turquoise dog noses and fond fare-thee-wells ....

i am so fortunate! i rarely get to paint on a saturday .... but the smallest e.beck.artist went to a birthday party instead of a soccer game ..... so i was freed up .... then mr.e.beck.artist took the twins out for the morning ..... leaving me home alone ..... well ...with the dog, who dutifully followed me around and nuzzled this turquoise paint:

so, i finished this painting .... it is similar to others i have done ... but all those other tall, thin, turqoisey heart string paintings have sold .... so it seems sensible to make another .... particularly considering i have a show in may .... and in fact, i've done this one for the gallery owner, kristy, to consider for the postcard invitation .... i mostly do squares ... but wanted her to have a non-square alternative ..... it is on flickr .... with a titch of a story that you might like to read .... 

then, you also must know, that i am a blog hopper .... surfing the net, artsy blog to artsy blog .... i was surfing by very mary design and left a comment on a contest .... best comment wins! and i won .... teeheeeee .... so she will be sending me groovy this and thats to include in my art ... you know i'm all into that...... so, go visit very mary ...... 

and last, and maybe least, i'm off .... again .... this time i can tell you before my long blog absence! ..... because i am not leaving an empty home for you to come and burgle ...... (burglars burgle, right? ) .... anyhoo .... i am leaving mr.e.beck.artist at home to tend the three e.beck.artist progeny and dixie the wonder dog ....... where am i going? oh, you remember from when i wrote about it here? perfect ... i won't repeat myself ... i leave tomorrow, sunday ... and return friday, early ...... so expect a post friday, since i'll be arting away all week long in the lovely mountains ..... what could be cooler than art camp ... um ... i mean professional development classes ..... 

tata and tra la la ..... 

miss me! 

happy wednesday ....

whew.... it's been a busy day and i'm still running .... so a short blog today ... only because yesterday i PROMISED art today ..... and if any of you are keeping track, i'd hate to not keep a promise ..... 

today i did everything on my list of things to do .... all sorts of little this and that chores ... and i had a great tennis practice.....and  finished two paintings ..... and so's soccer practice ....and, any minute now, book club .....

in the meanwhile, my art......

as you can see i'm still on my nest kick ..... 

and this piece is for my deadline painting group for flickr ... i wrote a ton about it for flickr .. read about it here ......it's called "figure eight: pear love" ..... 

and here's how my family room is looking after a week of doing all these twelve by twelve canvases .... 

i have one more to do ... but, i've left it for last because it seems hard!! why did i make the background so hard to work with? hmmmmmm ...

it is full on spring here .... it was cold when i woke up but i wore shorts all day ...... hope it is beautiful where you are ... tell me something fabulous you did today ....

just this and that ......

yippee zippy hooray ....

do you remember my happy 100 blog post? of course you do .... 

and i couldn't remember where i got the idea from? well....i re-found it ... i found the clever blogger that had a fun and fab list .... read soul glo's happy list here ......

and just a titch of an update .... i had more tennis than art today ..... but i've finished this piece with its personalization ..... to be picked up by the happy customer tomorrow ....  

i've been to binder's , the brick and mortar version, and bought a dozen small six by six canvases ..... so expect a dozen small ones soon! 

i am going to this place .....and i am going there for this groovy toovy conference ...... and here's the actual class that i am taking .... the best part is that i am going with my mom ..... raise your hand if your mom has an art website? yup.... i've got the coolest mom ..... 

that art workshop is next week ... my children will be in the capable hands of mr.e.beck.artist whilst i'm away ..... so i need to stop arting long enough to pack up my very long supply list of things ......but, that's not til next week that i am away ..... so, tomorrow, i'll now promise you art .... the accountability of declaring it really does work for me!! besides, i'm at 27 canvases for the year .... so i still need to do three more this month..... whew ... better get going ..... 

well... who'm i kidding? i 'm going to go watch american idol with all the little.e.beck.artists..... but tomorrow, i'll definitely make a painting for you to look at .... what would you like it to be? 

