Get creative with me!
This one is for you, Mark. Thank you. I love you.
Better pics tomorrow, need some daylight! I’ll list it tomorrow too, unless of course anyone wants to make me an offer on it before it goes up for sale to the public.
Stargazer Lily 12×12 – 1 1/2″ Gallerywrap canvas in OILS
There’s one of the two canvases that are JUST about dry enough for me to start two cat commissions! Both canvases look the same at this point, tomorrow I will begin painting the kitties!
For today, I have had 2 canvases prepped for a couple of weeks and it’s raining out, so I’m going to paint something else while I’m waiting for the other two to finish drying. 🙂 I am waiting for two packages with more pics, I will be painting a Smooth Fox Terrier (pet portrait contest winner), and another commission (a Yorkie!) in inks.
Yardwork update: the pool is up! See? I dug up the yard under the pool, threw down 16 bags of sand, then dug up a smidge more to add 5 more 18″ square patio blocks, then 8 more bags of sand to have a little mini “beachfront” so we don’t get dirt & grass in the pool.
The roses are doing really well, all 5 plants have new growth. I’ve clipped the blooms, brought them inside and have a very pretty Bouquet sitting on my desk now smelling all nice!
Then I have the front flower planter thing all full now and it looks LOVELY! Here’s an updated pic (I’m taking this out in the rain now..LOL), you can see I’ve added quite a few more things and it’s really taking off and is quite colorful! See the flowerbed here!
Ok now I should be tired from all of this, right? No. LOL
Lastnight I shampooed the carpets and cleaned the floors until midnight with this new cleaner. This stuff is AMAZING! Here’s a link if you want to buy some: Super Duper Cleaner! Not kidding, this door to door salesman hit our house the other night. He came in, showed me how well it worked cleaning up stains in the carpet that have been there for YEARS, and of course I was skeptical. I always am! I really dislike door-to-door salespeople. Ug don’t invade my home!! Anyway I told him that if he could clean anything up in my studio that had dried oil paints on it then I’d buy a bottle. Welp, I had splattered some on my curtains and he cleaned it right up! So I bought some. After my painting session the other night I had splattered it all over my clothes, I was a mess. So I used the stuff, cleaned it right out of my clothes! Lastnight I decided to put it into my Kirby shampooer and WOW the carpet is CLEAN!!! Very very cool stuff. Highly recommend it!!
What else… oh yes, weight loss! Well, I have been holding steady at a loss of 37 pounds. Only thing is, I’m losing INCHES now and gaining muscle mass from all this outdoorsy hard manual labor stuff I’ve been doing! So, as of yesterday, I’ve gone down 4 sizes (and I’m counting by two’s since that’s how our stuff is sized), and am wearing clothes from like 7 years ago! YAHOO!
Alrightie then, I think I’ve rambled on enough to get you all caught up, now I need to get ready to paint! Show ya later! 😉
xoxoxoxo
Ain’t she a beauty? These roses are really taking off! Here’s another one, this is one of the “Remember Me” blooms:
Gotta add a couple more!!!! Here’s a melon gerber daisy:
And a lovely threesome of DEEP and bright orange gerbers!
Does anyone know what type of flower/plant this is? My girlfriend has it growing (wild?) in her yard.
This is a Mandevilla bloom, isn’t it beautiful? You can click for a larger view of it. I love the sunburst look down in the center, it is so pretty! I have about 15 buds on the trellis now and I am so excited! Last year I planted clematis there that did not do well. 🙁
More flowers! I took a few photos this morning and decided that I’m going to invest in a better digital camera with macro mode. (Thank you Erikie for pointing out that it exists!) Then I will be able to have MUCH larger and sharper closeups of pretties for you!
Ok here are s’more for ya. (and if anyone wants to paint them, be my guest!) An Orange Gerber Daisy, Peach Rose (just opened this morning!)and this Yellow rosebud (will probably open in the next day or two.
That’s it for now! We’re heading down to Wallyworld for some stuff, pool filter, chemicals, pistachios for Mark..yadda yadda…
Have a great Saturday!!
p.s. if you aren’t grossed out easily, here are a few of my bruises. I told you I look like I’ve been in a wreck! Will heat packs work to get the bruising to go away faster? These are awful!
This is one of my new roses, called “First Prize”, they are swirled pink.
We have been planting and weeding and pruning up a storm here! I have LOT’S of pics for you today!!
