Springtime Dream - Part 4

Late last night I realized that my family was looking at me pretty funny. As I said in yesterday's post, it was quite a busy day...and apparently my outfit reflected that busyness.

It all started out pretty normally, outfit wise. I had sneakers, gray capri leggings, and a coral tank top. Then I decided I was a tad chilly so I added a purple hoodie. A while later I put on a brown winter hat. Then I received a call from Dave that a customer was going to stop by so I switched to a black baseball cap. I wanted to look presentable, you know. A while later I cut up an old skirt and made two scarves, one purple, and the other a tie dye/batik looking thing. I put them on, of course.

When Dave got home from exhibiting his photography he just looked at me. Up and down and then away. I think it was simply too much to take in.

P.S. I never made it out of the house except to take some recycling to the bin and to feed the chickens, so no other humans were harmed by my outfit.


I finished this painting. She definitely turned into a bride. I love when the painting takes over and tells me what to do.

"Springtime Dream"

I added color to her hair and a second
coat to the top of her dress.

I decided where her arms would go and
gave her face some features.

I gave her pink highlights and started
working on her bouquet.

I decided I didn't like the colors I'd chosen
so I painted over it with green. I'd decided
that I wanted greenery to show behind
the flowers I painted.

I created a bouquet of white flowers
and baby's breath.

I decided that the painting needed more
flowers. I also created a neckline
on her dress.

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Springtime Dream - Part 3

It's 6:30 at night and I'm just now realizing that I haven't sat down at all today. Well, except for visits to the little girl's room and when I put on my shoes, of course. It's just been one of those super amazingly productive days! I've been kind of obsessed with winter wear lately what with the cold weather finally starting to show up. After many, many years without new (or new-to-me) sweaters, I've been busily replacing them. One new-to-me sweater didn't make the cut, however...or, rather, I should say that it did because out my scissors came. I went all winter crazy and cut the sleeves off to make leg warmers (my first...I never gave into the craze before) and an infinity scarf. I feel cozier just knowing that they're there.


And I continued working on this decidedly non-winter painting.

I added more flowers and increased
the size of the bigger flowers.

I added stripes to the bigger flowers.

I painted leaves on the flower stems and
began working on the figure.

I did the first layer of flesh tone, painted
her shirt, and added details to her skirt.
This lovely girl is starting to look a lot like
 a bride. I think I will go in that direction.

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Springtime Dream - Part 2

So Dave and I decided to go out tonight and I invited the kiddo to join us.


Me: "We're going out for macrobiotic food tonight. Want to join us?"

Little guy: "Why would they call it that?"

Me: "I have no idea."

Little guy: "Sounds like something you'd catch or have to study."


I took that as a "no".



I continued working on this painting. I'm having fun with the whimsy!

I made circles around the flowers and changed
the center color in some of them.

I added marks here and there with white
and yellow paint.

I added the suggestion of some
grass here and there. I also added
some red flowers.

I added white centers to the red flowers, added
some yellow grass, and topped most of the grass
strands off with little pink or orange flowers.

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

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Field of Blue - Part 3

A couple of days ago Dave, our little guy, and I went to go visit our big guy's apartment that he shares with his wonderful girlfriend. Our big guy moved out a couple of weeks ago and this was our first trip there. The apartment is fabulous, the food we ate after seeing it was fabulous, and then some sweet awesomeness happened.

We went to a small shop downtown and they had a chest full of photo props. Well, the boys and I each put on pink bob wigs...and my, oh my, did they ever rock that look. They were downright pretty! And while they have maintained their given hair color, I, by the time I was their ages, had dyed my hair every color of the rainbow, literally. Pink being one of those colors (though I don't think that pink is officially a rainbow color).

It was nice to have a glimpse of my little apples not falling too far from their mama tree.


I finished my bluebonnet painting. It's on the abstract side and I'm happy with it. I hope Dave thinks I did his beautiful photo justice. Here's the finished painting and below are a couple of the last stages.

"Field of Blue"

I felt it absolutely, positively needed more flowers.

I added details to the flowers and darkened some of the
trees in the far background. All that was left was to
detail the grass, add some clouds and other kinds of flowers,
and paint the edges of the canvas.

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Field of Blue - Part 2

Dave's been teaching our dog, Hazel, to play dead. It's supposed to go like this.

"Sit" - Hazel sits.

"Down" - Hazel lies down.

"Bang!" - Hazel rolls to the side and plays dead.


Here's what actually happens.

"Sit" - Hazel sits.

"Down" - Hazel lies down.

"Bang!" - Hazel looks at Dave like he's crazy.

"Bang!" - Hazel begins to sloooooowly ooze over just a tad.

"Bang!" - Hazel rolls to the side but keeps her head up.

"Bang!" - Hazel slooooooowly lays her head down and sighs.


So it's not an instant gratification thing for Dave, that's for sure, but I believe that Hazel has a good chance of winning an Oscar this year. Best death scene ever!


I continued working on my bluebonnets. I'm excited about doing layer upon layer of them!

I added some white over the black so the blue of
the bluebonnets would be brighter.

I painted the flower shapes a blue/purple combo.

I added white/green tops and white speckles to the flowers.
This is just the first layer of bluebonnets. More to come!

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Field of Blue - Part 1

I got home today and found our cat, Tommy, asleep in one of our chairs. I picked him up and cuddled him for a bit and then let him sit on my lap. That little guy went right back to sleep...sitting up! He reminded me of my grandfather who I once saw sleeping while standing up leaning against a wall. Mad sleeping skills!


