Fourth of July - Part 2

This was such a fun one to paint. Not only am I madly in love with the actual kiddos pictured, but I love, love, loved everything that it says about their sweet sibling relationship.

And I felt like I'd truly captured them when my kid came up to me and said this.

Big guy: "I'd totally know who that was even though their faces aren't shown."

Made my heart swell.


Here's the completed piece and below are my final steps to getting there. The edges of the canvas are painted black.

"Fourth of July" completed piece

I refined the stars, widened her shirt, and painted
over the wrinkles I had on the red on her.

I redid the wrinkles and added some details
to the sidewalk.

I added a few more details to the hydrant, sidewalk, and greenery,
and did a yellowish wash over the entire sidewalk.

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Fourth of July - Part 1

When my wonderful brother and his family were in town recently he showed me a picture of his beautiful kiddos from the last fourth of July.

Me: "Send that to me, I want to paint it!"

I painted the background gray, sketched
the image, and started adding color.

I added more colors and features.
It's acrylic, not watercolors.
Those were just on the table from another project.

I started working on flesh tones and clothing wrinkles.
Beside it is the image I was working from.
It's an altered version of the original photo.
Altering it helps me in the beginning stages of painting.

I think her shirt is too narrow and there are a few other things that don't feel quite right, but it'll wait until tomorrow. Excited to add more details, too!

This photo makes me think of how we celebrated the fourth of July when I was a kiddo. I don't remember ever dressing in red, white, and blue, but I do remember going down to the the fireworks on Town Lake and how when the cannons boomed during the "1812 Overture" I felt like my heart skipped a beat. Good family fun! And now, as an adult, I live where I can actually see the fireworks from my house...if I don't mind standing in the middle of my street and looking over a bunch of trees. Works for me...and my dog, who prefers that we stay home during the fireworks, thank you very much.

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Love in our House

What love is...


Me: "I just came in to tell you I love you." And I gave him a hug.

My big guy: "I love you, too, mom."


Me: "I just came in to tell you I love you." And I gave him a hug.

My little guy: "Making me a sandwich would mean you love me."


Well, reciprocal love is clearly hunger dependent.

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale.

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

A Good Day

Conversation in the car today:


Little guy:  "Today just feels like a really good day."

Me:  "Did something special happen."

Little guy:  "No, it just feels like a good day."

Me:  "I know that feeling."


I love that he tunes in like that!

This is part of my Hallway Project.

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Hammer Time

So it turns out that if the guys are out hammering in the back yard it's absolutely, positively not received well when I break out into song with "Hammer Time".

Furthermore, it's absolutely, positively, without a doubt not received well when I break out into dance to go along with it.

And now I'm consumed by the urge to get some bloomy pants.

This painting has been donated to the Carver Museum as part of a benefit for them.

It will be auctioned off to benefit the museum.

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My Inner Slob Lives Here

I'm a slob.  I absolutely, positively cannot get through the day without getting some sort of muck (food, paint, beverage, mud, etc.) on what I'm wearing.  So when I decided to have spaghetti for dinner tonight, I changed out my black and white striped shirt I'd worn to work for a little T-shirt I'd picked up at a thrift shop.  As I was walking back to the kitchen it occurred to me that I was now wearing a white shirt, albeit a cheap one. 

So I sat down to eat, grabbed one of our cloth napkins, i.e. a bandanna, tucked it into the neck of my shirt, and proceeded to down my delicious spaghetti.  And I must say that basically wearing a baby bib was absolutely fabulous.  I think it might just be my new thing.

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Back in Roman Times

Seems like we've gone back in time every few days.  The thing is this.  Our kitten loves catching cockroaches.  Really, it's a beautiful thing.  But he goes a bit ancient roman times on us and I end up cleaning up his mess...though I don't really get on his case about it.

From the evidence, here's what I've concluded he does at night:

- He spies a ridiculously large cockroach.
- He catches said cockroach.
- He takes the cockroach to the bathtub (which turns out to be a spot from which cockroaches cannot escape...his own personal arena).
- He"plays" with the cockroach for some undetermined amount of time.
- He gets in bed with me and wakes me up by tapping my face with his paw.
- I find the massacre evidence in the morning when I want to take a shower.

That second to last part really grosses me out after I realize what his dirty little paws have been up to.

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Movin' on Up and Out

So the big kid's a tease.

Sometime before last summer he was all, "I'm moving out this summer."

I was all, "Woo hoo!  I get to have my own space to do art!!!  Oh, and I'll miss you, kiddo."

...and then he never moved out.

Well, a couple of days ago he was all, "I'm moving out this summer."

I was all, "Are you really?  I mean, that's great and all.  Do you think you'll really do it?"

And he was all, "Well, maybe."

...we'll see.

...and yes, I'd definitely miss him.

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