The Creature Adventure Company (Hot Air Balloon, Watercolor, Woman Flying, Zebra, Buck)

Posted in 1920s, Art, Creativity, Imagination, Peacock Mountain, Vintage, watercolor painting by Cindy Adelle Richard

The Creature Adventure Company by Cindy Adelle Richard

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20Jul2020

Cecily Dreams of Umbrellas (Watercolor, Illustration, Story Art, Portraits)

Posted in 1920s, Art, Creativity, Imagination, Peacock Mountain, Vintage, watercolor painting, Writing by Cindy Adelle Richard

Cecily Dreams of Umbrellas by Cindy Adelle Richard

Imaginative Vignette: Cecily Dreams of Umbrellas

Wade stumbled upon Cecily on a gloomy, rainy afternoon – it was one of his favorite types of of days because it necessitated the need for an umbrella. On this particular afternoon, Wade spotted a spectacular multi-hued umbrella about six feet in front of him; it was burgundy, pink, blue, yellow, and green and arranged like a color wheel. He just had to know who was attached to this rainbow confection. To his delight, the owner was equally charming: a kind face, sparkling eyes, and softly curling hair beneath a raspberry beret. After introductions, they walked along companionably discussing their favorite subject (umbrellas). Cecily even admitted that she dreams of umbrella – Wade secretly thought she was the perfect woman. Wade told Cecily he was in need of an assistant (he wasn’t) at his umbrella shop because he did not want their association to end, and it was the first thing that came to mind. Cecily was thrilled at the prospect of this opportunity. Cecily started working at Wade’s umbrella shop the following afternoon.

It has been six months since Cecily started working at the shop, and Wade still has not worked up the nerve to ask her out. In the meantime, they keep building their friendship and indulging in their shared passion for umbrellas while Wade admires her from afar.

13Nov2019

2020 Literary Calendar

Posted in 1920s, Creativity, Reading, Vintage, watercolor painting by Cindy Adelle Richard

I created a calendar with a literary theme this year entitled “The Pleasures of Reading”. I wanted to share my final calendar images with all of you. This calendar is my favorite so far! I thoroughly enjoyed focusing on painting the books and people engaged in the best activity ever (at least as far as I am concerned) of reading. I enjoyed it so much in fact that I am thinking of focusing all of my art around literary subjects – books, imaginary book covers, book spaces, and more. I used to be worried that it would be too limiting to only focus on one subject area, but it is actually helping with my creativity. Somehow having limits/boundaries for my creative work is helping me to think of a lot more possibilities. Well, enough about that – without further ado, here is my full calendar for 2020:

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If you are interested in purchasing this calendar, Click Here

A friend of mine, Rochelle, also wrote a blog post about my calendar Click Here

5Apr2019

The Butterfly Charmer

Posted in 1920s, Art, Creativity, Inspiration, Isle of Adelle, Jazz Age, Jazz Musicians, Vintage, watercolor painting by Cindy Adelle Richard

The Butterfly Charmer by Cindy Adelle Richard

Agatha did not discover her love for the cello until she reached her twenties. She had always been extremely active as a young child and participated in lots of sports; the thought of slowing down to play an instrument never crossed her mind. In college, Agatha’s music theory class took a field trip to a museum, and as part of the experience, the students got to try out lots of different instruments. For some reason, the cello just clicked with Agatha. She had no idea how to play it yet, but it just felt right resting against her body. With the support of her music theory professor, Monsieur Lamb, Agatha found a good cello instructor and started taking lessons in the afternoons after classes.

One day when Agatha and her cello instructor, Mr. Kim, were practicing, they decided to go outside to play because it was too warm inside. By this time, Agatha was quite proficient and could play lovely songs on the cello. As she played, butterflies started to swirl around her – first one, then two, and by the time she finished, there were about 20. Mr. Kim had never seen anything like it. The next day, they came back to the field to play, and the same thing happened. Out of curiosity, Mr. Kim played his cello to see if the butterflies would gravitate toward him, but they just fluttered away. From then on, he referred to Agatha as the butterfly charmer. Whenever she performed outside, day or night, butterflies appeared and fluttered lazily about enchanting everyone present. Agatha loved this spectacle because she had always been fascinated by butterflies. It always made her happy to see that the butterflies enjoyed her music, and she kept them in mind when she started to compose music.

