walk softly with your dreams

TITLE: Walk Softly With Your Dreams.
Prints available in my etsy shop

with this painting, i had so much fun with color! i really let the character come out of the background, while being conscious of allowing some of the background to remain showing underneath parts of her body and face.

this piece is all about imagination and thought. i've always thought it would be amazing to actually have thought bubbles fly from our heads to capture a visual of what we imagine. and this girl is sort of walking timeless. she could exist at any point in history. yet her connection to all of humanity still remains. and so much of that connection exists in her balance between the material and immaterial world, and the ability to imagine just what she truly desires and bring it into life.

TITLE: Walk Softly With Your Dreams.
Prints available in my etsy shop

this piece was created using all sorts of materials...acrylic paints, india ink, pastel, charcoal, pencil and origami paper and vintage gold origami paper from my Great Aunt June's collection. on top, i applied an antique decoupage finish to add extra softness and protect the painting from the elements


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ps. coming up in the next few weeks i'll be making another BIG SHOP UPDATE with all of the originals I've been painting! if you're interested in any originals you see before then, just let me know! best wishes!

my art in 77 SQUARE!

CITY GOES TO THE BIRDS WITH TWO NEW ART SHOWS
77 Square article by Lindsay Christians

a few weeks ago i got a call from 77 square arts writer Lindsay Christians, asking about my current art exhibit at ARTspace in downtown madison. i can't even say how flattered i was to be interviewed and featured the following week in an article with local scrap metal art welder Erika Koivunen and her amazing bird sculptures!

read the article online here! 

it was really amazing to see it in print too! and so much fun to sit out in my backyard on a sunny afternoon and talk all about owls, art and e-courses for the story!

CITY GOES TO THE BIRDS WITH TWO NEW ART SHOWS
77 Square article by Lindsay Christians

CITY GOES TO THE BIRDS WITH TWO NEW ART SHOWS
77 Square article by Lindsay Christians

Love the title for the exhibit too...The Owls and Other Art of Juliette Crane: Wild and Beautiful Things from the Everyday World.

a new painting!

TITLE: Footsteps On Quiet Ground.
Prints available in my etsy shop

i've been having a tricky time with my paintings. i hadn't been giving my creative self enough time to really play and have fun. every time i got out my paints, i felt i had to create something good. and that just wasn't working.

so last week, i finally set aside some painting time. i also took the time to really set myself up outside. i love painting in my backyard, but i'd gotten lazy and just laid out my canvases in the grass to paint. but this time, i made sure to do it right and set up my sawhorses with a sheet of drywall for my table on top. then i put out all of my supplies, with my little cart on wheels to keep me organized. and i remembered the thing i'd most been forgetting...music. 

setting up this space and making it just perfect for myself made all of the creativity flow. this painting was one that happily evolved without lots of painting over again and again. it's a piece that as i painted, i just cleared my head and followed my instincts without ever second guessing. 

TITLE: Footsteps On Quiet Ground. 
Prints available in my etsy shop

as soon as she was finished, i knew her story. but it never occurred to me before. she's all about imagination and playing as a child...making up magical worlds and pretending they exist after you've been tucked in for bed at night. that freedom of not holding back...just letting your imagination go and feeling happy.

this piece was created using all sorts of materials...acrylic paints, spray paint, india ink, pastel, charcoal, pencil and origami paper. on top, i applied an antique decoupage finish to add extra softness and protect the painting from the elements

Eva paints Eve

One of two commission oil paintings I've been working on recently.

Shop Update Tomorrow at 11AM EST!

my etsy shop has been a bit neglected lately, so i'm about to liven it up with lots of special items straight from my latest gallery exhibition and spring issue of somerset studio gallery!

each item is one-of-a-kind... 11 mounted prints and 6 originals. from little mixed media collages on paper to mounted prints and originals on wood. all available tomorrow at 11am EST!

sign up for my newsletter for a little reminder and a special discount! 

see you at the shop tomorrow! 

Listen (8x8inches on wood)

Always A Reflection (6x6inches on wood)

a painting in progress

this painting has evolved so many times. and i just can't seem to finish it.

image by Yoshitoma Nara, taken from Yoshitomo Nara: Nobody's Fool

lately i've been especially inspired by artist, yoshitomo nara. i saw a wonderful documentary on him, his art and exhibitions called Traveling With Yoshitomo Nara. 

image by Yoshitoma Nara, taken from Yoshitomo Nara: Nobody's Fool

Then I picked up the book Yoshitomo Nara: Nobody's Fool. 

