Peace, Love, & Pretty Things has featured my work as part of their GEMS section — Grace and Encouragement for Motivation and Success!!

I'm so happy to be a part of what they do. 

The most rewarding part of being an artist is when people say your work inspires them. Having the Gallery has given me the chance to connect with art lovers and collectors, and also share stories and secrets with fellow artists. Yesterday an 8th grader came in and mentioned he liked drawing, but didn't like how his work would smudge. So I taught him the hairspray trick: if you spray a pencil drawing with Aqua-net, the pencil marks will last into the next millennium.

The Gallery also came with a mail slot, which means every once in a while we get tiny surprises. Today we opened the doors to find a small manilla envelope on on the welcome mat!

It was addressed to Chloe!!

Imagine our delight when we opened it up to find a remarkable likeness of her!! 

The artist signed his name in the lower right-hand corner, just below Chloe's front feet. Chloe was happy to see her admirer was not secret, because she thinks it is important to write thank you letters when she receives gifts. 

Chloe's delight was through the roof when she saw it was from her friend Chase!! She is now hard at work writing a thank you note worthy of such a wonderful surprise. Thank you Chase!!

Several years ago, I went through a phase of painting almost nothing but seahorses. My sister Evie was really into them, so any time I asked her what to paint she wanted me to paint a seahorse. Some of the paintings went to private collections, such as the one below: 

Eventually, the seahorses started appearing alongside other creatures, like in this painting where they share the scene with octopi and some happy and adventurous cats in a boat:

(This painting is staring at me from across the Gallery this very minute. A little-known fact? The seahorses glow in the dark.)

One of my favorite things is when a painting that has been released out into the world comes back to say hello, usually as a jpeg attached to an email. I tend to produce a lot of work, and in the past I was not great at archiving and keeping track of where my originals went to. The positive side of this fact is that sometimes someone emails me with a painting they have bought or otherwise acquired, and I get to be pleasantly surprised and amazed to find it (temporarily) back in my life. That happened this morning, with this painting: 

The current owner found me online and emailed me with the picture. He was curious for information on this little guy. I'm so happy my Red Seahorse has such a wonderful home, and such a beautiful frame!

We know what you're thinking — How did Gallery B get to be so gorgeous?!?!? Well, everyone has their awkward stages! And we're no exception. So we thought in honor of the day after the big party we would post a little retrospective about what an ugly duckling we were during construction.

A cute duckling, but a little rough around the edges, don't you think? Here's to things only getting better!!

Last night was our grand opening party!! Catered by Whole Foods and The Court of Two Sisters (desserts and drinks, respectively). 

The desserts were out of this world!! I'll list them: Peanut-Butter Fudge, Cookies & Cream Cake, Gummi-Stars, Blueberry Cupcakes, Chocolate Brownies, and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies. When the party was over we took some extra cookies to the kids on a Ghost Tour outside our door (more on the local hauntings later ;). Ten p.m. and we were feeding youngsters their weekly recommended intake of sugar!!! The parents loved us. 

The Court wine was delicious, and we had a great mix of people. Reporters, Collectors, Tourists, Neighbors, and random dessert-lovers from off the street lol. THANK YOU to everyone who came out last night!!!!!!! We loved having you, and hope to see more of you soon. There is still some cake left, so if you want a sugar buzz come visit us!!

Julie and I drove down Bourbon today on our way to the Gallery, and we passed a different sort of Bull Run than the one we had over the weekend. This Bullrun is the annual road rally. No indications yet of whether Bourbon will be full of its usual mischief or if the Bullrun will up the ante come party time. At 10 a.m. they were dancing in the streets, blocking traffic, and videotaping it all, so all signs point to craziness on Bourbon tonight. 

They took this shot on Bourbon this morning (see our flag in the upper right-hand corner?). I'm sending Julie over now to invite them to the Gallery. 

Last week, we had the beautiful, regal Chloe (our little Chihuahua) in her rightful place in the window. But it got a little hot for her and she started giving the stink eye to anyone who tried to watch her sleep. So we relocated to her to the cool, quiet back room.

Don't fret!!! We put a painting in her place! A painting of Chloe in her bedroom. Now her spirit lives on, and in a much more reliably pleasant form. So although Chloe herself may have abandoned the window, Paint-Chloe will continue to share her spicy spirit with New Orleans. Also, in the painting you may notice Clo is wearing her favorite orange hat from Chi-wa-wa-ga-ga.

Today was the 5th Annual Running of the Bulls in New Orleans! Sadly, we've been hanging paintings since 6 a.m. and were not able to make the festivities. That didn't stop us from ogling all the wonderfully red-and-white-clad boys and girls on Bourbon Street! We want to say a big thanks to the sponsors and producers of the event, because it is just so much fun. 

Here's are two photos from this morning taken by our friend John Lands: 

Can't wait to see you next year, Roller Bulls!!

I have a secret love of making collages. But now I don't even have to make them. I just search my favorite artists and beautiful collages of their works come up. 

Yumm.

Sometimes the best visual inspiration is not one thing but a whole BUNCH OF THINGS that hit you at the same time. Our latest discovery? Awesome visual results in Google Images!! Our favorite is the output for the search term "airline posters". See the result(s) below:

We love those colors and all the words/fonts and places!! Especially when they appear as such a clean, straight-edged collage of collated variety. Thanks for letting us share our visual inspiration of the afternoon with you!! Feel free to share your favorites!!