EYES

A bit of fun for the Three Muses challenge this week.
The theme is EYES . . .

For full credits see my gallery here.

Feeling a bit "Fiery" these days!

I call her "Pyra-Phenom of the Fire"

 A tribute to all of us strong willed women of invincible, phenomenal spirit!

And a little art journal therapy . . .

Hallow's Eve is upon us!

For this month's "Haunted Portrait" art swap over at Deviant Scrap.  To join us in all the ghoulish fiendish "deviant" fun, head on over to the thread HERE for all the details.

Created with goodies from Tumble Fish Studio, Hidden Vintage Studios and Holliewood Studios.  All available at www.deviantscrap.com

And in the spirit of Thanksgiving coming next month (Wow! Where did this year go?!) . . .

I present to you:

WORTHINGTON THANKSGIVING

Per her mother in law's insistent request, Matilda Worthington and her husband Igor came "more than prepared' for Thanksgiving dinner . . .
(In addition to bringing their own utensils, the main course substitutes as a fine chapeau until the dinner bell is rung: heehee)
Credits:
background paper from Midnight Reverie
Everything else from Autumn Junque by Tumble Fish Studio, available at Deviant Scrap.

Just a quick post to share two of my latest creations:

"MANY HATS"

Meant to poke fun at all that we "mothers" are supposed to be.  We wear so many different hats, perform so many roles and occupations and so much pressure is put upon us to be so much to so many.  Haha

"THE GREATEST MARVEL"

This was just pure silly fun! haha

Maxine feared "for some reason" that her good luck might turn and that she wouldn't be able to "hold her BLADDER" for much longer. All she think to do was crouch down, "cross her legs" and hope! The "Greatest Marvel" is this: Will she be able to do it? teehee

For FULL credits on designs used in both of these, see my gallery here.http://deviantscrap.com/gallery/showgallery.php?ppuser=130&username=persnicketychick

So, I'm still here!  

Still longing for a change.

Still holding out hope.

Still waiting for my dreams to come true.  

Still "ME"!

Dreamer, Believer, and sometimes total Over-Achiever! haha

Though it may be plain to see, for more of an explanation on this piece see the end of this post.*

It seems these days that I am still trying to find the balance between letting go enough to just let things unfold as they will, patieintly standing by, maintaining hope, despite my mind's protests, that the desires of my heart will come to fruition AND the need to be in control, pushing things forward in my haste to just be there already!  It is and has been a learning experience as I guess LIFE typically is; one long journey to find ourselves, to find that place where we feel we belong, where it just feels right, where we are finally at peace within ourselves.  Kinda deep, I know, but I have been very aware as of late of being on this path and it's made me very excited for what awaits us all.  Patience and practicality are not my strong suits (perhaps that is my lesson to be learned) and there are days when I simply feel I cannot wait any longer!  I am comfortable in my "dreamer" skin and excited at the prospects that lie ahead and I think that my art most of all reflects that.  My latest pieces certainly do and looking back over the years, I realized that the path I have been on is also evident.  That means so much to me, to have not only chronicled my journey of ups and downs and growth as an individual but to have shared it with so many.  We are all on a journey and how wonderful it is to have one another to share it with. 

I am so grateful for all of you!! 

*A tribute to my wonderful hubby and how well we always manage to balance one another out. ♥

Me, the dreamer full of hope always jumping ahead without a care and he the practical analytical one.  So glad we have each other to rub off on.  heehee

It's that time of year again!

Had some real spooky deviant fun with this challenge over at Creative Souls!

Through the peephole (or in this case through the rusted out interior of a European mailbox, haha)
you never know what you will find! 

But remember this:

"What Happens in Oz, Stays in Oz!" 

Credits:

Ode to A Muse 2 and Dramatic Backgrounds by Holliewood Studios

Haunted Library Micro kit , Haunted Heroines and “munchkin” from Debut Freebie all by Hidden Vintage Studios all availabe at Deviant Scrap.

Background from Deviant Art:-RS19 at: http://nitch-stock.deviantart.com/gallery/8475047

Created this last year around this time and am thinking I'd really like to make another. 

Holly Haunted, the shoe fairy . . .

A midnight reverie and chicks along the canal . . .

