Monday Morning Inspiration & a Winner!

Image by Me

Good morning....how was your weekend? Do anything special? I had a fun day spent with my Mom on Saturday. We went to two craft fairs, an antique store, and out to lunch. Then we went back to her house for a game of Scrabble (my Mom loves Scrabble) and she beat me by a landslide! Aw, well.....it's just a game, it's just a game. lol.

O.k., now to announce the WINNER of the beautiful original painting by Deanna Pamenter. Drumroll please! The winner is LANA from Lanalou Style! Yay, Lana! I'll pass your contact info. on to Deanna and you can let her know which of these gorgeous paintings you would like. Thanks again, Deanna. :)

Hope your week is a good one, everyone. I'm looking forward to sharing some cool things with you! xo Here's a quote for your Monday morning:

“LEARN from YESTERDAY, LIVE for TODAY, HOPE for TOMORROW.” Albert Einstein

Spotlight on Artists ~ Final Day

Image by John-Morgan

Awww, the Spotlight on Artists is over. I feel just a little bit sad but also so encouraged by the week we shared together celebrating ART and ARTISTS...it was great! A big THANKYOU to all the artists that contributed and to all the readers who left such kind commments for them. :) (Btw, every comment you leave today will be added to the pot for the GIVEAWAY!)

On Monday I'll announce the winner of one of Deanna's original paintings. Have a great weekend and I'll see you then!

Featured Artist ~ Shirae Sela

Her Shop ~ Shira Sela

"I am an illustrator and designer. I work with both traditional and digital mediums and I love to use inks, pens and markers as well as various graphic and illustration softwares."

My work was featured in:
Home Companion Magazine
Juxtapoz website
Swide magazine by Dolce & Gabbana
Modish
Shak in Style
Casa Sugar
Sweet Station
Illustrativo
Mixedplate
Poppytalk
We Covet
Indie Fixx
Cool Mom Pics
Cutable
Wishing Willow

Featured Artist ~ Heather L. Young

Her Website ~ FL Young Studio

"While I received my BFA in illustration from Savannah College of Art and Design, I've never been one to stay inside a box for very long. I love to learn new techniques and take on new challenges....be it a mural installation, wood working adventure, what have you. For the moment I'm completely obsessed with food illustration, but I always have one eye open for a new and interesting endeavor."

Featured Artist ~ Suyumbike Guvenc

Her Website ~ Suyumbike Guvenc

"As a graphic designer I'm living & working in İstanbul. I've been painting with different medias. I love using different materials and photography in my works because that makes me search for new things all the time.

I can describe my works as an inner look into my feelings and universe more than specific concepts. Believing that art is the most important way of communication opens the universe."

Featured Artist ~ Katy Gromball

Her Shop ~ Katy Gromball Her Blog ~ Katy Gromball

"I cut and stick papers since.. I can't remember how long i've been doing this!

I love using precious Japanese papers, threads and illustrations of the 1950s.
I draw my inspirations mainly from Music.. and coffee that I drink far too much.

I live in the rainy east of France, with my freaky family: ema (the dog), mariane (the best sister & friend in the world) and jude (my lovely husband).

You can find more about my work here: http://www.katygromball.blogspot.com/

I do my best to create a sweet and cosy place, where I hope you'll feel good.
So, don't be shy, stop by and say 'hello'."

Spotlight on Artists ~ Day 4

Image by Art By Christi

Well, here we are again! lol. I hope you're enjoying your mini tour through a virtual art gallery. I'm loving it! I also appreciate all of your kind and generous comments. You're such a nice group of people. ;)

I've made one small change I wanted to let you know about. Instead of announcing the winner of Deanna's GIVEAWAY tomorrow, I'm going to announce it on Monday. I just want to make sure that tomorrow's artists receive as many comments as the other featured artists. ;) Thanks for understanding.

O.k., go and enjoy today's amazing talents!

Featured Artist ~ Annette Manseth

Her Shop ~ Carambatack Design

"Hi! My name is Annette, I`m 36 and I live in a small town in Norway.
I`ve been doing various forms of art for the past 18 years. I love to draw, illustrate and create beautiful things."

Featured Artist ~ Judit Chiaroscuro

Her Flickr: From the set, Everything Forgotten Her Blog ~ Designers Scrapbook

"I work as a graphic designer in Vienna, Austria, and currently see the art I am making as "me quality-time" to free my head from the everyday work.
I have had smaller exhibitions in Vienna, Czech Republic and Brooklyn, NY."

Featured Artist ~ Rita Vindedzis

Her Shop ~ Red Banana Her Blog ~ Rita Vindedzis

"I am a visual artist living and working in Toronto, Canada. My paintings are in numerous private and corporate collections and have been included in such publications as Style at Home magazine, Canadian House and Home and the 2008 Benjamin Moore brochure.

