Very Merry Yule to You!

This just charmed my socks off! I do so love bunnies, especially when they are so inspired as this creation.

I've been off on holiday and am far behind my reading in blogland, I do plan to have time in the next week for a breather and to catch up. Miss all of you!

Please do have a wonderful holiday and treat yourselves well!
Brightest Blessings,
Cat

"I'm Late"

I'm loving working with this paper doll method, I think I'm just thrilled to be able to some type of doll (oh woe are my sewing abilities!) I have one more Alice themed one after this then I'm off to a bride of Frankenstein one!

I hope everyone who celebrates had a wonderful Thanksgiving! Ours was small but nice, honestly its not my favorite holiday. Part of me is just sad Halloween is over and I don't like spending all day in the kitchen either. Lucky for me family brings dishes as well! Well the Winter Holidays are around the corner and they feel much more festive!

*passes cider* Cheers!

Down the Rabbit Hole

New mixed media piece, "Down the Rabbit Hole"

I've longed to make dolls for sometime now, but alas sewing isn't a strength of mine. So I've recently been experimenting with a watercolor paper doll technique and having so much fun with it. This one I stitched with needle and thread. More in the series are on the way!

print of Down the Rabbit Hole here

Dead Can Dance!

My lovely friend had a Halloween wedding last week, I thought I'd share the painting I did for them. They had amazing costumes (pretty close to the painting, only the bride had a delicate black tiara and red veil.

Wishing an eternity of happiness to Erica and Bill!

Emaline

A new spooky girl in town, Emaline, she's small but I think she has a big bite. She's available in my shop

Congratulations to Ginny , the winner of my art box giveaway. Thank you to everyone who entered and blogged and tweeted. You guys are so supportive and encouraging, I'm a lucky girl!

I'm off to sew more trims on the girls costumes, I'm excited about Halloween but the unseasonal hot weather is dampening my festive spirts... *mops brow* the heat index was 102 on Friday. I long for the crisp chill of Autumn!

Black Cats in Hats, Halloween giveaway

A special gift for you! I've painted a cute papier mache box, featuring "Soot" the little black cat. This sweet little box is in need of a magical home! Just leave a comment (and way to contact you if you don't have a blog) and you will be entered to win this original piece of holiday art. If you blog about the giveaway with a link back here, let me know and you will receive an extra entry for each! (or twitter, facebook etc :)

I'll be drawing names from my black pointed hat Saturday, Oct. 10th!

Good luck my dears!

Mythic Images, Stu Jenks

I'd like to introduce you (if you haven't already met) to a most remarkable artist Stu Jenks. I was fortunate enough to visit one of his installation pieces at Mythic Journeys in Atlanta a few years ago. Wandering through the exhibit arm in arm with one of my dearest artist friends Fati, was truly one of the most magical art experiences I've ever had. It didn't feel like an art exhibit, although his work was mounted throughout, it was a journey that I felt blessed to be taking. One of those experiences that you can tuck away for when your spirit needs soothing.

You can see more of Stu's work here http://stujenks.typepad.com/my_weblog/

Tis the season ...

Well the Witching season that is! I'm in full Halloween swing, shopping for costume supplies and working on holiday paintings. Its just a real pity that we don't get time off work for Halloween, but on the bright side it does fall on a Saturday this year!

Hope you like my day dreaming little witch, hope she remembers to stir the cauldron!

Wandering Witch Giveaway!

EHAG'S (Eclectic Halloween Artist Group) Search for the Wandering Witch Giveaway starts Sept. 21st!
Hauntingly beautiful prizes and treasures!
For details click HERE!

Pepita's Halloween finest

Congratulations to Tammy, the winner of the beautiful art jar!

My favorite Holiday is right around the corner, *adjusts pointed hat* and I've got goodies galore for you! Giveaways, special gifts and new art, so stay tuned!

I'll be listing this original later today in my etsy shop
"Pepita goes to the Masquerade" The little pumpkin head girl has a special date, doesn't she look delightful? Pepita is painted in watercolors on heavy watercolor paper.

Off to the attic to search for more Halloween decorations!

