See you in 2009

I'm almost ready for Christmas. Our tree is up and decorated, the gifts have been bought and in some cases made, the house is clean and the cats are snug in their beds beside the heater. Now it's time for me to enjoy family and friends, some good food, a few treats and a few pomegranate martini's. New posts will be few, if any, for the rest of this year. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!!!

I wish you all health and happiness for the coming year.

Technical Difficulties!!!

The last few days have been crazy here. I finished up the last of my custom orders on Thursday which was a good thing. Friday brought the first real snowstorm of the season. An all day event, we got 25 centimeters of snow (8 inches) and frigid temperatures. Thankfully we didn't receive any freezing rain. I woke up early to check my email and read some blogs and I couldn't get the computer to start up. Frustrated, I turned on the morning news and waited patiently until it was time for my husband Egils to get up for work. Finally up and in a bit of a rush to get off to work ahead of the coming storm, he had a look to see what the problem was. Insert curse words here! Off to work, the problem would have to be looked at later. Today, this is what part of the studio looks like. So as you can see, I'm having technical difficulties, to say the least. Hopefully I can get back some of what has been lost and it's business as usual in the new year. The brighter side of all this is that there are a couple of laptops that I can use in the meantime and I'm learning how to use a different operating system.

My Corporate Collection

blackDot.ca recently moved into a much larger studio space. Here are a few views of my paintings in the new larger and much brighter space. These paintings are quite large, 36"x36", 36"x60", and 48"x60", as I was asked to make the paintings large, abstract and in keeping with the company colors.

My Mood Board

I spent a little time today re doing my mood board. It's been awhile since I changed it up and I was inspired by this post on Decor8 blog. So here it is. This is what has been inspiring me lately. I'm favoring neutrals mostly. Black, white, and shades of gray and beige. When I feel I need a shot of color I've been turning to bright lime greens or that soft aqua blue, that I've used here and here. I've been dreaming of large loft studios with lots of space and really large windows. A space where I could spread out. I've also been wanting to display my work in different ways. Perhaps I'll move things around here in the new year to change things up. I've been thinking of putting up a ledge to display smaller works. My mood/inspiration board is a compilation of magazine pages, my work (sketches, ideas, print outs) and little bits, odds and ends. Anything that will inspire me.

I'm always inspired by other artists work so I have a couple of their cards that I've picked up at galleries and display these as well. My mood boards are usually reflective of the season that we're in as I find I'm influenced by the weather and amount of sunshine and daylight.

And in keeping with Holly's request, I dedicate my mood board to Wind Lost-I so love the look, and Melonhead Knitwear-the most artful knitting.

Madness

No, I'm not angry or going crazy or anything! I titled this Madness because I'm listening to Madness right now. Remember-Our House. From the 80's??? I've been listening to 80's music while painting today. Sometimes it just puts me in the mood. Yes, my studio has been a mad house (see, my title does fit!) I'm in planning stages for a new series of paintings as well as finishing up 3 custom orders, and I have everything everywhere again. I will be re organizing my studio and workspace over the holidays. I've also got to get our place cleaned up and "Christmassy" for friends and family that will be visiting. It does not look very festive yet. The little tree is up but looking rather empty. I think a few new decorations are in order. I've got white sparkley lights strung up over my work table so that looks nice especially as it's been getting dark here about 4pm. The weekend will be the usual around here shopping, laundry, cleaning, etc. Actually, Holly over at decor8 has a wonderful post today about her mood board and has inspired me to re-do mine. I'll squeeze some time out for myself to do that and post photos here. What have you got planned for the weekend?

I did the above little painting in my workshop a few weeks ago. Just a fun little piece I titled Desparate Housewife. Available in my shop. Please note that holiday purchases should be made by Monday December 15th to ensure delivery for the holidays.

My "Big Salad" Nicoise

It's another Tasty Tuesday!! We are all so busy these days that sometimes it can be a real challenge to get a meal on the table. Especially one that's made with real food and can be prepared in a hurry. When life gets super hectic around here I like to make a "big salad" for dinner. Here's my version of a "big salad nicoise". As I'm quite casual in the kitchen, this recipe can easily be changed up in ingredients and amounts to suite your specific needs and what happens to be in season. If you don't like one of the ingredients that I've used here, by all means substitute something you like. You can even take this dish up a few notches and use fresh seared Ahi tuna. The "Big Salad Nicoise" pictured above easily fed 2 adults and a 16 year old son for dinner with no leftovers.

Salad Ingredients

1 small head romaine lettuce
1 small red bell pepper, sliced thin
1/2 English cucumber, diced
2 medium tomatoes, sliced
4 hard boiled eggs, quartered
fresh green beans, steamed
1 can artichoke hearts, drained
1 can tuna, drained
1/2 cup kalamata olives,
9 cocktail size boccaccini cheese balls
6 slices black Forest ham

Dressing

1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
salt and black pepper
1/2 small shallot, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp dijon mustard

Arrange salad ingredients onto a platter. Whisk together dressing ingredients and pour as much as is needed over salad. Store any leftover dressing in refrigerator. Enjoy with a nice glass of chilled white wine, and some good conversation.

Festival of Smalls Still Going Strong.

You still have time to check out the Festival of Smalls at Art Interiors. The show runs until December 24th and you can pick up affordable original artwork by fabulous artists. My mini birches have been selling like hotcakes. Can't make it to the show? You can check out the Festival of Smalls online gallery and purchase that way. You can also visit my shop and as I have 2 birches left, along with other great affordable art. Original art makes a great gift!!

"White Slate" a group show at Leonardo Gallery, Toronto.

It has been so busy around here that I haven't had much time at my blog. I didn't even have time to post a "Tasty Tuesday" yesterday. I'm trying to get in the habit of writing a few posts at a time so I have some ready to go, but with Christmas fast approaching and all my other projects on the go I'm getting a little back logged. Please bear with me. :-) I have a gallery walk and reception to attend this Thursday evening at Leonardo Gallery in Toronto and will be present, at least for the first hour. If you happen to be in the area and fancy having a look at the Leonardo group show please stop in and say hello. There's a wonderful variety of artistic styles to see. Also, I'll be having a duo show at the gallery next summer 2009 with Anne Barkley. Her powerful abstracts will be exhibited in this show also.

The above painting is Conference Call 20x20 and is hanging in this show. It's a larger version of my bird series.