Faeries at Play book released today!

Check it out! My first book, first edition, first ever book is now available for sale!
It was professionally published by artist John Garvin with Enchanted Images, Inc.
It is a perfect coffee table book, full color, glossy pages, 8.5"x11".

For some reason this image here looks blue to me.. a glitch? to see a better image of the book visit my website www.artbyraette.com

ARTAZINE

My pet project, ARTAZINE...
Alive and breathing for a year, ARTAZINE is a resource that I created, with the support of the Shasta County Arts Council.

I decided that this was a resource the county needed when people kept coming to me asking if I taught people how to paint. I could have signed them up for private lessons, but with my two daughters, I simply could not afford the time.

Instead I began searching for all of the arts instructors in Shasta County.

For six months I pulled fliers, tore papers out of newspapers and magazines, talked to people and perused the classified ads. I ended up with a stack of paperwork about 12 inches high, not including, of course, the local yellow pages.

Somehow I had to make sense of the data I had in front of me.
I told my son, Tristan what I wanted to do and asked him to help me think of a title.
Within 30 seconds, he said "ARTAZINE". Hmmmmm... ART A ZINE..... just like MAGAZINE... but about ART, but what does ZINE mean?
According to wikipedia.org :

"A zine (an abbreviation of the word fanzine, or magazine; pronounced /ˈziːn/ "zeen") is most commonly a small circulation publication of original or appropriated texts and images. More broadly, the term encompasses any self-published work of minority interest usually reproduced via photocopier on a variety of colored paper stock.

A popular definition includes that circulation must be 5,000 or less, although in practice the significant majority are produced in editions of less than 100, and profit is not the primary intent of publication."

It's perfect. ARTAZINE was born.

I made the first edition during the Summer of 2008. I think it had 16 pages (we are now up to 34, and growing). I took it into the Shasta County Arts Council, and they loved it!

Now we are on our fifth edition, celebrating the first year of ARTAZINE.

ARTAZINE features art and instruction schedules from regional artists. The instruction includes dance, theater,singing, violin, painting, jewelry making and more. For the first time ever, ARTAZINE Summer 2009 includes featured ARTicles from our talented artists!

It is still just me making the magazine, but we are all praying for wings.

Enjoy the magazine!

Redding Train Depot 1875

Redding Train Depot 1875
This is an 8'x6' mural I just completed for the Turtle Bay History Players.. It's from an 1888 photograph of the Redding train depot.
The scene they wanted was from 1875 when Redding was spelled Reading.

They wanted it to look like an old photograph.

Fun project!

The canvases are hinged together 4' wide in the middle, the two side canvases are 2' wide each. It folds up so they can store it easily and stands by itself.

What a week! Finals and a 6th birthday party!

Finals are here along with a 6th birthday party!
Tomorrow we are going to have a tea party for my daughter, Raechel. Relishing the moment is all I can say! My husband spent the entire day beautifying our yard, so the setting is gorgeous! The fancy little girls will enjoy tiny treats under a fancy canopy, make fancy princess necklaces while they gear up to jump on the trampoline and into the pool! I can't wait to see the pictures from the great soiree! You can count on seeing a faerie tea party painting in the faerie series coming soon!!
Finals are almost over, and I will be relaxing from school work while gearing up for the fall semester at Shasta College and Chico. Things will be crazy, but I will be sure to keep painting. It IS my sanity, after all!
My posting of paintings may be a little slow, but the paintings are getting done regardless!
For now I will rest up for the party tomorrow.
Rest is good.

First two faerie paintings completed!

Okay, it is day three of my 365 day commitment to paint a faerie-a-day for a year. I will not be painting on Sundays as even God chose to rest one day a week! So my 365 days will actually end 52 work days (or about 8 weeks) after one year... So it will end mid July of next year.

Shown here are Monday and Tuesday's paintings.. I still have to scan today's in. Be sure to check back as the next one is really cute too!

This first one is called "Bean Laden" Monday May 11, 2009



This second painting is titled "New Wings" Tuesday May 12, 2009

Hope you like them! They are both @ 8"x10" on gessoed hardboard

This is too much fun!

Inspiration for A Faerie a Day paintings
Happy Mother's Day to all you Mom's out there!

I plan on going to church with the kiddos, refinishing my screen door, and painting. Looks like a gorgeous day so it's perfect to photograph the girls for the next faerie painting.

Motherhood is the most rewarding job if it is done right. Raising productive members of society that have values and morals is not easy especially now, with all the distractions we have around us. Many of us are working, and trying to juggle way more than many of our mothers ever did.
The challenge of our generation of mothers seems to be the guilt we feel when we leave our kids to go to work. We spoil them, giving them whatever we can think of to show them our love for them, trying to fill in the gaps we feel are caused by our absence.

Kids feel the most loved when when we spend time with them on a walk, a bike ride, a good jump on the trampoline, drawing or reading. Even if that time is just 15 minutes here and there.

What memories do you cherish about spending time with your Mom? Feel free to comment!
Here are some of my favorite memories of my Mom:
Mom reading out of the Bible to us in a huge field next to a tree,
laying on the beach while we swam in the freezing cold waves,
picking lupines on the hillside,
working together - pulling weeds (believe it or not, it's actually a fond memory now - we had some of our best talks while we worked together),
hiking in the hills, painting tee shirts,
watching the sunset on our deck,
drinking coffee out of ginormous (my new favorite word for humongous) coffee mugs,
telling stories about angels, walking in the neighborhood,
walking on the beach looking for treasures,
scenic drives,
long talks and bike rides,
helping mom prepare for holiday meals,
and of course,
mom hugs.

Nothing can compare with the love from a mother. No toys from the toy store, games from the game shop, or clothes will purchase the pleasure of simply spending time with our kids - even if those times are short.

A Faerie a Day
Starting today, Mothers Day 2009, I will be painting one painting each day of my kids. I will use pictures that I take that day. So next year, this time I will have 365 paintings, chronicling a full year of my life with my kids. I can't think of a better way to honor the gift of being a Mom. Thanks God for loaning me these kids!