Paisley

Petunia ponders the perfect pattern: paisley.

My Little European Fountain

One of the things I love about walking through cities in Europe is all of the fountains you find in out of the way places.   Last fall at an end of the season nursery sale I found a perfect little fountain for our little backyard.  I bought this baby for a steal, and although my husband rolled his eyes while making the purchase we took it home and stuck it in the...garage.  (Yep, stone can't always handle the cold New York winters.)  A couple of weeks ago we brought the fountain out, filled it with water, and plugged it in.  Voila!  We now have a very soothing tinkling (I am at loss for a better word) sound in our backyard and when I close my eyes I can pretend I'm in Europe!

Busy Busy Busy...

...is my middle name.  I'm working on some pieces that I am creating for a show at Erawan Seafood & Steak in Bayside, Queens.  They usually have a featured artist at their wine dinners and I will be the one on June 27th.  The restaurant is a 2 story building with a bar in front, so there is a lot of space to decorate.  Hence, my new middle name- BUSY, but very excited because other than my open studios, I've never had a solo show before.  Excitement is in the air!

A Huge Shout Out

I have not been a star blogger recently and even worse at reading other blogs, so I was honored to catch up in person with two ladies from Minnesota who I met via swaps years ago!!  We all went out to dinner in Fall of 2008, and a year and a half later I meet up with them again and it's even funner!! (Yes, I know that's not a word, but it suits the situation).  How time flies.  Jenn from The Write Ingredients and Jen from Painted Fish Studio were in town for a little NYC energy and food.  Jenn's goal was to have at least five meals a day, and I was impressed with the food she found.  I may be a good clothing/accessory shopper, but she is the food shopper.  It was great to be a tag-along as opposed to leading the group.  Jen was busy shooting pictures with her polaroid camera at it was great to see the results.

They did the research and showed me some new haunts that I've never heard of. I met up with them in Brooklyn where one of the highlights was Cog and Pearl, a treasure chest I had never visited. I found night lights by Happy Owl Glassworks which are so cool that I get excited for bedtime;) (well my daughter does). We then jumped on the train and went to the Hester Street Fair, another gem I had never heard of. Talk about goodies for the eyes- so many colorful things to look at and many young entrepreneurs. Great vibe, but the best find was the food. I had the most delicious lobster roll I've ever had outside of Maine from Luke's Lobster and a heavenly lemonade (with other flavors) by I forget:( Sorry, guess you'll just have to visit to find out for yourself.

We did a lot more walking and looking and a pit stop for this group involves wine- these are my kind of ladies.

Inside My Sketchbook

I've been working with that alphabet recently- addicted to it in fact. I'm obsessed with fonts and have been coming up with some interesting ones.

Fearless

My version of "fearless" for Illustration Friday.

Red Bow Studio Etsy Shop Up and Running

The Red Bow Studio Shop is up and running on Etsy.  More items will be added in the near future, but for now it's tiger pillows!  Please stop by.

Inside My New Studio

 Well, the Red Bow Studio doors are open and it is an exciting experience, but it is also a little scary.  I opened my studio in a small town and the weather has been a little rainy, so not many people are walking around.  I am busy with things to do, but opening a new business is quite an interesting task.  Below is what the studio looks like.  It's super cozy and has a lovely feel.  I am opening up a Red Bow Studio shop on Etsy where I will sell hand made Patricia Kaegi Weiss originals.  The first are my Tiger pillows which I have handmade using a painting that I made earlier in the year.  Please feel free to stop by the Etsy shop- or even better, the real live Red Bow Studio!

Bouquets to Art

About ten years ago I went to a wonderful exhibit at the Legion of Honor in San Francisco called Bouquets to Art. It was the most delightful art show I've ever seen- a group of floral artists design bouquets inspired by works of art in the museum. Since then I've moved to New York and haven't had the chance to go again until last Monday night. This time it was back at the DeYoung and again, it was wonderful. Here are a few of the bouquets.

Soo...I Really Haven't Disappeared...

....I'm starting a business!  I have been dropping hints for awhile that I want to open up a studio/inspirational destination, and that is where I have been.  Let me tell you, there are so many DETAILs involved in the organization of a business, and it's even tougher when there is NO FUNDING for a start-up business anywhere.  You have to be in business for a year before any nonprofit funders will get involved and 3 years before a bank will even look your way to lend.  (Opening a bank account wasn't difficult of course, they will take your money anytime).  As you may have guessed it is called Red Bow Studio and is located in Sea Cliff New York.  I will post more pictures, but this is the signage. So far I have painted the space and location, added a freestanding wall, bought furniture, ordered art supplies, hooked up phone service, found a credit card provider, opened a bank account, designed a logo and stationary....wow, it seems so simple when I put it in one sentence...I'm off to paint the furniture, but I will give updates soon!

Straight out of Elle Decor...

...well not exactly, but close.  For those of you who are familiar with my calendar, you might recognize the month of June in this photograph.  The painting is of my parents backyard,  and my mother loved it so much that she framed it and hung it above her bed.  It is a real coup, because when I was growing up, most of the artwork I brought home ended up in the closet or the garage.  I guess this means my artwork is moving up in the grand scheme of things!

Another Sketchbook Page

I'm busy painting, so this will be short.  I taught myself how to create a watermark in Photoshop this morning  using this tutorial from About.com. It was fairly simple and about time that I learned how to do it!!

Sketchbook Surprise

I've been looking through old sketchbooks, trying to organize my shelves and I often come across pages that look like this...the black ink is my hand and the colored ink is one of my dotters aka daughters (I can never catch them in the act, so I don't know who the culprit is...argh!!). Basically if I leave a sketchbook opened with a black ink line drawing, one of the dotters can't resist "coloring it in". They have both done this from an early age- 1, and it is so endearing, but at the same time I want to pull my hair out!! I know that the day will come when I open up an old sketchbook and see their scribbles and miss their younger years.

