Contest Winner is....Healingstones!

Wow! Thanks everyone for entering my contest! It was fun (and funny) to read all of your guesses, and a couple of you gave me some new ideas, too :) But nope, not SupplyRiot stuff, these will be going in my LeaKArts shop instead. I bought these awesome glass pieces from The Crafty Dragonfly, and made some large magnets out of my artwork. Each one is 1.5" across and about 1/4" thick, with a flat, very strong neodymium magnet on the back.

Four of you guessed "magnets," so I held a very dramatic drawing involving little slips of paper and my hat, and the winner is....Celia from Healingstones! Yay! Below are all of the choices, Celia, so just let me know which one is your favorite, and it will soon be heading across the ocean and a couple of continents to meet you :)
Finally, I was hoping to have a couple of these listed before the drawing ended, but I am having a bit of technical difficulty with the photos. I'll post again when I have them listed; meanwhile, if you want to purchase one just let me know and I will send you an invoice ($7 + shipping).

Spring Contest!

As soon as I get some decent light to photograph these beauties, I'll tell you what's inside! Meanwhile I thought I'd tempt you with this picture--it's been a busy week!

Leave me a comment telling me what you think is hidden in these tins. *hint* It's something I'll be selling! From the correct answers, I will draw one name. The winner will get to pick the one they like the most! The drawing is on Sunday, 3/29, so spread the word and don't forget to also leave me a way to contact you in your comment.

Hand painted espresso sign

"Espresso," 2009 by Lea & Indigo Keohane. All Rights Reserved.

It's Spring Break! Which means that Indigo and I get lots of extra time together. Yay! In addition, I have been making new signs for Rich's booth--Cloud Cap Coffeeworks at the Portland Saturday Market. Because Indigo draws the cutest clouds in the universe (okay, so I'm a little biased), and because she's old enough to really be helpful (9 is VERY grown up and helpful!), I had her help me with the sign.

All of the other signs that I made are computer-generated, since they are covered with price lists and such. But this one goes on the side of the booth, and it's replacing a great big vinyl sign, so I thought I would paint it by hand. It is a massive 5 feet x 3 feet, taking up most of my living room/office/bedroom/studio floor (which is why my photo is kinda wonky)! So much fun to work on, though, especially with Indigo's help. She was able to help with almost every step, from gesso-ing the canvas, to drawing the cloud of course (she drew it in charcoal, and I painted over her lines so they would be uniform), to painting in some of the big fields of blue and purple after I carefully lined the edges.

Today is a day to myself, and I'm finishing up lots of projects, but I can't wait for tomorrow when Indigo and I can do some more projects together. I really am in love with her little clouds--maybe I can convince her to make some shrinky-dink ones and attach them to pins or magnets! Tomorrow afternoon, weather permitting, we will be hanging out on Alberta for Last Thursday, so we've got lots of stuff to make :)

Pet & Wedding Portraits

"Madge" by Lea Keohane, 2009. All Rights Reserved.

"Melissa & Brandon," by Lea Keohane 2009. All Rights Reserved.

I am still too groggy this morning to come up with much that's interesting to say. I am really really looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow morning! But I wanted to share with you the portraits that I have finished recently. Of course if you want to order one, you know where to find me!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

I don't really celebrate St. Patrick's Day much, even though I'm 1/4 Irish. Guess I don't like beer enough :) I did go see KMRIA over the weekend, which was awesome, and about as much of a St. Patty's celebration as you'll get out of me. Nevertheless, I though it would be fun to comb through my Etsy shops and see what kind of green I have listed. Click on any of the photos below for a closer look!

Saturday Crafty-ness!

What to do on a cold, rainy March Saturday? Why, make your own dry-erase boards, of course! Heehee, I'm a dork, I know, but a couple of days ago Indigo and I bought a 2-lb container of strawberries. May sound like a lot, but in this house strawberries don't have a chance and we finished them off last night. I was about to throw the container--one of those clear plastic clamshell thingies--into the recycling when I remembered that I really need a dry erase board. That, and it's Saturday, and we've already been to the movie theater today (we saw Bedtime Stories), and it's raining and cruddy out, and we needed a project to finish off our afternoon.

Here are the basic steps:
Cut out a rectangle (or any other shape!) from the clamshell. It has to be smooth and flat, or the dry-erase markers won't erase.

Cut out a piece of white poster board (or matt board) the same size as your clear plastic.

Using a stapler, staple the plastic and the poster board together on all four edges. It doesn't have to be perfect--your frame will cover it up.

Take 4 wide popsicle sticks or strips of wood and measure how long you want them to be around your board. If you're using popsicle sticks, you can probably cut them to size with scissors.

Paint the popsicle sticks! We used acrylic paints, but you could use tempera or watercolor, or even decopage them.

It is really stinky, but I used E6000 to glue the popsicle sticks to the plastic side of the boards. It sticks to plastic better than hot glue.

I also used E6000 to glue a couple of magnets to the back of the boards, so they will stick to the fridge or the inside of a locker. Pretty cool, huh?

I have heard that you can also use this kind of plastic to make your own shrinky dinks, which will probably be my next project when we have another container to recycle. It makes me feel a lot better to be able to use this kind of stuff and not just throw it away. Even in a recycling container, where I am not sure whether it will actually be recycled or not. Now, to go pick up those aliens...

Great Big Hole

Notice anything strange about my booth space at the Buckman sale last weekend? Like...the great big hole at the top? That's right! The Buckman Art Show and Sell went fabulously! I sold several things, including a favorite, "Autumn:"

18" x 24" Mixed media on masonite, 2008. All Rights Reserved.

It sold on Friday night, while I was at the Spoon show. So when I checked my email before heading to Buckman on Saturday, I had a note from Danielle, "Oh Yeah! Uh huh uh huh!" I thought, hmmm...what's going on here? And when I arrived at the show, there was my booth with a great big hole in it. Yay! I always love when my art finds a new home, and it was really great to sell a larger piece so I know Buckman will be getting some money (30% of all sales go to the school). Overall, the show was a blast, and I got to spend the day with Danielle:
and Leah:
And Chris, who's booth I tried to take a picture of but I ended up getting a bunch of goofy photos instead. :)

Spoon

Buckman Art Show & Sell

Yay! It's that time of year again! The Buckman Art Show & Sell, this coming weekend at Buckman Elementary. Stop by and check out all of the amazing art by Buckman kids and fabulous local artists, performances, food and more! Proceeds benefit Buckman, which has a special place in my heart as it is Indigo's school. My art will be up both days, but if you come Saturday, be sure to stop and say hi, 'cus I'll be there too. :)