Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas from me and my long-dead illustrator boyfriend crush inspiration Coles Phillips. 

Hope you all are having a lovely holiday, and thank you so much for reading! 

Monday Mix: Quick Portrait Sketches

Over the weekend my boyfriend and I took part in a 24 hour Art-In/Art Party/Arty with some friends. These are a few quick sketches I did of the people (and cat) in attendance...

Quite fun and much more productive than I thought I could be! I used to hate working in front of people in a classroom, but working with friends under blankets and purring cats is much more relaxing. Looking forward to doing it again.

Monday Mix: Inspiration: Winter Art

Winter art by some of my favorite artists.

J.C. Leyendecker 

Maxfield Parrish

(please do click to enlarge this one)

Edmund Dulac

Cicely Mary Barker

Kinuko Craft

Wednesday WIP: Joanna Newsom

Working on a portrait of one of my favorite musicians. 

Monday Mix: Holiday Prep

I. Love. Christmas. Mostly I love giving gifts. This time of year it's like everyone's having a birthday all at once and I get to gift them all. I love every part of gift-giving, from planning and making lists, to wrapping each box lovingly (wrapping is sort of an addiction for me), to seeing a person's face when they open it up. There are very few things that make me feel as happy. 

This year has been passing so quickly! It feels like I only just put my Christmas boxes away. I'm so excited, and I've been quite busy with a number of holiday projects. Like...

working on holiday art... 

decorating the house... 

...and sewing up geeky little felt ornaments for our tree.

(Yes, we have a Buddha living under it.) 

I have more ornaments to make and to hang, and gifts to make, and cards to order! I'm also prepping a few holiday items for my shop. So don't be surprised if this blog is non-stop holiday until Christmas Day ;)

And by the way...

There are only two more days to get 20% off custom portraits! 

If you're looking for a sweet Christmas gift, now is the time! 

You can click the image to visit my Etsy shop: 

Happy gift-hunting!

Monday Mix: Haunting Art

♥ Weird, USA: My dearest Angie B's ongoing NaNoWriMo project. It's absolutely incredible; roadtrips and monsters and urban legends, romance and mystery and ghosts! This year she's planning on finishing it up, so if you want to start from the beginning and keep up with her as she goes, you can read it here at her writing journal. It's so worth a read.

♥ 20 Artists Re-Imagine Their Childhood Drawings: I love this, I want to try it myself!

♥ U-Ram Choe's 'Guardian of the Hole': This is so beautiful. NEW YORK, October 26, 2011 — U-Ram Choe's mesmerizing animatronic sculpture, 'Guardian of the Hole' on view at Asia Society Museum in New York until December 31, 2011. http://scty.asia/rtRHLT



♥ Viva e Deixe Viver: Storytellers and Fairy Tales Advertising: Lovely religious-themed fairy tale advertising from the SurLaLune Fairy Tales Blog (a favorite). 

♥ Ghostly Wood by Wedgwood's Fairyland Lustre: Another something lovely from SurLaLune - absolutely gorgeous Wedgwood pieces inspired by such artists as Gustav Doré, Arthur Rackham, Edmund DuLac, and Kay Nielsen.



♥ And don't forget, I'm still offering 20% off on custom portraits in my Etsy shop until the end of November!

Custom Portrait Holiday Sale!

I'm now taking orders for custom portraits on my Etsy shop! 

And to celebrate, I'm offering my followers 20% off all custom portraits for the month of November! 

Simply enter the code 

hbholidayportraits11

at checkout until November 30

Happy holiday shopping!