Painter Girl

Jamaica Plain Open Studios

Tasha Cough of FancyPaints sent me a quick reminder about the Jamaica Plain Open Studios which will be held this weekend.  This is a great opportunity to check out some very talented artists and craftspeople in their studios.  Always a fun event!  For a link to Tasha's studio and who will be exhibiting with her go to www.26tower.com
For general info and map about the Jamaica Plain Open studios, visit www.jpopenstudios.com

Please tell Tasha I sent you! ;-) and have fun!

My Art Collection

Early this year I decided that it was time for me to finally begin to collect some original artwork.  This is something I've always wanted to do, but felt I could never really afford to explore.  Well, it's not that I hit the Lottery or anything, but I just decided that I would collect works that I truly loved and that were within my budget. I started with a search on Ebay.  Here I found an artist from Maine, Laura Tasheiko.  I love the vivid colors Laura uses and the themes she chooses.  I was the lucky bidder for this beautiful watercolor:

Then, about 2 weeks ago, I read about Bernadette Sipkes, an illustrator living in Auckland, New Zealand, on Kristen Taylor Yarranton's blog site, Taylor Made Designs. (Thanks for the tip, Kristen!) I bought these 2 wonderful prints by Bernadette through the Etsy Shop.

                                        6" x 8", approximate size of both of these

Bernadette's work is also so vivid and engaging!  These three pieces of art were very affordable.  I was able to purchase the 3 pieces of art above, all unframed.  Now I have the dilemma of framing them.  Everytime I bring anything to a frame shop to be framed it ends up costing me an absolute fortune.  I think what I am going to do is scour some of the HomeGoods stores to see what I can find to adapt to my needs.  HomeGoods has a great selection of artwork that is already matted and framed, usually with great looking mats and frames, for very good prices.  I am hoping to find the right size I need for these pieces and replace the store artwork with these!  Of course, if anyone else has any ideas of how or where to frame artwork without breaking the bank, please let me know!  I don't have a mat cutter and have never gotten into framing myself. Should I invest in one?  Are they difficult to use?  What happened to all those Frame It Yourself type stores, are they all gone? Any help surely appreciated!

Take a peek at decor8's blog to see how others are displaying their artwork.  Some very creative ideas there!