Spring Projects

We have a lot of spring projects going on around the studio. It's been hectic and a lot of fun. One day M is working on robot icons, the next day she's picking out vintage fabrics for new brooches for our Etsy shop. The sporatic nature of inspiration comes at all hours of the day around here.

Some of the places M finds inspiration:

FFFFound
Drawn

and of course, watching me snore on the studio floor. :-)

Bark at you later,
PJ the dog blogging dog :-)

Announcement: PeachPoP Prints Available on Our Website!

Warning, a shameless plug follows. :-)

I'm proud to announce that you can now purchase prints on our website www.peachpops.com! We've just revamped the site with an all new portfolio and whimscial art prints which include free shipping in the United States! :-)

These prints are all reproduced from original PeachPoP paintings and are completely different from the prints you'll find on our online Etsy store.

We hope you enjoy our print collection and be sure to keep an eye out for more new and exciting things at PeachPoPs!

Bark at you later,
PJ the dog blogging dog :-)

Got Blogged About!

Isn't that cool? Someone emailed me and let me know that we had been blogged about on two cool blogging sites.

Over at Snicketyone, our "Woebegone, the Hedgehog" print was included in a treasury on Etsy. Thank-you so much! You can read the post here.

On the Mixed Plate blog, our "Thinkin' Tree" print was featured among other Etsy artists who enjoy using trees as a theme in their art too. You can read the post here. Thank-you so much!

Now that's pretty neat, don't you think?

Well, I'm off to take a walk around the block and maybe check on our lemon tree. Seems there are some lemons that need to be eaten...err, picked. :-)

Bark at you later,
PJ the dog blogging dog :-)

The 27 Cries of a Crow

There are supposedly 27 different cries that a crow makes. The folklore surrounding a crow has always interested M. A few weeks ago she happened to see a lone crow sitting on a road sign. The crow kept making a loud caw caw. Over and over the coal black feathers ruffled around the neck and the beak opened again and again sending forth some mysterious message. The tail feathers appeared ragged and torn on the ends, as if this crow had suffered through many a scuffle.

This inspired M to create a series of brooches featuring the crow. I myself, am quite curious about the shiny black birds.

And just yesterday I saw a crow on the sidewalk. The little guy had found a leaf and kept poking at the dried papery thing with his long black beak. I gave a hello bark. Unfortunately, me barking at a crow only a few feet away made the guy quite skittish and he flew off before I could offer a warmer welcome.

Oh, if only I spoke crow.

Bark at you later,
PJ the dog blogging dog:-)

On the Second Day of 2008

So, have you been keeping busy? This year seems to be starting out as one busy year. We're looking forward to creating more artwork, expanding our imaginations, and enjoying life.

I hope you are having a wonderful beginning to 2008.

Today I'm going for a walk at Newport Beach. Mocha is coming along too. We love running on the cold wet sand. We're going to bop around Balboa a bit too. M is going to sketch The Pavillion again. She also wants to wish Matt a Happy New Year and see how his sculpture is coming along. He had a big mishap around Christmas and had to redo a whole section of the "oh-so-secret" sculpture. Apparently, glass and temperature changes do not mix well. And that my friends is why M doesn't work with glass. She's prone to be a bit klutzy. :-)

Be safe and have a great day ahead!

Bark at you later,
PJ the dog blogging dog :-)

Current Projects and Artwork

The Christmas Pickle


Our House


True Love Will Last

I woke up around 7am (PST) this morning. The sun's rays casting a steady stream right across the pillow. A nice refreshing way for a doggie to wake, eh?

By 7:30am I was at the sewing machine. Can you believe it? I'm a doggie who sews. There's something alluring about stitching. I find myself daydreaming about patterns and such. Perhaps it's a dying art, but I sure hope not. If you've
never felt the urge to sew, crochet, knit or embroider, you really should give the needle arts a try. You'll find something fun and the ideas are endless.

Needless to say, we're working on a lot of projects around the studio today. A few of our latest are above. Don't you just love the look on The Christmas Pickle? Once I heard about this tradition a few years back, I have grown quite fond of the pickle. You see, you hang the pickle somewhere on your Christmas Tree and then on Christmas Day everyone looks for the infamous pickle. Some pickles are made of glass, others papier mache, and still some unique ones are hand sewn. The person who finds the pickle is awarded with good fortune and luck for the year ahead. Now that's the way to start off the day! :-)

Have a wonderful day ahead. I'm sipping my coffee and thinking of how I'm going to get all the things done that need to be done. Yikes, that was a hard sentence to type, lol.

Merry Christmas to all!

Bark at you later,
PJ the dog blogging dog :-)

Happy Customer: Sarah!

Here's cutie Sarah wearing Hodgepodge, the Hedgehog! Thank-you Sarah!









Bark at you later,
PJ the dog blogging dog :-)

I Like Art That Tells a Story

I am quite fond of art that tells a story. There's just something fun about either what the artist says or doesn't say. Come to think of it, what the artist doesn't say about the piece is often just as interesting.

Recently M created "Lizzie, the Bookworm." It's a little gothic, a little Victorian, and a whole lot of whimsical.

I could go into the whole history of Lizzie, but now where would the fun be in that, hmm? So, instead, I'll leave you with this.

Which one might Lizzie be? :-)

Bark at you later,
PJ the dog blogging dog :-)

And they're here! (Stitched from the heart)

Here's a little preview of the next badge/brooch that we'll have in the shop this week. M and M have been enjoying making "wearable art." It's been a fun crazy week of picking out cloth and thread and trying designs out. Being that I'm all paws, I couldn't help out. They said my little doggie paws might get stuck by a needle (apparently that's a big ouchie and that answers some of the strange sounds escaping from under the studio doors these past few weeks).

