Anne Faith Nicholls Miniature Shadow Box

Today I received a beautiful hand painted "Miniature Shadow Box" created by artist Anne Faith Nicholls. I first learned about the artist from a feature in the March 2008 issue of Juxtapoz magazine. I immediately fell in love with her color palette, composition and subject manner. My favorite paintings seem to involve hearts, birds, women, whales, trees, rain and dogs. In her bio she mentions heavy influences from surrealism, early America, American folk art, animals, and the rare and unusual. I also find it interesting the influence a couple of places where she has lived have, on the narrative aspects of her work. She has lived in a couple of places distinctly known for their weather; Seattle and San Francisco and I think that is apparent in her color palette and importance of water as a theme.

Please visit her site and enjoy the photos I have taken of the box I purchased from her shop.

Amigurumi Octopus & Gocco Holiday Cards

Today I am working on an Amigurumi octopus and dropped by Texas Art Supply to get some paper for my gocco holiday cards. Really, I need to design the card first, so I bought a sketchbook too.

About Gocco:
Well, I guess it is true enough the gocco and gocco supplies are in short supply these days. The rumor must be true, riso must haves stopped production on gocco supplies. I need to snatch up some more supplies, I bought a ton of inks. So, in a way I feel like Elaine from Seinfeld when she found out her fav birth control 'Today's Sponge' was being discontinued. She began to decide if an person was 'sponge worthy'. I kind of feel the same way with my designs... 'Is it Gocco worthy?'. Anyway, I will post when I finish my octopus and have something 'gocco' worthy.

On another note... I went and grabbed a couple of the best almond croissants in town. La Guadalupana Bakery and Cafe has the yummiest almond croissants ever and I am not kidding. The slivered almonds on top are roasted perfectly and the outside of the pastry is crispy and light, the filling is not overwhelming and is just enough to give the right amount of sweetness. I fell in love with this place when I had some tasty breakfast tacos. I also love to visit Guadalupana at the beginning of November, because they have Pan de Muerto. Also, the people who own the place could not be nicer or more friendly. I am so glad they are back and running, they had some roof damage from Hurricane Ike. And just in time for Dia de los Muertos.

Back to work on my little octopus.