"The Pool of Tears"

"The Pool of Tears"

While painting I started thinking back to my first exposure to Alice, and it was this book. Beautifully Illustrated by Marjorie Torrey and published by Dandelion Press it was a "flip" book with "Peter Pan" on the other side. Peter Pan was one of my favorite stories while Alice on the other side was someone I wasn't quite comfortable with.
I admired Alice but her adventures made me nervous, as I grew older I started to realize that being an only child had some influence on my feelings about Wonderland. Alice stands alone, no prince or brothers to rescue her.
I actually felt daring when I flipped that book over to visit Wonderland. I had a lot to learn from Alice, she keeps her wits about her and only cries once that I remember, the pool of tears. The thought of tears so large you could swim in them like a salty sea is right up there with the disappearing cat in my childhood imagery. So I finally had a chance to paint my own "Pool of Tears" and it was like going back to visit an old friend.
She will be available in my Etsy shop

Blog Give away at Diamonds and Toads!

Kate has an absolutely enchanting blog at Diamonds and Toads and I'm honored to be part of her "Sleeping Beauty rewrite" contest. You can visit the blog to read the lovely entries and bonus.... by commenting you are entered in the drawing for my "Sleeping Beauty" print.

For all the details just visit Diamonds and Toads!

"Pool of Tears" Alice In Wonderland

Work in Progress

Back to Wonderland! I remembered to take pictures while I was working on this painting, I hope to finish" Alice and the Pool of Tears"sometime this week.

Alice in Wonderland trailer!

Loving this!

Little Red Riding Hood

I just had to paint one more Brothers Grim for the Ehag challenge "All the Better to See You With" a Little Red Riding Hood painting done in gouche.
Little Red is a great story for inspiration and I've worked with her before, this time I wanted to capture a classic fairy tale feel. I hope you like Red and the Wolf!
Prints in my Etsy Shop

"Poison"

The princess Snow White holds fate in her hands. New painting for Ehag's Brothers grim challenge
Since this was for Ehag (Eclectic Halloween Artist Group) I originally planned spooky dark branches, but the white as snow prevailed and ghostly pale painting emerged.

The Ehag group will be posting their Brothers Grim creations soon so check back to the ehag blog

Lucky days!

Meet Lucky Lumina!


I was the very lucky winner of Johanna Parker's blog giveaway "Lucky Lumina" can you believe it? Johanna creates the most delightful folk art creations, you can check out more of her work here

And time for my giveaway!

Tea Party giveaway goes to "The Magic Onion" She receives a cute little pendant featuring my White Rabbit!


I hope everyone is having a sparkly 4th of July!

Mad Tea Party, Happy Birthday to me and a gift for you!

Its time! for Vanessa Valencia of A Fanciful Twist 2nd Annual Mad Tea Party!

Now I realize Mad Tea Parties are supposed to be for Un-Birthdays but its my birthday so by Royal proclamation of the Queen of Hearts... You are here by invited to my Un-Birthday Party Birthday Party! I have a little party favor for you too, I will be drawing a name from my list of followers to win this enchanting little white rabbit pendant from my shop.


Alice and the Mad Hatter arrived first. Followed by the White Rabbit and birthday girl.
The feast included lemon frosted cupcakes (with gumdrops) chocolate flowers molded by Alice and the Hatter themselves, and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies that mysteriously read "Eat Me" on them!

Imagine our surprise to find Door Mouse at the table sipping tea! Is it just me, or is the party getting more and more colorful?


Of course we saved a special place for you, with a warm cup of Wonderland tea and cookies!
Remember the White Rabbit giveaway, I will do a drawing on July 4th of all my blog followers to pick the winnner!

And another surprise I'm having Birthday sale! All prints in my shop are buy one get one free till July 4th!

would you care for cream or honey in your tea?

Princess Slipper's and a winner!

Thank you for all the lovely guesses for my daughters role in Midsummer Night's Dream, many of them I guessed myself when she asked! Ahhh but no one guessed it, (if it makes you feel better, neither did I!) She has the part of Bottom! *giggles* If you only knew what a delightful one of kind girl she was you would really appreciate it!

But don't fear, a winner will we shall have, we drew numbers for all the entries and *drum roll*
Coty is our winner! And she will receive a print of her choice from the shop!

In other news I just completed my series of princess slippers with Cinderella. They are available here Now I'm off to work on candy and cupcakes for the Mad Hatter Tea Party!