To bring Agatha and her butterflies home with you, visit Etsy

23Mar2019

The Swan Keeper

Posted in 1920s, Art, Creativity, Imagination, Isle of Adelle, Jazz Age, Vintage, watercolor painting by Cindy Adelle Richard

The Swan Keeper by Cindy Adelle Richard

Yuuma, the swan keeper, is known for breeding swans of an unusual size. She is currently the keeper of a family of swans with a female (Pixie), male (Beau), and two babies (Bobby and Lucky). Yuuma works at the bird sanctuary, and her lake and cottage are attached to it via a bridge. She is good friends with Birdie, the manager of the bird sanctuary. One of their favorite pastimes is taking long, quiet strolls through the sanctuary together while sipping tea and discussing the birds. Yuuma is also a ballerina for the local ballet company. She is obsessed with Swan Lake, and spends countless hours creating variations of it during her spare time. She creates one new interpretation each year and stages one grand performance for the citizens of the Isle of Adelle. They look forward to it all year because her productions are truly spectacular to behold. They all admire her wonderful talent, quiet tenacity, and gentle perfectionism.

This poem was created in Yuuma’s honor:

Stillness

White feathers flow

yoked to a graceful form

drift slowly by.

To bring Yuuma and her swans home with you, please visit my Etsy shop.

5Mar2019

Nora’s Stitches

Posted in 1920s, Art, Creativity, Imagination, Jazz Age, poetry, Vintage, watercolor painting by Cindy Adelle Richard

Nora’s Stitches by Cindy Adelle Richard

Nora is an exceptional seamstress that Adelle recruited to join the art colony some years back. Nora said she would come on one condition – her home and shop needed to have an unobstructed view of the sea, and Adelle granted her wish. Unlike the hustle and bustle of Paris, Nora loves hearing the gentle swaying of the waves and seeing the boats headed to wondrous destinations. She likes imagining the places they might be headed, and her imaginings often make their way into her creations in subtle ways. For example, this yellow dress for Marigold, a perky harpist who has a flair for the dramatic, came about because Nora imagined that she was attending a night out at the opera in Venice. The gloves became a necessity because what Diva wears a dress without gloves.

People often say that Nora’s creations fit like a dream. She takes great pleasure in seeing her customers try on their outfits for the first time – when they swing, sway, and sashay in front of the mirror while professing their love for her clothing. Could there be anything better? Nora doesn’t think so.

One of her satisfied customers created this poem to honor her:

Satin Gloves

Shaping a fabric’s fate

her needle mimics the waves

making golden gloves sing.

This painting, Nora’s Stitches, is available as an original and prints via Etsy

3Feb2019

Flora and Feathers

Posted in 1920s, Art, Creativity, Imagination, poetry, Vintage, watercolor painting, Writing by Cindy Adelle Richard

Flora and Feathers by Cindy Adelle Richard

Bernadette “Birdie” McGee is the founder of the bird sanctuary and the local bird shop on The Isle of Adelle. Birdie is the resident expert on all species of birds, and she is careful to fill new bird owners in on everything necessary to take excellent care of their bird friends. There are a few rules that every new bird owner must follow when purchasing a bird: 1) they must allow them to be free (the birds cages in her shop are just for decoration because the bottoms are all open) 2) they must bring the birds to her shop for proper grooming and regular check-ups and 3) they must participate in special training sessions to learn about their particular species of bird.

