Friday Feature

Today's Friday Feature is someone that has crossed my path several times in my online history. Melody Lea Lamb first crossed my path on Ebay. We were both ACEO artists there. Of course I think of her as a "big brush" and me a "little brush"! :)  Then I ran into her on Etsy. Later on Twitter. She's always tweeting away there! I can always find her generously promoting others on Follow Fridays!  And more recently I found her on Facebook. 

I  have always admired her work. Her animal art is incredible. They look as if they will jump off the page! Sp recently when she tweeted a blog give away, I was there! Much to my surprise I won the give away and was able to choose a beautiful porcelain ornament from her CafePress shop (see she IS everywhere!). It was so hard but I ended up choosing a cute chipmunk. I received it the other day and it is sooo beautiful. I cannot wait to put it on my tree!

So a little about Melody. Besides her beautiful animals, she also paints fairies & mermaids. Poking around her website I found out she also illustrates children's books! (who knew!).  She works primarily in mixed media of colored pencil, indian ink, watercolor and acrylic.

She also is a co-leader & supports an animal charity called Art For Critters,  a percentage of her sales go towards animals in need. Her art is very affordable in the form of small art & (ACEOs)


She sells from her  blog and on Etsy. She also sells archival prints  on Etsy, ArtFire, eBay, and in her website's seven virtual galleries   She also sells over 6000 art gifts in her Gift Shop and  Bonanzle shop. I told you she's everywhere!

Her prices range from under five dollars for prints and bookmarks, to over three hundred dollars for the original miniatures. 

So please go check out Melody at any of her sites and look for her on facebook and twitter as well.  Here's here webpage:  http://www.melodylealamb.com/html/front_page.html

Annamarie and Cocky Poppy

Today my feature is an old friend from Ebay, Annamarie Armstrong. Annamarie is also a member of the DAWG Team. I met her through an ACEO group on Ebay way back when.

I love Annamarie's art. . She says in her interview that she's looking for inspiration but her parrot has seemed to always be an inspiration to her. She paints the most adorable pictures of Cocky Poppy.

Here's a link to Annamarie's web page: http://mrsvalpique.tripod.com/

1) Tell us about yourself.
I'm a 38 year old self taught artist. I love painting parrots and flowers. I like to sail. I have a little sailboat called the Pirate Kitty. I am a big Alabama football fan!

2) What are your preferred mediums and art scale (miniature, large art, etc)
My favorite medium is watercolors. I love painting ACEO's. I only do larger works on commission.

3) What are your inspirations.
Right now I'm searching for inspiration.

4) Describe your art style.
My style is realism.

5) Do you do anything other than painting (jewelry, crafts)
I play around with polymer clay and jewelry. I also like to sew.

6) If you blog, what is your blog link.
Not a big blogger

7) Where do you sell online?
Etsy, Ebay and GCU

8) Are you opened to commission work?
yes

9) What was your favorite piece of work? If you have a photo, include it.
My favorite painting is Cocky Poppy. (My parrot )

8) Do you sell in a brick & mortar shop? If so where?
No

Thanks4Lookin Art by Myrna

Meet my friend Myrna Migala.  I met Myrna on Ebay. She sells there as Thanks4Lookin. 

We were both doing ACEOs (miniature art) and were in the same Ebay group.  Over time I became a real fan of her art. I have a number of her ACEO's. Her paintings are always uplifting. Many are very whimsical.  Myrna is a fellow Roman Catholic who likes to paint religious art as well so we had a lot in common.  Right now she has a beautiful ACEO on Ebay of Infant of Prague...just lovely.  I hope you enjoy her interview and enjoy her artwork as much as I do.

1) Tell us about yourself.
I was born in 1940, in Chicago, the middle child of 3, my parents did not spoil me, I had to work for whatever I wanted. The best thing my parents did for me was to send me to a Catholic school. I loved it and always knew it was a treasure. Today I am married almost 50 years, together we raised 6 children and now enjoy our 23 grandchildren.

2) What are your preferred mediums and art scale (miniature, large art, etc)
I enjoy painting any size, and just love watercolor because it is so unpredictable.

3) What are your inspirations.
My inspirations go with my mood, sometime I want to paint something that will bring a smile, sometime I paint to make people think and othertimes I just want to express myself and exercise my imagination. I do say a little prayer while I am painting at times, especially if I am painting something religious.

