Moonlight Mates

"A friend may be waiting

behind a stranger's face."

-Maya Angelou

"Moonlight Mates"

8"x8"

All works are copyrighted and all rights are reserved by the artist.

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Prints of many of my paintings are available in my Etsy shop. 

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  I welcome commissions.

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Inspired by Matisse and Hafiz - Part 1

I completed this painting...with only one major flub along the way. One. That's not too bad, right? Here's the finished painting and below are several images on its way to its final stage (including the flub one, of course).

"Inspired by Matisse and Hafiz"

Once the positioning of the figures had been decided upon
I painted a quick rendition of them.

I gave the figures bodies.

I darkened their tones and left their bodies featureless
because my goal was to keep them racially and gender neutral.

I painted the words to the poem...and...Doh!
I found out I'd left out one line.

So I painted over the lines above where I'd missed a line
and repainted the poem. And done!

What a truly wonderful painting to work on. I love doing commissioned pieces. I feel like I grow with each one.

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

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Inspired by Matisse and Hafiz - Part 1

I was commissioned to do a piece that is in a different category than the other commissions I've had. Rather than being given a photo to base the painting on, I was given a poem and a couple of concept ideas. And it has been so much fun getting out of what was more of a comfort zone for me and into abstract interpretation. Seriously...fun!!!

The lovely person who wanted this piece thought that perhaps Matisse style figures and a house would make a lovely background for the poem. So after loading a page of Matisse paintings on my computer and reading the poem by Hafiz a number of times for inspiration, I got started.

My first step was to paint a horizon and then add a house
in the background and some trees in the foreground.

I added details to the house and the ground.
Are you seeing Matisse in this yet?

I added more details...trees (I added one in the background, too),
the house, a walkway, and a stone pathway. I added some figures
as well and sent it to my client to see if I was on the right track.

She wanted the figures to be bigger, so before I painted them
I created a bunch of mockups to check on positioning.
This is one of the mockups.

This is another mockup. There were nine total.

I should have the finished piece ready to post tomorrow. I'm so grateful for my client's fabulous eye and ideas with this project! I think she's been totally right on. Loving how it's progressing!

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

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Dancing with the Stars - Part 2

It's so much fun painting a super loose painting like this. Going for pure whimsy is a delight! After starting my day with a full face collision with a newly formed spider web, I finished working on this. After I apologized to the spider, of course. Sweet little thing had clearly spent hours creating what I managed to destroy in a fraction of a second.

Here's the completed painting and a couple more steps I took before it was finished.

"Dancing with the Stars"

I added more stars and some color accents on top
of the yellow. I think they look like comets now.

I thought it needed some red here and there to balance it.

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

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Dancing with the Stars - Part 1

I have this thing about wasting my art supplies. I can't stand to let it happen. When I cut watercolor paper down and have scraps left over, I hold on to all of them and make little gift tags or bookmarks. When I'm using acrylics I use a canvas as my palette. After a canvas palette is completely covered I use it as a background for a new piece. I think they make the most wonderful starting point for new art. 

This is the palette I used from my painting "Fourth of July" so you'll see the colors I used for it.

Here's the palette canvas I started with for today's painting.

I added a couple of figures, some stars, and other white elements.

I added black lines over the figures and added yellow accents.

I'm excited to finish this one tomorrow. I've had a day full of professional development for my wonderful teaching gig (I teach three and four year olds with disabilities). And the funny thing is, since I was thinking about school again after a bit of a break, I dreamt last night that I showed up to the training in something I'd never leave the house in. Oy.... And, yes, I dressed with care this morning to make sure it didn't turn into a reality.

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!

Under the Night Sky

It's how it feels right now, sitting in my house looking outside. This Central Texas storm is so fully blocking the sunlight this mid-afternoon. When the clouds first crept in my inner voice whispered that it must be closing in on bedtime.

I've always loved a dramatic storm...full of thunder, lightning, and Noah-worthy rains. As a teenager I'd run out to my car during a storm, sit inside it listening to that Black Sabbath song, you know, the one that starts with the storm sounds, and I'd listen to it until the storm outside out-volumed the car speakers' capability.

Always in awe of Mother Nature....

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

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Things Happen at Night

Sometimes I think I miss out on stuff by sleeping at night.

