Flying Off To Their New Homes.

This guy has been with me for 2 years but yesterday I packed him up and shipped him off to his brandspankin' shiny new home in beautiful Virginia.

It really is all about his eyes.



Once I finish a painting I can't wait to see it go out into the world, the sooner the better.  I'm totally done with them once the paint dries.  It always surprises me when someone actually likes my work enough to spend their cold hard cash on it. Complete and total surprise.  Every time.

And speaking of going out into the world, I finished illustrating Bumple Umbrella and its going off to live its fabulous and exciting life later this afternoon.  I might need a moment, its been with me for a long time and I've been petting it and kissing it and hugging it a lot.

Its the Little Things.

Morning eggs.  Just look at those beauties.  I'm sorry that the photo doesn't show how green they are, nice and greenish.  My good friend's sweet little chickens sent these over to me.  How wonderful.  The yolks were such a deep orange, a truly fabulous color.  Their richness made me eggstatic, sad but true.  I do appreciate a nice rich, deeply-colored yolk in the morning.

And this, well I had to show you.  I know, I know, I finished the Crossword, big woo. The incredible part (that doesn't show in the photo) is that I did this one in world-record time-as in as fast as I could write.  Obviously, it was the easiest crossword of all time because I'm not all that good at them.

And who might I ask is this guy?  Is he cute or what?  Look at his skinny legs. I stared at them for a long long time.

He is a very special bug.  Is it wrong that I wanted to bring him home and put him in the dollhouse?

Bathed In Sunshine.

Everything is bathed in sunshine today.  The air is crisp and clear, not typical for the middle of July.  And as my Dad would say, "there's at least 4 inches of sunshine on the ground."  (He particularly likes to say this in the dead of winter when we've just been hit with a snowstorm and he's in Florida with Mom).

You can almost feel these plants meditating.

And this guy, he's always shining in sun rays.  Always.

I asked her to pose for the camera there in the sunshine and this is what she did. Silly pony.

At least the flowers cooperated.

Owls, Jellyfish, and Kittens.

Remember him, the Owl with the Car Keys?  He made a cameo in my life today so I took some quick pictures to share.

I've always had a soft spot for him.

truth.

I used vintage magazine ads to collage the surface and extended it around the edges.

Its 12x12 Birch.  I put a sawtooth on it, but I realized I don't love them so I wired it up as well.

This painting (below) is on one of those cheap-*#! canvases, 18x24.  I'm making a promise to myself to use better surfaces, no offense to the cheap-*#! canvas makers, I've just outgrown them.  Even using book covers( like I love to do) has way more personality.

Not everybody appreciates the "look" of a painting on a distressed vintage book cover. Not everyone gets it.  I think I felt peer pressure to paint a proper picture on a proper canvas, something I obviously need to get over.

 I used acrylics, collage ephemera, oil pastels, spray paints, confetti stars, and some Tim Holtz Distress Crackle.
Its all about his eyes.

We made JellyFish in the Lodi Art Love class Wednesday evening, and two of the children actually displayed theirs on the bulletin board.  The rest took them right home to dangle in front of their fans, which have all been blazing this week.

JellyFish Masterpiece.  The secret ingredient is the coffee filter for a body. Decorate it up any way you choose, tape some streamers and a "handle", and voila', a JellyFish.  This one needs a joojsh.
This was the simplest little craft project in the universe, and those kids loved it. They were so relaxed and creative and laughing and decorating.  It was a real nice, low-pressure evening.  Sometimes, simple is best.

Meanwhile, over in the nursery things are progressing nicely.

FurMomi is not friendly as you can tell by her expression.  She does, however, let me pick up the kittens and play with them.  She's used to me.

There are 3 kittens nursing in this picture.  Look real close at the kitten in the middle-he's doing the Splits!

See, perfect Splits.

Yay America!!

Another bald head.  Idk if this is even a man or a woman.  In any case, (s)he's feeding the bear.  Topless.  Shirtless?

He might be a girl.

The bear waits patiently with a little smirk and pink pads.  He must be a girl?

I hear a bear will eat just about anything.

And speaking of feeding the beast, this guy made an appearance into the outside world yesterday.  He was promptly fed some Fancy Feast.  It took mere nanoseconds for him/her to figure it out.

Afterwards, he had a nice refreshing beverage with the siblings.  There are 3, each one cuter than the next, and they are FREE people!! I will charge you ZERO dollars for them.

Spare me the lecture on spaying and neutering your pets.  This "FurMomi"(as in "I'm the REAL mommy and she's the Fur Mommy), this FurMomi is way to smart now to get in the trap.  She's been in it and isn't going back.  And she is not tame, as in, she will bite you if you try to pick her up.

Now you're all thinking the same thing, which is 'why didn't I take her to the vet when I caught her'???  Well, cats don't wear watches or look at calendars.  She got caught on a Friday evening.  Nobody was spaying and neutering that weekend.  So I couldn't just keep her in a trap until Monday morning.  So I let her out, never to return inside that thing.

Even though she's wild, I have a soft spot for her.  I've always left kibbles in the barn for her, and she seems appreciative.  My husband calls her a slut, but I told him that all her husbands have been overseas in the war.  War Heroes, all of them.

The one on the left, the little gray guy, that's Willie Boot's prote'ge'/long lost little brother-cousin.

If you have any ideas on how to entrap this FurMomi on a weekday between 9 am and 4 pm, by all means leave me a comment.  I believe it will need to involve erasing her brain of the memory of being in the trap.  I'm open to suggestions... this madness needs to stop.


This lives with my jewels.  I love it because its chunky and well-made.  Its got some heft to it.  The whole family took turns wearing it all weekend long.  Yay America!!