yippee, zippy, hooray

... a while back, heidi, one of my favorite bloggers, said in her blog that i should expect a package ....so.... i've been holding my breath ......wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeew ... it finally arrived and was WELL worth the wait...... i was expecting just a small happy (i've decided to use happy as a noun as much as possible .... it's just a phase ... bear with me.....) .... but it was NOT a small happy .... it was a happy el grando .... heidi went thrifting and found an old monopoly box ...... i got the box, the board, loads of money and doodads ..... yippee, zippy, hooray ..... she also sent dominos and bottle caps .... just so you know how much i appreciate this ... how perfect this happy is for me:

take a look at this piece ....

or this one ..... 

or how about this, that really let's you know how useful it is ... 

or this happy is a prime example....

or this? i like that one....and this one ... 

and can you spot the happy bits here? 

or what about this one with some hidden monopoly?

so... you see ... 

heidi

rocks .... 

really rocks! 

and ... just a tidbit .... 

how many links did you click? 

how many are there? 

which was your favorite?  ... (julia helped me write this post and our favorite link is zippy)

what's the largest number of links you've put in a blog post? 

what makes a great day great?

oh happy day! 

it was a great one .... 

i went to pottery and had three pieces finished and waiting for me ... rah ! ..... did you know that i sometimes get back ...um....loser pieces .... and i don't show them to you? .... but today all three made me oh so very happy ..... 

 

all three are white clay with transparent green glaze that just does magical things in crevices .... 

two of them are fairly flat trays/platters ... and i carved trees on them .... the one with five trees is really large .... the other is just a bigger picture...but a smaller platter .....and then the third one, the center picture of the three green happies is more than an inch deep and could be a great casserole ..... lately i've had some very successful pottery pieces and am inclined to KEEP them for myself ... but i won't keep all of these .... they'll end up in my gift cupboard ..... but that's ok .... right?  

so .. three happies in a morning ... that should be enough to call it a great day? right? ...nope ... even greater than that ..... before pottery, a decorator came over to see my art .... she wanted to pick up this big bingo monopoly to show to a client .... and while here, she also took a single tulip AND yesterdays piece, map poppies (that's what it's named, heidi... i neglected to say that in yesterday's post....) .... that's right .... i had about 18 hours of those poppies on my mantle ... and now they are gone ... off to a client to see if they want to buy them ..... will they be in my life that short a moment? isn't that weird? i really didn't have time to bond with it .... and now they might not be coming back ..... how peculiar it felt to watch them leave!!! ...but...happy .... she liked them ... now hopefully her client will too ....or hopefully not depending on your point of view .... 

....and i went to steinmart on a whim and bought a cutie pie shirt .....

....and my kids came home from school SO happy cause it is almost our spring break ......

...and we went out to dinner with drew's basketball team ..... 

....and i'm watching american idol with my very favorite people .... 

what's not to be happy about ? 

what made you happy today? 

19

this is my 19th canvas of 2008... and it's a biggie! 

today i woke up in the middle of a HUGE storm .... but it blew over by the time i walked the kids to school ... it did, however, prevent allison from coming over for an art date .... the roads in her area were jammed up with fallen trees and such .... 

so, after a morning of chores and errands, i worked on this .... i've been working on it for AGES .... slow and steady .... but yesterday started working on the foreground ... the flowers are a map of illionois... i painted in yellow to start ... then cut out the petals .... used mat medium to glue them on .... then i used three different colors... cream, yellow, and brown .... to do shading and what not .... the stems are also three greens, though you can't tell the on this pic, can you? not sure why it's so dark ... when i tried to tweak it in my photo editing, and tweakage messed up other bits ... so... dark it is ..... 

i worked on my commissioned piece today ... green back, red heart, home above the clouds .... 

i worked on my deadline painting group piece today, also ... oh my! the theme this month is abstract ... yoinks .... i didn't know it would test me so! but that's why i'm doing it .... i was telling the family about it at dinner tonight ... we got into this big discussion about what abstraction is ... then drew was sent down to get the piece i'd been working on ... where is it, mom? ...oh, you'll know which one it is, honey! .... and he brought it up ... and i kinda got panned ... no one thought it was done ....or good enough to be done!  ..... the artist, moi, didn't know she was living with FOUR art critics ..... even the little one had stuff to say .... so, i have this partially "there" abstract ..... and for me? to finsih it? to make it right? i want to do something, huh, representational ... like i'd like to glue a row of keys across it ... i threw that out to the tomato throwing crowd ...and they hissed it down... that won't be abstract! no keys! ..... so i've been advised to do some kandinsky-esqe movement across it.... less abstract expressionism ... but, of course it already has vintage papers and stenciled letters on it ... so it looks like mine ... we'll see what happens .... if it ever get "done" .... or if i throw in the towel .... or throw keys at it! ..... deadline is friday!! oh my! 