26, 27 and yogurt .....

because enough of you said i could continue on with my exploration of the nest theme ..... here is my 26th painting of the year ......i actually went so far as to cut out a stencil that says nest ..... cause i knew just how i needed it to look ..... down to the dictionary font ......but my stencils and stamps weren't doing it for me ... so ... you can call me stencil maker .... this is one of the happiest paintings i've made lately ...to me anyway ...... i was happy making it and i am very happy with how it turned out ..... the name of the painting is ...'nest is a verb' ..... 

in contrast to the happiness .... i think painting number 27 of the year (say wow! 2 paintings finished today and her three kids weren't even in school ...... really wow!) ...... i think painting number 27 of the year is a bit moody .... kind of a calm and cool lavender .... is it about to rain? or is it dusk ....is it safe to leave your hearts hanging out all night ....i'm not sure .....
this painting is called 'heartstrings on a lavender day' ..... an exploration of yet another theme i've been working on a lot lately ..... you will let me know if my art gets boring, right? anyway, it's purple, and every time i express my disdain for purple, someone else shouts out that it is their favorite color .... so someone will like it .... and i'll get credit for trying to stretch myself, right?

and last but not least .... i had a contest ... remember? well ... apparently i didn't ... i wrote all the names on a smidge of paper .... and pulled one .... and i pulled out yogurt .... so, phd in yogurtry, you won! rah! go yogurt...... 

and the rest of you? thanks for playing .... let's do it again sometime ..... 

and special thanks to sweet allison for allowing me to do a contest with her images and goodies .... hooray..... 

easter joy....

no art today, art fans ...... 

instead, egg hunts and chocolate, new spring outfits and church, and friends and friends and friends ...... there were 18 of us here for a big ole' lunch after church.... i feel like i'll have leftovers forever! ..... no one eats as much when there is so much candy to choose from ..... 

my kids don't have school tomorrow, but i still have art plans ..... hopefully i'll finish a canvas .... or even two ..... 

did you have a happy weekend? 

dreaming of jelly beans .....

today we had soccer, groceries, shoe shopping, baseball, jelly bean eating, tennis, dinner with pals .... and no art ... a fun and happy and full day with no art .... so.... instead of an art picture to show you .... i share these flowers ... sent to me by mr. e.beck.artist's boss ... how nice is that? 

happy easter ..... 

save the green jelly beans for me .....

hippity hoppity easter's on its way .....

the conundrum of the day .... do i show the finished art piece of the day first.....or last .... if i show it first, some of you might not peruse the eggy photos of my day ..... or... if i show the art last, some of you, groovy readers, might not even stick around for the art if you get too bogged down in the yolks ... so.... in deference to artsiness, this is after all, an art blog .... i'll show you today's canvas (the 25th of 2008) ..... and if you have the extra minutes, by all means keep reading about the traditional egg blow ..... 

here is my art of the day: 

this is a commissioned piece .... 18 by 18 square canvas .... novel pages in the background .... some stenciling ..... the heart is glazing and acrylics ... i love that little bingo number door ... and the clouds are done with my (i love it) favorite lumiere paints .... on dictionary pages ..... so ... i'll email it to the buyer ... cross my fingers that she is happy with it .... and then add the family names when she says "of course i love it, e" 

my kids didn't have school today .... 

so i washed a dozen and a half eggs .....did you know salmonella is usually ON the shell not in the yolk and white? so when you crack it the outer egg gets some of the eggy juiciness on it ... anyway .... wash your eggs .... 

