Changing Seasons and a Holiday Shop Sale ~

Did you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving?

I adore Thanksgiving.

Then....I am ready to take a long nap and wake up to find myself transported to January 2nd, refreshed and preparing for springtime.

I am not a winter-loving girl.

I am always shocked into winter reality when

Overnight....

the season changes....

from this ~ 

to this ~

Literally overnight.

But, I do admit, once all the decorating chores are done, I have learned to enjoy the season a little more than I did a few years ago.

Truly, I am not a scrooge.

I just NEED sunshine and longer days and a springtime garden.

I do find ways to keep busy when I can't work outside.

Of course, I love to spend the evenings in my studio...

planning and creating ~ 

Working on a nursery rhyme illustration for an art challenge.

"Hey Diddle Diddle"

I sometimes find my way into the kitchen.

Making and baking.

Honeycrisp and Granny Smith apple pie ~ 

The holidays allow me the chance to use my beloved china and depression glass collection.

Peeking into the china cabinet, remembering and planning holiday table settings. 

A vintage Noritake tea set passed down to me by my mom ~

Vintage green goblets and pink depression glass ~ 

Fun and crafty projects help to keep my mind off of the short, winter days.

Dyeing bottle brush trees in vibrant Christmas colors ~ 

Honestly, it is probably good that the short and slow days of winter are engulfing me.

If it were gardening season, I would be so frustrated because I am down and out with a bad knee....hobbling and bobbling.  

I would not be able to do heavy duty gardening work.

My knee is swollen and crazy sore ~ 

Like a big goose egg right in the middle of my kneecap.

I slammed it hard on our metal doggy gate on Halloween night.

Ouch!

Maybe I need this quiet time indoors to help in the healing process.

So, as I ponder the new year and re-introduce myself to the inside of my home...

the lights are twinkling ~ 

I have plans in the studio and even a cookie baking day.

I have plenty to keep me busy.

Including a holiday sale in my Art Shop.

If you fancy giving art for holiday gifts, now is a great time to purchase.

I am offering 40% off my entire Etsy shop with coupon code SilverBells40.

Simply use the code at checkout to automatically receive your discount.

I hope you are all enjoying the season and not falling into the chaos that sometimes attaches itself to the holidays.

Until Next Time:

Kim

Gerushia's New World

Can I Tell You Where I've Been All Day?

So...can I tell you where I've been all day?

Can I show you?

I've been sitting right under this tree.

This exotically scented Plum tree ~

Gifting me with Springtime petal-snow and perfumed breezes.

I am in love with this tree.

Can you marry a tree?  

I would, maybe.

The blue skies have been breath-stealing lately ~

Sunday offered a shockingly gorgeous blue sky ~

On our way to the St. David's Day Festival ~

at Barnsdall Art Park in this little ol' town ~ 

The festival was great and I was so busy, I didn't really snap many photos to share.

Here's one photo that proves I actually attended the festival ~ 

Yep, that's me in the background with the black and white shirt and sunglasses.

The view from Barnsdall is lovely.

Griffith Park Observatory ~ 

The festival was the sight of the release party for 

"The Children's Voice"

Oh how I adore this book of Welsh Nursery Rhymes written by Peter Anthony Freeman.

I am excited and humbled to be a contributing artist ~

There are so many amazing illustrations in this book, each piece printed along with the corresponding nursery rhyme.

My art piece was created for this particular nursery rhyme:

"Hen Wraig Fach"

Little old woman living in the Valley,
Ragged clothes and heavy clogs,
She had a calf named Twm
Who was quite poorly a long time ago.
Little old woman giving the calf some milk,
But the calf refused it,
Well she then became angry
O dear! She slapped him.
Little old calf running like mad,
And she was shouting "For God's sake!"
Following a calf across the country
Oh friends, what an experience.

My brother, Robert Karr created the book cover!

My friend, Rochelle Rosenkild has a lovely piece in the book ~ 

...and, my cousin, Danny Walden has an illustration in this book as well ~ 

All sorts of huge thank-yous go out to Lorin Morgan-Richards of 

A Raven Above Press

for being the mastermind behind this publication!

The books will be offered for public purchase on March 9th....

But ~ If you must have one right this very minute, I have a little offer going on.

