I have so many things to tell you, that I am certain I am at least 14 blog posts behind. I was going to visit you with a bevy of other tales today, but the girls below forced me to share them instead. They were getting sick of waiting and waiting…
Hmm, what to tell you first. Okay so, you know how I have secret obsessions about things? And I get totally obsessed, sometimes for years.
Well, this very thing happened with the pages of…
The 2007 issue of Elle Magazine.
Yes, I have been pouring over a series of pages in said issue everyday for two years. They fill me heart and soul.
Want a peek?
Wild and Flowery, Avant Garden goodness. Just look at these rooms…
Over the top yummy. Sigh.
I love these pages. Did I tell you I look at them everyday (for two years)? Oh sorry, I did already say that 😉
So at the end of July, after obsessing on these pages for years and being too white wall loving to paint my own walls with a yellow floral pattern (although I wanted to so badly), I decided to take my passion out on canvas…
Hence the creation of Avant Garden Wonderland – A Tea Party (large 24" x 30" x 1.5")
It began with walls I dreamed of having in my own home. And bubbled over with a lush passionate tea table…
A pretty girl awaits her guests as the clock strikes…
Her very own wonderland.
I had the most difficult time trying to do the colors justice on this piece via the computer screen. It is so much lovelier in person (to me that is).
So you see, I want to live in this room…
I just placed Avant Garden Wonderland – A Tea Party in my shop this afternoon. (she has found a loving home, so I will add her in canvas print form to my shop right away)
But I am not done with flowers, they are still pouring out of my soul.
Although, the piece I started below is so huge, I don't think it can ever be for sale for shipping reasons…
I had to paint in the midst of all of the building chaos here or I would have gone crazy. My only normal is in the arms of Arthur, otherwise known as Art 😉
So, what else do I have to tell you? Oh yes, more secrets. A year ago I sent some gals off to Somerset Holidays and Celebrations, and the 2009 issue is now in print. I love this magazine with its varied ideas and types of art. Just delightful!
Miss Cupcake Macaron Fête has found a home, but she is available in canvas print form in my shop. My Mom always says, "I want to be her." Isn't that funny?
Two of her sisters got to dance in this issue as well, and both originals are now in my shop…
Miss Soirée Bliss (12" x 12" x 1.5")
And Enchanted Garden (16" x 20" x 1.5")
Scurrying through the Enchanted Garden, pink skies and billowing clouds embrace her…
It is so much fun to finally get to share the girls with you. I have to just not think about things like magazine love, while the issue is being created. That way, I don't get over excited and spill the beans…
Actually, I store things so far back in my mind, that I forgot to say that if you just happened to be in Surrey England September 26th to October 4th, you could visit the Chobham Jazz Festival, which my painting titled The Harpists Bliss got to be a part of…
She was asked out of the blue, to be the programme cover this year, and all of us over here in the studio were ever so excited for her…
Alas, I am 2 days late, because the festival is over. See, my brain storing is not so great 😉
Anyhow, I have so much to say, but I have to go because I get to put things in my kitchenette in the office today (after one heck of a weekend with the counter building – I will tell you about it soon), and I spent 7 hours getting this post ready and popping the girls in my shop, so I need to go off and skip before I freak out from sitting for so long. (I wish you could hear the birds, they are insane today)
Plus, there are monkeys hanging from the chandeliers.
Imaginary monkeys of course, but monkeys all the same 😉
🖤 ,V
ps: I have a little interview over at Craft Nouveau today, if you want to take a peek ;) The girls over there were so nice, it would mean the world to me if you could spare a moment to give them some craft love. xoxo (the interview posted is a hair shorter than my ramblings, so if anyone wants to read the rest, I can post it, you let me know?)
pss: All the dresses in my art pieces are made from Vintage dictionary pages. In case you are wondering how to get to my shop, all you have to do is click here: www.afancifultwist.etsy.com
Your blog, and your ladies are so delightful!! I too make some “dresses” for my collages. however, i can’t paint so I use stamped faces, or faces from magazines. But, you are the queen. I love coming here, to be inspired. I know the new sommerset memories was to come out oct.1, I am sending dh to get it for me thursday!!!
Hey Girlie~
The art is wonderful! Love all of them.
I have so enjoyed seeing your work in the magazines lately. Big Congrats!
Donna
I loved how you translated your favorite pages of Elle into your painting. Maybe you should paint one of the walls in your studio with flowers. You can have that feeling all the time.
I enjoyed the interview over at the other blog.
I get obsessed with colors and certain patterns too. It goes with the territory of being a mad creative geniuses.
loved the interview and I am so inspired by these secrets you’ve shared! thank you!
I bought that Somerset magazine about a month ago. I literally squealed when I saw your lovely ladies! Congrats on a beautiful spread in a beautiful magazine!
