That Summer Feeling

Summer break is officially over for me this evening. Tomorrow I start back at work with a job I absolutely love. (I teach three and four-year-old children with disabilities in case you don't know.) And I'm sitting here reflecting on this amazing summer break I've had...and kind of wondering why it's called a "break" as I've been crazy busy.

- I've done a number of commissioned paintings in addition to my daily painting.

- I trained a bunch of wonderful new teachers.

- I've had an exhibit of my paintings.

- I started my fifth year of painting and blogging daily.

- I've taken two painting classes.

- I received a diagnosis that is fixable by surgery (that'll happen really soon).

- I helped my oldest son pack and move out of our house.

- I got my hair cut shorter than it's been in many, many years.

- I started painting much bigger.

- I learned how to do minor surgery on my chickens' feet.

I'm thinking there's more, but those are the things that pop into my blissfully exhausted little head.

What a grand summer it's been!


This is a sweet little practice piece from a class I'm taking. I love the warm summery feeling it has.

"That Summer Feeling"

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

Summertime Dreams

I'm taking a brief pause from my tree paintings to visit the beach. I love the beach. It's not all the fun in the sun that I adore. It's the smells, the wind, the humidity, the myriad of creatures that make their lives there, and the people who call beach towns their home. All of them rugged and delicate in their own beautiful ways.

So if I were at the beach right now, this would be my view from my spot on a blanket, sitting under a big umbrella, with a tall glass of iced herbal tree, and my watercolors at play.

Summertime dreams...

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!

Summer Lovin'

The latest in my tree series. I do adore a tree sporting all its big beautiful summer leaves!


And a wee tale I just got to share...I've got one of those names that most folks find particularly challenging. If I spell it for someone then they're never able to pronounce it correctly. If I pronounce it for someone they're never able to spell it correctly. But something truly incredible happened. I was at a store purchasing some things for my classroom...compliments of our amazing PTA...and I spelled my name for the checker. I had a feeling that my name was about to be Texanized, but I got a great surprise. A lady behind the checker looked at my name and then said, "Kali, we're going to have to put a couple of these things on order." And she said my name perfectly!!! This is a big deal for a girl who was never able to find any of that awesome personalized stuff like keychains, bicycle license plates, and pencils as a kid. A BIG DEAL, I say.

If they'd had a tip jar I would have dropped some cash in it!

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!

Save a Tree

I'm sure you all have canvas or some sort of other reusable bag for taking to the stores, right? Most of mine were either given to me or I purchased for three dollars max. Well, this morning this happened.

Trader Joe's checker: "This is the bag I want."

Trader Joe's bagger: "That's the one everyone wants."

Me: "That bag?"

Trader Joe's checker: "It's the perfect shape and they don't make them any more."

Trader Joe's bagger: "I've seen them for sale on Craig's List for $35."

Me: "People are nutty."


Saving a tree suddenly seems like it may ned to be part of my retirement plan.

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!

Seashore Dreams

Every day I get home from work and have to clean the sand from between my toes.  It's one of the many perks of teaching young, delightful kiddos who love their sandbox.  This past summer is the first summer in forever that we didn't go to the beach or some sort of lake house or something like that,  and I must be feeling it because I actually delay my toe cleaning just a wee bit while I close my eyes and pretend I'm just getting back to my room after a day of fun in the sun.

Seashore dreamy bliss....

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!

Summer Love

Tonight we say good-bye to yet another fabulous summer.  Did we travel?  Nope.  Did we do anything deliciously over-the-top?  Not at all.  Did we enjoy pretty much every moment of it?  You bet. 

We had a delightful summer of just doing our own thing on our own time table.  Our house was overrun with teenage boys and one particularly lovely girlfriend.  I painted and wrote with absolute abandon every day.  Dave took his photography to an all new amazing level.  And he and I even self-published a book of his photos and our haiku poetry.  You can look at it in its entirety here.

This summer rocked! 


...and now the kids and I go back to school and Dave gets to blissfully have the whole house all to himself.  If you don't count the two dogs, two cats, and four chickens, that is....

The miniature easel is included with the purchase of this miniature painting.

 

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!

Summertime!

OK, I'm feeling the life of luxury coming over me.  I just wrote my summer "to do" list and there are only six things on it!  Now, I didn't put anything on there that I'd normally do anyway, no, just the things that are out of the ordinary that I must take care of.  You know, things like my annual physical (sorry, TMI), getting my car inspected, and getting the kid a passport.  So my plan is to get all six things done by early July so I can settle in to my unscheduled life of hanging out at the pool, laundry, hikes, dishes, playing with friends, and housecleaning. 

