Art-From-Nature Merit Badge

This past Labor Day weekend we went camping in the White Mountains with some friends. I spent most of my time hunting for miniature pine cones, bits of twigs, ferns, little rocks and leaves with my new bestie, Izzy, which we turned into an adorable frame for her Grandma.

We had so much fun and her Grandma loved her new frame! What are we going to make next year Izzy?

Art-From-Nature Merit Badge: Check!

Back to School Window

There are 2 tell tale signs in Boston that the seasons are changing: 1) there are 18-year-olds absolutely everywhere and 2) the parking has gone from minimal to non-existant because the students are back. Which also means school's back in session!

And no-one's happier to get back to learnin' than these 2 groups of friends. Gary the Green Ruler & Reecie the Red Crayon join the Sister's Two on their merry voyage back to the wonderful world of learning!

Or whatever.

The Big Dig

I have some very exciting news! I was asked by the Rose Kennedy Greenway Conservancy to illustrate some signage that will be going up around the parks! The Greenway is the new belt of parks that run through downtown Boston taking the place of the old Interstate which, thanks to the Big Dig, now runs under the city.

Here's a sneak peek at one of the images. He'll be on a sign asking people to not feed the pigeons...they're on a diet.

The signs are being printed now and I'm told will be in parks in about 2 weeks! Stay tuned for more details!

August: the window

This month's window paiting was inspired by the lazy days of summer. I imagine somewhere in the distance kids are swinging from a rope at dusk about to jump into a slow moving river.

I was inspired so much by those lazy days that I even had David & Vu clean up the mess from last month's window. Nice job boys!

Julie's Beach

Julie's beach mural:

It's about 10' long and 8'high...basically life sized.

Here I am painting it to give you an idea.

What I love most about this is that Julie is still renting. So even though this mural is only going to live for a year, she's going to enjoy it now instead of waiting until she buys a house or has a baby or whatever else.

(I also love imagining her landlord's face when he finds out about it!)

Old to New: Blaithin's Clogs

I realized the only way to get anything accomplished is by including the kittens in my projects. Seen above is Stephen the Girl modeling a pair of clogs I just refinished for my friend Blaithin (pronounced Bla-heen). Kittens are so good at sitting still and having their pictures taken.

Here they are before:

And now, after:

If you'd like a customized pair of clogs also email me at mandeemartin@gmail.com. They were squeal inducing for the ladies at work, hopefully they have the same effect on you. Have a great weekend!!

Distractions

Dis⋅trac⋅tion

[di-strak-shuh

n]

Show IPA –noun

1.	the act of distracting.

2.	the state of being distracted.

3.	mental distress or derangement: That child will drive me to distraction.

4.	that which distracts, divides the attention, or prevents concentration: The distractions of the city interfere with my studies.

5.	kittens; see picture: I'm finding it increasingly difficult to do anything that doesn't involve staring at the kittens,planning miniature outfits for the kittens or taking pictures of the kittens. This could be a problem.

Happy Fourth!!

A new window just in time for the 4th!

Happy Birthday 'Merica!

oh ya!

Oh ya! I have a blog. I nearly forgot!!

I've been very busy with the basket of kittens in my room right now since adopting a pregnant cat over the weekend. She is the sweetest little girl and I'm already totally in love with her and the entire itty bitty kitty committee.

More paintin' stuff soon!

Little Reminders

This is my niece and inspiration for everything I do, Tabitha.

She and my beautiful sister, Melissa came to visit me last week from Colorado; naturally we had to finger paint while she was out here. Seeing her get so excited to paint without even so much as an idea of what she was going to paint was really kind of mind blowing.

Sometimes I get so wrapped up in the whats, whys and hows that I forget why I started to paint in the first place, because I enjoy it. She was a welcome reminder to not take things so seriously and that sometimes you just need to throw some paint around, get messy and see what happens!

Spring Fever

A new season deserves a new window painting to celebrate!!