4) Describe your art style.
My style, is my own, just like handwriting, sometime I feel free and loose other times like my handwriting I try to be very neat. For some reason whenever I try a new style by going out of the box, I always seems to drift back to a more realistic style little by little.

5) Do you do anything other than painting (jewelry, crafts)
Not really at this time, in my past I have tried different needle works, sewing, clay, painting on rocks, and writing.

6) If you blog, what is your blog link.
No I do not blog, except on our shared art group blog with designing artist ning, once in awhile.

7) Where do you sell online? I sell mainly on Ebay, Etsy, and Artfire at this time.
http://thanks4lookin.etsy.com
http://myworld.ebay.com/thanks4lookin/
http://www.artfire.com/users/MyrnaM

8) Are you opened to commission work?
No I don't encourage it; not sure why, however I have been asked several time to do a special painting and have not refused anyone, yet. In fact I am just getting ready to do a large painting someone requested from an ACEO, that I created. I think the reason why I am not really opened to doing commission because I am very particular about the subject I paint.

9) What was your favorite piece of work? If you have a photo, include it.
I really love my paintings, little ACEO's of the Catholic Saints, I list them as handpainted holy cards on Ebay and most of them sell. The most recent one that has a bid currently is that of St.Christopher. Can't really say this is my favorite because my favorite happens to be whatever Saint I am painting at the time.

10) Do you sell in a brick & mortar shop? If so where?
Years ago I sold many of my painted rocks in a near-by shop but now that I have stopped painting on rocks and moved on to watercolor paper I haven't tried selling in a brick/mortar shop, nor any craft shows, nor have I ever shown or entered my work at a gallery.

Marlene Aka Lazy Hawk

Marlene Hawkins is a long time friend from the DAWG Team. We met on Ebay in an ACEO group. She sells under LazyHawk.  Marlene does some wonderful work. Here's here interview! I hope you will enjoy it and check out her at Http://etsy.com/shop/lazyhawk

1) Tell us about yourself.
I am a wife, mother, and grandmother who loves to paint in many different mediums, embroidery, needle felt, scrapbook, and just about any other craft that comes along. I love to experiment with new techniques and play with colors. My favorite subjects are landscapes and florals, I do have fun with cartoon type subjects as well

2) What are your preferred mediums and art scale (miniature, large art, etc)
I love to work in the ACEO size format as it is easy to carry along with me. I also like working on any size up to appx 18X24. I have painted on saw blades both straight and round and enjoyed that very much. I mostly like to work in Watercolor which included watercolor crayons and pencils, and Acrylics. I love to do drawing in graphite. I have done oils but I am too impatient for those. I also love working with fibers be it needle felting or embroidery.

3) What are your inspirations.
I get my inspriation from nature, and from challenges and themes issued in the artist groups I belong too.

4) Describe your art style.
I don't know that I have a "style" I am still trying to find myself as an artist. I am not so sure if I want to be defined with a specific "style" anyway as I get so much enjoyment from trying new things.

5) Do you do anything other than painting (jewelry, crafts)
I make jewelry, do mosaics. I have also made several porcelain dolls and enjoy that, and have done ceramics in the past. I enjoy making my own Decorative paper also, which I use in making journals and mini albums.

6) If you blog, what is your blog link.

http://marlenes-musings.blogspot.com

7) Where do you sell online?
I sell a little on Ebay under the username lazyhawk
My Shop on Etsy is: http://www.etsy.com/shop/Lazyhawk

8) Are you opened to commission work?
Yes, I would love the opportunity to work on some projects for others.

9) What was your favorite piece of work? If you have a photo, include it.
I have a lot of favorites, here is one of my graphite sketches and one of my watercolors



8) Do you sell in a brick & mortar shop? If so where? No I don't.

Snow Sleet Rain Ice....

...can Mother Nature make up her mind? Typical woman! Always changing her mind. I've had enough of winter. I can't wait for spring but in the meantime I was thinking that if I had a penguin it would look like this--I call this watecolor PENGUIN JOY...well I do have some penguins but they are all virtual on Farmville...I like virtual I don't have to feed them or pick up their poop.

Anyway....the penguin ACEO is on auction on Ebay here's the LINK

My art friends from Bonanzle

I have a number of online artist friends who have become good friends online. Most of us started together on Ebay, branched out to Etsy and now are on Bonanzle. We began a team on Etsy called, Designing Artists Women's Group" or DAWG TEAM on Etsy. You can search for DAWG team on Etsy or Bonanzle to find our art. Here's some of the work from my friends from their Bonanzle stores. Their shop names are in parenthesis. These are wonderful artists, wonderful friends. I hope you will support them.