PS I love that you have *monkeys* on your chandeliers! I’ve heard there is a show on TLC about people who adopted some monkeys and treat them like human children. Haven’t seen that one yet, but it sounds entertaining.
you are so truly truly amazing and talented!
Your artwork is so beautiful – it truly makes me smile. The magazine is super exciting, I will be keeping an eye out for it.
Chelsea
Wonderful Vanessa. Where do you find the time for all of your awesomeness? It boggles the mind, girlfriend.
You have quite talent and quite a loveliness. So happy to finally know you.
You redhead painting that is featured in the Craft Nouveau interview — she’s gorgeous! What is the title of that piece?
I am in love with Cupcake Macaron Fete! The colors and the grace made my eyes light up.
And not only did you create all these beautiful pieces you read my mind as well. How many of your paintings have I looked at and yet just this time today did I ask myself, “I wonder what kind of paper those dresses are made of.”
And you are not alone in obsessing with rooms in a magazine. I have an old Mary Engelbreit’s Home Companion (from 1999 I think) and there’s a tiny article with a room decorated two ways and I look at that thing all. the. time.
Amazing.
Good morning Vanessa, I loved your interview. I’ve left a comment over there. Although we’ve never met, you’ve had a profound effect on the way I now live my life. Many thanks. Lesley UK
Wow, well done you, love your ladies, and your imagination :)Kerri in the Uk too lol
Beautiful, everything about this post is just beautiful…
The Elle magazine pages, your new fantastic collages and artwork.
The color yellow and pink…
Congratulation on being in Somerset Holidays…
I hurt my back the end of last week and it was this magazine and looking at your
article that got me through the pain on Saturday. Thank you for sharing your how to, maybe someday
I will give it a try.
How wonderful to have your art used on a pamphlet for the jazz festival,
I think they were smart to pick “The Harpists Bliss“, she is grand.
Louise
It is all wonderful! Especially how your visions came into art. The Avant Garden Wonderland is GREAT Vanessa!! So glad your work found it’s loving owner. Congrats on having your works featured in the mags and especially your harpist on the cover of the brochure~ Cool!
Happy Autumn Bella,
xox
Constnace
All of them are so lovely…their ethereal faces and sense of fluid motion reminds me of the Degas ballerinas. 🙂 Congrats on the magazine piece…I bought that issue about a month ago and was so happy to find your work there. 🙂 Have a lovely day. Theresa
What an amazing life you lead…and your pretty ladies! I am so proud and happy for you! We all love your art and like to know everything! lol Have a fabulous day!
Vanessa, I am completely filled with Joy to the point that it cannot be contained over your successes. Yes indeed, Joy that cannot be contained. I knew from the minute I was guided by elfin fairy spirits to your blog that you were very special…you are The Complete Package. Oh heck, you are Two Complete Packages at least! You are living, breathing A.R.T. Your paintings, little creatures, photography, stage design, and the endless list of magical things you create are awe-inspiring. Oh, you are my Magical Muse. How I adore you. **blows kisses** Deb
P.S. Me thinks that your Mombie should start a blog, please and thank you!
**kisskiss** Deb
First, congrats on your lovely ladies getting to take part in such fun things like mags and brochures! I absolutely love these pieces and I would have been totally obsessed with that magazine shoot too! You rock!
You and your beautiful ladies really seem to have a charmed life. Congratulations on the publications.
What a great idea painting those beautiful walls into a painting instead of committing to a whole room, I may have to try that myself.
~L
Hey dream girl, making dream worlds I see.
xoxo
Oh! The new painting is wonderful! I love her! I also love the cupcake painting and all of the rest!! I will definitely have to get that magazine!
Oh Vanessa I love your new painting. You should definitely paint a wall like that!
Beautiful!
Tracy M.
OH, little V, do you know how much I love that avant garde wall?! What an inspiration for the canvases I’ve set aside for painting (after Hween)! Just breaking OUT and making things BIG and bright! It’s not like me, but if a person wants to do it, it means it IS like her, doesn’t it? I save Elle issues for months, too, but eventually I tear out those pages and save them because I can’t stand to throw them out with the rest of the heavy magazine.
Anyway, I love love love the canvas prints I got from you, the owl trainer is on our wall, and the one I call the gothic bun-buns (I’m sorry, but I don’t remember the real name of it because I’ve been calling it the gothic bun-buns for weeks) is being saved for the perfect place in my studio when I get it revamped.
I can’t WAIT to see the pics of your kitchen!
smooch
little C
Beautiful! I’m so happy I found your blog. I want everything you create!
-chelsey
Awwww! They’re all so pretty, but I have to tell you, I’m still in love with one of the first few that you made 🙂 She, along with a few of your other pieces, still grace the walls in my house to this day and make me happy!
