This is why I'm always broke!

Look at the damage I did today!



I had to take Isabel to the uniform store because her school went back to the regular uniform today(as opposed to the winter uniform where she can wear slacks) and let me tell you it was far!I got a little lost too which was kind of scary. But anyways, I thought as long as I had to go to BFE I would take the opportunity to go to Dick Blick. Wow! What a store! I could have spent hours in there! Instead I spent plenty of $$! But best of all, I found out they have opened a store really close to where I live! I am so excited about that!

Hey I made a Flickr set!

I made a Flickr set just for my paintings. You know, when I see them all together like that I feel really proud! They actually look cohesive and like they all came from one artist. I guess I've finally graduated from novice to having my own look. That is really EXCITING to me!

My Flickr Photos

I am doing housework today. My kids go back to school tomorrow-spring break is over-yay! (aren't I mean! but man, I've got work to do!) But during the break we played a lot, my sis was in town from Minneapolis and I really let-my-house-go!! You should see it, it looks like a house of squalor! I have the Mt. Everest of laundry, and everything needs a-moppin! But tomorrow when all of the offspring are in school I will be able to paint with a happy heart!

My paintings are going to debut on Glitter and Grunge!

Starting on April 1st~oh wow! April Fools Day-look out! Anyhow, beginning April 1st my paintings will be sold on the Glitter and Grunge website. I am honored to be showing my paintings with so many great artists. Check it out here!

Art Institute of Chicago

I went to the art institute today! I just got back. I dragged my whole family there, even the teenage boys who profess to care so little for art! It was glorious for my soul!!!
Of course the AIC has a huge collection of impressionist art. It is so cool to see really famous works in real life. I loved these 2:


And there is a wall of Cezanne which I just couldn't stop looking at. Why is Cezanne so emotional for me? I'm not sure, but looking at his paintings evokes emotion from me every time!

But one artist I have overlooked in the past is Pissaro. His work is huge and requires a few steps back to really see. Breathtaking.



We really had fun looking at the modern art. Aidan(15 yrs old) does not think Piet Mondrian belongs in any art museum! But his interpretation of Salvadore Dali's Eternity was really astute. Oh we had fun! fun!

Little Shepherd Girl

Little Shepherd girl on ebay,here.



Hehe! I guess I was in church a lot last week.



I am so excited about what I am learning about color, color mixing and color harmony. I checked a really cool book out of the library called, "Color; A course in mastering the art of mixing colors" by Betty Edwards. She is the author of the Drawing on the right side of the brain books. This book is really helping me figure out how to get where I want to go-colorwise. I didn't have much time to paint this weekend, and when I can't do, I usually read in every spare moment.

Happy Easter!

Hope you have a beautiful Easter my wonderful friends!


Last few hours for this painting on ebay:

Cezanne

Paul Cézanne

Still Life with a Ginger Jar and Eggplants, 1890-94
oil on canvas
28 1/2 x 36 inches (72 x 91 cm)

Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City


We are having a huge snow storm! Blah! I am so tired of snow! Paul Cezanne always makes me feel cheerful, his beautiful colors are like spring to me. This painting always cheers me up!

Holy Thursday-this is long and religious-skip over if you are not interested!

Ford Madox Brown. Jesus Washing Peter's Feet. 1852-56. retouched several times up to 1892. Oil on canvas 46 x 52 l/4 in. Tate Gallery, London.


