Due to the holidays, I haven't been blogging much.  I do plan on doing a new entry complete with photos soon!  I have new items I've listed and a custom order I'm dying to talk about.  But I can't until the customer gets it early next month, as she wanted part of it to be a surprise.  She reads this blog, so I don't want to ruin it for her!

But I also wanted to let everyone know that I have set up a fan page on Facebook.  If you'd like to stay updated with all the latest news, promotions and new items listed to Quirky Dame Designs, you can become a fan at http://www.facebook.com/quirkydamedesigns!  I'll be doing a drawing for some free note cards to start the New Year in a good way!

Before I sign off, I'd like to wish everyone a spectacular, blessing-filled New Year!  Much happiness to you all!  :)

Like many others, I've been crazy busy the past couple of weeks.  Adding to that this year was my decision to create a piece of art for certain people as their presents.  As I've written recently, my best friend and I started doing this last year.  So I finished two pieces for her.  Plus my parents, now retired, have declared that we (my sisters and I) are not to give them presents anymore, exceptions being things we make or bake, etc.  Well, I did get away with giving them a digital photo frame as an early gift (and it was a hit!) but I wanted to make them something special.

My father had requested a couple of months ago that I do a drawing for him to hang at his cabin.  My father feeds all manner of critters at his cabin, but most special to him is his squirrel that we named Spike.  There have been a number of Spike's through the years (we name them all that) but there was one in particular that really stood out.  When Spike would hear my father drive down the driveway, he would run to greet him.  When my father would call his name, the squirrel would come running.  He'd even climb up onto his knee or shoulder to be fed.  So when it came time to decide what to draw, it was pretty simple.  :)  Here's the final piece, a composite of two photos I took this summer:

I also reworked a painting based on a photo I took in Hawaii.  I'm giving that one to my mother.  I have a similar one that was part of a commission I did for a condo in Hawaii.  This one is meant to just be a soothing, peaceful painting with all the blues of the ocean.  The lighting on this one isn't the greatest, but I'll post a picture anyway.  It's really hard to get a good photo of this one:


Since my last post, I also added a few more mini paintings with easels to my shop.  I'm having a blast doing these and am currently working on a custom order for someone that involves two of these.  So much fun.  Here's a few pictures of the ones I've listed:

So, I had thought I would work a little more on the cat on the woman's head painting.  And I will this weekend.  I"ll be house-sitting which will leave me with lots of free time.  I'm hoping to finish it and list it in my shop by Monday.  *fingers crossed*  But I didn't work on it tonight.

I went to Target with my mother.  And at Target I ended up getting six little mini spray bottles.  They are much larger than the previous ones I had been using, which were only 1 ounce.  I use these bottles to spray backgrounds for some of my paintings.  For instance, the background on the (now completed) paintings for my best friend were done by painting the background burnt orange and then spraying various shades of that orange and gold on it.  Here's a few pictures of the completed paintings:

Had quite the productive day!  I grabbed some coffee, ran a few errands, then hauled myself home and started working on the creative stuff.  I started my father's Christmas gift - a sketch of a squirrel on a tree stump - then finished up my best friend's present.  I'll be posting pictures of that soon.  :)

While I was out running errands, I had to stop by JoAnn's to pick up some paint.  I ran across some little 2.5 x 3.5 canvases (ACEO sized) and little 5 inch easel's to go with them.  Since there was a 50% sale happening, I snapped up four of them.  :)  After working on my bff's present, I decided to just start one.  A little while later, it was complete and I found myself taking pictures and listing it in my shop. Here's a couple of pictures:

At my day job, we have a monthly staff meeting.  We all gather in the gym for a free lunch and a 1 - 2 hour meeting, sometimes some training afterward.  For the December meeting, we have a potluck, trivia contest, raffle drawing and generally a good time.  They dressed up the gym in holiday style, including putting red and green paper on the tables and laying markers and crayons down so that we can draw and doodle during the festivities.

Let's just say I went to town with the drawing!  Plus I requested we do that every month.  Hey, some of us listen better when we doodle.  *g*  But one of my doodlings has now become a design for a Christmas card.  Unfortunately, there's no way I can have the cards ready for this year.  So I now have two designs slated for cards for next year.  The first design is still being reworked.  But I thought I'd post a little sketch of the second one, just for kicks:

So I've been a little busy tonight working on a few paintings.  (And trying to get my iPhone to sync Christmas music!)  So I thought I'd do a little update.  First of all, the cat on a woman's head painting - really need to come up with a catchy name for that one!

It isn't complete yet.  There's some changes I need to make, but could I find either of my burnt umber paints?  Of course not!  Couldn't go any farther without it, so I had to stop for the night. 

Okay, I need to post one more picture.  This one is a new listing in my store and the very first oil painting!  It started as an exercise in a painting class and this little red pepper was quite the hit.  The original background was just... not good.  So I messed around and had a little fun.  This fun little painting can be found in my shop at http://quirkydame.artfire.com. Hope you enjoy! 


















Now I'd better sign off.  It's 10:30 pm and I just remembered that we're having a potluck at work tomorrow.  I really need to go make something to bring to it.  Keep your fingers crossed I win the big raffle prize - two tickets anywhere in the US!  Okay, so I'm not holding my breath, but wouldn't it be nice?  :)