Step on over....

to where you can read this post about my new shoes! There's more over there....

There would be no butterflies

Although I am double posting for a small while, I invite you visit the blog at the new website. This blog will no longer be current by the end of this month. There is opportunity to resubscribe to blog posts over there.  You can get there with either of these two addresses:  dianemoline.com or oneredchairstudio.com. Please do come join me at my new home! I am still "moving the furniture" through the month of July; watch it grow!

 

My intention to post every day this month got sidetracked yesterday, a full day of planting and our neighborhood regular Pour @ 4, always a welcome 90 minutes. But that's okay...I forgave myself around noon when I could see the writing on the wall. I planted lots of things that are supposed to attract butterflies - dahlias, foxglove, Bishop's Hat, Echibeckia - HAH! bet you didn't know that last one, unless you're an avid gardener. My botanical vocabulary has skyrocketed this week. 

Happy Red-White-Blue Day

Happy Fourth of July, friends!  Eat hot dogs. Watch baseball. Enjoy your friends and family. Thank our lucky 50 stars, even - nay, especially! - in this crazy time for our country.

Watercolor Drip Animals

Bugged

Fashionista

High-Stepper

Looking forward....

I am in the mood to paint and create. I went through a creative funk recently and had a hard time getting going; perhaps it was the long, rainy winter finally settling into my bones. Now that the sun and warmth as returned, the days aren't long enough for me.

I am...

working on the 2018 calendar (one of two or three I hope to produce this year if I can maintain this level of ambition, that is) called Baby Boomer Toys. Oh boy !  That is quite fun. Everything is at the draft stage, but here's a preview of one month.

Be sure to get on the mailing list at the website if you would like notice of its arrival. 

starting another series similar to the Pears series I did here.  My friend Carol asked if I had ever done apples, so..why not? Just the first steps (painting a coat of red bas a base, painting and blending the local color):

I will be selling these (finished, of course!) in prints, cards, and other forms in my new website shop come late June. 

And I have also started a series i call "Family" using old family photos to paint a little collection. i like to think of myself as a watercolor artist, but I gotta tell you, I am enjoying the magic of painting over mistakes or changing one 's mind midstream ...easy to do with acrylic paints, almost nonexistent with watercolor.

Here's a snatch of the first one:

Still a work in progress but getting there.

Finally, my long-delayed Megazine will be revised and updated of for publishing soon, and i am doing my best to keep  up with Carla Sonheim's 365 every day. Well, at least I'm looking at the videos and prompts and thinking about them. That counts a little.

So my funk seems to be over for now, energy returning...now if only my Cubbies could get out of their losing funk lately...

Enjoying Arizona...

which, because it knew we were coming, gave us sun, but not too much; breeze, but not too substantial; warmth, just the right amount, and the color "sky," the blue one not the gray. A lot of games  and laughs with our pals, a Cubs game to cheer, a day to catch up with family, a day in artsy Scottsdale, and neighborhood walks to enjoy the prickly things.

 

Painting Patterns

One of my favorite things to do....painting patterns in random, loose fashion.  Using as backgrounds, manipulating digitally, cutting up for postcards and collage. So far, using acrylic and ink...will bring out some stamps and maybe the gelli plate for more layers. I love to work on old calendars, especially those big, matte, screen-printed designs from Snow Graham, Paper Source, etc. And catalogs with lovely paper from Anthropologie are quite nice (except they sent a glossy one the last time...ugh.) But really anything will do. Then more playing with close-ups and filters for lots of design surprises.

Mixing metaphors

I wrote out a bunch of metaphors and sayings, cut them in half and mixed them up in a bowls, drew from each and matched new ones. My favorite was "The apple of my...anger."

You're right! I never would have thought of that!

Day 44 in the Sonheim 365 class I am participating in. 

An ant haiku

Another piece in the Sonheim 365 series I am participating in this year.  I unarchived a piece I did many years ago when I was stamping a lot more. I really loved putting this one together. Our task was to write a haiku about ants, so I decided to use this one from the ORCS Official Files. Not sure why I did it in purple but oh well.

The cave you fear...

holds the treasure you seek. Another way to say "Take the risk."

