Girl Time

I had lots of fun creating these illustrations! This is the last of the Girlfriends series that I call Girl Time. It took some time to come up with some great pieces to style the girls in but I love the shops I found them in. Take a tour of the shops in the links below.

Girl Time- Amaria Studio by amariastudio featuring a grey leather purse

Cowl Neck Draped Bamboo Wrap Cardigan, Asymmetrical Sweater,...
etsy.com

Grey leather purse
etsy.com

Black Spinel 14k gold fill necklace
etsy.com

Coquette Tea/Coffee Set
etsy.com

ABALONE Cross Gold Bracelet
etsy.com

ABALONE Cross Gold Necklace
etsy.com

Fern Embroidered Dinner Napkins, Set of 4
etsy.com

Beaded Turban Headband MAROON Gold Leaf Twist Headband Seed Bead...
etsy.com

Girl Time Art Print
society6.com

Vintage Inspired Circle Chiffon Circle Top Black Frances
etsy.com

If you are interested in purchasing the art in art print, tote bag, coffee mug form go check out my Society6 shop.

Coffee for Two

This is the second illustration in my Girlfriends series of paintings called Coffee for Two. I painted with acrylics and prismacolor pencils.

I also played stylist by searching the internet for some amazing pieces to include in the illustration. Most of the pieces are from artisans on Etsy. Check out them all out!

Snow Vision Dress by iheartfink

Pearlized Chalcedony Chandelier Earrings by Amaria

Yellow Dress by Baymut

Beaded Embroidery Headband by NadezhdaBelokon

Hematite Cluster Earrings by Amaria

The Four Seasons Coffee Mugs by MaryElizabethArts

Julee July Blue suede and Bronze Clutch by KlutchIt 

Terracotta Ceramic Planter by PotteryLodge

Tea for Two

Tea for Two by Ana Maria Sanchez

On rainy day, missing my girlfriends I made this illustration inspired by a photograph by Steven Meisel. I painted with acrylics and prismacolor pencils. This is the first of a series of three I plan to illustrate.
I also played stylist by searching the internet for some amazing pieces to include in the illustration. Check out them all out!

Tea for Two- Amaria Studio by amariastudio featuring a blue hat

Dress
etsy.com

the "Colette"
etsy.com

Tote bag
society6.com

Blue hat
etsy.com

Vase
etsy.com

Ready to Ship Hand Painted Ceramic Tea cups with Teapot Grass Fields...
etsy.com

Tea for Two Mug
society6.com

A Fete of Roses foldover clutch pink and bronze
etsy.com

Earrings
amariastudio.com

Leather Citrine Mala with Dragon
amariastudio.com

This illustration is now available for purchase in my Society6 shop.

Hello November

The November birthstone citrine is named for the French word “citrin,” which means lemon. Although the citrine’s tones are warmer and more golden than a lemon, the name still connotes the hue that is uniquely the color of November’s birthstone. However, the citrine’s hue can range from a very pale yellow to a dark amber tone known as Madeira for its resemblance to the red wine. The birthstone of November has all the warmth and yellow sunshine of the sun itself. With its sunny color, it should come as no surprise that citrine is said to symbolize happiness and hope. Like the yellow rose, the citrine represents friendship, making it perfect for gift-giving occasions that don’t call for the more romantic ruby or diamond. 

Images by tmarsee530, jcookfisher, mrVertrau

Best Pep Talk Ever- Diana Nyad

What is it that you are doing with this one precious life of yours?  -Mary Oliver

Nakashima Woodworker

Craft in America had an episode on Landscape and featured George and his daughter Mira Nakashima's wood work. The look of their pieces are amazing. 

Their website explains their philosophy on how they work with wood,

"We are left in awe by the nobility of a tree, its eternal patience, its suffering caused by man and sometimes nature, its witness to thousands of years of earth's history, its creations of fabulous beauty. It does nothing but good, with its prodigious ability to serve, it gives off its bounty of oxygen while absorbing gases harmful to other living things. The tree and its pith live on. Its fruits feed us. Its branches shade and protect us. And, finally, when time and weather bring it down, its body offers timber for our houses and boards for our furniture. The tree lives on."

Here is the video from Craft in America.




His designs can be found for purchase on Artsy

How to Build Your Creative Confidence- TED talk by David Kelley

Craft in America- Threads

Love this episode from Craft in America- Threads. If you have time to watch all 4 chapters it is about an hour long. Watch and discover these fabric artists and their amazing works.

