This is a personal journal.
The majority of my posts are "friends-only" (restricted).


You are welcome to add me as a friend. If you'd like me to add you back, leave a brief comment to this post. All comments will be screened, so I cannot reply (since doing so would un-screen them). NOTE: I don't add people as friends if I haven't "met" them online or IRL before.

I regularly purge my F-list to keep in touch only with those who interact with me frequently. Do not take it personally if you have been removed - just ask me to add you again.


Art-related news & special announcements will be posted here publicly. For updates on my jewelry and other artisan crafts as well as my online boutique, visit artofadornment and feel free to add it to your friends list (all friends will be added back).






Visit my Zazzle.com shop for posters, t-shirts, mugs, calendars & more featuring my original artwork.

I finished a necklace recently that I'd like to share with you. kambriel sent me some vintage crystal beads that I believe belonged to her grandmother (K can correct me on this); most of the beads were donut-shaped and pretty large. I wanted to make it in such a way that the crystal beads did not touch each other so as to avoid scratching, but also so the huge donut shapes (some almost 3/4" in diameter) didn't look odd on a relatively short 3-strand necklace. So I interspersed them with lots of different antiqued pewter beads & caps to give it a deliberate chunky feel, adding in a few small crystal beads in here and there where needed. Pictures really don't do it justice - the quality of this crystal is outstanding.

There were a few odd beads remaining that I made into a matching single-strand bracelet (no pics of that yet though because it's really hard to get a good shot).

( The photos are big so they're both behind the cut... )

I'm selling these gorgeous little retro shoes because I should have ordered a size up. I normally wear a 6 1/2 and although I can usually wear a 6, I'm also used to wearing shoes that have a much pointier toe - without the 1/2 size my big toes ram right up against the tip of the shoe. Yep, I forgot my first lesson in buying normal toed shoes. :P

Colour: black
Material: satin with chiffon ruffle, velvet trim and velvet bow
Size: USA 6 (best fits US 5 1/2 or 6)
Condition: brand new, worn once around the living room
Manufacturer: Funtasma (by Pleaser)
Price: $55 CAD or $48 USD
Payment: cash, money order or PayPal/credit card accepted

Shipping: approx $15 USA or Canada (might be less, I'll need your postal code for exact quote), $33 elsewhere
Pickup: I live in downtown Vancouver near Burrard Skytrain

Anyone interested?

Just made this design - available on mousepads like above, as well as t-shirts, mugs, etc The Latin text translates as "Night Without End". The crest is a hybrid of 3 separate vintage crest images plus my original bat design. Canadian visitors go here to shop/view more Bat Crest stuff. I think this design, or one similar to it, will become the next Gothic BC shirt design.

Today my mom forwarded my aunt's email regarding her visit with my cousins:

Hi,
We had a great weekend with Dave, Gina and girls.

But....this is so weird! On our way there Saturday, we drove the scenic route that follows the shoreline up the island coast. We stopped at an Open House in Union Bay....just to be lookie-loos....nicely finished log cabin, right on the beach (quite beautiful, one bedroom with loft, and full suite in the basement, way too much $$). Anyway, the agent showed us through. I went into the master bedroom, had a peak at the ensuite, and when I turned around, on the wall was one of Elaine's original paintings, "The Model". Wow, imagine that! The agent said the owner had bought it some time ago at an Original Art Show.

The "original art show" was a group show at Spirals cabaret in North Vancouver back in May of 1993. The buyer was the CEO of C.M. Oliver & Co. Ltd. (huge stockbroker company) who bought three paintings that day (I remember this sale well because I dropped the pieces off at his posh downtown office, and the first thing I saw when the elevator doors opened was two enormous floor-to-ceiling Shadbolts). But my aunt's story is but the second bizarre incident involving the three paintings. One of them, Contemplation, was noticed on a living room wall by Michael while having Christmas dinner in his girlfriend's uncle's house back in 1996 - at least two whole years before we'd even met. Being a painter himself he remembered it, and boy did he ever have a déjà vu moment when he saw my portfolio for the first time when we began dating in 2002...

As an even weirder side note, but not involving art: in 1990 (WAY before Michael and I met), after his car broke down only a few hours drive from Vancouver while on his road trip from Duncan (Vancouver Island) to York University in Toronto, he had no choice but to stay with the only Vancouver friends he had at the time. He resigned himself to attending a local university (SFU) instead and traded the car for a month's rent in the basement of this house, which turned out to be the exact same house my father grew up in - and the basement was the room my father and his older brother shared.

Is there no such thing as destiny? I ask you to reconsider...
O_o


Anyhow, back on topic more or less. I've sold more work in cafés, bars and gourmet chocolatiers' shops than I ever have through gallery shows. Maybe it's just the style of work that I do that lends itself better to cabarets and the like, but regardless it's a statistic worth noting.

Wham bam Zazzle art spam!

Order postcards, shirts, tote bags, greeting cards, coffee mugs, magnets, postage stamps, neckties, business cards, BBQ aprons, and loads more in different styles, sizes and colours from my design gallery at Zazzle (which now has international sites by the way, so folks in or near Australia, Canada, the UK and the USA can order direct in their relevant currency.

Naturally there's Art of Adornment merch, but there is also original paintings, fashion photography, vintage art and even goofy Harry Potter inspired fan stuff. A lot of it is customizable so you can add your own text, change shape/style, etc.

Art of Adornment Themed Merchandise

( Samples of more traditional art behind the cut... )

Time for the annual Friends List Purge™ (removing people whom I have had little or no interaction with over the past year).

No offense should be taken, I just like to keep a tight list. If you were removed in error and want to be added back (eg. you have two blogs and generally only use one, or you changed your username and I removed you because I'm a dumb-ass and forgotten it, or you stopped using LJ for a while and are starting up again, etc.), please comment here, not in this post.

This lovely lady has to be one of the most naturally photogenic women I've ever seen! Meet the fabulous Gaby de Barry (a couple more pics to come from this shoot in artofadornment over the next day or two):



Photo by Michael R. Barrick (mbarrick - watch his blog for many more pics from this shoot, he took A LOT and I know he'll be posting some soon!).

Select Art of Adornment products now available in-store at
Lace Embrace Atelier
219 East 16th Avenue
[1/2 block east of Main St.]
Vancouver, BC Canada

Lace chokers, velvet pendants, beaded bracelets and chandelier earrings now in stock!

STUFF ON SALE.

This is a rare occurance. Go now!