hey everyone! and by that i mean my two readers haha!! just kiddin' well sorry for the lack of posting. I am here to let you all know i've been in a treatment facility for the last month for my eating disorder. i've been battling it for a long time now and finally gave into the fact that i couldn't do it alone. so there i am working through the muck that should have been worked on what seems like a lifetime, actually now that i think of it, it has been..... I also wanted to tell everyone that wrote me well wishes Thank You so VerY much for your support!!! i need to write ya'll individually but at the end of the day i find myself completely drained and unable to write the kind of note that is honestly from my heart. so i haven't forgotten any of the notes, i carry them with me and read them in my most darkest of despair to help me keep going....House 15!! you are all such AmAzing people and i love you all sooooo much!!! i can't wait till April when i can give ya'll a huge ol' hug of appreciation. okay gotta run! my pass is for a few short hours then back to the hospital so i'm gonna play with my son and scratch the pets while i can!! i'll post again when; either i get another pass to go home for a bit or when i'm home for good. thank you all again for all you love and support. hugs your loved ones a little tighter tonight for me, life is precious. much much love to you all oxoxox kari

okay i know i'm always telling anyone who will listen that i LOVE california weather! Well this week i am nOt really loving california weather..i do however lOve my california air conditioning!! This is what i've been up to since it's too hot to do anything outside, like breathe, or touch my car's steering wheel without melting my skin to it.....hope you love my new pieces!!!

new paintings~*

Here's my latest mixed media painting! I am very happy with the way it turned. it's called "Flower's for Quan Yin" you can sort of see that her top is actually torn paper glued in 3D. I would love to credit the artist who inspired this technique but she slips my mind right now....
The best part about this painting, for me anyway, is that it's big! 15"x15" that's HUGE compared to my "safer" 5" sized paintings. Happy Friday EvERyone!!!! I'm off to get my "yay it's Friday and i'm gonna get me some Pinkberry yogurt day" green tea of course =) ((hugs to all))

wedding pics!

still catching up folks!! here's some pics from a super fun wedding the whole family went to on the 30th of march. it was held at a gorgeous botanical garden up in simi valley. It was really fun getting all dressed up--like make up, big girl shoes and everything!! from left to right is my daughter Jamie, Ian and moi...

Turin, Jamie and Ian

This is how Ian gets all the ladies...

....and this is how i hooked me a hubby!!

Jamie and Turin during the father/daughter dance. Aren't they adorable??

that's all the pictures i can add for now. Coming soon some actual art that I completely completed!!! YaY for finishing stuff!!

Catching Up!

Sorry for the lack of posts lately(I ReaLLy aM trying to be good!!) I've been off having wonderful adventures but haven't had the motivation to blog about any of it. See Pookieville's blog for some more pictures and better explanations of our out of town fun! My partner in art and i went to Ojai where she was teaching a couple of classes. I mostly snoozed up in the room while she labored away but did get out and see some pretty cool things..Like this..................

and this.............................



and this!....................it doesn't look that big in the picture but it was about five feet long, made from solid brass, pretty hilarious!



and this beautiful painting of carousel horses!!





and i have a strange obsession with things covered in shells..this was really magnificent!! Those abalone shells were a good foot across!


Later this week, probably tomorrow, i'll post some pictures from the super fun wedding we all went to this past weekend!! As well as some art stuff, yep still pluggin' away at that hahaa!! oxoxo kari

I love Post Secret....

sometimes it says everything i can't.......

Some new pieces!

This piece is my newest of the mandalas I've been working on. I love all the bright colors which is definitely a big change from my usual color palate. It has lots of glitter and jewels!!

This piece is inspired by an artist friend of mine, a doll that i made from a couple of years ago and a piece of vintage text that reads "An Excerpt From We Shook The Family Tree"

This last piece is the very done and finished piece from an earlier post. I've added some antiquing gel to it, just the right touch i think!
And lastly this fabulous cutie pie of mine! Sitting at breakfast this morning i hear him announce "i pulled my tooth out!" He was ReaLLy proud..i was slightly horrified until i remembered he'd been working on this one for a while!!