and here's my one more tidbit for the day ... four babies! i had to buy baby gifts for four babies .... they were not all born just now ... but i've been putting off baby gift shopping .... i'm just not a shopper .... and i didn't want to go to the kind of store where you typically buy baby gifts ... so i just didn't ... and then .... whooooooosh ..... an idea flitted across my wee little brain ... i LOVE book stores ... so i bought all these new babies and their parents all kinds of my favorite books from my children's babyhood ... in fact, as i wrapped some, i recited the going to bed book by sandra boynton to julia .... i haven't read it in three or more years .... but is still knew every single word .... love that book ... love that author ..... so .... tip for the day: procrastinate your shopping .... or, more sensibly: tip for the day: books are always an appropriate gift! 

oh .... just cause it is an american idol commercial, i'll keep going ... lots of border's journals were on sale ... i bought a couple .... one is now julia's .... one is now drew's ......harumph ... that was not my intention! ....... i also bought allison a present ... and then she didn't come over ... i hope i remember to give it to her rather than just absorbing it into my mess....um....life ...... 

today, on american idol, lots of the guys that didn't impress me, sound better today ...and a couple that i like, haven't been so good ... but this is my favorite ... 

those new year's resolutions can be tricky ......

do you remember my new year's resolution for 2008? 

i decided to do 100 canvases this year .... i did in the mid 80s last year....and that was working pretty hard ...... so .... putting more time into my art to get the 100 ..... 

it has been a week since i finished 16 ..... that's a lot of time missed! so i made up for lost time today and did number 17: 

...and i did number 18: 
check out that geometric background! ...way different for me .... allison was with me today for art and said she thought it was grand .... i'm still getting used to it .... does it look like me? 

they were easy to finish ... because they were completed backgrounds ... i had papered them, stenciled them, glazed them, acryliced them .... all i had left was a foreground .... i did the hills, trees, hearts and moons without to0 much trouble at all .... plus, they are teetiny ... and small canvases are just phenomenally faster than large ..... 

yesterday i blogged that i had sold four pieces over the weekend ... two of those pieces were of this same metaphor ... a heart hanging on a branch .... so, i have done four canvases of this theme ... and they have all sold the FIRST time i've shown them ...oh ... one of them might have sold the second time it showed .... regardless ...not a bad track record for hearts on branches .... so i've done these two more .... and will probably do yet another and another ..... why not? 

and lest you think i'm not actually working hard ... i finished these two small canvases today ... BUT ... i actually worked on ten canvases ..... two six by six, six 12 by 12, one 36by36, and one 18 by 18 .... oh ... the 18 by 18 is the commission one that i've been talking about for what seems like forever ... i should be able to finish it tomorrow .... 

so, my plan on jan. 1 was to finish ten a month ... and not have to do any in november and december ....so far, so good....i'm feeling on track .... 

ok....who wants to fess up to a resolution.... are you still working on it? 

sunday is a day of rest ... but i forgot to rest ....

....i woke up with 20/20 vision .... still..... 

.... i taught my spiritual journaling sunday school class this morning .... extra good class .....

.... quick lunch ....

.... went to pick up my art from a show that ended last night ..... i sold four pieces.... rah! it is such a charge to sell pieces ... but finding out about four in one swoop is an extra charge .... i sold this sweet one.....and this tall one .....and these groovy flowers.... and one other that i'm not sure of ...and i can't trudge my tired self all the way down stairs to figure it out .....sorry! 

.... had my twins' birthday party ... we actually had five kids' together ...and invited the whole fifth grade to the party ... it was great ... at gym ....like one long recess ......

.....power nap....

....lovely husband made dinner .... 

....still have 20/20 vision ......how cool is that? 

oh!

look at meeeeee!

i'm wickedly chic ........

LASIK, pick a title, any title:

a)20/20

b)stick a sharpie in your eye

c)freak out 

..... i now have 20/20 vision ....after thirty years of 20/400 vision (more or less)..... i had a sharpie stuck in my eye ..... who knew they made sterile sharpies? .... and i freaked out .... a couple times .....

so now, a little more clearly..... 

i had lasik surgery yesterday .... i was very squeamish about it going in ... and eeeeek .... still am .... it started with some pre op stuff .... dr. s. was telling us (lovely husband was with me) about the laser, cold laser not hot laser , custom blah blah blah ... and while i pretended to be listening , i saw him go for a medical something or other ..... sealed for safety .... rip it open to use on me ... and....and ... and .... well, gosh, that looks for all the world like a sharpie.... and he kept talking and was looking at my eyeball through a microscope .... and then i SCREECHED ...

