It's raining blessings...

I'm quite delighted at all the amazing, wonderful and GOOD things going on here in my cosy end of the world. Uh huh.

First off, I finally finished wrapping up items sold from recent shop orders to freelance work, to those fabulous Sunday Sketches mugs!  You should've seen the smile on this pretty girl's face, standing back and gazing upon the parcels that will soon be shipped off.  :)

As you can see, there's a lot of "cleaning up" going on here at BCD (aka Blue Chair Diary) and I'm loving it.  From a more clean, organized layout to a newly updated Portfolio that displays my art and illustrations in a more professional manner.  And don't look away for too long as there's another BIG surprise coming over the next few days.

On top of all this loveliness, I gained four custom orders just within a week! It's going to be very busy in the studio over the next couple of weeks but it's incredibly exciting to see things slowly unfolding for me, one day at a time.

It's totally raining blessings...

Sunday Sketches

This is a painting in which I started and completed yesterday for a dear lady/friend who is moving on to bigger and better things.  It was a token of my appreciation for all she's done and sacrificed for myself and others.  I so wish her the best in the future.

I do have wonderful prints of this one available in my shop here.

On another note, it's very inspiring, watching our weekly art co-op grow.  As I paged through previous weeks in celebration of our 2 year anniversary, it was exciting to see how each one of us are growing in our art and individual lives.  I can't tell you how much my heart was warmed.  So, here's to a brand new year of art, love, passion and a growing community to embrace and support one another, come what may!

OK...I'm off to visit everyone. Happy SS! :)

Grab the Sunday Sketches button here.

This week's participants:
Please sign-up below to submit your sketch for this week, which will also allow others to stop and visit.

More Bunny Hoppin'

This is the last of the cards for the Easter custom order of mine.  I'm actually quite pleased at how my bunnies have turned out. Uh huh.

So, brings me to a question...should I give my bunny a name?

Happy Friday and PPF!  :)

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This is my submission for PPF.  For more wonderful artwork, please visit here.

I (heart) Lilacs

Well, I'm completely excited to share today's post with you.  In prepping for a small art showing this summer I felt the need to challenge myself in painting something larger than a 5x7 to provide a variety of original paintings to potential customers.

With that said, I'm very pleased to share with you my first 8x10 painting of some favorite flowers of mine - Lilacs.They turned out far better than what I'd imagined and am quite pleased with the results.  The only thing left is to find the perfect matting and frame.  Any suggestions on the style and color of frame to present this painting in?

Happy Wednesday!

Botanical Heaven (IF)

Don't laugh but I'm truly enjoying this botanical phase that I've been feeling lately.  Maybe it's my inner soul crying out for Spring?  Hee  Nevertheless, above is another piece I've created and looks lovely placed within a double mat.  It's available here in my Etsy shop.

I've currently got a few projects going on as well as preparing for a small showing this summer.  Exciting!

Happy Tuesday to all of my wonderful bloggie peeps!  :)
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P.S.  I'm going to do my first entry in IF this week as suggested by a few bloggie peeps.  Here it goes!!

Sunday Sketches - 2 yr CELEBRATION

Hello and WELCOME to Sunday Sketches.  It's a special week and it's time to celebrate as we're now celebrating our 2nd year!  Uh huh.  This post will go up early so those in another time zone can celebrate accordingly.

Because of this, I thought it would be fun to design a new SS tree to celebrate.  What do you think?  Make this one the new SS "tree" logo or keep the old one?

And what an even better way to celebrate than with your very own cozy SS mug!  Imagine sipping your favourite cuppa every morning with this lovely cup in hand. :)

Simply click on the BUY NOW button below and for only $12.50 (includes shipping + tax), it's yours!  Mugs will be mailed within 2-3 weeks of purchase.

This week's participants:

Bunny Tails and Trails

I know it's a bit early for Easter but I've recently received a custom order for a package of cards so whilst having a little spare time right now, it seemed appropriate to get these completed now.

OK. Back to brainstorming.  :)

Happy Friday everyone!

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This is my contribution for PPF.  Find more wonderful artists here.

For the love of books

(More doodling in the calendar book I purchased a few weeks ago.)

Books.  I love books, old and new.  The intense old smell of tattered books kept from ages back to new pages, enticing one's mind to learn something new and exciting about life and history! Uh huh.

