Reds and purples make a splash!

More florals today. More web design. More packaging design. More thank you cards. More work. Which I am grateful for.

Slivers of sunshine.

Over time, I have kept a journal where I write bits and pieces about my life or little inspirations I am feeling at the time. I found one such journal from 1985 (OK, hello, that is over 20 years ago!) and this is what I wrote:

The pressure

just seems to build

until the event of

patience is surpassed

by an inner explosion.

All contrary to the

strength of endurance.

An act of anger and

frustration left to

grow out of...

c o n t r o l .

I also wrote:

A trusting soul is the target for abuse.

Another entry:

You can never fail until you quit.

Yet there's more:

Life can only be what you make of it.

It seems that I had moments of being troubled. Jeez, who didn't while in their teens? But it also appears I was onto something about perseverence and striving to be the best you can be. The path of self discovery was clouded by the misery of circumstances yet glimmering sunshine speckled the horizon. There are other entires I won't bore you with but I find it interesting to go back in time and discover small nuggets of insight you didn't know you possessed.

Do you recall moments from the past that you handled with insight?

Thursday's Gratitude:

I am so grateful for the ability to exercise and move my body. I will never take that for granted.

Design in the garden.

Busy springy floral-y day in design. Where did this day go?

Wednesday's Gratitude:

I am so grateful for my best friend to talk me back off the ledge of guilt. What would we do without best friends?

Patiently waiting for poppies.

Poppies. Love them. They essentially are a weed though, once you plant them, you'll never be rid of them. Still love them. They remind me of some people I know.

I sold my soul today. I was asked to work on a project for a product line that I do not believe in. I had already told myself that I would stand up for myself when the time came and not be a part of it. Well. Sadly, the time came and all I could think about was the money. I sold out.

Have you ever sold yourself out?

Tuesday's Gratitude:

I am so grateful for the opportunity to serve in the Little League Snack Shack and get to know some fellow parents better. Slingin' chili dogs and nachos isn't so bad!

Feeling spicy...

Spicy citrus pattern...

Spicy quote:

It doesn't matter whether you're short of money, people, energy, or time. What God invites you to do will always be greater than the resources your start with. ––Dr. Bruce Wilkinson

Spicy Monday's Gratitude:

I am so grateful for clearing some uneventful, painfully boring correspondence off my plate. Now I have so much more room for creativity!

Packaging, smackaging.

Photo of some packaging I worked on today for a skincare line that will be seen in Whole Foods soon! The presentation is in two weeks! Whoo-hoo to my talented friend with a soft spot for natural and all organic skin care.

Sunday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for a lovely dinner at El Camino, a hip and swanky mexican food restaurant. I am also grateful for a nice long walk with my best friend.

Happy Birthday Puppy!

Today is a day of celebrations! Happy birthday to my beautiful, incredibly smart and talented son. Since there is a birthday glow about this day and numerous presents to be opened, I created these book plates for anyone who might like them, as a "just because" gift. Feel free to copy this file to your computer for your own personal use and print onto sticker paper so you can keep track of your books. My gift to you. Happy Saturday.

Saturday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for a fun birthday lunch at Corvette Diner where you get accosted by flying straws and Bazooka bubble gum. So much fun!

Eight is GR8!

Tomorrow is my son's birthday and he will be eight years old. I am really having a hard time believing that. My art creation for the day is this tray of cupcakes I made for his class. They turned out very pretty to look at, but I learned something about making cupcakes during this process:
Number 1) When you don't have any vanilla extract, go to the store and buy some. DO NOT replace with lemon extract. It is NOT the same.
Number 2) IF you bake the cakes at night to cool and frost in the morning, cover them as they will dry out into sweet, round mini bricks for the next day. I am sorry little classmates, be careful when you bite into these tiny cakes you do not chip a tooth.
OK then. When I deliver these little creations to the class today, I'll calmly sit in the back and just smile and wave, just smile and wave. It's all I can do because I don't sweat the small stuff anymore. (This is small stuff, right? Chipped teeth, crying second graders, enormous disappointment? Yeah, it is.)