I woke up this morning to find that every single plate and every single cup and mug that we own had been used. And while there were tons of forks left in the drawer, there was only one spoon. So I'm going with the assumption that a soft serve substance, spoon and plate-worthy something that induced great thirst was on the midnight menu.

This delicious mystery must be solved...stay tuned.

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

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Up All Night

A couple of weeks ago a canvas was dropped off at my house. I'd been asked to create a piece of art to be part of a fundraiser for the George Washington Carver Museum, Cultural and Genealogy Center. So here's what I came up with. I worked on it over about a week or so. I created the background first, and what always happens to me happened this time, too. I always, always manage to fall in love with the background. I can't even imagine painting over a single bit of it. So the background had to sit propped up on one of our chairs for about five days so I could enjoy it and fall just a bit out of love with it, enough so that I'd be willing to cover at least half of it up. But the wonderful thing is, as soon as I do cover up parts I end up loving the painting even more.

Oh, and the white polka dot stars wrap around the canvas on the edges!

This little guy and five stars and moon watching over him make me so, so happy. Hope it makes them a lot of money!

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

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Disco Fever

Continuing my Phyllis, the wonder chicken, theme...

Each evening after sunset we close the chickens in their coop for the night. They always appear to tuck themselves into their nesting boxes and prepare to snuggle into sleepyland. But the more I think about it, I'm starting to suspect that my girl, Phyllis, has quite the night life. I'm thinking that girl of mine waits till she hears us close the back door, sneaks out of the coop, and dances under the stars.

Girl's got disco fever!

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

 

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Up All Night

At about 6:45 this morning my little guy came in our carport door.  He'd spent the night at a friend's house and I'd expected to go pick him up around 9:00 as we had plans at 10:00.


Me:  "Gosh, you're up early."

Little guy:  "Not up early...still up from yesterday," he beamed at me.

Me:  "You've been up all night?"

Little guy:  "Yup.  And I feel great!"

Me:  "I still expect you to do what we planned."

Little guy:  "I know.  I'll just stay up through then."

Me:  "No, you won't."


And within fifteen minutes that guy was asleep...of course.

I'm sort of nice so I let him sleep till 9:00 at which time I made him take a shower and get moving.


Showered - then fell asleep.

Got clean clothes out - then fell asleep.

Got half way dressed - then fell asleep.

Sat at the table - then fell asleep.

Got in the car - then fell asleep.

I shook his leg to wake him up - "Awesome!" he yelled in his sleep.


Way to rock sleep-deprived dreamland, little dude!

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A Good Thing

My fabulous brother and his wonderful family are in town right now.  My nephew is totally into trains which led us to get the big boxes of model railroad stuff out of the shed.  The kids paid a bit of attention to it before they wandered off...and that left me, my brother, and my dad to dig through it all.

With all that stuff comes oodles of memories.  Good ones!  My dad and brother were pretty much in charge of the controllers, track, and cars.  My mom painted the backgrounds on canvas panels.  And I painted all the little people and helped with the creationing of the buildings.

We did this for many years and were even in TV and magazine stories doing our thing. 

And to quote Martha Stewart, "It's a good thing."

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Boo Boo Fixing Super Powers

I'm convinced that our roles as parents are set really early in our children's lives.


If they wanted to be tossed high into the air...talk to dad.

If they wanted a snack...talk to mom.

If they wanted to build something with power tools (not counting my awesome sewing machine)...talk to dad.

If they had a boo boo...talk to mom.


And while I've pretty much managed to shake the whole "talk to mom" if they're hungry, I still haven't shaken the boo boos.  Not that I want to, mind you.


Last night I had to be away from home overnight and at about 1:00 AM I ended up engaging in a long texting conversationwith my little guy who was having some undesirable symptoms.  Mind you, his dad was there in the house sleeping, less than thirty feet away.  I was all the way across town.  But contact me, he did.

And even though I'm pretty darn exhausted today after having taken the kid to the doctor and then to the pharmacy, I'm happy that I've maintained my boo boo fixing super powers.


Upon arriving at home...

Little guy:  "Mom, I'm hungry."

Yup, still working on shaking that one...but not working terribly hard.

This is part of my Hallway Project.

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The Inspection

Feeling like a rock star!

I actually got my car inspected the very month it was due, early in the month, no less!  I didn't really have any anxiety about it not passing, but every time I have to have this done, old anxiety memories tickle at the edges of my mind.

