Sweets to the Sweet, and New Year's Cheer!

Yes, we were quite busy the last few weeks, which is why my blog has been so quiet. And, it seems, much of what we have to do for Christmas revolves around food! Hahaha!
I wanted to share some pics with you of our sweet exploits this year. The top pic is our little gingerbread house. We had a big family get together where 5 gingerbread houses were made! It was quite alot of fun.

As you can see, ours turned out more of a gingerbread castle. :)

And here's as I was making my yearly batch of sugar cookies:


Here's my little dog Ross (right after his wonderful hair cut!), just waiting for a piece of dough to drop!




We had ALOT of cookies! I think (after quite a few were pilfered still warm from the baking sheets!) I made over one hundred of these yummy morsels of sugary goodness.



With a generous dollop of icing and sprinkles!



And last but not least, a finished platter of them complete with my home made struffoli (a tradition Italian goody, also called honey balls). This was one of the many many plates set out for Christmas Eve celebrations at my house. You can see the vintage tablecloth I was given by my Nani years ago beneath it.


Lastly, here's a pic of my yearly sausage quiche that I make up for Christmas Eve. I USED to be able to eat it...but now I can't have dairy! Waaaahhh! I always manage to sneak a teeny taste, though. ;)


And now, I'll wish you all a happy & healthy New Year! I hope 2009 will be full of wonderful things for you all!

Dickens Faire 2008

Well, as some of you may know I love the Renaissance Faire. And so it's only natural that I should love the Dickens Faire as well when it rolls around during Christmas!
This is probably the last year to be held in San Fransisco. I love Dickens, and every year for the last 20 years or so I've read faithfully Dicken's "A Christmas Carol" during the holidays. I love walking into the Dicken's Faire; it's like stepping back in time and into one of his amazing books. The characters roam the streets and interact with people, and they perform pieces from the novels. It's just amazking.
Here are a few pics I wanted to share with you:

Here's Father Christmas, all decked out.

He was so wonderful, and nice, and patient with all the kids. He took time to listen to each one that sat on his lap and gave them his undivided attention. Wonderful man!

This is Jacob Marley, from A Christmas Carol.

So creepy, he was a wonderful ghost! I love how red his eyes turned out in this pic, though quite unintentional. :)

A Victorian era dress.

The costumes worn were amazing! This was one of my favorites. I was able to take so many incredible pics of dresses that I'm sure they'll be showing up in my paintings soon! (side note: take a gander at the Phantom of the Opera in the background!)

A living store window!

Ladies (and men too!) stand in this store window displaying the corsetry that can be bought...living statues! It's amazing to see. This is just one of the models and poses, but quite a pretty display, don't you agree?

Hear hear, and Happy (belated) Christmas!!!

Snowman Friend - Completed Painting!

I finished my little snowman painting! And just in time for Christmas. :) *sigh!*
The background is more greenish than what showed up on my scan, and for some reason my shading on the snowman didn't come out as evenly as it looks in person. But I'm so pleased with it!
You experience Christmas in two ways. First, through the eyes of a child, everything is so new, every experience exciting. Second, through the eyes of a parent, you see everything through your child's eyes, making each moment wonderfully sweet. Seeing Christmas through your son's or daughter's eyes, you have an incredible appreciation for your parents and the experiences they gave to you, and you find that being able to enrich your child's life through those special moments and experiences yourself is such a blessing.
Happy Christmas to you my friends!

Illustration Friday - Catch-up... 'Rambunctious' and 'Voices'

I've been naughty in not keeping up with my Illustration Friday posts! So here are my quick little sketches for the last two weeks...far from perfect, just very rough sketches from my doodle book. "Voices" didn't come out nearly as nice as I'd have liked, and I just couldn't get the shooting star affect right in "Rambunctious", but here they are. From my Christmas-infused mind and straight to paper!

Angel hiding in the boughs...

