Oh What A Night!...

...there I go with song lyrics again!

Last night was my Artist Reception/Opening for the Swell Sister's at The Coffee Garden in Sacramento. I had so much fun. There wasn't as many people at this show as in the past but lots of friends & family were there to support us all. It was a wonderful evening and we sold enough for a good donation to give to the Women's Wisdom Project. Coming home the fog was so bad it was like driving in pea soup. Spooky. Silly as it may sound it makes me think about vampires. No I haven't watched Twilight or any in the series and won't watch them even though some people tell me it's not scary. right. Thank you Sister & Stephen King.

"Disguised"

This piece is on paper. I won't be selling the original, but may sell prints. This one I plan to frame and keep. I have thought of putting it up for sale several times but haven't been able to part with it. I played with layers and layers of color on this one. Scraping, dabbing, rubbing, I was totally absorbed in it. In a strange way I almost feel as though it's a self portrait.

I can't help it. I'm a hopeless romantic. I even cry when watching a sitcom wedding, such as Erkle's. hahaha Don't tell, but my hubby may not cry as much as me but he is definitely verklempt sometimes! We're saps. I'm ok with that. So I can't help but to be so happy for Prince William and Kate Middleton. I remember staying up into the wee hours of the morning to watch his Prince Charles & Diana get married. I think Kate is just lovely. I love hats and admire her for proudly & boldly wearing the most intriguing head pieces. I love it! I can't wait to see the gown she chooses. They both look so happy. I must admit that I was a little shocked when I found out that they had been living together. I avoid the tabloids in the grocery isle so I didn't know. I know in this day & age living together without being married is not shocking in itself, just didn't think that the "Royals" would approve of it. Times have changed!

A Big Shout Out & Thank You goes to Kubercove, Trigo and MathesonGemWorks for including my art in their wonderful Etsy Treasuries!

A Downtown Day

My piece "The Clearing" was chosen to be in Tanget Gallery's show! This is my 2nd time to be chosen to be in one of their shows and I'm so flattered. I can't wait to see all the pieces in this show. The piece on the poster gets me all excited! I am taking my painting downtown to the gallery today and then headed to a Swell Sister meeting. Masako Yniguez is our guest speaker tonight. I am looking forward to hearing her speak.

I wanted take my camera with me to take some shots here and there, but alas, I am sitting here blogging with my hair in curlers. Allergies have me feeling tired & flu-ish. The reason I wanted to take some pictures was that I have this big 7 ft hollow core door in the garage that I wanted to paint a whimsical piece of Sacramento on that popped into my head one day. I have it roughly sketched out but haven't started painting. I want to see a couple of places downtown not just remember them in my head. I just know that door is on borrowed time down there. I'm sure it won't be long and Hubby will have it in the shed or worse, headed to the dumps, so I have to start working on it. I plan to incorporate some of my bees into the piece for the upcoming Bee show that I will be participating in, if it's not too big. You can see some details Here. Laurelin Gilmore is fabulous artist & a Swell Sister of mine. She has been working very hard on getting this show off the ground.

My new Angel... I'm having fun playing around with a little different layering technique.

"No Worries"

A Big Shout Out goes to SammysGrammy for including one of my Angels in her Angelic Etsy Treasury. Click Here to see.

What A Treat!

Last night the kids and I watched an episode of Diners, Drive-in's & Dives with Guy on the Food Network. He visited the Squeeze Inn down on Fruitridge Road in Sacramento. Before we moved up the hill I used to drive past this little place everyday. I have had a burger there but it was probably 20 years ago. They didn't make them the way they do now. Now this little place one of the most well known and loved burger places in Sacramento. It's a tiny funky little place that you would take a 2nd look at, but aren't those kind of places that usually serve up the best burgers? Growing up my dad, who is a burger connoisseur, always in search of the best burger or chili dog, had to stop at the ugliest burger places on our trips across country. He thought those were the places to get the best burgers and he usually was right. Anyway, the kids decided after the show that they were going down there today and get one. They had to wait in line for 1 hour to order then wait 1 hour for the burger! My son said it was worth the trip & the wait and I would have to agree! They brought a burger home for me! Normally I hate cheese on my hamburgers but I ate this one and it was so good! My husband is playing with the Spotted Dogs tonight and he missed out, so he insists we go down to get him one next week. Here's some pictures that the kids took and a video piece on how they make the burgers. They are much bigger than they appear in the picture. My son said the fries were just as awesome as the burger. I hope I will be able to "Squeeze Inn"to my jeans tomorrow!

I listed a few prints of these whimsical flower paintings that I did on old wood yesterday in my Etsy shop.

What's Cooking...

Yesterday I made chicken mole' tamales, then made some more today and sent them home with my oldest son. I taught him how to make them. I know it won't be long and his will be better than mine. He's an excellent cook and would make a fine chef. In my house, before the creation of the Food Network, our Saturdays were filled watching PBS cooking shows & travel shows like Burt Wolf's. My boys would rather watch those than cartoons. My oldest son is a cook, my youngest son is a baker. Just one of their many talents. Anyway, he asked if I watched Anthony Bourdain the other night on his Mexico trip. He went to Mexico with a Mexican man that now has his old job. Turns out we both did and talked about the mole' made the really old fashioned way. The mole' made in that episode took 24 hours! He said let's do it and I do believe he'd would actually stay up with me to make it too. Mine takes about an hour to make but it's really good if I say so myself. My secret is Valrhona le Noir Extra Amer 85% cacao chocolate. So around 10pm I got a text msg which said " hey mom just like the guy on Anthony's show I think my mom is the best cook in the world". AWWWWWW *sniffle* He must have been snacking on those tamales! hahaha

I also spent time praying for my niece today. She is in the hospital and we almost lost her. She's only 18. I got a call early this evening that she is doing better and her condition is stable now. Prayers are being answered. My heart is breaking for her.

Tomorrow is Sacramento's 2nd Saturday Art Walk and my husband and I are going to 3 galleries to support 3 artist friends and maybe to a little get together party after. I love going downtown. Wish we had bought a house down there sometimes. But I HATE driving downtown. It's all one-way streets and for some reason I get turned around, lost and really nervous. I peel my hands off the steering wheel when I get to where I'm going. I'm looking forward to seeing all the art. It's almost like that feeling you get when you're on your way to a concert!

I have been designing some angel bookmarks and will be finishing them, taking photos and possibly listing them tomorrow during the day depending on what tomorrow brings. I will be listing them on Etsy. I'll post a picture when they are finished.

Christmas Day And The Nest is Empty

33 years with not one Christmas Day spent alone with just my husband until this year. (I was a teenager when I got married!) It feels strange and I will miss my kids but we'll have a good time together. We talked today about what we could do. We didn't decide. Go play in the snow with a piping hot Thermos of something good? Take the light rail to Old Sacramento? Go to the movies? We have never gone to the movies on Christmas Day like so many do. Stay in our pj's all day, watching Christmas movies & order Chinese food? Walk by the river all bundled up with the dogs in their cute little sweaters? Go have some crab on Fisherman's Wharf, ride the cable cars & soak in some of that wonderful San Francisco's Christmas spirit? ...hum...

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!

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!