From a very grey day...

It has been warm (very unusually warm) here and its grey, blahh and wet slushy yuck!! So I have had some time to do a few things here inside, going through some of my pictures I took over a week ago, when we had normal good old cold winter days. And here is my 2013 take on "Hints of Colour", and this year a lot of red stood out. I never seen red/orange fungi growing like this during winter, but what a brilliant colour that was and of course rose hip and other berries that are my favourite.

Another print painting I made, again just playing around with my stamps I made and I still cant get enough of them, so I keep enjoying them until I find something new to get all obsessed about : )

I mentioned in my last two posts about my new studio space, well this is what it looks like and feels like right now All Frozen over and under.  Some days its so darn cold in there that I just cant be in there working, and one night I went in there for only an hour and then gave up...  I left and forgot my tea mug, and this is what I found next morning, all frozen solid...  Ice tea anyone!!!

So I have been working all over the house, I have stuff spread out all over our dining room table and downstairs in my new temporary space.  And I'm doing about twenty different things all at once {yes, I have a bit hard time doing one thing at a time}, and most of it is for an art/crafts show I'm taking part of in February.  One thing is driving me totally bananas, nutters and insane...  Are these mega stupid wood tags I bought from a craft store, the price sticker they stuck on to them are almost impossible to remove and I have blisters on my hands from just doing that.  Like why on earth would they stick something like that on them and if that was not enough, but they had to pick the stickers that are as big as the tag it self.

GRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!

 

But I'm okay, and its good when I can take my frustrations out on something, so it may as well be stickers and not a brick or something else.

So I will just keep doing my stuff here and hope that I can get all my stuff ready for the show, and I only have one thing left to do for the juried show I will try out for {will post the pictures of them after the jury has given their thumbs up or down...  Fingers crossed one will make it in}.  

And before I sign off here again, I just had to share this with you.  I'm not sure if you saw one of my Christmas posts and how we put out seeds, berries and apples for the birds and squirrels and for all the other creatures in our back yard.  Seeds are being eaten by many different birds, and the berries are being eaten one by one by the little red squirrel that lives under our deck.  Not only did he eat the once in the pot I left out for him, but he also went for the once we hung up.    So cute!
 

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Decorations, Traditions and crafts

 I love this season, snow, frost, fresh greenery and berries brought in, decorations, spending time with family and friends and traditions.  Above on top right is my Advent star my parents bough for my first Christmas.  Below is a vintage Tomten (Santa in Swedish) and a Sami doll from Finland, these dolls we put out each Christmas when I grew up and now I have them here.  And in the middle is a print of one of my favourite Swedish painters Carl Larsson.

Next picture below, is from the Ikea Santa Lucia show and it was as always heavenly to hear all the lovely Swedish Lucia and Christmas songs, so glad I was able to enjoy this with my son and daughter.

Of course there is nothing like home bakes goods and treats during the holidays, so cant wait to get started again... {As my first stash of saffron cupcakes were eaten up before I could blink}.

 Done a little bit of Christmas crafts and drawing.

As most of you know, I love printing and gone bit crazy about it,

but I also have found washi tape being a lot of fun.

Who knew sticky tape could be this much fun : )

Its snowing outside and we are waiting on ice rain to arrive and pass through the night.  So stuck in the house no matter of what, what is one to do?  Well listen to Christmas music, sitting near the fire place, sipping tea and wrap some presents.

 

Happy 3rd Advent everyone!!

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new cards, tags and twigs...

2012 Christmas printed cards

 Its official, as its far too cold to work in my studio, I have again take over dinning room table, kitchen counters and our guest bedroom for my art.  Sure miss my studio space, but its not comfortable to sit there working on all these smaller things...  However, I can still go in there and blast my heaters and paint on bigger canvases...  But for the small stuff, well the rest of the house will have to do, lol.

Thankfully kids are old enough to leave my things alone, dog cant reach the stuff and dear husband just gives me a grin and walks in to his study (the one and last place here that has not been taken over by me or any paint).

Jul gris (Swedish Christmas pig) print

 So I have been busy with my stamps, prints and cards.  Saturday I was finally able to get away a bit, I drove down to the west end of town and visited Annika (owner of Truly Swedish Design store) and she was again so kind to me and now she has my Christmas cards as well in her store. 

