Life's Just a Wild Ride

Sometimes I feel like the lady and sometimes I feel like the kid!



~PLEASE PAUSE MY PLAYLIST TO LISTEN TO THE VIDEO~

In A Black Hole

I painted all day. I finished the wings & final touches on the pink angel from the last post and the final picture will go in my slide show. I did a practice run on a piece for the gallery show, something I had in my head, to see if I'd like it. This was a canvas that had already been painted. 12 x 16 & it's 1.75" thick. What's wrong with this picture? Other than it not being fully done...where's all my colors? I normally paint with lots of color and this is out of the ordinary for me! I am torturing myself over this gallery show. The kids stopped by and say I should do the same picture but do an "aura angel" and bright spring time background. I may try it on another defunked canvas.

I am finishing up another "aura angel" with an eye popping teal background that I will be listing. I listed some things on Ebay yesterday including my little pig angel. I went to search for them today and they didn't even come up in a search! What is up with that Ebay? That's very upsetting. The best match thing they started is very unfair, everyone is paying the same price to list, which is not cheap, and they are giving some preferential treatment. If someone has bad feedback then as a buyer you don't have to buy from them. Bring back the old Ebay I say.

On my beloved DVR I recorded a bunch of Rachel Zoe Project shows on the Bravo channel, stayed up late and watched them all. I hadn't seen it yet. Her assistant "Tay" is something else, that's all I'm saying. Love the new assistant with his bow ties. *Adorable* What I determined after watching for about 15 minutes is that I am a total fashion retard. Not quite an Ugly Betty (love that show) but my closet is full of black. It's the Black Hole. Surprised? Maybe that's why I paint so much color! I love black though. The show almost made me want to go shopping or sew something. I have 3 sewing machines and they are covered in cobwebs. Clothes shopping is something I don't enjoy at all. I have to really get myself psyched up for it. I get in a funk for at least 2 days after viewing myself in the fun house mirrors they have in the dressing rooms. I hate trying on clothes. But I am slowly getting paint on everything I own so I'll have to bite the bullet & go soon. It seems every year I go shopping in the fall & winter, so I never have any summer clothes but lots of winter things. I love fall & winter it's my favorite time of year.

I feel wiped out tired today. Maybe from staying up too late, but I do that a lot, so it's odd I am feeling so beat. So I missed a SS Quirky Art group meeting tonight. I just didn't have the energy to put together the things I needed to take and then drive 70 miles tonight. Oh crap I just heard my dad's voice in my head...he said "Are you taking your vitamins?"

I Wore Rose Colored Glasses Today

I painted on this very pink angel today and will hopefully finish her up tomorrow. She is turning out to be one of my favorites and her eyes do follow you! I haven't decided if I am going to submit her to Tanget Gallery, sell her yet or keep her for myself! I hope to be listing a couple of things tomorrow. My husband stayed home from work today so I didn't get as much done as I had planned but it was kind of nice day having him here. I definitely skipped working out with Jackie Warner today! I painted most of the day & decided we'd have a simple dinner. I made a big salad, a little steak that I cooked on the George Foreman and yellow potatoes. I bought them by accident but turns out they are fantastic. I've never had them before which is odd. I cut them in half not going all the way through, then put a bay leaf in the cut, wrapped them in plastic and microwaved for 4 minutes. (the potato doesn't get all dried up that way) You have to try the bay leaf in a baked potato if you've never tried it. It's so good you don't need butter on it!

Another one of my Beach Angels was featured in an Etsy Treasury today by Vsilcoxdesigns! She sells beautiful hand painted glass. Please take a moment to check out her shop & her beautiful Treasury!