I am selling the original art I created for the book along with a signed copy of "The Children's Voice"

The book included in this offer is signed by the author and 7 of the attending artists, including myself.

There are only a very few signed copies of this book.

If you're interested in purchasing my original art along with the signed book, you can find them in My Etsy Shop.

So, all in all, the festival was successful and the book release party was fabulous.

After a long day of meeting and greeting, we found our way back home through dark skies and circus lights ~ 

And...thank you so much for participating in my give-away.  Most people had to leave email comments.  There were 32 comments altogether, but only 5 people were able to leave their comments on my blog.

The winner of the give-away print set is ~

Joanna Grant!

Now...I'm off for an evening in the studio.

Continuing work on this piece ~

which will finally include 2 of my favorite characters in Gerushia's World.

Huck and Pan.

Huckleberry and Pansy are 2 of the very earliest characters I introduced into Gerushia's World way back when I first started writing the story.

Very happy to finally introduce them to you (soon).

Until Next Time:

Kim

Gerushia's New World

Foggy Nights and Christmas Chaos ~

Hello There:

Do you like fog?  Oh my, the entire Wlassak household is in love with fog.  Misty days, foggy nights.  We had a very eerie and foggy night recently.  It was 3:00 am and we found ourselves out front involved in an impromptu "photo session" ~ 

The creeper in the photo isn't really a madman killer.  That's my son.  Isn't this an eerie picture?   Seems this photo would have been more appropriate for a Halloween blog post.  But ~ alas ~ you can only take advantage of the fog when it visits.  I don't recall any fog during Halloween time this year.  So...Christmas fog will have to do.

Did I mention that it's been crazy busy around here lately?  Well....it certainly has.  

Starting with this innocent piece of black poster board ~ 

Which eventually became this Welsh stove-pipe hat ~ 

I can't take credit for constructing the hat.  My husband concocted a pattern and built this hat from scratch!  

It truly looks like a traditional Welsh hat, doesn't it?

So, you're probably wondering why anyone would need a poster board Welsh hat, right?  

Well, I was asked to create an art piece to be published in a book of Welsh Nursery Rhymes.  The book will be published and for sale just in time for the Los Angeles St. David's Day Festival at Barnsdall Art Park in Hollywood on March 3rd, 2013.

Each contributing artist was given a Welsh nursery rhyme and they were to create an art piece influenced by that rhyme.

Here's my rhyme translated into English:

Hen Wraig Fach

Little old woman living in the valley,

Ragged clothes and heavy clogs.

She had a calf named Twm

Who was quite poorly a long time ago.

Little old woman giving the calf some milk,

But the calf refused it.

Well she then became angry.

O dear! She slapped him.

Little old calf running like mad,

And she was shouting, "For God's sake!"

Following a calf across the country

Oh friends, what an experience!

And....here's the piece I created to go along with my rhyme ~

As you can see, the focus of my piece is from the last verse.

I have to give my daughter a huge amount of credit.  She does a lot of modeling for me.  That's her acting as the angry little old woman.  She's wearing the hat my husband made!  What fun we had modeling and snapping photos.

Busy, busy, busy!

Oh...look at this lovely piece of nature found attached to the eaves of my house ~ 

This amazing piece of goodness is now on my Christmas tree.

Speaking of Christmas...are you absolutely overwhelmed with it?  I find myself dreading the reality of my Christmas decorating.  I love to look at it once it's done, but doing it is so crazy.
Although I admit, my family room tree is always fun to decorate.  It holds all of our silly, older and mix it up ornaments ~ 

Hah!  I didn't realize until I saw this photo that the tip top of the tree seems to be swaying with the weight of Jack Skellington.  I think I like it.  It adds a bit of whimsy, somehow.

My giant beast of a living room tree is another story.  Not so fun, but I love it when it's done. It's 9 feet tall ~ 

...and, I wrap the lights up and back down every single limb.  It takes forever and a day to wrap lights like this.  But....the effect is beautiful....so much depth ~ 

And here's the finished tree ~ 

By the time we're done with all of this Christmasy labor we need a a few of these ~ 

Yummy Mimosas!

