Allons à la montagne!

The latest Spoonflower contest theme is Retro Skiing. Since I love skiing and everything retro, especially those vintage skiing posters, I felt compelled to enter something even though I didn't have a whole lot of time to work on it. We had to use a restricted palette and it's always interesting to see all the different ways you can use those six colors. You can see them all and vote here. I could see my design as a tablecloth in a cosy little chalet in the Alps. Cheese fondue anyone?

Collage un, deux, trois et quatre

I recently saw a short video of Rex Ray and got so inspired by his story about making these quick collages every night without thinking too much about the composition or judging it, a process that he calls "an exercise in turning off all those critical voices". It is actually quite liberating if you are not consciously trying to make art but just playing around with shapes and negative space. I did those four in less than an hour one night this week and then I took a picture of them with Instagram and applied the kelvin filter. Then I grouped them with Pic Stitch on my phone. That was surprisingly fun! Try it!

Keka Cases for the Holidays?

This is very exciting news, my new Keka snap-on cases are now live! I licensed 10 of my designs to a company in San Francisco that designs phone and ipad cases. I am ordering some for myself this week, I just don't know which design to pick! They have a promotion going on right now that's gives you a free Classic Snap-on Phone case if you order any two of their products. Just use FREESNAP at checkout. They also have free shipping to the US/UK/Canada (no promo code needed) how civilized! They make great Christmas presents too, hint, hint! Kekacase.com

Mitaines Gift Wrap

This latest Spoonflower contest is about designing wrapping paper with the theme of mittens. I like the mix of the geometric shapes with the hand drawn mittens, it really brings my graphic designer side together with my other whimsical artist side. See? I knew they could play nicely together if they just learned to share! See all the other entries and vote here.

The falling leaves, drift by my window....

This week's Spoonflower contest theme is Fall Leaves and since Fall is my favorite season, I just had to enter something. This design kind of reminds me of chinese lanterns, because of the shape, color and luminosity. But it also reminds me of falling leaves because of the movement. To see all other entries and to vote, just go the spoonflower contest page. Happy Fall!

Flower Shop

I have been spending way too much time on the computer and not enough time in my art studio, so I decided to just play around with my set of opaque watercolors. It's kind of in between watercolor and gouache. The colors feel a little flat to me, but maybe I am just using the wrong kind paper, or it's the brand (Pelican). Anyway, it's quick and easy to use for sketching. This drawing is only an inch and half tall in real life!

Tea Towel Calendar 2014

Here's my entry titled "Today's the day" for the Spoonflower Tea Towel Calendar contest. Go here to see all the entries and to vote between now and Wednesday November 6th. I am thinking of also doing a version of this as a desk calendar printed on card stock, you know the kind that fits in a jewel case like Snow & Graham makes? I've always loved those.

Under the Rainbow

We had a family reunion at our house last weekend. I loved having the house full of people, it was a blast! My nephew Will wanted to thank us so he made this fabulous drawing to put on our fridge (those were his instructions). I think the diagonal stripes on our outfits are a good choice as they are extremely flattering and slimming, don't you think? And don't we look so happy under our own personal rainbow? Will even added important details like the magenta highlights in my hair. Fridge Art Rules!

Mercredi & Cie

Ten years ago, we were traveling through the Morbihan department in Brittany, France and we discovered the sweetest little yarn store called Mercredi & Cie.  I bought a little kit to make a sweater thinking I would have it finished by the time I got home. But it actually took 10 years for me to finish it!
It happened last Wednesday, very fitting considering "mercredi" means Wednesday in english! I was invited to "craft night" with my friend Julie and decided that I was going to finish that sweater once and for all! I knew if I got stuck, there would be enough crafty people there to help, and that's where the magic happened! From Brittany to Port Townsend, I present you the now completely finished "Pull Bateau"! And what a prefect town to wear a sweater like that, nest-ce-pas?

I need to go offline!

My friend Lena told me: "You need to stop taking online classes". That is true that I am a little addicted. I do think it's important to experiment with new techniques and to keep expanding your visual vocabulary, but you get to a point where you just have to work on developing your own style. This painting is from my online class with Mati McDonough. She is a great artist and I really like her work but I think I just took too many online classes. She did featured one of my painting in the class and had these kind words to say about it: "Delicious...evocative...lush...buoyant. This piece by Lucie Duclos is lighthearted and joyous, but the funky greens and sporadic marks give it just enough of an edge. Gorgeous and spirited!" Thank you Mati! 

Work in Progress

I am just having fun playing with blocks of colors and doodles on top of old painting I didn't like. It is so much easier for me to start if there is already paint on the canvas, especially if I don't like what's there, I have nothing to loose. Much harder for me to start on a blank canvas...maybe I need to go and trow random paint on all my canvases a la Flora Bowley. Actually, most of these canvases had layers I created in her online class. Thank you Flora for getting me started!

