Hare Terra Update

This may just look like my favorite corner of the studio, but what it is is so much more, it has become my entrance into Hare Terra. I know I have been incredibly vague about my latest artistic endeavor, but The Legend of Hare Terra is beyond being just another series for me. I’m only half kidding when I say the creation of Hare Terra is a life changing experience. That’s why I’m taking my time, keeping it close, and just letting the magic happen. And you know what? I’m having a blast! I’ve been spending my days drawing fuzzy bunnies, creating fabulous fancy dresses, big funky bunny Queen crowns, elaborate hairdos, designing intricate floor and wallpaper patterns, decorative flowers and pretty much all the fantasy and fairytale scenarios I can dream up! On some level I feel as though my psyche realigned itself back to an ideal state of childhood, one that never truly existed for me then, but is being re-imagined and relived now. Dare I say it, I’m happy! I admit it, I am making frivolous, self indulgent art and I’m unbelievably thrilled about it.

For years I’ve been talking about creating a fairytale series, the desire to create Fairytale imagery has been calling to me as long as I can remember. One of the reasons I have a degree in Illustration is because of a long term fascination for the Golden Age of Illustration. The concept of what I envisioned for myself as “Artist” has ranged far and wide in the past 20 years, my art was more raw and angst ridden in the early years evolving with life into softer more decorative works. Thoughts of what direction I wanted to pursue have changed accordingly. Recently the most reliable career path appeared to be in the track of the floral paintings and the medallions. This was accumulating a respectable level of recognition and continued prospects. However, I felt like that certain something was missing, the floral paintings and medallions were enjoyable but not truly soul satisfying. But diverging from the current path and leaving behind years of establishment and progress to pursue a new illustrative fairytale series seemed like starting over. I had been painfully wavering over this dilemma (delusion?) until one day my husband finally convinced me to just do it. He said he wanted me to do what makes me happy, not what I think would provide an income and that our family would survive in the meantime. I can’t tell you how freeing that was and obviously how amazing my husband is. As Hare Terra evolves, I realized I may still be on the right course because I can see all of my former phases and past series at play, perhaps I have not wavered from my path, it’s just more inclusive and meandering then most.

So far I have completed 39 Legend of Hare Terra drawings. Let me clarify, some of the drawings are not exactly “completed”; some are still works in progress, and a few are already paintings that were brought to completion in 2010. Those pieces were created before I had a real vision of what this series was to become. However, I am doing my best to let the earlier paintings just “be”, as part of the developmental process and hope to work them into “the big picture”. And while I am anxious to get back to the painting aspect of this project, I’m forcing myself to stay focused until the series feels whole. I can’t explain how or what elements that will require, I think I’ll just know when the time comes. Part of the creative process has been to lay the pieces out on a giant table until they tell me the order in which they belong. This order has changed frequently over the past 7 months as new pieces have been added but at 39 it’s definitely getting there. At this point I hope to cut the series off at 50… even though I secretly fear my Hare Terra concepts could go on forever. I sort of envision the Legend of Hare Terra series as an exhibition as well as a book, but not a book in the sense that it is one linear story, more of a collection. As I examine the series spread before me, I believe it is developing a rhythm and an order of it’s own, and in it’s own way it has a beginning, middle and an end, but not in a way I can set words to. Basically, I’m working toward completing my Bucket List of everything fairytale, using a specific cast of characters (namely Hare Majesty and her Hare subjects) and containing these portraits/moments/scenarios within the conceptual construct of this world of Hare Terra. I’ve forbid myself from worrying about what it all means or who will buy it.

