Wow!!  Hard to believe it's been over a year since I posted in here!  I need to get back to regular blog posts.

I wanted to share the latest Livin' the MAD Life purse collection featuring my cityscape paintings.  This is my favorite purse collection so far, I just love everything about it!  The handbag style with the gold rivets is classy and works for day or night and features some of my favorite cities, including two of Miami, my home and favorite city.

do ​It's funny thinking back to when I was a wild bush kid growing up in Alaska and how I would love to go to my grandmas and watch Miami Vice, my favorite show as a kid.  I dreamed of one day living in Miami, and two years ago I made that dream come true, even having lived in Florida for over 20 years, it never was Miami.  Back to the Alaskan bush kid...all my siblings and the neighboring village kids would always tease me and call my "city girl", hahaha!  At the time, I would get so mad, because I was the ultimate tomboy and could anything as well, or better than, any of the boys, so to be called a city girl, was the ultimate insult.   But, here I am in one of the biggest, most happening cities on the planet and I feel right at home here.  I've found a way to balance my love of the outdoors with city life and get the best of both worlds.

Click HERE to view the whole collection

As many of you know I will be displaying my original paintings during Miami Art Basel, starting tomorrow through Sunday December 6th.  I will be one of the featured artists in the VIP section of the Spectrum Show and with Art Blend Gallery in booth 307.

I will also be displaying food and alcohol related original paintings and prints at the Basel Food and Wine Festival on Saturday Evening, including offering a raffle for an original painting!

I'm getting so excited to be doing my first ever show at Art Basel Miami!  It has been something I've wanted to do or years, and the opportunity was finally right to be there this year, I hope you are able to get the chance, if in Miami this week, to stop by and see my art in person and I would love to meet any of you who make it out!

The Dubai skyline painting "The Luxe Life"© is all finished up!!  The colors in this are so bold and vivid, I love it!!  Lot's to look at and take in, makes me want to check this one off my bucket list, I HAVE to visit Dubai one day soon.  What travel locations are on your bucket list?

It's always fun to see a painting come alive from inception to finish, enjoy these Work in Progress Pics! 

Inspiration can come from anywhere, and I can be influenced by what is going on around me as I create my art.  One of my most recent paintings "The Outpost"© was one such painting where I was influenced by the futuristic SyFY Channel, TV show, "The 100".  I love everything fantasy and science fiction, those were my favorite books to read growing up, and now I always have some kind of sci-fi or fantasy show, or movie, playing on my computer while I'm painting.  

The post-apocalyptic TV show "The 100", is about a futuristic world of humans fighting for survival in a world that can barely support life, or life as we used to know it. It has a very dark feel to it, but it also shows the resilience of human beings to survive no matter what happens to us, or around us. Plus, it has a very strong woman character for one of the leads, I love it when women are shown as strong and independent!  I've already watched all the episodes and looking forward to the next season, and I'm running out of shows to watch, so I can't wait, haha!!  

This painting started out with the idea of it being a cityscape, with this color theme, in my funky PoP Art style, but the more it came to life, the more it felt as though "The 100" had infused itself into the soul of the painting and makes me look beyond the colors and design into an uninhabited world waiting to come back to life.  Every time I look at this painting I feel as though I am looking at an abandoned city after a devastating, worldwide event took place. But, at the same time, it has bright colors that create a feeling of hope and promise that we can create a new world from the ashes and learn from our past mistakes.  

What do you feel when you look at "The Outpost"?

Not only is there an interesting story behind this painting, but it is HUGE!!  72"x48" on the remarkable Genie Canvas, perfect for that large wall waiting for a bold, unique piece of art.  Here are some mockups to give you an idea of the size and impact this painting would have in your home.

"Viva Las Vegas" is one of the most detailed paintings I have ever created!  And it makes sense because the city of Las Vegas has a lot going on!  I've been to Vegas a couple of times and the lights and action are almost overwhelming, but for someone who loves color and everything sparkly it was fun to witness the bright city lights in person.

This painting is going to a wonderful long time collector who owns the first painting in my "Celebration of a City" Collection featuring Hong Kong.  I'm so excited for him to add to his collection and hope he enjoys all the fabulous and painstaking details that went into this painting!  I'm currently working on another Vegas inspired painting that features just the Iconic "Welcome to Vegas" sign, and there will be more skylines coming up soon, including London, Chicago and Dubai, so keep an eye out for those as well!

Here are some fun work in progress photos to see how such a detailed painting is created.