Friday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful to be going to a Padre's game with one large boy and three little boys tonight. Hope it doesn't rain.

Finished paintings.

Well, I finished these today and I am thinking the red is just a bit too red. I may go in and retouch tomorrow. This really is not a good photo as the red looks quite pink. It's not. It's just my photo taking capabilities were stretched too thin at that moment and everything just looks really flat. Or maybe it really is pink and I am out of my mind. Could be either of the two...

Earthly Love.

Happy Earth Day, a day late. Actually every day should be Earth Day.

Thursday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for a really nice message from my rep left on my cell phone. It made my whole day!

Favorite colors by far.

A new set of paintings has begun. This time it is a set of florals in reds, creams and torquoise... yummy! Those are my favorite colors, next to black and burnt orange, oh and green. You might even see a little green and dark blue in the underpaintings just peeking through. These paintings are inspired by my new hallway runner, isn't it lovely? Hope the canvases turn out just as lovely.


Wednesday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful "Lost" is on tonight. I may not watch much TV but Lost has had me hooked from the beginning, it's my one exception.

Christmas in April...

Worked on a little Christmas art and patterns today. This day just flew by, not enough hours in the day.

Do you ever have days that are gone a blink?

Tuesday's Gratitude:

I am so grateful to have lunch with an old (from the past and not elderly, in case she reads this) friend. 

Sun Stroke takes it's toll.

Essentially, since I have already posted these, I can show them all again. This time it is for the Surtex show my rep will be at and he'll be showing A LOT of my illustrations geared towards kids. Yipee. I think I wouldn't mind having a large poster of this hanging on my wall.

Today, I escorted a few second graders to Mission Trails park for a class field trip. Lo and behold, the weather made a drastic turn and it was 101 degrees out there today. ONE HUNDRED AND ONE!! Geez, we're talking Arizona hot. It would have been somewhat resembling bearable if there weren't 18 second graders complaining at every curve of the trail about how hot it was... as if we needed the reminder! Oi.

Conversation in the car, driving from school with the kid:
K: Remember when you ran over the squirrel with your car?

Me: Yes. (to self: as if I would ever forget!)

K: Well, he was carrying diabetes.

Me: You crack me up.

K: Well, then you would be cut in half.

Yup, that's the beauty of sun stroke at it's glory.

Monday's Gratitude:

I am so grateful for time to spend outdoors with some really great kids.

Strawberry pie.

This is Eleanore. She likes fuzzy socks, vintage rhythm and blues vinyl records, riding her bike in the rain and strawberry pie. But most of all, she likes her friend's black patent leather pea coat and wishes desparately it was hers. She's such a naughty girl.

Midnight in New York

I have been daydreaming about NYC lately, almost pining for it and then I happened to come across this painter. I am so in love with this painting. The artist is Paul Balmer and he is wickedly talented. His web site shows photos of his incredible studio and other amazing artwork. Take a peek, you will not be dissapointed!

Sunday's Gratitude:

I am so grateful for an afternoon of time to paint and get some work completed.

LBOL (little bit of love)

Felt like I needed a little extra love today...   Found it...   On a wall...   In a mosaic...   Maybe it was the six hours of restless sleep I got last night...   Maybe it is the four canvases I have drying with gel medium but not yet paintable...   Maybe it's a full moon or maybe this warm day was just a glimpse of summer. Whatever the reason, it does not matter. I'm gonna go smother my boy with kisses right now.

Do you ever have days where you are just a bit more fragile than others?

Saturday's Gratitude:

I am so grateful for the heaps of work at my doorstep. I'd be more grateful if I could muster up the drive to get started on it.

RUN Instant Messager?

