I have returned!~

   Hello there, my friends!~
        I'm back to the blogging world! I'm sitting here in my new art room looking out three windows at a pretty rambly little garden feeling really, really lucky.
      The epic disaster of boxes and furniture is slowly but surely getting organized....my art room is still mostly in boxes and I'm waiting for a table to be moved in, and oh-- we adopted a kitty! Audrey made her Daddy promise that when we got a new house we could get a kitten because we had told her before that our house was too small for another animal to live with us.
    Well, that has been remedied and now we have "Queenie" (name has changed several times, it may change again, and I'm honestly not sure if this cat is really a female, because I've heard that before) who we got from the local animal shelter. Queenie was a white blued-eyed girl in a litter of black cats, so she must be rather special, don't you think? I'm also hoping white cat hair will show less, haha!

   As you've probably heard in the news, the weather around here got scary the other day, but where I live we mostly just got some rain and thunder. It stormed our first night in this house, and I think today might actually be our first nice sunny day since we moved in. I can't believe all the devastation that happened literally just down the turnpike from here. 
     I was in Moore last spring visiting a friend who lived there-- but as luck would have it, she moved back here to our hometown not too long after. She worked at the medical center there that got so damaged. So happy that she was so fortunate, and so sad that others were not. And really proud of people like my uncle, who lives just a couple of blocks out of the storm's path, for the exhaustive rescue work he helped with.

  As for this moment though, things are calm. I can hear Audrey crooning to her kitten, the skies outside are absolutely clear and cornflower blue. There are now eight Hydrangeas in my new yard, an embarrassment of riches. One (an Oakleaf Hydrangea and another my Mama found half-dead on a sale rack that I'm going to nurse back to health)
    True, the dishwasher did over flow this morning all over the kitchen and I managed to lock myself out of the house when I went out to feed the dogs, but its obvious to me these are small matters in the scheme of things. We're so fortunate and I'm not gonna forget it.

    On the business end of things, I have reopened the etsy shop so that will all work as before now. I know I've been talking with a few of you about commissions to do 'after the move' and in the next few days I'm hoping to get this art space organized enough that I can start on that, so feel free to get in touch! You know me, I need funds to buy new flowers ;)

    Thank you for your visit today--- 
~H

We Are Safe!

Just wanted to duck in and let you know that we are safe up here in northeastern Oklahoma. We just got connected to the internet and to the tv stations this afternoon, and are just hearing about all the destruction in central Oklahoma.
   Here the sunset sky is a strange orangey-gray...but the skies and winds are calm. Thinking of family and friends near OKC and all those who have lost so much this evening~

~H

Home!

    Hello there, my friends!~
        I'm just popping in to say that all is going well and we're in the midst of our big move! We got the keys yesterday and we're so, so excited! It's such a beautiful house and has so many beautiful flowers already growing in the yard. I feel ridiculously blessed and lucky and just so thankful that this could come to be. 

     It rained and thundered most of the evening, which cut down on what we could actually move, but we considered it good luck. It stormed on our first date and it stormed on our wedding day. Inclement weather seems rather auspicious for this little family ;)

   Can't wait to show you around, and I can't wait to get painting again!!!
Thanks for your patience--- once I get things unpacked and accounted for I will open the etsy shop again--
~H

On the Move....

   Well, we're loading up the truck to move to Beverley....well, almost :)

   Things are going to be a little quiet around here as we finish up packing and start scheming our move. If all goes according to plan, in a week we should have the keys to a 1916 bungalow in our little hands.

   So excited is an understatement!

  Til then, we've got Kindergarten graduation, the last day of school....all sorts of stuff going on! I cant wait to be on the other end of this move and get to painting again!~! I'm sure I'll be loading some things up on the instagram if you want to peek in! See the sidebar to click on any of the pics....