I"M FREAKING OUT HERE, ARE YOU WRITING ON MY EYE? .... and he pulled away ..... and said, oh, yes, i am writing on your eye ..... deep breaths ..... in....out ....in .....out ..... and he explained what he was doing and why ....i heard it ...and at the moment it seemed sensible, but now, 36 hours removed, i have no recall of why i would let the man write on my eye.... he's even married to a good pal of mine, and i'm still not sure how i ever got the gumption to say, sure, write on my eyeball with your sterile sharpie ..... beathe .....in ....out ....in ....out ..... so he finished working on my numbed eyes .... and made four marks....two on each eye ..... wow .... who knew they made eyeball sharpies .... and he started rolling away from me again ... towards the trash ....WAIT, STOP ... can i have that pen?...... how often do you get to take home a pen that is specifically made for eyeball writing? he gave me the pen .... and surely thinks i'm very peculiar for it ..... i told allison this story and she asked if i rummaged through the trash for more good stuff .... pffft! no! .... andy was in the room ......

so ..... i spent some time in a pre-op holding room with a handful of people ...we all had on blue surgical hairnets...not a good look on anybody, but i think i wore it well, considering .... we also had green dot stickers on our foreheads... with secret codes on them .... then at my very end, one woman came in and got a single red sticker over her right eye ....very interesting ..... very star bellied sneeches suessical .... i was thinking we could be a post modern sci fi show in all the oddness ..... how weird is it to look at other people who have sharpie writing on THEIR eyes? 

and then the freak out in the surgery room blechiness .. my whole surgery took far less than ten minutes ... ok ..... here's one throw you a bone detail, while my eyesocket was splayed out and unblinkable and clamped there .... i could SEE my kind and lovely doctor's paint brush smoothing out the flap as he put me back together .... swish this way, swish that, wipe swipe brush ..... andy was watching and later when i told him my (FREAKED OUT)impressions he said that's what it looked like from his end too .... a paint brush or a sponge squeegee flattening and smoothing it all back out .... after the cold laser ... that smells...... who knew lasers smell? 

the rest of yesterday was a blur (HA, not actually) of sleeping pills and naps ..... and this morning a post op check without freaking out ... and 20/20 vision ..... yoinks!! 

so.... i have to wear wrap around, no access to eyeballs, sunglasses for the first 72 hours .. til bedtime saturday night ..... so, i went to target ... and bought FOUR pairs of sunglasses .... only one fits the medical bill and are HUGE .... i look like i'm trying for the incognito thing .... julia brought girlfriends home from school with her today and i was explaining the it's-a-dark-and-cloudy-day-and-wearing-sunglasses-inside-thing..... and one of the little girls said, that's ok, i just thought you were being your usual, groovy self ...... so there you go..... this groovy gal has 20/20 vision .... 

but i did no art today ... and you still read my blog .... how much non art can an art blog have before you can't call it an art blog? .... that's rhetorical ..... 

here's your question of the day? have you ever had your eyeball written on? ....no....wait .... 

lemme try again .... what's the most freaked out you've been lately? 

tra la la ... have a happy weekend .... 

it's just a wednesday ....

heidi, groovy blogger of cookies and artsy endeavors, has awarded me a "you make my day award" ... thanks heidi .... you frequently make my day! i love reading your blog and about your art ..... 

so .... i'm supposed to name ten blogs that make my day .... bloggers that are groovy .... blogs i dig ..... so here goes .... 

1. my sweet sister in law, roberta, at mom on the run ......

2. groovy, knitty girl, jeannie, at knit resolutions ... she's a newbie ... leave a comment for her for sure! 

3.darla ... from bayside to mountainside blog...... she's artsy and a big reader .... i always go look up the books she's reading on amazon ..... i'm a huge reader but haven't gotten to where i post my books .... 

4.... vallen is a groovy blogger ... at queenly things .... and she always is showing groovy stuff, lately lots of fiber arts.... but she's kind of collagey too .... oh, and when i first started visiting her blog regularly, she had a button thing going on ..... and you know i just adore buttons .... 

5 ... sharon is a fab artist at norah's art .... i'm really inspired by how beautiful her work is ... 

6.... and rebecca ....  at cre8tiva .... she is also an inspiring artist ... for every bit of happy and giddy and goofy i am about my art and in my art work, she is soulful and spiritual and deep ..... and her art is just lovely gorgeous......

ok ..... so i'm supposed to do ten ... but i'm not a good direction follower ... and need to stop that portion of my post so i can focus on american idol ..... we just finished watching a recording or the boys singing last night ... and now we've watched a bit of the girls ..... there are five boys that i love ... and so far NO girls that i love ...  

and.... i did NO art today .... but to have a happy day, i need art or tennis ... and i had two hours of tennis .... and three parent teacher conferences (dear god, thank you for my three EASY children, i am so lucky they are mine. amen)  ..... and my kids had a half day ..... and little league season officially began .... but no art ... sorry if that's why you're checking my blog!!

..and last, but not least .... LASIK surgery tomorrow ... eek .... my coping skill is to just ignore it and not think about it... blech ... when i think about it i get freaked... they are going to cut a flap up off the front of my eye ...then shave off the irregularities in there ... and then whomp that flap back down .... twice! ick .... ok ... i just thought about it ... that's bad!! ha .... 

ok ... i'll add in an edit later tonight of my idol picks .... in case anyone cares ...well, i know roberta cares .... i'm doing it for her .... 

so, here's what i think .... my favorites are boys ... but there are way more great girls than boys .... more boys who are really just not so great .... 