Speaking of books, let me fill you in regarding some major changes on this side of the bloggie world.  I'm sure several of you remember me expressing frustrations and discouragement in the past of being in a very unhealthy work environment.  Well, through much thought and consideration, I resigned from my job this past Tuesday.  A very brave step but it's time to take care of me, in more ways than one.

So, what's next?  This is where the excitement comes in!  I have chosen to return to school full-time to finish my pre-studies and then transfer to Law School.  Uh huh.  I've already completed a lot of the leg work and looking forward to the new journey.

In the meantime, I will continue creating illustrations on the side.  In fact, I'm working on some new updates/changes here as well and plan to announce them soon as well.

Happy Thursday!!

I Heart Poppies

I'm continuing to swoosh my creativity around in the floral arena and quite enjoying it.  This is my first shot at painting poppies and am quite pleased with it actually.  You can find this lovely card here in my Etsy shop as well.

But as much as I'm loving tossing colorful petals to paper I will need to change direction the next few days in order to complete a special custom order of Easter cards.  I'm looking forward to the challenge, especially with the direction my art has taken since my father passed about 4 months ago.

On another note, I'm getting ready to face some significant changes in my life this week, so please do keep me in your thoughts, prayers, and such.  When the time is appropriate, I'll be sure to fill you in.

Until then...Happy Valentine's Day to all of my wonderful bloggie peeps.  :)

Sunday Sketches

We're back for another round of Sunday Sketches and I'm looking forward to seeing what everyone has created for this week.  I'm not sure what my recent inspiration is but I'm on a roll and hoping it lasts for awhile!

Above is another watercolor card created a few days ago.  It's a great photo but I still couldn't find a way to capture the tiny bits of gold spattered about that gives the card its final "pop"!  Sigh.  Anyway, it's available in my Etsy shop for purchase, along with the other lovely, whimsical card I featured Friday on PPF.

OK...I'm off to visit everyone.  Happy SS!  :)

Grab the Sunday Sketches button here.

This week's participants:
Please sign-up below to submit your sketch for this week, which will also allow others to stop and visit.

Beautiful Color

Yesterday I decided to take a break from all the paperwork I've been buried in for over a week to just relax and have fun.  And oh boy, look at my results!

One thing I'm quickly learning is to not toss away a piece of work, even if it's looking terrible in the process of creating it.  This watercolor card almost didn't come to life because of briefly feeling like that last night.  So glad I didn't give up!

How do you deal with a freak out moment in your art of something not turning out the way you envisioned it at first?

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I'm contributing this piece to Paint Party Friday this week.  Please visit other peeps here.

Just DO--odle it

Recently I picked up a calendar type book to begin sketching in each day.  Although I've failed at doing something each day, I am using it.  My goal with this book is to simply relax and to find more confidence withing my own drawing; something I've struggled with for awhile now.

So, no specific art goals for this book.  I plan to let my imagination run wild and see what transforms from one page to the next.

So, what are you waiting for?  Just DO--oodle it!

Ribbons Buttons and What Nots

This year has already started to prove some significant changes in my life; some for the better and that's good!  During this process of transitioning that will be ongoing over the next few months, I decided it would be good to "transition" some things in my craft corner, making them more accessible in time of creative need.

One of the first things I did was take a pile of ribbons, buttons and embellishments (photo above) always crammed into a small plastic bag and shoved in my craft closet, and sort them.  In doing so, I turned my craft junk pile into this...

Where did I get this wonderful idea?  While perusing one of my favorite bookstores, of course!  I stumbled across the recent publication of Somerset Life and was totally inspired in a number of ways. Each page brought new color, life and ideas on how to take misc pieces of fabric, ribbons, wooden spools and so on, and make something lovely to bless someone else for that special someone.

So, what are you waiting for?  Jump on in the fun and show us what you've done to transition your little crafty corner.  :)

Sunday Sketches

Hello and thank you for joining us once again here at Sunday Sketches!

I've actually been quite busy this past week (alot of transitioning going on) but managed to throw a few things to paper for this week - this is one of them.  One thing I'd like to "master" is creating/painting anything that is glass.  I still get too much blue in the mix.  Grr.  :D  Hee

Anyway, I do hope that everyone is having a great weekend.  There's a lot of snow here, so I'm staying tucked away inside where it's warm and cozy!

Grab the Sunday Sketches button here.

This week's participants:
Please sign-up below to submit your sketch for this week, which will also allow others to stop and visit.