   Have a great week!~
   H

Latest Commission- A Revolutionary Portrait

   Now that it's safe and sound in it's new home in New England, I can show you my latest commission, which was a fun Revolutionary War ancestor portrait for my friend Patricia!
   She came to me with the challenge to paint her many-times-over great grandfather, who joined the New York Militia in 1775. She wanted to show his as the strong, brave, and slightly cocky young man she imagined him to be just as he was leaving to fight the British from his rural New York home. She even researched the correct military uniform he would have worn, and I googled muskets (not my every day art research!) to give him the right Revolutionary look.
  We also added some fun personal elements to the painting-- it was Patricia's husband (who happens to be British!) that suggested that we add Isaac's sweetheart to the mix, so I have created "Dorcas", the young woman he would marry when he came back to his home. We also added, just for fun, a dearly loved but departed family pet peeking over the fence railing-- surely they had pet spaniels in the colonies, right? Well, they do in this particular painting!
   Since the area that Isaac lived in was full of apple orchards, I added an apple tree and orchard behind, and a cluster of salt box style homes and some grazing sheep to represent the close knit rural community in which Isaac and Dorcas lived.

   The color scheme for this painting sort of organically became patriotic-- since Isaac's uniform incorporated blue and white I felt like a good compliment for Dorcas would be a red dress, especially with the red apples in the trees. The little houses behind then also echoed that red, white and blue theme and voila-- a bright and patriotic ode to a beloved ancestor and his contribution to his country is born!

  And while this is my last commission for a bit while we get ready for our move-- I am looking forward to more! I'm going to estimate that in about three weeks time I will be settled in and ready to start working on some projects. Honestly, I am already missing painting and wishing I was doing that instead of packing ;) so I'm sure my studio will be one of the first rooms set up to work.

  I'm just so excited about all the new things coming for this summer. We're gonna have so much fun! And I can't wait to get painting and start creating for the holidays! Honestly, I might go right on in to Halloween and some Christmas when I get things set up again. It's never too early, right?

  Hope you have a great weekend!~
~h

New Post Cards!

   Yesterday I got in an order of new postcards, and I just listed them in my etsy shop this morning! I'm really happy with how they turned out! I think the color for the spring and summer here at Audrey Eclectic is a bright and cheery turquoise blue (my mama's favorite color-- and jewelry!) and these postcards all compliment each other's blue tones, as well as celebrate the blessings of family.

   I also got some new business cards that I designed myself and I'm happy (and relieved!) that they turned out great (I'm always scared that I'll order hundreds of cards and something will be wrong with them but, knock on wood, they came out wonderfully!)

I have more postcards on the way, so I should have more to share with you in the next few days! I'm slowly getting restocked after getting (happily) ransacked of most of my postcards during Christmas!
   
   Now, off to run a few errands in the cold. Yes-- cold! It was in the 80s yesterday but a front came through and we've plummeted 40 degrees. There's a chance of a freeze and even a few snow flakes tonight. I can't believe it! This is the oddest spring! But I guess a cooler spring is better than a scorcher! Hope it keeps up through the summer, think it might? Weirder things have happened I guess, like May snow ;)

~H

Prims Magazine feature!

 Hi friends,
    Yesterday I opened up my mailbox and found this inside--- the spring/summer 2013 issue of Prims Magazine! The most exciting part? It features an article by me and one of my paintings!~

   I believe this magazine will officially hit news stands on May 15 and you should be able to find it in most major book stores, or you can order this and all the other Stampington magazines online.

   This is a great magazine for primitive style doll makers and artists who paint in a more old fashioned genre. The painting that is featured with my article is sort of a blend of both-- it's "Clara and her Doll" which was inspired by an old daguerreotype of a young girl holding an Izannah Walker doll.

   I painted it a good while back, so it's fun to see it with fresh eyes now and printed up so nicely! You can really see all the crackle and aged detail in the printing of the magazine, I think it looks great!

Thanks for coming by today!~ It was nice to have you here at the blog :)
~H