Frida by Ayala

I was so excited to receive the Frida doll I won in the ADO OWOH giveaway.  This beautiful doll was made by Ayala of Ayala Art Cards~Dolls. Be sure to check out Ayala's dolls and paintings- they are quite inspiring.  I have such admiration for Frida, that it is wonderful to be able to hang her as inspiration in my creative space.  Thank you Ayala!!

IF- Propagate

Wow...propagate.  What a word.  Illustration Friday is getting all SAT on us.  As a crossword addict...I like it.  In this painting, I'm aiming for propagation through inspiration.  I am trying to reproduce the whimsy that I have created to the many other pages of this sketchbook.  It's all for a project that I am really excited about and keeping under wraps.  Until the next page, please propagate.

Dallas Love

I'm a firm believer that everyone needs a change of scenery to spark the creative spirit, so I try to take a trip every couple of months or so. (Yes, I am a Pisces rising=dreamer). Since I have two young children, it's often to visit friends and stay at their homes, because bunking in the same hotel room with the kids can be tough (and expensive). For President's Week we traveled down to Dallas to visit my best friend from college.  My husband's only wish while in Texas: gorge on some down home BBQ, which we found at Sammy's in Northern Dallas.  This is where I found all of these bottle openers.  They clearly believe in choice at this joint.

OWOH Giveaway Winners

What a wonderful OWOH world tour I've had!  I hope that others enjoyed theirs as well!  Because there were so many commenters, I decided to give away 4 calendars instead of 3.  I am so flattered that many travelers decided to follow my blog, that I also added a "follower" giveaway.

My four winners are:
1)Lenore of eat write create
2)RR of Ravenous Reader
3)Jenea of Dispatches from the me
4)Snap of  Tales From Twisty Lane
and my Follower winner is Hippie Dog

Congratulations to all the winners and thank you to everyone who visited!  It was so wonderful meeting all of you.  All the best for a wonderful year and HUGE thank you to Lisa Swifka for investing so much precious time creating this event.

If you still don't have a 2010 calendar you can find mine at my Etsy shop.  I will be adding more artwork to my shop in the next couple of months as well.  Please visit anytime!

Thing A Day #6- Crayola Tower

While shopping at Target yesterday, I bribed my two year old daughter with a Crayola Tower.  The deal was as long as she didn't whine and cry, the Tower stayed in the cart.  She's very willful and yes, we became the proud owners of a large quantity of crayons (which we already had at home, just in a much less orderly state).  In the last 24 hours the tower became an instant hit and the girls followed my single directive- take care of them and put them back where they belong.  So far, so good.
Now the only qualm I have with this tower is the way it is organized in the package.  Crayola sells it with all different colors next to each other.  There is no rhyme or reason to how the colors are placed and I feel that it does the user a disservice.  It is much easier and saves a lot of time when the colors are in order.  Therefore I reorganized the tower and am giving the shout out to Crayola that this is how their tower should be organized in the package.  I'm more than happy to consult with them on it.  This first one's free;)
The thing I LOVE about this tower is the sharpener that comes with it.  When I was young the Crayola sharpeners just made the end into a cone.  This Crayola sharpener makes the tip look EXACTLY like a new crayon.  It's fabulous.
Thing a Day# 6= Color Order=Zen State (My Virgo moon needs organizational activities in my life.)

Day 5 Sophia

After school today the girls wanted to create so I brought out the collage box. I joined in to create "Sophia", named by my daughter. Her best friend's name is Sophia, hence the first name she came up with. I let her do the character description, as I am getting annoyed with them. It was feeling a little too cutesy and I'm not in a cutesy mood.
Words from my 4 year old daughter's mouth...
This is Sophia. Her favorite color is pink.  She likes to play at the park and she is holding hands with her friend. She's happiest when constructing 7 feet sandcastles on the Pacific coast.(The last sentence was my add-on.)

One World One Heart 2010 Giveaway

Welcome to my blog! Thank you so much for visiting. I hope that you are having a wonderful magic carpet ride.

This is my first year participating in the One World One Heart giveaway, and I am so excited!

"The original idea behind this giveaway event was to bring bloggers together from around the world who may never ordinarily meet. It closes the gap of the blog community and enables us to interact, discover new and wonderful people..."- Lisa Swifka of A Whimsical Bohemian. I am so thankful to Lisa for creating such a momentous event and for helping everyone to make new friends!

I just became a ticketholder the day before it started, so I wasn't able to fine tune my giveaway, but I did take a picture of my giveaway on my magic carpet.
I am giving away 3 of my 2010 calendars. The top illustration is from my calendar. All of the artwork was created by me and if you have one on your wall it will make all your dreams for 2010 come true (with a little help from yourself of course)!

To participate in my giveaway you must complete 3 challenges...well just 3 super easy tasks.

1- You must have a blog to link back to.

2- In the comments section please tell me the following 3 things. (Voluntary)

1 What is your New Year's resolution?
2 What are the chances of getting it to come true?
3 If you could take a magic carpet ride anywhere in the world or beyond, where would it be?
4 Can you do your New Year's resolution on a magic carpet?
(This last one is a bonus question.)

3-Leave your comment on this post by midnight NYC eastern time February 14th.

May the best bloggers win! (That's all of you.)

I will be choosing by a random counter, because sometimes it's better to leave things to fate.

Thank you for stopping by my Diary and reading a little bit about me and my daily life. I hope you enjoyed your visit. Patricia