skewer your egg .... i sometimes use a heavy duty needle ....but actually find a skewer works kind of like a drill ... scrape a little til it grabs ... then gently drill it in .... make a small hole on both ends .... the smaller, the prettier ... the bigger, the easier to blow out the gunk ... it helps if you skewer all the way through the egg to pop the yolk..... blow into a bowl if you want scrambled eggs .... my mom always did that .... planned ahead ... blew eggs for weeks ahead of easter time ..   hold gently, blow powerfully.....
no, honey...hold GENTLY .... if you squeeze it ... well ... gross! .... yes, honey...just hold it there a minute while i get the camera ..... i know it's gross, but it won't kill you to hold a smashed egg for another minute ..... well, you smashed it .... so now be my photo op! rinse out the insides and blow them again ... let them dry .....
use crayons to decorate the eggs for a wax resist ..... then follow the directions on your egg dye kit .... it says just use water, but if you use vinegar, the colors are much more vibrant .....keep them in the dye for a long time for deeper colors ....after your eggs dye, display them in a pretty bowl or on a springy platter ......make sure you write the date on a couple of them ..... when easter is over, pack your gorgeous eggs up in the egg carton and put them away with the other easter decorations ... you'll be able to enjoy them for years to come ..... we have piles of them now ..... when i was a kid, my mom used to string them and make an egg tree ..... 

what are you doing to celebrate the season .... 

nest (verb)

i finished my fourth painting of the month .... i feel like there's a chance i'll make my ten this month now that i have some momentum ...... it's another nest ... i hope i'm not boring you yet .... but i'm really loving the pieces that i've been making .... somehow i find them calm and soothing .... and metaphorically, they seem optimistic and promising ..... something miraculous about to be .... someplace safe to wait .... a metaphor for house and home .... the title of this one is ....nest(verb) .... 

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

nest      [nest] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation

–noun

1.	a pocketlike, usually more or less circular structure of twigs, grass, mud, etc., formed by a bird, often high in a tree, as a place in which to lay and incubate its eggs and rear its young; any protected place used by a bird for these purposes.

2.	a place used by insects, fishes, turtles, rabbits, etc., for depositing their eggs or young.

3.	a number of birds, insects, animals, etc., inhabiting one such place.

4.	a snug retreat or refuge; resting place; home.

5.	an assemblage of things lying or set close together, as a series of boxes or trays, that fit within each other: a nest of tables.

6.	a place where something bad is fostered or flourishes: a nest of vice; a robber's nest.

7.	the occupants or frequenters of such a place.

–verb (used with object)

8.	to settle or place (something) in or as if in a nest: to nest dishes in straw.

9.	to fit or place one within another: to nest boxes for more compact storage.

–verb (used without object)

10.	to build or have a nest: The swallows nested under the eaves.

11.	to settle in or as if in a nest.

12.	to fit together or within another or one another: bowls that nest easily for storage.

13.	to search for or collect nests: to go nesting.

14.	Computers. to place a routine inside another routine that is at a higher hierarchical level.

[Origin: bef. 900; ME, OE (c. D, G nest; akin to L nīdus nest, OIr net, Welsh nyth, Skt nīḍalair) ≪ IE *nizdo- bird's nest, equiv. to *ni down (see nether) + *zd-, var. of *sd-, ablaut var. of *sed-, v. base meaning “sit” (see sit) + *-o- theme vowel]

—Related forms

nest·a·ble, adjective

nester, noun

nestlike, adjective

nesty, adjective

i did not know that nesty was a real word ... it sound just like the sort of thing that i would make up ..... if you'd like to read a bit more about this painting, i was nestfully wordy while describing it on my flickr site .... 

...and ..... a shout out to zurich, switzerland! hey, collar family ... thanks for commenting on my blog, allison ... i hadn't recognized you as a collar because your mom always refers to you as allie .... i read your comment to my mr.e.beck.artist and it made him laugh ..... and  .... do you know how groovy, cool, fun your folks are? i can't even begin to tell you how much fun i had with them in cancun..... have you seen your dad dance lately? i don't have an email address for any collars .... if i did, this wouldn't be quite so public!!

so.... all you frequent posters on my blog ...jeannie, heidi, vallen, darla, roberta .... let me know when you are tired of nests .. in the meanwhile, i'm sure i'll be doing another tomorrow .... is that ok? 

