Something new for you!

Well, hello there! This is what I've been holed up working on for the past few weeks.
I'm changing my shop and blog name from Domestic Icing to Barnum's Winter. And, I've gotten a spiffy new website, etc. to boot. I'm still not quite done -- There is so much laying about that says, "Domestic Icing," that I have to change, but I'm getting close.

So, why you ask? Why go through all the trouble of changing your name when Domestic Icing is really just fine?

An excellent question, and I thank you for asking.

I am growing.

(Ivan the Terribly Sweet, January 2010)

I suppose when I chose Domestic Icing, I was envisioning a little candy shop filled with a cacophony of sweet things for one's home -- ornaments and pictures, tea towels and notebooks, napkins and invitations. Et cetera.


(Clay Cupcake Ornament, December 2009)

But, at the beginning of the autumn last year, 2010, I realized that perhaps a little more focus was needed. The things I made were, I think, adorable, but not especially wondrous. Instead of making cute little things to populate an amazing and beautiful world, I wanted to make the amazing and beautiful world.

The only trouble was that I could not actually make such things. I didn't know how.


(Girl With Umbrella, September 2010)

So, feeling quite determined, I quietly put away my clay and ribbons, my glue and needles, my fabric and glitter, and I began to really try to learn to paint.


(Girl with Violin, November 2010)

There is so much to learn. But, slowly, worlds and things and creatures and ideas began to appear on my canvases...


(Whimsical Apocalypse, January 2011)

...and some of them started to seem wondrous, even beautiful.

But, a world is a large thing to make, and it will take time.

I do not think many of my pictures now are simply sweet things for a home. I think now, they are bits of a different place entirely, a menagerie of creatures and characters that may or may not choose to be sweet to us.


(Surly Raccoon, September 2011)

They are growing up and taking on a mind of their own. Their artist is still learning, and I'm not really quite sure what will become of my new little world just beyond the horizon.

But, whatever happens will happen in Barnum's Winter.

I am hoping to be all moved in within the first few weeks of 2012. And, I hope I will see you there!