Meet Buzz:

Here are some close ups of Buzz on a great big daisy. He's happy as a pig in...well, you know.

Happy Spring!!

Bad Good Dog

A commissioned painting done for a little guy who loves tractors and his dog, a great dane/weimaraner mix, whom he affectionately refers to as 'Good Dog'.

Here's a picture of Good Dog next to his likeness as a cartoon character. I'm told when Good Dog is bad his name changes to "Bad Good Dog"....soooo adorable!!

If you'd like a painting done of your own good dog contact me at mandeemartin@gmail.com.

She's Crafty

Phewwwwww!!! What a whirl wind!! Liz and I participated in our first craft fair last Saturday and have officially earned our Arts & Crafts merit badges!!

Here are some close-ups of my table that I stayed up until the very wee hours of the morning putting together...complete with white picket fence compliments of Sir Jeremy!

We had such a wonderful time at the craft fair and met a lot of wonderful people and can't wait to do it again!!

Byeeeee!!!

Countdown to Craft! T-minus 2 days!

It's only 2 more days until my big craftacular debut!! And I only have about half-a-million things to finish before then. Perfect!

www.heirloomartisanexpos.com

There will be painters, jewelry makers, potters, felters, knitters and much much more!!

Hope to see you there!!!

Space Cadet

I just finished this HUGE painting for my little sister and the brand new nephew she was nice enough to make just for me! Thanks Geen, that was very thoughtful of you!!

Here's the progression:

Check out the rest of the pictures here! Let me know what you think!!

Behind the Scenes

I may be the one obsessively drawing monkeys on every scrap of paper I see and painting giraffes 'til the cows come home but truth-be-told almost everything I do starts off with the phrase, "hey, Jeremy, can you help me with this?"

From advice on what a walrus tusk looks like, whether or not something is purple enough to starting a website the first thing I do is run it by this guy:

Because he clearly has impeccable taste! Thanks for everything Sweetie!

My First Craft Show!!

Liz & I will be participating in our first craft show Saturday, April 25th in Franklin, MA!!

www.heirloomartisanexpos.com

It's going to be a great show with donations benefitting Autism Speaks!

Hope to see you all there!!

the noop!

My best buddy, art director and favorite distraction, Liz, finally opened her own Etsy shop!

thenoop.etsy.com

She paints adorable little birds, llamas, lions and the occassional walking toast. Tiny little works of art that never cease to make me go, "aaaaawwww, i love it!"

See for yourself:

I'm proud of you Nooper!

Yesssss, Spring!!!

Oh my goodness!! It's here!! It's really here!! I woke up early this morning to the sound of birds chirping!! Finally!! And there are little buds popping up all over from our frozen ground! If you're new to New England or if you're reading this from the Front Range and have never experienced a N.E. spring, you're in for a treat. Spring in New England is gorgeous and quite possibly the reason so many of us brave these bone chilling New England winters year after freezing year.

In celebration of Spring I've painted this little fella on the window in the ER...hope you like him!!

I think he deserves a name. Something macho (because clearly he is) like Max or Rocco perhaps. I can't decide. Let me know what you think in the comments below. (Click on *comments* and then from the drop down menu select *name/URL* to add a comment without signing in.) Thanks!!

My first commercial mural

So, this is pretty exciting: I was hired by a local record store to paint their new logo on the wall of their flagship store in Boston. The company is called UndergroundHipHop.com (or UGHH.com) and their brick-and-mortor location is on the corner of Mass. Ave. & Huntington Ave.

Go check 'em out, they have a warehouse full of stuff you need- records, cd's, a huge clothing selection, awesome toys from company's like kidrobot, Fifty 24SF & Bigshot Toyworks, graffitti supplies, and a slew of other stuff you didn't know you needed.

But I digress...

Here are some progress shots as well as a picture of their new sticker/logo:

If you can't get over there to check it out in person you can check out the rest of the pictures here. The guys are all really nice. Be sure to tell 'em Mandee sent you!