Brunettes Traversing Blonde Waves

for this week's Scrapiteria

Blah blah blah and a few more collages

At least I was productive yesterday during my painting break.

Tan Gloriously

I took a break from painting today (I'm working on a rather large commission) and decided to do a few new collage pieces. This one is for Scrapiteria's theme this week, Bathing Beauty.

Stella Starling makes her singing debut at Cabaret El Morocco, 1933.

Stella Starling makes her singing debut at Cabaret El Morocco, 1933.
Originally uploaded by vivienne_strauss

Watercolor and ink on paper.

Three Simones

'm in the midst of working on a large commissioned painting (it is set in Paris) so I've been re-watching lots of French films and thinking about France in general for inspiration. I have always loved the name Simone, here are my three favorite Simones, Simone Simon, Simone Signoret, and Simone de Beauvoir. This image of Simone Simon (bottom) is actually a still from her first American film, "Girls' Dormitory" and the still of Simone Signoret (middle) is from the film "Casque D'Or". The third Simone (de Beauvoir) (top) is of course the famous French philosopher.

Despite all personal resolve to lead an organized life, Ann de Treville Lawrence found that each passing day was in fact becoming less so.

This painting is the story of my life. I am constantly trying to organize closets, drawers, art supplies etc. and it never seems to get any better. The original has already sold but I have also made this one into a print :)

Wave Rider

collage for Scrapiteria's theme this week, heat wave.

Enchanted Garden

This is the largest watercolor painting I've done so far, 15.5 x 22.5 and it was a lot of fun. I kept thinking of one of my favorite poems of all time by Amy Lowell called Patterns. The lines that kept running through my head were "I too am a rare Pattern. As I wander down the Garden paths."