Mizsmoochie
Oh Vanessa, I just LOVE the new painting…of course by the time I got to your shop, it was long GONE, tee hee 😉 Your work is amazing! I’ll have to snag me a a print at least. It would be nice to have wallpaper like that wouldn’t it. Yay for a completed kitchenette, it’s coming along 🙂 Big Hugs…
Jamie 🙂
Lovely! Everything is just wonderfuly lovely!
Oh how I’d missed you blog and the smiles it brings 🙂
Gorgeous. swoonalicious. floralicious. stunning. Eye-popping fabulous.
Love the inspiration pages! Flowers always evoke a most positive response whether in works of art or AS works of art in a garden or in a vase.
Congrats dear friend on all your success!!
xoxoxoxoxoxo
Love,L.
Oh Vanessa, your paintings are so beautiful they make me swoon! The detail you put on them is amazing. I could just eat the pages of that issue, they’re so lovely. I look at your work all the time, it is just stunning.
P.S. I think I might just take a bucket of paint one of these days and just go at it! Your inspirations are inspirational to me too! Hee hee.
(I know, I know, 3rd comment) I meant the wall, hehe. My walls are begging to be painted. 🙂
Super Duper!!!! I heART those pages…no wonder you look at them every day,,haha! You are just the cat’s MEOWwww. As soon as I ever get a new van I am decorating it like those pictures. THen I am going on a new roadtrip…and on the way..stopping to see Vanessa
Hi Vanessa..thank you for interior design tip….I do that too,easier to create we are like muses! Your wallpaper background reminds me of Matisse'(can also relate to painting pink rose obsession too!).Love the magazine photos,like early ‘Mackenzie Child’s’,which yrs ago when I was a faux finisher etc..I had the opportunity to paint ‘whimsy’ in a downtown restaurant in their similar style!! I will have to dig out old photos.(whew!! that’s a mouthful!)
Vanessa you have immensely inspired my brother George.Which has been a huge healing for his soul.He told me today proudly he walked right into the directors office where he is in ‘day psych treatment’ and told him about you and his artwork! George told the ‘director’ about your blog,he looked it up and was impressed! George was so proud to say ‘here’s pie in your face’! Congrats on magazine and interview.Birdies are going nuts here too as long as its not ‘Hitchcock’! I can’t sit long either ugh! Thank You Denise Hull,Mass.
Hola Vanessa, me encanta tu arte… todo magico! Me gustaria participar en tu fiesta de Halloween… cuenta con la brujita de la casa entre las rosas… si? Ya mismo agrego tu “logo”.
Te mando un fuerte abrazo…
Cielo
Well heavens. That IS a lot of happenings indeed, and I am so pleased to be a part of it. I am delighted that so many of the girls are being included in magazines and programs…they are so very well traveled too (England?!?!) I hope she was able to get her passport easier than I did (giggle!) I can not wait to hear of more tales of The Fanciful Twist variety! The counter sounds intriguing…I’ve just been up to my ears in photo editing…pricing clothes…and generally feeling as if I haven’t gotten anything done in ages…the piles threaten to topple and then take over!
oh, i wouldn’t mind being miss cupcake macaron fête either ;), although i still think i’d love even more to be your neighbour. that way i could buy that enormous painting you’ve started bow :). the peak is just lovely. as the rest of course. i’m so tempted to buy some of your prints. if i could just convince the man of the house that they’re not too girly *sigh*. but i think i might be making a small corner just for me somewhere and i have the feeling your art would fit perfectly there ;). i’m talking too much, but i really love the new things you’ve made and to get to know some of your secrets :).
Those are all gorgeous! I LOVE LOVE LOVE Avant Garden. What a great piece. I do the same thing, find things and obsess over them (especially images). I’ve never thought of painting them, or using them as inspiration for artworks. You have given me a great idea!
Oh, ce qu’elles sont belles tes petites demoiselles de papier !!!
Fantastique ! J’adore !
Félicitations pour Somerset, c’est superbe !
Kisses from France,
Tatieva
All I can say is WOW!! I am a huge fan of your work, and these paintings absolutely stunning!! Thanks for the inspiration. 🙂
V~
The girls are just absolutely STUNNING!! I wish I could jump into their world for a bit 🙂
Hope you have a MARVELOUS day!!
Congrats my friend! for all the goodness that is coming your way!!
Beautiful paintings! but….I cannot believe you would NOT paint YOUR walls this luscious yellow with gorgeous pink blooms…really?
x..x
s
Ofcourse it is all so beeeeeea-u-tiful,but how I adore how you distilled the fashion pages into your world truly makes my heart sing and my eyes dance!
You are ONE TALENTED lady my dear!!!! Oh be still my heart!!! I too am a white wall person, but that is because it shows off color paintings all the better!