The Easter Triduum is big for me. It is the 3 days from sundown on Holy Thursday to sunrise on Easter Sunday. It is the culmination of the Judeo-Christian year. To me it is the high point of my entire spiritual year. Yes, I think about my spiritual year, From Easter to Easter, how am I doing? Did I have a good lent this year? Have I grown at all, conquered any sins? done any good works? I think about all of these things, usually find that I have fallen short in so many ways, and try to make the commitment to do better this year.
But Holy Thursday night, that beautiful service that celebrates the priesthood, recalls Jesus' request that we serve each other, begins the lonely night of the agony in the garden when Jesus pleads with us to stay awake with him for just one hour; this service is so rich with emotion for me. I feel it deeply. The hard loneliness this world put on my Lord. And in recent years, with the priest scandals, the prejudice and scorn throw toward many good and innocent men. Yes there has been horrible, damaging sin committed by a few priests. They are men, and men sin. We are a fallen race, and priests are just as susceptible to corruption as anyone else. It is a tragedy, unfair and the damage goes deep. But, there are also many really good priests in this world, who are doing Gods work, given their entire lives to it. They are a part of every family but belong to no family. They are there to comfort people during every tragedy, celebrate your weddings, they are privy to your very deepest secrets which they bear on their shoulders alone and take with them to their graves. They work quietly in the trenches,unseen mostly, helping people pick up their lives at times and trying only to guide people to their beloved God. This quiet work they do, and the lives they touch, the word mostly never gets out.
I am in a unique position. I have a brother who is a priest, he is the pastor at the church my family attends, a leader in the community we belong to, my teenage sons high school principal, their basketball coach, uncle, friend. Because of this, people tell me things. They tell me how my brother has affected their lives. How he rushed to the hospital to be with their family when somone was sick, how he called their troubled teen in for a non-confrontational talk about school, and it made all the difference, how he said just the right thing at the right time to really help someone. I hear this a lot. I see his gift with children, especially teens. I watch how he gives them responsibility and makes them a part of our community.

During the Holy Thursday service, 12 people act as apostles and the priest washes their feet. Last night it felt so poignant to watch our 12 apostles, all young high school men, having their feet washed by their own assistant principal(also a priest at our parish) while my brother, their pastor and principal attended. Their faces were slightly embarrassed but also honored. It was not somber, there was a feeling of camaraderie between the priests, deacon, servers and the boys having their feet washed. These are boys I have known for years, my own 2 sons among them. I have watched these guys grow, cheered them on in their endeavors, I am friends with their parents, we all share in this community. And here is the man in charge of discipline at their school, an authority figure, subject to that unique blend of teen ridicule and respect, on his knees before them, washing their feet! It was profound. How better can you teach everyone in that church, what Jesus meant by service to others! Once again I am blown away by the lessons one man taught during a brief 3 year ministry, 2000 years ago!

Chickie Run

This is one of my new canvases from my big Dick Blick shipment last week.(remember when I ordered 15 new canvases?) Anyhow, I like this size, it is 6" X 12".I plan to do some long skinny vertical paintings too. I had fun with this one, especially the colors. Its funny, I am still longing for the oils, trying to blend the same way with acrylics and its not happening. Its kind of hard to learn a new way of painting like that. Chelsea and I had a discussion about it last night and she has encouraged me to try the oils. I have always worked with dark primitive colors in oils, how fun would this new palette be in oils-the possibilities are really exciting!

Dream Girl

I finished this one up with some watercolor collage flowers and butterflies. It is on ebay right now. Click here!

A pink house

I really feel like spring today! The weather is getting warmer~I've switched from my leather coat to my jean jacket-yay! I LOVE jean jacket weather-don't you! It is holy week and I am looking forward to Easter. I know most people don't "get" catholics, but this is the most profound week of the year for us, the culmination of our entire faith really. I always get very emotional during the services this week, and it always brings me closer to God, and especially my beloved Jesus. OK, don't mean to put anyone off, I'm just excited!
Hope you like my painting today!



I was honored to receive this "You Make My Day" award from Nina Mason of Nina Mason Dolls! Wow! I am speechless! Thank you so much Nina! Your blog makes my day too! Now I get to pass it on to the blogs that make my day~yippee! So I am giving this award to:

Time with Tascha~ I am just so inspired by Tascha's art. She brings a smile to my face with every single piece she does.
Sandy Mastroni~ I love this quirky artist-her shabby-weirdness just cracks me up!
Vintage Sister-I love to see what she is up to
Northdixie- because she shares SO much!
And last but not least:
Wyanne Art~ this is a new to me blog that I just discovered. I find I have a lot in common with this artist and I totally want her studio! My dream is to move near my beloved ocean, and she is living that life!