I started a new painting. Dave suggested that I use one of his photographs as inspiration. It's a lovely photo of a field of bluebonnets. I hope I'll do it justice.

I started by doing just a basic horizon, ground and sky.

I roughed in some trees and brush in the far background
and lay in some spots where bluebonnet flowers will go.

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!

I'm running a big sale on my paintings through the end of August. Almost everything in my gallery is 60% off. I'm only keeping my most current work (paintings on page 1) at the listed prices. If there's something you'd like, please let me know by message or comment so I can manually adjust the price. Thanks!!! http://www.dailypaintworks.com/artists/kali-parsons-3935/artwork

Winner, Winner, Chicken Dinner

So what have we learned about chickens lately? 

Well, they love mint.  I mean they really, really, really love mint.  In fact chickens love mint so much that when you go to the nursery, purchase organic mint plants, bring them home, plant them in the ground, and water them well, chickens will eat every last bit of the leaves in two days flat.

And what have I learned about mint lately?

It really, really, really doesn't grow well when it has absolutely no leaves.


So...I'll be off to the nursery to get a very LARGE mint plant.  My dillusional thinking has me convinced that this will give the plant a head start.

Gives the saying "winner, winner, chicken dinner" a whole new meaning, eh?

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Length and Age...Oddly enough they're related.

I was driving my kid to school super early the other morning for some athletic team practice thingie.  We passed a man running.


Little guy:  "Why does that guy have on such short shorts?"

Me:  "I thought all guys ran in shorts like that."

Little guy:  "No, mom.  Mostly close to the knee."

Me:  "Really?"

Little guy:  "Think about my track shorts."

Me:  "Oh.  Well, let's see what other guy runners are wearing."


And we passed about ten or so runners on our path.  And it was very interesting.  If the runner was young, he wore longer shorts.  If he had gray hair, he wore those short shorts my kid finds appalling.


Me:  "I guess they wear those short shorts because that's what we wore in the seventies and they probably started running about then."

Little guy:  "But you don't wear short shorts."

Me:  "No, but that's just as a courtesy to others, darlin'."

Little guy:  "They should be more like you, mom."


P.S.  The painting below was another one of my left-handed challenges.  Good times!

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Will Hug for Food...later

My little guy just walked in the door...shirt off, dripping sweat, and scented in that "active teenage boy" kind of way.


Little guy:  "I'm starving.  Will you make me some food?"

Me:  "What's in it for me?"

Little guy:  "A hug."

Me:  "That's it?  After you shower, of course."

Little guy:  "Two hugs."

Me:  "Before or after you shower?"

Little guy:  "Before."

Me:  "Deal's going sour, dude."


And, yeah, I made him some grub...totally gonna cash in my hug raincheck once I catch the scent of Old Spice.  Cracks me up that the scent of clean kid is the same scent I remember from hugging my grandpa as a kiddo.

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Bumps, Bruises, and Such

While I'm not a fan of injuries per se, I am a fan of scars and the like.  I even enjoy a bruise here and there.

Let me pause for just a moment to say I don't mean anything caused by cruelty or horrible accident...no way.

Anyway, it's not the pain involved that I find appealing, it's the story the scars, bruises, bumps and such tell...of adventure, risk taking, clumsiness, and finally recovery.  I mean, what's better than watching a bruise go through its myriad of colors on its path to disappearing.

OK, now I've completely convinced you that I'm odd, right?

But what got me thinking about this today is the raw spots on the backs of my heels.  I've got a couple of pretty rough looking blisters there that I simply can't help but smile at when I look at them.  Do they hurt?  Yup.  Are they preventing me from my regular dog walks and other work outs?  You bet.  Do I have any regrets about having them?  Not one.

I smile at them because they make me think of running through the recently turned crop fields in my cowgirl boots and cowgirl hat (my niece told me last weekend that I could no longer refer to my stuff as "cowboy" boots/hat) alongside my little guy as we retrieved my dad's amazingly huge rocket.  The rocket launch that earned him his level three certification...an amazing day was had!

Yup, loving my blisters.

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Aging Backward Style

As I rode my bike home from work today I passed a lady, perhaps in her late sixties...and she had the bluest hair ever!  And I loved it.  Now it wasn't normal old lady blue hair, nope, this was fabulously electric blue.  And it got me thinking.  If we tend to age backward, as I hear we do, as we get toward our twilight years, why not age backward hair color wise.  You know, go through my rebellious teen (I was always kind, even if people assumed by my look that I wasn't) years again.

So here's my plan...in order...in reverse of how it actually went the first time around.

• bleach hair almost white.
• dye hair blue
• dye hair pink
• shave head except for the front and have one gangly little tail protruding from the side
• shave hair into a mohawk
• perm hair curly rockabilly style
• dye hair auburn
• dye hair black
• bleach hair almost white
• get short spiky hair cut
• get hair cut like a boy
• spike just the top of my otherwise shoulder-length hair
• dye hair rainbow colors just for fun and then find out that food coloring is PERMANENT

Yup, there's my plan.  Oh, and I want to be one of those red hat ladies, too, you know, so I can weart the hat, I don't care about the meetings as much, and I'm pretty sure a red hat will go with anything.

Here's to all the cool "old" ladies out there!  You're my heroes!

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