I am a total reject when it comes to texting and abbreviations, it took me forever to figure out that LOL meant Laugh Out Loud. And I mean forever! My phone is really lame for texting too so I really do not text people and when I recieve one, I cringe because that means I have to spend about 20 minutes typing a one sentence reply. Sooooo, when I came across this article in Parenting School Years magazine, I thought it was worth mentioning. Mentioning so I could at least keep up with all those young folk! (ha-ha!)

Here are some commonly used terms:

ADIH Another Day in Hell

A/S/L Age, Sex, Location

BTDT Been There Done That

CULTR   See You Later

CTFO Get The F@#! Out

H8 Hate

ILY or 143 or <3 I Love You

JK or J/K Just Kidding

KWIM Know What I Mean

LLS Laughing Like S@#!

LMIRL Let's Meet In Real Life

LYLAS (B) Love You Like A Sister (Brother)

NIFOC Naked In Front Of Computer

PAW or PIR or P911 Parents Are Watching or In Room

POS Parents Over Shoulder or Piece of S@#!

PRON Intentional mis-spelling of porn

STFU Shut The F@#! Up

TMI Too Much Information

TTFN Ta, Ta For Now or Goodbye

WTF What The F@#!

Nice. I knew two of these. JK and TMI. I am so out of the loop. But if you ever receive a text from me, it will be full of these!

Friday's Gratitude:

I am so grateful to be "in the know" on texting now and for seeing my best friend from LA and meeting my Gala Girlz over wine. TTFN!

You can't help but smile!!

thank you Laura!

Achieve what you concieve...

Words to live by.

Upon talking with my best friend, during our daily talks, we discussed longevity and health and phases that we (people) go through. I came across some standards to set for a healthy life in the book "Natural Cures They Don't Want You to Know About" by Kevin Trudeau and found chapter 8 to be particularily interesting and I thought I'd share them with you. These are thirty two points on How to Lose Weight Effortlessly and Keep It Off Forever.

1. Drink a glass of water immediately upon arising.

2. Eat a big breakfast.

3. Drink eight glasses of distilled water each day.

4. Walk for at least one hour, nonstop, per day.

5. Do not eat after six p.m.

6. Do a candida cleanse.

7. Do a colon cleanse.

8. Consume 100% organic, virgin unrefined coconut oil.

9. Use infrared saunas.

10. Eat organic grapefruits all day.

11. Absolutely no aspartame or any artificial sweeteners.

12. Absolutely no MSG.

13. Take digestive ensymes.

14. Absolutely no diet sodas or diet food.

15. No fast food or chain food.

16. No high fructose corn syrup.

17. No white sugar or white flour.

18. Eat organic apples all day.

19. Eat only organic meat, poultry, and fish.

20. Limit dairy products.

21. Do a liver cleanse.

22. Eat a big huge salad at lunch and dinner.

23. Rebound.

24. Add hot peppers.

25. Use organic apple cider vinegar.

26. Breathe.

27. Wear magnetic finger rings.

28. Get fifteen colonics in thirty days.

29. Add muscle.

30. Fast.

31. Cheat whenever you want.

32. Reduce or eliminate the uncontrollable urge to eat when you are not hungry.

My personal favorites are numbers 28 and 32. After eating all those apples and grapefruits and hot peppers, who would need a colonic every other day for a month? 

What do you think of this list?

Thursday's Gratitude:

I am so grateful for a half day of hookey from school with my son. (Alright, I confess we played hookey at Chuck E Cheese but I got to talk to my friend for two hours while our boys ran around tormenting a guy dressed in a mouse costume and I am grateful for that!)

The Sugar Shack.

Six little canvases all in a row. The first one said yes and the last one said no.

Wednesday's Gratitude:

I am so grateful for a really nice visit to the hair dresser.

IF_Fleeting

Fashion is so fleeting but the little black dress is here to stay!

Tea in the afternoon.

Still trying to work out the fashion illustration that is going to be part of a painting, it's coming together a little better now. When I get closer to a finished product I'll post a photo but here is a digital sketch for now.

Just got finished watching "Twilight" for the second time. I just love that movie and the book series. It must be the teenager in me, I think I have something for vampires!