And, maybe a few of these as well ~ 

Along with all of the odd-ball photo sessions, Christmas decorating and art projects, I've also been working on my Tiny Tale Art ~ 

I'm super happy with the way my little stories are printing up on calligraphy paper ~ 

"Clara and Lucy's Curious Visitors"

"The Guardian of Cordelia's Swan Song"

Each Tiny Tale print comes with a little story that I wrote.  The print image is 4" x 6" on a single sheet of 8.5" x 11" HP Premium Plus Photo Paper.  The corresponding story is printed on 8.5" x 11" calligraphy paper.

If you are interested in purchasing any of my "Tiny Tale" art prints for holiday gifts, now is the time.  My 50% off holiday sale is still on.  But, I can't guarantee Christmas delivery beyond Dec. 14th.  However, the sale will continue through Dec. 19th. Any prints that sell out will not be re-stocked until January 2nd.

If you have any questions, feel free to email me!

Until Next Time:

Kim

Gerushia's New World

P.P.S.  Just wanted to put in a good word for this poor frosty soul ~ 

This Jack Frost Humpty Dumpty is waiting for a good home ~

He's sporting the shiniest vintage silver belt buckle ~ 

If you're interested in this hand-stitched "gnarly-doll", he can be purchased for 50% off in my Art Shop.  He's funny and big and looks incredible sitting underneath a Christmas tree!

♥♥♥♥

More "Tiny Tale" Art ~

I'm so happy.  Excited almost.  Well, it doesn't take much to excite me, really.

In my last post, I talked about losing and then finding a few of my little stories that go along with my art pieces.

I found a couple more!

I'm actually listing them in my shops as "Tiny Tale Art."  Corny right?  But, I really love to write these little tidbits of story for the characters in my artwork.  

Most people don't know this, but every single piece I create has a story, and all the characters and stories are connected to each other in some way.  All of my characters live in the same world and my entire body of watercolor/collage work is one big story still being written.

Is that crazy?  Maybe when I'm 80, I'll write the book.

Yesterday, I found this Tiny Tale ~

"The Guardian of Cordelia's Swan Song"

"Cordelia loved to dance. Her days were filled with steps and turns and her nights were filled with dancing dreams. She was so happy, simply happy, while she danced ~

But she knew, deep down inside, she knew that her days were numbered and her dance would end. An ending that should never have been, yet it was a perfect Swan Song. 

....and now ~ she rests."

This next piece is super duper old!  But, I still like it and it's still part of the world I've created with my art work ~

"Ghostly Gert's Tuson Patio Party"

"Oh the happenings on that lovely desert patio. It was August 13, 1910, a sweltering hot day in Tucson, Arizona. It was Gert's 11th birthday and she was having a birthday extravaganza. Hundreds of friends and family members were swarming in. The food was delicious and the cake, oh the cake ~ it was 4 layers high. The party was sure to be the talk of the town. The guests were laughing and dancing. Gert and the other children were playing games. Hopscotch, Tag, Croquet. Then, it happened, tragedy struck..."

The stories aren't shiny and professional, but they are all intertwined.  Someday, I'll put them all together and re-write the entire Tale.  For now, they are separate "Tiny Tales" that hint at the big picture!  :-)

Everyone that orders a piece of "Tiny Tale" art will also receive a printed version of the story that goes along with the art.  :-)

Both of these prints can be found in my shops.  I work from 2 online venues, but I mostly promote from Zibbet.  I also have a Storenvy, which I actually love.  This gives a buyer the opportunity to choose which shop they like to use.

Both of my shops are in "sales mode" right now.  At Zibbet,  all  prices have been marked down by 50%.  Crazy right?  50%!!

I'm offering 50% off storewide at Storenvy as well.  But you have to use a coupon code.  The coupon code is:  halfcrazy.  Get it, halfcrazy, like 50% off!!  I know, corny joke.

Here's my Zibbet Shop.  

and

Here's my Storenvy Shop

Also, here's a link that takes you directly to my "Tiny Tale Art" at Zibbet.

I ♥ story art.

Until Next Time:

Kim

Gerushia's New World

P.S.  I am spending the whole weekend researching traditional Welsh clothing and composing a new piece.  It will be included in a book of Welsh Nursery Rhymes to be published for next year's St. David's Day Festival in Hollywood, California.  So excited!  ♥♥