Window Display - Dancing Eye Gallery

Girls Night Out window display at Dancing Eye Gallery!

Last weekend at Dancing Eye Gallery in Northville it was Girls Night Out downtown. They asked me if I could bring in some Barbie images for their window display - thinking that the "girls" would love the Barbie prints. Of course I said yes! Janine who works at the gallery did a great job of filling the window with tons of great gifts for the event.

Lots of other cute gifts amongst the Barbie prints!

Girls Night Out was a big success at Dancing Eye Gallery, so today I stopped in and replenished lots of Barbie prints, cards and other goodies. My Mom came along and dropped off some crochet goodies (unicorn, frogs, bumblebees, robots) too!

It's a really great shop, with Theresa (the super-fun-fantastic owner) and the gals that work there are always cheerful and ready to help you with whatever you need . I always enjoy stopping in to drop off my work -- just being there gives me a lot of inspiration. Downtown Northville makes for a great afternoon when you just want to have a day to play!

Check out that super cute Sock Monkey wine bottle bag!

new + improved

For awhile now I have been thinking about updating my Etsy shop and blog banner, but it was such a pain the first time around getting it sized right that I have been putting it off. Today, I sat down and it was so simple. I have no idea what I was fretting about?

Two "NEW" Barbie Watercolor Prints!

"Green Tweed Jacket"

"Mustard Topper"

Just a few weeks back I debuted two new Barbie watercolor original paintings at my show in Lake Orion at the Flint Street Gallery/Little Monsters toy shop. Today I added the archival prints to my Etsy shop! There are two sizes available which are: 5x5" square (sized to fit an affordable, IKEA Ribba 9x9" frame that comes with a nice mat as well) and an 8x10" (which fits any standard 8x10 frame).

I hope you like them!

P.S. I'll let you in on a little secret. My goal is to have 2 more vintage Barbie paintings for a total of 12 completed paintings, before the end of the year so that I can design calendars for 2012. Two more paintings... coming soon!

Creatively Yours,

Cheryl

Black & White Swimsuit Barbie

Here she is... the classic, original Barbie! I'm not sure why I have waited so long to illustrate this particular Barbie because she's the one I have (well, I don't have the original I have a model that came out in the 80's to look like the original). I also have an ornament that Hallmark came out with in the 90s I believe.

This is the newest Barbie to add to my collection of vintage-looking Barbie illustrations. What else is really exciting is that I'm now going to start offering my Barbie prints in a larger 11x14" size. They will soon be added to my Etsy shop. This illustration like all of the rest will also be offered in the 5x5 (sized for an ikea ribba 9x9" frame) and 8x10 sizes. All of them will be available in my Etsy shop and at Yellow Door Art Market.

sometimes i...

like to wear a cute pin on my jean jacket and on my messenger bag. If you do too, then check out two new button sets at Yellow Door Art Market or in my Etsy store.

contemporary interior design with vintage barbie prints

Occasionally I get photos from my clients showing where they have hung my artwork in their homes. I love seeing how they have framed the work and the decorating of their home too. It really makes me happy to know that someone is enjoying my work.

I received some really beautiful photos from a client who a few months back had purchased four of my 8x10 Barbie prints to hang in her new designed and decorated living room. She framed them in black with wide black matting. They really look stunning. I really love the style of her place and they really give the vintage Barbie prints a stylish vibe. Thanks so much for sending the photos!

I get a lot of people asking me if people buy these prints mainly for little girls bedrooms. Most of the time I have no idea where people put them unless I'm lucky enough to have a conversation with my client. Personally, that's why I love these photos because it just shows how stunning this vintage icon can look in a setting for the whole family. What I've always loved about the vintage Barbie is that she's a classic. She's something most people can connect with and she represents something much bigger than a just a doll.

buttons, buttons and oh some magnets too!

I'm pretty excited about some new items that I'll be offering at Yellow Door and my Etsy shop for 2011!

My sock monkey illustration buttons were quite popular at the Detroit Urban Craft Fair holiday show so I've decided to add some more designs to mini 1" buttons. Adding to my button collection, I'll be having the three Eames chair illustrations and seven Barbie illustration buttons. I've decided to sell the buttons in sets at Yellow Door and I haven't quite decided if I'll be selling the buttons in sets or sold individually on Etsy. Decisions, decisions...

For those of you that love magnets, I'll be having mini 1" magnets made of each of my three Eames styled chair illustrations and the seven Barbie illustrations too! I'm going to sell the magnets in singles.

Look for mini buttons & magnets at Yellow Door & my Etsy store mid-February!

I have some other new items coming soon for 2011! I can't wait to tell you about them really soon!

aqua dress

(4 3/4" print example - watermark will not be on final printed piece)

Here she is... my newest painting in my Barbie collection "Aqua Dress." On this Barbie painting, I decided to make her hair a little more towards red. I think it contrasts nicely with her aqua dress.

I've made two sizes of archival quality prints available in my Etsy shop: my standard 4 3/4" which fits an IKEA Ribba frame very nicely and an 8x10" which will fit any standard frame. Should you like a different size, it's possible I can accommodate your request. Comment here on my blog with your email address.