NO (five boys, 1 girl)

david hernandez

chakezie

jason 

danny noriega

garrettt

amy davis

YES(five boys, seven girls)

david cook

robbie

david archuleta

jason castro 

michael johns

alaina

amanda ...rocker ..

brooke

alexandrea

asia

ramele

sayesha

MAYBE( like them all, don't adore them)

luke

colton

kristy cook

joanne b.

kady

carly

did you watch idol? who was your fave? 

...once upon a time, i wished i had a baby .....

 

sigh .....11 years ago today my twins were born ..... 

 i felt like i had won the lottery .... not one, but two perfect babies ..... 

julia was born first, 5'13 .... and drew was 5'11.... julia was heavier for about the first thirty minutes of their lives ... and then never again .... they weighed about what my dog weighs now .... they weren't as hairy though ..... i've been all goopy lovey reminiscent at them today .... i've gotten some eye rolling .... i still feel like i won the lottery ..... 

and then i got another! .... and she, not to be out done .... lost her first tooth today ..... on the twins' birthday ....

sophie came home from school today with a HUGE grin and doing the happy dance .... here's the letter she wrote to her aunt roberta, she actually dictated it to me and we emailed it off .... and then emailed to everyone else she loves ....

dear aunt roberta, 

this is sophie

today i lost my first tooth

i was doing math

caitlyn told me to twist my tooth

and i did

it didn't come out

then when i went back to my desk

i put my teeth together and it fell out into my hand!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

mrs. burnett gave me a little tooth holder and put my tooth inside it

and i wore it for half of the day

and then it came untied and i put it in my backpack

and at the end of the day

 i brought it home in my backpack

my mom screamed with happiness for me

i lost my first tooth on drew and julia's birthday

love, sophie

...and since it is an ART BLOG..... perhaps i should include:  today i did art ......
this is one of the backgrounds i showed you yesterday ..... and i put a family of pears on it ..... i'm the pear on the far right ... the one with the good posture ..... the twins are 1 and 4, they don't actually look anything a like ... except that they came from the same tree ..... pear number two just lost her tooth .... and my valentine flowers were from that tall handsome pear in the middle ..... 

.... and then i have to mention sweet heidi ..... she's tagged me .... go look at her blog it's full of interestingness ..... tomorrow or the next day or sometime when i don't have twin birthdays and lost teeth and pear families, i'll figure out what to do with her tag ..... 

one more non art story ..... 

this morning i took my kids to dunkin donuts before school .... it's a big deal, cause we usually walk to school ..... 

over breakfast, i asked drew if he felt older

d: of course i do

e: really

d: mom, i'm over 4000 days old .... that's pretty old ... 

e: julia, do you feel older

j: absolutely not

e: do you feel like you are growing up fast? 

j: not at all

e: even if you are more than 4000 days old? 

j: mom, i'm a little kid..... i'm ok with it.....

and there you have it ..... life rolls along ....like a pear ... juicy and sweet and a little wobbly, but still rolling along .....

malta....united arab emirates .... peru ....

.... i have a stat tracker ... a little piece of internet magic that tracks who comes and visits my blog ... things like new visitors and return visitors.... (jeannie, you are the only person i really recognize 'cause you come the most! i love you! ) .... where you live.... how long you stay .... no names though, no way to know egg-zactly who you are ... that'd be cool if it did say that ... anyhoo .... it is funny to see who stumbles across my blog ... and sometime i know what google search they found me on .... or whose blog they clicked to me from ..... some dear soul in lima, peru, that apparently reads english, pops up as a return visitor .... hello, lima! you've never left a comment ... i'd love to hear from you!!  ...  if you are a blogger... and you don't have a stat tracker ... i've tried a couple different ones .. at the bottom of this page in the margin you can click on my current one, which i like, and attach one to your page ... it is easy peasy .... and fun to see what far flung places folks are coming to visit from ..... 

today, in the u.s.a. (for those of you who are reading from afar... hi malta....) it is president's day ... which was perfect.... cause a short bit ago, my twins had to memorize all the presidents in order ... and this weekend they worked on power point presentations of particular presidents ... drew had bill clinton.... julia had chester arthur .... you can't even believe how much i know about chester arthur ... and i'm pretty sure that if you'd asked me a month ago, who is chester arthur? .... that i would not have known who he was .... a linebacker? oh .. a shortstop .... historical? oh..... british prime minister ... yup ... he's a u.s. president, and at the moment i'm not necessarily smarter than my fifth graders .. but i am desperately trying to keep up ..... 

WOW ... that was a long winded aside ..... 

this is what i meant to say: 

today, in the u.s.a., it is president's day.... so my kids didn't have school .... so i wasn't sure i'd get in any art ... but i did! rah! 

i worked on four backgrounds .... three, pictured in this blog , are ready for their foregrounds .... and i have plans for two of them ...the third? no clue! ..... the fourth is the commission piece that i have finally gotten a good start on ....

did you do anything artsy this weekend? or just post and tell me what little flag on my map is yours...indiana? california? canada? uk? thanks for stopping by ....

art will be posted tomorrow FOR SURE ....  

raise your hand if you are afraid of public speaking ...

did you raise your hand? are you afraid of public speaking? 

i did a program today for about 150 people ..... last night i was ready, had my stuff in the car even, and my husband asked me i was worried, nervous, ready..... how was i feeling? i said i wasn't nervous ... and that made me nervous..... ha .... 

anyway.... my pal, helen, came with me for moral support .... i did a 45 minute presentation on this book ..... i think i did fine ... some folks said very nice things to me ... and i was asked to participate in some other events in the future ... so someone liked me enough to want to share me with another group .... and i'm pretty sure i'll never have a group THAT big again .... 

