Cathrineholm Doodle-ized

Had a good time doodle-ling these retro wares. I am feeling the need to doodle-ize everything!

Dames & Ladies and a couple of girls

Decided to do a few grown up girl portraits this weekend and of course couldn't resist the doll faced girls. The last one is a portrait of my daughter in her favorite shirt.

Rosie in her owl shirt


xoxo

Dollface Lala Paintings

A couple of Dollface LaLa paintings are in the shop!

These were really fun to create, part of my "More Painting with Paint" promise. My daughters love to play with them by taking these little paintings everywhere. Cute!

Oldies but Goodies

I dug out some old paintings from 2009 and these doll faces only get cuter with age!
I am offering the prints in my Etsy Shop!

"The Red Balloon"

"Love Bites"

"Black Angel"

"Black Pirate"

"Black Sheep"

"Crazy Cat Girl"


xoxo

ps I am working on a few new paintings (yes with paint) and should be able to get them photographed by this weekend, I've been getting my creative mojo back!

What I wouldn't give for a few stacks of...

Today is the day I really crave pancakes. Usually that happens to me on a Saturday, but I don't think I can wait quite that long...

xoxo

Attack of the Hello Kitties

You would think my day job as a toy designer would be fun, especially being surrounded by adorable Hello Kitties, but on closer look, these evil cats and their beady eyes haunt my dreams! It is hard to find inspiration at work but soon, I will do a "self portrait with Hello Kitty swarm".

Whack Painting

Most of the time I have to paint at night after the kids are in bed. Since I have been so low on free time I tried to paint during the day with my kids around and this is the result. It didn't help that I kept being told that
I was "painting it all wrong".

(ps: this was supposed to be a painting of Hello Kitty pink glitter nail polish.)

A Pig named Olivia

A many years ago I bought on sale at FAO Schwartz in Las Vegas this vinyl Olivia the Pig doll. I have a thing for pigs and thought $34 bucks, an ok deal. So I've had this pig in its original box collecting dust for the last 8 years or so and my lil'dollfaced daughter recently begged me to open it. So I did. Then I found out its worth about $350.00 now. I kicked myself in the butt and try to remember how it made my daughter so happy... for about 3 minutes. Now Olivia can be found under the couch minus her black and white stripe stockings, her purse and her sense of worth. At least she got her portrait painted.

xoxo

Painting with Paint

I started painting again last week. With actual paint! I found it totally unacceptable that I have been working so much on the computer (those nasty 12 hour days at my day job) and decided to do some lil' paintings the old fashioned way. I'm going to make it a regular habit, try and fit in some time to pick up a paint brush and push some paint around! I actually started this practice in 2008 where I would just paint quite ordinary everyday stuff, in a loose and expressive way. I would limit the painting time to about an hour and force myself to stop. The process is not to mimmick reality and overdo the detail but rather see the object in a different way and paint an impression of it. It is a really eye-opening zen like process for painters like me who tend to work and rework a painting until it looked "perfect". Well here is the first of the new stuff. I will be posting more paintings from 2008 and perhaps after I get my creative mojo on, will get back to Dollface LaLa doodles.

PS: this Orange Crush bottle has been sitting near my desk (waiting to be painted) for the last 2 years!

Been Busy

Don't know if you noticed but I've been on a blogging hiatus. Just been working long hours for the man and have no time to do much yappin here, but don't worry, I am dreaming up some new doodles as we speak. I hope I can actually get to doodlin' instead of fantasizing, but for now I just want to put in a little note to explain my absence, which is that my day job as a designer has been stealing all my creative mojo...soon I will find my way back to LaLaLand, I swear!

(I miss working on my own artwork)

xoxo

A House fit for a Hobbit

I don't have to be a hobbit to want this house. This real woodland home is energy efficient and built in harmony with mother nature. After a day of bumper to bumper commuting, noise and concrete, I like to imagine living here instead of the big city!

Link is
http://www.simondale.net/house/index.htm

My Baby is Two Today!

Old Timey Pursuits

Over here at the Dollhouse, we have dubbed 2011 as the year of the Old Timey. This year I want to focus more on the lost skills of the past and try and learn a few things that do not involve so much technology... like computers! So I taught myself a basic knitting snitch. (Ok, I must admit I learned it from You Tube). Knitting, although coming back as a trendy craft, was a pursuit every grandma and mom knew how to do (even my own!) It is relaxing, somewhat addicting and certainly a good stress reliever...I do have a new found appreciation for how long it takes to knit something, or do anything by hand.

I cant promise to go totally back in time, but I am hoping to be able to make some cloth dolls, sew a little more, learn how to make soap and do a bit more baking and cooking, less time on the computer, or anything that involves staring at a screen. With that said, I better go back to my knitting...The scarf I am making might well be finished in time for next winter.

xoxo

More Nostalgia