The Disney Twins!!

....but to me, they are my wonderful friends Valerie and Diane. I've talked about them in a previous blog, so now I'd like to introduce you to them! They're professional women, each with her own thriving practice, that occasionally comes with stress. So how do they deal with it? Like all of us women -- they go shopping! How lucky am I that they like to shop with me, and by now they are regular customers.

They inspire me to do some of my best and favorite work, with their always upbeat energy and positive attitudes. They are an absolute dream as customers, and are the sweetest, most wonderful friends that anyone could hope for!

As I mentioned before, they love anything and everything Disney. With the new "Alice in Wonderland" movie out now, they asked for a custom painted skirt with that theme (size 4 - damn them !! :-). You can see them holding the result in a photo below.

Also, they told me they loved the "Lady Liberty" jacket (also a previous blog) so much, that I told them I'd do a Disney jacket for them. Like I said, their favorite characters are the female villains, so on the back I painted Cruella, the evil queen from Sleeping Beauty, the Queen of Hearts, the hag from Snow White, and Maleficent, all framed by Ursula and her tentacles. On the front, I painted the poison apple, and the magic mirror. The collar is Ursula's eels. One sleeve is the dragon, the other the Queen of Hearts. The jacket and skirt are both studded with rhinestones, and have a ton of glitter on them - bling galore!!

Here are some photos of the jacket.


And here are the twins with their new, custom painted jacket and skirt! They loved them!


Thank you so much Valerie and Diane for being such great, inspiring friends.

Unfinished Business...

Do you ever have those projects that you started but never completed? And you just can't bring yourself to sit back down and finish? Just can't seem to get motivated to finish the work. To most people it looks like a completed painting, but you know better -- it's just not done.

Here's one of those projects. I did this so long ago I can't even remember when. For me, as I see it, it is incomplete, unfinished, unsigned. There are so many things that are wrong with it. The chair -- started off as a chair, then I thought, maybe it's a stool? But when I look at it, it's an unfinished chair. And the floor -- originally it was a checkerboard floor but for some reason I didn't like it, so I painted it out, and now it's just a.....dull floor. You can't tell where the wall ends and the floor begins. When I look at it, it makes me wonder what I was trying to do with it, but it was so long ago.

There are no shadows painted in, yet she's sitting right in front of a window.

All of these things seem so minor and unimportant to others, but for me -- I had started with a vision, and didn't complete the task at hand.

What's especially strange is there's a minor detail that I love about this painting -- where her legs are crossed. For some reason, I am so drawn to that little area. It's funny, but this is true of all of my paintings -- there is always one little insignificant detail or area that no one else even notices, but that I am deeply drawn to...oh well...

As for this painting -- it's hanging in my bedroom. But in the end, it's just an unfinished work.

A Surprise in the Mail!

I received a delightful surprise in the mail the other day -- the latest issue of "Art Doll" magazine -- never in a million years thinking that the doll I had submitted would be featured. As you know by now, my love for mermaids inspired this altered art doll. Using a pin-cushion doll, a perfume bottle, an old bobeche, and some jewelry, this mermaid was the result!

I had so much fun creating her, that I just finished another altered art-doll of a different theme -- check her out below.

These Boots 'r Made for WALKIN' !!

Every once in a while I like to do custom work - special things for special customers. I have two very special customers, sisters, who absolutely love -- they go absolutely, totally gaga -- about anything and everything Disney. So, I wanted to do something extra special for them. They happened to see my Lady Liberty jacket (see my blog below) and loved it. One of the sisters came up with the idea of doing something that's a combination of Patriotic and Disney. And here's what I came up with!

The other sister's favorite characters are the Disney villains. She gave me this totally cool pair of black boots to paint on. So, I thought, who would be more perfect on black than Cruella De Vil. I added a chain and rhinestones -- they both love bling! -- and here's the result!

These were especially fun for me. Doing the characters was really a chance to paint something different, and using these awesome boots as my canvas -- I was in art heaven! If you're ever at all interested in something custom -- anything at all -- send me an email at lorigutie@aol.com!

The Madonna

I can't think of a more fitting subject to paint this time of year -- but to be honest, the Madonna is my favorite subject of all regardless of the time of year. I never know what style I'm going to paint her - impressionistic, old-world, modern, Day of the Dead -- but regardless of the style, I so love painting her. My favorite way is in an old-world style, on wood, it is so remnant of the masters and results in such a deeply religious look.

Here are some samples of recent and past works. The two old-world examples recently sold out of the Casitas Del Pueblo gallery in Whittier CA. The 3rd, I painted for my daughter -- Madonna as a young girl, virginal, precious.

Enjoy, and once again -- Happy Holidays!!

A Royal Christmas Holiday

It's Christmas-time -- I can't believe it's here already! So, time to get into my holiday crafting mode! Since one of my specialties is crowns, all this time I'd never created crowns with a Christmas theme. I've always loved the Christmas colors, and how beautiful red and green and gold, and all the others, how they all look together. So, I thought I'd make some holiday crowns and make it a Royal Christmas!!

Can't you just see them as tree toppers? ! :-) Take a look at the photos -- I really loved doing them. These all sold (darn! I so wanted one or two for myself) at the Grove Flea Market in Irvine (one of my previous blogs talks about it -- maybe I'll see you there?? :-). But if you're interested, send me an email at lorigutie@aol.com -- I'd love to do a "made to order" just for you!!


From my family to yours, sincere wishes for a safe and most Happy Holiday Season!!

How Our House Became Haunted on Halloween!

We decided to host a Halloween party this year, and what a spooky scary ghostly ghastly time it was! Halloween truly is one of my favorite times of the year, and the most fun part for me of course was getting the house decorated. My goal was to create an abandoned old haunted house with ghosts, goblins, creepy crawly things and their webs, dark black crows, ghouls at every turn, a morgue complete with mutilated body parts, murder crime scene and haunted graveyard outside. One of my favorite scenes I created was of the ghost of the queen of the house in her bed surrounded by all her belongings, desperately grasping her beloved jewels and treasures!

When all was complete, the house truly seemed haunted -- and it was, once all the costumed guests arrived!

Check out some of the pics below, and Happy Halloween -- I can't wait until next year!!

Glitterfest Gone Ghoulish!

Fall Glitterfest was absolutely to die for!! :0) Ghostly ghastly ghouls, zombies, witches and creatures of the night -- and those weren't just the people walking around! So much talent, so many truly great artists under one roof -- it was a smashing success! Diane and Sheryl totally outdid themselves! Thanks so much to those two for all their hard work in putting together a frightfully fabulous show!

Here's a few photos of some of the pieces I did for this show -- it definitely was a departure from my normal work and brought out a little darker side to my art. But so much fun and I can't wait til next year!!