Do They Think Of Me At Home - Acrylic Painting

Here's a new painting, added to my Etsy shop! It measures 8x10 on gallery-wrapped canvas, with a circa 1913 music sheet from a song book decoupaged for a background. These are too much fun to do! I'll be adding several more shortly!

Hurray for Rings and Earrings!

With my venture into little art shows I decided to add to my jewelry by making rings and earrings! They are so much fun. The ring I wear is really an eye-catcher; people comment on it wherever I go. And with the earrings I've made them tiny little posts (sometimes I think I like to dare myself to make something as tiny as possible to paint on to test myself; this time I believe I went overboard!)
Right now I only have them in the little shop I consign with. But look for them soon in my Etsy shop! And please don't be afraid to contact me at hoydendesigns@gmail.com should you like one for yourself before I get them up for sale. :)

First Boutique Show

There's a local boutique I sell at called EniThing (you can find a link to the shop's website on the right sidebar) that had a small sidewalk jewelry show one evening a few weeks ago. I was lucky enough to be asked to join, and this is the little display I set up. It's the first time ever I've done anything like this, so though it was a small venue it was a HUGE deal to me. I was surprised (seeing as how introverted I am) how much I truly enjoyed it!

Fox Illustration

I've been stretching my wings a bit lately, carefully testing myself in new avenues of art. One thing I've been trying to broaden is my style for illustration. This fox painting is the latest in my quest for a better understanding of illustrative techniques.

Where Has the Time Gone!

I was truly in shock when I realized I haven't posted to my blog for an entire month! I suppose it's been much more hectic here than I realized. As far as art goes, I've been keeping myself busy, exercising my fingers with sketches in the children's illustration type, which I will post here once I complete one of the myriad paintings I've begun and have yet to finish. And I've managed to also create these bits of hand-painted jewelry:

It's been several years I believe since I painted one of these little garden pendants. Each measures about 1" by 1"; so tiny! They are such fun, though I think I'll be needing some new glasses, as I don't remember having quite this hard of time seeing such small details up close!

I also had a bit of fun with some heart shaped polymer pendants I created a while back during the makings of a couple of custom pieces:

And I utilized some small pieces of wood for some little pins, my very first of their kind!:

Here you can see the back of the pins; so enjoyable to make!:

Lastly, I created this display from a garage sale frame, muslin, and some nails. Off to the consignment shop it goes!:

If you don't see the piece you like in the shop please feel free to contact me; I'll be happy to re-create it for you.
Hope to see you soon!

Cutting and Sewing and Painting, Oh My!

There are times when my fingers need more to do than work a paint brush. In times like those I pull out my trusty sewing machine!
Needing a protective pouch for my iPod, that's what I turned my attentions and energy to. So after some trial and error (and a few uselessly small pouches), I finally came up with these. And in typical Christina Fashion I had to put a bit of hand-painting on each to give them my own spin. Each also sports vintage buttons as a final touch.
The first is my little Alice, once again making an appearance on my own pouch:

The second I created for my husband, with a hand-painted dragon, and very long necklace cord added so he can hang it around his neck:

Rivers of Tears Acrylic Painting

Every now and then I get disconected from art for a while. Eventually some strong emotion will need to manifest itself, and that's when I express myself in a painting that is completely different from the normal pieces I paint. These paintings are done very quickly with no pre-thinking; I basically let the brush do what is wants to do.
Last night I completed one of those "emotional" paintings, and this is the result.

A bit of Romance....

I found this lovely and very romantic dedication in the first page of my 100 year old copy of Jane Austen's Letters and my heart skipped a beat. Who owned this book? Who were these people? What was THEIR love story? So very sweet, to have this viable connection to the romance of two people who lived and loved so very long ago.

Happy Birthday to Me!

2 weeks ago I celebrated a pretty big birthday. My sweetheart of a husband (and my incredible mom-turned-babysitter) gave me a wonderful date night out. After a lovely romantic movie (Letters to Juliet - I so loved this movie) we went to a local outdoor hot spot where I took pictures to my heart's content:




For dinner we went to a wonderful Louisiana style restaurant.

The food was amazing...etouffe, gumbo, jambalaya...and best of all, these fried green tomatoes with a mouth-watering remoulade sauce and juicy prawns...yummm!

To top it off, I had quite the shopping spree at our local art supply store...I have enough blank canvas now to keep my imagination ecstatically happy for quite some time...

I was so spoiled...and I loved every minute of it!

And The Winner Is....!

First off, I would like to thank everyone who attended my little tea party here last weekend! I would also like to give a special thanks to everyone who left such sweet comments about my artwork; that meant so much to me! (And to answer one lovely person's question, yes, I did create all of the paintings and pendants specifically for the Mad Tea Party.)
And now, to announce the winner...!
("Off With Her Head" acrylics and collaged playing cards on gallery stretched canvas, 16"x20")

The wonderfully sweet person who won the Mad Hatter hand-painted pendant is Scrap Vamp! Congratulations!

Thank you again to everyone for visiting my blog! I hope to see you back here soon!
All the best,
Christina