The cards are of the little red Robin, but I have also added three new prints.  They are of the traditional Swedish Christmas straw goat, Christmas pig and the little red wooden candle holders. 
My next project has something to do with something else that I totally love about winter, lets just say it has to do with kicks and sleds...  More to come soon!!!!

Yesterday, it was fantastic winter weather, cold and frosty with hint of fresh snow on the ground.  And today, well it is nothing like before, today its grey, wet and in the plus temperatures.  I hate it, I want snow and winter, but if I cant have it and its just too blahh to be outside (even the dog refuses to go out in it).  The next best thing to do, is to decorate a bit and do some art and that's what I have done all day here.  Had some more fun with my stamps I made, did some gift tags and then played around with a bit more and made this little painting below.

Two birds in winter blues

 For the decorating and creating Christmas mood in here, one of my favourite ways to do this is by fresh plants, twigs and berries.  And yesterday while I was in the west end, I of course had to go in to my very favourite flower shop Tivoli.  I just cant get enough of that place and its super fantastic in there right now, they have all their Christmas decorations and plants out.  And of course I had to get some sweet rose hip, red dogwood twigs and a little cute bird.  Just love how it all looked in the brown paper.

Happy December and First Advent everyone!!

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a little bird...

So I been trying yet again to find some time to work on something artsy, and finally did but didn't get any painting done {this is what I should be doing}, however I designed a few more new stamps and I really like how this little bird turned out.  I made it out of a scrap piece and it just one of those things that worked out perfect.

I had to use it on something I made for a friend of mine who lives over seas, its one of those "just because" letters and I hope its well on its way there...  Always fun to get something other than bills and fliers in the letter box.  On top I printed the birds on a old vintage music paper and then I added white acrylic paint, and below I printed the bird on a fun envelope I found and just added permanent red ink.

Here is the one on the music paper again, added a few more things to it and not sure if its done or not but I want to do more of them, how and what kinds I'll just have to wait and see what will come out of it...  That's the fun part of it, elements of surprise I suppose : )
The black bird is a gift I got a few years ago from one of my dear friends, its made of metal and I love how it looks and how the colours of the background comes through it.

Its November again and its safe to say its winter, we have had very cold nights and many frosty days and with that I have been having to deal with some new challenges in my work space.  Lets just say I have been having to be armed with a lot of wool and fleece to be able to spend time in there...

But my challenges are for sure nothing compared to what has been happening to so many living in the New York state {and all the other US eastern states and Canadian provinces} that was hit by the massive storm Sandy and continuing storms.  I have been following the news a lot and I cant tell you how much I feel for everyone who have been effected by the storms and this sure puts things in to perspective and make one think about all the things we so take for granted. 

My heart goes out to all of you in NY and you're all in my thoughts and prayers. 

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Fabolous Mess...

 I went in to my work space to see what I could do, started with looking at few sketches I have done of plants in my back yard and then it went in to trying to make a few stamps again...  Shortly after Lindsay came in and she wanted to give it a try as well.  She drew her designs and I carved away while she kept telling me about all her princess dolls {there is a lot of them}...  One stamp after the other and we had a great fun making a mess.

And I love seeing Lindsay enjoying her self, creating and those designs she makes are brilliant, full of great details.  But a bit hard to carve with out nicking a few lines here and there, but she was a good sport about it and was very pleased with her prints {a very nice day indeed}.

Here are my two stamps I ended up with, the top one is a design/drawing of Garlic chives and in the stage before the blooms open up.  Now they are all in full bloom and covered in happy and hungry bumble bees.

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Sweet old driftwood...

When I was on vacation this year, I looked again for driftwood but had not much luck finding any good pieces *sigh*.  And during my driftwood search {mad hunt} I had this idea stuck in my mind and I thought about the pieces I found a few years back {they are bits and pieces of an very old wood fence that had ended in the waters and later floated up on the shore where we were camping}... 

But I had no idea where these pieces of wood would be or did I even take them when we moved here, then today while cleaning up and unpacking one of the four last boxes, I found them!!!!

I really love how they not only look, that beautiful weathered wood, but how they feel in your hand and how they still smell like sweet summer.  Then my ideas came back, did a few small sketches

For sketching I used black ink Staedtler pen and for colours I used Alpha markers, then I picked out a handful of wood pieces and only painted a small part on one side of each of them {white acrylic paint}...  Now they are drying and later I will try to sketch in paint and see how it goes.