And if you are looking for a sale, visit my shop: http://bonanzle.com/booths/eclecticspirit
For 20% off everything, use Coupon Code: Spring

Barbara Haviland

Lisa Parker (Papermoondelights)


Sue Taylor (ArtistSueTaylor)










Tammy Moody (tgfleet)





Mryna Migala (thanks4looking)

Babycakes.....

....now that gets your imagination going doesn't it. Well check out this blog:
http://babycakescornbreadkidsswapatccards.blogspot.com/ It's run by Sandra. She hosts a ACEO Art Card swap. I participated this year. It was lots of fun.

My swap card is featured on her blog. I received a wonderful one from Dolores who also participated. It's pictured here. I love the 3 diamentional cards......don't you.

So today on Ebay I sold my poinsettia card. I'm excited but also not, I loved that card. Well I will just have to paint another for me, huh? Here it is in all of it's glory. I hope the buyer loves it as much as me! Sometime if you are on Ebay, search for seller ID HeyLucy1...that's me!

ACEO Blog

If you are a reader of my blog, you know I love to paint ACEO's (some call them ATC's artist trading cards) and I love to buy & trade them too.

So if you are not familiar with this wonderful miniature art (always 2.5 x 3.5 inches) you are in for a treat....check out this blog for ACEO Enthusiasts. I belong to the group on Ebay, but alas I am not a dilgent thread poster but I do try to keep up with them.....

The lovely image here is one from the blog.....so go visit this blog: http://atcandaceo-enthusiasts.blogspot.com/

Bonanzle Feature - Pieper's Place

I have met lots of friends on the internet through the many artist communities I belong to. And from time to time I like to feature them. One of the talented people I've metis Sallie aka Pieper....she's on Ebay (where I first met her), Etsy and Bonanazle.

Check out Sallie's Bonanzle shop Pieper's Place http://www.bonanzle.com/booths/pieper She has some really cool cat stuff and handmade navajo style dolls......so cool....if you stop by tell her Joann sent you! :)

A Worthy Cause

This unique handcrafted wall hanging heirloom is being donated by the DAWG group (Designing Artist's Womens Group) in an effort to raise awareness about women's breast cancer. 100% of the money raised by this auction will be donated to Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Research Fund. Several of our members made ACEO sized quilting blocks and all were hand pieced into a 19 x 25 inch wall hanging and then it was also quilted by hand. The DAWG Group hopes you will enjoy & help support our "Quilting For A Cure" cause! Please go to the Ebay listing to bid!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=360108741783

Title: "Quilting For A Cure" Hand Quilted Wall Hanging
Size: 19x25 inches

New on Ebay and meet a friend

New on Ebay "Elizabeth" on Auction....Watercolor ACEO....a litle victorian lady very dreamy eyed..........here's the link to the auction

Also visit my Etsy shop Painted Panache on Etsy. for more ACEO's, art and hand painted china.

Also thnking about Ebay and Etsy. I have a friend I met on Ebay who is now on Etsy. Her name is Myrna. She does some beautiful, whimiscal art. I have a number of her pieces. She goes by thanks4lookin on Ebay and Etsy. Here's one of her pieces that I just love. She is also an ACEO artist. Her shop - click here.

Ta Ta Ta DAAAAAAAA FEATURING

DEB and her new blog! Please go visit Deb's blog...http://artshtickscorner.blogspot.com/
She just started her blog. It's full of wonderful art, very whimiscal and uplifting. I love her sense of humor..look for the snowman.........I'm telling you, you've gotta see it! Go look but if you don't have time now. Just check out this piece of art...and also later visit her EBAY ABOUT ME PAGE-CLICK HERE

Yummmmmmm

It's almost Thanksgiving and I can almost taste the pumpkin pie.......but I'll have to buy mine because I'm not such a great cook/baker. I paint better than I cook so I'll (for now) have to make due with this.....watercolor and ink ACEO entitled "Yum"
available on Ebay as an auction.

Here's the Auction Link....click here

Inspired....

...many things inspire me in life, my children, nature, God. This mini watercolor ACEO was inspired by my love for antique postcards. I hope you enjoy it.

I am having a sale from Today through Memorial Day....free postage on all ACEO's and a number of things on sale in my sales section of my shop. Here's the link.My Sales Section

OH I almost forgot. I opened an Ebay Store...drop by and visit

My Ebaystore