She was her Own Best Friend - Part 4

This evening has been spent helping my little guy revise school writing assignments. He'd write a bit. I'd nag him to keep going. He'd get hungry. I'd nag him to get back to work when he finished. He'd get tired and need a rest. I'd give him a ten minute break and nag him to get back to it. He'd say, "Oh, look at the kitty." And I would and then I'd say, "Aaaaah, you distracted me from nagging you!"

Anyway, while all this was going on I managed to finish my painting and he got a lot of work done. I feel like quite the multitasker...able to nag, help revise, and paint...all at the same time!


Here's my finished painting. Below it are a few of the final stages.

"She was her Own Best Friend"

I drew her nose and mouth...
a bunch of times. This was
one of the attempts.

I had panted her mouth, but it was
way too small. Then in a rush before
I left for school I made her mouth
a tad bigger. I know, she looks
like a toddler did her make-up for her.

I refined her mouth and I
also decided that she needed
to be holding some flowers.
I forgot to take pictures after this
because I was so involved with
helping with homework tonight.

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She was her Own Best Friend - Part 3

Dave and I took Hazel for a walk to the coffee shop tonight. On the way there we passed a delightfully intense dog walking with a big frisbee in its mouth. That dog had a job and was rockin' it. 

Hazel? Well...Dave and I decided that she had a job, too. Her job is being cute. And she was definitely rockin' it!

I continued working on this painting in my very limited time (I was at the coffee shop after all). I just got a wee bit of work done.

I added more white to the background.
And on an impulse I decided to paint
an approximation of her face.
Not sure why this sort of thing
has been necessary for me during
the last few paintings, but
I go with whatever my process
seems to be asking for. I suspect
that I just need to identify with
my paintings in the middle of
the process...but who knows....

I worked on her eyes, the only
part of what I'd done that I really liked.
Then I painted over her nose and
mouth. This also seems to be
a big part of my process. It works for
me. I also decided to widen her arms a bit.

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Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

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She was her Own Best Friend - Part 2

I had to confess something to my husband the other day. He's preparing to photograph some amazing dolls and he hoped I could help with that.


Dave: "Do you have any dolls?"

Me: "Um, I have this small Pooh Bear from when I was little."


He went into our spare room where I have managed to start keeping a bunch of my art supplies...and one of my troll dolls. He brought it out.


Dave: "I wish that it was bigger."

Me:  "Well..." and I lead him to our room, pulled a bin out from under the bed, extracted a bag from said bin, and revealed my collection of thirty-seven Troll Dolls. Yes, I've been collecting them for many, many years, some since I was a child.

Dave: "This one is perfect!" He beamed as he held up my diver Troll.


Whew! Guess I dodged the "being called a weirdo" bullet!



I continued working on this painting. I love how she's coming along and I think I actually want a dress like hers. I know I for sure want hair like hers.

I sketched my drawing.
I know it's hard to see.

I went over the pencil with
white paint and then started painting
some flesh tomes.

I began painting white over
the background and I started
painting her hair pink. I
also continued painting
layers on her face, neck
and arms.

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Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

She was her Own Best Friend - Part 1

After my surgery I took two weeks off from driving...but I'm back in the saddle again. My first mission? Taking the little guy somewhere he needed to go.


Little guy: "I didn't think you could drive any more like a little old lady than you did before."

Me: "I'm being cautious."

Little guy: "Yeah, but before you were an eighty-year-old lady driving. Now you're over a hundred."


Not that he kept complaining, of course. My little guy is smart enough to know that a one-hundred-year-old lady drives faster than his walking speed.



I started working on a new painting. I've had a 36x12 canvas just crying out to be painted. Every time I saw it I visualized a tall female figure on it. Well...here goes!

I started by painting a random
blue/green background.

I released my inner Jackson
Pollock and splatter painted a bit.

I added some flowers
for whimsy's sake.

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.
!I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Together - Part 4

I'm celebrating a first today. At least a first as far as my life recollection goes. Today I bought myself my first ever galoshes! And I'm way more excited than the event warrants, but deep down I've always, always wanted some. And even better, there's a chance of rain on Monday! So...goodbye soggy socks and shoes, hello fabulous black and white awesomely printed galoshes!!!

I just know you share my excitement.


And I finished these two commissioned pieces. I absolutely love that I reworked almost every single element of these paintings...some parts several times. That is so much fun for me! Here are the two originals and below are a few of the last stages. I also think I like the title "Together" so I'm sticking with it.

"Together 1"

"Together 2"

I sketched the boy.