...and ... at this very moment? i am a hero .... just in my house ... but i am a HERO ... the rockingest best mom ever .... my twins' birthday is this week ... but i gave them an early birthday gift ... a wii.... a wii from mii ... a wii from mommii ..... so we'll spend the rest of this long wiikend playing wii.... yipii .... 

and one last thing .... yesterday, friday, i delivered 20 pieces of art to be in a show this week ..... i don't actually know if i'm going to even make it to the show because i have such a crammed week .... including lasik eye surgery on thursday .... i am going to try to go though, because the art that i saw when i was dropping mine off was FAB ... really great .... like, so great, that on my art journey, i realized just how far i still have to go.... 

hope you're having a happy weekend .... how do you feel about public speaking? 

happy heart

thanks to cheryl ... where i saw the make your own candies! ..... 

happy valentine's day, folks out there in blog land ..... 

heart art is some of my favorite ...... 

you can see some of my happy heart work here ....

and a favorite heart art here ....

or click on this bit for sweet heart art ..... 

hope your day is heart filled and so happy and filled with people who love you .....  

multi tasking .....

i'm blogging AND watching american idol at the same time ..... gotta love that! .....  

take a look at this first picture .... where do you think that is? you think on it .... 

monday and tuesday this week? i played tennis.... it was gorgeous, perfect, fabu weather ..... and today? nearly fifty when i woke up.... but then, walking to school? forty degrees .... and later ...on my way to pottery? 30 degrees and windy, bitter, damp cold ... brrrrrrr ..... 

i always feel most sorry for my wee, little dog in weather this cold ... she just shivers and shivers .... 

so, that pic up there? that gorgeous, snowy mountain picture? ....taken with a cell phone .. imagine that .... a cell phone!...  my dear one took that in germany ..... he was away for nearly a week... had one day off over there ... and he went skiing on this gorgeous mountain .... and the best part? now he's home ..... 

..and now for the art portion of my day ..... i had pottery class .... i glazed three pieces ... two platters and one that's more of a dish with sides .... i have high, high hopes for the platters .... cross your fingers that i'll show you fab next week ..... 

i also made a couple pieces ..... and mostly? i chitchatted with my girlfriend, carolyn .... she's one of my pottery girls .... 

and i picked this piece up ..... i'm very happy with how it turned out .... you can see it larger and with some notes on my flickr site here .....  

....and once again, one of my children said to me... too bad your resolution is about canvases .... this plate should count ..... ha .... 

tomorrow is valentine's day ... hope you are planning on having a happy one ... 

smile....

...and now, an unannounced break from e's art blog ..... for a moment of mommeeeee-ness .... 

my little sunshine said, mom, i have a toothache.....

e: really, when did it start

s: i don't know, a while ago

e: do you need to floss, maybe there's something stuck in between your teeth...

s: it hurt before i flossed yesterday too .... 

e: come here, show me which tooth....

s: this one

e: honey, your tooth is LOOSE .... 

s: are you sure? 

e: here, feel it and move it..... 

s: yippeeeeeeee .... 

....and she does the happy dance ..... she is seven .... and now the next to last child in her first grade class to have a loose tooth .... and, at the rate she's wiggling it, the next to last child to lose a tooth .... because with constant wiggling, that tooth is bound to be out soon .... 

who knows how long that tooth was loose ... she had no concept of what "loose tooth" meant .... 

this blog post is brought to you by joy ..... and happiness ....and contentedness....  and sheer pleasure in the small moments...... 

here's what made me happy today: 

2 phone calls from a far-away-on-a-trip-been-gone-too-long husband...

4 of us meeting 3 pals for dinner...

60 minutes of tennis with 1 groovy coach and 1 groovier pal...2 days in a row

12 girlfriends rsvping yes to plans for a valentine brunch ....

fed ex's 1 email to me, 2 valentine gifts for my true love being delivered tomorrow...whew....

2 canvases i worked on today...