Gluestick resist enhanced with colored pencil, enlarged Ken Brown/RSA stamp image.

On creativity

Pan Pastels

Serving up pink today

Today's entry in Carla Sonheim's 365 Class.

It snowed last night! Actually, lots of it, sometime in the space of 4-5 hours while we all slept. The neighbors built a snowman in the middle of our cul-de-sac to celebrate. 

Me, I kept busy inside still trying to find places and spaces for my art things. 

One thing I am certain of:

I have too many rubberstamps and I better start using them. I've whittled down my inventory somewhat, still have some to go, and am unmounting them all. For Carla's class, I am making a rule to use a stamp image somehow on every page. And I shall continue to downsize. 

The older I get...

A logo dance and another sneak peek

This is fun and shows the work that goes into creating logos and design.




Have been working many hours on the Megazine and am about 90% done! Here's another sneak peek of a page.

I would just like to say....

1....that I hate going to the dentist. Yes, I know how good dentists are for me, and how good teeth makes for a good life and long life, and in the whole spectrum of pain and suffering, trips to the dentist are mere cheesecake (which brings me to the dentist in the first place, I suspect.) And I love having clean and polished teeth every few months. But still can't I just say: I hate the poking and scraping and x-raying. I hate that they are always so cheerful and seem surprised that being in the dentist's chair isn't the most fun in life, and I am grumpy and don't like myself because of it...because I hate going to the dentist. I always have and I always will. There. I feel better.

2...you really should read this book. It's probably in the mystery section, but mostly it's a great story with two concurrent mysteries. You will enjoy the wit and conversation, and you will like (usually)  two main characters, Wyatt and Julianne. These two meet only once or twice in random, fleeting moments, but separately have personal and life-changing mysteries from difference decades to resolve for their own well-being, both in the same hometown of Oklahoma City. While listening to a mystery bookshop owner being interviewed on NPR, she named this book as the best book she has read in the last year. I would agree. I loved it and was sorry to see it end.

and 3...I am working hard on the magazine for a June publish. Here is a page from the magazine (which will be 8 x 11). In case you haven't seen the preview or want to see it again, here's the link. Please consider getting on the mailing list here (the SUBSCRIBE tab on the website) to get first dibs and a coupon. For those already on board, thanks so much! You'll be the first to know when the cows are ready to come home!

More men and women in black...

Work in progress...

Women in Black, continued...

I have a few more of our friendly waitresses from on the road...missing a few details (Allyson, Tamarack Restaurant, Green River, UT) but good enough to post before I get too far behind.

We are staying here

in the heart of Santa Fe. And feeling pampered.

Sketches on the road

I am drawing each of the servers

And faces along the way.  I will keep updating my progress.

 It took days to ready for trip, pack, and prepare for house and cat-sitting but we are on our way to the sunny Southwest. Took several days for planning and packing art stuff, two hours for packing clothes...On the other hand, packing for the warm southwest is easy-peasy, though we are missing our warm sweater today in Idaho and Utah.

I invite you to stay with me and hubby on the road. We said our good-bye to Ziggy and Rose. Zig will not miss us much, but Rose might. A couple of hours anyway. They like Joan who likes them back. Food. Water. Sleep. Repeat.

It's MOO-vin' along! Here's a preview.

I am making progress on the MegaZine that I told you about here. My ready date is mid-May. I'd love it if you'd look at the preview I put together and welcome any comments.  My plan is to create quarterly issues and sell them on Etsy and on the web site. There will be options for print and digital formats. Lots of details to work out but I am excited about it and over the halfway mark. I'm running this preview now to give a heads-up, then will probably remove it until it gets closer to publish date. Feedback and interest from you is most appreciated; I really mean that. You can comment below or email me separately.

I have added a page on the website to get on the mailing list. The list will be used for letting you know the magazine is ready and a discount code if  you order. If I get a newsletter out before then, I will also send you that if you are on the mailing list.  Otherwise, that mailing list stays safely tucked in the studio, under the cat on the red chair.

Here's the video. Or you can watch it on YouTube here. Thanks for watching!

https://youtu.be/UnQHOObiJsg