I did not fall off the planet

Just in case you were wondering...

Time is crazy, isn't it? Like Houdini, it is a master of escape. And escape, it has.

Let's see, what have I been doing? Not blogging that is for sure. I am ready to settle back in if you're willing to join me again. I am just about ready to make the big switch to Wordpress. I will make a tutorial for those who are unsure if they can still follow from Blogger (you can).

I have been to Florida, one of my family's most favorite places. Talk about time escaping, jeesh. We did cram in a lot though, the short week we were there. I'll share more on that later. I will say, I've not ever been so inspired as I have been than on this trip. I feel the want, the need to paint, paint, paint!! I've got a million ideas in my brain waiting to fill my canvases with their imagery. Tune in to find out what has got me so fired up and inspired.

Temperatures are dropping and that also means time to dust off and clean out the greenhouse to get it ready for my plants again. Soon too. The temps are supposed to drop to 41 degrees F Tuesday night. How can this be?

I did paint a couple things right before Florida that I shared on Facebook, but not here. So I'll post it again here. I've been painting in oil again and these have been drying while I was away and are ready for more work...

I hope everyone is fairing well since I've been MIA. I promise to be visiting your blog soon... Till then...  See ya!

CMOE Dinosaur is finished!

I just took the final photos of my painted and adorned wooden dinosaur to benefit the Children's Museum of Evansville. I'm quite happy with how it turned out. You can see the project start to finish through this link. Start with the September post at the bottom of the link's page.

This angle shows the metallic paint a little bit. I used metallic paint on almost every inch of it. As you can see, my special touch that I was hiding from everyone was adding what I call glass blobs. These are actually little glass squares and I thought they would be perfect for this dinosaur.

I also adorned his toes with more glass blobs that show the metallic paint from underneath. The pictures just aren't doing the metallic paint justice. I just love the shimmer this guy has and the glass adds a little extra special sparkle.

The mouth is where you insert a quarter, this is after all what they have to collect donations for the museum in several local businesses. There will be a plastic coin collector belly where the giant hole is. I'm not actually sure who will be bidding for these dinosaurs and if they are businesses that will use this as a donation collection, but I kinda hope not. I think it would get nicked up, scratched and broken if it were just out in the public not being protected. I hope this will be viewed as artwork and not a donation box.

So there he is... I've wondered if I should name him since it wasn't asked of me, but since I usually title my work I will. I call him Seymour.

Feed me Seymour!

Thank you friends for your encouraging words and thoughts. It's been a fun project and I'm ready to move on to the next.

Abstract Dinosaur for CMOE still a WIP

I'm coming along with my abstract dinosaur that I'm painting for an auction to benefit CMOE (Children's Museum of Evansville). I've got several hours in on it so far and I've got quite a few more I think. There was lots of intricate work that has got my neck muscles screaming and my eyes crossing! I've got more shading to do and I'm going to do something a little special to it that you're gonna have to wait to find out what it is ;)

All the paint except the black is metallic. The pictures aren't picking up on that much, but I really like the effect. I'm fairly happy with the way it's looking but you know how it is, things are always just a little different in your head. Well, my head at least.

I know I'm getting off subject here, but did anyone catch that new show on FX called "American Horror Story"? Wow. I'm liking what I've seen so far. It was made just like a movie and kept my eyes glued on the TV! Does anyone else think the gimp was the ghost guy that burned his family or possibly the creepy patient of Ben's? Freaky! I love it! They've picked a great cast, with Jessica Lange playing a great role (as usual) and eye candy Dylan McDermott with semi nude scenes (which doesn't offend me in the least!) since he basically looks like Michelangelo's David. It's not for kids at all, but if you love a good scare, I think this will fit the bill. It comes on every Wednesday evening.

Does anyone have any advice on going from a 2 column to a 3 column? Blogger has changed so much, that the info I've seen seems outdated now. I want to make my own header and possibly background. Any help or links would be appreciated =)

Happy Paint Party Friday gang! Visit all the artists as you can...

Abstract Sidewalk Art

Asher and I have just discovered the joys of sidewalk paint this past Saturday. We've played around with chalk before but this sidewalk paint, let me tell you! It just knocks sidewalk graffiti up a whole notch or two in my book. From what started as whining from Asher turned out to be the highlight of my day.

You see he just found a birthday present from way back in March that I've been pushing aside. Okay I was hiding it, I admit it. It just seemed like one of those kid things that was gonna be one big mess that I had to clean up then to add insult to injury, a nice scream fest to top it off. No thank you.

But since having found it a few days prior, he's been hounding me to get this stuff out. Now you all know, I'm all for creative play. But this was Saturday and I really hadn't planned on getting out of my robe for most or all of the day. Besides it was like 50 something degrees out there... ick.

But Asher managed to talk me into it. Code for: drove me nuts until I caved. So I annoyingly got my clothes on, all the while telling him that he could do it himself and that I was going to sit inside while he did it. He accepted, just thrilled to try out the new stuff. So I get him set up and show him what to do, it came with a roller and a brush, and I went back inside to do more lounging.

Well I started to feel a twinge of guilt since he is now in school and I really don't spend much time playing like that anymore with him. I looked out the window and he looked so cute slopping the paint and rolling away. Not only that, I started to get a little envious. He painted with abandon. Sloshing paint this way and that. What fun! So I went out there and asked him if I could join in. Happily, he said I could and then proceeded to tell me I could use the brush because he like the roller. Yippee! So it began.

mine is on the left and Asher's is on the right in case you can't tell ;)

Of course he was totally tired of it within 10 minutes, so I thought well I don't want to waste the paint that had already been poured out so I kept painting (about 30 minutes) and came up with what you see here. I still ended up having to clean it all up, but hey, it was well worth it.

Just so you know, it looks much prettier when sidewalk paint is wet. The dog trotted all over it, but it surprisingly dries fast. The cat couldn't care less. It's amazing the color combinations you can create with hot pink, blue and yellow... although it takes a little extra work. Also, I don't think it's gonna come off. Oy!