An oil painted doll

As I said, my background is not in watercolors. My background is in oils. I came across a box of unfinished oil painted dolls in the basement the other day. For the first time in ages I felt like working on a doll! I decided to see what I could make of one of the unfinished dolls I found. Here she is:
This first picture is from yesterday.


And here she is after a little more work today.


What do you think?

Art Journal fun!

This week I have mostly been playing in my watercolor journal. I have very little experience with watercolor, so I am just playing around, getting a feel for the medium, playing with color, and stuff like that. It is a really fun medium, so easy to keep building up color you can never be done with a a painting! I played with triads a bit to see what color combinations I could embrace. Fun!

I received my 15 canvas order already too! Can you believe that! I think I only ordered it on Monday! So that is exciting-15 new possibilites! My .99 sale is going well on ebay too! Last night I added another pattern which hasn't been offered on ebay in a long long time, so keep checking!

Can't get enough Jane Austen!

Take the Quiz here!

Todays work

I'm not sure if I'm actually done with this. I might change out the flowers on the bottom if I can find something more interesting. I do like the way it came out otherwise. :) Don't forget to check out my .99 sale on ebay-there are some paintings on there as well as patterns!

Hey I'm having a .99 sale at Ebay!

Lots of great pattern deals, and other goodies! I'll be listing all week so check often! You may be surprised at what you will see for sale for only .99 cents!

On another note, I am finally feeling better! Hooray! And the weather man is promising 48 degrees on Wednesday! Boy will that ever be welcome! We have had such cold weather, especially the last few days. I am looking forward to getting back to my painting so much that, I put in an order for 15 new canvases from Dick Blick! Woot! I wouldn't want to run out, now would I!

Grow Painting on Ebay

After much urging from my daughter Chelsea, I decided to put my last painting on ebay. I hope it will not sit there forlornly with no bids or even watchers. Somehow, even when things I've made don't sell, I cannot feel too bad if I have watchers. That lets me know at least people are interested. I was afraid putting a painting on ebay and having it not sell would take the wind out of my sails, so to speak. But it is actually this illness that is doing it. I have not been this sick in years. I did finally drag myself to the doctor to get an antibiotic. So finally today my throat is a little better. At least it didn't feel like a raging fire this morning when I got up-just more like being scraped across a gravely highway.
Hope all of you out there are in better health! I am looking forward to next week when I am determined to be feeling better and getting back to work. I have spent a lot of time looking at my house this week, so I will be doing a lot of home improvement chores when I get feeling better! ha! ha!

Longing for spring!

I can't believe I am sick, again...or, still! But now it is worse, I have a fever and a sore throat. Wah! I got this little painting done somehow this weekend-even though it was a very busy weekend. Isabel had a birthday party, which was a pool party, and now she is sick as ever. Not a good idea I guess!

100 books

I found this on another blog(thanks Anna) and I couldn't resist.
Look at the list of (100) books below. Bold the ones you’ve read. Italicize the ones you want to read. Leave blank the ones that you aren’t interested in. (Movies don’t count.)

