Vegas, baby!

We just got back from a quick little vacation to that humblest of cities, Las Vegas, Nevada. The air was warm (ahhhh...), scented with jasmine in bloom (ahhhh...), and windy as all heck (ooooh!). With a bit of self-control, scheming, and just plain luck we managed to actually come home with a little bit of money. Of course, it was less money than we went there with, but hey, ya gotta eat too. Like they say, if ya wanna make a small fortune in Vegas, go there with a big fortune. We saw a few shows, one being Cirque de Soliel's "O"-- it was freakin' AMAZING! We also loved watching the fountains of Bellagio from our hotel room...

Up from the ashes...

We were shocked and saddened by the news that a friends' gallery and frame shop had a devastating fire a few nights ago. Wendy and Chuck Lang own The Art Corner in Salem, MA. It's a great little place to find funky frames and even funkier art. We know Wendy and Chuck will bring back the Art Corner more glorious than it was before. Thankfully, no one was hurt in the fire, although Wendy said one of her goldfish did succumb a few days later. The Salem Arts Association is planning a fundraiser for the Art Corner, you can find information about it here. Also, be sure to check out the Art Corner's blog for news about their rebuilding. Best wishes to Wendy and Chuck!

Calendar Boy

One of Omar's paintings will be in the Spectrum Fantastic Art calendar for 2009. He even got "top billing" as it were on the back cover. I don't think they're available for sale yet, but you can get a sneak preview and more info by visiting the Spectrum website.

The Incredible Shrinking Woman!

For those of you out there that know us personally, you may know that I have been on a mad fitness kick for the past year or so, trying to lose weight and get in shape. I have been documenting my transformation as I go along and I thought this was a fun one to share. This photo is me, wearing the exact same clothes one year apart, almost to the minute (if you look at the shadow behind me you can tell we're off by maybe 10-20 minutes?). I'm also about 60 lbs. lighter than I was in last year's photo. And the tree grew and the grass is greener this year!
-Sheila

Happy St. Patrick's Day

I figured today would be a good day to highlight this children's book that Omar did years ago. It seems to be popping up in conversation a lot lately. It's a great Irish folk tale written by Teresa Bateman that Omar illustrated using my Irish relatives as characters in the book. Unfortunately, it is no longer in print, but Amazon.com does still offer it for sale. Click here to find a copy.

Springtime

Ahhhhh... we've finally had one of those lovely warm sunny days. Everybody was outside and smiling, the birds are chirping, the snowdrops are in bloom... Spring is in the air! Spot of course had the best idea of how to spend the morning... taking a nap in the sun. Look at him, he's actually smiling! What a content horse.

Golden Apple!

We just found out that Omar won a gold award in the "unpublished" category for his painting "the Apple" in this year's Spectrum Annual!
woohoo!

Studio Cat

We've got a cat. As with any other cat, she likes to sleep. Alot. And also likes to be right in the middle of things. So with our art studio being in our home, we have a cat in our lap (or elsewhere draped upon us) for a good part of the day. BTW, our cat's name is Patchouli, she's 18 and lives a REALLY good life.

Return from Boskone

We just got back from Boskone, where we had a very successful showing. I received much praise for my work, Omar sold a bunch of paintings and also got a pile of awards. This painting was shown at Boskone and is also the one we showed a "peek" of in an earlier blog, here it is finished. Omar titled it "the Knight, the Daemon, and the Donut". The poor horse looks a tad worried about what the daemon is going to do with that donut...
It's available for sale, contact us for more info.
-Sheila

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day everyone. Omar just finished painting this one, fresh off the easel and tentatively titled Froggy Went a-Courtin'. I thought it was appropriate for today, so I figured I should share it. He'll be displaying it at Boskone tomorrow. We're in the final stretch right now getting ready for the art show, and our studio actually doesn't look too bad. Usually by now it looks like a bomb went off. I guess the renovation and reorganization is actually working. Phew.
-Sheila

Simpsonized!

This what I'd look like if I was a Simpson's character...
try it for yourself here.
-Sheila

What's he up to?

We're down to the final week before Boskone, so we're getting pretty busy in prep for the art show. Here's a quick peek of what's on Omar's drawing board...

Groundhog Day

Well, good old Punxy Phil saw his shadow this morning, so that means six more weeks of winter weather. So far this week we've had 7 inches of snow, 2 days of pouring rain, high winds, power outages, mud, slush, ice, frost, and ladybugs in our morning coffee. I think I'm about done with this winter stuff. Can we send Phil back in his burrow for a second opinion? I found this great cartoon on Casting Stones Productions cafepress store, check it out: cafepress.com/cstonesprod

Selling out!

We've just entered the wild world of merchandising and opened a shop on cafepress.com to sell items with our fabulous artwork on them. So far we've done t-shirts, buttons, and my favorite: coffee mugs. More stuff will be added as I have time to put them together, so keep checking back. Don't forget: Valentine's Day is coming up and I just know you've been dying to give a Turtle Race coffee mug to your squeeze. Now's your chance! Buy! Buy! Buy! Make us rich beyond our wildest dreams! Go there now: www.cafepress.com/studiorayyan

Producrastination

Producrastination is a word that Omar and I have come up with. What it means is "productive procrastination". It's what you do to keep yourself busy when you really should be doing something else. With regular procrastination you can be just loafing around watching TV, but producrastination is a very active form, you're actually getting something done, just not the thing you SHOULD be getting done. For example, this blog today. I should be doing sketches, but instead I'm teaching the world a new vocabulary word. Producrastination.
Well, back to work! I mean, the work I'm SUPPOSED to be doing.
-Sheila

Photo Booth Fun

I think the best way to procrastinate is to play with PhotoBooth on my Mac. This is my favorite self-portrait.

Website Updates

I've just put a pile of Omar's work up on our sale page. They are all paintings he did years ago for Iron Crown's Middle Earth card game, based on the Lord of the Rings by Tolkien. We've even got the game cards available for sale, signed by Omar of course. I didn't put the cards up on the website, there's just way too many. If there's a particular one you're looking for, drop us a note, and we'll check our inventory. Please note that we ONLY have cards that Omar illustrated! And don't forget that Omar is doing stuff for Magic the Gathering also. You can see the available paintings from that game on his gaming art page.
-Sheila

Happy New Year!

It's 2008 already. Wow how did that happen? Remember all that Y2K hype years ago? Seems like ancient history.
I had my belly dancing "debut" last night and it all went well-- I was nervous as heck at first, but then managed to settle in and enjoy it at bit. We had a full house with a lively audience, nobody fell off the stage, and no costume malfunctions (a la Janet Jackson), so I think it can be safely said the show was a success! Yippee! We spent the rest of our New Year's Eve having dinner with friends, then to see the fireworks at 9pm. Why fireworks at 9pm and not midnight? Beats me, maybe everyone else on this Island are old farts like us and go to bed before midnight (which we did, only to be woken up by a neighbor shooting off fireworks at midnight, so I guess they aren't old farts). Happy New Year everyone!
-Sheila

Ah, the classifieds

I saw this in our local paper this summer, which normally has pretty mundane ads. Wonder if the bird has a new hairy man to love.

Website Updates

Well, I finally got around to putting my artwork back on our website. (go to Sheila's Gallery) Yay! So to all the great unwashed masses out there that have been nagging me can now quit naggin'!!! Sheesh! I've even put some never before seen drawings on there, too! Not that they're new, but they're new to you, ain't they? I've got my drawing table set up again so I'm hoping to have some fresh new work to show, possibly in time for the Boskone art show? Maybe.
-Sheila