Victoria is selling these WWII posters over at her blog. I just received mine Tuesday and couldn’t wait to frame it. In fact I need this sentiment so much this week, that I had to just tape it up on my armoire until I get my frame. As Victoria mentioned, it seems to be a sentiment that is resonating with people right now for many reasons. So today on a Creative Thursday, this is what I will be thinking. And yesterday, I did the same thing and went surfing. (by the way, the little tiger peeking over the top of the armoire is a painting I found at the Rose Bowl flea market - I call her debbie, because that’s who signed it. I’ll have to share her with you later. She looks calm, doesn’t she?)

This is Frannie. I had to share this photo of her next to the painting that inspired her. She’ll be in the Etsy Shop today at 5 p.m. pacific time.

The one and only orange truck in front of the one and only Canyon Country store in Laurel Canyon in Los Angeles.

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Each is 8 x 8 in. Four more that are heading off for licensing. These 4 are also meant to coordinate with Rosie’s Tree, below. Inspired by some of the daily paintings I did last year, I love how these turned out. The originals will also be for sale soon. Again, feel free to email me if you see one or all that you just can’t live without. This group will be hard for me to part with...

5 x 5 in. 13 x 13 cm. I was painting, painting, painting over the holiday weekend, larger pieces that I’m so proud of. I will be sharing them here soon. In the meantime Rosie is a glimpse of the some of the color palette I’ve been working in, a little different for me. Hope you all had a wonderful weekend. *Edit* May 29, Per special request Rosie is available as a print here at Etsy (original is sold)

9 x 12
Here you go! One of the new larger ones. I just got the "ok" to send it in to my licensing company. I haven’t officially listed the original for sale on my web site, but I will be when it is ready to ship out in a few weeks. If you are interested in it feel free to email me. I’ve also made this one available as a print, today, here at the Etsy Shop. Thanks for your comments on the new colors. It’s fun to change it up a bit.

7 x 5 in. 18 x 13 cm. This is my tiny Garbo when she was a kitten. Wishing everyone a little fun this holiday weekend!!! (click here to buy original)

Yesterday’s painting inspired these two. This mama polar bear and her little cub will be posted in the Etsy Store at 5 p.m. pacific time. Just want to give you a quick heads up.

7 x 5 in. 18 x 13 cm.
*Edit* May 24, This one is now available as a print here at Etsy
(original is sold)

If you want to know even more about me, here you go!
Paul O Mahony, from Ireland, invited me to share some thoughts about artisan blogging over at his blog. You can check it out here . You see! You see how the internet connects us?...endlessly amazed at how small the world really is NOW. Thank you Paul, and thank you for inspiring and encouraging artists to put there work out into the world!!

5 x 7 in. 13 x 18 cm.
I’m working on some larger pieces for my licensing company this week and this is a study for an idea I have. I’ll be sharing the larger works here soon...It’s fun to paint a little bigger these days.
*Edit* May 22, This one is now available as a print here at Etsy
(click here to buy original)

Made especially for Caroline, whom I had the pleasure of meeting yesterday. Endless thanks Caroline, for your support of my art!

Chanin, me, Cathy at Hal’s on Abbot Kinney in Venice CA The three of us were all artists at the same gallery in Venice. That’s how we met and adopted each other as sisters. Chanin has real sisters too, but Cathy and I are only children, so that’s what we do, we adopt our friends :) I had the BEST fun Wednesday with Chanin this week. We hadn’t seen each other in a long time and spent hours catching up in our old stomping grounds, Venice. It was a nostalgic day because as Chanin and I sat in the same restaurant where this photo was taken 3 years ago, I realized just how much has changed since that time. As Chanin approaches a move in with her fiance and an exciting new job, as Cathy returns for a visit home with her baby, as I am now making a living with my art... our dreams for this time in our lives are coming true. We spent hours, in Venice, dreaming these dreams. Do you know how great it is to realize they’ve happened? I am choosing to share this story as a reminder to notice where you are - because as we continually expand in our lives, always heading to that "new" destination - it is so easy to forget where we’ve been and what we’ve accomplished. And another reminder, dreams do come true!

5 x 7 in. 13 x 18 cm.
*Edit* June 1, This one is now available as a print here at Etsy
(click here to buy original)

New Etsy stores, that I have to share!
From left to right Pools by Nancy Leopardi, Photoed and Katarina by Christine Mason Miller, SwirlyGirl . BEAUTYFULL!!!

New clay characters will be posted in the Etsy Store at 5 p.m. pacific time. Just want to give you a quick heads up.

6 x 6 in.

