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?