3 children making valentine's...

wearing 1 pair of doodle shoes today......

and of course, 1 wiggly tooth... in 1 giggly mouth ... 

what made you happy today? 

what are you persnickety about?

i started painting with acrylics in some post bac art classes in 1988ish.... i think ... and i used liquitex tubes ... i had some jars .. but mostly tubes .... then four or five years ago i started using golden's ... they are more expensive ... but i was trying to be "serious" about my paint .... i love them... they mix well ...they have a great smooth texture ..... about a year ago i needed a better black for my edges .... what i was using was bugging me .... and the liquitex basic looked like it came in a good tube for that ... not a toothpaste tube that you have to pinch and squeeze and torture ... a gently forgiving plastic squirter.... i  loved it ...not too pricey but good edge coverage ... and that's important cause my edges are frequently junky with bunches of oozed over collage or medium ....  that liquitex basic is awesome .... i have it in a couple colors .. but love it for the black ..... and then .... within the last year ... pearl's was having a sale on some of its store brand acrylics......so i just bought "pretty" ones .... and i ADORE them .... they are scrumptious .... and colors that i don't have many other tube acrylics in ..... so .... some artists are true to a brand ...only like a certain acrylic..... not me .... van gogh has a red that is primo fabulous bestest ever ..... can't live without it!  

 ...so what are you like? brand loyal to your paint? to your shampoo? to your soda? 

i am brand loyal to my soda... i should just go ahead and have diet coke tattoed to my forehead ... it would help waiters and waitresses ..... should have done it 20 years ago! 

i am not brand loyal to shampoo .... i have a favorite ...until it isn't my favorite ...and then i change ..... i was using nexxus something or other ...it had grapefruit conditioner ... that i LOVED ... and then they switched it...no graperfruit ... and i stuck with it ...until i saw burt's bees had grapefruit! ....had to have it .... so, for the minute, i'm burt's bees brand loyal.....

 
i'm getting more brand loyal to my canvases ... i didn't know that, until i got some i didn't love ... same with brushes ... i'm not brand loyal ...but the more i paint, the more persnickety i get ... persnickety is just another word for brand loyal ... did you know that? 

so, are you a brand loyal type? always buy the same something or other? used the same ________ (fill in the blank) your whole life? what's your favorite paint? color? shampoo? underwear brand? ..... i have no underwear loyalty .... i probably should ..... i have to rethink and refigure every time ... it would be easier to just KNOW ..... anyway? what's your persnickety? 

would you wear a broom as a corsage? well, what about it if were pink, then you would, right?

hi, this is jumping jack mona .... pull the string and her arms and legs kick up and down ... i made her two or three years ago at the front out of my mona lisa thing ..... if you read this blog post, you'll know she was hanging up, yet buried, prior to my '08 studio purge .... now she's in a place where she can be seen and appreciated .... 

and do you remember the pink dustpan and dust broom? that i picked up for a pittance just to keep it in my studio ... turning over a new leaf with a little pink broom? well, i found it today ... and whaddaya know? i have NEVER touched it since the day i bought it, blogged it, and bragged on it ..... never touched it .... what's up with that ... so, it obviously was in the wrong spot .... that little pink broom needs to be used ... but, out o' sight = out o' mind ..... so .... now mona is holding it .... i used a wire to make a hook for mona to hold the dustbin and broom for me .... so ...now, i'll either see the broom and use it .... or, alternately, i'll still be a mess but it's a handy dandy pink accessory for jumping jack mona ... 

so .... my weekend was ballet, two basketball games, two guitar lessons, a trip to the mall for a return, church, sunday school, one birthday party, and two president power point presentations ...oh, wait ... that was my kids' weekend ....  i don't think *i* did anything .... how 'bout you? good weekend? 

15

i've been a bit out of sorts ... for a variety of reasons ... but i figured out how to be back to sorted .... 

do something fun .... 

so i went back to my old faithful favorite .... mona lisa ..... have you met her? do you know our history ..... i have a flickr set of all my mona art ..... and i have a juicy blog entry about her too .... 

anyway .... why was i procrastinating painting? why put off doing something that you love doing? oh, cause i was enjoying a good wallow, maybe .... so .... instead of going to my basement to work .... i went and just played ..... and made something fun and happy and easy .....

mona on an ice cream cone isn't new to me ..... so i was just reworking an old fave .... actually, i think the first thing that ever sold at lola's gallery was rocky road mona .....

i started with a long background that i papered and lettered at allison's a few weeks ago ..... today, i glazed it brown, thinking of this piece .... but it was too brown and i didn't know what to do with it .... so then i painted some dark turquoise glaze on it ... and it was au courant with turq and brown .... then i puttered around ...not sure what i was going to do with it .... it was nice ..... but not nice enough ....so i started rummaging around ..... and found some mona's ..... i didn't plan on using her, but i gave one some pink highlights ... you know, just looking for something to do ..... and then i was making her into ice cream .... fast forward a bit .... and i had a full ice cream cone ...not glued down .... but it didn't look great on the background .... so, i decided to add sherbert colors to the background .... some of my very favorite paints that i bought ONLY in sherbert colors ..... so .... i loaded up the background with more vibrant colors, added ice cream mona ..... oh..... and put a cherry on top .... 

and that is number fifteen of the 100 canvases i am hoping to complete this year .... ok? 

ps.... over on flickr ... i've posted my background ... and some close ups of this piece ... well worth a peek .... have a happy weekend ... do something creative ....

when will e EVER do her 15th canvas .... starting to worry ??? ... maybe....