Ehag Gorey Tribute, Little Miss Muffet

I'm so excited to be a part of Ehag (Eclectic Halloween Artists Group) This months challenge was a tribute to the art of Edward Gorey. Click here to see all the wonderful Ehag creations inspired by the dark whimsy of Gorey.

My tribute is this ink drawing, "Little Miss Muffet's Weaving Lesson" I always like to think Little Miss and the Spider came to an understanding.

Happy Midsummer Night! and a guessing game!

I found this enchanting 1909 video that I had to share. This one of my favorite Shakespeare plays so I was delighted to learn my daughters theater group is going to perform it. Last week she came home bursting with excitement over the part she was cast for!

To celebrate Midsummer night I'll send a surprise gift to the first person to correctly guess her role in Midsummer Night's Dream!

(be sure and leave a way for me to contact you with your guess if you don't blog)

The Macabre Masquerade

ahhh, The Bride of Frankenstein enters the ballroom of the Macabre Masquerade.  I'm not sure her charming little mask will fool anyone but she feel so elegant wearing it! 

original painted with gouache and watercolors, archival prints here in my Etsy shop

Just in from a short holiday, we waste no time once that last school bell rings! We actually have our bags packed before the last day of school. Feels good to be back home though (we all missed Capt. Jack) and to get back into my studio. I love my day job (most of the time) but once spring hits my mind drifts to summer plans and projects. Of course my first one would be a Halloween theme! Hope you like the Bride, I have another Masquerade attendee in the works (my pumpkin head girl) and I'm having fun deciding on what she should wear!

Magic Onions and Fairy Godmothers

I've been a very lucky girl of late, I won an enchanting hand felted godmother from "The Magic Onion" You really have to go to her lovely blog and see them all! 

Really who couldn't use a fairy Godmother to look over them? 

More giveaway news soon, and a new one of my own coming up! 

Napoleon Wrapped Around Her Finger

Came home weary and dragging after a long day at school today. Drooping along I checked my mail box and like magic my spirits soared! *Hurray for packages in the post*
I treated myself to an end of the school year splurge you see, the ever brilliant Lisa Falzon has been back to making one of kind jewelry pieces incorporating her paintings! *sigh* How's a girl to resist? This one is "Napoleon Wrapped Around her Finger"
Perfect timing.. my women's group is meeting tonight to discuss favorite artists and I'll be wearing a piece from one of mine!

May we have the winner please?

Its drawing day! My daughter and I cut and folded entries under the supervision of our Pomeranian Capt. Jack who became more and more interested and the pile grew.. did he think they might be tasty? We mixed up the names and jokingly put the hat down for him to *draw* and like lightening he snapped out a name!

Congratulations Abigail! You are the winner selected by Capt. Jack! I will be packing up the original ACEO and White Rabbit for you!

Well we were laughing so hard at this point we just had to let him draw again.. and well a couple of more times! (I wish had him on video!)
this time he picked
Bunnykissed
Rich Layers
and
Reni Valentine

These three winners will each receive a little surprise gift from the darkling woods, including an ACEO print of the "Hold Tight Alice" There will be a limited run of 25 and you guys will have numbers 1,2,3

Thank you all for playing, I promise to do another giveaway in June so keep an eye out!

(PS, I'm extending my Buy One Get One Free BOGO sale to June 3rd to celebrate the end of the school year! check my etsy for details

"Little Mermaid"

"The Little Mermaid" new commission piece just completed.
I love mermaid stories (even named my daughter Madison after the mermaid in Splash ;) but I rarely paint them. I think its because living near the coast there is so much mermaid art around (and palm trees). Strangely enough though, I chose the most classic mermaid pose and focused on capturing the sense of longing I always felt was the heart of the story.
I think I may have to paint more mermaids!

Print is available here in my little shop

(Don't forget to enter my giveaway...just look a couple of posts down)

Story box, ehag

I'm so excited! I've been invited to join ehag, eclectic Halloween artist group. Ever since I was small the sense of wonder, magic and fancy that comes alive during the Halloween season enchanted me. Although my childhood Halloweens were limited to rather sad store bought costumes (do you remember the masks that had the thin elastic bands held by staples? tie on costumes that only covered the front like a drafty hospital gown, but you see it didn't matter because the magic is in the heart) the very sight of the streets filled with other masked candy bandits was enough to send my little heart a flutter. 

