Mai Autumn

working and playing

i hope you all had a fabulous weekend! thank you to everyone who bought a heartsy voucher! while i'm busy packing up lots of orders, i'm finding myself daydreaming about some ideas for new paintings for the week ahead. as i mentioned last week, plans are underway for a new series of acrylic paintings, but i'm still focused on my watercolors - they never let me down!

while sketching a little bit, i realized that my bird series still intrigues me and i'm beginning to find new and interesting aspects to play with - color, additional design elements, ink, etc. i'm going to allow myself to keep playing with the watercolor and trying tons of new things - letting the series grow organically. i think that sounds about right. if i'm strict about my acrylic, i think it could be good to let myself mess around with the watercolor - have a little fun with it - explore something! how's that sound? :)

looking at amy ross's illustrations really got me thinking about expanding on a series. she has so much variety in her work, yet it all seems like it evolved (pun intended) out of the same place. check it out:

all images via amy ross

hungry, hungry

my mind is on food today. not only because i'm planning out some yummy summer meals for the week, but also because of all the fantastic foodie art i always find myself coveting. i've always felt that food is the universal language, and this art is definitely speakin' to me :)

(strawberries via chatter box art)

working woman

 

gwen bell

 

anek

 

dana cooper

 

lucille's kitchen

 

peacock garden

 

dren culture

 

candidate

 

tomorrow is the first time i'll be heading up to the farmer's market on the boardwalk for the season - i'm super excited to get some great fresh local produce! yipee! :) if you're in the asbury park, nj area, you can find out more info about our famer's market on the asbury park boardwalk website.

gettin' it together

while i did have plenty of much needed fun this weekend, i also got all my resources together and figured out some important things i've been pondering over the last month or so.. i can't wait to share all my new plans with you!

last month, as you may know, i took a little hiatus from blogging, to sort out my upcoming holiday goodies (i was half successful - half not.. more on that later) and, as promised, i am back to my usual posting schedule. it felt kind of good to clear out all those weeks for my mind to reboot, but it also felt a little bit too unorganized for me (and my studio shows the proof of that!) i'm hoping july will make a bit more sense!

and.. i am actually pretty confident that it will! all the free time i allowed myself resulted in some concrete plans for a new series of work focusing on several things that i am really excited to explore. i'm still planning on continuing with my watercolor, but acrylic paint has really been calling to me these days. the new paintings are going to involve the following: night, darkness vs. light, family, house vs. home, and of course, pretty things :) i'm thinking of each piece as part of a story board for an imaginary "movie" of sorts. a little abstract, i know, but it just makes sense to me right now. here are some things that i've put together for my inspiration for the series...

kari herer

 

anthro

 

elizabeth messina via lou, boos and shoes

 

sparks of fire

 

anthro

 

portobello

 

for more inspirations, i have created a pin board on pinterest called "imagination no.1" because i'm really hoping this is the beginning of many more exotic imaginations turned into art! we shall see :)

so, here's to a fresh start for a new month! i'll see you tomorrow - possibly with new art or with new things to inspire! toodooloo til then! :)

subtle summer

i'm procrastinating a little and decided to turn some of my recent favorites into a treasury. i usually don't make treasuries, but my etsy favs were calling out to me to just do one already.. 

'subtle summer' by MaiAutumn

Gold Leather Lace Around The... LemkaB $25.00	Blackberry Raspberry Brown-S... cupboardcook $7.50
Bamboo Groves Kyoto Japan Treasures4Arte... $10.00	Bohemian Nights Long Iridesc... fancyThatacces... $18.00
La Petite Rose Dangle Earrin... tamar $16.00	Patio Days Serving Tray - Ti... nice $26.00
Black and White Carved Porce... isabelleabrams... $675.00	Wild Oranges 8x8 Photography... WildOrangeStud... $18.00
Vintage 1950's Blue Flow... gingerakesler2 $16.00	That Silly Quail... sarahogren $12.50
Lola, barefeet in a tulle dr... henrydarger $30.00	Three Votive Driftwood Candl... beautifuldetai... $40.00
Tiered Cupcake Stand Cake We... thefunkyshack $125.00	print - Sunny Plums - fruit ... GoldenSection $26.00
Thistle Song Painting: 4&quo... thingsofthisna... $45.00	Shadows and tall trees - Fin... irenesuchocki $30.00

Treasury tool by Red Row Studio.

 

procrastination never looked so good :) click on the title above to comment over on etsy and to see the full effect.

little inspiration on a wednesday

i'm determined to get down to some actual work today, but the morning has already been escaping me. here's a little of what's inspiring me..

small talk studio

 

suzie chaney

 

olive vintage

 

laura george

 

kiki and polly

 

wood pigeon

 

 

dutch inspired

i told you i might pop in! i can't help myself - i need to share these cute new note cards i just finished designing this week. they feature a sweet little floral watercolor motif and a hand painted border. i just love the vintage feel of both the design and the card stock - heavy weight cotton card. they feel almost similar to letterpress! 

that dutch blue is really singin' to me :) right now i have them available on etsy as a set of 12. you can order them with either bright white cotton envelopes or super sleek matte navy envelopes - you choose!

 

addicted to pinterest

i went to compose this post and i couldn't stop repinning everything there was to pin over on pinterest, so, here are some of my finds! enjoy the eye candy :)

here

 

here

 

 

here

 

here

 

here

 

and here

 

i could pin all day long! :)

 

found - knife in the water

clever, is what i thought of when i found knife in the water. beautiful, nostalgic designs and fun pops of color for your wardrobe and your home.

and there are lots of fun interior design posts over on the knife in the water blog!

knife in the water on etsy

southern charm - savannah, ga

with the humidity and warmer temperatures gracing us with their presence here in nj, my memories drift to a year i spent in savannah, georgia, at the savannah college of art and design (scad). here are some dreamy things that remind me of the way that magical place felt...

wrought iron fences were everywhere (andrea fanton), the old fashioned feeling of this cameo (arreign) completely sums up the graceful age of the city, and the lovely drink decanter up there is from the paris market, which is actually in savannah (i've never been to this particular shop, but it looks like i would love it!) (via pretties and posies)

green and lace represent it very well (starbags)

as do antique wood crates filled with wild plants (the primitive home), the night filled with a beautiful soft glow (racey tay), fresh linen (affaires nomades), and mossy trees (vlad)

and the light was always amazing (treefox)

to end this post, i think it is only appropriate that my pandora player has given me sara bareilles's version of sittin' on the dock of the bay ("i left my home in georgia...") what a wonderful coincidence !

:)

let them eat cake

i've decided to kick off my birthday weekend a little early, so i can enjoy this amazing sunshine we're having! here's hoping 26 is even better than 25 :) :) woohoo! hope you all enjoy your weekend! :)

via the sweetest occasion