Candy Drop Necklaces

Finally, I got all the components I needed to finished making these necklace pendants. They're made with vintage 1950's glass cabochons and sterling silver. I was playing around with my camera and ended up with some decent sample shots considering the sun was starting to set. Maybe I'll try again tomorrow when it's a bit brighter out. I hope to have these available in my shop by friday.

A New Set of Urchins

Hope you all had a great weekend. I spent most of mine teaching, filling candle orders, painting and squeezed in a little birthday fun in there as well. My adorable nephew is officially 4 years old.

Since this summer has yet to feel like a normal summer, I thought I'd try to entice some warm weather with my sea inspired paintings. This set of three urchins were painted on birch wood panels. They come with a little keyhole carved into the back for super easy hanging. I'm loving the overall effect of painting on wood and can't wait to do some more soon. If you're in the area, you can see these along with many other recent paintings at the Pannikin in Encinitas. I'll be hanging my show July 6th.

Take me out to the ball game

"Adventures of The Three Amigos"

The chicks went to their first ball game.

Candles

I spent most of today (8 hours to be exact) making a batch of candles. Here's a little peak at the process for those of you who are curious. Todays flavors were Hawaiian Gardenia and Grapefruit Tangerine. Couldn't do it without the 65lb wax melter. Well, now it's time to relax and enjoy my friday night.
Have a great weekend! Karin

Tangerine and Lime

My new favorite color combination right now are shades of tangerine, chartreuse, sky blue and a little bit of chocolate. (Bobby was kind enough to be my model) After I bought these limey citron colored sheets the other day, I realized that this color scheme has been creeping up around my house a lot lately. Think I might use these tropical colors to inspire my next painting.

Today, Art and I are celebrating our 6th wedding anniversary. We've been together 13 years now, the last six being legal. Crazy how fast time flies. What's our secret for a happy marriage? Hmm.......all I can say is after thirteen years of getting coffee (and usually breakfast) in bed every morning, I have no complaints.

I was going to caramelize some freshly picked white nectarines for dessert tonight and spoon them on top of vanilla ice cream. Doesn't that sound delicious?!
Thank you so much for stopping by and also for all your wonderful comments. I don't always have time to respond personally, but I really love reading them. Karin

Random Paintings

Here are a couple of paintings I did back in 2007. I needed to borrow them back so I could have them photographed. The Bird Aviary painting was inspired by the aviary I grew up with where we raised button quails, diamond doves, parakeets, cockateels,.......the list goes on. The Gray Poppy painting was the beginning of my love affair with textile designs. Enjoy, Karin

Art Class Show and Tell

Here's a look at my students hard at work. Are they the cutest or what?

Father's Day

A few of my favorite pictures. The most amazing man who left this world way too soon. Happy Father's Day, Karin

New Fabric!

I am so pleased with how this fabric pattern turned out that I just had to share it with you. I'd love to make a duvet cover for my bed but I only ordered a yard for a sample swatch. This will be available in my shop next week along with a fresh batch of jewelry. Have a great weekend everyone, Karin

Welcome Home!

There are a few paintings I've sold that I regretted instantly. This was one of them. Luckily, my friend bought it so that made me feel a little bit better. A few years have passed, but I always missed this painting. I think of my paintings as a sort of personal timeline. How my inspirations and color combinations have evolved over time. It made me realize that it's okay to keep my favorite pieces, at least for awhile so I'm sure I won't be sad about it. People sometimes assume that since I sell my artwork that all of it is for sale. I can't describe the looks I've gotten when I say "it's not for sale." Like I'm being greedy, or maybe they're thinking "why don't you just whip another one out for yourself? Who knows....
Anyway.......... as luck would have it, my friend just recently moved into a cute little bungalow with very little wall space and was having trouble finding room to hang all of her art. I offered to buy it back if she wanted and she said yes. Hurray! My "Mermaid with Sea horses" is back home with me. I think I'll hang her in my bathroom.

Nothing better than Flowers

After a long weekend of yard work, spring cleaning and a birthday bash, I thought I'd reward myself with some fresh flowers. The orange lilies will take a day or two to open up which will look so pretty with the pale green orchids and berry looking things. The giant queen protea in the other picture was a gift from my neighbor for watching over her chickens last week. I forgot how nice it is having fresh flowers in the house. Just need to keep an eye on the kitties----they're notorious for knocking vases over which is why I haven't been using my good pottery.


Speaking of pottery........... my blog friend Emily has requested a picture of my kitchy kitchen pottery collection (try saying that five times fast). I had to give them all their annual dusting/soapy bath and boy was it dirty up there.
I'm keeping busy in the studio making more Jewelry, prints and things for the shop right now. I'll show you as soon as I have some good pictures. Take care and thanks for stopping by. Karin

The Three Amigos are Traveling the Globe

I Just received an email from the "Chirpy Chicks (aka "Three Amigos") personal travel agent and chaperone. If you haven't been following along, here's a little recap. Beth bought my needle felted friends last winter from my Etsy shop and has allowed them to experience the world with her and her sister who are avid travelers.

Dear Karin,
The 3 Amigos are really making their way around the world--but for now here's a few shots of their adventures in Baltimore this past weekend. These are shots of them enjoying Honfest in Hamden--what a time they had!
More shots will eventually get to you of their time at the Boston Marathon, springtime in Paris, adventures in DC (though they didn't get to any of the official sites) and more!
We love our time with them,
Beth

Urchin Love

Here are a couple urchin watercolor samples I did for this weekends class. Next week I'll show you some pictures of what my students did. They're looking good so far.


Also, here are two more of my students finished water drop paintings on strawberry leaves.

corners of my house

I spent most of today rearranging my space at Barrels and Branches and hanging the Elephant mural downstairs at the Pannikin. Here's a shot of Miss Francesca posing in front of them.
It was also time to freshen up the living room for summer with some plants, pots and polished rocks also from the nursery. I really love this beautiful blue pot for my dining room. The plant is called a "money tree" so I put it in the prosperity corner and told it to get to work. Now I just need to remember to water them.

Sending a big thank you to The Painting Libra for the post she did about me today and all the sweet things she said. Thank you so much!