PPF Charity Auction: "Two Hearts" . . ."

AUCTION ITEM

"Two Hearts"

12 x 12 Hand Painted Decorative Pillow 

featuring Swarovski Crystals

I'm honored to be participating in the Paint Party Friday Action Blog Hop to benefit The Sandy Hook Elementary School. It's the beautiful brainchild of hosts Eva & Kristin as they celebrate PPF's third birthday by continuing to give to others . . . 

HOW DOES IT WORK?

There will be several items up for auction beginning this Friday, March 15th (EST). In order to view all the artwork available, simply visit the Paint Party Friday website. Every item up for sale (all proceeds will go directly to charity) will be linked to the individual artist who will be accepting bids for their item(s) on their individual websites. 

WHAT I HAVE UP FOR GRABS:

I'm proud to participate by offering the following hand painted decorative pillow entitled "Two Hearts:"

12 x 12 hand painted canvas pillow

WANNA KNOW MORE ABOUT IT?

"Two Hearts" is a one-of-a-kind 12 x 12 decorative pillow created in the Twinkle, Twinkle studio. It was hand drawn in pencil before being painted with a combination of bold colors in both matte and metallic acrylic paints and glittery pens (she really sparkles in person ;). It comes complete with a "Decorator's Choice" poly-fil form (in a firm texture) so she's ready to go when you are. 

Swarovski Crystal speciality button

And the best part? The handmade fabric flower in her hair is accented with a gorgeous Swarovski Crystal button for the utmost in elegance, sparkle and shine.

"Two Hearts:" For the one girl who has yours . . . 

FABULOUS! HOW DO I BUY THIS (FOR CHARITY)?

Thank you for asking. I will be accepting bids here - in the comments section below - throughout the weekend. The Auction for this item will close Sunday at noon, Pacific Standard Time (PST). The bidding will start at ten dollars ($10) and may increase in increments of one dollar ($1) per bid. That means, if you really want it, please keep returning to increase your bid in the comment section. The last bid at the close of the auction will be the winner!

THEN WHAT?

I will contact the winner shortly thereafter with the final amount they will be donating to charity. The funds may be sent here, which a direct link to the Newtown Memorial Fund to benefit those affected by the Sandy Hook Elementary School tragedy. Once proof of your donation is sent, I will ship the pillow at my expense. Domestic and International bids are happily accepted.

That's it! I hope you have fun hopping and shopping. I know I for one can't wait . . .

UPDATE: The bidding is now CLOSED. Thank you to all who followed along here, on Instagram and on Facebook. I'm honored to send this little one out to the auction winner, Jessica Sporn! Thank you Jessica for your kindness, generosity and support.

Kristin xo

Lately . . .

"I've been doing a lot of abstract painting lately, extremely abstract. 

No brush, no paint, no canvas. I just think about it."

-- Stephen Wright

It's perfect right?! And exactly how I've been feeling lately. Life's been especially busy but still, I haven't even walked in the studio in weeks. . . . So today, I'm gonna do something about that. Even if I just slap a coat of paint on something, I'm gonna make a mark . . . .

In the meantime, I'm looking forward to this Friday's Charity Auction benefiting The Sandy Hook Elementary School. The blog hop will take place Friday, the 15th and can be accessed through the Paint Party Friday webpage. 

(My auction item sneak peek)

I will be auctioning off a hand-painted decorative somethin'-somethin' and can't wait to see what the other participants have up for grabs. Details for my auction can be found here on Friday and event details can be found below:

All proceeds will go directly to a Newtown, CT charity.

So, wish me luck in getting paint under my fingernails today & I'll see you Friday . . . .

Kristin xo

29 Faces: Done!

I did it! 29 Faces in 28 Days. Thank you to Ayala for the opportunity and inspiration . . . . 

I must say, this challenge was much more difficult than I expected. I found that the only real time I had to work on the sketches were at night, and if I wanted to keep up, I really needed to attempt one face a day. So every night (well almost, I did miss 3 days that I made up later on) after the kid fell asleep I got to work.  

I challenged myself to learn as much as I could, to try new techniques, angles & ideas. Some nights I would be done in 30 minutes, and some would take closer to 3 hours. Ironically, I found that the faster "portraits" were among my favorites. I've been wanting to be more spontaneous and the time limit really helped with that.