happiness is......

today .... i won my tennis match ..... doubles .... 4-6, 6-4, 7-5 ... whew ....

today ... i found out i sold a painting..... this lovely, large one ... rah! 

today ... i found out about a commissioned piece ... 30 inches square ... bingo flowers .... similar to this one, only larger ......

today .... i finished my 23rd canvas of the year .....i'm calling it nestled....here it is : 

today..... i worked on the red jelly beans.... (see the last post, yesterday was green jelly bean day)

today..... mr.e.beck.artist is coming home from yet another trip...... 

today...... i bought little s.beck.artist an easter dress .... purple!! .... i should buy her purple more often just to see the delight on her sweet face ....... 

today..... was a really great day ..... 

happiness is..... a really great day .....

oh my goodness i had a grand and busy day ....love that!

i had such a great day and i have all sorts of pictures to show for it ..... i haven't had pictureful posts lately....so, since i do, i will ..... (i'm using jj's camera.....did i ever tell you that i forgot my camera at my mom's house? that was two trips ago ....but she'll bring it back to me when i meet her at a week long art workshop .... yippee zippy hooray for that .... i drive to greenville and turn right ....and then when it is GORGEOUS, i'm almost there....but i digress.... nothing new with that... i'll tell you more about that trip when it's a bit closer!)  

so....my day ..... 

my studio looks well loved, lived in, useful ..... and messy ..... 

i guess, in my world, it isn't actually that bad ... but i did end up doing some painting on the floor today....just because the table was filled up! ...... if you go over to my flickr site here ... you can roll your mouse over this same pic and i've put all sorts of happy labels on it .....

and below, some of my process .... after i use my largest plastic stencils, i usually just plop them on the floor to dry ..... which would be why my tiny white dog frequently has colorful paws.....
that mass of green-ness, day after st. patrick's day, is a map .... i had extra green from some stencil letters i'd done ..... and didn't want to waste it ..... so i whipped out a map that i bought while in florida ... my dad took the kids and me on a bike ride throught their neighborhood while their was a garage sale-palooza .... we went to about 20 houses ...could have gone to forty, but i spent my ten dollar budget .....anyway ...there was a bin of maps ..... 50cents each .... i bought 25 maps AND the bin they came in for three dollars ... yeehaw .... and now this map of chicago suburbs is destined to be ...oh....leaves on flowers or a tree .... or maybe a pear .... or a giant mona lisa frock ..... we'll see....one day ..... in the meanwhile it will sit on my floor .... um...i mean, in the meanwhile , it is dry and i'll fold it back up and put it on the clipboard for green painted papers ... uh huh ...soon ....i'll do that soon .....

and below, six backgrounds that are done ... well, done as far as backgrounds go .... papered, painted, glazed, stenciled, stamped...... if they sit around in my studio long enough i 'll decide they aren't quite right and keep working them ...until they shout out to me what the next bit should be .... that top left one? it shouted out what it needed .... i finished  it today ..... 
actually, i finished seven of these 12 inch square backgrounds today ...and the green one that i THOUGHT i'd finish today was left out of this photo so it would be neat and tidy .... instead, i chose the blue one ...

here's what i did with the blue one .... 

if you click right here, you'll head over to this pic in flickr .... where i explain the whole process ... and what my wee brain was thinking while creating .....

and here's a larger image of the final piece, one nest, one egg ..... 

i didn't actually have easter eggs in mind when i made it, but i have promised my kids an easter egg coloring fest on friday ....when we have no school .... we're going to blow the eggs .... do you do that? we save our eggs from year to year even ..... i'm sure i'll post pics ... come back for that.....

and last but not least ..... this is on my kitchen table ......

where have all the green jelly beans gone? 

wish i could blame the kids ..... 

what's your favorite color jelly bean .....

happy 100

i have been out of town ....on a fabulous trip with my mr.e.beck.artist ......i've never called him that before ... but i'm thinking it might stick ...... 