Paul McCartney - Queenie Eye (Official Video)

New Fall 2013 AMARIA Colllection

We visited the Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles last month and witnessed this gorgeous sunset. 

I fell in love with the colors and matched the palettes below and found stones that would match and look great together.

I ended up using a soft pink freshwater pearl, andalusite, labradorite, pyrite and abalone in the new collection.

14k gold fill wire wrapped necklace with abalone cross

Beaded necklace with slice of amethyst pendant

Labradorite necklace

Abalone cross necklace

Abalone cross rosary bracelet and Beaded labradorite bracelet

Still working on ideas for earrings and hope to be adding some to my shop soon. The necklaces all look great layered together. I am very happy with how the colors all came together for this collection! Any gorgeous sunsets that you have witnessed and have inspired you? What have you created from that inspiration?

A different way to think about creative genius: Elizabeth Gilbert on TED.com

Stumbled onto this video about creativity from TED 2009.
 I found this video to be inspirational. It is a bit long but worth it!
Elizabeth Gilbert (author of Eat, Pray, Love) muses on the impossible things we expect from artists and geniuses -- and shares the radical idea that, instead of the rare person "being" a genius, all of us "have" a genius. It's a funny, personal and surprisingly moving talk. (Recorded February 2009 in Long Beach, California. Duration: 19:29.)

Scenes from New Orleans

New Orleans, originally uploaded by Amaria Studio.

Went on a trip this past week to NOLA. Here is a snippet of what I saw. Love NOLA!

Artist Inspiration

Image source: GuiliaZeta.com

I have shared in the past how I love the work of French artist Anne- Julie Aubry. On her facebook page she shared the work of photographer Guilia Zeta who was inspired by Anne- Julie's own work. Guilia was inspired to recreated some of her illustrations when she met a girl who looks like the girl in Anne- Julie's illustrations. I think she captured her perfectly.

Semi- Precious Stone Rosaries

Labradorite rosary

Garnet rosary

I have finally found some gorgeous semi- precious stone crosses and have been so excited to finally be able to make some larger rosaries. Both are gorgeous but I particularly love the labradorite one. Both will be up in my shop later this month.

Peak in the studio: Eye candy

Citrine and pearl earrings

Pyrite oxidized silver earrings

Amethyst labradorite freshwater pearl 14k gold fill earrings

Inspired by a client, I have been working on these beauties! I played around with oxidizing sterling silver and made the ones with pyrite. The citrine and the amethyst earrings I think are just great eye candy. Having fun with some color!

Zafu Pillows and Meditation Spaces

Image Source Design Sponge

The practice of meditation is the practice of controlling ones thoughts and learning to focus your thoughts is the key for meditation. I have been practicing my meditation literally on the floor in my bedroom. I have been needing to organize my sacred space and was happy to take a zafu pillow making class this past weekend with my friend Amy Darrow at Blue Tree Yoga. She spoke to us about different forms of meditation and we learned more about how to create a sacred space or meditation room.

Image source 

I learned that your meditation room should be a room or space that you can walk into and instantly begin to feel relaxed in. Everything in the room – the colors, the items, the decorations should help you with your daily meditation. Therefore, your deliberations for your own meditation room are important and vital for continued success with meditation.

Image source

So when I saw the post by Design Sponge featuring meditation room ideas I thought it was perfect to share those ideas with you all and these sacred spaces ideas from Flourish. Enjoy and I hope that you too can organize your sacred space at home.

Downton Abbey Wedding Tiara Made By Bentley & Skinner

Hurrah! Downton Abbey returned to our screens for another series on Sunday, and we couldn't be more pleased to see Lady Mary and Matthew Crawley finally get married.

Besides the men looking dapper in their morning coats, Lady Mary's dress was stunning and we loved that she could glide so easily down the stairs at Downton - no poufy meringue for this 1920s bride!

BEST ON-SCREEN WEDDINGS

Topping off her gorgeous wedding day look was a beautiful diamond-encrusted tiara in the shape of a garland of leaves with little floral buds, created especially for the on-screen wedding by royal jewellers Bentley & Skinner. Working in collaboration with theDownton team, Bentley & Skinner artisans altered the dazzling, 45-carat important Georgian tiara, which was set in white gold, yellow gold and silver.

Read more at Brides Magazine