Hudson Scenes

This used to be one of my favorite little shops on the Main Road in Hudson. Now occupied by offices, it lives on in my
memory with this little painting.

It's Spring Somewhere.....

From a series of paintings that I did in the naive/primitive style. This scene is just the color/subject matter I need right
now to focus on anything but the winter weather we're still having. I will have this image available as greeting cards within
the week. Just email me if you're interested....

Silver and Pearls

Funny how I've returned to a wintry palette so soon. This is one of my favorite designs - sterling silver forged into lengths
of ribbon looking bands connected by some sensuous chainmaille and sprinkled with pearls. It feels great too as the bands
of silver rest on the wrist with the chainmaille creating enough drape and the four clusters of pearls as accents around the wrist.

Barbados Inspired

The blue/green theme was definitely inspired by the shades of cool blue/green water stretching to the blue horizon.
The cluster of pearls in the first photo reminds me of the frothy surf.

Where to Start?!

Well! ... since my last entry, I've enjoyed creating in the quiet depths of winter - venturing out only when I have to. This is the first full day of Spring and the sun is shining (which I'm grateful that I can see considering my ground floor windows are half obscured by snow).

A short trip to Barbados (left in the middle of a snowstorm!) to clear the mind, top up on inspiration and feel what it's like to be
warm again..... a walk on the beach and I found this little art installation someone put together of these little
colorful barrettes decorating this tree. I love the little blackbirds that hover around the terrace. I'm sure the staff are amused by how amused we are as they swoop around the tables. And we won't even talk about how beautiful the sand and surf was....

Something New

I've done several designs over the past year that I'd like to expand on especially for weddings. Look for new "sets" of jewelry specifically for weddings that I'll be working on. I tend to follow my creative muse but will be doing more collections for the bride as well as the bridal party......here is just a sample......

Wow! Two weeks into a New Year....

...and I'm only posting now. Two weeks of taking it slow(er) - looking through new books, collecting inspiration, finishing the chocolate.....but seriously, it is time to get busy(er). Last weekend I put the decorations away (and I'm always a little reluctant to do so). The holidays go so fast and I enjoy everything about them. I didn't quite get all the baking out of my system (literally and figuratively) and baked these Hazelnut shortbread cookies dipped in chocolate with a cup of coffee to ease the transition.
They were delicious and I'll be adding these to my Christmas baking for next year...Anyone interested in the recipe and I'll gladly email it to you. Then I took pictures of the house and the way I decorated it this year so I can remember from year to year.
Something I had always forgotten to do in the past. Anyway, onward and upward. It is January now and more than a little grey outside but always colorful here in my studio.....

Lucky Me!

Just had to show you what my daughter surprised me with this Christmas. I was blown away by her inventiveness. She's 19 and an aspiring photographer. She often uses her friends as models and secretly took their pics wearing jewelry that I made this year and then had it bound as a hard cover book. I was so excited that I wanted to share this with you. I'm now thinking that I will do another book with a compilation of my YOJ (Year of Jewelry) submissions and then maybe my paintings!
The model (Lindsay) is a friend of my daughter's.

Studio Cleanup

I've been taking it sooo slow in this week between Christmas and New Year's but thought it was time to start sorting through
my studio and decided to list this painting on my Etsy shop. See the very first link at the right to get there and view the description and purchase details. It was a fun little painting meant to explore the capabilities of a texture medium and how to
use it.
I'll post a few more small scale paintings in the near future.....

My favorite Christmas Carol

My Christmas Card to all of you who stop by for a visit......

Painting up a Storm....

Keeping up with commissioned works. The bike painting (measuring 30" x 40") with a basket of field flowers will be in a sunny bathroom painted pale yellow. The second image is another image meant for a main floor bathroom of a mediterranean terrace filled with flowers and distant hills in the background...I'll post more pictures in the New Year..... and finally the third image (again in a main floor bathroom) is a faux window scene to be placed where a real window was removed due to a room added on just beyond. The shutters were too nice to not use and the idea of a faux scene was just what was needed.
These are in three different homes......

Mid December!!!!!

I've been so busy I haven't blogged for over a month! I had to put something Christmasy up today so I've used an image I took
two years ago and used as my Christmas card in 2005. All my family members are pictured within this image......I'm taking a break from painting, baking, cleaning, baking, wrapping, baking........and I promise to be back a little more often......

Calendar Image

A nice surprise a short while ago when I received a cheque for the use of one of my paintings from the Galerie Jeannine Blais in the Eastern Townships. The pharmacy chain "Proxim" used one of my paintings in their calendar for 2008. Today I received my copies of the calendar and they were beautifully done; nice format and quality of paper. Exciting news for me!

Mmmpumpkin

Well...my pumpkins never made it to Halloween.......This squirrel hung around all morning, dined on pumpkin and now he must be sleeping it off because I haven't seen him since. I love having a digital camera. Without one I'd never capture these images.
one of which will become a painting to go with my other one that shows my one-eyed cat cozying up to our Halloween pumpkin
on the front porch that is on the home page of my website this month.....www.joannaolson.net.

Vignettes

When I don't have the budget or the space to decorate, creating vignettes satisfies that need. Living artfully is
important and surrounding myself with objects that speak to me creates the atmosphere I need to keep on creating.
This grouping is on my fireplace mantel and seems to fit the season perfectly. I'll post more as I photograph them, especially since the season for decorating is upon us. Ninety percent of these items are "found" at flea markets and second hand stores and are treasures to me.........

Fall Leaves

I wonder how many other bloggers have titled their entry with "Fall Leaves"....not very inspiring, I know but I can't believe
it's already more than two weeks since my last entry. The weather today was amazing....sunny periods, warm for this time of year and the leaves are at their peak but this is it, the last week to see them at their best...so I went out today to take some pictures. Tomorrow I'll make sure I make time to do that again as even a handful of pictures can be the most inspiring references for paintings I'll work on later in the winter......

....and now Thanksgiving

...and now my attention is on this weekend's Thanksgiving dinner.....possibly one of my favorite dinners to do.

Some of the vintage pieces that I have influenced some of the art work such as the antique Remington typewriter and the
doll size sewing machine.....and the last image of the hand in the jewellery cabinet was a gift to me of a trailing vine of
Morning Glories that krept in a barely opened window at one point in late summer and I couldn't bear to cut so I let it
grow and grow it did!......and bloomed in and around my cabinet.....a better display I couldn't have imagined.....

......a walk around from the dining room into the kitchen where the "real work" happens........

Great weather, soft music playing ...