Did you ever have those weeks?

You know the ones where everything you try to do,just doesnt come out! Well thats what has been happening to me,and actually its been the last two weeks! I'm in the mood as my husband calls it. I can't get nothing done because I keep trying to paint and the more I mess things up the more I want to paint. Finally I decided to go to my sketch book and try to paint one of my sketches which is the girl reading the book,and what do you know she came out ok,not one of my best but I'm happy with her. The other girl is from a dream I had,that girl was worked over at least four times! Hopefully now I can get some wash done and maybe some more painting! And I hope to be back sooner then later.....

Alone again!

Wahhhhhhhh Niki started her first day of highschool and yes I really did cry alittle. I can't help it. She's my baby and I feel like time is just going by to quickly! Actually her day was yesterday. After crying I went out to breakfast with a couple of my art friends and they brought along some tissues and listen to me whine(talk)then I felt alittle better. Today was alot better,did some art with no interuptions,baked chcoc chip cookies,cleaned the house,caught up on laundry,listed on etsy,and now I'm blogging. I think this girl can get used to being alone!

Yep twice in one week!

Can you tell I don't have a job anymore? LOL. I usually feel good when I post once a week but now that I have more time,I can paint more therefore I can post more. Been playing with collage,and the first one is a work in progress,now i'll add alittle collage to it,then paint and play.I'll show you the finished piece when its done,unless I mess it up. Have a great weekend. Try to stay cool,its in the triple digits down here in florida! Even the water is hot! Maybe I'll go and make some freshly squeezed lemonaide. I have the time to squeeze the lemons.

Paynes gray and unidentified objects!

More time at home means more painting and more cleaning! Since I don't have my store anymore,I find myself cleaning the things that have'nt been cleaned in awhile(windows,closets,frig). The other day I went grocery shopping and as i'm putting stuff away,you know how you start shoving stuff in the frig because theres just really no more room,I decided this is stupid,I have the time,why not clean the frig so thats what I did and I found some unidentified objects in there,stuff in a country crock container that did not look like butter,things that really didnt belong in the frig and don't know who would put them in there,i.e an earring and hair under the drawer, Of course when I ask my daughter about the earring she didnt know anything about it. Lets not forget about the unopened popsicle that was now just juice with a stick that was making a nice little puddle going down the sides of the frig and when I ask my grandsons about it they at least admitting to doing it and saying they wanted the orange one not the grape one!How these things get in there I'll never know but I do know one lesson learned "clean the frig more frequently" Which I now plan to do every time I go to the grocery store!

Now on to the paynes grey,a friend of mine thats also an artist but always uses brightly colored paints made a comment about my art but in a nice way. She didn't offend me or anything but she said that the color is depressing,I on the other hand find it peaceful,relaxing,warm like the sky at night or right before a storm or a deep mysterious ocean. What do you think? Also wanted to mention that my "walk on the beach" painting was featured in a treasury on etsy,which is exciting to me. Take a look here: http://www.etsy.com/treasury/MTEyNjM4Mzh8NTAwODQzMTEz/salty-air

Where I've been and "fat man floating"

I know what you're saying I can't believe she named her painting that! But before you say anything,I didnt name it let me explain. We went to captiva island for a week and I was doing some sketching by the pool and we ment this couple,(the man that I was sketching)he finally caught on that I was sketching him and we got to talking with him and his wife and me and my husband and after spending quite abit of time with them (john and margaret) he is the one that named his own sketch,which I turned into a painting when I got home. The original sketch is being mailed to him and thats how I got the name and thats where I've been on an island soaking up the sun,finding shells,alittle sketching,spending time with my daughter, and watching beautiful sunsets. Hope everybody else is enjoying summer. School starts in less then three weeks here!

A palm tree and who needs sharpies?

