More goings-on at the stinky sock factory

The Inspector arrives with much fanfare

What happened to my kale plants

Time again for planting fall vegetables, and I can't help remembering what has happened to every little kale crop I've planted for the last three years. Every year, the worms eat the young plants down to the stalk. Worms like kale, I guess!

Kale chips

The way, way deep

This week's spoonflower challenge is on the theme of cephalopods. Here's to all the weird creatures at the darkest depths of the sea. I thought it would be fun to keep the palette to three muted colors and the figures as stylized as possible. The contest begins Thursday, October 1st. You can see the designs here then.

The way, way deep

Tinker toys

Rainy days and Mondays... get me thinking of tinker toys. Actually, I was poring over the paintings of William Gear this morning, and for some reason, this popped into my mind. Happy Monday!

Tinker toys circa 1964

Inspiration by British painter William Gear. COMPOSITION ESPANGNOLE, 1947

A family from Alameda, the finished painting

I've been busy with these family portraits for a while now, but I'm finally all caught up! Here is the final painting, ready to ship north. Alameda is an island off of the coast of Oakland. A big "thank you" to Laura S. for asking me to do this project and for being so great to work with!

Alameda family, the finished painting. 12 x 16 on birch panel.

Work in progress...

The sketchbook

Florian returns

Here's a sketchbook painting I started back in May but never finished. Until today! Florian is a police horse, who slips away one Spring day, and has a few, errr... adventures. Along the way, he meets an escaped Budgie.

Florian at the races

Happy Labor Day weekend

New in my Etsy shop, The Suburbanites giclee print. Art prints are 20% off all weekend! Simply use code "LABOR" at checkout. Expires Midnight Monday Sept. 7. Hope you're having a great holiday!

"The suburbanites" art print

At the Lizard Lounge

Another challenge is coming up at Spoonflower next week on the theme of "Ditzy Lizards", so in an attempt to plan ahead, I've been mulling over the subject perhaps a little too much. After doing a few patterns I just had to create a locale for them where they can listen to jazz and cry a few crocodile tears.

At the Lizard Lounge, a Palm Springs hot spot

Lizard Lounge for Spoonflower

Coordinating the coordinates

I'm trying to get a little more into varying my pattern designs, so to that end, I put this group together for a recent Spoonflower challenge. As you might guess, the theme is butterflies. For the challenge itself, I combined 4 coordinates into one layout. And since I was a little rushed, didn't quite work out the repeats. That comes next. Onto the to-do list it goes!

Butterflies are free!

Inspiration: collectible 1930s cigarette cards from the New York Public Library website

A family in Alameda, CA

Here's another color sketch for a work in progress. I did a couple of variations, but in the end felt version 2 was too complicated.

A family from Alameda, CA

Alameda family version 2