And ever since, I've had it on my mind to paint close-up self-portraits inspired by Nara's artwork., especially now that I'm painting larger pieces.

I've been photographing them along the way too... and this one started out as this girl in a sweet red dress (inspired by a red velvet dress I wanted to wear every day when I was little).

And looking at this in-progress photo now, I love this piece...and i wonder why on earth didn't i stick with that girl?

And then she evolved into this blond girl...and I have to say, especially since I'm having trouble finding and keeping this girl's eyes, I'm loving her now too.

But with this girl, I just haven't been able to stop. 

And when she finally got this crazy hair...I really fell in love with her!

She currently looks pretty much like this. i hate to white out her eyes again, but something just isn't speaking to me. So I've been looking at her every day...standing back and wondering. i'm happy to be giving it all a bit of time, because i know she will come into herself...but i am just wondering what this painting will turn into next. 

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once she's finished, i'll share with you all of the in-progress shots...quite a story behind this piece too.

BIG NEWS!

me + Pam at the Do What You Love retreat, England 2011. photo by Navyblur

i can hardly stop from smiling! and, well, if you're a regular reader of this little blog you know that last week i sent out a special envelope with a teaching proposal...

me at the Do What You Love retreat, England 2011. photo by Navyblur

and guess what? i was accepted and will officially be teaching my HOW TO PAINT AN OWL workshop at ARTFEST 2012! i can hardly, hardly believe it!!!

Registration starts in August, and I'll be sure to keep you posted on all of the details! i would LOVE to meet you all there!

the painting of my favorite chair

i've had this chair since college. it was a gift from a friend who lived across the hall. and on the day he moved out to live in the desert, he told me if i decorated the chair, i could have it. it was sort of a challenge to my artist self. and so, ever since, i always keep this chair pretty and alive in his memory.

i always seem to repaint this chair at turning points in my life. it's sort of symbolic and a rebirth in that way. because for me, painting this chair is all about play.

and since it'm not only feeling like it's summer around here (especially since i'm painting outside again!), but i'm really making the time to enjoy everything... to give myself tons of time to paint, lounge in my backyard, stroll with my coffee before breakfast, and enjoy long dinners with friends and family...

so i got inspired and took my chair outside for a little repaint!

years ago, i created the fabric chair cover...made from a hippie skirt i never wore, but loved the green embroidered people and elephants. its always seemed like a happy little addition.

i wasn't happy with the front anymore, so i just went for it with the color i was feeling...a soft yellow.

   then i got out a bit of copper paint and loved the way it looked against the black acrylic!

it's so fun to finally use painting techniques on this chair that i've adored in my paintings...i'm still delighted by that foam brush and the stamping shapes it makes!

i've loved the back of this chair most, so i didn't touch too much of it. but it's funny that the back of this chair sits against a wall, so my favorite part was never even seen...

so i just added a bit more yellow acrylic and oil pastel to make it work with the front...

then i really did up the front! so now my favorite part isn't hidden toward the wall, but shows out to the rest of the room!

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ps. don't forget my HOW TO PAINT AN OWL E-Course SALE is going on all this week! REGISTER NOW for SUMMER session beginning JULY 18!

kind of incredible!!!

well, i have been waiting for months to share this issue of somerset studio gallery with you! i just can't say thank you enough to the wonderful editors at somerset studio for featuring my art along with pages and pages of other artists' beautiful work!

she sings like the flowers (left) and autumn (right)

i was so excited to find two of my original paintings... 

and to see this lovely spread of some of my wood mounted prints...

and my little original handmade notecards too!

and to top it all off, as if that all couldn't have been incredible enough, while i was in england i was lucky enough to get an invitation from the always inspiring teesha moore to submit a teaching proposal to teach at ARTFEST 2012!

can you tell i was just a little bit excited?

so i've been working to put together my best workshop proposals and submitted everything in this little envelope last week....i can hardly believe it! and i am just so incredibly excited about it all!!!

THANK YOU so much for all of your amazing support and encouragement! i am so grateful grateful grateful! AND i have another bt of good news to share with you in FRIDAY's post too!

THANK YOU!

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ps. thank you so much for all of your amazing comments from monday's start to finish post for my latest painting, THIS IS YOUR LIFE! i'm so happy you enjoy seeing the painting process! i've been working on many new paintings too that i can't wait to share with you!