Birdie learned everything she knows from her grandmother, Agatha, a noted ornithologist at the Sorbonne. Birdie decided not to go to school (on account of being painfully shy – the thought of attending a huge university terrified her), but she learned everything intuitively by reading her grandmother’s books and taking lessons from her. She is still painfully shy with a quiet and gentle demeanor; her days are peaceful, well-ordered, and allow plenty of alone time – exactly how she likes it. The only time she becomes unusually vocal and strong is when it comes to speaking up for the health and well-being of her birds.

Birdie’s shop is attached to a vast bird sanctuary that is open to the community (there are well over 300 species of birds at the sanctuary). One of her favorite things to do each morning is to go into the bird sanctuary before everyone else is awake with a cup of tea and listen to the beautiful chorus of birdsong. She wrote a little poem to commemorate her favorite activity:

Morning Birdsong

Alone among trees

sipping cherry blossom tea

a soul-stirring melody

fills the air with harmony.

Birdie’s painting is available on Etsy

29Jan2019

The Umbrella Man

Posted in 1920s, Art, Imagination, Jazz Age, poetry, Vintage, watercolor painting, Writing by Cindy Adelle Richard

The Umbrella Man by Cindy Adelle Richard

Wade believes in making rainy days more amenable by adding joyful surprises inside each of his umbrella – surprises like pops of bright color, lights, glitter, and clouds. No matter what is happening in the sky, when his customers look up, they only see images that make them happy. There is something special about having joyful umbrellas to make it through a wet weather event. People order Wade’s umbrella’s from far and wide, and he will customize each one to match the personalities of his customers. How? Wade has developed a set of 5 profound questions to figure out all that he needs to know about a person (they are top-secret of course).

I created a brief poem to accompany Wade’s mini-story:

Idiomatic Umbrellas

The rain taps lightly above.

Inside their dome

people gaze up

happy to be home.

Umbrella Man is now available on Etsy

24Jan2019

Carousel in the Sky

Posted in 1920s, Art, Creativity, Imagination, poetry, Vintage, watercolor painting, Writing by Cindy Adelle Richard

Carousel in the Sky by Cindy Adelle Richard

This image of miniature carousel horses has been floating around in my head since Christmas, so I am relieved to finally get it down on paper so that I can share it with you. The woman featured in this painting is Cayley, and she has one of the coolest professions I could think of – she creates life-sized and miniature carousel horses. Not only does she craft these beauties out of wood, she has a secret talent for bringing them to life as well. She loves carousels so much that she created a special park full of her creations, and each one performs a little differently so that riders will have a unique experience no matter which one they ride. Once the park closes for the day, she makes a point of riding her favorite carousel, the one with show horses and spinning teacups – it reminds her of the feelings of sheer delight she experienced the first time she rode a carousel as a small child.

I also created a brief poem – I hope you enjoy it:

Carousel in the Sky

Floating horses

swirling in splendid circles

the height of bliss.

This painting is available in my Etsy shop (an original and prints) Click Here

4Jan2019

Hats of the Horoscope Calendar

Posted in 1920s, Art, Creativity, Horoscope, Jazz Age, Vintage by Cindy Adelle Richard

Fancy hats showcasing the personality and color for each sign of the zodiac

Hats of the Horoscope Calendar by Cindy Adelle Richard

I finished my 2019 Hats of the Horoscope calendar just before Christmas, but I am just getting around to sharing the news. I also wanted to provide a little background about the inspiration behind the calendar. In case you had not noticed, I have a thing for hats. I have been collecting images of hats for years on Pinterest and I am known to regularly sport hats whenever I get the chance. I am also fascinated by natal astrology (the one that based on calculating our exact birth dates, times, and locations to provide us with snapshots of our whole life). I combined the two in order to create something unique, and I am thrilled with the results! To keep things manageable, I decided to pick out hats that match one particular personality trait from each of the signs and to depict it in the color denoted for each sign. I included the interpretations below so you will be able to see what each one means.

Hats of the Horoscope Explanations

I hope you enjoy reviewing each month. These calendars are also available for purchase on my Etsy shop.