And so we have the start of:

PeachPoP art you can wear close to your heart!

What inspired M and M? Well, old fashioned little animals stitched on clothing. They are very hard to find now-a-days. But, apparently, back in the day, the little hand stitched animals were added to home made clothing. So cute and dainty. Just brings a touch of nostalgia to this fast paced world.

Plus, M couldn't resist the vintage sewing machine. This in turn led to hand stitching. And there's always something magical about stitching and losing yourself in the thread and cloth as you "paint" with your thread and needle.

We have to keep the lost arts alive and kicking.

Bark at you later,
PJ the dog blogging dog :-)

There's a Hum in the Air

There's a new roof being installed down the block. The sound of the automatic nailers echoes down the street and through the window. As I nap under the window, on my doggie chenille bed, the rhythm sounds like the wings of mourning doves as they light upon the bird feeder in the morning. I flick an ear up and angle the furry radar dish until I can catch the sound bouncing off the walls. Then, just as suddenly as it started, the flapping ends.

It's strange what I imagine the sounds are and what they turn out to be.

Speaking of strange, I've been hearing peculiar sounds for the past week or so. Perhaps I have doggie super hearing. Or maybe, just maybe, M and M are up to something around the studio.

I'm tapping my paws and awaiting what's going to be revealed soon...

Bark at you later,
PJ the dog blogging dog :-)

The Places I've Been

I dip the tip of my round brush into a small mountain of acrylic blue cyan. One globule of blue hangs on to the hairs of the brush. For a moment, I am amazed at the little drop of sky I can see in the reflections cast from the wet surface of the paint. I guide the blue onto the gessoed canvas. The acrylic paint dances across the textured valley of cotton until no more white can be seen.

With the colors of Hawaiian Hibiscus flowers, catapillar eyes, and blacks as rich as the eyes of a Syrian Hamster, I paint without stopping. I hear the clock ticking on the wall behind me, but the hands fade to oblivion as I enter a tunnel to a far away place. I never know where I'll end up.

Sometimes, I find myself in strange lands with stranger creatures who paint themselves into my canvases. Other times, I find myself licking my dry lips, having forgotten to sip water for many hours. I'll discover when I lift my head and stretch my arms that the sun, once bursting through the panes of glass and onto my easel like warm hands, has long left the sky. In it's place, a sliver of silver white moon is peaking through the bay window of the studio, teasing me with winking stars far off.

It is at times like these that I rinse my brush, sit back, and wonder. Surely, I have travelled somewhere to not realize such things.

Bark at you later,
PJ the dog blogging dog :-P

Hedgehog and the 5th of July

I'm baacccckkk@!

Ok, so nobody noticed. I was away, and now, I am back. La tee da.

First, hedgehogs. There is something so cute about an animal that is covered in quills and yet remains huggable, isn't there? Now, being a dog, I stay far far (FAR!) away from quills, spines, needle sharp spiney anything animals. I mean, I have to protect my nose. Those spines hurt! That is why I won't visit the desert. Come on, it's covered in all sorts of ouchie animals, ouchie plants and just plain ouchies. Plus, hot sand and paws are not fun.

Now, the 5th of July. I guess I've had my head buried in the sand (which is not a good thing, as you will read) about the day after Independence Day. It appears (some) people celebrating the 4th end up trashing our beaches up and down the coast. Go on, Google it. The photos are horrible. As a dog, I walk on those beaches and the fact that so much trash covered places like Newport Beach, Dana Point, and Huntington Beach is just plain...sad. It looked like a landfill. From styrofoam coolers to water bottles and worse, the sand was literally (or should I say LITTERly) covered from shore to sand. The clean-up had to stop once the tide went out (along with tons of trash which will hurt animals) and start again once the tide came in (washing the same trash back on shore).

The epidemic of litter has also hit our national parks. Come on! Pick up that trash. I don't want to see chip bags and empty water bottles littering the side of Yosemite hiking trails, do you? That's dog gone yucky.

Ok, I'm off the dog soap box (it looks a little like the "Red Baron").

Bark at you later,
PJ the dog blogging dog :-)

Birds on My Brain

So, I had an idea for M and she ran with it. I mean, I'm all paws, so it's a bit hard for me to execute the type of art I'd like to at times.

First, I had the idea of a retro-vintage-aged scrapbook page. I really like the aged look, mixed with faux textures and yummy geometric circles forming a subtle background. I also like fonts and lettering. I like how letters look when they are all jumbled up and bit wonky on the page. I suppose that's from watching too many Lifetime movies with ransom notes made from cut-up letters from magazines. Then again, there is something appealing about not being matchy-matchy all the time. Or maybe I'm just a tad wonky and so two wonks make a wight? :-)

The bird came from an original illustration by M. In fact, the patterns/textures are all original and created by M.

Here's the final result:



And just a little preview of what we'll be listing tomorrow:



Bark at you later,
PJ the dog blogging dog :-P

Listed at Etsy: Evil B9 ShelFuRR

I think this PeachPoP ShelFuRR is so quirky. I always like to have a little story in my head of the creatures or characters M and M create. This one in particular evokes the kind of half smile that has always given me the creeps. You don't know if it's a smile smile or a scary smile, or I've got deep dark secrets and "I'll never tell" grin plastered across the face to hide the truth.

Then again, maybe there is nothing evil lurking beneath the facade and I just have had to much coffee today. Yes, I think I'll go with that...

Bark at you later,
PJ the dog blogging dog :-)