Doodle Potiron!

We went to my aunt and uncle for dinner on Sunday. They are both amazing cooks and it's always a "5 étoiles" event every time they invite us over. But what do you bring to the people who have everything? I had a white gel pen, a pumpkin and a passion for doodling! They loved it and it made a great centerpiece on their table to complement a fabulous dinner! Potiron or citrouille is what we call pumpkin in french, and when my uncle opened the door, he beamed and said: POTIRON! And a new kind of art was born: Doodle Potiron!

You are awesome!

My cousin was planning on visiting me today, but at the last minute she had to cancel because of a meeting with her editor, so I decided to make her a little painting instead. I used acrylic paints, collage, stabilo pencil and silver leafing on wood panel. I wanted her to remember that she is awesome, and if even the cat says it, then you know it's true. Cats don't lie, right?

I Won, I Won!

Can you believe it? I was so excited I couldn't contains myself. I just found out yesterday. Thank you for your support and your votes, you are awesome. Woohoo!

Spoonflower/Kuler Contest

This week's contest has an interesting twist. We had to create a color palette using the free Adobe Kuler app. If you haven't tried it yet, beware, it's addictive! And incredibly cool. I had used the website version before, but the phone app is great because you can literally capture a color palette from just about anything you find in your path. You can look at this quick and easy video on how to use it. For inspiration for my design, I used a fabulous skirt that my friend Renée gave to me just last week and grabbed my color palette from it. You can vote in the contest here!

Lush Color Background

I decided to sign up for another online painting class (remember, I am addicted to online classes) called "Daring Adventures in Paint" with Mati Rose McDonough. It's pretty fun, but I realized that after doing my last Jane Davies class, I pretty much know all the techniques to paint in that style, so I am not learning anything new so far but it's fun to be in a group and see what everybody else is doing. It's hard to work alone in your studio so these online classes are great for that, and it's always a very supportive community of artists of all levels from all over the world. For this exercise, we had to create a lush background, so I just threw paint around since it's just a background that is going to be painted over. But turns out I like this one just like that so I think I'll keep it as is!

Labor Day Trouvailles

Last week's garage sailing finds:
2 books: 50 cents each 
2 puzzles: 25 cents each 
One mailbox: $1 
Grand total: $2.50
And my friend Diane found this great vintage bingo game and she gave me some of the cards and wooden pieces. Thank Diane! I am pretty excited about the mailbox too, we really needed a new one and I am planing on painting big flowers on it! I'll post a picture when I am done.

Art du Jour Retreat

My friend Diane from my San Francisco Art group came over to visit last weekend and we had a really fun art day together in my studio. I made her a little art menu and we just went crazy for 6 hours straight. That was a total blast. Here's some of the projects we worked on.

First we did a little exercise a la Diane Culhane, inspired by her "take a line for a walk" exercise. The blue one is Diane's and the brown one is mine. Then we made a Gipsy card deck and then a mixed media collage painting on wood where you add collage first and then try to find imagery by turning it around and looking at it at different angles. You never know what you are going to find and what the final painting will look like. We also played with the gelli plate on top of that. Diane works very fast, she is quite a prolific artist. I always admired how much she could get done when we had our art play dates together in San Francisco. It was so great to have here for my first ever Art du Jour retreat! Not the last one for sure!

My Gipsy Card Deck

My painting, work in progress...

Diane's Gipsy Card Deck

Diane's finished painting

Good Finds!

Well, it was another stellar Saturday for garage sales. It was also Open Studios last weekend so we were busy sailing around from garage sales to studios. Here's my list for this week:
• An old fashioned blackboard: $1
• A box full of old cigar bands: $1
• 20 mini vintage postcard set from the Painted Desert and Petrified Forest: $1
• Wood cutting knife: 50 cents
• Vintage Bates pop-up address book (just like my grandfather's): 25 cents
• 100 library book pockets: $1
• A sweet mermaid fountain handkerchief : $1
• 1908 Sears Roebuck Catalogue replica: 25 cents
• 8 pairs of decorative scissors : $2.50
• 17 retro plastic doilies (great for stamping): $2.50
• Set of 10 pack Spanish flash cards: $2
• A vintage wooden box with index cards: $2

For a grand total of $15. That is pretty much my garage sale budget these days. Now I have to figure out how I am going to use it in my art!

Pencil Case Cut and Sew Pattern

Here's my entry for the latest spoonflower contest. This time we had to design a cut and sew pattern for a pencil case. As you can see, I recycled my journal cover from the other contest and I also got inspired to design a whole collection that I named "Sunday Picnic". You can see all the entries and vote here!