This is the biggest I ever worked on. Its a 16x12 canvas. I know its not that big but for some reason canvas scares me,I think because everytime I work on one I mess it up,which I did on this one too but I just kept going. I call it my mixed media palm tree because theres so much different collage,stamping and everything else underneath the painting which you can't tell but in the picture it does show through alittle which I think makes it more interesting to view.
Hope everybody had a nice 4th of july,I did! It was so relaxing just hanging out at the beach, I really shouldnt say it was relaxing because my grandsons kept me busy playing but I did find alittle time to sketch. The fireworks were beautiful but what I found even more beautiful was these things called chinese lanterns,which are like big balls with fire in them and they just drift out into the sky, people kept letting them go one after another. Very cool looking,I don't know where they got them but I did here they use them in weddings now. Anyway for all you journalers out there, I found a great deal for some black sharpies. They are on sale at target for 1.54 now because of back to school but wait before you go make sure you go to target.com and scroll down to where it says coupons in small letters (all the way at the bottom) and click on that and you will find a $1.00 off coupon for sharpies and print it out. Now you can get them for 54scents! Hooray! I stocked up,you can print out at least two,I also had my daughter print me out a couple. Also if you go to scotchbrand.com you can print out a magic tape coupon for a 1.00 off and the tape is on sale for a 1.00 so you guessed it,the tape is free! Perfect for stocking up for Christmas. Ok its too early to think about Christmas,but you can use it in your journals too. Well its raining here so I'm going to bake some snickerdoodles! Have a great week.

A couple of days off!

After working at the store sooooo much I decided to take a few days off before I finish up there. So instead of the normal housework,wash,grocery shopping I decided to do nothing but paint and play in my studio. And these are the results of playing. The first one is titled "Brandi and her locket" and the second one is "feeding the birds". I had a nice of couple of days. Back to work tomorrow and friday,then off to the beach for the 4th. Hope everyone has a safe and fun 4th of July!

Just checking in and "fishing in the deep blue sea"

I know its been awhile but I've been busy trying to get the store closed and clearing everything out,almost done another week should do it and hopefully I'll have more time to paint. Or maybe when the kids go back to school because between my daughter and my grandsons I'm busier(spelling ?) then when I worked full time. The boys are into fishing now,not in the deep blue sea but just in a lake in my backyard. I think thats where the inspiration for this painting came from. Of course we have to throw every fish back that we catch but first they each need to hold it,look at it real close and then they fight over who throws it back,poor fish,we only lost one,of course I just told the boys that it was tired and it would swim away later. We also seen a 4ft alligator,which is alittle scary when its about three feet away from you. Now we look for him first before we start fishing.

Look who loves the pool already and a walk on the beach.

We've been putting little Gracie may in the pool and she loves it. She actually cries when we take her out,of course the pool is like bath water around 80 degrees. Her brothers just splash all around her and she doesnt even cry. She's growing so fast.

And this piece called "A walk on the beach" has been driving me crazy for about two weeks, I kept going over the shoreline and I'm still not sure if i'm happy with it. But I think for now its done. Hope everybody is enjoying summer. My daughter is out of school for the summer so thats usually means busy,busy with the movies,beach,waterparks,shopping and out to lunch and then the I'm bored words come. She's going to high school next year that makes me sad so I'm going to enjoy her this summer. I decided to close my real store,in case you didnt know,I owned a real country store that sold antiques,candles,vintage, and country decor. The economy has been so slow and I have been trying to hold on to it,hoping that things would pick up but I know summer is even worst then the past few months so I decided to close. I'm happy with the decision. But the reason i'm mentioning it is because i'm going to be slowly listing some of the stuff I sold at my store on etsy in case any of you like vintage,primitives and other goodies. Have a great week.

Problems with Blogger and "yellow polka dot bikini"

I'm loving doing this painterly style. It flows so easily for me and I get lost in a painting for hours,no stress. Usually I stress over a collage especially when its getting close to being finished. This one is titled "yellow polka dot bikini" I went to the beach with the grandsons and baby gracie over the weekend. I enjoyed watching them play and also building batman caves and pools with them in the sand. It reminded me of when I was little and my mom would let me bring my barbies to the beach.

Ok now with blogger,I was wanting to know if anybody else is having this problem. When I go to leave comments on other blogs,sometimes it works and sometimes it doesnt. It doesnt let me sign in. So if some of you are'nt getting any comments from me its because of that. I am visiting all of you daily. If anybody knows how to fix it,I would appreciate it,I feel bad when I don't leave comments. Hope everybody is enjoying their long weekend!