"Late at night, while the gingerbread men slept peacefully in their sugary houses, and while the stockings drooped from their heavy loads with sleepy abandon over the empty hearth, a sweet little angel floated silently down from heaven to nestle amongst the twinkling lights and scented boughs of the Christmas tree."

Here's a little angel I made out of a clothespin, some feathers, and present filler many years ago. She wanted to say "hello" from her little bed in the Christmas tree, and to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!
I hope all of you are finding much joy in the season! We managed to make gingerbread houses on Sunday...what are you all doing to celebrate?

Sketchbook Finds - 12/16/08

My production of artwork has dropped drastically as Christmas winds it very quick and merry way toward us. I know I've been remiss in posting here, but thought I'd do something I haven't done in a while: I'll share a sketch from my ever-present doodlebook with you!
This is something I did back in May, and is my version of Rapunzel, with the rampion of the story about the base of the tree. I'm hoping one day to make it into a painting...eventually!

Hoyden Designs Giveaway!!!

***THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED! Thank you SO much to all who entered, and all the lovely comments left!***

SimplySentimental at Etsy has been kind enough to host for me a giveaway of one of my glass tile pendants! Yippee! This is the pendant you can win, with a print from one of my Dreaming of Darcy series of paintings called "Mary":

Isn't she lovely? A very elegant and romantic companion to just about any outfit! AND, she comes complete with an 18" handmade black pleather necklace cord!
To enter, simply go on over to the SimplySentimental blog and follow the instructions! The contest is open until December 22nd, and then a winner will be chosen to receive the above pendant!

Showered with Love!!!

I have been blessed beyond words with not one, not two, but THREE blog awards recently! I am so very touched! Here they are!:

The 'Spreader of Love' award from Mannie Vincent!

(Thank you Mannie!)

The 'One Lovely Bog' award from Sara Faghani!

Thank you Sara!)

The 'Marie Antoinette' award from Juie-Ann!

(Thank you Julie-Ann!)

Here are the rules for accepting these awards:
(1) Post a copy on your blog
(2) Mention who gave you the award.
(3) Pass the award on to 6 others.
(4) Leave a message on their blog letting them know the honor has been bestowed upon them.

Now time to pass these on, and to some incredible artits!...
1.) Alicia Padron!
2.) Vita!
3.) Stella!
4.) Diana Duda!
5.) Cat!
6.) Shelagh!

Please visit their blogs and show some love!

Work in Progress - 12-8-08

As busy as the days are leading up to Christmas (I hardly had time to breathe this whole weekend, we were so busy! I do love it, though.) I did manage to sketch this out while relaxing a bit in the evenings. I thought I'd try my hand at practicing illustration, and at the same time get into the spirit of this, my favorite season of the year. I'll hopefully add some color to it when I can catch up on my sleep! Any feedback, as always, welcome. :)

Letting Go - Completed Painting!

Well, I'm sure you'll agree that it took me long enough to finish this one! Haha! But finish her I did, and I'm really pleased with how she came out. :)
Here's my latest watercolor painting, called "Letting Go". On her lap is a tiny yellow bird, offering his leg for her to tie her broken heart to. He'll take it up and away for her, to free her from the pain she's suffering now. I usually don't add too much symbolism to my paintings, but I added some to this one. She's wearing grey, to show that she's emerging from mourning. The yellow shoe peeking out from the hem of her gown is a symbol of hope, and yellow signifies to me happiness. And the tree trunk she's sitting on signifies that she's been wounded and has felt felled like a tree, but the tiny leaf beginning to sprout on the branch shows that there's still life after great turmoil (thank you Alicia for noticing that! I wasn't sure anyone would!). I added some close-ups, since it's hard to show the detail I wanted to convey in a full pic. Thank you for all your kind words as I've worked through this one!

Treasury 12-3-08

Here's a lovely Etsy Treasury I've been included in. You can see my Chloe painting on the top right hand corner!

'Tis the Season for Giving!

