Mile High City Shenanigans

Well, the time has come for me to pack up my brushes, put away my paints, and head on back to the Down Under. Contrary to what people think, I didn’t take two entire months off from work. Far from it! My family aren’t exactly thrilled that I’m holed up in my temporary basement sweatshop, toiling away the entire time, emerging only now and then to feed and sleep and walk the Bo. I have been compared to a prairie dog, of which there are plenty of here in Denver.

But my truly awesome friend Po’Trowski made an effort to come here and see me all the way from New York and get me away from my work table for a few days! We took her to Lucile’s, a creole cafe with an awesome breakfast menu that features the most amazing beignets this side of Louisiana, and a breakfast beer for under $3!

We also did what New Yorkers do best: Shop.

No, we didn’t buy the Swaglash specs, but the lady at Claire’s Accessories tolerated our inability to keep our mouths shut as we made fun of all sorts of nonsense in the store that’s clearly designed for people at least 20 years younger than us.

We also did some sightseeing, one of which was the Stanley Hotel, which I’d only caught a glimpse of during my first visit to CO years ago.

One of these days I’ll have time enough to go inside and indulge in a ghost walk. Until then, I’ll just watch “The Shining” again!

Of course, it’s not all play and no work here. Po’Trowski was pressed into service, temporarily taking over Shane’s job as my sweatshop helper.

Here she is, prepping the doll sets at my niece and nephew’s craft table. I’m a little disappointed that they’re too young to be working for me, but give it a year or so and I’ll really have something going here!

See you all back in Oz! My etsy store reopens 4 May with brand new items including the Grand Budapest Hotel and some new and improved Breaking Bad and mini Big Lebowski! Watch out also for some real nostalgic trips down the 80’s memory lane!

Practice Makes Perfect

It seems like these days I’ve been painting the same things all the time. It’s fine since I’ve got the system down and I can more or less crank out a set in a few days’ time instead of a whole week. There’s less time for reading and Angry Birds, but I’m usually the happiest in my sweatshop.

All right, the picture above is not so much a system as it is me showing off my ability to correctly label and arrange the paints by color, but still…

The only reason why I’m not whining about how I’m always painting the same sets over and over is that I’m a firm believer in the fact there’s always room for improvement. Painting isn’t exactly my forte…I’ve always been a pen and ink kind of gal since it’s so readily accessible and you can do far more damage with indelible ink than paint.

So I’m pretty happy that, while looking through the archives of the 335 sets I’ve done, I can see some improvements.

This was the first ever Royal Tenenbaum set I’ve painted. What with it being the first one, I didn’t get a chance to refine it. I’m a bit embarrassed to see it plastered all across various websites and tumblr and other social media outlets, actually.

The other ones have gotten slightly better, but it could still use some fine tuning. One of the major addition is Mordecai, Richie’s pet bird.

Lately, the Tenenbaum sets have gone through some transformations but I’ve been too busy to photograph them all. All right, most of you are probably saying to yourselves, “What are you on about, Irene? They all look the same!” Not so! Richie Tenenbaum’s got on a pair of sunnies now!

Kumar Pallana, the actor who played Mr. Pagoda and other bit parts in Wes Anderson films has passed away recently. In honor of him, I’m now including a mini Pagoda in the newer Royal Tenenbaum sets.

Here is another addition/subtraction to the set: Mordecai is now replaced by “Three Plays” by Margot Tenenbaum.

This new set of six will be available at the Pygmy Hippo Shoppe in February.

But how cool is that background?

It’s done by Max Dalton, who did an excellent depiction of the Tenenbaum house. I’ve been looking for something new to hang on my studio wall…think I’ve found one! All of them are sold out, but I am fortunate enough to snag the one he did of all of my favorite horror movie villains…and then some!