Yesterday was front yard day. First I cleaned out the gutters, which were horrendous to say the least. Blech! Then I weeded my mums and silver mound, then moved over to my Front Floral thingie and now it’s all spiffed up. First I added a Mandevilla Trellis, which has the most beautiful blooms, they remind me of Hibiscus. We already had a good assortment, the back row against the house you can see day lilies, stargazers right in front of the window, a couple of very tall guys that I believe are coneflowers (can’t remember exactly! LOL), there are a few hostas scattered in front of those, and the big bunch in the front are Primrose that Caitlin picked out last year that have spread like crazy! We needed more color, so yesterday we added some Begonias, and then today a couple of more… first, a couple of Zinnia’s, one is a dark pink the other is light pink. Also planted some Peach Geraniums which are really pretty! We have some Moss Rose that appear to be returning this year, which is the sortof bare looking spot in the front corner. 🙂
On to the side of the house… yes I have been a busy and hopeful green thumber! We had 5 different roses there before, but all but one stopped blooming a few years ago. So I talked to Mark early this morning, he suggested taking those out and replanting new roses. So here you go, honey! Lots and lots of buds on these!! Four new ones, and one oldie! There was a ton to do here, weeds had overgrown all of it, it looked very very yicky. Now, from right to left we have First Prize Roses, which are swirled pink. The large bloom was broken so I clipped it and now it’s sitting right next to me smelling lovely! Next, there’s Remember Me, no tag, but I looked them up and they are a peachy yellow blushing a coral color. Really pretty! There are about 10 buds on that one. Then there are Helmut Schmidt, which are yellow. The next one is the one that has survived since before we lived here, Dark Peach, we always get quite a few blooms on this one throughout the summer. Last but not least (and hopefully not dying!!!), Double Delights, these are cream blushing red.
I also picked up two more, Pink Rhododenderon & Pink Azaelia (I know I spelled that wrong!), those will go on the mound thing I’m shoveling around in the backyard, since it’s partial shade. 😀
Ooh! I almost forgot! (ok I did forget, I’m back editing. LOL) I saw Jayden out in the yard holding really still, and asked her what she was doing. She said “there’s a birdie!” Yup, a baby sparrow, hasn’t quite learned to fly, down on the ground. I moved him away from Chloe (our dog), and awww he’s a baby! he’s so cuuuuute!
I will definitely be putting images up here as they bloom so you can enjoy them with me this year!
xoxoxoxo
Welcome to my mudpile. LOL!
I spent all day yesterday cleaning gutters, and getting this huge pile of dirt broken down enough to move easily into a landscaped type mound that will follow the corner fenceline and be covered in hostas and nice partial shade plantings. Of course we got the torrential downpour as scheduled this morning, and now I won’t be able to get back to it until it dries out a bit. So far so good though, I think it will look nice when it’s finished! Not that you can tell much from this photo, but the dirt was taller than I am, about 6 foot tall I’d say, and now I’ve got it down to about 4 feet.
Ok on to business!!! For those of you who are interested in a print of Squirrely III, he’s been added to my print gallery, and my print gallery has changed a bit! It is super cool, so even if you don’t plan to purchase anything right now, have a look anyway! I spent quite a few hours figuring out the coding for this, in preparation for an overhaul on another one of my client’s sites, so I tested it out on my site first! 😀 Click here to go directly to the new prints page!
I plan on beginning the backgrounds for my two cat portraits (in oils) later today.
Also, the pet portrait giveaway contest ends tomorrow! Have you entered? Ya gotta play if you wanna win! 😉
Have a wonderful Sunday and Happy Memorial Day everyone!!!
xoxoxoxo
Happy Graduation Day, Caitlin!
Yes, my little weed is growing so fast. She’ll be in 3rd grade this fall! She received a “Positive Attitude Award” this morning, and her final report card was super, putting her 2 levels ahead of her grade in reading, and at a 5-6 grade writing level. 😀
I had to run to the doc this morning for some wierd thing I was just curious about that he ended up wanting to see me about. So it turns out I’ve got an infection brewing, and my goofy thing that I was curious about is the beginning stage where your immune system is trying to fight it off. He said if I hadn’t gone in, by Monday I’d have been feeling pretty crappy. So I guess it was a good thing that I got in there! Now I have to go get antibiotics though. Foo. :P~
It’s kinda nice out, the prelude to a rainy blechy weekend, I hate it when the weather teases me like this. LOL Now I am going to try to get outside this afternoon and start working on the landscaping, and then paint this weekend while it rains.
Happy Friday everyone!!!
xoxoxo