One week countdown to the annual Chicks Along the Canal event and I am both excited and a bit flustered. Every year, I, and my fellow creative Chicks, plan and plan and yet don't really plan at all.  I think we all tend to be those crazy creative types who are inherently busy with our own stuff and really do work best under pressure.  But I gotta tell ya, despite the fact that we really just "wing it" , each year gets better and better!

This year marks our 3rd year and each year I try to come up with a little something that sets the year apart from the last.  In honor of our growth and the great expansion of our popularity, I have opened a BLOG for us. 

Though I wish you all could come for the fun, perhaps you might pretty please pay us a visit on the web?

(We will also be getting our own Pinterest account as well as a new channel on You Tube so stay tuned. )

The fabulous designers at Deviant Scrap (my digital scrap home) have been very busy creating a collective collaboration kit for a bit now.  Those of us on the creative teams were privy to the info that it would be released to the public on the 2nd and after seeing the previews I was in such dire expectation for the reveal of all of them.
As if that wasn't enough to be excited over,
then there was this fabulous mini-video by the very talented Marta Van Eck . . .

Here is what I created using just Tumble Fish Studios' portion . . .

AND the rest of the kits are just

AWESOME!!!!!

See for yourself . . . HERE

AND best part of all:

Not sure where to start?  Check out the gallery while you're there for some Midnight Reverie inspiration.  Here are just a few of my favorites from my "oh so talented" friends and colleagues.

Dreamer by Hollie

Butterfly Dancer by Jayne

Enchanted by Ani

By Renee

This one is one of my absolute favorites too, though I'm not sure who it belongs to 

(a member of the Holliewood Studios creative team as it was a sample for her kit)

And last but not least this fabulous creation by my friend Tracey:

A Ticket Outta Here?

To anyone who reads this blog and/or follows my work via facebook, the following will come as no surprise.

Still, I am gonna go out on a limb here and let you all into my personal life, a bit:
(As if it's not already spelled out blatantly in nearly all of my art pieces; haha!)

We have been longing to move from where wecurrently reside off and on for quite a bit now, but our desire has intensified immensely in the last year or so.  Great little town I live in, sweet old houses with character and that great sense of community that seems to always be present in small towns.  And it has actually afforded me some great experiences with like minded artists like me (My Chicks are some of my most treasured friends) but there is still much lacking, especially for the other members of the family.

Take for instance, my dear sweet husband, who has for nearly 12 years now, has arisen way before the sun, traveled the distance of 75 miles (an hour and 10 min drive) to and from work 5, sometimes 6, days a week.  Not to mention that there is the fuel costs and the tolls to consider.  Yikes!

My kids, who despite Mom's best efforts in reaching out, have only a very small amount of friends with whom to socialize with on a regular basis and amongst the other kids in town, feel a bit like foreigners with very different interests than most.  The reason: We are only 1 of 3 other homeschooling families and the only free learning/unschoolers.   Not many free spirits my kids' ages.  And though both of my kids are mature for their age and  therefore do well in associating with individuals of all ages (through their volunteer/community work), they long to connect and forge a lifelong friendship with someone who shares their ideals and passions.  Though I know of places where there are apt to be more like us, there appear to be very few like that here.

And finally, there's the weather here.  Cold so much of the time (and I'm a total t-shirt and flip flop gal) but worse yet is the constant doom and gloom weather we have here on the East Coast.  I am a California girl and I need my sun!!!  All of us are affected by the lack of sun and warmth we experience here.  We are ready to find our sunny location and we have somewhere in mind that fits our ideal, somewhere that has been in our hearts for a long time.  Somewhere, we have always dismissed as not being practical, and in the past, thought outright impossible.  But, I for my part, am done thinking that way, too much thinking if you ask me! And I am done allowing my mind to drown out my heart!  I think that is evident in my art more than anywhere else.

Just check out my last three pieces and you will see for yourself:

(Can you guess my dream location?)

Now, if only I can find my ticket outta here! Since I won't be the only one ultimately doing the choosing, let's hope we pick the right one!

Pinned "official" and so grateful!

Well, I guess I have officially arrived!

Not just one but two of my pieces are making the rounds on Pinterest and best of all are being put into albums marked as "Art Inspiration". 

Could it be?! 

Me, an inspiration?!

I also awoke to 11 new "likes" on my Persnickety Chick facebook page.  Most of it I owe to my new friend, Belle West (aka Donna Leuhrs).  Thank You!

