The English Touch

Cheerio Dears!

I have a lovely friend and frequent patron of the arts (especially my art) that I just love to speak with. She has a lively and vibrant personality and is just wonderful to bounce ideas off of. She is like a ray of sunshine that breaks through the clouds of Seattle, showering my days with glimpses of glittery whimsies and creative inspiration. Funny how just one person can set off a wave of inspiration. Maybe it is because she is from overseas that she seems somehow more mysterious than the norm...and her lovely English accent and voice either leave me in laughter or envy for such a regal tone of speech.

After speaking with this friend, I always leave wishing that I was from England...or somewhere other than here....But I am not, so I just vicariously live through the fanciful stories, recipes, and trivials that we share together. She doesn't think that she is all that special, but she is quite special...very creative...and super supportive!

Yesterday she offered to let my daughter play at her house with her son...which enabled me to work on some more ink drawings. Of course I could not help but share the ones that I had been working on....

They were "I love the rain" and "Bon Vacances" as seen in the picture above. This mini art showing was a result of me informing her that I had sold the "Turtle Town" ink that I had just listed on Etsy and that she already had an original of. Upon seeing my newest images of "Turtle Tours the World"....she then stated that she must have Seattle and Paris and preceded to inform me that she would merely have her husband sign his paycheck over to me when I described the idea of rendering Big Ben Clock Tower next. Well, of course I could not leave my British friend high and dry while most conveniently watching my daughter...so, of course, in true Rittenhouse style...I gave her Big Ben...but I also drew it again for the Etsy shop...another original though...not a print of it. I am not sure which city will be Turtle's next stop!

Washington D.C., New York, Athens, Madrid, Sydney...we'll just have to see, won't we!

Ta Ta for now!

You CAN teach an old dog new tricks!

As the Pacific Northwest creeps into spring, at a pace unable to describe....merely because a snail's ability to travel is faster than the weather here and I can't seem to think of an animal any slower....no..wait...the sloth is the slowest animal on earth, so slow that moss grows upon him. And we have more moss growing here than any place I have lived before. Yes, the Pugent Sound is similar to a large furry and exceptionally slow moving sloth that would rather sit, enduring the cold rain and moss growing upon him than relocate to warmer weather because it would require too much effort.

This small description of the PNW is almost enough to have me scurrying to my small hole of a studio to scratch out another ink drawing of a hanging sloth with an entire mushroom city living on its belly. As enticing an idea it is...that would deviate from the importance of what this lovely post has to say.

The Red Kite would be having a field day out in the cold winds that have been blowing around...but myself, on the other hand, can not seem to hold onto the string because my hands have long since turned purple and lost all their feeling...quickly numbing. So I let the kite fall to the ground and gingerly place it in the corner of the room as I sit before this contraption called...the Computer! Ooh! Dreaded technological beast! You haunt my dreams with nightmares of eaten artwork, failed uploads, and an inability to tame your photoshop programs.

That's right...for the past several days I have been lost in the computer's lair attempting to tame this foul beast by learning his photoshop secrets. I am by no means a master and have not found its hidden treasure chest, but I have found several trinkets that will enable me to improve my condition. By this, I mean I have finally found out how to turn my ink drawings into digitally colored images. This also means that I will be able to create colored prints of my art. I hope the examples are enticing! Enjoy!

Red Kite Gallery Now Open For Business!

Grand Opening!

The Red Kite Gallery has been completed and is now open for business. I hope to have my newest ink drawings available by this evening.

Originals

All of the ink drawings listed in the Red Kite Gallery are original ink drawings on white cardstock. Some of the images, as previously stated, were rendered on plain white computer paper and will be sold at a discounted price.

Royalty Free Images

Coming Soon!

Art!

It is my personal belief that art doesn't have to be expensive and limited only to those that think art is an investment rather than enjoying it for the aethestic quality.

Red Kite Gallery offers prices available to everyone and for original work, not prints!

Check out the gallery at:

http://www.redkite.etsy.com/

What's in the stars....

Taurus--- "You are so cute, you could charm the paint off walls"

When inspiration hits you, even if it is at 5:45 am, you either pounce on it like a tiger with a rich juicy steak, or you let it fade into the sunset of missed opportunities. You could take that other route of writing down your thoughts and hope that you still retain that awesome visual presentation your brain displayed for you over your morning cup of coffee, but not me!

Maybe it was the caffeine rich stimulant or just a glimpse of the divine inspiration, but this cute image jumped out at me as I scanned the horoscope this morning, as I patiently waited for my husband to finish using the computer before work. The caption is just a fragment of His reading for today from the stars. Well, at least they confirm as much as I know about him. I only wish that I had rendered it as a bull, since he is a Taurus.

P.S. I know it looks more like wallpaper than paint, but a whole bunch of paint chips would have looked pretty stupid, you cheeky tarts!

I'm going into diabetic shock!

It's a good thing that I am not really into eating cake and thank goodness I don't like ice cream either because it makes decorating cakes a breeze!

This decorating is basically painting on a cake with liquid food coloring and an alcohol like Vodka (works as a thinner). The canvas that permits me to paint is Marshmallow Fondant. The recipe is pretty easy, just really, really messy (which I don't like). Ever met an artist that doesn't like to get their hands dirty? That's me, especially a sticky white gloppy mess....Yuck!

However, as soon as it is fondant and like canvas, it is great to work with. Everything that I have listed was constructed using Fondant and not gumpaste, etc.

Enjoy!

(Oh, and as much as I would love too....cake orders don't ship well! Sorry, no special orders on cakes unless you are in the immediate local area!)

I knew ONE cake wouldn't be enough!

Eat More Cake!......OMGosh! Is that really a cake? Poor Wilbur never saw it coming! Yes, this is a cake and it was about 30 pounds. The "drumsticks" are twinkies on pretzels with fondant formed to make bones and then drenched in dark chocolate! Oh yes, the cake was Black Midnight Chocolate cake with Grand Marinier and orange marmalade jelly (p.s. Thanks for the jelly mom!)

Let Them Eat Cake!

Last night on Etsy chat we somehow got on the discussion of cake decorating.

Ah-Ha! And you all thought that my artistic skills ended in the realm of canvas, paper, wire and glue....not so!

Give me a paper clip, tape, paper and a pen and I guarantee that I will be able to devise some type of creative project...it may not be able to get us out of a burning building..but at least I could draw a pretty good escape route.

Anyway...back to cakes...

the conversation was first about this awesome cupcake book I had seen at Barnes & Nobles called "Hello Cupcake". This book is chock-full of some of the cutest cupcake ideas I have ever seen. Upon smearing the Etsy chat with my desire to mimic cupcakes as listed in the book...all of the hidden cake decorators came crawling out of the wood-work like termites to a new chunk of fresh cut Pine. Cake pictures were flying everywhere and it was pretty hard to dodge them.

Much to my dismay, I practically lost my head because no one could see my cakes that were listed on Cakecentral because of a lack of site access and accounts. So...needless to say...ON WITH THE PARADE OF CAKES! Eat your heart out!