sunset in the Puget Sound

I took this photo at Ebey's Landing, Fort Ebey, Whidbey Island, Washington State. I love the colors of the sky.The art auction its in is ending in 20 minutes but if you still want a print, let me know!

The Yellow Wallpaper (actually, nice yellow) and my sunny yellow flower

I love this photo. It feels like the sun rises in my chest when I look at it, I love the cheery yellow hue. I took it in a sunny field in northern Arizona, in the Coconino National Forest. It's going up for auction in 140Hours, bidding starts at $5.

Final piece is a big 23 x 16" work of art on canvas.
Visit auction

Yellow is one of my favorite colors. When I was a kid, the first time I was old enough to pick the colors of my bedroom, I chose yellow. My mom papered the room with a fuzzy yellow & white swirly wallpaper that I would trace with my fingers as I fell asleep, forming stories in my head about the shapes and patterns.

This was pretty wallpaper. It wasn't like the awful stuff in the short story The Yellow Wallpaper, that short tale by Charlotte Perkins Gilman about a woman's descent into madness whilst locked in a room lined with hideous yellow wallpaper. Here, the main character describes that yellow wallpaper:

The Yellow Wallpaper, by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

...I never saw a worse paper in my life.

One of those sprawling flamboyant patterns committing every artistic sin.

It is dull enough to confuse the eye in following, pronounced enough to constantly irritate and provoke study, and when you follow the lame uncertain curves for a little distance they suddenly commit suicide--plunge off at outrageous angles, destroy themselves in unheard of contradictions.

The color is repellent, almost revolting; a smouldering unclean yellow, strangely faded by the slow-turning sunlight. It is a dull yet lurid orange in some places, a sickly sulphur tint in others.

No wonder the children hated it!

(read more: The Yellow Wallpaper)

No, my yellow wallpaper created a sunny haven in my room, and that is what I remember when I look at that sunny yellow flower of the fields of northern Arizona.

Lots of other great artwork is online at 140hours too, take a look. -->

we interrupt this broadcast for 140 hours...

Today's regular TMI Thursday is on hold for the first online eva(!) art auction: 140hours.com. Voted by Mashable for the Open Web Awards, 140 Hours is doing something never before done in the art world: offering bidding online via Twitter.

So I entered this piece, a dreamy digital watercolor of my mom's African Violets:

These violets sit in my windowsill. It's a little triumph that they're blooming because the last ones I had (also a gift), I killed. (Is that enough TMI to qualify for TMI Thursday? lol)

So when my mom gave these to me, I was a little terrified because, while not quite like killing a gifted puppy, I still don't like murdering my plants with my black thumb. I was so thrilled they did NOT die that I took a picture to show my mom. Then I turned it into a digital watercolor because I just love the colors.

I printed it on canvas, it's huge and looks like a painting.

Wish me luck in the art auction! And if you would like a version for your desktop wallpaper, feel free to save!

• Follow 140 Hours on Twitter -->
• See my artist's bio -->
• See my photo on 140 Hours -->
  
  
• Or get some TRUE TMI action on LiLu's blog -->
  

The auction starts today and ends Nov. 11. See you then!

art deadline, check. Sleep & other stuff? Not so much.

Why am I up so late? I just finished submitting some art to the online art auction 140 Hours (voted by Mashable as an excellent example of using Twitter for branding). I'm entering these flowers, African violets given to me by my mom, shown here in full bloom.

I took the photo first and then digitally reworked it into a dreamy watercolor:
I'll keep you posted when it appears on their site. I'm also getting ready to launch a photo blog to portray this and other work. Stay tuned!