Carolina Elizabeth

I have decided this year that if I cannot make or paint something as a gift for a loved one, I will purchase the gift from another artist. Most of us seem to be some what starving artists, but there is a lot of wonderful art work at affordable prices that can be a perfect start or addintion to a loved one's art collection. Check out your local galleries for gifts before hitting those huge "everyone has one" retail stores. There are also lots of sites (you can find some on "my favorite links" on the right) where artists sell one-of-kind Daily Paintings. They are generally small, but most are painted by professional artists and have great designs--new and old, that would be perfect for any individual's taste. Recently Alexia and I visited an art glass gallery here in Oklahoma City. Their glass work is amazing, and yet it surprised me that the prices were more than fair. Any of them would make a special wedding present-definitely not another toaster. Paseo Pott

SheezKrafty is a small Oklahoma business founded by two college friends, April and Briana. They are inspired by found objects with a history coming from a love of antiques and the desire to be responsible with the environment. Briana calls it ‘upcycling’—the idea of taking forgotten jewelry and creating beautiful wearable art with it. They have a very clever way of mixing the old with the new to construct these one of a kind jewelry pieces. You can see some samples of their art work on their website www.myspace.com/sheezkrafty and http://www.sheezkrafty.blogspot.com/ . Oh, and I think that it is super cool that they have Orquesta Buena Vista Social CLub's song Candela playing on their site. I love them! They play old soul-big band-Cuban jazz that will make you want to dance even if you have two left feet. You can hear the song on their site, of course, or http://www.borders.com/online/store/TitleDetail?sku=075597947823 .

I really have enjoyed the friendliness of acrylic paints. This is of Ezri (my second daughter, now nine) at age five. Although there are alot of great things about acrylics and some artists can do wonderfully realistic works with the medium, I absolutely love the richness of oils. I will continue to practice so one day (hopefully soon) I will be able to show off some good oil paintings that I have done. Wish me luck! This Alexia (my first daughter) at the age of five. Both of my daughters make me feel old, but Alexia will be fifteen in a few months and that makes me feel really old. I am Hoduran. At age fifteen we celebrate the birthday with a Quiceañera as many other Hispanic peoples do. The celebration includes a ceremony where the girl is presented with her last doll, a Bible, and jewelry. Each item represents different things in her life. It is much like the Sweet Sixteenth birthday parties here. Anyways, I didn’t think I would be celebrating it for my daughter this quick. Time goe

This brilliant acrylic painting was created by one of my favorite artists, Megan Hawkins. She works in many mediums, but this is one of my favorite, although, it can be difficult to choose. Below is a sample of one of her watercolors, which is also wonderful. Her ability to be so very versatile is apparent. Her work ranges from exceptionally realistic portraits to minimalistic abstract work, all of which are extraordinary! emeraldgrenis@yahoo.com