Delayed Reaction

Thank you Liquidillusions for the blog award! I have been compiling a little list of people to pass it to. Here they are:

http://time2cre8.blogspot.com/ Marylou's Art Adventure http://www.vescuderoart.blogspot.com/ A Painting A Day http://magicandmomentsfromdragonflycottage.blogspot.com/ Maitri Libellule -Always an interesting read http://pinkpigantiques.blogspot.com/ - I love looking at all the lovely things!http://www.isolatedexistence.com/ - Always interesting!http://lwgodsilsjadisjewelry.blogspot.com/ Love the quotes & thoughts

Please copy your award, post it to your blog, add a link to my blog & pass it on to others!

A big thank you shout out goes to EllieLee for featuring one of my beach angels in a beautiful Etsy Treasury the other day! Ellielee's shop is full of gorgeous photography & art prints. Be sure to check it out.

I have finished my commission paintings and will be concentrating on getting new things listed this week and working on paintings for the galleries. Also I was sent information on a show in Florida that puts the submitted artwork on billboards, so I may submit something for that as well, seems like fun!

Today I was emailed the one the funniest youtube videos I've ever seen! If you need a good belly laugh you must check this video out! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T4_MsrsKzMM I used to sing to chorus of Bad Moon Rising by Creedence Clearwater... "there's a bathroom on the right" hahaha I thought that's what they were saying! Of course later I find out that it's just like the title "there's a bad moon on the rise"! LOL I still get teased about that one! So when I saw this video I couldn't quit laughing! I'm still laughing !! Nice way to start the day!

I Scare Myself!

The SS meeting was great, always is. We had the owner of Tanget Gallery there that spoke about Pink Week. Very interesting! Check it out! I am going to submit a pink angel for the gallery show in November. Maybe they will take it, that would be fun! Here are a few more that I worked on this week. They too have a few more tweeks here and there to do, which I will get done by tomorrow. There are several that I am going to have scanned for prints. These are all on wood.

I had a real nice lunch date with SS Carol today and we ate fish tacos at Rubio's. Don't say yuk! They are fantastic! We then went to Michael's and I got some new paint and brushes. Then Petsmart for some food for my real angels.

My husband's band The Spotted Dogs were on the radio last night. I've seen Jim play in concert with George Jones, seen him on tv, & seen him in too many clubs to count, parties, etc... but I have never heard him on the radio. The show started at 11:00pm. I had already put on my night shirt. The station which is 90.3 in Davis, CA wouldn't work in the house for some reason. So I told the dogs, let's go and we all went out and got in the car. They couldn't figure out why we weren't going anywhere, just sitting out there! It was funny. When I was tuning in the station, I felt like I was in a 50's movie, American Graffiti or Tom Hanks' movie That Thing You Do. LOL. It felt strange sitting in the car listening to the radio in the dark. I live where there are no street lights so it's dark, there are acres of land just across the street, the only lights are the neighbor's porch lights. The moon was huge last night and that's when I started thinking about vampires. I won't be watching that new show everyone is talking about , I think it's called True Blood, and I don't mind one bit being out the loop. I only have to hear about them to be scared. Thank you Stephen King. I know it's silly too and probably shouldn't even being admitting this for the world to read! Well at 12 midnight, just when the show is ending, what happens? The neighbors come out and were hanging out by their garage! Why?! I am just down hill from them and they can see right into my yard, they could see me sitting in the car and as quiet as it is, could hear the music too. They were probably wondering what the heck I was doing or were they vampires?! LOL I'm in my nightshirt and because it's dark, no street lights, my husband has our motion censored porch lights rigged to light up like a prison yard, so I had to wait out there for another 15 minutes until they went inside before I made a run for the door! Partly because I wasn't dressed and partly to escape any vampires that may have been waiting for me to get out of the car! LOL Anyway the guys did really good, they made it fun. They are playing a private party tonight and tomorrow night they are at Lucille's BBQ in Roseville. With all this time alone I hope to get lots more painting done this weekend!