Overall, most of these girls will stay in their book, serving as references for what to (or not to) do in future paintings. Some I would like to explore further. I miss color and am anxious to give a few of these more life. We'll see. In the meantime, below are the final 8 girls that I posted daily to Instagram:

#22

#23

#24, 24, 26

#27

"Just Be You"

#28 & 29

And just for fun, I put the entire month - all 29 Faces - into a slide show below:

Thank you for following my antics and thanks again to Ayala and the 29 Faces group for all of the inspiration.

Kristin xo

10 Little Girls All Lined Up in a Row . . .

# 11

(irregular shapes inspired by this Love)

Still working on my 29 Faces . . . and as of today, I only have 8 left to go (eeee) . . . .

It's been quite a challenge; not only in finding the time to sketch on a daily basis, but also in finding a variety of expressions, techniques and hair styles to play with. I'm trying to learn as much as I can throughout the process, and am really trying to stretch myself along the way. At this point, I'm working less on copying the masters (as I did in this post) and more on finding new ways to express "my style" of whimsical girls. 

Here's what I've done thus far (all of which has been posted daily on Instagram):

# 12, 13 & 14

(Catching up)

#15

Going for a loose hand, hash marks and whimsey

#16

(Inspired by a piece I did last year following this Beauty 

which BTW, I dislike very much, but for the sake of Bravery am still posting ;)

#17

(It was my Birthday)

#18

Little Alien Girl

#19

Playing with different hair styles here. 

#20

(It was a hard day ;)

#21

Another girl from my "Just be You" series

That's me. Caught up. And since it's Sunday, I'll link to the lovelies at Sunday Sketches as well. 

Thanks for taking a peek,

Kristin xo

Paint Party Friday: Altered Alice

"Alice"

Altered Cook Book with vintage ephemera 

Happy PPF!

I brought my new book to the party . . . 

It all started a few years ago with an Alice in Wonderland inspired quilt that I bought from an artisan who, like most of us, was also an art supply and ephemera hoarder. Thankfully for me, she was selling some of her old junk er, vintage collectables, and I got to take said blanket home.

The perfect opportunity to use it came when I decided to try and capture the Lewis Carroll tale by creating an altered book in Alice's honor. I thought it could be cool to tackle the project from the perspective of a child of that era, as if she had put the book together herself. I used both vintage materials and modern clip art and did my best to blend the two. This is what we came up with:

Page One

Packing tape transfer peeks out from the back of a piece of the quilt featuring that famous Rabbit

Page Two

The vintage letter asking for a "play date" that gave me the idea

Tucked into an envelope and guarded by an altered tag attached with a child's bobby pin

Page Three

Here I used a vintage photograph, bingo card and pages from the book itself

Page Four

A pretty napkin that I stole from my Mom used as an accent

Page Five (my favorite)

Mad Hatter multiplied 

Page Six

The Queen's silhouette added to an old mini playing card

Last Page

I added another vintage photograph - this one representing our girl as she grows up - put in a frame enhanced with silver leaf

That's it! It's a lotta pictures I know, thanks for hanging in there with me . . . 

See you at the party,

Kristin xo

When Someone Loves You . . .

Altered spoon with Paper Clay heart

"When someone loves you, they way they say your name is different. 

You know that your name is safe in their mouth."

- Billy, age 4

Happy Valentines Day,

Kristin xo

29 Faces (Still At It) . . .

29 Faces: Day 4

I've been good (so far ;) and have kept up with my daily sketching for 29 Faces. It's been quite a challenge - some nights easier (and much longer) than others - but in the spirit of growth, I put on my big girl panties and did it anyway. . . .

My goal is to really stretch myself, to try new things, explore new angles and learn new techniques. I've dug out my old art books (you know, the kind weigh more than a newborn) and have been studying some of the masters. On nights when I feel really brave, I've tried to copy their portraits and emulate their style. On nights when I feel like playing more, I've gone in my own direction. But each time, I try to do something that I haven't done before. 

Here's what I've come up with so far:

Day 5

Inspired by "Head of a Woman" (Portrait of Genevieve) by Pablo Picasso, 1903

Day 6

Trying angular shapes here, and going for the high ponytail. 

Day 7

Going for a loose strokes and a vintage feel

Day 8

Trying to be looser yet. Really wanting to be more spontaneous

Day 9

Inspired by Michelangelo's "The Delphic Sibyl" from the Sistine Chapel

Day 10

Last night's efforts. Trying out short hair

Whew. Only 19 left to go . . . .

I guess I better get on it, 

Kristin xo