Meet Jen! founder & owner

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...jen o'connor's...Artful Adventures & Daily Inspirations

I Love Art, Adore the Handmade and Treasure the Vintage. I am the Fun Mom, the Silly Friend and the Writer who wants to make more room for beauty in the everyday.

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Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Mud-Cakes al Fresco...


 ...Laurie Meseroll has been here and working on a wonderful series of paintings.  She started many of them on her last visit to Earth Angels and the Secret Lab in June, and she has made some progress this week.  I love what she is working on...


If any of you follow her work or Where Women Create, you may recall that she loves to work outside.... here's a link to the old post on her Summer Studio that was featured in Where Women Create magazine....This week was gorgeous so she was under the trees on the front lawn while my kids played around her... and watched and learned.


Here are some pieces in work...Laurie builds and removes color deftly...many pieces have at least 15 layers to them...they emerge slowly...
 ...and they happen through color, paper and fabric...
.
 She has taken over the Secret Lab too!!!  Just look at the landscapes in work on the table....



What a treat to have her here...I cannot wait to see the completed paintings.  Stay tuned!

Thanks for the wonderful visit Laurie...come back soon.

xxoo Jen
Earth Angels

Saturday, July 28, 2012

the new issue is in...

...this is my fave issue yet...

How wonderful Nancy Wiley AND Tamara Stopinski are among the pages...as well as Rachel Ashwell and a TON of other SUPER talented women...






 ANd you can check out my column "Art Girls' RoadShow" too!
 Can you spy some of our great Earth Angels' and our friends...


If you haven't yet joined the Where Women Create community and become a subscriber you should -- just contact the publisher at Stampington.com....if you want to try a single copy, email me at Jen@EarthAngelsToys.com

We've got this and oodles of other back issues...so holler if you need any...

Off to have a cup of tea and dig back into this issue...

xxoo Jen

Friday, July 27, 2012

#29 and summer is melting...

...the summer feels as if it is melting away.  Is it really the end of July?! 
Hope you've been savoring some small summery moments and sneaking in some fun...

Linking up wiht the gals at Life Rearranged to share a peek at the week...it's been another busy work week, but we snuck in some fun kid stuff and a jaunt to Hudson with Ro to celebrate her 50th...HAPPY BIRTHDAY RO!!!


Laurie rolled in from Michigan on Monday and has been painting all week with lots of cheerleaders...here Rory shows a fave in work...

I love to watch an artist work...



This cardboard clock was in the window of a gallery in Hudson, NY.... 
I think I am in love and need one... 

Here's a peek in my pal Stephanie Lloyd's booth in Hudson...
Can you spy the amazing Jennifer Lanne painted pillows...



We had Chinese take out...and Alayna got the best fortune ever...how fitting for a house guest at our home!!!



Talented Alayna Tillis -- you may recognize her from the piece on her in last years's "Where Women Cook" -- has been here doing a photography internship...we had to shoot the Secret Lab for two upcoming magazine pieces....


And I love this sign in my fave ice cream parlor... LICK again...in HUDSON!!

I was thrilled to see Charlotte's room in "Flea Market Decor".  
It was a total treat to work withe the editors on this...

We love the old and the handmade...this dolly sits on Charlotte's window seat most days.
Here she is with the new Earth Angels Cart Before the Horse exclusive Wee Raggedy dolly...
 I had a lot of kid help this week...with boxes...
And with inventory... 
...but NOT with phones...

 Had to share this non cell phone image...we are getting that lab all set!!!


We are re-photographing EVERY SINGLE piece of inventory for the new site...ugh and wonderful at the same time...
N

Me and Ro had a fab trip to Hudson...her we visited Ida and Jackie, a fab mom and daughter antiquing duo and proprietors of Ida's Eye on Warren Street...a must see if you are in Hudson...

My new fave Hotcakes...they are tough for me to resist.

Hope you had a SUPER week whatever you were up to...
xxoo Jen

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

tickled pink... Flea Market Decor

...I really am tickled pink with the latest issue of Flea Market Decor magazine...



Since 2008 I have been writing and photographing for magazines on a regularly basis... most times my efforts are under the wire...you'll see my photos but not know I took them...or perhaps you'll read a story and not know I write it...it's all been great and I have always been pleased to see my work in print...BUT I really was like little kid excited to see my writing and photos together with a by-line...



Thanks to the editors of Flea Market Decor -- Jacqueline deMontravel and Rebecca Ittner -- for the chance to share a very personal peek into my home...and for the opportunity to work with them on this feature.

 Can you spot all the Earth Angels artists' work Charlotte adores, admires and collects???
I spy Valerie Weberpal, Kitty Babebdreier, Jennifer Paganelli, Krys Kirkpatrick above and in the below shots...Cheryl Kuhn, Pat Murphy, Jody Battaglia, Stacey Bear, Jennifer Murphy, Nicol Sayre, Nicole Bowen and Letty Worley...

 You'll have to nab the magazine to see them in detail -- it's a really fab publication loaded with my style of decorating...and I loved telling about how we've pulled Charlotte's room together with all vintage and handmade items, and about my own little girl decorating dreams.

Thanks again to the folks at Beckett Media for making this possible and yes, Charlotte, thanks for sharing your room...I want to move into it...

xxoo Jen

Monday, July 23, 2012

The Mud-Cakes are coming...the Mud-Cakes are coming...

...some of you know that artist Laurie Meseroll has been back in NY this summer.
 She loves it here and has long maintained a summer studio in Woodstock, NY
This year, Laurie is making Warwick and the Earth Angels Secret Lab her base.  She was here in June, and she will soon be back to continue work on a new series of wonderful mixed-media paintings...

Laurie calls them her Mud-cakes...these paintings emerge for layer upon layer of paint, fabric and paper; Laurie is masterful with her bold use of technique and her knowledge of pigment blending.

Here are stacks of canvases in work...you can see some of them finished below and on the site...take a peek and see if you can spot them!
  


Here are a few shots of Laurie at work...

Here it is in work...

...and here it is finished...



Here Laurie shares technique with Melissa....


Florals were a bloom...





Here was Laurie as she was loading up to head back to MI...we miss you Laurie...
come back to the Secret Lab soon!





xxoo Jen


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