I began filling in the details on the boy.
I also totally redid the background.
Did ya notice? :-)

I began adding details to their outfits.

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

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Together (working title) - Part 3

My big guy stopped by today after work.


Big guy: "Can I have a bandaid?"

Me: "Sure, where do you need it?"


He held out his hand, palm up, and showed me a big blister.


Me: "You've been doing the monkey bars! I haven't seen a monkey bar blister on you since elementary school!"


He smiled.



I love that! My twenty year old kid has a monkey bar blister. What fun!



And I continued working on these paintings. Working, struggling, and taking care of business. I so love this process!!! Tomorrow will be finishing day, I'm positive.

I added shadows and darkened some areas in the water
and on the sand.

I added clouds and waves.

I sketched out more definition on the kiddos.

I changed the little girl to be looking more toward the
water as her brother is. I also filled in the parts I'd sketched.
I wasn't happy with the boy's left arm so I painted over it.

And...oh, yes, I did...I got rid of the boy altogether.
I just couldn't make him work and decided I needed
a do-over. I cannot tell you how good it feels
to just "get rid" of something that's not working.
But don't worry, he'll be back. :-) And
he'll be even closer to his sister. They are "together" after all.

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Together (working title) - Part 2

This is homecoming week for my little guy's high school. While I avoided all school sports themed things when I was in high school, my kid fully embraces them. Course he is a football player. So far this week there's been a mad rush to the thrift store to get tropical clothing and professional soccer player duds (that's what he's got on today), but for yesterday's outfit he was able to raid my clothes. Yes, it was animal print day and my guy wore my leopard print leggings to school. I thought surely he'd wear shorts over them to minimize the feline look, but, no, he wore my leggings, a t-shirt, and sneakers.

And he looked great!

Two hours after he'd gotten home (after a call begging us to pick him up so he didn't have to ride his bike home in public wearing said leggings...we said, "no") he was still wearing them.


Me: "They're comfortable, aren't they."

Little guy: "They are!"


While I seriously doubt he'll be a leggings convert and start sporting them on a regular basis, I'm quite sure it will never occur to him to give me any flack for the high percentage of the time I wear leggings myself. He'll totally get it.


I continued working on this painting. The more I paint the more fearless I've become when it comes to feeling fine about painting over something I've taken the time to work on. It's a blissful kind of freedom!

I painted over the watered down black with a thin layer of white.
My little guy and I loved this stage. We thought it looked like
ghosts on the beach or people that were made of water.
I was almost sad to paint over them...almost.

I roughed in the basic colors of the children.

I painted over the background. I pretty much knew from
the start that I'd do this at one point. For some reason
it was important to me to do a very light and detailed
background at the start. I like listening to what my
paintings want me to do. They're always right.

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Together (working title) - Part 1

We held an election in our house last night. You see, ever since my big guy moved out, I've been making him and his girlfriend a casserole or some such thing pretty much every week. Last night I was trying to decide what to make. So...we held the great enchilada vote of 2015.


Me: "I have enough cheese to make only one kind of enchiladas for you guys. Do you want chicken enchiladas with green sauce or beef enchiladas with red sauce?"

Dave: "Make both."

Me: "Seriously, we have a cheese shortage issue."

Dave: "Beef!"

Little guy: "Chicken!"


So I texted my big guy and his girlfriend.


Big guy: "Chicken!"

Big guy's girlfriend: "Chicken!"

Dave: "My vote counts more than theirs!"


And so this morning I made two batches of chicken enchiladas with green sauce. I also made a couple of cheese enchiladas just for me...because yum!



I started working on a couple of commissioned pieces today. I'm actually creating two of the same image. I've done this a couple of times before and it's really fun. I don't get all wrapped up in having them exactly the same. I figure they're more like if you were to have taken a couple of photos of something happening...while the photos would contain all of the same elements, they'd definitely be different. As there are two it does take me almost twice as long, so this post will definitely span more than three or four days.

I lay down the basic beach/ocean.

I added waves and some clouds.

I added a darker part of the beach
and sketched the kiddos.

I taped the paper on a big piece of cardboard so I could
work using my easel.

I used watered down black to fill in the kiddos.

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Stoic - Part 3

My nerves are engaging in a great disagreement today. Ever since my surgery a week-and-a-half ago, the back of my right arm and some other parts have been numb. Well, I think progress is being made because this afternoon the back of my arm started itching. Yup, those nerves were crying out, "Scratch us now!" So, as I was super excited to be receiving any message at all from that vicinity, I obliged. Thing is, the "scratch me" nerves hadn't cleared the request with the "touch us and you'll be sorry" nerves. I'm a quick study so following a brief episode of electric knife jolts I decided that the "scratch me" nerves warranted ignoring...at least for now. I'm happy for progress none-the-less.