Have you seen that movie? Is there something that makes you feel young and giggly?

Tuesday's Gratitude:

I am so grateful for a lovely afternoon tea with my friends.

I just love Photoshop!

Here is an example of the wonders of Photoshop. The before is a photo I took of the Manhattan bridge while crossing it and the after photo is the same shot with a nice filter thrown onto it. I wish I could tell you what was done but my rep did it to show me what we could do with some of my NYC photos. It probably is a sepia wash with some noise thrown onto it. Or maybe it's an ancient Chinese secret and I'll never know it. Which ever it is... me likey!

This is a study of some fashion dresses for a project I'm struggling with. I was a student at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising many years ago and this brought back so many memories. (Just the good ones because I left most of the bad ones at the train station on my last day there.) Now, how to get this onto a canvas... hmmmmm.

Monday's Gratitude:

I am so grateful for four loads of clean laundry, a sleeping child and new tubes of paint!

Recap.

Highlights of the Easter Day. Fun had by all, four legged creatures included. Over and out.

Bok, bok. Happy Easter bunny!

Happy, Hoppity Easter!

Sunday's Gratitude:

I am so grateful for a lovely warm day to enjoy my family.

Stackin' up.

Here we go, we're just waiting for paint to dry!

The Easter weekend line up...

Pam over at Doodlestreet sent me this photo! I am so happy to see the Easter egg friends are gracing their presence over at other folk's homes!

I have plans for these...

while drinking this... Gen Mai Cha (green tea with roasted brown rice.) My super fun and funny friend Ned sings the name Gen Mai Cha to the tune of Jimmy Crack Corn... my tea drinking days will never be the same!

Happy Saturday Easter Eve!

Saturday's Gratitude:

I am so grateful to run into old friends (not "old" friends, but friends from long ago that I haven't seen in ages) and briefly catch up!

Spring is in the air.

Today is my 800th post! I suppose I've had a lot to say in the last year and a half! This is a little springy illustration to set the mood for the Easter weekend.

My almost 8 year old still believes in the Easter Bunny. I think that is sweet. Soon enough he'll be out playing the Bunny for his own clan and getting up before the sun to hide little plastic eggs around the yard. I wonder if this will be our last year of the Easter Bunny, Tooth Fairy and Santa Claus?

Friday's Gratitude:

I am so grateful to have seen the cow exhibit, strewn about downtown La Jolla this afternoon.

Easter Egg Holders for you.

What to do with all those colored Easter eggs? I never know the answer to that so I created these little Easter egg holders just for you to print out and decorate your table. The file is pretty small and should print out perfectly onto an 8.5" X 11" piece of card stock. I have my friends all lined up for my son to see in the morning when he gets up. (That's mostly because I am a poor planner and only started these at 10:00pm instead of a week ago like most organized folks would do!) Happy Easter decorating!

Thursday's Gratitude:

I am so grateful for a nice long day with my son although I didn't get nearly enough of my work done. I am just grateful he is such a joy to be around.

Prodigious Precipitation

Few words tonight. I am busy singing praises as my sister and I found out her latest PT scan revealed NO CANCER cells. Not too shabby for a Stage IV diagnosis last August, only eight months ago!

Wednesday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for amazing news, just when it needs to be heard.

It's all in the packaging, well, usually that is.

Some packaging ideas for a skin care line...

Rockin out to silence...

This was my breakfast this morning. It is a raw food pesto with zuccini "noodles" and sliced cherry tomatoes. My sister made this for me and dropped it off last night on this very stylish dish. So as I started to eat this really beautiful, colorful plate of food, the tomato squirt it's guts straight out onto my pj's in protest. I thought to myself, "it's going to be one of those days!" as I proceeded to gobble down the resistant tomatoes and try, try, try incredibly hard NOT to have a cup of coffee. Yes, it is turning out to be "one of those days" but not in the way I had imagined because I finished this...

and mixed it up a bit for this...