1. The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)
2. Pride and Prejudice (Jane Austen)
3. To Kill A Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
4. Gone With The Wind (Margaret Mitchell)
5. The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King (Tolkien)
6. The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (Tolkien)
7. The Lord of the Rings: Two Towers (Tolkien)
8. Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
9. Outlander (Diana Gabaldon)
10. A Fine Balance (Rohinton Mistry)
11. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (Rowling)
12. Angels and Demons (Dan Brown)
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Rowling)
14. A Prayer for Owen Meany (John Irving)
15. Memoirs of a Geisha (Arthur Golden)
16. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (Rowling)
17. Fall on Your Knees (Ann-Marie MacDonald)
18. The Stand (Stephen King)
19. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rowling)
20. Jane Eyre (Charlotte Bronte)
21. The Hobbit (Tolkien)
22. The Catcher in the Rye (J.D. Salinger)
23. Little Women (Louisa May Alcott)
24. The Lovely Bones (Alice Sebold)
25 . Life of Pi (Yann Martel)
26. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
27. Wuthering Heights (Emily Bronte)
28. The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe (C. S. Lewis)
29. East of Eden (John Steinbeck)
30. Tuesdays with Morrie (Mitch Albom)
31. Dune (Frank Herbert)
32. The Notebook (Nicholas Sparks)
33. Atlas Shrugged (Ayn Rand)
34. 1984 (Orwell)
35. The Mists of Avalon (Marion Zimmer Bradley)
36. The Pillars of the Earth (Ken Follett)
37. The Power of One (Bryce Courtenay)
38. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
39. The Red Tent (Anita Diamant)
40. The Alchemist (Paulo Coelho)
41. The Clan of the Cave Bear (Jean M. Auel)
42. The Kite Runner(Khaled Hosseini)
43. Confessions of a Shopaholic (Sophie Kinsella)
44. The Five People You Meet In Heaven (Mitch Albom)
45. Bible
46. Anna Karenina (Tolstoy)
47. The Count of Monte Cristo (Alexandre Dumas)
48. Angela’s Ashes (Frank McCourt)
49. The Grapes of Wrath (John Steinbeck)
50. She’s Come Undone (Wally Lamb)
51. The Poisonwood Bible (Barbara Kingsolver)
52. A Tale of Two Cities (Dickens)
53. Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
54. Great Expectations (Dickens)
55. The Great Gatsby (Fitzgerald)
56. The Stone Angel (Margaret Laurence)
57. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (Rowling)
58. The Thorn Birds (Colleen McCullough)
59. The Handmaid’s Tale (Margaret Atwood)
60. The Time Traveller’s Wife (Audrey Niffenegger)
61. Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky)
62. The Fountainhead (Ayn Rand)
63. War and Peace (Tolstoy)
64. Interview With The Vampire (Anne Rice)
65. Fifth Business (Robertson Davis)
66. One Hundred Years Of Solitude (Gabriel Garcia Marquez)
67. The Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants (Ann Brashares)
68. Catch-22 (Joseph Heller)
69. Les Miserables (Hugo)
70. The Little Prince (Antoine de Saint-Exupery)
71. Bridget Jones’ Diary (Fielding)
72. Love in the Time of Cholera (Marquez)
73. Shogun (James Clavell)
74. The English Patient (Michael Ondaatje)
75. The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
76. The Summer Tree (Guy Gavriel Kay)
77. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (Betty Smith)
78. The World According To Garp (John Irving)
79. The Diviners (Margaret Laurence)
80. Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
81. Not Wanted On The Voyage (Timothy Findley)
82. Of Mice And Men (Steinbeck)
83. Rebecca (Daphne DuMaurier)
84. Wizard’s First Rule (Terry Goodkind)
85. Emma (Jane Austen)
86. Watership Down(Richard Adams)
87. Brave New World (Aldous Huxley)
88. The Stone Diaries (Carol Shields)
89. Blindness (Jose Saramago)
90. Kane and Abel (Jeffrey Archer)
91.The Skin of the Lion (Ondaatje)
92. Lord of the Flies (Golding)
93. The Good Earth (Pearl S. Buck)
94. The Secret Life of Bees (Sue Monk Kidd)
95. The Bourne Identity (Robert Ludlum)
96. The Outsiders (S.E. Hinton)
97. White Oleander (Janet Fitch)
98. A Woman of Substance (Barbara Taylor Bradford)
99. The Celestine Prophecy (James Redfield)
100. Ulysses (James Joyce)

This was fun! I actually read more books on this list than I thought. I used to work in a bookstore, and I read a lot more contemporary fiction then. Now I read a lot of classic literature.