Blog gone Wild

I don't know what happened but I reposted and it didn't post it, posted something I had started the other day...so I'll start over! Hope it doesn't post later again! So if you got this twice I'm sorry. I love umbrellas, especially colorful umbrellas. I found this umbrella the other day while looking at blogs. The Senz umbrella is suppose to withstand winds up to 70mph. It looks a little like a Star Wars umbrella to me. Although I think it's cool, and the guy holding the umbrella looks pretty sweet, I think I'll stick to my colorful ones, so what if they bent inside out! Fashion first haha

I have been painting away this week and still have quite a few more to get done. Here are a few that I have worked on this week. Some need a few more little tweeks before they are completely finished.

Tonight is the monthly Swell Sister meeting. I am going to try to leave early so I have a chance at getting a spot in the lot. Last month it was full so I parked in front of some one's house, there was no sign. When I got in the car I had a ticket for $35. I sent in the payment and received a notice yesterday that I owed $5 more! ? I had made copies so I called. The woman said the city raised the prices and it's now $40 for a parking ticket. She waived the extra $5 because it was not on my ticket, which was good. $40 for a parking ticket! ouch. Watch where you park in Sacramento!

It's Almost Raining...

Well almost... there's some clouds at least! You know how badly I long for rain! The sky is just messin' with me. Yesterday and today I have painted & painted. I will post some pictures tomorrow for Wordless Wednesday.

Someone Shoot Me!

Shoot me because I have no shots of the The Circus Show & Other Atrocities . Once again I get a few miles from home and realize I have left my camera! Just far enough away to where there is no turning back. I need an extra just to keep in my purse honestly and half the time I leave the house with only a few bars left on my cell phone.

Fun just doesn't sufficiently describe this show. People dressed in all kinds of costumes, games and of course fabulous mind bending art! It was hard to pick a favorite, some was disturbing for me on an very emotional level, however, that was the point. I was privileged to meet & talk with Artist Edward Mulligan from NY. I must say that his drawings were some of my favorites. They were the first that you viewed upon entering the gallery on the "train" of art that went around the room at eye level. Loved the martini monkey with the pole dancing giraffe in the back ground! I could hear Dean Martin singing in the background too. haha Definitely check out his website!

If you have read "Things I Love" below then you already know that I love looking at odd art and believe me there was some odd art to be oogled & awed at! You'd also know I've love to have a gypsy wagon. Why? I don't know. I like to look at them. I'd like to sit inside one while it's raining outside, have a cup of tea, or better yet, use it as a studio. Another of my favorite pieces had half circles placed on the bottom of the canvas as if they were wheels. Well that got my wheels turning and I may do a gypsy wagon painting for myself for fun when I have the time. I could have stayed much longer than I did. I wish I had a picture of it all for you but you can click on the links to see some for yourself and please do. It was an experience that the whole family loved. We missed seeing the freak show parade, but I think they all ended up at the Circus anyway! We battled the traffic & pedestrians and stopped by a gallery that SS Laurelin Gilmore was in. She was showing a wonderful collection of bugs. The June Bug was my favorite. After we left my husband said he liked the bugs the best, not knowing she was a Swell Sister. That made me really proud of her! The Sacramento 2nd Saturday Art Walk is awesome. The downtown was hoppin'. Full of people & pets, music & art. The weather was beautiful. It was a great day!

Today I prepared wood and will be starting the new commission for 6 paintings and finishing up another commission of 5. All angels. I worked a little today on the large canvas for the show in December which has 2 angels on it. I changed it again. I have changed it several times and at the moment I am pretty happy with the composition. Working on a large canvas is not something I do often. I may have some time to work more on it a this week.

Today It's a Circus!

When Pigs Fly

I got up this morning and had to paint this pig I had in my head. I didn't even make coffee before I sat down to do him. I must have dreamed about BBQ haha JUST KIDDDING!! Tonight I'm going downtown with my husband, son & his fiancee to The Circus & Other Atrocities put on by the one & only Gale Hart, who is now a Swell Sister. (See previous post) It's the 2nd annual circus and it's suppose to be crazy fun. A Swell Sister is also showing at a 2nd Saturday gallery. I will post all about it tomorrow. I'm taking my camera too and will post some pictures. So drop in tomorrow to see some wild Sacramento fun and art!