This is the piece she shared.  I have to admit it is probably one of my favorites.
So totally ME, head in the clouds, conferring with the Man on the Moon, gazing into my Magic Mirror at my dreams, wishing with all my heart that what I see in that image will come true!

And the snippet of song lyrics that I used have double meaning to me; not only am I dreamer and proud of it, knowing that I am always in the best of company amongst others like me but because I do believe that dreams come true, the little AND the big!
We can have a world motivated by peace and acceptance, a world free of judgement, a world free of war and violence if only we can stop living in fear, have the courage to believe and chase after our dreams with purpose and courage and LOVE, without fear there is only LOVE!

So, this piece does have such meaning for me and I guess I should be proud at the fact that others love it so and are inspired by it and though I am entirely and utterly flattered in every way you can be, truth be told:  I find it all a little overwhelming.  Like now there's this pressure to actually be good at what I do.  I have so much fun with my art but I know that it is far from perfect.  And maybe that's okay 'cause it's art and the art world is a forgiving place.  I just don't know that I have ever really thought of myself as good at what I do.  It's just ME, expressing myself!  

Well, regardless . . .

It is very apparent to me that I owe so much gratitude to all of my friends in the art community: new and old.  

Thank you, thank you, thank you , for believing in me and supporting me as you do!!!

Summer Dreaming

Though you are not aware, as you tend the roses in the garden, this sweet little fairy lands upon the tabletop hoping to sneak a quick sip of summer refreshment (lemonade, mint tea or perhaps a bit of rasberry vinegar). 

Credits:
Summer Junque 1 and 2 from Tumble Fish Studio at Deviant Scrap.

Circus FuN and enough LoVe to go around!

For credits to these pieces above, see my online gallery HERE
or to keep up on my latest artsy activity become a fan of the Persnickety Chick facebook page HERE

Dare to Dream!

Twenty years from now
you will be more disappointed
by the things that you didn't do
than by the ones you did do.
So throw off the bowlines.
Sail away from the safe harbor.
Catch the trade winds in your sails.
Explore. Dream. Discover.
-Mark Twain

---

You see things; and you say, "Why?"
But I dream things that never were;
and I say, "Why not?
-George Bernard Shaw

---

Somehow I can't believe that there are any heights
that can't be scaled by a man
who knows the secrets of making dreams come true.
-Walt Disney 

---

If one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams,
and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined,
he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours.
-Henry David Thoreau

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
-Eleanor Roosevelt

---

Always dream and shoot higher than you know how to.
Don't bother just to be better than your contemporaries or predecessors.
Try to be better than yourself.
-William Faulkner

---

Trust in dreams,
for in them is hidden the gate to eternity.
-Kahlil Gibran 

---

There is nothing like a dream to create the future.
-Victor Hugo

---

Dreams come true;
without that possibility,
nature would not incite us to have them.
-John Updike 

---

Nothing happens unless first we dream.
-Carl Sandburg

---

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams.
Live the life you have imagined.
-Henry David Thoreau 

Come one, come all to the famous Hippodrome!!!

A few years back while my writing partner Erika and I were researching for one of our screenplays, we came across this great story.

The subject of the story was a magician and the story of one of his most famous vanishing acts he had ever performed.

It involved making a full grown 8ft. 6000 pound Asian elephant disappear. It was quite a feat, unlike anything ever attempted before and made this particular magician quite famous. This incredible act debuted on January 7th, 1918 on the glamorous stage of the NYC Hippodrome theater and was coordinated by a prestigious  producer by the name of Charles Bancroft Dillingham.  Though not as well known as his contemporaries, Charles Frohman and Lorenz Ziegfeld, Mr. Dillingham was responsible for bringing many soon-to-be stars to the Broadway stage.  

The magician was none other than Harry Houdini and his star, the elephant: Miss Jennie.

Though I'm unsure whether Jennie ever performed in other facets of the show (such as being ridden by a starlet) I knew when I saw the elephant in Tumble Fish Studio's Wild Things kit that I wanted to highlight her. So I present to you . . .

Dolly and Jennie of the famous Hippodrome Theater!

Fun Fun Fun!!! The celebration has begun . . .

Deviant Scrap, my digital home away from home turns 2 this week!~

And there is all sorts of fun to be had.  Don't be left out, click HERE

This month's Deviant Muse has got to be one of my favorites to date!

Ever secretly want to "Zetti-fy" yourself?

OR

perhaps capture your favorite thing in a pretty box?

