A cute lil' chicken house.

These Asheville chickens needed a fancier home...When I stayed at the DIY B&B this past winter, Erica and I spruced up the chicken's abode. The color concept: mint chocolate chip ice cream. The design concept: funky, retro chickens, flowers and the encorporation of an excerpt from one of Erica's grandfather's favorite books. ' "Ever had a drink of watermelon wine?" he asked. He told me about it, though I didn't answer back....Ain't but three things in this world that's worth a solitary dime, but old dogs and children...and watermelon wine.'I'm pretty sure Bubbles the chicken liked it. :o)And this is the cute lil' staked sign that I painted to go in front of the house. Need a place to stay when you are in the Asheville area? Check out the DIY B&B in West Asheville...it's super groovy! :o)

Doin' Flipz!

I have been painting quite a few murals lately, and this one was a fun challenge. First of all, I had to paint a portion of it on a trampoline! The goal: fill a GIANT gymnastics studio with some elements that would fill the room, match the color palette and be easy to paint around. This was tricky.

These are some of the inspiring elements I came up with (note the trampoline location!)...

I think my old high school English teacher, Mrs. Beaudin would approve of this wall...

That was fun. But it certainly reminded me that I am no acrobat. :o)

Roots Cafe.

One of my favorite new places in Asheville to eat is the Roots Cafe, in the River Arts District of Asheville. They're a little breakfast and lunch place that supports local farmers, has a fabulous veggie menu and gorgeous outdoor seating on giant rocks. Makes for some fun eats in the sunshine. :o)

I ended up doing a couple of creative jobs for Roots during my winter stay, including a redesign of their bathroom. I went with a simple and clean, retro-inspired design and created the custom curtains to coordinate with the spring green tone and funky black and white tiles. The hallway was painted a funky red, with simple vinte climbing floor to season. Tying it all together was the teal doors, that look beautiful against the red and subtly match the curtains in the bathroom. It's such a simple, happy design.And here is a sample of their delicious food. This is their house salad- an Asian inspired dish with quinoa hushpuppies and Thai chicken skewers. Deeeelish.

Ta-da!

And they're up! Ta-da! Here are the three panels I painted for Beans and Berries on Merrimon Avenue here in Asheville. It was raining when I took this pic, but they sure are bright and visible from the road!

A berry sneaky peak. :o)

This is part of a three panel mural installation I am painting for Beans & Berries, the new smoothie & deli joint on Merrimon Ave here in Asheville. The concept is to create three large graphic panels that will all together create a tryptic, each full of vibrant color and lots of swirly motion. I painted all Sunday this past weekend trying to get them done (the weather has not been cooperating lately!) and came away with one finished panel...and a terrible sunburn on my back. When I have finished the other two panels and they are installed on the building, I will be sure to post more pics!

Love and Family in a Japanese garden...

Bruce got this giant piece of salvaged glass and had a unique vision for it: to create a custom piece to hang above his couch in the livingroom. He found me through Craigslist and wanted to have this piece done to match his Japanese décor. The symbols translate to “love and family”: he and his wife have two little girls and I wanted it to be a painting that would have traditional elements, but that would be symbolic and they all would love. Their daughter Madeline loved the pink cherry blossoms, and got to watch me paint the mural—she was home sick from school. :( I really enjoyed doing this kind of work, which has of course opened my mind to a dozen other projects I want to try. It gave me a chance to whip out my set of traditional calligraphy brushes that have gone unused for a while now. I have always been facinated by Japanese culture and art. When most kids were begging their parents to let them join soccer or baseball in grammar school, my mom was driving me to non-traditional art lessons on Saturdays (such as Japanese calligraphy!) and early morning macramé classes. :) (See mom? It has paid off!) Thanks Bruce and family for letting me share my work with you!

The livingroom is done!