Extreme couponing,etsy,and a couple of pages in my journal

So where have I been? I have been extreme couponing,at least trying to. It all started when I went over to my sisters house and seen all her cupboards,pantry and plastic bins in her garage filled with all kinds of food,shampoos,health stuff(like tylenol etc) deoderants,body washes,glades candles,everything you can think of,now mind you she's a single mom,unemployed,three kids,and is on food stamps,in fact I usually worry about her having enough food and stuff for her three kids. In shock I ask "Where and how did you afford to get allllllll this stuff?? I mean she could feed the whole neighborhood. And thats when it all started,she explained to me about this extreme couponing,and how most of the stuff she has is usually free or rock bottom cheap. Now I'm hooked,its fun,its cheap and I actually have some extra money to spend on art supplies. I wanted to show you an example of what I did,the picture above is 8 bottles of salad dressings, 16 ounces each and 4 boxes of pasta,and ice cream(I figured I saved so much I deserved some) and this all cost(drum roll please) $5.53. I saved 27.00,the ice cream was 3.19! I was so excited. If you want to learn more go to thekrazycouponlady.com thats where all the information is!

Okay so now onto the art, I havent really completed to much but I have been playing around in my journal,trying to be looser with my brush strokes. The first one is "a girl on the dunes" and the second one is"the shacks". both of these were inspired from where I grew up,which is cape may new jersey. I've been listing on etsy with not much luck but I'm determined,and will keep on trying. It always seems when somebody sees something that I've done they usually want me to do some commision work for them which is good,I'm not complaining but I like it better when I'm free to make what I want to make. Anyway I'm doing free shipping on my etsy for the rest of may,just enter FREESHIPPING511 in the coupon code(all in capitols) Hope everybody has a great week and hopefully I'll be back sooner. Going to eat some ice cream now!

Mothers Day....

My husband ask me why I was sad today,he said its mothers day,you should be happy. I told him I wasnt sad at least I didnt think I was. I continued with my morning and decided to sketch alittle,there was a great picture in a magazine of a lady holding an umbrella that I loved and have been wanting to sketch so after a couple of hours sketching,I started painting her and these two figures in the background,a mommy and her daughter. As I was working on it,I couldnt help but think about what my husband said "that I was sad" was I ??? I came to the conclusion that yes I was alittle sad, I wonder why? After I finished the painting,I was staring at it and I thought thats me with the umbrella all by myself and in the background,those two figures well they represent my own children(even though I have three,one still is at home) and thats why I'm alittle sad. My children are all grown up and I miss them being little sooooo much,I miss being their mommy! I know its silly, I should be happy that they grew up to be such beautiful,caring,happy,loving, individuals,not to mention that I'm blessed with being a memaw(another name for grandmom). But I can't help but to take this day and remember them being so little and to cherish and be thankful for those precious memories of them being so small,when I was their mommy! Happy Mothers Day!

Alittle Black & White!

Hope everybody had a great easter! I did, cooked alot,dyed eggs,ate lots of candy,spent time with family and even got alittle art time in. I'm working on side views and the zebra piece is something I did for a local gallery. Love the way it turned out. My daughters room is zebra so she's not too happy that I didnt make it for her!

Happy Easter:)

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Sketching,painting and playing!

Its so hot here,higher then normal temps. I actually went to the beach on sunday! Also had some time to finally get some art time in. Finished the top piece. That one I just had alittle time here and there to add alittle at a time. The second picture is my attempt to paint a tree with acrylics. I have been practicing sketching so much that I wanted to attempt to paint a sketch just to see what would happen. The last sketch is from a class that I'm taking. The class is all about sketching quickly. Just putting down what you see quickly,not alot of details. The figures arent that detailed just quick shapes which is alittle bit more relaxing then worrying about the details like when you do a face. The class is called quick sketching by cathy johnson. I don't have link,never mind I just found it its cathyjohnson.info.com I took quick sketching 1 and 2. Great price too,I think it was 30 dollars. But I do have to tell you its not alot of videos,mostly pdf's that you download.

Have an artful week!