Of course I have doubts! One day I did the math and it hit me that I’ve been working on this series off and on for the past two years (or longer) and I realized that once I get these drawings done it will probably take me another two years to paint them! That was a painful reality check, especially for someone obsessed with time. And now this shocking fact is a Post It that stares at me whenever I’m in the Studio. It says “Hare Terra = 4 Years, 10% of my Entire Life and 20% of my entire Art Career”. Ouch. My husband (and avid supporter of the Hare Terra project) says that I can’t look at it that way. I say that’s easy advice to offer but it doesn’t take into consideration that some of us (namely Me) have this enormous burning urgency to do something utterly astounding, rock the world, life changing, brilliantly fabulous with their art. I’m not saying that it is ever going to happen; I’m just saying that the URGENCY is there. These pretty bunny filled portraits probably don’t have a chance in hell of changing the course of Art History, but they do seem to be fulfilling some other need that overrides the “urgency”. I’m loving what I’m doing right now but I’m pretty sure that fans of my older work will wonder if I had a prefrontal lobotomy. I’ve accepted that consequence and proudly state that The Legend of Hare Terra series is totally for the *me that exists now*. In the end I honestly don’t care if anyone else is into it. I truly believe that I NEED to see this project through to The End in order to get it out of my system. I also believe that it is about growth and change and that I am doing some of the best work of my life. Of course I’ll be pleased if the results are well met, but I’ll completely understand if no one gets it.

Thanks for listening!

Wish me luck on this journey into Hare Terra!

I’ll be back as soon as I have something to share!

Year End Review

2011 has been a quiet year for me as far as having work to show. I opted out of all of my exhibition invitations and external projects in 2011 with plans to FOCUS on my Legend of Hare Terra project. Somehow I (irrationally) decided it was necessary to complete the Exalted Beauty Empress Medallion collection first, I have this thing where I hate to leave projects hanging. Anyway, what I didn’t know was that the months of January, February, March, April and part of May would be consumed with completing the new medallions. It was dreadful. I’m thinking that the Empress collection might rank as one of my top ten most grueling experiences ever. At the end of May when the 300 Empress pieces were finally beaded, cataloged, and boxed, I was so over the whole medallion thing that I also opted not to do any medallion parties or promotions of any kind. Instead of doing something practical with my new fabulous inventory, I went straight to work on The Legend of Hare Terra project. I have been blissfully working on that ever since, dedicating hundreds upon hundreds of hours to this one project and quietly keeping it to myself. I may even be in the midst of a life changing experience. Of course, not all of my time was spent in the studio; I did have minor interruptions in the creative time line for the multitude of other things I shared here on the blog. For instance I shared many delightful moments with my family, Caden’s sports, the gardening and house projects, vacations, Caden’s Birthday, Caden’s Halloween costume, lots of floral photography and of course Caden’s crafting. I will have art to share in 2012, I promise, I’ll post a more in-depth elucidation of Hare Terra in the near future. In the meantime, I have some serious baking and last minute wrapping to do. We have two more holiday events scheduled and then I’ll be back in the studio on January 2nd. Have a Happy Happy Wonderful New Year!

Caden’s Bluebird Frames

Here are Caden’s Bluebird Frames:







Artist: Caden Fraser Perkins (Age 8)
Date: December 2011
Size: 7 ¾” x 7 ¾”
Medium: Acrylic on Wooden Frame Blanks

I loved the Bluebirds from Caden’s Masterpieces so much I asked him if he could come up with a design for some frames. I am so incredibly thrilled with how they came out! OMG! Adorable! I think Caden could make a killing on Etsy! Not that I would ever… In fact these charming little gems will also be given to the Grandparents. I really hate to see them go but we needed to make a choice and Caden was unwilling to give up any of his Christmas Ornaments. That’s okay; it’s hard not to get attached, and I completely understand how difficult it is to give away something you worked so hard on. But that’s where the love and sacrifice come in, the true meaning and importance of a handmade gift. Besides, I think they will like these Bluebird frames even better because they can be used all year. I can’t wait to see what they think of Caden’s work!

