Roses for the Dead continued

Slowly but surely, I continue to work on my "Roses for the Dead" pastel painting. The work actually goes fast, but I've been doing busy work like painting frames and other things instead of working on this.


My local Blick Art Materials had some wing ding yesterday and was giving out pull tab cards with discounts on them. I pulled a 20% off which is good considering I didn't have a coupon to be begin with but the lady in front of me picked out a card that was a $100 gift card! Dang! Oh well, good for her.


I'm hooking up with Paint Party Friday Woo Hoo! Go and see all the inspiration and talent there if you get a chance.


For those of you that read my post from last Friday, I have an update on my mammogram that I had to have "further evaluation" on. I got great news yesterday. I had my mammogram redone yesterday and everything is fine. No cancer! I am so relieved. The doctor was pointing at these little lines that crossed over in my x-rays that he was showing me but it all looked the same to me. Good thing that's not my job! Anyway, thanks for all the nice things you all said and well wishes and prayers. I love our support group here in blogland.


Oh, also some of you may know about Google getting rid of friend connect (a way to follow blogs). I found through Inspiration Avenue an alternative by the same smart guy that brought us Mr. Linky. It's free, you should check it out and if you do it, I'd love it if you followed me through there, too! See my upper right hand corner for a link.


Have a great weekend friends :)

Pass the wine please

I'm working on a pastel painting at the moment, it's still of course a work in progress. "Roses for the Dead". You may remember seeing the drawing from some post from who knows when. I fall in love with pastels every time I use them. I don't know why I stop and go to other things. Paints for some reason just beckon me with their come hither texture and fabulous colors not to mention I find such delight in just admiring my palette. There's just something so romantic about holding a brush in your hand. Okay, I'm a little crazy.

But what  a fickle medium it is, I have these marvelous paintings in my mind and for some reason the end result gets hacked by either the paints, the brushes or technique. It can't possibly be me, right? haha Do you ever feel like you have no control over what you're doing?

Well I got the girls squished this week, Tuesday to be precise and then just yesterday I got the dreaded letter in the mail saying I have to go back in for "an ultra sound and further evaluation". Great. Just what I need, a week of worry and fret. I can't get back in until next Thursday. Pass the wine bottle please. I think I'll just stay drunk until then.

The chirpy girl on the other end of the phone was all "now this is all routine, it doesn't mean anything" Well if it doesn't mean anything then why the hell do I have to go back?!! I knew that technician was too good to be true. She didn't hurt me at all. She should've flattened those puppies out. At least now the pain would be gone and maybe now I would not be worried.

Ah so maybe I'm got a self portrait here...  just kidding. Other than that, I have tinnitus now in my left ear from probably coughing my head off and I just got back from having my eyes dilated. So I can't see a damn thing. If there's typo's I'm sorry but it's the doctors fault. I was sure I had macular degeneration. So far their just floaters, probably from coughing hard for so long. But I'm supposed to be looking for a black curtain, a sign of a  torn retina. Wonderful.

Let's see, is there anything else I can complain about? Not at this moment. Check back later though ;)

Happy Paint Party Friday! (I'm back!)

P.S. I've a quick question for everyone. Are the words too small and hard to read for you? It seems small to me, but I'd like your opinions.

UPDATE: I have an update on my mammogram that I had to have "further evaluation" on. I got great news yesterday (Thurs. 2/9/12). I had my mammogram redone yesterday and everything is fine. No cancer! I am so relieved. The doctor was pointing at these little lines that crossed over in my x-rays that he was showing me but it all looked the same to me. Good thing that's not my job! Anyway, thanks for all the nice things you all said and well wishes and prayers. I love our support group here in blogland.

Pirate Ship Treasure Box

My last art show is over for the year and it was fun. I had a roomie in my booth, my friend Amelia and I shared a booth. That makes the day go by a lot more smooth and it's also more fun to have someone to laugh and gripe with. Sales were decent and I did more face painting which is such a kick. I even wore my own snowflake glitter tattoos. Fun :)


If you saw my last post, it was about a painting of a pirate ship I did. I put that painting on a box and many other illustrations with it. It was the very first piece to sell and here it is :)

I used prints of my original paintings and illustrations so I can recreate this box, although it wouldn't be identical which I don't want anyway.

I'm linking to Paint Party Friday =) Check out the talent!

Homemade Stamps!

Today I made my own stamps. I've wanted to do this for a while now and I have a new project in mind. But it would cost a small fortune to purchase so many plus I might not be able to find exactly what I needed. So what's a creative but not so rich artist to do? Why... make their own of course!  I was so pleased with the way they look. Totally grungy like I wanted.

Right now, I'm just using foam and a pencil and a plastic tool that is a flower pick. Check out what I've got so far. These are fun to make! You should try some of your own :)

I'm linking up with Paint Party Friday, although technically I'm not painting... but I've missed it so hey... sue me. Go check out the other players, ok?

Have a great Friday night!

Paint Party Week 23

The weeks keep passing by like "sand in the hour glass... these are the days of our lives..."
That phrase will be in my mind forever, it was my grandma's "story" as she called it. My mom's mom. I lost her too early, too. But I regress...  it's Paint Party Friday and I've got a work in progress to show today. A really long work in progress.

It's one of those projects you start and then set aside and think I'll get back to that. Well, it's time to get back to it. It's been years and it's been whispering to me in my dreams to come back to it. So I shall. Here's what I've got so far.

Skeleton and Roses - or Roses for the Dead as I like to call it.

You may recognize it as the famous Grateful Dead art of Alton Kelly. He actually got it from obscure etchings from the nineteenth century. He and his life long collaborator, Stanley Mouse.

I am drawn to the creepy or dark so often, I'm not sure where I get it but it is just the way I am. I am thinking maybe pastels to finish. I thought of colored pencil, but pastels are so bright and that's what I'm after. It needs a little tweaking before I start adding color. I'm sure I'll be sharing more of Roses for the Dead in future PPF's.

I'm watching one of my favorite movies as I write this, Practical Magic. So fun :)  It's getting me in a great little mood. Happy PPF everybody!