Oak Leaf with Acorn Border art tags

note: copyright watermarks do not appear in actual tags

I finally got around to making my last design (as seen in this blog) into art tags inbetween another bout of putting food by for the winter and another huge harvest of squash. Squash is everywhere! 

Perhaps I need to start painting some of it.

The tags are available in ye olde on-line store and some of the local shops in my area (edited on 12/16/11 to say they are also available through my Artfire on-line store).

Oh yes, I am in another beautiful Etsy treasury called My Fairy Tale. Lots of peacock colors & dreamy elements in this one! The curator is Nangijalajewelry.

My Website
Artfire on-line store (largest selection)

My Etsy on-line store for purchasing some of my CDs and some of my art

Music MYSPACE (hear clips)

My band site: Saratoga Faire

My Renaissance band MYSPACE: The Spirites Consort (hear clips)

Oak Leaf with Acorn Border

(note: copyright watermarks do not appear in actual art)

After my last project ("Pumpkin Faerie"... refer to last blog post), this was a relatively unambitious project. I had been out walking last weekend and picked up some acorns and a clump of oak leaves. I put them on a small table next to me as I finished the pumpkin faerie. They kept "speaking to me" out of the corner of my eye, as the saying goes, and as soon as I was done with the faerie, I started right in on this one.

Right now, I've got it for sale as a print in ye olde online store. (edited on 12/16/11 to say it is also available through my Artfire on-line store, which at prersent has the largest selection). I will probably be adding greeting cards & fine art gift tags in this design too at some point.

I also got a piece accepted into a juried art exhibit called "Black and White" at Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Center. The opening for the exhibit is October 1, 2010 from 5 - 7. And yes, I will be at the opening unless I get the miserable cold that everyone in my family has (ugh). 

Here is the front of the postcard (© Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Center):



I've also spent some time making Etsy treasuries this month (it is a good way to network & support each other). Here are my recent treasuries. I show them in the order I did them, i.e. my first in the month to my latest (note: if there appear to be missing items, it is either because they sold or expired after the treasury was made):

Coolest September

The next one was made for a group of artists who I got to know through a particular forum (many of whom are overlooked by the company) to show the company that there are worthwhile items on Etsy than the sellers they constantly promote:

Gorgeous September 

This next one was also made for these same group of artists: 

An Apple a Day Keeps the Doctor Away

This one was made late on the evening after my walk through the woods picking up oak leaves and acorns:

Squirrels and Acorns

I've also been featured in treasuries by some of the same artists that I featured. I will share that with you next time.

My Website
My Artfire on-line store (largest selection)

My Etsy on-line store (seasonal selection)
Music MYSPACE (hear clips)

My band site: Saratoga Faire

My Renaissance band MYSPACE: The Spirites Consort (hear clips)

Pumpkin Faerie

(note: copyright watermarks do not appear in actual product;

you may have to click on image to get the full effect)



A pumpkin faerie, just in time for autumn! The original is 14" x 18.25" and watercolor and ink. I am selling these as prints in ye olde online store.

This one took a long time. Since mid August! Interrupting my progress was a huge harvest, putting food by for the winter, a gig in Bolton Landing, applying for grant funded gigs, entering a juried show at Lower Adirondack Regional Arts Center (which I still haven't heard back from), painting frames (for a gallery exhibit) and painting more OSWOAs.  

My Website

My Etsy on-line store for purchasing some of my CDs and some of my art

Music MYSPACE (hear clips)

My band site: Saratoga Faire

My Renaissance band MYSPACE: The Spirites Consort (hear clips)

edited on 12/16/11 to add that I also have her available in my Artfire on-line store which at this point has a much larger selection than my Etsy shop.

Acorn art gift tags and Treble Clef art gift tags

Note: copyright watermarks do not appear on actual products

My latest designs made into art gift tags. These are on acid free card stock and printed with archival inks. Available in ye olde online store. edit on 12/16/11: these are also available through Artfire (it has the largest selection of my products).

My Website

Music MYSPACE (hear clips)

My Artfire on-line store (largest selection)

My Etsy on-line store (seasonal slection)

My band site: Saratoga Faire

My Renaissance band MYSPACE: The Spirites Consort (hear clips)

Acorn

I can't seem to resist putting everything in a circle. Must be I'm still a potter in heart, mind and soul. And perhaps the symmetry is also akin to being a musician where the sound on an acoustic instrument often comes out of a hole. Hmmm...

Anyway, this painting is another OSWOA (an original painting, 4" x 6"). It is up in ye olde on-line store. (edit on 12/16/11: I have since started up an Artfire shop and there is a larger selection there than at Etsy). 