ya know .... i'm this artsy, busy, mom-ish, well (over?) educated, dog walking kind of girl ..... i love to read .... i love museums .... my favorite section of the paper is the front page and the editorials .... i've got a strong nerdy streak ... yup, on paper, i'm a true blue geek ..... 

but in real life, i'm not so highbrow.....my current dilemna?  lost, project runway, and an american top model marathon ..... all on at once .... an abundance of 9 o'clock viewing possibilities ..... and this during a writer's strike? what would i do if there were good tv on ... ah, the mind spins ..... not to mention, i flat out missed the opening episode of the new survivor ..... i just forgot about it .... oh well ..... 

but enough of my problems! here are my solutions to yesterday's blog.... fixed up angels: 

this first one is about eight inches tall .... white clay, red oxide glaze (is that right? now i'm not sure....)  i had her in the raku kiln yesterday .... and her wing fell off in their .... it was rescued and i scrubbed it up .... and glued it back on .... i believe that this is a lopsided flier ..... but no matter .... angels don't expect to be perfect ..... if only people were so smart .... 

i finally tossed out the other angel .... she wasn't lucky enough to be fixable after i mangled her .... that big chunk out of the side of her disattached head was just more than glue and glitter could fix .... luckily, these angels have no planned future ... they are just meant to be happy experiments .... or ordinary experiments in the case of the exploded head .... 

i have about 8 more bisque fired blobs ..... two that i have glittered and finished .... see them here .... and bunches to finish .... do you like this one? it is raku fired .... hawaiian blue glaze ..... i need to decide if i'm going to second fire the others , like this one, or if i'm simply going to leave them white .... julia, resident art critic and art cheerleader, likes this one better than the white ones ....i'm undecided ...... what do you think? 

i have a commissioned canvas ... the hardest kind to work on!! ..... somehow it is JUST so hard to do what i'm supposed to do .... i'm much more inclined to do my usual puttering and ignore the canvas with a deadline .... it's the slacker in me .... but i'll get it in gear .... i always do .... 

i've also had a decorator come by and she took a few pieces away ... and i realized that i really need to do some larger canvases ... i also need to do some more of my florals that aren't assemblaged ... more conservative ..... well, i don't need to, but i usually sell those pretty easily ..... i just need to get on with it, huh? ...but here i am fretting about poor, sweet jack on lost .... i love him ... but i'm really worried about his sanity ... and unless lost starts making more sense, you might need to worry about my sanity ..... tomorrow i WILL show you a canvas that has been completed .... maybe ..... i hope .... really, i'll try hard ... 

pick a title, any title:

a. good angels gone bad 

b. when angel heads explode

c. angel, ready to run.... 

d. well, this one made it ...... 

i had pottery today .... i had three large angels to raku .... and i did one small one that will turn out something like this ......... 

one angel, dropped a wing after firing, before being put in its fire pot .... my friend kathy nabbed the wing and tossed it in the pot ..... i've performed reconstructive surgery with e6000 and predict a full recovery, though lopsided flying might be an issue .....

one angel, when the kiln was opened, was standing there headlesss ..... my teacher, carol, nabbed the head and tossed it in the pot for me ..... later, i discovered that it was actually half a head ... half a halo too, actually .... kind of cataclysmic ...apocalyptic even .... i should have picked it up and thrown it away .... but, for some unknown reason, i toted it home .... i guess to mourn it .... it's a gorgeous blue ... ok ... the body is a gorgeous blue ..... the head? not so much .... 

and then ... one ghosty thing to turn into an angel with hardware and doodads .... it came out fine .... and then i dropped it when i got home ...oops .... headless angel.... again .... luckily, again thanks to the miraculous curative powers of the gloriously strong e6000 glue, it has been mended ... and halo'd and winged .... but is drying face down .... not ready for its photo op ....

so an angelic recap? this green one, looking like it is about to sprint away, in the photo, worked out ..... do you like it? 

one, dead and gone forever ..... once i'm brave enough to throw it away .....

two, on the mend, currently residing in the angel hospital that once was my art studio .....

and one last colorful note: 

i was at our ash wednesday service this morning .... the cross was draped and hidden ... in PURPLE ... you know i have a love/hate relationship with purple ... ok ... a like/ hate .... no ... a barely like/hate relationship with poor purple ... julia remarked on the purple .... and then asked .... what do you think god's favorite color is? i bet it's purple ..... well, i'm sure it isn't purple, is what i said .... a bit close minded and stubborn perhaps ... but not purple! purple is the color of a good hard bruise! .... i think sky blue or grass green or spring green or strawberry red is his favorite color..... what do you think?  

super tuesday ....

when i walk my kids to school (how old fashioned of me) i walk the dog too .... and then i continue on walking .... for exercise for me ...and to be nice to the dog .... today, super tuesday, dixie and i walked from dropping the kids off to our polling place ..... dixie was the only dog at the polling place .... imagine that ...... there was one toddley child  there ... dixie was better behaved than the kid .... there was one infant there .... the infant was calmer than dixie ..... there were lots of old people there ... they all liked dixie better than either the toddler or the infant .....i'm not sure how the toddler or the infant voted ..... dixie didn't tell me either .... she was between bark obama and mutt romney ...... 

i've been telling that joke all day ..... yes, i know, i'm a dork ...... 

i did nine thousand six hundred and forty two errands today .... i got in a bit of art but took no pictures for you ...... so, if you haven't read yesterday's blog, go ahead and do that ... it was long and newsy and full ..... for now, hope you had a super tuesday.....i promise pics and links tomorrow .... tra la la .... 

