Elena's Easel Goes to the Fair!

Check it out! My first Holiday Craft Fair Extravaganza!!!

Katie, me, my mom and Carissa - Mom had a profitable day at her Sonata Soap booth!

Katie and me - goofin' with the turtles!

So we had a wonderful time at our first fair. It was fun to talk to people, see how they reacted to my artwork. Many people were interested in the hand drawn portrait raffle. Thank you everyone! Look me up and I can still do a portrait for you! But the grand prize winner of the raffle is:

LISA FREEGUARD

Congratulations Lisa, hope to get working on your portrait soon. Should make a wonderful Christmas present for someone special!

If you interested, I'll be in another holiday craft fair coming up on December 6th. If you're in the area come by Fitch High School to see many more amazing artisans and homemade gifts!

Craft Fair Fun!

Well, the November 8th Holiday Craft Fair was definitely a success. So many people turned out to see about 125 Crafters featuring holiday items, jewelry, ceramics, wreaths, quilts, pet items, scrapbooking, fudge, candles, woodcarvings, and so much more! Even more exciting for the kids was the Children's Winter Wonderland with photos and storytime with Santa and Mrs. Claus!

If you were there in those crowded hallways enjoying all the local artisans, it was great to see you! Thanks for coming out. Stay tuned for pictures from the show and the grand prize winner of my portrait raffle!!!

The therapeutic love of animals

If you know me at all, you know that I am ridiculously drawn to animals and kids. I will make a complete fool of myself to make a child smile and I love to be around animals because they always snap me out of seriousness.

Kita is our adopted pet, we inherited a lot of trouble when we got her....let's just say she has some special needs. BUT she is absolutely the most lovable, loyal, amusing dog you'll ever meet...the only dog I've ever had. She makes me laugh and I love her.

Thought you'd like to see some of her crazy antics. This is how hyper she gets when Joel plays with her!

Still workin'!

Got a new shipment of art supplies...watch how the "kids" help me unpack them....

Turtles, Turtles Everywhere

So, I've been working on an idea that has developed into an all-out obsession. Quite a few months ago I drew a little turtle character. He turned out quite cute. Then I started thinking of all the things I could illustrate the little turtle doing. And because I'm particularly exhilarated by alliteration all of the scenarios sounded something like this, "Turtle Trapeze", "Turtle Tots", "Turtle Teeter-Totter", "Turtles Tobogganing", etc. etc. Okay, stop shaking your head like I'm crazy or something.....this is just how my mind works if left unattended!

So I happened to show these turtles to a friend of mine. This isn't just any ordinary friend, she is the kind of spirit that comes along when you don't have confidence in yourself, when you can't quite see your talent or strength or worth. Everyone should have friends like these. My friend, Katie, immediately noticed that I had dreams, I had ideas, but I lacked self-esteem and was letting everyday life take up all of my time. So at her insistence we've started having weekly "art-dates." We've set aside a night and we get together, talk, have dinner, and jump into artwork. She has now also become a little obsessed with the turtles...they do become so lovable!

Now, in all my free time I'm trying to draw these guys. There's a local craft fair coming up in November that I'm going to try to debut at. It's a scary idea for me....will I have enough to bring? will people like them? will I really make any money? Who knows. That's all part of the learning process I guess.

Here's a pic of the first one I drew....his name is Toby. He picked a dandelion for you and he wants you to blow on it and make a wish...isn't he a sweet turtle!

It's 6x6" on a very rough paper so I purposely used crosshatching light strokes with colored pencil. I'm still thinking children's art here...so....what do you think?

It's been hard to find frames, square frames are hard to come by. And there are some turtle's that require a larger wider frame, hopefully I'll have some of those to show soon. Here's some more that I have started....

So what turtles would you like to see? If you wanted to hang one in a little girl's or boy's room, what would that turtle be doing?

Stay tuned for many more turtles to come!