I received another blog award today!! Such an honor! This was given to me by a sweet & wonderful photographer with one of the most awesome blogs online, Liquidillusions, you must visit!

Ouch. Everything Hurts

Jackie Warner kicked my hiney. I am out of shape, I sit on my butt painting for hours, etc... It's always tomorrow with me. Oh tomorrow I'll start a diet, oh tomorrow I'll workout... tomorrow never comes. At the rate I've been going if I don't do something, I won't be able to play with my grandson when he's older and will be the old gramma he doesn't want to kiss. Well Tuesday was tomorrow! I was flipping through Free On Demand clicked on Exercise TV and lo & behold there were Jackie Warner workouts. I love her show "Workout" on Bravo. I've watched it while eating chips & salsa thinking "tomorrow I'll workout". haha http://www.jackiewarner.com/ I like the fact that her exercises are boot camp style, no foo foo equipment, just blood, sweat & tears. Kickin' it old school. I decided this is it. I'm doing it. I got off my comfy chair with determination I haven't had for a while, I clicked her workout on. Honestly this was big, you have no idea of the neglect, and besides, if it was too hard I could just change the channel, sit back down and start tomorrow. LOL I started with the Core workout. I was proud of myself that I only had to stop to breathe a few times. It was hard, it hurt but it made me feel empowered. I did better than I thought I would. I do hate to think of what I looked like while doing these exercises! Not pretty. Probably disgusting. (Note to self: don't workout with Jackie when husband is home.) Yesterday it hurt to laugh, something I do a lot, or cough, bend over, twist or turn or even blog! I felt like my core was used as a punching bag but it also made me feel like if I keep it up I could be feeling pretty good about myself & maybe one day be rid of the potato sack around my middle, a 6 pack at my age, it could happen. So I let her kick my hiney again. Feeling motivated I tried the Lower workout. I surprised myself & got through the whole thing. Beaming, burning & bright red, I thought I'd do a little more of the Core again to maybe workout the soreness. NOT! I couldn't make it through the Core again I was too sore but managed to do a little. This morning I woke up feeling pretty good, not so sore, but around 2:00, it all kicked in, the legs didn't want to go up & down the stairs, which I have all over my house. ouch. awful. I was thinking how nice it would be to have a Lark! hahaha Thinking if I went to the grocery I could get on the motorized cart, after all I am disabled at the moment. hahaha So I laid low today, didn't look at Jackie, but every step I took made me think about her. Tomorrow, it's the Upper workout. I'm scared of what she's gonna do to me! But I'm determined to boot camp my butt and not even look at the scale. It's always about the scale, but not this time. I'm not even going to touch a toe to it. Just see what happens without that pressure. So I will do these workouts for the short time they are free On Demand, then I will go out & buy her dvd's no question about it.
I went to a Swell Sister planning meeting tonight, feeling a little crippled and had a blast. What a fun bunch of women! I laughed and laughed even though it hurt. Actually it's kind of nice feeling muscles I haven't felt for a while or knew I had. I was also requested to do 6 more paintings as by a previous customer. Nice! So I didn't pick up an Indie collaborative project tonight, I have too much to do for now, maybe next week. I am painting like mad tomorrow... after Jackie works me out!

The First Step

Yep! I did it. Took the first step and prepared a canvas for my piece in the gallery show Dec 13th. I think I am going to paint gloppy instead of thinly. See what happens. I bought several canvas so if I make a mess of it I'll just start over. The theme of the gallery show is "Gather the Women". I haven't exactly decided what I want to do yet. The canvas is a big one and I may do 2 angels on it. One looking up and one looking down. If I do something crazy, unusual or out of my norm, I would feel like I wasn't being myself, however, I don't want to be like an actor that's typecast in the same role forever either. But hey I have the canvas ready to go the first step has been taken! I finished a blue Aura Angel today and was requested to do 2 more. I also revamped the pinky purple one as well so she's finished.









