'Tis the season to be crafty...

I have been spending hours and hours in my studio, painting away! Lots of new signs will be coming to my store AND to my etsy shoppe...stay tuned! :o)

THIS is the chaos that is my studio. There's paint everywhere, and usually bad 80's music is playing... Been painting a lot of birch trees...

Paint, paint, paint...everywhere! :o)

Veggie Art @ Jewell & The Beanstalk!

My handpainted signs have made their way to another location! On the little side called Somerville, hides a hidden treasure: Jewell in the Beanstalk. It's a funky diner, with serve-yourself coffee and tea, made-from-scratch goodies, delicious (and healthy!) meals and NH made arts, crafts, jellies and jams lining the walls.
My lil' handpained signs and The Beanstalk seem to be a perfect match, with so many nooks and crannies to hang my funky signs...

While I was there, I was treated to some homemade brie & bacon quiche, fresh fruit, homemade bread and rosemary potatoes that were uh-maze-ing. If you are ever in the Manchvegas area, swing on in for a delicious meal and say hi to Amber...and be sure to check out all the local art!

Peace. Love. Etsy.

I have been painting and painting and painting these days. A combination of my fueled excitement for the reopening of my store and the unpredicatable cold weather has brought me down to my lil' basement studio with a space heater for some creation station time. (Anyone remember that show? Creation Station? I will defintely be YouTubing that later). I have been challenging myself in many ways and growing in technique and style. The body of work I am going to be hanging at the shop (and featuring at a few local boutiques and shoppes in New England) is primarily my classic handpainted signs. But I have found different types of wood, salvaged pieces, am shakin up my color palette and new ideas are flowing. Here's a little sampling of what's in store. Literally. :o)



This piece is one of my favorite quotes of all time, handpainted on a vintage children's xylophone.

An old cabinet door now tells a story:

If you want to see more of what I have been creating, check out my etsy shoppe: http://www.etsy.com/shop/VeggieArtGirl Enjoy the new naughty section! More coming soon!

WREN Farmers Market on a super cold Saturday

I became a member of WREN (Women's Rural Entrepreneurial Network) this year and it has opened quite a few doors for me. I was able to join in on one of the final Farmers Markets of the season with a display of my hula hoops and handpainted signs. The hoops were a big hit! Here are some pics from the freezing fun! (Brr...it was sunny, but it was cooooold!)(That's my mom on the left...she's become quite a master of the hoop!)

Since then, I have started selling my works (and hoops!) at the WREN Local Works Shoppe on Main St. in Bethlehem. It's such a cute little store, full of a great variety of locally made, handcrafted goods. To learn more about WREN, go to http://www.wrencommunity.org/. More great people, doing great things! :o)

Open House at Terra Perma!

This place is great. Terra Perma is hosting an open house gathering on December 6th, complete with a live harpist, free munchies and a reception for Sarah Cail (a freelance photographer currently exhibiting there) and (also on exhibit with handpainted signs and designs)…me! Just in time for the holiday season, Terra is hosting this fabulous event to not only introduce Sarah and I to the community in style, but get everyone in the holiday spirit!

If you haven’t had the chance to check Terra Perma out, you should do so for some holiday shopping. I’m tellin’ ya…their fair trade goods are fabulous and they have such a wide selection of earth-friendly products! Their gorgeous gallery space upstairs is one that I dream of having someday—the old wood plank floors and large, sunny windows, all overlooking the eclectic architecture of downtown Laconia. Beautiful!

So stop on by December 6th for some live music, chow down some yummy hors d’oeurves, of course say hi to me, and get some shopping done! :) Please pass this invite along to anyone who you think would enjoy! (Just click on the invite to open a larger pic in a new window, "save as" and pass it on!) I appreciate it!

Terra Perma gallery exhibit

For the second year in a row, earth-friendly Terra Perma Gallery in downtown Laconia has asked me to join them for the holiday season with a 2-month art display. I was warmly welcomed as I went to set up my display of handpainted signs, greeting cards and prints on Saturday, and spread my creations across this beautiful green wall (I don’t think I would have hand-picked a better color!) Terra is such a great place, and if you have the chance to swing on in to do a little holiday shopping, you will not be disappointed. From the gorgeous jewelry to the fair trade goods to the organic threads…everything is not only stunning, but also reasonably priced. And in the upstairs, open gallery space, they hold all sorts of activities— reiki, massage, movement classes, yoga...be sure to check them out!
My show at Terra runs until January 1st; I will be featured in an open house/reception in early December, so I’ll be sure to keep you posted on that. :)

Halloweeeeeeeeeeeen.

Well, it wasn’t the usual Halloween craziness this year, but it was a fun one! I recycled an old Rainbow Brite costume I made a few years ago, and added a few embellishments to it. I wound up drinking one too many #7 drafts at The Seven Barrel Brewery in West Lebanon, where The Brain Police was playing, and I met up with an old friend from high school. But first, I made sure I checked it with my buddy, Little B, to scope out his sweet Batman costume (whose picture I naturally photoshopped onto a cool background). And my friend Chainsaw…check out his ‘Slim Kyle’ duds…very impressive. I love Halloween.

Brrrr.

It’s freaking cold out today. And since I am heading south in ’09, I sold my Blazer (“Sherman”) with 4-wheel drive and bought a fancy new van for my travels. Today I fought the cold and wind to clean out the 5 plus years of memories from Sherman, and (aside from a box full of ancient treasures and an old, petrified hotdog) stumbled upon a pamphlet from the corn maze Larry and I went to at Moulton Farm in Moultonborough, NH. It’s hard to believe this was just last weekend—it was t-shirt weather, and today it is threatening to snow!
But that was sadly the last day trip for Sherman and I did want to post these pics to give a shout-out to Moulton Farm. Aside from an award-winning corn maze, they have everything there from fresh seafood to local, organic produce, to a yummy bakery section. Larry and I rocked a hot cider and an apple-struedel-something-er-other (it was delicious!), while walking through the corn maze…surprisingly a first for me, who grew up in the North Country. But between getting lost (oh yeah, we went all the way back to the beginning), the treats and the laughs, it was a fun time. Though I kept thinking David Bowie was going to appear out of nowhere in tight spandex with a crystal ball, or I’d bump into Hoggle, but maybe next time…
You can't get the full-on redneck experience unless you get your picture taken behind this thing:



A little Blair witch action: