Hera

This is the fourth drawing in my Greek Goddess inspired series of (5) drawings. You can see the other two in this post. I just have one left now and that's Athena.






















Hera. Mixed media, watercolor and graphite on paper, 150 cm x 124 cm.

Fair Isle Knitting

These are some knit items that I made and designed years ago, either as Christmas presents or for myself. They are knit using the fair isle technique, which is a method of knitting using where stitches are knit alternately in various colors, with the unused colours stranded across the back of the work.

This is two colored fair isle knitting (usually fair isle knitting refers to multiple colors). I modified a Norwegian star pattern to make these matching hat and mittens.

I completely made these up as I went along following another sock pattern to make the heel and toe. I made 2 other pairs of fair isle socks in different colors and with different patterns, once again made up as I went along.






















This sweater is not completely fair isle. The part that is fair isle is the row of purple sailboats at the top.

Etsy Preview: I Heart Tassels

These tassel and leather feather heart necklaces will be added to the shop in the next weeks and the tassel earrings as well.






















I'm thinking that I'll make a bunch of these key chains as promos for a future craft fair. Print my logo and website on the feather and I'm good to go. What do you think, is it a good idea?

Etsy Update: Trapazoids and Triangles (and USA)

Here are the finished products of the shapes in the hoop in the post from yesterday. They will be added to the shop today and in the next few days.

Il Gatto Selvatico Mascot II

I just finished embroidering these three necklaces and I'm so excited to show them off and give you a little sneak peak of what's to come.

Etsy Spolight: Double Parlour

Ahh, what can I say about these? I think it's pretty much self explanatory (they are awesome). These sculptures are made by Double Parlour, but they are not the only thing that they have to offer in there etsy shop. They have beautiful drawings of cabins and animal people and more sculptures that are similar but different. Check it out for yourselves here.

Etsy Update: the Cat's in the Cradle and the Silver Spoon

...Little boy blue and the man on the moon.





















This necklace is inspired by the famous nursery rhyme, Hey Diddle Diddle. In an illustration by Randolph Caldecott the dish, spoon and other kitchen things are anthropomorphized and the spoon is a woman wearing a dress with a large bow. The bow is a way to make the spoon look classy and human.












































These necklaces and earrings either have been added to the shop or will be added in the next few days.

Etsy Spotlight: Fantastical Ceramic Creatures

These beautiful folk art influenced ceramic sculptures are by Jenny Mendes, an American artist with a unique style, you can see (and buy) more of her works here. She also makes paintings and dishes. The pieces above are called Persephone and Green Horse.
































Elya Yalonetski is a European sculptor, from Berlin, who creates magical pieces. These mystical ceramic creatures look like they flew straight out of Mesopotamian Mythology, and they practically did...The sculpture above is called Lammasu; old Assirian guardian of holy things, he is a free interpretation of a Mesopotamian cherub who guards holy things. The sculpture below that is called Lion with a little angelbird.
Her other sculptures and bell dolls look like vivacious characters in an old-fashioned french puppet show that you might see along the streets of a busy market place. See for yourself at her shop.

Etsy Spotlight: Emily Balivet

Emily Balivet makes beautiful paintings of powerful women; Goddesses, witches, and nobel women. Her style is a beautiful contemporary mix of Art Noveau and Renaissance and is clearly influenced by the myths of ancient Greece and the legends of medieval England.

Her love of myths from different epic traditions takes her to include characters like the Lady of the Lake who presented King Arthur with Excalibur and the witch Circe who seduced Odysseus into staying with her for 5 years.

She also paints her own stories using made-up characters, which are so convincing that we almost think they are. Like Autumn Riders and Twelve Women with Birds which looks like the illustration of the lesser know Grimm Brothers fairy tale, the Twelve Dancing Princesses.

Her use of vivid colors and patterns bring the painting to life, but upon a closer look you see that the trees, grass and pattern on the dresses make the paintings look like stain glass windows. They are flat repeated patterns of spirals or intricate art noveau-esque branches. You can find Emily Balivet here.

Etsy Update: Moving Sale

As some of you may already know, I'm packing up shop and house and moving to New York. I'm moving in just a little more than 2 weeks. After living in Italy for 3 years, I have accumulated so much stuff I feel like a hermit crab and that I have to pack up everything and carry it on my back. So I have to lighten my load a bit and to help with this I'm having a 30% off Moving Sale at my shop from now until I leave, September 27. All ready to ship items will be 30% off. Check it out now, It's probably the most generous sale I'll have in a while.
Why I'm I leaving such a beautiful country like Italy? My husband has almost finished his degree, so we have decided that as artists and musicians, Italy has nothing more to offer us.

Etsy Preview: Tooth and Lady

While dusting I found some more stuff in Pandora's box, A molar tooth from the tooth fairy and the profile of a distinguished lady. I will be adding these two necklaces to the shop this week along with the other stuff from Pandora's box. And I will be having a 30% off moving sale starting tomorrow and ending September 27 so stay tuned in. I'm packing up and moving to New York.

Etsy Spotlight: Animal People

Are you an animal person? I am, I love animals, especially cats. I'm a cat person. What kind of person are you? I love art of personified animals, animals wearing people clothes or acting like people.

























































The images above, in the order they appear, are by MarmeeCraft, JuliaPott and BerkleyIllustration.

Etsy Spotlight Gemelli Twins Gemini

I love twin art (maybe because I'm a Gemini) I also love symetrical, decorative and ornate work, like the painting shown above by SwanBonesTheater, because it reminds me of folk arts and crafts. On top of all of this I love love art of personified animals, because of the story book, fable quality. The collage of the bears is by SarahOgren and the collage of the rabbit girls is by Zeng.

Etsy Preview: Pandora's Box of Rings and Things

I found a bunch of these mini spoons and this mini pair of scissors at a little Chinese jewelry shop at Vittorio Emanuele (Rome). And of course I found the baby Jesuses at a souvenir shop along the Vatican Wall. There are two kinds, glow in the dark and pink or flesh colored. I will be adding these to the shop in the next few days. I found the ring from a Chinese jewelry stand at Porta Portese (huge flea market in Rome) and then I made a silhouette of a woman out of paper and glued it into the frame making it into a cameo ring.The rings are made from my Great Aunt Mildred's old (like herself, she's 102) button collection. (I'm not sure if I'm going to add the rings to the shop or just keep them for myself and give them away as gifts, any thoughts?)

Etsy Update: Knit and Pearl, Silver and Gold

Originally I designed this shoulder shrug for myself to hide my tattoo when I was tour guiding at the Vatican, but I made it too small so I started over and made a bigger one. When I finished I realized I had enough yarn left over to finish the small one that I had started so here it is and it'll be in the shop tomorrow. It has a leaf lace pattern and I nosegay pattern which is formed by making cables and bobbles.



















































These are chain scarf/necklaces. The double as both! As you can see there is a silver a gold and a green one of all different lengths and sizes. The silver and gold ones are in the shop and the green one will be there the day after tomorrow.
The silver and gold brings a childhood memory to mind...the singing and talking snowman in Rudolf the Red-nosed Reindeer.

The Piano

I saw the piano for the first time last week, while I was watching I thought of a 3 ideas from scenes and objects in the movie. Do you remember the necklace that Holly Hunter's character was always wearing? It was a gold box with a tablet of paper in it for her to communicate (since she was mute). I think it'd be interesting to make a gold tablet necklace for notes, I just need a jewelry studio. I also thought that the prosthetic finger would make a cool but creepy ring or necklace or something, although it doesn't really have to do with my aesthetic. The third thing that I found inspiring was the last scene where Holly Hunter was floating in the bottom of the ocean hovering above her piano with her skirt billowing out around her like hot air balloon, I think it would make a really beautiful illustration.

Il Gatto Selvatico Mascot

I drew the designs for some new necklaces on muslin all ready for embroidering and I thought that it looked really beautiful like this so I thought I'd share it with you all. Oh, and my cat Ranita was there.