Caden’s Masterpieces

Here are the “Masterpieces” Caden created as Christmas gifts for his Grandparents this year:







Artist: Caden Fraser Perkins (Age 8)
Date: December 2011
Size: 10” x 13”
Medium: Colored Pencil and Acrylic on Watercolor paper

Here’s a look back at the 2010 Christmas “Masterpieces”:







Artist: Caden Fraser Perkins (Age 7)
Date: December 2010
Size: 11” x 14”
Medium: Acrylic on Watercolor paper

Christmas Morning

Here’s what it’s really about, the pleasure of watching your child open all those presents on Christmas Morning. Ready, Set, Open!















Okay, I’m mostly kidding. While we do love to see him this ecstatic over presents, we most like to see that he appreciates everything we give him, whether it’s monster Lego projects or books or even gum, he seems to react to each and every one with the same sincere enthusiasm. It’s not ALL about the gifts, we do also teach Caden about the joy of giving and the importance of spending time with family during this time of year. Caden is very excited about a special Christmas event that’s happening with his grandparents this coming weekend, mostly just because they are coming to see him. It’s certainly not because he feels a need for any more presents! I think a big part of it is also because we’ve been working diligently on this year’s Masterpieces and he is looking forward to seeing how they respond to his latest works of art. I will share the 2011 Caden Christmas Masterpieces soon! Stay Tuned!

Christmas Ornaments

Here is another Caden and Mama Collaboration, the 2011 Christmas Ornament collection:








These fabulous Christmas Ornaments created by Caden Fraser Perkins and Amy E. Fraser are ¼” polymer clay shapes cut with cookie cutters, hand painted in acrylics, then triple coated in industrial strength varnish. I love how they turned out but they ended up being our most time consuming batch yet! So much for keeping it simple!

Here’s what they look like on the tree:





Here are our Christmas Ornaments from years past:

2010 Christmas Ornaments
2009 Christmas Ornaments
2008 Christmas Ornaments
2007 Christmas Ornaments

Christmas Tree

Here is a look at this year’s Christmas Tree:



I think it’s our best tree yet!

Here is a closer look at the 2011 Christmas Tree Topper:



Here is a look at Christmas Trees from years past:

2010 Christmas Tree
2009 Christmas Tree
2008 Christmas Tree
2007 Christmas Tree
2006 Christmas Tree

Christmas Card

Here is this year’s Christmas card by Caden:



This card features “The Christmas Snowman” ornament created by Caden Fraser Perkins (age 8) against a backdrop of various wrapping papers used to create this year’s red green Christmas wrapping theme.

This Snowman was Caden’s favorite ornament made during this years ornament craft fest. I’ll share the entire Christmas Ornament collection soon, but first let’s take a look at some more of Caden’s delightful Christmas Cards from years past…

“Christmas Penguin” 2010:



“Rudolph” 2009:

Christmas Cat

Christmas is Tonka’s favorite holiday, he loves the tree, the lights, the fuzzy hat and stockings but he especially enjoys eating Christmas ribbons and knocking ornaments off the tree. Here he is at his most charming:

Gingerbread House

Caden really wanted to do a Gingerbread House this year. It all started because I was burning some Gingerbread scented candles one afternoon. He came home from school smelling the Gingerbread goodness and was seriously disappointed to discover that I hadn’t actually made real Gingerbread cookies. I knew we were already going to be on overload with our lengthy craft project list so I thought it would be best if we didn’t add another big project to the heap, so instead, for the sake of time and my sanity, we purchased a pre-baked kit (ugh). Despite my opinions about the kit and wishing I was somehow able to scrape up the time and energy to do a Gingerbread masterpiece from scratch; Caden had an absolutely fantastic time and made what he referred to as a blibbity blob motif. Here’s a look at Caden’s solo Gingerbread project:





Caden was super happy with the end result and had fun in the making so I’m even happier because I didn’t foolishly add to the Holiday Stress! Good all around. Yes, I’m working on “Letting Go” and attempting to allow Caden more opportunities to be *just be a kid* and not impose my controlling type A drill sergeant routine on those moments that are just supposed to be fun. See, growing, learning, there’s hope for me yet!