Here in the shop I am showcasing my smaller paintings, studies, studio sketches and mixed media work, pastels, and illustrations. All of my artwork is 100% original and one of a kind."

Featured Artist ~ Jaime Raybin

Her Website ~ Jaime Raybin

"Jaime Raybin has exhibited work at the Frist Center for the Visual Arts, the Renaissance Center, Dangenart Gallery, Twist Gallery, and the University of the South. She has won awards, including Best in Show at the Customs House Museum juried exhibition, and second place in 12"x12": a juried show of small works at MTSU. Through Off the Wall, a six member artist collective in Nashville, Tennessee, she has shown in many self-organized group shows, both in commercial galleries and raw spaces. Raybin earned a BFA from Watkins College of Art and Design in 2006.

In addition to being an exhibiting artist, Raybin is involved in several art organizations. Raybin currently serves as President of Plate Tone Printshop, a community printmaking studio in Nashville. Raybin was on the Board of Directors of the Secret Show Series, a Nashville group dedicated to displaying contemporary, often experimental art in nontraditional art spaces. In 2005 the Secret Show Series operated an alternative art space, 310 Chestnut St, out of an old record plating facility."

Spotlight on Artists ~ Day 3

Image by Bound 4 Freedom

Good morning! It's hard to believe, but we're already at the halfway mark for our Spotlight on Artists! The comments you're leaving for each artist have been so encouraging. Thank you! O.k., I'll let you take a look at the talent for today. Enjoy! :)

Featured Artist ~ Caroline Saganich

Her Shop ~ Cool Ranch Studio Her Blog ~ Oh Chalet!

"i am a painter and stay-at-home mommy living in the boston area and sometimes in vermont, with my husband, little boy, and a big black cat. i can't remember a time when i didn't think of myself as an artist (i have very clear memories of secretly making little books under my desk in elementary school). as an adult, i went to school for graphic arts and photography and since then i have dabbled in everything from printmaking, to ceramics, and painting. i really enjoy the messiness of painting and love to mix and play with color."

Featured Artist ~ Sugar Donkey Dolls

Her Shop ~ Sugar Donkey Dolls Her Blog ~ Sugar Donkey Dolls

"Welcome to Sugar Donkey Dolls! We are a small handmade crafts store specializing in cloth and polymer clay dolls."

Featured Artist ~ Letha Colleen

Her Shop ~ Pursuit of Happiness Her Blog ~ Pursuit of Happiness

"I’ve been making stuff with paper since I was a child. Paper dolls, scrapbooks, decoupage… I love cutting things up into a heap of shapes and strips and pieces --- a testament to my destructive streak. Even more fun is the reassembly: I like to hunt through the piles surrounding me at my art table, looking for just the right piece, color or texture to form the memory or daydream that is the piece I am working on --- a testament to my healing streak.

As an adult making art, I am doing what many of us strive to do --- capture the essence of childhood memory and experiences so that I can look at it in comparison to where I am in the current timeline of my life. Many of my pieces feel like pages lifted from a particular experience I had as a child... somewhere around the age of 8 or 9. Being a rabid climber of trees --- often very high trees --- I have a huge mental storehouse of topographical images of backyards, the Puget Sound, the Narrows Bridge and a variety of nearby islands all mixed up and tied to my musings on what I was learning and seeing at the time. This is primarily what you’ll see in my art work: landscapes slightly fractured and segmented by personal mental pathways and their corresponding struggles and/or epiphanies.

In terms of medium I make my art out of new and vintage papers, rusty metal strips, keys, old hardware, watch parts and gears and all manner of random found objects.

I went to art school; I learned color theory, composition, life drawing… my BFA is in Interior Design so in many ways I am also a self taught artist.

I hope to continue to make art, in one form or another, for the rest of my life."

Featured Artist ~ Darlene Pringle

Her Shop ~ A Dancing Mango Her Blog ~ A Dancing Mango

"I am a self taught artist who loves to create. I have used oils, watercolor, acrylics, porcleain clay, paperclay, papermache, and glass medium. I am currently creating mixed media art and papermache which I feel allows me to unleash. I've had a deep background in porcelain dollmaking, and I made one polymer clay doll. I enjoy making 'fun-art' for people to enjoy. I enjoy music, gardening and travel.
Thank you for visiting me!"

Storque Guest Post and Decor 8 Mention

Hi again! I don't want to take attention from the Spotlight on Artists, but wanted to let you know that I did a guest post over at Etsy's blog, The Storque, today. Also, sweet Holly Becker from Decor 8 posted a few of my photos. I needed this today...it's been a challenging one.

Hope your Tuesday's going well. Looking forward to your comments for the artists! (hint, hint) ;)

Spotlight on Artists ~ Day 2!

