10 Years ago today...I made the best decision of my life

I can hardly believe it. Hubby and I have made it to ten years! This calls for a little bit more than the usual "I hereby declare my undying love for my hubby"...

My love for my darling is beyond explanation. It has grown more over the years than I could ever have imagined. He continues to teach me patience, understanding, and what it means to truly forgive a person. He is incredibly loyal, an amazing provider, and makes me feel safe, secure, and loved every day of my life.

My love for him as a husband is only outdone by my love for him as the father of our children. Truly committed to their happiness and well-being, as well as always planning for their future and education. I find it incredibly endearing that he is so willing to work so hard to give them every opportunity life affords them. They are truly two very lucky children.

My love, I am so lucky to have you. You support me as an artist, as a mother, and as a person. You give me time to do what I love to do, and understand when I need a break. You eat my cooking, put up with my temper, and make me feel like I'm the most beautiful woman in the world. I am so proud of who you are as a man, a friend, a husband, and a father. I love you.

Family Flashbacks

Did you miss me?!?! I was visiting my family in Western New York last week. I took my kiddos to Fantasy Island theme park - here they are above flying th Red Baron Airplane ride. And

here is my sister Cindy and I riding the SAME RIDE 28 years ago!

Here is a picture of me at 2 years old sitting in my mom's lap - do you think my little Arianna (in the purple dress above) looks like me?!?!? I think it's funny that I happen to be looking at a book with a color wheel inside...a sign of things to come? I also love that in the crib is the pink and white blanket that my Grandmother knitted for me. That same blanket is now on Arianna's bed.

I have more pictures to share - including some pictures of my cousin's artwork and some of my old artwork that is hanging in my mom's house...

New Charcoal Figure Drawings from the Female Nude Model

These figure drawings were also completed Saturday night at the drawing session at the MCMA. The pose above was deceptively simple at first. Just the shape of her back. However, the more i studied it the more information i found in the shapes of her hips and along her spine. The light was just right, showing the hunch of her posture as she leaned a little bit forward. I really like the combination of the simple pose with complex shadows.
And on the other end of the spectrum...from my side of the room this was a very complex pose! Not only was she laying down, but she had pillows propping up her mid-section (which gave a gorgeous view from the back!) I found the fore-shortening in this figure drawing very challenging, but I think I managed to capture the majority of the information.

New Figure Drawings from the Nude Female Model in Pastel

These are two pastel figure drawigns from the live model that I did last night at the open drawing session at the Marietta Cobb Museum of Art. The drawing above is on a small piece of mint colored pastel paper. I love mint with lilacs and orange. At the very end of the drawing time, actually right after the time ran out, I added a little bit of bright red in the drapery which really added some nice intensity to the piece.

This is the last figure drawing of the evening, and I was ready to have some fun! This is a 14" x 18" piece of purple pastel paper. I started with some mint, lilac and mustard pastels to block in her form and then used a variety of deep reds and blues to define a few elements such as her hands and feet.

Our model is blessed with the loveliest chest, but I find that it can be almost cartoonish to draw two perfect breasts with two perfect shadows...there's something about the repetion of the two forms that seems awkward. So I really pushed myself to make the left breast different from the right, by changing color and emphasis on the shadows.

I love the combination of red and mint, such as the outline of her knee.

This model has posed for us before, and you can see more of my figure drawings of her in my Fine Art on Etsy shop.

Congrats to my First Give-Away Winner!

Congrats to Megan (aka Amegem) for winning the two free prints from my Fine Art on Etsy shop! She made some great choices...

Win Two FREE PRINTS from my Etsy Shop!

It's my One Year Etsy Anniversary and that means SALES and Contests!

Thank you so much to everyone who entered below - I wrote out the names of all who entered and asked my son to pull out the winning name (you can see this was early this morning...Spiderman PJ's were still on, and I don't think he was fully awake yet!)

Congrats to AMEGEM - my fellow Twitter-peep!

I can't wait to see which two $15 prints you pick out !

Inherited thoughts on Creating Art

My Aunt Barbara was an amazing artist and I am lucky enough to have several of her original drawings in my possession. There is also a website about her work, although it is in Polish and I have yet to translate it fully. However, there is one passage that I was able to get a rough translation of, and I'd like to share what I think she is saying. (Barbara had a large area of land with a studio, her sculptures were placed all around the land and her home, living among nature)

"Living among nature has shown me what was unknown to me until now. I have seen the implicit miracle in a seed, a grain, a kernel. I have accepted sun and rain as it accompanies joy and difficulty. I have stood in humility in accordance with the chain of spring and fall, continuous births and dying, I have felt as I am part of nature, with every other creation on a level, to the magic round of existence. I am a sculptor."

You can now read my Figure Drawing Blog on your Kindle!

Amazon.com now offers my blog for your Kindle! It's delivered right to you - I hope you check it out!

Figures...In My Art and My Life for Kindle

We have a new little addition to the family...

Look what showed up at our house today!!! This ADORABLE little wooded fairy door from a wonderful etsy shop, NothinButWood. (This is the picture from the shop...my camera batteries are re-charging so I'll post a pic of our door later!) Anyway...I showed Jack and Ari the little note that came with the door that had a picture of a little Elf on it. And, since they can't read yet, I made up a story about how the little elf sent us this magic door, and if we find a special place for it in our garden, he will use his magic key to open the door and visit while we are sleeping.

You can stop laughing at me now.

So my hope is that the kids and I will begin building little benches, adding stepping stones, creating a little garden and even a little outdoor stove for our special magical friend who visits while we sleep.

I'm keeping an eye out for cute books about gnomes or fairies - let me know if you have any suggestions!

And if you have kiddos or grandkids and a tree, you need a fairy door!

A Wonderful Figure Drawing Website to share

I came across this really diverse collection of nude figure drawings on a site, BeautifulDrawings.com. The founder, Scott Kirkman, has pulled together a wonderful sampling of figurative works ranging from traditional to contemporary. I am very inspired by the use of paint, the unique poses,and the multi-faceted works he shares on this site.

I hope you give it a visit! He has included a few of my works in the Esprit Gallery.

"Guarded" will be on a book cover!

OK OK OK I am very excited to let you in on the secret...I have been asked by a very talented writer for permission to use my painting, "Guarded" as the cover illustration for her up-coming book of poetry!

Laura Mercurio Ebohon is a lovely soul that I met thru Twitter, who saw my image of "Guarded" and contacted me about using it for the cover of her poetry collection titled "If I Look Inside". I am so thrilled for her - her work was selected after applying for a contest for unpublished authors and poets.

The book will be published in October of 2009 and will be available in both English and Italian (another reason for me to learn the language! I will be practicing for our anniversary trip this fall!) The publisher will also be selling it as an e-book on line.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I am so pleased that this image connects with so many people, and I am truly honored that Laura feels that it captures what she is trying to say with her Poetry.

I look forward to sharing more updates as the project comes to fruition!

This is my favorite poem that I read of hers (so far!) - of course, it is entitled "Dancing" (my other favorite pastime!)

"Dancing" by Laura Mercurio Ebohon
Copyright 2009
(part of the poetry book to be published Fall 2009)

I dance and fire is burning inside
Flames like blades
I dance and I breathe
The scent of jasmine in the air
And springtime breeze
I dance and notes play my soul
Waves that smell of sea
I dance and feel light
A hesitant leaf touching the ground
I dance and it's raining outside
Flames are dampened
Fire put out