At Artfest (yes artfest aGain or should i say still??) I met Kelly Rae Roberts a sweet lovely person and wonderful artist! and bought one of her beautiful prints. Her art really inspired me to try to use collage with my love of painting girl portraits. The first shot is the beginning of a portrait that i wasn't really happy with, something about her eyes weren't quite right. I usually really stress about painting over something I'm not happy with, thinking "what if the next try is worse?" And on top of that i used a REaL canvas, that i actually PAid For!! I usually work on wood that my DH has leftover from jobs so i doesn't seem like a big deal if i screw it up. i can just put it in the fireplace and start over. So0oo after staring at this piece for days, i just went for it. It was making me crazy and i wasn't about to put a ReaL CanVAS in the fireplace!

ThiS--is the result and I'm really really happy with this pretty girl! Later I'll post the completely finished portrait, but it's gloomy out now and since i have a hard enough time taking good pics even in the best lighting i'm gonna wait. But i wanted to share because I'm kinda proud of myself for 1.not hucking the while thing in the fire. and 2. using real canvas like a REaL ARtisT!!
These two shots are of my pups relaxing in the sun. Cute tiny Bijoux and my "big dog" Oliver, who look super sweet with his summer-do!

So one day while visiting Tyn at her work she mentions to me i should peruse the Humane Society website like her and Shirley do just about every day....well I think I taught her a lesson about my willpower because less than 24 hours later I brought home this....... isn't she ADORABLE???? She's part Italian greyhound and i think wiener dog. She's brindle and weighs all of about 7 pounds. Yesterday when she was sleeping my son Ian put a piece of regular sized paper over her and it covered her whole body hehe!! Finally there's more than one girl in my house =)

good lord!!! did you KNOW THIS???? This will definitely thwart any plans i might have for my future as an Anahata Katkin stalker....

okay...so I'll admit it--I'm a huge dork. i did NOT bring a CAMERA to Artfest..yes it's true, i was more worried about being cold and having art supplies! but I've remedied the situation by stealing..oops i mean "borrowing" some shots from Tyn who continually, year after year, saves my butt! Thanks Girl!! so0oo here's a picture of our housing, it was so lovely and toasty warm with heat from old radiators and the amazing ladies we shared it with! The second shot is out of our bedroom window across the field where all the fun art took place as well as where we met for out meals(the tiny building in the center) and shared stories. the last shot is of me, Ruth and Tyn. isn't Ruth adorable?? she wore a crazy and different hat every day--i think this one best fit the whole spirit of Artfest. alright.....so another thing i have to admit is that i wasn't excited about going... at all...really. ..i mean really really....in fact i put off doing everything to get ready until the very last minute and pretty much poo-pooed the whole trip all the way until we landed in Seattle. i haven't' figured out if not getting excited about it made the trip better or not, i just know that i had such a life altering, amazing and soul fulfilling time i can't stop thinking about it and i can't believe i have to wait a WHOLE YEAR until the next one *sigh*....well at least i learned my lesson!

here's the AmAZing Anahata Katkin working on *my* mandala at Artfest 2008!!!! you can check out her incredibly beautiful artwork at http://www.papayalicious.com and read her blog at http://anahata.typepad.com/ If you scroll down just a bit you can see where i got this pic from, directly from her blog!! and look i'm off to the left, minus my head heheee...

I'm baack! and look what I can do!!!!

Wow! haven't blogged in a gazillion years...mostly because i've been having a not so creative life right as of late. Well i do believe that have changed at least for the time being!! Just got back from Artfest 2008 and had the most magical time EvaH!!! Here's the pretty mandala mixed media collage (yeah..i Collaged!!! whoop whoop) and am really excited with the result! Of course I had the most magnificent teacher Anahata Katkin!!!! I am so in love with all her work and on top of that she is very kind, patient and just a lovely soul =)
I'm so0ooo imspired to create more art not just in this genre, but to keep incorporating art more and more in my everyday living...i think it's just what this little pixie needs!!! hugs to all~*