I finished "Stoic" today. I'm so sad that I don't have the original sculpture to credit. I went looking for it and was unable to find it. I must do better next time. Here's the finished piece and below are the last few stages.

"Stoic"

I added some yellow highlights.

I added more blue to the body and headpiece.

I darkened some of the shadowed areas
and added lines for the arms.

I darkened the background. I thought
the background needed to be a tad "dirty".

 Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Stoic - Part 2

My chickens love me. Or at least they love what I'm associated with. Every time I walk out in the back yard they rush me and I absolutely love it. But if I don't happen to have food I'm absolutely positive that I can see disappointment on their sweet little faces. So what do I do? Well, pretty much every time I go out there I open the fridge and try to find something, anything, that a chicken might love. Here's what my spoiled rotten, and extremely happy chickens have gotten to dine on today (in addition to their regular chicken food, of course):

• bread heels
• frozen corn
• egg shells
• half of a tomato
• grass I'd saved from yesterday's lawn mowing
• spaghetti noodles

I'm pretty sure my chickens have a more balanced and varied diet than I do.


I continued working on this painting. It's really starting to take shape!

I sketched in his basic features.

I added more yellow.

It wasn't enough so I added more!

I began working on some shadows and
some elements that were blue.

I lengthened the shadow around the neck,
added a feature to the cap, and defined
the shoulders and arms.

 Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Stoic - Part 1

I ate tonight. I ate a lot. And now I'm realizing just how little I must have been eating over the past week during my recovery. I knew I'd lost a few pounds. If I stood with my hands down at my sides my wedding rings would fall right off. Apparently Chinese food delivery was just the ticket to get me eatin'! And now my stomach is busy swelling from the delicious rice noodles. Welcome back, appetite! I've missed you!


A friend of mine recently posted a photo of what I think was a sculpture. I found it so beautiful that I wanted to create a painting inspired by it. Here's my start.

I started with a lovely yellowish green color
for the background.

I used watered down black paint
do lay dow the basic shapes.

I went over it with white so I could
begin adding color a details.

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Surrounded by Flowers - Part 2

I had a "chat" with Amazon yesterday do to a minor issue with an order I'd received. Throughout the rather stilted, yet effective, conversation I was totally convinced that I was communicating with a robot. Here's part of our conversation.


Me: "Thank you! I appreciate it! Have a great evening!"

Amazon (robot?): "You are very welcome! :) Was I able to properly assist you?"

Me: "Absolutely!"

Me: "Are you a robot? :-)"

Amazon (robot?): "Haha. I am not Kali, I am a real person :)"

Me: "Well, you'd make a darn good robot. Thanks again!"

Amazon (robot?): "Haha. Thank you very much, I guess. Perfect! Have a great rest of your day! :) Please click on "End Chat" located on the upper right corner of the chat window to close the chat."

Me: "OK, bye."


I'm still not convinced that they were a real person. Robots know how to lie, right?


And I finished "Surrounded by Flowers". I'm so happy to be painting again! Here's the finished painting and below are a few of the final stages.

"Surrounded by Flowers"

I went even darker on the edges...
and I didn't really like it.

I added leaves...
and I didn't really like that either.

I went for a happy green/black medium and
that worked for me. I also added a bit of
detail to the centers of the flowers.

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Surrounded by Flowers - Part 1

I'm dipping my toes fingers back into painting after slightly over a full week's break. I feel a little like I'm starting over as a beginner...so of course I'm starting with what has always been my "go to" subject matter over the past four plus years...FLOWERS! And happily for me, I've been given a few "speedy recovery" bouquets since my surgery.


Me: "Oh, thank you so much, they're beautiful!!!" And then I'd get my phone out and photograph them from all angles for future reference.


This particular painting is inspired by a lovely bouquet that my big guy and his girlfriend gave me when I got home from the hospital. Love, love, love!!!

I've had this canvas laying around from a previous project
when I just used the left over paint to create a background
for a future painting. Well, today that day came!

I used watered down black to lay out where I wanted
the flowers to be positioned.

And of course I got excited when I started using
color and completely forgot to take photos
of the different stages. Sigh....

I added green to the background.

So much fun painting again!!! Excited to see where this one takes me tomorrow!

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!