Bliss....

I love summer....

Click here to purchase this piece.

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

He's a Basket Case

The new found freedom our kitten is experiencing is rocking his world...the back yard world that is.  Our kitten has been outside lately...a lot.  He loves it so much that if we walk out there he darts away because he just knows we're going to make him go back inside.  But we don't.  And he stays and he plays and our fingers and toes are double crossed that he pees and poos.

And after all his adventures when he finds himself tired, thirsty, and exhausted, he finally wants in. 

Does he come in and tell us all about his adventures?  No.
Does he want to follow us around to see what we're up to?  No.
Does he start up a game of tag with the dogs?  No.

Nope, he jumps up on the kitchen table (bad kitty), crawls into our basket of cloth napkins (bad kitty), and promptly falls asleep for a couple of hours (cutest kitty ever!)

Click here to purchase this painting.

A Mom's Advice is Rarely Heeded

I bribe my kids to get them to hang out with me.  It's a fact.  Just the other day I told my little guy that I'd buy him lunch at Chipotle if he'd walk there with me.  He negotiated on the walking bit, of course...and off we went, I walking and he riding his bike...I in a scarf, gloves, and two sweaters, he in a T-shirt and sweat pants even though I asked him twice if he wanted to dress more warmly.

And it was groovy.  He stayed right by me, conversed with me the entire way, ate his way-too-big burrito, and we started walking back.  The wind picked up a bit and suddenly he was riding closer to me.  Way too close.  And then he got behind me.  Right behind me.


Little guy:  "You need to eat a lot more, mom."

Me:  "Why?"

Little guy:  "Because you're a lousy windscreen."

Me:  "Wouldn't it be easier if you'd just worn a hoodie?"

Little guy:  "Why?  I'm fine."


I'm pretty sure that someday I'll be right. 

Click here to purchase this painting.

Missing one of Life's Little Pleasures

Life is filled with a myriad of wonderful things, big and small.  You know, like the sun setting, or a flock of birds taking off in unison and swooping overhead.  Stuff like that.  I get my fill, I really do.

...but I've noticed lately that I am missing one of my small simple pleasures.  Something used to avail itself about once a month, perhaps more, sometimes at home, sometimes not.  I'm missing bubble wrap.  I've said it.  Yes, this ridiculously over-the-top veggie eating, recycling junky of a chick misses one of the most wasteful things out there...bubble wrap.  I don't care if it's the big kind or the small kind.  I simply enjoy singling out one bubble and giving it a good hard squeeze till it emits that most satisfying sound, "POP!"

I don't know where the old bubble wrap has gone.  I'm sure it's gone the way of the dinosaur in some effort to save trees, which is awesome, of course.  From what I can tell it's been replaced by big bags of air (not nearly so satisfying to pop) or this weird deceptive bubblish wrap that lets you squeeze one cell...but the air just moves to another, denying the squeezer of the pleasurable "POP!"

Sigh....

OK, complaint registered.

Now accepting donations of vintage bubble wrap.

Click here to purchase this painting.

Feeling Fruity

I go a little nuts, a little crazy, a little paranoid from time to time, it's true.  But only a little...you know, that "healthy" amount.  And it's about organic fruit, so how bad can it be?

Anyway, I've come to the conclusion that there's a conspiracy afoot.  Perhaps hidden cameras in my home.  Or, gosh, a tracker in my car.  You see, I've noticed a shocking trend.  It seems every time I go to Costco and spend a ridiculous amount of money on fresh fruit, teenagers from far and near call my kid to set up an overnight.  My theory?  They're on to the recent purchase...they know there's ready-to-eat-already-washed fruit in our fridge.

Now, as a rule we always say "yes" to sleep overs.  But then I'd go into "protect the fruit" mode.  And as these teenagers are all boys, and all boys seem to lack the ability to look behind anything in the fridge, I'd just do things like stick the bowl of lovely strawberries behind the bag of dried figs...tuck the blueberries behind the bag of bagels...stick the raspberries in the drawer under the bag of bell peppers.  Wallah!  Yo, no fruit in da fridge!

Course the family convinced me that I'd crossed over into the world of being totally fruit loops, so now I set up a small edible batch of fruit, front and center, that I'm willing to sacrifice to the world of teenage boys.

Yeah, I'm a giver.

This painting is available for purchase at:  Feeling Fruity

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