(8x10 print example - watermark will not be on final printed piece)

The original will be framed and for sale at the craft faire in July.

for me and you...

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm not sure what it is about Barbie that fascinates or inspires me, but I love her. But, then again I love most things midcentury. Since I'm noticing a trend with my fascination of her, I decided that I would hunt down a vintage Barbie so that I could have her for my very own painting reference. Well... It was virtually impossible to get my hands on a "real" retro Barbie from 1959, so instead I picked up a Mattel reproduction from the 1990's that I picked up on Amazon. The box was in okay condition but, someone kept her all wrapped up nicely since it was never opened, and it wasn't the box that I was after anyway. I'm sure at some point even the reproduction might be worth a little something to a collector unopened, but for me she's worth a lot more outside of her box, where I can pose her on my desk and change up her outfits to be inspired for more new paintings. More on that in a minute!

What's really cool about the reproduction is that they even included a reproduction of the original box she came in from 1959. The loosely styled, vibrant colored illustrations are absolutely fantastic and there's a short little book included about the history of Barbie. Any idea what her last name is? I had no idea until now. Now, no cheating... looking it up on the internet, just take a guess and post me a comment. All comments will be entered into a drawing to win a single Barbie notecard that I have already selected from my series. But, hurry the contests ends Monday, June 14th. The winner will be selected at random and notified by email, so makes sure you put your email into the comment section.

Once I stumbled upon the doll, I thought wouldn't it be cool if I could find some retro doll clothing patterns for her. No, I'm not going to sew them, but my Mom who "loves" making doll clothes would surely be interested in the task. So, while I was on Amazon I also found to patterns loaded with different outfits, my Mom is chomping at the bit to get started. I figured that having vintage outfits made would help me in my paintings as well, and give my Mom something to do that she loves. Also... I'm thinking, my Mom might even like to start selling the retro-styled outfits in my Etsy store or a store of her own.

Also, I just finished up another Barbie watercolor painting to go along with my series. I'll be posting her as soon as I can scan it and get it ready to make prints. The original will be framed and for sale at the craft faire, coming soon in July! Ooh, I can't wait!

a really nice surprise...

Today I got a really nice surprise... Remember the "retro-looking" Barbie painting I did last year. My client's daughter sent me a photo today of how it looks in her Mom's living room. Wow! It looks fantastic! It goes with all of her furniture so well. I love that her Mom's style is so eclectic and colorful. My favorite pieces are the pink chair, mirrored dresser and the blue lampshade. There is no bigger compliment and inspiration to do more paintings for me than seeing what one of my pieces looks like hung in one of my client's homes. Thanks so much for sending!

a commissioned painting : Barbie : acrylic on canvas

About a month ago, an Etsy shopper's daughter found my Barbie watercolor paintings in my Etsy store and wanted to know if I would do a larger commissioned painting of Barbie. It was a very exciting offer since normally, I do not work that large in my paintings. I have done several large paintings in the past, in fact one hangs in our living room, but never have I done a large commissioned painting. I accepted her offer and begun working on the initial stages.

My client's inspiration was something similar to Andy Warhol's Barbie painting that is hanging in the real-life Malibu Barbie Dream House in California. So, while copying the Warhol painting is not allowed, I can certainly do my rendition with her requests. She wanted something bright and vibrant, similar to the Pop Art style. She was very specific on colors and some details to the painting. I like a client that knows exactly what she wants, it make the initial steps much easier. I knew because of the size & vibrancy in color she was interested in that I should create the painting in acrylic on canvas. I researched a few canvas sizes and we decided upon the 30x30."

It all starts with a sketch. I pulled several images for reference

to begin work on my initial drawing.

I used a projector to transfer my sketch to the canvas. Just after I started I remembered that I wanted to take photos of transformation, so before I really got into the painting I stopped to take a few photos.

At this point, this would wrap up the first day of painting.

The next day I worked on a second coat of the background and some details in

the hair and face. I wanted the background to be very opaque so in order to achieve that I had to do three coats of the fuchsia paint.

The last day was all about the details and one final coat to the background. I let the painting cure for a week before I packed it up. Let me tell you, I was very nervous to ship such a big painting. I wrapped it in plenty of corrugated cardboard, protecting the corners and the canvas overall. I said a little prayer and taped it up. After six days of waiting, the painting finally arrived to my client. I was happy that it arrived in one piece. Then when I heard from my client's daughter how happy her mom was with the finished product, I was so relieved. She loved it!

inspiration : barbie

The other day I was chit-chatting with my friend Christine and we were talking about our fond memories of having Barbie dolls as little girls. Christine had looked up some images of Barbie on Google and found a great retro Barbie photo, so I thought I'd do the same. I stumbled onto some awesome 1950's style Barbie dolls -- exactly what I was hoping for. I printed a couple images and then I thought I might do some paintings of the retro doll. Last night, my drawing table was completely covered with another painting project, so instead I turned to my sketchbook. Today, I decided to scan my sketch and play around with the scan in Illustrator. I'm still thinking about the paintings but in the meanwhile here's a few images to check out.