Went to a beautiful baby shower this past weekend. The shower gift bag (recycling becomes art) combined with the Illustration Friday topic of Citrus and Voila, another painting is born! These colors felt so “citrusy” to me, I just couldn’t resist using them today for this IF topic…even though I have a lot of work to do, that I must go do now.
(original is sold)

7 x 5 in. 18 x 13 cm.
*Edit* May 15, This one is now available as a print here at Etsy
(click here to buy original)

5 x 7 in. 13 x 18 cm.
Happy Mother’s day to all the Moms out there :)
(click here to buy original)

Thinking of you today :)

5 x 5 in. 13 x 13 cm
(sold)

Thank you Christine. Thank you Holly.
Favorite card above by Papyrus, and artist Bella Pilar. Isn’t it gorgeous?
Sometimes these days I feel like a broken record, THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU! Can you say it too much? Nope. I don’t think so.
I have friends that go above and beyond in thoughtfulness. And I just want to say thank you. I know we are all busy, but when someone takes the time to be thoughtful even during the busyness of life these days. Well, I just can’t tell you how nice it is.
You have inspired me to be more thoughtful, to take a little more time to make things special for others.
And to you, who take the time to write me an email, and leave comments on this blog, while keeping up with your own lives, businesses and blogs. THANK YOU! You’ve inspired me to take the time to leave more comments myself :)
Thank you all for your thoughtfulness!

5 x 5 in. 13 x 13 cm
(original is sold)

Ok, I’m consumed... consumed with sculpting little clay things. This is my newest bunch, and as promised a little heads up to the blog readers.
These will be posted for sale here at Etsy tomorrow, Creative Thursday at 5 pm Pacific Time. (I can only list one at a time, so they will start going up at 5). From left to right, Oscar, Lucinda, Hermalene, Lucille, Little Red Rabbit, The White Owl, and Cubby (named by my oh so kind neighbor Erika).

*Edit* May 10, they’re all up now, by 6 pm. My sincere apologies for the delay. I had a "callback" to an audtion (for those of you that don’t know, a callback means you made it to the next round.) Always a good thing in acting! But, they can sometimes run over and this one ran over 2 hours. Since I’m thankful for the audition and my agent, who I love, I happily waited the 2 hours made so much more pleasant by a chance visit with Gena! And there you have it, just wanted you to know incase you were there right at 5. Happy Creative Thursday everyone!

5 x 7 in. 13 x 18 cm.
*Edit* May 8, This one is now available as a print here at Etsy
(original is sold)

OMG - don’t you love these two? Another commission that I have to share. Who said cats and dogs can’t be friends?

Remember my creative adventures that I was up to on Wednesday? Well here are the results. My first attempt at turning my little characters into 3D. And, well, I love how they turned out! and love making them, so I think I will be making more soon... Two of them are already sold, so next time I will leave an update here on my blog before I post them at Etsy. You can purchase them here at Etsy. I’ve been so excited about sharing these with you today, that I’m still in my pajamas and it is 6 pm on a Friday night. Did I mention again, how much I love doing my art? I hope you enjoy them!

5 x 7 in. 13 x 18 cm.
(click here to buy original)

Holly has mentioned several times how important it is for artists to show how their art looks in its *natural habitat* - so you, the collectors, can see what it might look like, envision it a little better on your own walls - or simply get fun ideas of how to hang art, especially the unframed art these days. I agree Holly! So here’s a little sampling of what a grouping of mine look like. I couldn’t just leave you with a Quicken post today, must have some eye candy! And now I’m off for my "fun wednesday"! with some seriously creative projects that I might share....soon.

First, let me say - I have been a Quicken user since '98. And I love them. I’m obsessed with financial details and have each and every detail documented in my Quicken, (I know, not really like an artist to love the finances too, but I’m a left brain/right brain kind of girl.) But, just because I love the business side of things too...does not mean I want to spend an entire Tuesday in and out of panic because my Quicken files were corrupted during my software upgrade.
So, I feel it is my duty to share. If any of you are upgrading your Quicken right now, like me, because you HAD to due to the change in online downloading. I HIGHLY recommend walking through it on the phone, (not via Chat - BIG MISTAKE) with technical support. This may save you hours of time and hours of panic and anxiety. As technically savvy as I like to think I am, I mean how hard is it to open your old Quicken files, in the newest version of Quicken?....well apparently if you don’t do it just right, there is a slight possibility that they can corrupt....and you can might be manually typing in years of data. YIKES!!
With all that said, once I was on the phone with someone, and there was one tiny folder that Quicken makes automatic back-ups in (bless you Quicken), I was back in business. Thank, EVERYTHING, thank EVERYONE and now back to Quicken, and the post office.

5 x 5 in. 13 x 13 cm
And this one is a tribute to my dotty puffkins, a little piece I bought from this lovely Etsy seller, Odkins, that I Love, love, love!
I’m still loving a touch of black and white. Isn’t it funny to see how paintings completed in succession, carry similar elements? It’s always a surprise to me to see what that will be.
(click here to buy original)