Vintage Photo Freebies

These images come from my personal collection...feel free to use them in your art, but please don't re-sell them.

Hope you enjoy the images. If you do decide to use any of these in your art, I'd love to see it...just leave a comment with a link to your creation.

~Alisa

It's Fall!

You'll have to excuse me for not blogging the past few weeks. You see, it's Fall at our house and we've been playing outside, soaking up the gorgeous weather.

And of course the best part about Fall (besides caramel apples and pumpkin pies) is playing in the leaves! We have some really giant trees in our yard that produce an abundance of crisp jump-worthy leaves of all colors. The girls take full advantage of the gi-normous piles of leaves I rake...and rake...and rake. They do help out with their minuscule blue rake...or at least they try. But it's all worth it when you get lovely photos like these.

And since I haven't blogged for quite some time, I thought I'd post a couple Halloween pics too. Ella was a zombie nurse. She wanted to be a zombie fairy nurse, but hubby wouldn't let her add the wings to her costume. He was afraid people wouldn't "get it" :) Eva was the cutest little candy corn witch and both girls came home with the candy mother-load (yea for mommy)!

Happy Fall!

~Alisa

$5 ART SALE!!!!

In an effort to make some room in my studio space for new artwork, I'm having a $5 ART SALE in my etsy shop.

That means you can own an original piece of art (not a reproduction print) for only $5!


Visit my etsy shop to take advantage of the sale!

~Alisa

My art is up at Strange Brew Coffee Shop

Friday night Dave and I hung about 25 of my pieces at Strange Brew Coffee Shop in Greenwood, Indiana. The pieces ranged in size from small art cards (2.5"x3.5") up to a giant 22"x30" piece.

The shots are horrible...not much light around here at 7:30 p.m. any more, so I'll have to stop by and take a few photos during the day. At least you'll get the general idea.

Rumor has it that at least two pieces have sold aready, although I haven't been back by to confirm that rumor.

So if you're around Greenwood, be sure to stop in, have a cuppa coffee, enjoy the funky atmosphere and take in some art!

~Alisa

This is your chance to help out with a community mural!

Thanks to a grant from the Christel DeHaan Family Foundation, the Eiteljorg has connected students at the Christel House Academy on the city's south side with Native American photographer and installation artist Will Wilson (Diné) for a mural project that not only introduces young people to art and indigenous cultures, but also helps them to give back to the Indianapolis community by beautifying a neighborhood building.

Beginning this week, students will assist Wilson, a 2007 recipient of the Eiteljorg Fellowship for Native American Fine Art, in tracing and filling in a mural celebrating the Indians of Indiana. The mural, which will be placed on an empty building at 1201 S. Meridian, is being created as part of Christel House Academy's efforts to bring a multicultural education to their students.

Due to the recent rain, we are looking for volunteers to help out...yep, this is your oppurtunity to make your mark (in paint) on the city of Indianapolis. We're going to have beautiful weather this weekend, so if you're available please come out to the mural site (at the corner of Morris & Meridian Streets) and help Will! We are looking for ANYONE who can hold a paintbrush! This is your chance to work with an internationally known artist!

The mural will be dedicated during a ceremony and press conference at the site on Thursday, Oct. 15 at 2:30 p.m.

A snapshot of life...the series

I've been so busy with work, art and life in general that I've completely neglected my blog for the last few weeks.

I just finished up a series of eleven 4"x4" pieces last week that I'd been working on for the past month or so. I'm hoping to add one more, but used up all my 4"x4" canvases so I have to re-order before I can add any more.

This is one of my favorites of the series. I call it "Bathing Beauties"

The theme of the series is a snapshot of everyday life. Each piece can stand on it's own, but the grouping looks amazing together. I think I'll hang a set of nine and keep two very special pieces just for me. You see, two of the pieces include old family photos that my grandma let me scan several years ago. One is a photo of my grandpa as a young man. He looks so confident and relaxed, traits I didn't see much of in the last few years of his life.

The other is a picture of my grandma and grandpa together relaxing on the pier at the lake. They look so young and happy in the photo...I just love it!

You can see more close-up images on my flickr photostream here.

And right after I finished the series I found out the my work will hang in a local coffee shop called Strange Brew in October. So, I've been busily cutting mats and framing pieces...which is soooo much work! No wonder frame shops charge big bucks for custom framing!

I'll hang the work on October 8th, so if you're planning to be around Greenwood, Indiana anytime soon stop by Strange Brew, have a cuppa coffee and see my work!

~Alisa

My little girl is 5!

2004 was a year of change for Dave and me. We got married, had a baby girl, and Dave got his education degree and got a real-life paying job. It was a crazy time...especially having a new little baby in our lives. Ella was born on Labor Day weekend on a beautiful Saturday morning after an exhausting 12 hours of labor. She was the tiniest thing I'd ever seen, weighing in at only 5 lb. 14 oz. All the cute clothes we brought to the hospital were way too big for her. She was the cutest little baby and at the time I couldn't even imagine her being anything other than my tiny little baby. I still can't...even though she is the tallest kid (boy or girl) in her class at school.

On Friday night we celebrated her 5th birthday. We dropped off little sis at Nana's house, then went to school with Ella for her "special day". She got to show off some pictures that she brought, fielded questions about her favorite things and had a special snack. She was also supposed to bring one special thing in to show the class, so she chose her autograph book from Disney World. The kids in her class couldn't believe she got autographs from Buzz Lightyear, green army man or Donald Duck. They thought it was the coolest thing. After school we took her to build-a-bear and to lunch. She commented on several occasions that she really liked it when little sis wasn't around and it was just us...and to be honest, so did I. The girls fight constantly when they are together and it was really nice to spend time with Ella when she wasn't screaming at her sister. The perfect birthday culminated in a trip to The Incredible Pizza company where she opened presents, had cake and played games.

Oh and the cake she picked out had to be the weirdest one ever. As we browsed through the Disney characters and movie cakes, she knew instantly what she wanted the moment we saw it...an Indiana Jones cake. It was definitely an odd choice for a 5 year old girl.

So happy birthday to my little girl! I hope you had a wonderful day!