New Item: A Gingko Leaf

I can't believe I've spent all of my literate life spelling this plant's name wrong.

Anyway, I just listed a new painting, Gingko Leaf. A Chinese symbol of wealth because of the leaf's color and resemblance to ancient Chinese currency. The yellow of the art board I used and the flecks of silver on it really called to me.

I'm in a Treasury!: Mother's Day Greetings and Gift Ideas on the Handmade Highway

My goodness as soon as I posted my own Etsy Treasury I learned that Handmade Highway featured me in their first Treasury East gallery! Treasury East galleries are permanent, unlike the main treasury and the Treasury West galleries. There I am on the bottom left corner with the plum blossom mini painting =D =D

Today has definitely been an awesome day. High fives all around! :hfive:

Click here to visit the "Mother's Day Greetings and Gift Ideas on the Handmade Highway" Treasury
http://www.etsy.com/treasury/4bd76bfe4f416d91df10cf85/mothers-day-greetings-and-gift-ideas-on

Work in Progress: Fun with Paper Punches

I've been searching everywhere for the perfect cherry blossom shaped paper punch. What I saw at the store and online were just vague flower shaped punches. I know, I'm being far too picky. But I don't want to just be satisfied if I'm going to get arts and crafts supplies. I need a durable product with a lot of mileage. Good thing places like Crafty Japan sell the exact paper punch I was looking for for less than $5. Sooooo happy when this came in the mail.

All right the perfect paper punch, I gotta test drive this thing. Good thing I have this big pile of pink origami scrap from a previous project. Yep it worked like a charm. Gonna put this all together and...well, I'll have to save that for next time. It's drying. Enjoy the teaser picture! =D

Spring cleaning (sneezing)

It looks like I caught the cold. It doesn't help I have mild pollen allergies. I sound like sandpaper and my throat feels like it too.

Enough about that. I could just stay in bed and twiddle my thumbs. I did watch The Blind Side but my sneezing sort of ruined my enjoyment. I decided to at least do something while I'm recovering. As some of you can tell I got myself a new layout for my blog and at my shop. The bright colors are really helping my mood. The images came from a few art trading cards I made based on plum blossoms. I made a whole bunch of them, too.

All right I really should be eating. Can't recover if I don't eat well.

Lotus - My moment of zen

I make a point to block off at least one part of one day in any given weekend to have a moment of zen. Some people go to the gym, others go to a night club or bar, I decide to put the supplies I bought over the week to good use.

The Asian Art Museum visit still lights a fire in my soul. The statues and depictions of Buddha over a lotus captured my imagination. I could also hear my Asian art history teacher in my college days telling me how such and such monks traveled to some faraway land and such and such and Buddhism spread. (Yeah I swear some lectures sounded just like that.) I wanted to do my own take on the lotus flower. What drove me the following weeks was to find the right materials to bring it to life.

A lot of trips to Michael's and JoAnn's, buying little tubes of paint or brushes and whatever else. "Oooh that'll work perfect," or "Look! And it's on clearance. Mwahahaha I have shopping karma today." (Yeah sometimes I cackle in public places. Try it some time it will make you feel a lot better.)

I finally got to painting today. Catching up on shows I missed on my DV-R, I was happy as can be. Of course I made a great mess on my coffee table. There's still glue stuck in my fingernails. But you know what?

Worth iiiiiiiiiiit!





I am seriously considering making a series of this lotus and selling them at my shop. But I want to see how this piece turns out after the glue really dries.

Very satisfied with my work. Time for a late night snack and then a long night's rest.