14 .... spell check says purpley isn't a word... that's too bad...

hurrah ... i finished my 14th painting of 2008 ... it was done on a canvas that i started work on a bit ago ..... a 12 by 12 ..... it is further exploration of a theme i've been working with ....some people hang their heart on their sleeve .... but when i got sidetracked and went to play hide and seek with everyone else, i hung my heart out on the tree just in case ..... 

a heart on a tree seems like openness.... ready for something or someone .... ready for the extraordinary ..... i like the notion of open hearted ..... 

so .... that said ... can you belive it's purpley? i NEVER use purple .... ever! ..... well, never say never .... cause it looks even more purple in real life .... 

but .... while exploring my happy and familiar themes, i'm working on stretching myself in different ways .... like the purple ... but also, this heart

 string notion has always been on a partial branch, not a whole tree....like this one, or here....or this one .... and two out of the three have been sold,

 adding yet another reason to continue to explore the theme ...... so, with this painting, while staying the same, i'm also trying hard to be different ..... 

and ... while we are talking about being different ... here's a different piece .... a blue pear .... i've done loads of pears ... here's a whole flickr set of fruit ..... but this pear was different for me when i did it ... more brown than my usual ... more subdued .... but very bold in its blueness ... very textured .... so ... this is the piece i donated to my school's auction .... and it sold for more than i would have sold it for .... that made me happy ..... 

i also was going to tell you about the nativity i made with sophie's class .... it think it went for more than three hundred dollars .... that's what it was the last time i checked on it .... and i don't think that person actually got it, so someone outbid her in the silent auction ..... 

....and .... off of the art subject .... tomorrow is super tuesday and i'm voting ..... 

here's an interesting e.beck.voter tidbit ..... the person that i vote for in the primary NEVER is running for president in november .... like, i voted for the first george bush in the 1980 primary ... and he ended up as reagan's running mate instead ..... or ..... let's see, paul tsongas .... he ran against bill clinton in 92 primaries .... so ... i can't pick them, apparently .... regardless of party affiliation ..... i also am HUGELY irregular in my party affiliation ..... oh well, at least i get a fresh chance every four years .... 

i've been talking with my fifth grade twins about the election ..... i give them simple pros and cons for each candidate ....why people like a candidate, why others are opposed... the kids hear the same thing from me .... and one hopes i'm voting for mccain ... the other wants me to vote for obama ..... both have reasonable reasons ....  both think the other is dead wrong .... ha ..... so, happy super tuesday to you , don't forget to vote tomorrow if you are a super tuesday state .... 

and i'm just going to keep going .....apparently i shouldn't have skipped the last few days of blogging cause i have a lot to say ..... 

i went to a PRE-OP appointment today ...gasp..... oh my..... but, acutally, not really gasp worthy .... i'm going to get LASIK surgery on my eyes..... my regular eye doc is a friend from church ... and my pre-op was with her husband who is with a different eye doc group .....so, he knew me a bit ..... and here is why i am telling you this ...... on the papers that i filled out ....under job? i wrote artist ..... the truth .... but so interesting to write it ... declare it ... put it out there for someone to challenge.... artist? really? you sure? ...when someone then reads it, they don't know how i sometimes feel like i'm pretending to be an artist .... i'm doing a fine job pretending .....but it still doesn't always seem real... ya know? ..... so ..... dr. s. said to me, i know you are a gifted story teller, i've heard you, is that what you are referring to when you write that you are an artist? .... and i had to tell him no..... i'm a painter and collage artist ..... i said it without giggling even ..... he said that was interesting but that he hadn't known it .... i preceded to ask him about three heart collages in his home .... that i had made! ..... kind of funny.... his wife bought three hearts at an auction ...... he just hadn't connected the dots that they were mine .... so he was actually quite familiar with some of my art ..... 

and one more thing .... in case you haven't read enough of me ..... i have an article, a story, in my church paper .... here's the link .... you have to scroll down to page six ...... one of those days in january that i didn't blog, i was writing this instead...... 

i have plans to do art tomorrow .. but my plans have been going quite astray lately! ...... let's hope it works out ..... stay tuned .....

ps.... i just reread this .... and it is the type of blog entry that is HARD to read .... cause if you want to comment, you have trouble remembering all the different parts ... so i'll recap ... you can comment on 

a. the purple painting

b. the auction's blue pear or nativity  

c. my peculiar voting record ... or my children's choices .....

d. lasik surgery, oh my! or my eye doc having my art

e. the article i wrote 

ok ... go ahead, review done, comment away .....

i love this video ....

thanks heidi .... i grabbed it off your blog ....