here's a cute story about him .... i was sitting at a poolside/beachside/sunnyside restaurant in cancun mexico with five friends .... we were well into our second hour of a long leisurely lunch .... when we saw mr.e.beck.artist, back from a golf outing, walking around the pool looking for meeeeee ..... each of us called him in turn.... his name....whistles .... and he never looked up .... then i yelled ...hey, cute boy .... and he looked right up at me ..... cute mr.e.beck.artist was there as the third hour of my lovely sunny lunch drifted by ......he answers to cute boy .... i like that .... very good thing he doesn't read my blog, huh? 

so....i'm back ....and happy ... the happy bit isn't new ...i'm usually happy .... i daresay i'm happier than most people .... nothing i do special ... i think it's just the way i'm made .... but, i'm happy to be home to my sweet children .... and my dog .... when i saw each child come out to greet us while we were getting things out of our car, my heart gave a little squeeze ...hooray! all safe and sound .... and then? i saw so carrying the dog ... and i NEVER missed the dog while i was away!!! what's up with that ... last week when we were on spring break i missed the dog a ton .... thought about her often ..... but nope, not this time .... sadly, i think i was just too busy dancing in cancun to miss her .... sorry, little dog! 

so, before i left on my trip ... i was on an icelandic (i think? ) blog ... that i can't find now!!! and the blogger was writing down 100 things that made her happy .... and she had 87 ..... and it got me wondering ....if every person on the planet had to write down 100 things that made them happy, would they all be different .... or even five things ..... like, flip flops, singing along to 80s music, guacamole, australians, and beaches .... those are five happies about my weekend .....  wouldn't everyone on my trip write a different happy list even though we were all on the same trip .... 

so, it's kind of like dna .... a defining list .... that's uniquely YOU ..... when i made my list of 100.... i had 187 .... so then i had to add 188, not following directions.... and today....as i started to post ... i added australians ... cause i spent a good amount of time with australians this weekend ......are all australians so fun? i sure hope so ..... that's a nice idea, a whole country full of funny and happy ...... anyway.... here's my list... my dna of happiness .... it's already changed since i wrote this a week ago .... i could delete  a couple .... add about 50 more..... but ... for now .... here it is ......

