decade. A fresh start once again.

I'm feeling positive about this one! I think everything is looking up and that this is going to be the beginning of many new and wonderful possibilities.

Cheers!!!

On the art site I trade on it is also a new year of doing "monthly challenges". I've started a new one that will be a "nature" challenge. It will change in themes from botanicals to animals each month as well as the format.

For the start of this new year it began with an artist's choice of flower in 4"x6".

My piece for this was this yellow iris.

I did the whole thing first in layers of watercolor then added in some small color changes in colored pencil. I added to the yellow a bit of "twinkling h2o's" but they aren't visible from the scan.

The background became a bit of an experiment for me. Since I wanted the other members to feel comfortabe in using whatever medium they felt best with, I needed to take it out of the purely watercolor stage. I decided to go with a rubber stamp. Using a random swirly stamp with a gray ink I stamped it with different pressures all over the background.

I'm honestly liking the end result even more than I first imagined. I think it's good for all of us to step out of our comfort zones now and then.

Happy New Year to all of you. May you step out of the old norm and shake it up a bit.

Never know what new and wonderful things lie ahead!

2009

Just want to wish everyone a very
Happy New Year!!!