I was painting OSWOAs this summer as a distraction from large projects, heat and high humidity but now they are becoming irresistable. It is a bit like throwing small bowls and tea bowls and putting decorations on the rims (which I did for 25 years and aim to do again once I get all of my current 2-d projects done... might be at least a year...). 

Small bowls were good to make because it meant getting the kiln stuffed to capacity, i.e. fitting inbetween the larger pieces & not wasting room. I don't know what my excuse for making OSWOAs is, but I'll find one!

My Website

My Etsy on-line store and Artfire on-line store for purchasing some of my CDs and some of my art

Music MYSPACE (hear clips)

My band site: Saratoga Faire

My Renaissance band MYSPACE: The Spirites Consort (hear clips)

Owain Phyfe and The New World Renaissance Band on the stereo while I'm in the kitchen

Two of my favorite CDs are from Owain Phyfe and the New World Renaissance Band: Live the Legend and Where Beauty Moves. I don't get to listen to them much because I'm always practicing my own instruments or doing my art.

But today I got a letter from Frank Orsini, our violinist, about a song we have been performing for about 5 years now called Maid in Bedlam. In the letter he said he had been listening to Owain Phyfe & that we were missing a ♣ magical ♣ chord that Owain had in his version of Maid in Bedlam.

Okay, so now I'll have to try to drum that chord into my head before the next gig (not easy when you can play it in your sleep without the ♣ magical ♣ chord). 

It just so happened that I was inundated with squash and basil today and had to spend the day in the kitchen dealing with it in one way or another, so I listened to both Live the Legend and Where Beauty Moves.

Then I remembered the last time I played the CDs (summer 2009) & had a chuckle. You might too if you read further:

It was a hot summer evening & the windows were open to keep the bedrooms cool. Our neighbors kept us up all night with a loud party, rap and hip hop music, drunken fights and slamming car doors. The party died down at about 4:30 A.M., just as the sun was coming out, some of the neighbors' friends crashing on a lawn. I got up at 7:00, took my stereo outside and blasted Owain Phyfe and The New World Renaissance Band in the direction of the party house (because, as I said before, it was one of my favorites). My house mate ran out to where I was playing the stereo and said, "Hey, you're being waaaayyy too nice blasting Owain Phyfe. Put on Drew Minter! Or even better yet, Tiny Tim!"

(links to these musicians are in grey... just click).

My Website

My band site: Saratoga Faire

Oak Tree in Autumn II, original oswoa painting

I thought I was all done with oswoas, but the weather got hot again and I was once again inspired. For those of you new to my blog, an oswoa is an original work of art that is 4" x 6".

It started out as just an ink drawing with sepia ink. Then I decided to add watercolor. I thought at one point that it was a disaster, but then it seemed to come together with the dark blue background.

It's always a challange for me to paint so small!

My Website

My Etsy on-line store for purchasing some of my CDs and some of my art

Music MYSPACE (hear clips)

My band site: Saratoga Faire

My Renaissance band MYSPACE: The Spirites Consort (hear clips)

Bolton Landing Fabulous Folk Festival

We (Saratoga Faire) performed in Bolton Landing for The Fabulous Folk Festival last Sunday. Above was the poster for the event.

Our setlists included songs and instrumentals from the past and present day including Brian Boru's March, Mulberry Garden/Juice of Barley, Silkie, Crazy Man Michael, The French Report, Come to Me In Dreams, LaRue's Lament, Wind in the Willows, Water is Wide (among many others).

Also performing at this festival was Peggy Lynn, Dan Berggren and Nancy Walker Trio.

Peggy wrote this stunning piece which she has been performing for years called "Lydia". She played it at this festival. The melody is gorgeous and there is a refrain that goes: "Mountain women can be heroes." It stays in my head for a day every time I hear it!

I also tapped my feet to Nancy Walker's version of "Sweet Home Alabama".

After the festival was over, Frank, our violinist was remarking to the show's promoter about how beautiful Lake George was, even surpassing some of the well known gorgeous lakes he has seen in Europe.

We also got a very unusual opportunity by a woman who approached us on the stage after our last set which I won't divulge until/if all band members are informed and are able to perform for it. But it was one of those episodes that is truly unexpected, something you would never even dream about or aspire to (unless you knew about it, which we didn't).

Saratoga Faire band site

Our Saratoga Faire CD on CD Baby

other performers at the festival:

Nancy Walker Trio

Peggy Lynn

Dan Berggren