This has been a great day to get so much accomplished and one of the reasons is because my lovely child had a sleep over last night and he is staying over for most of the day. I am trying very hard to not miss him terribly but he filled my dreams throughout the night and I have this sadness as I work in my home studio listening to the silence. I work alone a lot so I am used to it but everyday I know at 3:00 I get to see my loverly and then my home is filled with boy noise. I have glimpses of what it must be like when your child goes off to college and leaves home for good. My boy won't be here until later this evening so back to the painting easel!

Tuesday's Gratitude:

I am so grateful for Peanut Butter & Co.'s White Chocolate Wonderful peanut butter. I've eaten almost half the jar. When I was in NYC I dragged my sister to their flagship store because the peanut butter rocks. I think it would have made more of an impact if I had a child with me though!

Early perceptions.

While walking my dog in the wee early hours of the morning, I was thinking about perceptions as I watched hers and my shadows on the sidewalk. As the sun began it's ascent, our shadows were cast out very long and lean on the ground. Hers especially was disproportionate as her ears were flapping while she walked and her movements seemed so springy and bouncy. She is an old gal and not quite so springy in her step but her shadow made her seem so puppy like and youthful. If you were to just look at her shadow, you'd think she was not even touching the ground in her boingy, bouncy gait. This was the perception of us on the sidewalk. This made my mind contemplate how things are never, ever really how they seem. Or are they?

Layered plans.

I worked on this today. Believe it or not, I have many layers on these four canvases and a plan for the outcome. I am hoping it works as this is sort of an experiment as well. I'll post more as the progress grows.

Do you ever have a project in mind but don't really know how it will turn out until the very end?

Monday's Gratitude:

I am so grateful for a quiet studio to paint in.

It's the waitin' that'll kill you.

They'll do it when they're ready, and in the mean time?

Sunday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful to go see a funny, funny play with my son and two beautiful nieces and my sister.

Lemony Snippets

Fisherman's stew while fishing for quotes.

"Strength does not come from winning, Your struggles develop your strength. When you go through hardship and decide not to surrender, that is strength."

Great quote and great food last night.

Coffee, tea and friends.

I just love meeting new friends! Today I met with Pam, the notorious and multi talented Doodlestreet blogger. We "met" about a year ago through blog postings and were finally able to meet in person over coffee. She is as every bit as lovely and funny in person as she is on line.

Saturday's Gratitude:

I am so grateful for a nice leisurely afternoon.

Spring flowers bring smiles.

Happy Spring Time!

It's party time!

Look what came in the post today! It's a postcard from my agent with party plate art! There are three on the front and one on the back that are mine. Can you guess which they are?

Friday's Gratitude:

I am so grateful for a nice evening out to dinner and a jaunt by the art store to pick up some fresh new canvases.

Glitter at the bottom of the mud puddle.

Life right now has been showing me an empty, ugly, barren wilderness in so many aspects of my entire existence. For a while now, many things have not been going smoothly, there are family issues to deal with, unexpected deadlines for work and where the h@#* did my creative energy escape to?
BUT I must say I have captured glimpses of jeweled delights in my son's happy exuberance in life, very inspiring speakers and lovely, lovely art to rest my eyes upon. Yes, there is glitter at the bottom of the mud puddle. Like this little girl for example, (disguised to protect the innocent) who was so excited about the mural I painted in her room yesterday. More glitter tomorrow when I collect my paintings from the salon they are hanging at and have all my "kids" back in my nest AND also when I meet up with the very famous "Doodlestreet" blogger I have met online! Shimmering glitter, I see you!

Thursday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for some time to sit, read and relax.

Orange twist.

It was a spring-like kind of day today. Here's a little juicy citrus fun on a lovely Wednesday.


Someone wanted to know where my photo was in the class picture I posted yesterday of my long lost classmates, so here it is. It's hideous, look away! My sister is two spots away on the right!

Wednesday's Gratitude:
I am so grateful for a leisurely lunch with a new friend.