nibbles!

this little painting of the nibbler's head is about 3 x 3 inches. just about life-size!

Finch!

"finch", the craft venture of shauna finn and james french, has taken off! we were in brooklyn this last weekend at a little craft open house, and sold a few paintings and a few wooden birds. it was fun! and as you can see on the new finch blog, our stuff is available in a little shop in our neighborhood too. check it out!
:)

chirpity chirp chirp

chirp!

i'm back! sorry for the lack of posting. but here are a few little cuties to brighten your day.
:)

2 more

more birds!

a tiny blackbird, and another tiny blackbird!

new painting

here's the painting i just finished. it's about 30 x 24" i think.
:)

Daisy and Louis

sorry for the lack of blogging - i've been working on a new painting. i'll show you that one soon, but first, here are daisy & louis - a couple of french bull-dogs i finished a while ago for a commission.
:)

a mockingbird & a kingbird

a king fisher & a purple finch

small study

birds!

catbird


and a bluebird

Ditch Plains Beach

here are some little paintings i did in montauk. it was a bit stormy but beautiful for painting! we had such a nice time. more photos to come :)

Montauk

i'm off to montauk with jimmy tomorrow - i haven't been since i was a kid, i'm very excited to go back. more pics soon!

new plants make me happy

figure drawing!

i finally rejoined my friends at the LIC studio for drawing group last night. i've really missed it!

showing up for work

this is a TED talk that i discovered a while back - it's by elizabeth gilbert, author of eat pray love, and it's about creativity and being an artist and all the fears and anxieties that sometimes come along with it. sometimes when i feel scared of painting (kind of a lot), i watch this video. she's a great speaker and i think this way of approaching the creative process is so helpful and comforting. ..plus she relates anecdotally how tom waits is the best living example of this approach, and tom waits is one of my favorite artists of all time. enjoy!

sunday succulent terrarium stoop party

i spent mother's day with my own new babies:


aren't they precious? i particularly enjoy the tiny pots they came in:

jimmy bought me the glass bowl a few weeks ago and i've been planning to put a little tiny garden inside it. starting out was easy enough but it became pretty tricky getting my hands inside and maneuvering around the plants to put new ones in.




here it is all finished:




and here it is in our little bedroom garden, with a bonus pic of papi stalking birds at his bird feeder:

pink trees

it has been so amazing watching jersey city come to life this spring. there are so many beautifully flowering trees and plants in our neighborhood - magnolias, pussywillows, eastern redbud, dogwood (a spectacular white one in our backyard), callery pear, crabapple, linden, sweetgum and oak... and many more. but by far, my favorite are the wonderful kanzan cherry trees, which are found in abundance around here:










although the canopy of blossoms only lasts for a couple weeks at the most, the way the petals cover the ground when they fall is almost just as enjoyable. it's like having snow in springtime, only pink!! :)