A wonderful fellow artist blogger is doing a fantastic thing on her blog right now. She's collecting money for a terrific cause for children in Pakistan and Afghanistan...Please, if you have the time take a gander at her blog and see if you can spare a few dollars. After all, what better season is there for giving from the heart?!:

Here's the direct link to 'Alice in Paris' blog!

IF - Balloon

A little late, but better late than never! One of my first watercolors, and a pretty awful scan to boot. But I thought this would be perfect for last Illustration Friday's subject of "Balloon". I call this little guy "Sammy Tugs my Heartstrings". :)

I haven't been able to draw or paint much in the last week. Thanksgiving was a busy affair (thank you all so much for your lovely comments on my last post!). I'm very blessed to have most of my immediate family close by, so we all gathered at my 85 year old grandmother's house for an incredible Thanksgiving meal. Everyone pitched in to help out "Nani" (as she's called now that the great-grandchildren have started arriving). I brought my homemade cranberry sauce and roasted potatoes...yumm!
The rest of the long weekend was filled with things to start the Christmas season off right, like putting up the lights, trimming the tree, and our yearly tradition of watching "White Christmas" with my mom. I love love love Christmas, so there's lots to do in the coming month!
I'm hoping to finish up my painting this week sometime, and I finally got my family Christmas cards so I'm hoping to show you all how they turned out!
See you soon my friends!

What am I Thankful for...?

I feel so very blessed for all of you, my blog friends! This community has been such a God-send to me. Your encouragement and kind words have done so much to keep me working hard at my art, even when my hope seemed to have gone.
Thank you, my friends! I wish you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving, and to those of you outside the U.S. I send big warm hugs as well!
Affectionately yours,
Christina

Work in Progress 11-21-08

Here's "Letting Go" with a bit of much needed color. I can't thank you all enough for the lovely comments you left on my last post! It really got me inspired to work more on this. :)
She's getting another step closer to done. I'm hoping to finish her over the weekend. I'm getting very excited about this piece! I'll explain all of the little hidden meanings when I finally get her finished.
It's very frustrating to take so long on a painting! I only have an hour a night if I'm lucky to work on my pieces, so I apologize for the delays!

Work in Progress 11-20-08

Here is my newest painting. "Letting Go", in progress. I wanted her in a grey dress to show her emerging from mourning.

You say Potato, I say Po-tah-to...

Here I am again trying something new! And, of course, back to bunnies, which I am coming to love so very much.
Not only did I want to test out my new waterproof pen in a new way, but I wanted to try acrylic paints on paper. It certainly was an unusual experience for me! I think it will take some getting used to, with such a change in texture from my beloved canvas. I was shocked at the complete difference in feeling and emotion in these two exactly similar sketches after I finished!

Packaging for Paintings

When I first began selling my paintings I stressed out to no end about how to package a stretched canvas painting for shipment. The canvas fabric can be so delicate; even a slight bit of pressure can leave an indentation (I remember once taking a pic of one of my canvas paintings on the floor and my dog ran over it, leaving a lovely dent right where her foot hit). So after much research this is the packaging I came up with:

First I wrap the entire thing in parchment paper. Any other type of paper or bubble wrap laid directly on the surface of a painting can sometimes stick and ruin it. I used to use waxed paper until someone told me that in hot weather the wax can melt...yikes! So parchment paper is the very best thing, though it takes some maneuvering to get the tape to stick!
(please don't mind my very sad looking wood floors; they're quite old!)

After wrapping it like a little present I take 2 sturdy cardboard pieces, cut to the dimension of the canvas, and lay one on the back and one on the front. I make sure to tape them securely so there's no chance of slipping.

Here's my latest ("The Lullaby", going on her happy way today!) all packaged up and ready to be boxed.
I then find a box that will fit my little creation. It's best to find one at least an inch larger on all sides. Make sure especially to protect the corners of the painting with packaging material, as these can get dinged up in the mail pretty badly. And since your painting is already fully protected, you can pack you box with anything at hand that will cushion it and give it a nice comfortable ride to it's new home.
This, of course, can mainly be used for smaller paintings. Very large paintings may require specially built boxes which I have yet to get up the nerve to attempt! ;)

IF - Pretend

My quick little sketch for this Illustration Friday's topic of "Pretend", straight out of my doodle book!

