Tom Cat

When my son was eighteen, he came home smiling ear to ear and declared, "I'm eighteen and I can adopt a cat." Then he showed us the most adorable tiny orange tabby kitten. Well, I have to admit that we weren't thrilled. We already had two big dogs and an elderly cat. So we told our son that he'd have to keep the cat in his room and pay all the expenses.

Skip forward three years. That tiny kitten, Tommy, is now one of our twelve beloved pets (1 big dog, 3 cats...all rescues, and eight chickens). We love that orange tabby our kid adopted so much that when our son decided to move out a couple of years ago we told him he wasn't allowed to take Tommy with him.

Last week my son asked me to paint "something like this". He handed me my favorite illustrated childhood piano book. It was a line drawing of a down on his luck, clearly drunk, injury prone cat. I told him, "Sure, but I'm not going to make him a drunk cat."

After days of idea collaboration here is "Tom Cat". My son is stoked to have it on his bedroom wall. I think this commission makes me happier than all of the others I've had the privilege of doing.


And, icing on the cake, my kid and I chose to raise money for Austin Pets Alive by giving them a portion of every print sold.

"Tom Cat"

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Prints of my art are available in my Etsy shop.

I welcome commissions.

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Thankful

I want to take a moment to thank all of you for accompanying me on my creating/blogging journey.  It's been three-and-a-half years of absolute bliss for me and I plan to continue well into the future. To celebrate my gratitude I'm going to have a HUGE sale on my art.  Everything on my DailyPaintworks site will be 50% off through the month of December.  There's no way for me to mark everything down on the site or to provide a discount code, so just contact me via DailyPaintworks or on this blog site and let me know which one you'd like and I'll alter the price.

Thank you, thank you!

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!

Cookie Love

I've always rather liked rewards.  You know, simple stuff like crossing things off of a "to do" list, the few coins I find in the washing machine after doing a load of the family's laundry, and hugs.  Hugs are always good.  But lately the main reward I've been wanting is cookies.

Yes, I'm Kali...and I've got a problem.  A cookie problem.

It seems whenever I eat my lunch or dinner, my tastebuds collaborate with my brain and they all say, "We deserve a cookie!"

So do I indulge them with a fabulous chocolate chip cookie?

Do I present them with a whimsically decorated sugar cookie?

Do I give them a meticulously criss-crossed peanut butter cookie?

Nope, nope, nope!


No...because they're stuck with me they get an amazing gluten free ginger snap cookie...or five.

And they are SO happy!

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!

Fuel up Fail

I like to think that embarrassingly goofy stuff like this happens to most people...at least some of the time.  But deep down I'm pretty sure it only happens to me. 


Today, for instance:

I pulled into a gas station to fill up my car.  I was down to a quarter of a tank so I was being super responsible and all.  I popped my gas cap cover, took my gas cap off, did all the credit card stuff, put the pump thing in, and started fueling.  Of course instantly I used that little stopper thing that keeps it pumping without you having to hold it the whole time.  And then I cleaned my back windows.  A little while later I heard a click, I pulled out the pump thingie, returned it to its dock, put my gas cap on, closed the cover, and got in my car and took off.

I gave it a bit of time for my gas gauge to rise to full as it always takes just a bit of time...and nothin'!  It didn't budge past the original quarter full. 

So when I got to the grocery store I pulled out my phone and checked my bank balance.  No charge from the gas station.

I must've never really gotten it fueling, though I went through all the motions. 

So this kind of thing happens to all of you, too, right?

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!

In Need of a Manual

So I found a shirt on the side of the road.  A bunch of shirts, actually.  And I've been wearing them off and on for a while now.  All but one, that is. 

Now, I like the shirt.  At least I think I like the shirt.  But really I can't quite figure it out.  I think I know which is the neck hole and which is the waist hole...but truth be told, I'm not 100% sure.  So it sits in my drawer waiting for some stroke of genius to come over me.

I'm pretty sure the shirt must have originally come with a manual.


Suggestions and wisdom are welcome.

This is part of my Hallway Project.

Click here to check out my gallery.

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

A Perfect Storm Leads to a Perfect Lamp

You know how you can have something in your house for years, and this something just kind of bugs you every time you see it?  Well, I had something, well, many somethings, but today I tackled and fixed one of those somethings.

You see, there's this lamp that sits atop my desk.  It's pretty.  It's also utterly and completely boring.  Several years ago I even took it to a friend's house for a day of do-it-yourself projects but never got to it.  So it continued sitting pretty and being boring week after week after week.  Until today, when the perfect storm occurred.

Perfect storm ingredients:
- a day off for Memorial Day
- a literal storm outside keeping me inside
- a chance viewing of a blog I love
- having everything I needed right here

So I pulled my very boring white lamp shade off and painted flowers all over it.  Then I took the base and stem of the lamp and polka dotted the heck out of it.

And guess what!  I love my totally not boring lamp!


...and so does David!

Click here to check out my gallery.

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

Got my Party Dress On

Well, not really.  Really I've got my skinny jeans on.  But, hey, it's my birthday, so I can pretend what I want, right?

I like birthdays.  I like getting older.  I like admitting how old I actually am.  And I'd like to think I still will when I'm in my eighties.

So...I'm rockin' forty-seven this year.  And what have I said today?


"I'm going to be odd this year."  To which folks have said/though.  Um, I thought you were already odd.


Oh, and since I'm forty-seven...and since it's a prime number in addition to being odd...this year I'm officially in my prime.  In an odd way, of course.

Click here to purchase this painting.

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