All new wesite and blog!!!!!

My new website and blog are live!

Go to deannareneadona.com to check out all the new features and to sign up for my e-mail list to receive a free gift!

And from now on you can follow my blog at adventuresindeannaville.com ... just click on the rss feed and you will receive my blog posts right into your e-mail. :-)

Favorite Stuff Friday!!!

I heart my new Bad Robot maquette. I saw him at Comic Con last year and fell in love... and now he's all mine! I love how he's drinking his little slusho! ... Welcome to my studio little guy, grab some shelf space and stay awhile...

What am I inspired by?

So now I'm moving on to the next phase of questions for my artist statement introspection.

What inspires me to create?

There's so many things that inspire me that it's hard for me to narrow it down to just a few things.

For Fairy Tale Circus (the series I'm currently working on) I've been inspired by childhood stories and fairy tales, as well as the early circus and freak show posters. What would happen if the characters life wasn't happily ever after, what if they were considered more like freaks and had to join the circus to make a living? For every painting I create my own story for that character.

I'm always drawn to childhood dreams and fears. Things that captured my imagination as a child... and are still enchanting and haunting me to this day.

For the characters, I look through tons of photos and I know which face I want to paint just by looking at them. There's usually something in the expression or the eyes that says, "This is the person I want to paint right now, this person looks like a Rapunzel to me." I wish there was more to it than that, it's almost like I have a new muse for each painting I create.

Here's some pics of things that are inspiring me right now...

Old Circus, Freak Show and Carnival posters

Early English and French portraits of royalty

Flashy light up carnival signs

sparkles... I love sparkles and I will find a way to have them in my paintings!

The forest is always a magical place for me.

Looking at the treetops....

Cemeteries? Yes definitely! A cemetery and the people buried
in it have their own story to tell if you know how to listen.

I love candy... actually I really don't have much of a sweet tooth
but I love the way colorful candy looks. It makes me think
of '50's soda fountains and candy stores....

Ice cream... pretty much the same reason as the candy
it was the small things that made you happy as a child.

Yes, one day my little pumpkin will end up in one of my paintings.
How could you not want to paint that face??

Why I do what I do.

This weekend I need to write my artists statement. It's something that I need to do to help me better describe my work and why I create it. I already have one, but I don't feel like it describes me or my work anymore. So here I am, changing it up... moving forward and digging deeper.

So this week I thought I would explore some questions that might help me with writing the statement this weekend.

First question: What is the subject and style I choose and why?

My favorite subject to draw, paint or sculpt? People. Mostly portraits. I really believe the eyes are the window to the soul... and when I can capture a glimpse into that window and capture the subjects expression, I get a rush of satisfaction.

The ultimate payoff is if the viewer can identify and feel the mood of the subject through the facial expression.

"The Jock," one of my first portraits in high school.

 

Happy Valentine's Day!

I spent part of my Sunday baking yummy cookies for my Valentine.

Baking can be almost meditative for me.

No music, no TV... just listening to the birds chirping outside and our bulldog snoring in her bed.

And when you're done you get a yummy reward.

Hope you're Valentine's Day is as sweet as ours.

If you would like to bake these yummy cookies for your sweetheart here's the recipe.

Almond Sugar Cookies

2/3 C. shortening and butter
2 C. all purpose flour
1 egg
3/4 C. sugar
1 Tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon zest
dash of salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
Mix shortening and sugar, add egg, mix. Add milk and flavorings.  Mix in flour, baking powder and salt. Divide dough into 3 parts, wrap in saran wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours or more.

Roll out dough to 1/8 inch thick, Cut into shapes.

Bake at 375 on an ungreased cookie sheet for 6-8 minutes. Let cool then frost.

Frosting

Mix:

1 32 oz. bag of confectioners sugar
2/3 C. melted butter
1/2 C. milk
2 teaspoons of almond extract
add in coloring

Favorite Stuff Fridays

I was searching for some amazing creative blogs and found Posie Gets Cozy. I LOVE this blog and the beautiful pics. What I wouldn't give to be able to go on this winter walk... I think I'm a little home sick for Washington. :-)

http://rosylittlethings.typepad.com/posie_gets_cozy/2011/02/winter-walk.html

A couple of sneak peaks...

So here I am, faced with a dilemma, to post or not to post. Next month I will have a whole new website and I've decided to move my blog to that website. Eventually you will be able to go directly to adventuresindeannaville.com to read my blog. I'm not sure that I can move this Blogger blog to my new site. So should I still post new content and take the chance of not being able to move it all? Or maybe I should just stop being lazy and post anyway? :)  What do ya think?

I'm so excited for everyone to see the new site and the new blog look. It's going to be awesome! You know, I think I'm just going to give you a sneak peak...

This will be the new home page

It took me forever to put together a design that I liked. And to figure out what features I wanted to have on my new site. It should be debuting sometime in March.

Also, I have a sneak peak of my new Rapunzel painting.

I will be showing this painting and many
more at The Hive Gallery in June.