louise gathered the things she needed most

oil painting on birch panel
8 inches square
sold

i don't know that you can be an artist and not spend at least some time thinking about the importance and power of objects.

i make things and hopefully these things connect with people and fit into their lives in meaningful ways.  it's important to me not to bring anything into the world that just takes up space,  i want to create emotion. 

to me painting about people with their belongings - their sentimental collections or their magical talismans - just seems right because after all i'm trying to make something people will connect with and love so making the action the subject seems a natural thing to do.

i often think of the william morris quote "Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful." and though i don't follow it the way i'd like to and have a house with quite a bit of meaningless junk in it, i feel that in a perfect world while you still need the useful, so much of one's objects they choose to be surrounded by and interact with can go beyond beautiful to things with beauty and meaning.

i'll likely come back and edit this post or maybe i'll just do a few more frequent ones soon to bury it a bit because i'm not quite sure i'm saying what i want said but for now that's my little soliloquy.

*****
and now for little bits of news:

in my new shop i've been offering free shipping and reduced international shipping for january but since it's been taking me so long to get the word out to everyone that i would like to about my new shop i've decided to extend the shipping rates through february.  the reduced shipping rates work out to about 10% off on prints, 5% on the block paintings and just a nice little bit off on the larger work.

i've had people asking me about a few of the prints lately - "rebecca wore a dress of wildflowers" is sold out everywhere and while i'm out of "she saw through the night by the light from her crown of stars" and "though evelyn knew the circus was her home sometimes late at night she would consider leaving" both are still available through sebastian foster and poster cabaret.

i just finished a new series for the next enormous tiny art show - here's a sneak peek - i'm not sure when they will all be up on the website but soon i think.

if you follow my flickr to see all the little things i work on you might have seen my little hobby of miniature photography - i've mounted some of the images on wood and they are now available in my shop.