I would like to give a big shout out to Shadysidefarm at http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5385495 for featuring my bee card in her Treasury today. She has wonderful knit & crochet items. I noticed that she sells the crochet cotton dishcloths and I love those! They are the best! One swipe..all clean. They pick up everything! I went to a garage sale once and the woman had put 2 of those out to sell for $.50. I couldn't believe it. Score! But I couldn't find it in myself to practically steal them knowing that they were a treasure! I asked her if she had used them (they were obviously new, just meant those kind of cloths). She told me that someone had made them for her and she hadn't used them. I told her how great they were and she should really give them a try, & she will thank me later, so she took them back in the house! haha I did her a big favor and I truly believe that she was thanking me later. I have a friend that asks for those at Christmas. But if you haven't tried them get yours now at Shadysidefarm! You'll thank me too! LOL So here's the very cool Bee Treasury http://www.etsy.com/treasury_list_west.php?room_id=24847

Girls Just Wanna Have Fun

Here I go again with the song titles! Funny how much they sum up what's going on with me! One of the things in the SS Indie collaborative project was to do a sugar skull. Well I had the trouble with the hard modeling paste but I ended up having a lot of fun painting it today. I have another as well but I truly did wreck that one, part of his chin melted off! I had so much fun painting this one though that I am going to paint it anyway. I mailed off a large box of paintings today and went out to breakfast with my husband. When my son called my husband told him to "guess what she's doing"! He guessed it, I was painting! I worked on 2 other Aura Angels yesterday & today and will post the pictures later. Tomorrow I will be babysitting! I can't wait to get me some of that sugar!

Have a good weekend!

Where'd My Mojo Go?

I spent the morning running errands, then I danced for 1/2 hour to a stranger's playlist *the dogs kept giving me weird looks*, I packaged prints & cards that sold, then I forced myself to work on my collaborative projects. I have to make the exchange tomorrow evening at a SS meeting. When I force myself nothing ever comes out right. I am not even going to show a picture of it because it's just not good. My creative mojo just wasn't groovin' on that piece. I just painted in some curtains, made curlie q's on the chandalier and painted a stool that the girl is sitting on. It was a difficult piece being 10 x 20 and the angles are off. When I decided that it no longer looked like a 2nd grader did it*close but not quite*, I decided I'd work on a skull, which is part of the same project. The skull is made of sugar and has green crystal eyes set in. I had the bright idea to put some hard modeling paste on it to fill in the cracks & to cover it before I started painting, or decorating...well it wasn't too bright. It is laying on the sugar like rubber and it's kind of freaking me out to touch it. It feels like skin! Maybe it will dry harder, I'm not sure, it should be dry by now. There are some extras so I may just start over. A few Swell Sisters have done really fabulous work on the skulls. One did an Aztec theme, another used peacock feathers. I can't wait to see them in person.

Ditching those projects that I was forcing myself to do and ruining in the process, I started working on another Aura Angel on 6x6 canvas. I think this is the first pink background I've done so far. It's a little pinky purple color. I'm not liking the red on her head and will most likely change that & add a little more red on her lower cheek but other than that I think she's finished. She seems to have a sweet quiet soul. I like her hair. I wished I looked good with my hair up like that but I don't!

New Work

I'm in full on painting mode today!

And for the rest of the week. I haven't even touched my collaborative project yet and it's about time for the switch. Ut oh. These 2 are hard ones. One is a sugar skull! I am going to put hard modeling paste on it, that's as much as I have thought that through. If it wasn't sugar I'd be doing some fimo clay work on it. Does hard sugar melt at 200 degrees?