To celebrate I'm listing this dear Story box I made around Halloween last year. It's available in my etsy shop

Spring Giveaway!

Spring is in the air and summer vacation only a few weeks away! To celebrate I've got a giveaway to take you down the rabbit hole!
An original ACEO painting of "Hold Tight Alice" (3.5 x 2.5 mini painting in a trading card size) Painted with watercolor and gouache on heavy watercolor paper.
Plus.... a 5x7 print of my "White Rabbit" I'll also include some little surprises!

Just leave a comment and I'll add your name to the hat (if you blog or tweet about the giveaway I'll add your name twice :) just add the link! Drawing will be May 31st.
Good luck!
Cat

(P.S. please leave a way to get in touch if you don't have a blog/journal)

I loved the story of The Little Prince growing up and the idea of people living on their own little planets has stayed with me.  Here is "Star Girl" on her lonely planet, is she expecting company?

Painting available in my etsy shop

A Family of Wizards

I'm walking on clouds, dear Basia has just posted our family portrait! I fell in love with her work after an introduction by Lisa Falzon. This is the second commission she has done for my family and they are both treasures. Her work is like slipping into a magical world of softly glistening dreams.
Basia completely surprised me by portraying us as a family of wizards, she knew my hubby is an avid fencer and that I love fairy tales and bit of the exotic. I'd say she got us just perfect.

"Everything I Needed to Know"

"Everything I Needed Know I Learned from Mary Poppins"

Is she coming in for a soft landing or making a graceful exit?

This mixed media piece will be in an exhibit next week in St. Augustine. The theme for the show is spring but little girls in coats kept floating in my mind! Floating and flying, I was fascinated with the idea of flying as a little girl. I'm quite sure I took some leaps with an umbrella with high hopes and air underfoot! I'm relieved I was able to complete her in time for the show, I have two other shows the same day so I'm hard pressed for time. One is for my students, the big county public school show. The other, I have a booth at the Historic Hibernia Arts Festival which thankfully is very close to home!

Hold Tight Alice!

"Hold Tight Alice" 

I'm in the mood for spring, wild flowers, and riding rabbits to adventure. 

I'm thinking about doing another tiny Alice painting, I've always wanted to paint her in the pool of tears! Prints are available here

I hope everyone is seeing signs of spring! My girls and I are on break this week *whew* we could really use some down time. I think we are gong to do quiet things tomorrow, hair cuts, library and a trip to the smoothie shop!  Hopefully later in the week we will make it to the beach! 

"The Princes' Quest"

I watched a most beautiful film this weekend with my girls "The Princes' Quest" 

Maybe I'm just late to the party but I hadn't heard of this gem of a movie.  The story is an original fairy tale with Middle Eastern flair. The imagery is breathtakingly beautiful, with painted cut outs and jewel like scenery. I believe its computer animated but the look is hand crafted (you can see the brush strokes)  I hope you get a chance to see it!

Mirror, Mirror

The idea of a series princess shoes was suggested by a client (I already had ruby slippers and Cinderella) I decided to make them look a bit like old illustrations. Here is Snow White, I'm working on Sleeping Beauty now. Its funny how much I love to come up with fairy tale shoes when you are much more likely to catch me wearing sneakers!

Snow White and Rose Red

 Fairy tale book box inspired by Rose Red and Snow White

This tale is so sweet, the two opposite sisters who love each other so dearly. Of course I love the enchanted bear as well!  I have such fun hunting for treasures to make these assemblage pieces! The little dolls are hand sewn, I don't consider myself a doll maker but this project seemed to call for it. 

Will be available in my etsy shop

"Miss Fortune"

Mystic purples seemed to be her, color. I adore purple but rarely use it in paintings. I'll have to remedy that! 

Prints available 

hearts and moonlight

Look what came in the post today! I was so lucky to purchase this hand painted heart from Karen at Moonlight and Hares as they get snapped up quickly! The details and color are even prettier in person, I'm completely smitten with it!
I'm off to hang my new treasure in my studio.. Thank you Karen!

Peppermint Twist and the Imaginary Circus

"Peppermint Twist" She is a contortionist of course, but right now she is enjoying the night air and wondering where the road will lead.  

I'm having so much fun with the Imaginary Circus. I'm up late at night working on sketches. I hope you like visiting! *passes cotton candy*