Vanessa:
Let me say again how much I adore what you do with the dictionary pages. I dream of giving your pieces a little touch in real life. Just to see what they feel like. I have one of your prints and I love it so very much, but I can’t touch the actual 3-D paper dresses!
Congratulations on all your recent successes.
Kim
Gerushia’s New World
Oooooh….what a fun Elle spread.
I think the harp program is the specialist. But I’m predisposed to love allthingsharp right now.
I have chandelier monkeys, too! In fact, I collect monkey art. Specifically, monkeys in fezes. What is the correct plural for fez? Whatever that word is. The uglier, and more hideous a piece of monkey art is, the more I like it.
oh my, oh me!! Monkeys hanging from the chandeliers!? What a perfect partee! tee hee!
Oh your new piece is so lovely….and already off to a loving home! Hooooray!! 🙂
Congrats on all the magical bits and bobs you’ve been sharing! SO wonderful!! I’m over the moon with joy for your success, My Dear! 🙂
I just love how certain things just speak to us!! And what an explosion can happen if we listen. Sometimes it takes awhile; but in the end….celebration time!!!!!! What joys you have unearthed and brought into the light! Thank you ever so much for sharing!
Congrats!
Hugging you
Twirling and dancing
SueAnn
i just ran across that magazine a few days ago. congrats! it is just a beautiful article!
It is all so beautiful as usual!!!
By the way, as you like parties,I have put a little invitation on my blog for those who are young at heart just like you!
Take care!
I won’t miss your Halloween Party of course!
That’s fantastic! Congratulations!
Beautiful, just simply beautiful as ususal! Congrats on the mags! Lovely seeing your work there.
My beloved little Magical Muse, I know that you do not accept awards, but something very special awaits you on my blog…
Gor-geous girlz! Remarkable Vanessa I love them so.
holy moley Vanessa, i’m pretty sure they dipped straight into your brain for that shoot. 🙂
Love your girls, they are beautiful and fun. I can see why they wanted to take center stage!!
Popping in to say a belated hello!
Have a great weekend!
Chris
XOXO
Those print dresses you are doing are marvelous
Such beautiful ladies you’ve created and the flower-enhanced walls! Love the program cover too. Congrats on all the recognition for your gorgeous art! Enjoy organising your studio/kitchen, etc.! xoxox
Your work is stunning and so original. The colors are fantastic. I will never look at a dictionary page the same way again. xoSusan
These magazine photos are glorious! Scrumptious! No wonder you want them on your walls! Your ladies that made it into the Somerset Holidays & Celebrations are so stunning! And of course, the minute you put them in Etsy, Zing! they are gone! But great going! It is wonderful that your ‘ladies’ love you and help you express your inner being, and we love them too! Thanks for sharing the beauty with us….
Oops! I forgot to make cookies for my hubby!
= ( He just reminded me.
your work is sooooo gorgeous – you are UBER talented 😀
Holy busyness craftista! It’s a wonder you have any room in that creative brain of yours to store any information 🙂 Love the new work!
You spin magic from your finger tips!! I’m certain of it! You’re like that fantastical girl in Rumpelstiltskin who turned ordinary straw into brillant gold. It’s just that your straw is paint and you transform it into magical treats for our eyes. Oh Vanessa, your painting is absolutely breathtaking! I just love how you were inspired by the beautiful pages of Elle magazine. Brava!!! I’m in awe!!! Oh, you are amazing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I agree, it’s a beautiful spread- I can definitely see why you keep returning to those images. It reminds me a lot of the Italian Vogue editorial “Patterns,” shot by Steven Meisel and styled by Edward Enninful. Have you seen that one? (If not, google it!) It’s a gorgeous sea of flowers and patterns- I continuously go back to look at it, and it came out over a year ago!
Your blog and work are beautiful by the way. Love all of the fantasy and whimsy.
X Lauren
http://www.indecoroustaste.com/
Your creations are just amazing!!!!! I am in love…..
Hugs,
Christina
OXOXOXOX
What glorious wonderfulness! The girls are so lovely, and I love when the rest of the world gets to enjoy your beautiful creations!
Your blog always gives me INSPIRATION. Thanks for sharing your magic with us. Have the most beautiful day!
Hello Vanessa,
I wanted to mail you to congratulate you with your publication in celebrations and holidays as soon I saw you were in it , but you know how life sometimes get in the way.
When I saw your creations, I felt proud for you 🙂 and said loudly : ” I know this Vanessa ! ” LOL
I really love your flower background !!! Why shouldn’t you paint it in a real room ? It is gorgeous or can’t you do one wall in your gypsywagon ?
You make me wish I had an unpainted wall left…
greetings from Belgium
Inge