I did it! I finished my "Inspiration Tree" last night! I wanted to paint a mural that would be a memento to some of my favorite artist/illustators (plus look great in a kid's playroom, since I share my studio.) I decided to place all these characters in my favorite type of tree, a live oak. I am very pleased with how it came out! Above is a view of the whole thing. If you want to see the close-up shots of each character just click here!

Well, it has been a while...the tree painting (on my studio wall) is about 98% done and I want to post some pics of it to my site but not till its done.  It looks AWESOME so far! :) Life has just been so busy lately. I do pormise you (and myself) it will be done by the end of May. I did add some new photos of my family in my scrapbook so check it out!

I've added two more characters to my "Magna-Pals" family! First is my Friendly Flower:

Second is Flick the Frog:

Both of these are for sale, if you're interested, click on CONTACT above and email me! (The color of the flower can be customized to your preference.)

I made this little dragon as another addition to my Magna-Pals collection. He is about 3 inches tall and 4 inches long. Under his feet are super-strong magnets and his tail is made of bendable clay to hold and pen or pencil. Check back soon to see my next Magna-Pal! Wanna buy one? Click on "Contact" and send me an email. (I can make it in blue or red too.)

So, thanks to facebook, a guy I've known since about sixth grade contacts me to ask if I can draw a portrait for him. I'm like, "Sure if you pay me!!" (Not really, but he is going to pay me.) Anyway, he wanted a pencil drawing but I couldn't resist doing this one on gray paper which is so much more fun than pencil on white paper. Anyway, it took less than 3 hours and I really like how it came out....hope he does too!

In honor of my younger daughter, I have added a "Little Diva" to the clan....

Also, after much thought (and several different sketches) I came up with my "Little Sport." He can be coustomized to match whichever sport(s) your kid loves!! I'm able to change out four types of balls: soccer, baseball, basketball and football. Or you can choose to have two or more balls stacked up on his hand, like this...

Here's a picture of the gecko I made for my niece. It measures approx. 6 inches long and about 1 inch high. This was a fun project. It was pretty easy, except for the paint job, and those tiny toes took FOREVER!! Still, it was worth it to bring a smile to Ruthie's face!

So a few days ago I was making the invitations for our first annual "Happy Birthday Jesus" party. (A tradition I grew up with and want to start with my kids.) After looking fruitlessly online for a picture to my liking, I thought maybe I should just make my own. (duh, right? I was trying to take the easy way out.) I drew this sketch on a khaki colored paper with white chalk and charcoal pencils. I really like the way it came out!

Only 24 days till Christmas!! Oh yeah! :D I have done all my shopping and decorating...the only thing left is to finish a sculpture I'm making for one of my nieces. (I'll have a picture up soon!) If you're looking for a last minute gift, look no further!! It's not too late to put in an order for my Christmas "Magna-Pals" or "Lil' Grins" ornaments! (I'm taking orders till Dec. 11th)

I'm SO excited about Christmas this year! I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet, but I'm a little tempted to start putting up  some decorations....is it too early to hang the wreath on the front door? It IS only 6 weeks till Chirstmas Eve, why not!

Have you started shopping for friends an family yet? If you're looking for a one-of a-kind gift, be sure to visit my Whimsical page and check out what I've got for sale this Christmas! (Email me, I'll be taking orders till December 11th.) You can also see just how I made my adorable "Santa Magna-Pals!"

Here she is! To finish this project, I painted on the details of her face, eyes, eyebrows, etc. then had to make the blanket. This was a little tricky because of the patchwork design. It had to be painted while flat, before I draped it over the body and baked it. Also, I had to scrap the first piece of regular "Sculpey" clay I was going to use. Instead of folding, it just broke into pieces. Grr! So, I figured I'd try "Sculpey Ultralight" and it worked great! It was much more flexible and easy to work with. The size of this sculpture is 1 1/2" tall, 4 1/2" wide, and 3" deep.

And there's how I bring a 3 dimensional art piece from a concept to a finished sculpture. I'm very pleased with how this came out.  It porbaby took about  5 or 6 hours total to do, but it was lots of fun...if I had more spare time, I'd do a LOT more sclupting! Maybe when the kids are older?

She's almost done...I added the shirt first, then the forearm. Making the hand fit perfectly against the chin -without smashing the fingers- was the most difficult part of this project! It probably took about an hour just to get it right. Once I was happy with the hand and arm, I added her hair. Last, I made a base for the baby to lie on. Then I figured she should have a "fake" leg so the folds in the blanket will be believable. Won't be long now!

More progess on my sclupture! My baby is coming along beautifully. I've now finished the face, shoulders and neck. I also made a foot that will be peeking out of the blanket when it is finished. Most of this work was done in about 2 hours (while my family was watching "Rocky 2" last night.) The next step? Adding a shirt, hair and the arm/hand. Check back soon for more!

Our church is holding a Fall Festival this Saturday night (Halloween) and they're having a pumpkin carving contest. Here's a sneak peek of the pumpkin I finished eariler today. I am thrilled how well it came out! Looks SO cool with the candelight inside!! The words on it read:
"O death, where is your sting? O grave, where is your victory? 1 Cor. 15:55"

Okay, here's what I have finished so far on my sculpture...I've made and baked the armature of the body and head of the baby. I also flattened out a peice of white clay which will become the blanket. The next step is to cover the armature with flesh-colored clay. That's when the magic really starts!

The other day, my sister asks me if my inspiration comes in my sleep...well, Michelle, I guess sometimes it does! I woke up this morning with this image in my head and just finished sketching it out. My 1 year-old sleeps in such a cute way, I thought it would be neat to have a keepsake of her so we can remember it. Come back soon, I'm planning to post photos of my progress as I work on this sculpture!

So...this past weekend was the big show in the front of my sister's neighborhood (Norhampton). It went really well! The weather was a bit chilly because of the humidity and lack of sunshine but it was better than being hot and at least there was no rain! Anyways, I sold a little bit of everything and gave out quite a few business cards and flyers! You may even be one of the people who found this site because of this. If so, take a look around....and if your looking to buy a Boudreaux book, check out this site!

I spent a good part of today adding and subtracting from my Scrapbook page, so if you haven't been to boosart.com in a while, go check it out! (Tons of great pics of the loves of my life!)

Thanks to my husband Matthew, I now have an awesome new website! Soon I'll have a shopping cart with all of my artwork and crafts. I'll also be able to post more blog updates, so please visit back often!