My first car, and likely my favorite car ever, a bright orange standard Renault LeCar, had an emergency brake lever that was basically there simply for moral support...just there to look good, essentially.  A reason to fail the inspection for sure.

But happily back then inspectors always seemed to need car owner's support during the process.  I'd sit in the car doing the horn and lights as guided, and when it was time for the emergency brake test...well, I'd pull the lever up, stick my foot out the door, press it to the ground, and do my darndest to keep the car from rolling as the inspector gave it a nudge from the rear. 

And it worked!  Year after year it worked!!

And my 47 year old self is happily patting my teenage self on the back for such amazing brilliance.

This is part of my Hallway Project.

Click here to check out my gallery.

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Out of the Night

Seriously, I've managed to pack two symbolic events into about five hours.

Dave and I woke up at 2:00 AM to see the beauty that is a blood moon.  It was amazing...but sleepy girl that I was, I got up, saw it, and crawled right back into bed.  Dave, trooper that he is, stayed up taking seriously amazing photos, all the while freezing his buns off.  So of course, as soon as he got back into bed he snuggled up to me.  That was great.  Then put his sub-zero feet on me.  That was not so great.

And then before I knew it, my alarm went off and it was time to get up for real.  I did my morning stumble around routine and began to cook my breakfast.  And lo and behold, the first egg I cracked had a double yolk.

I dare not go on too much of a symbolism quest as one never knows what will be found.  But to my eyes and mouth, I saw something amazing and beautiful and I tasted something quite delicious.

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But First, Let me Take a Selfie

It was a day of brief waiting for me.  Not highway traffic or anything like that.  Nope, this was purely people impeding my path of desire.

I was at the gym today.  One machine away from the finish line.  As I was completing my three sets on my second to last machine of the day, a fella got settled in on my last machine.  I thought, "Perfect!  We'll finish our sets at the same exact time and I'll just move right on over to that machine."

Well, it sounded great, but what happened is this.  Whilst I did my first two sets he primped his hair and took quite a number of selfies.  I figured they must be facebook "Workin' out at the gym, yo" status updates.  Or something else just as important.  As I started my third and final set, he began his first.  Sigh...no worries, waiting is good for the soul, right?

After my workout I went to the grocery store.  I wandered around getting everything we needed, checked out, and headed toward the exit.  In front of me was a little boy who must have been about four years old.  He had his own mini shopping cart that proudly sported a banner that read "Shopper in Training" or some such thing.

Well, just as he passed through the door, following his mom, he stopped dead in his tracks, folded his arms on his chest, and uttered what must have been, "hummmph!"

I found myself not at all bothered by this delay and totally wished that little guy had a cell phone he could whip out and he'd say, "I could leave the store, but first, let me take a selfie."

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The Gift of Easy Gifting

Dave and I went out to eat tonight.  On the way back we passed by the mall.  I suppose the mall is OK on a normal day, but oh, my goodness, there was gridlock in that parking lot.  I was so happy to not be in it.  In our actively inactive participation in the holidays, we've pretty much avoided all the shopping hoopla.  I admit we did buy a couple of things for my niece and nephew who are many states away.  Amazon, thank you very much...shopping in my PJs awesomeness!  We're happily giving my art to family as gifts.  No shopping there.  And my kids?  Well, they're each getting cash and, I'm every so slightly embarrassed to admit, groceries.  Yup, all their tangible gifts say "Trader Joe's" on them somewhere.  And I'm absolutely positive they will love what they receive!

This is my happiest and most stress free holiday season ever!

I recommend it.

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I Found the Link to my Inner Child

I found the link to my inner child.  I've found it before, but I didn't really realize it.  But this last time I saw it for what it was.  I rather like to draw with my left hand (I'm a righty) as a challenge.  I do it every once in a while just for fun.  What I realize now is that it's a total release.  It's permission to be a kid, to be utterly and completely imperfect, to do something purely for fun, to experiment without any expectations of a "good" result.  It's FABULOUS! 

And it produced these super cute little guys!

So go for it!  Find the link to your inner child.  Maybe it's as close as your "other" hand.

 Click here to purchase this painting.

Fleepin' Beepin'

I love the whole key fob concept.  It's quite fabulous.  Especially with my car as I only have to have the fob in the car with me to make the car go.  No hunting for a key in the bottom of my purse.  No key in the ignition.  I totally loved it, that is, until yesterday.