I cant tell you how good it feels to finally be able to paint in here, even if its still a mess...

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Boom...Bang...Crash...

Been away again, and oh boy (and I have to apologize for this will be a messy post, my mind is all over the map right now).  Fall came and its almost at its end, only few brave leaves are still hanging on to the branches, but soon even they will fall down on the ground and then its not long before snow comes. 

Fall colours, last leaves

 Last half of this fall has been anything but easy.  First came a nice fall rainstorms that was followed by our basement that flooded...  I have been ripping out drywall and carpet, cleaning endless stuff this way and that way.  Things do happen, and Mother Nature is something we cant change and I don't mind doing hard labour and swinging a hammer around, after all I do have Viking blood in me, I just wish my joints felt the same way.   I have had huge problems with them, and still undergoing different tests and doctors appointments, and hopefully soon I can start going forward with all of this.  AND then as icing on the cake, we all have been hit with some kind of virus one way or the other.  So in between playing a nurse and vet (yes vet, even poor Charlie got hit with a nasty K-9 virus, he walked around sounding like an old T-ford trying to start), I also had to fight my own viruses.

Cough, snort ugh!!!!  I did find something good in between, I found quiet time (see, when I got sick, everyone else were all better again and went back to school and work).  I painted a little bit in Moleskine book and I started a small project with printing (all done in between scooping up water and taking stuff out to the curb).

Getting ready for the Holidays, acrylic print

 Now, with the foundation fixed and walls down (will get someone to come in and put up the new walls, my hammer swinging days are over for this time)  I will do some painting for an upcoming art show/sale in November.  And before I forget, I would like to do something this November for my blog (already did a little bit of changes, felt like it needed it), but I want to do something for you my dear blog followers, visitors and fellow artist friends.  After all November is my 2nd year anniversary for my blog...  More coming soon!!!

Until then, Happy fall to all of you and I hope you're able to stay virus free. 

Cheers,

Mari 

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New prints & some decorations

New addition to my prints, Mr Owl and Miss Birdie. This is the first print, so they are not all done yet, still have to add things to the flags (they are for banners and or garlands, not sure what to call them). So more to come very soon!!!

And with little time for anything else around here {between working at the store, in my studio or in the gallery, plus being my kids personal secretary, cook, driver, problem solver & detective for missing laundry}... I did find a small moment of just doing something for the house, little decorating and as you can see, I'm still in the fall mood.

{I love text and letters (numbers too), and I found these ceramic marbles with letters on them}

My very small vintage glass bottle collection... okay two on the left are really vintage {or old}, the one on right... not so much... but the colour of the glass and the size worked for me.

Charlie {on the left} and his friend Trevor who stayed with us for two days. They get along so well, yet both have such a different personalities. Trevor the big social buff and he loves to carry things in his mouth {be it a ball or a huge log}, while my Charlie is shy, scared of his own shadow {needles to say Halloween is not a good time to take him out for a walk} and he loves to hug. Any how, that's my week so far... Happy Halloween everyone!!!

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Run rabbit, run...

Tags that I have been working on for the upcoming Christmas art & craft show {November 21}, right now testing printing on different backgrounds and i think I like this one the best.

I used to love to carve and work with wood and lino printing, but I gave it up a few years back due to my sore joints. But I found this soft carving block, well saw it a while back but now finally got it and gave it a try. I can carve again, yeahhh!!!

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Christmas tags

I finally got most of the tags done, first one is of tags with snow flakes and the other once are more contemporary (I used pages from an old 50s math book that I found in a book sale). The once with the snow flakes, have old music paper or Japanese paper in the back ground.

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More decorating and tags

I found this really pretty Christmas tea towel by Nowdesigns in one of my favourite stores, and I just couldn't just use it as a towel. Instead, today I stretched it on to a frame (it was a bit tricky as the print is not all straight, but I got it some how) and it looks really nice on the kitchen wall. (Now, if I could have the walls painted all white, but that's a project that has to wait a bit longer). And then I have worked on some small Christmas tags, I just love the little star like brads so I had to use them. Along with the brads, I used old music paper, ribbon, feathers, felt snow flakes and stamping. I have 20 more to go, and more pictures will come.

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