I've got style!

To accept this award, I have to do the following things in return...

• Thank and link back to the person who awarded you.  

Not only is Stephanie an excellent blogger, she is a friend! The Co-Exist Cafe. Check out that recipe for Stuffed Artichokes, nummy!  Co-exist is an excellent theme for me and my artwork for a variety of reasons.

• Share 7 things about yourself.

1) While Stephanie Co-Exists with Matt on their religions, she is pagan and he is Jewish. My artwork exists on that plane. I was once Christian (for a couple of years) and now I am not (and haven't been for many years).  Some of my art connects strongly with a Christian tradition of Catholic Iconography.  But I am exploring new directions and my art co-exists on this website and in my studio.  I am lucky that art history is full of artists who painted both in a classical and a Christian tradition, so that I don't feel as though I am the first to go this direction.

Sara Star little fashion witch.

 2) This is a stylish blogger award, I first saw it doing the rounds in fashion blogs.  Which leads me to share a little detail about me, I read a lot of fashion blogs! I love to see the unusual mixtures of colors, patterns, shapes, and textures in couture fashion. I love even more seeing regular women of all walks of life, incorporating high fashion style into their wardrobe on a budget or not. I dress quite eccentrically myself, in the same colors you see me paint with.  Red hair, turquoise, greens, pinks, reds and oranges. I even have a few capes.

Sara Star posing Pre-Raphaelite

3) I am hoping that one of my art friends will want to paint or draw me soon (hint hint). Then I can wear one of my lovely outfits.  I even have a few pre-Raphaelite style dresses I could wear.  (I want to be a Rosetti Lady).

4) I am pretty tall.  Over six foot in flats and I still wear high heels.  My boss tells me I am not to be taller than him around clients.  He needs to maintain the illusion of authority. 
5) I am not very accomplished with drawing.  I struck out to learn how to paint due to an idea I wanted to paint.  Up until this year, I have mostly projected photographs onto canvases and made changes as I saw fit.  I have began learning to really draw and I am also learning to re-size images with grids, free hand, and using the block in method.

6) I have more art opportunities than I can keep up with.  Folks always have awesome ideas for me to make extra money or get more shows with my art. But unfortunately, due to working a regular job full time, I am behind already on art projects.  I really look forward to when I can be a professional artist part-time or even full time.
7) I have always loved art.  I drew and painted a lot as a child.  But I never took it seriously as a potential career until it was already working out to be something I was making pocket money doing.  Now it is my dream to be a full time professional artist when I grow up.






Award 15 recently discovered great bloggers*.




1) Chelsea Rose Oh the hair, perfectimso, her outfits super cute. I doubt I know a more stylish artist in town. If you haven't seen her striking photographs of her striking body paintings--you must race over to her blog now.
2) Diane Hoeptner  Okay I am partial towards red heads. But isn't her apron lovely? And somewhere in the last year she posted a lovely picture of herself in overalls.  But really, her art is very stylish and I love seeing her colorful and unique perspectives on still life.
3) Petar Meseldzija  I can't get enough of this man's paintings. He makes fantasy art with a lot of personality and a very classic feel.  The dresses he puts on his figures! Lets just say if he weren't an illustrator, he should be a costume designer. Exquisite.
4) Janet Amundson-Splidsboel  Janet is a very stylish Portland blogger who hosts lovely private painting parties at her home. And I am absolutely blessed to be one of those occasionally invited (there is a long waiting list).  She has a very hip house that she has converted into a studio and private gallery for her work. 

5) Ariel Grimm  has created a lovely world entirely oriented to the forest. She dresses in greens and browns like a little Merry Woman with Robin Hood leading the band of tree dwellers.  It is always a treat to see what she picks up at the thrift shops, and she has a lovely job looking cute and working at the library.
6) Graveyard Dirt. Well technically she doesn't much wear clothes persay. But she is sexay! And her magical way of decorating is dark and edgy.  I love to see what she has brewed up for the living room when she knows her in-laws will be away.
7) Gracey  is a new fashion blogger. She is tall like me, and lives in the same area. So her fashion adventures are of noted interest to me.  Check her out!
8) Obaki. Well sorry Obaki, you are not particularly stylish yourself--that ear piece--not on trend. However, Obaki puts some pretty awesome clothes and costumes on his characters in TMI.  I read his comic from the beginning after meeting Andy. The plot is very intriguing and forward thinking. 
9) Shybiker. Shybiker is exploring the wonderful world of feminine clothing.  I love watching her grow and develop a lovely collection of things she has always dreamed of wearing. (Shybiker is trangendered and intersexed.)


*15 is a lot, and most of the blogs I read are fashion blogs who have already won this award. I only got to 9.

• Contact these bloggers and let them know you awarded them.--(I already spent like an hour on this post, so maybe I will get to this...)