Garage Sailings

In a town known for wooden boat building, we have our own version of sailing... that is Garage Sale-ing. Yesterday, the winds were favorable for sure. Port Townsend has really good garage sales and very good deals, this is what I scored yesterday:

• 3 framed vintage pattern covers: $1 each
• A rummy game: $2
• A pail full of wooden blocks: $2
• 5 fat quarters of fabric: $1 each
• A set of 20 vintage mini postcards from Wyoming: $1
• A Lily Poem crocheted cardigan: $1
• 7 mini bouquets and a roll of white tulle: $1
• 4 wooden balls: 25 cents
• 3 small paper mâché boxes: free!
For a grand total of $15.25
Good day for sailing! Dave still refuses to wear the little sailor outfit I made him, but I am sure he'll come around.

Lily Poem cardigan

Coccinelle

I was cleaning up my studio and found a bunch of leftover paper pieces laying around so I just pasted them on a piece of printmaking paper with matte medium and put it aside. I didn't know what I was going to do but by looking at the shapes of the collage, I started to see things appear and I slapped lines and paint and it turned into this. It went to a pretty ugly phase though and I almost gave up but I kept going and now I really like it! I wish I took a picture of the "before" collage...next time!

Under the Sea

When I was little, I really wanted to be mermaid. I still think sirens are one of the coolest creatures ever! Here's the start of my mermaid collection. The top one is the first in a series of greeting cards and the bottom one is a spread I did in an altered book project but it's an idea I want to use in my collection somehow. I could use clams or mussels instead of clothespins, what do you think?

Lucioles

My entry for the Firefly spoonflower contest this week. My dad used to call me "La Luciole" when I was little (it means firefly in french), so I just had to at least enter something. Lots of good ones this week if you want to take a look and you can also vote here for your favorites!

Between Speech and Silence

"The Red Leaf" |  Light background start

"The Bird Tree" | Dark Background start

First steps, light background on the left and dark background on the right

It's a known fact that I am slightly addicted to online courses...and art supplies, and trying new techniques! This one was a one week summer art camp class hosted by Carla Sonheim but taught by Diane Culhane. Super fun class. For this exercise we used only 4 colors (cadmium red, cadmium yellow, ultramarine blue and titanium white). We started by painting gesso over 2 wood panels. We added color, one light with yellow and red only, and the other one dark with blue and red only. Then we had to draw a tree and added collage leaves with a glue stick. After that, we just painted over it until the painting turned into something we liked!

Fresh Start!

I entered Lilla Rogers Global Talent Search and I am sorry to say that I didn't get picked in the top 50. We had to do a journal cover with a playground theme. There was 1500 entries so that was a long shot but it got me started drawing and painting again. I realized that all I need is a theme, a product and a deadline to start producing art that I can send out there to sell or license. So I enrolled my friend Arlene to create a little structure for me. My next project is due August 5th and it's a series of 4 greeting cards with a mermaid theme. Can't wait to see what I am going to do! :)

Big Fat Art!

I just finished a 4-day abstract painting workshop with Jane Davies at the Pacific Northwest Art School on Whidbey island. It was pretty incredible. I always get so much inspiration and techniques out of her workshops. Now I just want to paint all day! This is one of the exercise we did on 18 x 24 paper with large strokes and big fat brushes. I will definitely do more of these in the future. A great way to loosen up!

Street Painting Marin

Here's my 8'x 8' square for the Street Painting festival. My sponsor was "To Celebrate Life Breast Cancer Foundation" to honor their volunteers. My friend Diane gave me the original concept idea and I just ran with it and made my own version of it. I wanted it to be in the style of Matisse which is a little hard to do in chalk! But I did put a replica of one of his painting in the corner. Also, I was pretty grateful to get a help from my friend Marilyn and my son Alex. Thank you to everybody who came by to say hello, that meant a lot to me.

Kids Squares Favorites

Last weekend was the Street Painting Festival in San Rafael, California. I was invited to do an 8 x 8 square that I will show you in my next post, but I always love to look at the kids squares. They are always really playful and colorful and in a way, almost more interesting than the bigger squares done by professional artists. But again, I have always been partial to children and outsider art. They is a raw and unpolished quality to them that is so appealing to me. Those are some of my favorites from this year's festival.

What a Pear!

I got 2nd place in the Wallpaper "retro mod" spoonflower contest! I didn't expect that as there was so many good entries, and a total of 397 of them! And I didn't even ask anybody to vote for me, so all of these people just willingly voted for my design just because they liked it! They also created a fat quarter bundle with the top 10 winners. I might just have to get one...

Gelli Plates Class

I am taking another one of Carla Sonheim online class. She is just the best and this one was a mini one-week class on Gelli plates which is a way to do monotype printing without a press. All you need is a Gelli plate. They are not cheap ($30 for an 8x10 plus $12 shipping) but I must warn you, this process is addictive! You might want to pick up gambling as a hobby instead! But if you still want to try it, you can get them here or at your local art store. We are working on 8 different pieces at the same time. This is round 2 and those are my 4 favorites so far, but it could change. I will show you all of them when I am finished with the class.