Image by Laffy4k

Good morning! I'm having alot of fun so far with the SPOTLIGHT ON ARTISTS! I hope you are, too. :) Thankyou for all the supportive and encouraging comments for yesterday's featured artists. I'm sure they really appreciated them.

As you look through the artwork displayed, you'll notice how very different each artist's style is. I love that! That's what makes their work unique....their individual personalities shine through each piece.

Enjoy day 2 of the spotlight and please keep those comments coming! For each comment you leave, you'll be entered in a GIVEAWAY from Deanna Pamenter. Thanks, Deanna. :)

Featured Artist ~ Patricia Abramovich

Her Gallery ~ Abramovich Patricia Her Arts Cad Gallery

"My name is Abramovitch Patricia, borned Benisti. I lived in Paris and emigrated to Israel in 1972. I married to my wonderful husband who came from Lithuania and we have two extraordinary children. I began to draw and paint in 1996 and never stopped .

I use to call myself autodidact artists because I developped my art technic by myself. The ten last year i used to paint every free minute I have got and enjoyed it so much. Today I am a Member of Impact, the professional visual artists association in Israel. My work mediums are oil on canvas with painter knives and aquarelles.

Art for me is the freedom to create and to express the diversity of color from which the human soul is composed. Spreading color across a canvas is a means of meditation.
Curious to see the final results of my painting, I usually work without plan and the colors merge on the canvas on their own, using a spatula to paint reaching the texture I desire.

When working in water color (aquarelle), I allow the colors to merge with the water free to choose their direction."

Featured Artist ~ Cathy Carlson

Her Gallery ~ Cathy's Art Gallery Her Shop ~ Magic Markings Art Her Blog ~ Magic Markings Art Blogspot

"Hello and welcome to my Art Gallery. I am the mother of two incredible children. I create and teach art out of my home-based art studio. I am passionate about my work, and frequently have many things going at one time. Although I love working in different mediums, my main medium of choice is paint, whether on a canvas or bisque. Currently, I have been busy painting vintage photo collages and custom photo collages on canvas. My style is typically whimsical and full of color."

Featured Artist ~ Aliette

Her Shop ~ ALIETTE

Hi, I'm Aliette, a graphic designer from Paris.

Thanks to these great blogs for featuring my work :

http://DESIGNSPONGE.blogspot.com/2007/04/happy-easter.html
http://POPPYTALK.blogspot.com/search?q=aliette
http://BLOESEM.blogs.com/bloesem/2007/04/aliette.html

Featured Artist ~ Stephanie Fizer

Her Shop ~ Quirky and Cute Art by Stephanie Fizer Her Blog ~ Stephanie Fizer Illustration

"Stephanie Fizer is a curious girl and illustrator in lovely but misunderstood West Virginia.

She enjoys vintage children's illustration, pickles, striped stockings, and all things cute which is apparent in her illustrations. . .well except maybe the pickles." ;)

Spotlight on Artists ~ DAY 1!

Photo by Amar Raavi

Welcome to the SPOTLIGHT ON ARTISTS series! I'm so excited about this week and all of the artists being featured! Thankyou for dropping by. :) Please leave encouraging comments for each artist and you'll automatically be entered in a GIVEAWAY for each comment (more about the GIVEAWAY below).

Have a great week and enjoy the work of some gifted artists!

A GIVEAWAY from Deanna Pamenter!!!

Her Shop ~ Deanna Maree Her Blog ~ Deanna Maree Blogspot

I'm happy to announce a wonderful GIVEAWAY from Artist Deanna Maree! Deanna has offered to give one of these ORIGINAL ACRYLIC PAINTINGS on canvas to one very lucky reader. All you have to do to enter is to leave comments this week for the featured artists. For every comment you leave, your name will be entered in a random drawing. The winner will be announced this Friday!

Here's a short biography about Deanna and her work:

"I create art with the aim to make you warm inside, to make you smile.. and it makes me so happy to be able to bring about that feeling in another person.

I am always excited to see where my work is going to live next! I have sold work at both national and international levels.

The most rewarding part of my job is receiveing a heartfelt customer testimony. I believe a happy customer is the best payment you can receive, it truly makes my day."

Featured Artist ~ Lauren Castillo

Her Shop ~ Lauren Castillo Illustration

"I am an Author/Illustrator currently living in New York City. I work out of my cozy Brooklyn studio, happily writing and drawing stories for a living -- that's children's books.

When I can, I love to draw on location -- the city never fails to influence and inspire my storytelling through its words and lines."

Featured Artist Team ~ Tammy and Jamie

Their Shop ~ The Small Woods Their Blog ~ The Inkling Network

"mr. fox brand products are designed by tammy (me) & jamie harper (my husband).

we enjoy coming up with story ideas in the setting of the smallwoods. these stories provide the backdrop for our visual art, crafts, and music we perform as handwritten letters."