Jane Davenport's Interview on Willowing

If you are not familiar with Willowing, you definately need to check it out.  This month features an interview with the prolific artist and photographer, Jane Davenport.  It's a really great and entertaining interview.  She gives us a glimpse into her journals and the history of her art.  Check it out here:  http://willowing.ning.com/page/artist-interview-jane

Thanks for the Shout-Out, Jane!

Cassy

Below is a picture of Cassy, my little ghost girl. I actually painted the background during the summer. It was really too hot to be using acrylics outside and the background came out sort of dark and scary. It sat in my studio for a time while I decided whether or not to paint over it. One morning, it called to me!! I knew it wanted a little ghost girl to come home to it! For those of you interested in techniques, I did an underpainting (acrylic) of a pinkish color for her dress. I then adhered gauze over the pink (using gel medium). After it dried, I added shadows and details over the gauze. It came out very textured. Then the coolest thing happened! I opened up an old book (from about 1903) to find some text to make the little house. On the first page I looked at, there was the line "Cassy came to feel that she was shut into a dark box"!....and Cassy was complete! I hope you've enjoyed  seeing her!

Mentone in the Fall!

Mentone was fantastic this weekend! The weather was fabulous and the people were amazing. This is always one of my favorite weekends of the year. I have such a great time meeting people and chatting all day long....I do too much chatting sometimes, right?!! Thanks to everyone who came by my booth and to everyone who made a return visit this year. I appreciate you so much!

As promised, I will begin working on a new video series for an online class soon. Please check back here for updates. I will do a better job of keeping the blog up to date.

"The Chief Difficulty"

Above is my new painting "The Chief Difficulty". It is a painting of Alice in Wonderland. Remember the croquet match where the croquet mallots are flamingos?! The quote is: "the chief difficulty Alice found at first was in managing her flamingo". In the book, the croquet balls are hedgehogs and each time Alice tries to swing her "mallot", the flamingo looks up at her.

I did this painting specifically as a submission to Somerset Studio for their Alice issue. Wish me luck!

New Painting

Here is the newest painting. She is called "Friendship" I had so much fun with her. Instead of my usual face shape, I used a perfect circle. I just wondered what it would look like. I kind of like her! The background is busy and fun as well! She is mixed media on plywood and measures about 10" x 18".

New Journals

The kids are back in school and I got back to work! The above journals are 4 x 6". The pages are Canson Watercolor Paper and are sewn in. The binding is fabric over linen. They are very sturdy and lay completely flat when opened up. Beads hang from the spines.

Summer is coming to an end!

It's been a great summer at the Carvalho home, although it has flown by. School is only days away now. I am both sad and ready!

On the art front: I have been making journals. The one above is a small purse-size. It still needs a few embellishments which I will do today but I wanted to go ahead and share it. It has lovely watercolor paper bound in and the spine is fabric over linen, strong and stiff! I hope to finish a few others today as well and will post them later if I do.

Happy end of summer! Do something artsy today!!

New Class Listing for Artfest 2010

The class listing for Artfest 2010 opened to the public today! This event, held in Ft. Wardon, WA, just gets better each year. It is such a creative, amazing outlet. 2010 will be my third time to go and my second time to teach. If you can possibly get there, you should! Please check it out. www.Teeshaslandofodd.com/artfest/classes.html

New Painting

Here is the newest painting (either below or moved to the website: www.SunnyCarvalho.com )! The little dog up above the girl's head is my parent's Jack Russell Terrier, Cappy. She spends very little time with her feet actually on the ground, so I chose to put her in the air instead of on the ground like a "normal" dog! This was such a fun painting to do! The idea came to me in a dream.

The Beach

I took Taylor and Bailey to the beach with friends this week. It was a lot of fun. We go to a place off the beaten path (somewhat!) called Seagrove Beach in Florida. There are lots of galleries featuring local artists, and lots of small restaurants serving local seafood.

I worked in my journal every morning and evening and came up with some cool ideas for paintings. One idea will become my next painting. She's already a painting in my journal but I will be doing her again on plywood. The painting I was working on last week is only about an hour from being completed. I will post that one with my next post.

The SuziBlu class is really good. I have watched 5 videos now, very thorough, very cool. I wish she would do a book as well.