WHERE THIS BLOGGER CREATES!

It's time to party and share my creative space with you all for the "Where Bloggers Create 2011", hosted by My Desert Cottage. I am so excited and worked my little buns (Ohhh..if only they were little!) off to get ready for this event. I can't wait to see all of your spaces and be inspired! I hope you will catch a bit of who I am by seeing my space, as well. Let me begin by saying mine is a work in progress and is always changing, but my most important feature is that I love to surround myself with things that inspire me to live a magically creative life. In the coming pictures, you will see many of the things that make my world come to life...I am a child at heart and I surround myself with treasures that evoke fond childhood memories and bring a smile or sweet sense of childlike wonder to my face. I am deeply inspired by three illustrators from my childhood and you will see their influence throughout my little studio. They have impacted who I am today as I am illustrating my first children's books and my art has much whimsical innocence to it that I loved so much as a child. Well, enough chatting..let's get to the studio tour...lots of pics and I hope you enjoy your time in my little Queen B. Studio.

When you walk in, this is what faces you...my little menagerie of treasures, trinkets and creative details that I can use in my art...mosaic pieces, shells, flowers, buttons....plus, eye candy to make me smile!

This little bear and book of fairies is from my childhood. The bear has a little tail that when you move it, it makes his head move side to side or nod up and down. He is a one of my favorite friends to play with! In the background, I papered the shelf with vintage Beatrix Potter baby gift wrapping paper...you will see a lot of her around my little sanctuary..I love the movie "Miss Potter" and would live on a farm and dress that way all the time if I could get away with it!

Turning the corner, you come to my sewing desk..don't get too impressed...I am not that great of a sewer and hate patterns. I like to wing it and just do my own thing! But, I have done quite a few primitive dolls in my time and they were huge sellers for me..so, I can't be too bad at it!

Love this antique sewing basket that was given to me by my mother who has been gone for many years now...it brings sweet memories of her to me and that is why it is filled with hearts.

This table top is really special and something I am really proud of. I collaged a piece of cardboard with all of my favorite illustrators art...from their books or things I have collected. I had a Joan Walsh Anglund paper doll when I was about 10 years old and the actual pieces are a part of the collage. I also took pages from some of her books and also those of my other two favorites, Tasha Tudor and Beatrix Potter and it is just a magical tribute to them. I love to look at it as I work and remember how much I loved them and still do. In the center is the greatest treasure of all....

I wrote Joan Walsh Anglund as a child and enclosed a picture of myself and asked her if she could draw me! Aren't children shamelessly brazen to think a famous artist has the time to just whip off a likeness of them? Well, I was thrilled beyond measure when she wrote back to me and said she was busy, but would get to it soon...Alas,...she never did get to it, but I was grateful that she acknowledged me and I saved that letter all these years! The desk top, by the way, is covered in plexiglass to protect everything and is not in a super sunny window.

Now, we come to my glorious old typewriter that was such a blessing to find...I paid $20.00 for it and it works great! I use it in my collage work all the time and I just love the look of it. I imagine a famous writer tapped on those ivory keys and wrote some famous work of art! Maybe, just maybe, I might be the famous writer someday who wrote their own work of art...but, even if that never happens, I still can imagine it will love being a part of my little world and know how much I appreciate its place in my creations...famous or not. I must admit, that my granddaughter, Emily, makes me feel like I am famous...she thinks I am the best artist in the world! She is ten...

This is a closeup of my bulletin board that was on the previous picture..made with vintage sheet music, seed catalogs and cards given to me by friends, it was so fun to make. My little granddaughter, Madison's shoes are made into tacks to hang things and I have embellished the board with doilies, buttons and rhinestone jewelry...anything that strikes my fancy. I love the Mary Engelbreit picture and saying, "Neglect not the gift that is within thee." So true and I so is the other one the says, "I just want to be Queen...it is as simple and as complicated as that!" Period.

I have a great collection of old books that I use in my art and also many childhood books by my

"three faves"...Plus, in that bookcase are lots of vintage papers, tissues and napkins that I use in my collage. Above are baskets brimming with canvases of all sizes wishing I would get cracking and do something with them! I wall papered all of the photo boxes to hold all sorts of things, from patterns to ribbons to ephemera, etc...It helps to have them all marked and organized as my space becomes cluttered and a disaster in no time!

I love this little shelf that holds some of my collection of Joan Walsh Anglund dolls and books and also, my tiny Beatrix Potter books. The sign says, "Today is a Gift." and it is a constant reminder to me to be grateful for the gift within me and be committed to sharing with others. I truly want to not just paint, but inspire others to find their passion and bring their life to art. Everyone has a gift...the challenge is to find it, use it and pass it on.

This is another table that I decorated with inspiration from the collection of vintage sewing things I inherited from my mom and my grandmothers sewing basket. I cut out flowers from fabric, used doilies, old sewing needle covers and measuring tape...vintage lace and even the labels off of old spools of thread. It came out really nicely and makes me remember running my fingers through my Nana's sewing box that had hundreds of old buttons..I have those very buttons in my collection of jars...they are gorgeous!

Ahhh...my little friend, Peter. He and his books are all over this room...I love him so. I may just be a bit eccentric enough to hear him speak to me at times when I am drawing. I am almost positive I have seen him wink from time to time. My art is filled with fairies, mermaids and angels, so it really is kind of a prerequesite that I believe...and I do!

There is so much more I could share, but I know you have to get going to visit the other sites..I will leave you with this thought above...I never went to college for art...I drew as a child and would retreat for hours into the magical world of my drawings and those of the artists I loved. I never imagined I would be still inspired, everyday, by those childhood memories and be doing what I loved so much as child as my fulltime profession. I have been an artist for over 20 years and have never looked back. I encourage you that it is never too late to do what you were created to do. If you have a creative gift, it is your destiny to fulfull using it...there is no what might've been...only what can be...

So, know you are on the right track and do not negect the gift that has been given you. When you live the life you have imagined, you will be successful because the universe and God can not help but support you in living out what you were already ordained to be. So...find your passion. Live your bliss. Radiate your life...and you will feel just like me.....

a Queen!

(and yes, sometimes I do wear that crown and it lights up and sparkles like crazy!) May you all be blessed in your artful journeys and in your creative lives! Thank you for taking the time to share mine with me...I hope you will leave a comment to let me know you were here!