Paintings With Soul

"Baby Boo Magic," Toy #17, 6" x 6," acrylics on masonite. This painting features a pepto bismol pink unicorn with a glittery purple horn. This piece is $75, including shipping inside the US. Purchasing is as simple as  asking . You might say I am obsessed with unicorns. I've painted and drawn quite a few of them this year (you can see/order prints/notecards/cell phone cases/bedding/tote bags featuring them here , here , here (and this one's for sale!) , here , and here ). I've adopted the unicorn as my totem animal, at least for the time being. I relate particularly well to the specific qualities of unicorns - historically, one didn't see unicorns, nor did they come to help, unless one believed and was truly in need.  I have a dear friend who told me (when I was mourning the loss of loved ones) "When you can't believe you'll get through this, I'll believe it for you." It was at that moment sh...

"Baby Boo Peanut," Toy #16, 6" x 6," acrylics on masonite. The designers at TY are brilliant - first they brought us Beanie Babies, then Webkinz, and now Baby Boos. I love the huge eyes and the stuffie's proportions - makes for a fun subject to paint! This piece is $75, including shipping inside the US. Purchasing is as simple as  asking . SOLD (THANK YOU!) The Princess cleaned her room. And I got a bag of props.  Makes me sad that she is no longer playing with stuffed animals and toys. Well, perhaps sad isn't the right word - melancholy might be better. She's grown up now, giving me her hand me downs for the studio. At least I can still entice her in here every so often for journaling and listening to music. It's going to be hard when she starts high school this fall. I think it might be harder than her first day of Kindergarten. Perhaps I will secretly tuck a naked Barbie and a love letter from her Mommie int...

"Eeyore II (Toy #5)," 6" x 6," acrylics on masonite, another portrait (or is it a still life?) depicting Disney's Eeyore, salvaged from the stuffed animals bin at the Salvation Army (4 stuffies for a dollar, people!). This painting is $75 and includes s&h inside the US. How can you NOT love the grumpiest of grumps? Bring him home,  and then, I dare you to smile and be joyful around him! SOLD (THANK YOU!) It's Official----- I talked about the "100 Paintings" commitment a couple days ago, and was musing the added benefit of jumping on board the challenge myself. And the more I thought about it, the more sense it made.   I want to improve my ability to paint from life and to build still life setups here in the studio. Doing this in small bites, 100 of them to be exact, seems to be the perfect solution. Plus factor in the bins of toys I have been hoarding (I can't say no to an unloved toy) and I have plen...

"Eeyore," 6" x 6," acrylics on masonite, depicting another Sal-Val rescued stuffie, Disney's Eeyore. $75, includes s&h inside the US. How can you NOT love the grumpiest of grumps? Bring him home,  and then, I dare you to smile and be joyful around him! SOLD (thank you!). Perhaps I'm Onto Something I've been reading quite a bit about this whole "100" commitment - the idea being that you commit to doing something 100 times. Establishing new routines, pushing boundaries, learning. It all sounds wonderful and grand, but I couldn't quite see how a commitment to 100 of anything would benefit me, since I was already committed to daily painting. Then, as a result of the 6" square studies done in Lisa Kennedy 's class a couple weeks ago, I realized I could continue to practice and explore new ways of seeing and working from life in nice little byte sized pieces. I've done at least one nearly every...

    "Ann and Annie," 16" x 16", portrait of two Raggedy Anne dolls, done in acrylics on a cradeled museum quality panel, intended for ArtPrize 2013. Continuing the doll paintings and conversations about their symbolic content. It would seem that Raggedy Anne is a safer face than the ones I've painted previously. Not that safe is better, mind you. And not that Raggedy Anne can't have a breakdown and come at you from behind either.... (hee hee!!)   All my ArtPrize doll portraits are here (along with the creepy vs sweet debates) on  the studio Facebook page.  I want to finish these two and another one this week.   And paint a couple dogs while I'm at it as well.   Meanwhile if you like the Ann's, you might also like  this one  I painted last week, which is now available in prints and notecards.   Thanks for following along with my artwork, Kim ksantini@turtledovedesigns.com