My happy 100

1. my family
2. living in a white picket fence house with my favorite people
3. my tiny dog (her size is part of why I love her so)
4. walking the dog
5. dog dancing for treats
6. bagels
7. art days with Allison (these are not in any order, I love  Allison more than bagels)
8. my pals…especially d, c, a, t, m
9. tennis
10. the sound of new tennis balls being opened
11. clogs
12. sneakers
13. boots
14. orange shoes (especially clogs, sneakers and boots)
15. messy paint days
16. fresh new paint brushes
17. reading the paper in the morning
18. letting my kids read the comics first
19. reading
20. book club
21. staying really late at book club
22. carpooling
23. bananas
24. grapes
25. watermelon
26. oatmeal raisin cookies
27. my lovely husband liking to cook
28. dinner not cooked by me
29. my little boy saying, can I make dinner?
30. my littlest girls saying, can I make cookies?
31. my big girl not really caring about being in the kitchen, just like me
32. summer vacation
33. road trips
34. travel journals
35. family journals
36. bags of journaling goodies
37. sharpies
38. buttons
39. new glue sticks
40. new socks
41. new tshirts
42. old sweats
43. andy’s gym shorts (on me)
44. rain
45. rainbows
46. rainboots
47. my three children in raincoats and rainboots walking to school because I’m militant about walking
48. holding my little one's hand when I walk her to school
49. playgrounds
50. swings
51. creeks
52. tadpoles
53. fishtanks
54. going to aquariums
55. snorkeling
56. turtles
57. zoos
58. elephants
59. green
60. big ole’ gaudy rings
61. ladybird pendants
62. silver earrings
63. roses
64. sunflowers
65. gerbera daisies
66. daffodils
67. poppies ( I could have conserved numbers if I’d just said flowers, but there are a few I’m not partial to)
68. Mona Lisa
69. Leonardo DaVinci
70. Matisse
71. Van Gogh
72. Cubism
73. Andy Warhol
74. dinner parties
75. swimming pools
76. the beach
77. nieces and nephews
78. new babies
79. pillows
80. flashlights
81. bungee cords
82. bike rides
83. watching my children play sports
84. driving golf carts
85. keys
86. games (I could take up 20 numbers here listing my favorites …. I could maybe even do a top 100 game list.)
87. taking the kids to the grandparents
88. my happy childhood memories
89. very nice brothers
90. planning ahead for my 20^th anniversary celebration
91. giving gifts
92. homemade gifts
93. watching tv in the evenings (I could fill up a dozen spots with favorite shows.)
94. Time magazine
95. Sports Illustrated
96. Cloth, Paper, Scissors
97. Lego
98. Dolls
99. Children’s books
100. Folk art
101. Art Fairs
102. Elton John
103. Cheryl Crowe
104. John Denver (since I was 10, sorry)
105. Jimmy Buffett
106. 80s music
107. Dancing with my husband
108. Front porches
109. Porch swings
110. Hard wood floors
111. Air conditioning
112. My church
113. My women’s group
114. Kanuga
115. Teaching children
116. Sunday school
117. Telling stories
118. 20/20 vision
119. cool sunglasses
120. soccer
121. sharpies
122. skates
123. footstools
124. poptarts
125. twizzlers
126. edamame (how did this not get mentioned til way down here?)
127. mr. potato head
128. Kevin Costner in Dances with Wolves
129. Kevin Bacon in Footloose
130. Going for walks with someone
131. Blue nail polish
132. Pedicures
133. Mexican restaurants
134. Museums
135. Family memberships
136. Christmas
137. Seafood
138. Sandcastles
139. Fishing
140. Nets
141. Boats
142. My husband in a row boat (he's not a skilled boat dude)
143. My camera
144. My computer
145. Flickr
146. Blogs
147. Twins Loop
148. Pottery
149. The Alphabet
150. Angels
151. Framed family photos
152. Children laughing
153. Knock knock jokes
154. Monkey Ball
155. Webkins Cash Cow
156. e.e. cummings
157. shel silverstein
158. ribbons
159. bingo cards
160. bottle caps
161. bells
162. reliable, roomy cars
163. ok, my mini van
164. sunsets
165. full moons
166. seashells
167. seahorses
168. mickey mouse
169. tinkerbell
170. dopey
171. chapstick
172. cloth napkins
173. diet coke (OH! Now you know it isn’t in any particular order!)
174. root beer
175. gingerale
176. spearmint
177. wintergreen
178. butterscotch
179. taking a class
180. writing
181. lists (ha, I’m thinking of my to do list, but this is certainly a grand list to not make a showing til 181!)
182. art books
183. apple mango tango detergent (mark taught me about that)
184. corn chowder (thanks dave)
185. backpacks
186. colorful bandaids
187. hearts
188. not following directions 
189. people from australia

....so there you go..... my happy list ....

feel free to make your own ... tell me if you do .... i'll add a link to it ... i'd love to see your happy dna ..... or .... if you don't have a blog ...or don't want to do your own humongo list, just leave five happies in the comments .... by all means, share your happy! 

and... speaking of happiness .... if you haven't joined my contest, please do .... deadline, march 22 ..... stick a link to it in your own blog if you want ... the more the merrier of course .... 

happiness to you and yours ... tomorrow, once i unpack a bit, i will definitely do art and post art ... see you then ..... 

late edit...or is it a ps ..... go read this post on mice and moonbeams...... 

and... now weeks later .... donna at mice and moonbeams has made her own happy 100.....

another late edit ... i found the blogger who wrote the list that inspired mine....go to soul glo ...

up to the minute info: 3rd eye muse made a happy 100 list .....