A Vessel Full of Tenderness

I've been sitting in the back yard with our big old cat, Pug, today. He's been recovering from some sort of an injury to one of his back legs and is just now wanting to go outside again. He lay under the table on the deck and chicken after chicken came over to him. I think they missed that big hairy dude. So sweet and tender!

This painting is part of a year-long online art class (instructor Pauline Agnew). 

"A Vessel Full of Tenderness"

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My Inner Child got the Last Word

In my last blog post I observed that I wasn't letting my wacky side (aka my inner child) get the last word. Well, I decided to let my inner child be the boss of me. I think I'll do this more often!

"My Inner Child got the Last Word"

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A Flower Child

Dave and I went out for Sushi tonight. Everything was AMAZING! What was also amazing was the brussels sprouts the guy next to me (we sat at the bar) was eating.


Me: "Those look wonderful. Where are they on the menu?"

He showed me.

Me: "Are they sweet?"

Guy: "Not really. You should try them."

Me: "Oh, no, I'll just get them next time."

Guy: "No, really, try them." And he pushed his bowl to me.

So I tried them.

"Mmmmmmmmmm!!!"


And that marked the first time I've ever tasted a stranger's food at a restaurant. I think I may need to make a habit of it!



I had some time over the weekend after I did the "Collaboration" piece with Dave so I tried another one, only this time I tried to collaborate with myself. I'd paint it as a serious artist, then I'd go all fun and wacky, then I'd go all serious again. Over and over. It was almost as much fun as painting with Dave. Almost. I think I'll likely do another one and let the fun and wacky side get the last word.

"A Flower Girl"

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Collaboration

My husband and I have collaborated on creative things before. Our big and little guys are our most fabulous collaborations, of course. And then we remodeled our kitchen almost entirely on our own. But for the first time in my four-and-a-half years of painting he and I collaborated on a piece. I'd paint a bit, then he'd paint a bit, then I'd do it again, and on and on. It was super fun and we were pretty fearless about painting over and adding to each other's work. I ended up signing it as I did the last layer, but seriously, I should chase down his signature as well.

This painting is part of a year-long online art class (instructor Annie Hammon). The instructions were to have a child work with you, but I used Dave. It's OK, he's a total kid at heart.

"Collaboration"

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

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listen...

This week I was challenged to come up with words of wisdom. So many came to mind and I realized that they really all come down to one thing for me, listen. "Listen more and speak less often." "Be present in the moment and listen." And on and on. It's a big theme for me these days and one that for a while now I've been working to improve. It was also so much fun doing the whimsical yet somewhat chaotic doodles in the upper left! And around her I left calm and simplicity.

I'm so loving this class!

This painting is part of a year-long online art class (instructor Melody Ross). 

"listen..."

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

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Welcoming

My kid, he's so creative. 

Little guy: "Make me food." Seriously, I did teach him how to ask nicely when he was a really little guy.

Me: "Make your own food." I put my earbuds in and continued listening to a podcast I'd started earlier.

Well, that little guy of mine picked up my phone and basically lead me by my earbud cable "leash" to the refrigerator. 

He gets points for creativity, but I have to say that he bombed on the mom making him something to eat part and he went ahead and nuked himself some queso.

This painting is part of the class I'm taking. The dragonfly (or maybe it's a butterfly, you decide) is leaving behind things/feelings/etc. that I'm letting go of and the sun is filled with what I want 2016 to be welcoming in. Most of the writing is illegible. That's by design. 

I love doing zentangles, though I rarely do them. Such a wonderful process, all of it! 

This painting is part of a year-long online art class (instructor Tamara LaPorte). 

"Welcoming"

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

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Create Your own Journey

After watching all six of the Star Wars movies that are currently out on DVD over two weekends (whew!), I'm now finding myself longing for adventure. It just rubs off on you, right? Lucky for me I can avoid space battle adventure and instead dive into all sorts of new media adventure in my art work. Yup, feeling like the force is with me.

This painting is part of a year-long online art class (instructor Ivy Newport). 

"Create Your own Journey"

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

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Travelers

When I was little I stumbled upon a baby opossum. Literally, I stumbled upon it. It was directly in my path. We took this scared little one home, found out all there was to know about rehabilitating it, and I proceeded to love it with all my heart. I was asked to find an animal that would accompany me on my art journey this year and since opossums are my favorite animal and I find so much wonder in them, it was such an easy choice. I think they're so clever, resourceful, beautiful to behold, and utterly and completely misunderstood. 

I painted this opossum on the girl's shoulder (she represents me...makes me miss when I had blue hair in my early twenties and was nicknamed "Smurfette"). Like this opossum, my opossums (yes, I had two during my childhood) spent a crazy wonderful amount of time riding around on my shoulder. They'd hang out there during chores, while I practiced french horn, and as I read chapter after chapter of my Alfred Hitchcock's Mystery Magazines. 

So off on this artistic adventure we go, my opossum on my shoulder and all our art supplies strapped across my back. 



This painting is part of a year-long online art class (instructor Tamara LaPorte). 

"Travelers"

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"Be Present"

I've started taking a year-long online art class and just finished my first piece (instructor Tamara LaPorte). I love how life events just seem to work together perfectly. We spent the weekend watching Star Wars Episodes I, II, and III. Dave, it turns out, had pretty much no Star Wars knowledge, or interest in it for that matter, and we thought it was time for a Star Wars intervention. I was able to borrow all six DVDs from a friend, and our family and two of my kid's friends settled in to do some serious watching.

I had started working on my painting and was working on coming up with some words that spoke to me. "Be Present" was a no brainer. It popped right into my head because I know that I'm oh, so distractible at times and sometimes have a hard time paying attention to what is the most important of two or three things. As I watched the movies (I don't remember which one), one of the Jedi said, "Be mindful of the moment." Yes, that!

Anyway, here is "Be Present".

"Be Present"

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

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"Daddy's Girl"

Today marks a transition to a new way of blogging for a year. I'm starting a year-long class and will be creating approximately one painting per week. For a while now I've been posting the stages of my paintings and I've absolutely loved doing that, but this year I'll just be sharing my completed pieces. This means I'll be posting about once a week. Rest assured that I'll still be painting every single day.

I've already started in on my first lesson with this class and hope to share my finished painting in the next few days.


So...here is the last painting with all its stages that I'll be posting for a while. I was commissioned to paint this sweet picture of a father and daughter whom I adore. What an absolute honor it was. Here's the finished piece and a number of stages below.

"Daddy's Girl"

 

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

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"She is Stardust" Part 6

Our little cat, Tommy, has taken to hanging out in our basket of cloth napkins when he naps...which is a lot. I saw that Michael's had baskets on sale so I dashed over and bought a couple of them figuring that our big cat, Pug, would want one, too. I purchased two rectangular baskets that were bigger than our napkin basket, and I set them on the table with a soft towel in each and waited.

Pug was the first to check them out and soon he was snoozing. Tommy, on the other hand, thought I'd brought in something made of pure evil and he'd have absolutely nothing to do with it.

We kept putting Tommy in a basket and scratching and petting him just like he likes, but as soon as we stopped he'd waste no time getting outa the basket.

I even tried lining the new basket with napkins thinking that would work. But, no.

So now our napkins live in a big basket and we've officially given Tommy the smaller, formerly napkin holding, basket.


I finished working on this painting. I was so close to being finished last night, I just ran out of time. Here it is.

"She is Stardust"

Click here to view my gallery 

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

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