I was sitting in the house happily painting, and BEEP!  Hey, was that my car?  I walk out to the carport.  BEEP!  BEEP! Hmmmmmm....BEEP!  BEEP!  BEEP!  BEEP!

OK, weirdness.  I go back in and get my keys...go back out and push the lock button.  BEEP!  BEEP!  BEEP!  BEEP!  BEEP! I push the unlock button.  BEEP!  BEEP!  BEEP!  BEEP!  BEEP!  BEEP!  BEEP! OK, serious weirdness.

Side note:  People going to the ACL fest are streaming by my house at this time, likely wondering what the crazy lady is doing locking and unlocking her car over and over and over and....

I go back in and sit at the table.  BEEP!  BEEP!  BEEP!  BEEP!  BEEP!  BEEP!  BEEP!  BEEP!  BEEP!

Nope, not gonna go back out there and try to solve this.  Nope.

BEEP!   BEEP!  BEEP!  BEEP!  BEEP!

 Dave gets home.  "Maybe it's my broken fob to your car."  (Somehow Dave's fob got beat up in his pocket.  All the buttons are broken off.  The thing looks pitiful.)

The fob hangs on our key hanger thingie...and it definitely looks like it feels guilty.  I grab it, go out, lock my car...BEEP!  BEEP!  BEEP!  BEEP!  BEEP!...unlock my car...BEEP!  BEEP!  BEEP!  BEEP!...go back in and take that fob of ill refute to a far-away corner of the house.

And...silence.

Fleepin' beepin' psycho fob!  Containment achieved.

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Does this haircut make my butt look fat?

Our big puppy, Hazel, is perfect in every way.  Well, except for the fact that she sheds.  Oh, and that she has a list of phobias about a mile wide.  The phobias?  Don't bug us a bit.  They rather crack us up.  Seriously...afraid of moving leaves, Hazel?  The shedding?  Can't stand it.  We find mini-Hazels all about the house...masses of black hair in the corners, under the tables, rolling across the floor like tumble weeds...not attractive.

Anyway, It was time to give our Hazel a hair cut.  (Did I mention she's clippers phobic?)  I started with her back.  It's the easiest and makes me feel good because I can get a lot done quickly.  Then I moved to her legs.  She's not a fan.  I'm not a fan.  We did not have a good time.  Next chest.  Then neck.  Then the holy grail of awfulness...her head.

And then I declared that I was done.  Finished.  The rest would be for Dave to do.  When?  I dunno.  Ever?  I did not care.  I was done.

I released Hazel to go in the room where everyone else was hanging out.  She looked like a mythical faun...my sweet girl in puffy Russian-esque fur pants.


Dave:  "Wow...Does this haircut make my butt look fat?"


Totally...but don't tell Hazel.  She's cruising around the house shedding half as much as she did the day before, blissfully clueless.

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My Fabulous Summer

You know, I usually start my summer break sick, sick, sick...cooties from my precious students combined with exhaustion make for a perfect petri dish of funk.  But this year I somehow managed to earn a "get out of jail free" card and was off and out of town with nary a sniffle.  It rawked!

But...skip forward about nine weeks, and I've been sick as a dawg for three days now.  Officially hosting a pity party now.  And I go back to work next week!  So even though I've had what has likely been my most amazing summer break ever, I'm in panic mode because there's still more I want to do!

I suppose there's a lesson in all of this, a reminder for me to focus on the fabulousness and assume that this illness is a "break" of sorts.  So, here goes....


My Fabulous Summer (in no particular order)

• was in a commercial with my kid.
• saw tons of friends...from long ago and more recent.
• went out of town three times.
• was an extra in a TV show.
• painted, painted, painted...and wrote, wrote, wrote.
• renovated our kitchen (we did almost all the work).
• went on many Home Depot and Lowe's dates with my husband thanks to the renovation.
• rode my bike and daydreamed around the lake so many times.
• hung out with all different members of my family.
• watched tons of movies.
• went through all my clothes and got rid of tons.
• did the same thing with my little guy's clothes.
• prepared tons of my work for selling online.
• sold some of my paintings.
• started some ideas for a children's picture book.
• relaxed a lot!


OK, I feel better now...but I'd still really, really, really like to feel better by tomorrow.  Girl still wants to play!

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