Both wishes may be granted via this month's Deviant Muse and thanks to Hollie and Marsha! 

Did I mention it's absolutely FREE?

Grab it HERE

A layout featuring my grandmother Mary Lynn as a little girl with her mother, Marie.  I originally created this because I somehow remembered being told that my grandmother's family were Dutch and I couldn't resist when I saw all the wonderful elements in this kit to be put to good use.  

And I think my gramma is just darling in her little outfit and clogs!  Only thing is: I discovered that what I was told wasn't entirely accurate.  Oh well! I'm still happy to have them immortalized in one of my pieces.  

This piece is one of those pieces that just sorta flowed right outta me~

It is ME 

(yet again, I swear I am not entirely self-centered! haha)

and it was created as a visual reminder not to let go of my dream, my "heart's wish" to live the life I envision for myself in the place where I feel most at peace, most connected, and happiest. No matter how much time it takes, I know that I will be there one day! 

And to serve as a marker of time, I have bestowed upon my head a crown of dreadlocks.  

I have wanted dreads for as long as I can remember.  They are, to me, the best of two things I admire most: natural uncomplicated beauty and the ultimate expression of individuality and confidence.  

I honestly thought I had missed my chance to ever have them but thanks to a talented artist friend of mine, I was able to try some on.  The piece above was created before I actually had them put in so here I am in my hand dyed, custom made for me extensions . . .

They feel like such a natural extension of who I am!! 

Spring has sprung!

And with Mr. Sunshine's return and the weather warming up come thoughts of planting flowers, readying the lettuce bed and herb garden, and also for me (crazy as it seems) the yummy thought of fresh clean sheets hanging on the clothesline, drying in the breeze.  

I have to admit it's a chore I actually enjoy but I thought to myself, 

"What if . . .?"

I call this piece 

Pearline's Way

because frankly, it's HER way or the highway! hahaha

And just in time for spring, my dear friend, the brains behind the designs of Tumble Fish Studio will be releasing a kit very soon.  Check back here for all the details.

In the meantime, here's a snippet of my newest creation, a sneak preview for the kit.

"Well now. She ain't just Whistlin' Dixie!"

Or actually maybe she is!

Created exclusively from the newest Tumble Fish Studio kit, Head to Toe,  found here.


 And a little something I created awhile back . . .

Monterey Marie and a little Seaside Romance . . .

A skinny created from  French Paperwork, French Music and Something's Fishy by Tumble Fish Studio all available @ Deviant Scrap

And a little fun in honor of Love Day!!!

Dedicated to my husband of 16 years who is always such a good sport about sacrificing his head to my creative expression. (insert chuckle here)

 Credits for this crazy layout can be found in my gallery here.

Been a little hectic around here the last couple of weeks.  Had a bout of Chicken Pox hit the household, followed by a rather large decision we made as a family and then back round to sickness in the household again this past week, this time a rather nasty cold. Haven't had much creative time due in some way to all of it! And so my blog posting has been lacking,  But I am back this evening for a quick update and upload of what I have been able to accomplish.  Haha

I call this piece the SUTSM an acronym for "Stay Under the Sea Mom" and play on the more popular and well known SAHM (stay at home mom); to express my plight as being the one who seems to have to handle just about everything!  Attempting to keep my sanity and my head above water despite it all. heehee

And so naturally next up will be my most recent altered art journal pages . . . a little therapy to keep me grounded and keep my focus.

 

Between you and me, still not sure I'm completely satisfied with this piece but I wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment that our words do indeed become our actions.  I have started writing down things in an effort to make them happen.  We are in for some big changes this year, I know it! 

 

And just to reinforce that thinking, I also am going after what I want with the belief that I will 

"leap and the net will appear"!  It's gotta, right?!

But before all the heavy thought came into play and the sniffles took over, there was the release of this fabulous VALENTINE'S KIT by Tumble Fish Studio.  Here's the sweet little darling I was able to create.

 

Isn't she just a "Valentine Dream"?

And how cute is this idea, in the new Deviant Muse issue.

An altered bird house.  I was so thrilled when Edeena asked me if Id like to contribute a sample . . .

  You can pick up your very own copy here.

Well, until next time then!

There are definitely big decisions in the making and announcements to be made so I promise to be back to fill you all in.

Oh except for this one thing:

The Persnickety Chick now has a facebook page! 

Won't you please pay me a visit and give me a "like"