Here are pictures of our new livingroom! After finally getting the wall color right, sewing the curtains and finishing the faux-finished wall and swirly tree mural, it has all come together. It's such a happy space to walk into now. The red chair, we decided, was better in it's natural red leather state, and looks beautiful against the sea foamy tinted walls. The punch of primary colors add some funk to the room-- the red chair, a huge yellow floor pillow, and that super awesome vintage blue chair in the corner (that Cheyenne got for $25.00!) Note the cool mirror on the wall-- a Pier 1 Imports clearance rack find, that I painted the vines and flowers on to make it coordinate with the room. And check out the artwork hanging above the TV set-- those are 4 cheap-o placemats from World Market, that we just grommeted and hung with hemp. Light some candles, pour a glass of wine, and the room makes for a super cozy sitting!

Can I has cheeseburger now?

Rumney Open Studio recap

Well, as promised, I have an update of the fabulousness that happened in Rumney this past weekend. We had gorgeous weather. Absolutely gorgeous. The sun was shining, warming the air and illuminating the bright hues of foliage. It was breathtaking and inspiring, as I took the opportunity to drive around to visit all of the artisans in their studios.
And boy, what inspiration it was! Each individual artist brought something diverse to the table and didn’t disappoint. Polly Bartlett’s beautiful weaving was glorious in color and texture (and she made a delicious fresh spinach dip that I have to get the recipe for!). Richard’s pottery at Shanware Pottery was elegantly displayed in his bright, new shop, where the walls were adorned with the stunning works of Sarah Mazur. Mindy Beach offered a glimpse into her world with her figurative drawings, costumes, collage and color in her gorgeous second floor studio of artistic eye-candy. (She also had a yard sale, where I scored some vintage Tinker Toys and a plaster sculpted hand). Pat Giebutowski welcomed people to stroll through the sunny greenhouse (full of leafy, blooming plants) of her recently remodeled farmhouse to reveal a room of her gorgeous classical style egg tempera paintings (and offered up a sample of her husband’s delicious homemade wine, Pluarity Raz-yummy!) Terry Downs kept people intrigued as he walked you through the process of creating an etching, and displayed some of his spectacular works of local spots in Rumney. And lastly, atop Stinson Lake Road, at Moosewood, the Kings offered a glance into their creative world, with Wayne’s Photo expressionist images and Alice’s dazzling handcrafted jewelry. (My apologies Ed…I couldn’t make it to your place on Saturday, but I look forward to seeing your restored vintage instruments next year!)
It was truly amazing. Here is a sampling of some of the images I captured. I know—it’s a lot, but there was so much to take in and I’m just so excited to share! And I'm excited to work on this project again next year, so mark your calendars for next Columbus Day weekend!
Will you look at the weather? Weeeeeee!Richard's stunning glaze colors at Shanware Pottery...
More Shanware. Beautiful.
Wall mural in Pat's dining room--gorgeous!

The infamous homemade Plurality Raz...delicious when paired with a sharp cheese and dark chocolate

A sampling of Pat's work... Stone floor greenhouse and easel in the sun. What would be better than that with a cup of tea on a Sunday morning?
Learn from the master: Terry shows us how he creates his etchings
Steps in the etching process displayed on the wall

Mindy Beach's figurative hanging sculpture

Mindy's fun, hand-sewn quilts
Mindy's figure drawings--stunning!

Alice King's unique, handmade jewelry:

The Very Hungry Playroom

I'm a bit behind (It seems I have sprained my wrist, but thankfully not my painting wrist!), but this is one of my latest mural projects. Inpired by Eric Carle's The Very Hungry Catepillar, this playroom is going to be a colorful learning and playzone for a couple of adorable children:
Those of you who know me, will probably notice that the wall color is my EXACT favorite color...so it wasn't difficult to feel inspired!
This corner is going to be for trucks, building and cars

This polka-dotted section actually frames out a magnetic wall, so the kids can post their paintings, schoolwork and creations with magnets!

I have to say...I love painting, but the best part about my job is getting to reveal the room to the kids. What a couple of cuties!

Barn door art

I finished this mural project a week or two ago, but finally had the chance to shoot a couple of pics of it this weekend. As it turns out, I truly enjoyed painting colorful replicas of barnyard creatures. Must be all that growin' up in the sticks...hmmm, maybe there is a painted series of cows and chickens coming up in my artistic future....