Work in Progress 11-13-08

I literally just finished this sketch. I'll be calling it "Letting Go", and it will be done in watercolors. I came up with a rough draft of it several nights ago, and it just wouldn't leave my head! It's in pencil, so a little light for scanning. I don't know if you can see it, but there's a tiny broken heart she's tying onto the bird's foot.

I've been tagged!

I’ve been tagged twice, it seems! And by two very talented artists, Alicia Padron and
Pease Porridge (thank you for your wonderful compliments, ladies!). They have wonderful blogs and incredible artwork; please check them out!
Now, I am a seriously boring homebody, but I’ll do my best! So here are seven random things about lil’ old me… ;)


1.)I’m married to my high school sweetheart. We were best friends before we became a couple, as well!

2.) I’m allergic to kiwi and pineapple. And I also happen to have a dog named Kiwi (which I’m also allergic too)

3.) I HATE shopping for clothes. It actually stresses me out.

4.) The biggest thrill for me is a trip to the bookstore! I can spend hours just looking over new books and deciding which ones to buy. And I have so many books at home now that I have to store some in boxes! I’m frequently known to be reading 2 or 3 at a time.

5.)When I was a kid I had a wonderful little hamster named Toni (a girl, named after the aunt who gave her to me). And she died while I was on my fifth grade camping trip.

6.) I have a video of myself at 15 years old, with very short and frizzed out hair (from a bad perm attempt) dancing and lip synching to Elvis and the Andrew Sisters. Oh, sooooo bad! But so funny that I love to show people (luckily I was TRYING to be funny!). ;)

7.) My grandpa used to dress up as Santa and go visit the disabled children at Christmas. I didn’t fully appreciate what he was doing until I got older. And when he’d play Santa for his clubs, my sister and cousin and I used to love telling the other children the Santa was our Grandpa. We’d walk around acting all important, like we were royalty. Hahaha!


Phew! Now it’s time for me to pass the torch! Here are the four wonderful bloggers that I’ve decided to tag (please don’t worry if you don’t have the time!)!:

Julie-Ann
Amy
Crystal
Jen

Christmas Card 2008 - Complete!

I finally completed my Christmas card. I'll be sending these out to all of my family this holiday season! I hadn't planned on posting these to my Etsy store, but if anyone would like me to special order some up for you to purchase please e-mail me at hoydendesigns@gmail.com.

Created my FIRST Treasury!

Yippee! I finally managed to get my very own Treasury. And, of course, I filled to brimming with Jane Austen inspired goodies.
Please have a visit with it and leave a comment!

Lazy Weekend and Anne Rice House

I didn't do a blasted thing this weekend as far as art goes. Well, that's not really true. I started sketching a picture for my portfolio on Friday night, but I don't really count it the weekend until Saturday morning rears it's glorious head.
A short while ago I was updating my blog regularly with my insights into a Jane Austen novel, Sense & Sensibility, as I was reading it. But I found that this greatly decreased my joy in reading it, as I was searching each chapter for something insightful to write about. So I abandoned the attempt, and instead just enjoyed my immersion of it. I so love Elinor Dashwood; she's one of my favorite heriones. I find, as I age, that I like the the more serious heroines the best. My favorite of them is Anne Elliot; give me a lady who keeps on the straight and narrow morally any day! Am I a boring old fuddy duddy or what? ;)
Now I'm re-reading (for perhaps the 20th time) Little Women, another of my very favorite books. It's like visiting with an old friend, to open these well-worn pages. I still have markings on the pages of notes I took when I was in high school.
And now, to introduce this picture I have here. I took this last year in New Orleans. We purposely passed by this house, which is Anne Rice's former residence in the Garden District. *Sigh*, such beauty! I spied this lovley red flower over the fence and couldn't help but try for an artistic view point. I'm no photographer by any means, but am quite pleased with how this one turned out. You may know Anne Rice from her books "The Witching Hour" (much of which was set in this very house) and "Interview With a Vampire" (the latter which was turned into a wonderful movie starring Tom Cruise & Brad Pitt). Now she writes faith-based novels, which I am fast becoming a huge fan of (if you ever get a chance to read "Christ the Lord", I highly recommend it!) I just couldn't leave New Orleans without visiting one of my favorite author's former and most famous homes!
And now to end this very lenghty (whew!) post, and wish you all a very happy Monday!

Wise - IF 11-7-08

Here's my very quick and very silly Illustration Friday sketch for the topic "Wise". This poor lady thinks that osmosis will work to help her become wise? I think the owl is doubting her technique...

Work in Progress 11-7-08

Last night I was feeling very restless, so I picked up some watercolor paper and began to sketch, not knowing what I was sketching. I had planned on working on a technique with watercolor and acrylics combined, but this little angel wound up sneaking onto my page instead. I had been planning on painting an image for my Christmas cards this year; I think this is the perfect picture for that!
I'm less than halfway done, but I'm pretty pleased with her so far!

Work in Progress 11-6-08

I know this picture is awful, but I'm stuck. I have 3 options for painting this and I'm not sure what to do:

1.) paint straight over the light pencil lines
2.) ink all lines of the sketch
3.) ink only the main characters and some main outlines

What do you think would compliment this image the best?

Strings - Completed Painting!

I finally finished "Strings"! Here she is in all her glory, watercolors on 9"x11.5" 140 lb. watercolor paper. I think that this will be my very first contribution to Lollishops when it's finally up and running. :)

Work in Progress 11-5-08

I'm about halfway done with my little marionette. I keep going back and forth on if I'm pleased with it or not. I'll keep working at it!

New day...

I typically don't post things like this, but my heart is so full that I can't help myself...
Today is the dawning of a new era. We are so blessed! We saw history being made last night! I will raise my glass to all of my friends all over this wonderful world: here's to peace, and harmony, and hope. :)
God Bless,
Christina

Work in Progress 11-4-08

It seems ages since I've done a work in progress! I've been working on a private project for a little while now, but need to take a break from it for a short time. I liked how my sketch for the Illustration Friday topic of "Strings" came out so much that I've decided to do a watercolor painting of it. Here you can see that I've inked the main image, but I'm keeping the background of the marionette stage lightly sketched out in pencil to bring it less attention. I'll be filling it in with color soon!

Treasury 11-4-08

Oh, I so love this treasury! Much thanks to OffTheBeadenPath for including me! You can see my painting, "The Lullaby", on the bottom right hand corner. :)

Three Little Birds - Encore!

I just realized that I never posted a scanned image of "Three Little Birds"! So here you are, my friends. :)

Post Halloween Update...

Here are our adorable pumpkins! I have to admit, I have no claim to the design on these lovelies; they were created by someone much younger than me (I do take full credit for the carving, however! Have you ever tried to carve a Goosebump pumpkin??? Talk about thick skin!!!)
...and, to my utter mortification, here's a tiny pic of the chicken feet to my costume (yes, those are rubber gloves...) PLEASE don't ask to see the rest of the costume!

Happy Halloween, My Friends!!!

I wanted to wish all of you a very Happy Halloween! I may be fairly busy tomorrow, and wanted to get this in before the craziness starts. Here's a pic of one of my very first watercolors ever, "Jack's Visitor". This was when I was still using watercolor paints like acrylics, thus the strange textures.
And, as a side note, I highly suggest asking your child what you should be for Halloween... Mine wants me to be a chicken, and I've had so much fun planning this crazy costume. ;)
Have a fun and safe Halloween!!!

Another wonderful treasury!!!

I'm in another fabulous treasury, this one by heatherknitz at Etsy! You can see my "Winds of Change" bookmark on the left, second from the bottom. :)