that time of year

Well as many of you know, I really like Christmas time. Like a lot, a whole lot. So I actually made these christmas designs a few weeks ago, however ashamed I am to admit it. I am also planning a fabulous Christmas party with a friend that I am super excited about, and really I just can't wait to see my buddies and participate in holiday mischief.

winter arrangements

Not much left in the way of flowers to put in these arrangements, however there are berries! So there is a lot of repetition in what I'm using, and this might be the last I make. The hydrangeas were the only colored-ish ones in good shape on the bush and I decided to hang them in my room.

cider making

A bit ago I went with Rick, a friend, and a ton of apples out to the Irish Seed Savers Association to use their cider press. It's a fairly simple process, cut the nasty bits and stems out of the apples, then throw them in a machine that turns them to pulp. The pulp is wrapped in mesh plastic stuff and layered between wood that has a bunch of holes and is then pressed. It reminded me of paper making quite a bit except you keep the juice not the pressed sheets of apple (which I believe get fed to pigs.) The juice is super tart, but Rick has put it in those glass containers with air locks to ferment. Unfortunately the fermentation process takes a few months so I don't think I will get to taste it, which I admit I am rather upset about.

all done!

I so rarely finish an entire sketchbook, cover to cover. It's a symptom of being an art student and having to keep them for classes which means I filled them with crap, and stopped as soon as the class was over. And maybe I usually use books that are too big and thus daunting. This little one was perfect, portable and good heavy paper fit for watercolors. Now if only I could figure out where I purchased it.

liquor cabinet

I painted this cabinet a while back, and I really like the way it turned out. Unfortunately it is in the tiny hallway of the kitchen so it is really hard to photograph,  the white on white details I did aren't showing up too well, but hopefully you get the gist. They also can't find one of the missing drawers so eventually they will cover the holes with fabric or something.

pumpkin

I might have mentioned before, but I will unfortunately be alone this Thanksgiving, in a foreign country none the less. I am headed to Dublin for a couple days in the morning so that will be a fun distraction and maybe when I get back I will make something pumpkin-y. This is the pumpkin I carved a couple weeks ago for a dinner party, it was lit by a lightbulb! Ever noticed how capturing a good picture of a glowing pumpkin is one of the hardest things ever?

printing again

Well I became a member of the Limerick Printmaker's Studio while I am here in Ireland. It is a great space with great people. the only problem is me not having great ideas to make prints from. I need to figure that out fast, though, since I am only here one more month! This is the only print I have done so far (drypoint) and these couple didn't come out well, so I decided to try and rescue them with some hand coloring and ink.

desktop backgrounds

I made this to submit to the desktop wallpaper contest on designlovefest, one of my favorite blogs, but alas! I did not win. So if you want to use them, go for it! Just remember they are my original designs, so don't try to put your name on them or use them for profit etc. And let me know what you think, I like feedback.

sketchbook

tasty

I'm eating so much delicious food here. Also I feel stupid, I've been trying to figure out how to make my images on here bigger and was trying to change the html when it was as simple as clicking on the image and then selecting x-large. I hate when I realize I've been trying to make something more complicated than it is.