Click here to see the Stargazer listing on eBay, detail shots galore!

I’ve also started my pet portrait contest winner’s portrait today! This is a gorgeous setting for a purebred Smooth Fox Terrier. He’s mostly white, but has some beautiful rich browns on his head and a couple of other areas. I used a transparent gold ochre for the background, layering some areas a bit heavier than others for this rich finish. I was actually going for something else when this started yelling “Yea! Perfect!” as I was painting. Yes, Winsor & Newton Pro Oil’s do speak if you listen closely. 😉

Had enough of me today yet? I’ll give you a few hours to catch up while we run errands. hehe!

Here are the two cat portraits I’m working on now. I hope to have these finished by Monday! The kitty on the left is Rocky, and Simba is on the right. I’ve got them sketched out with an angled ground which will probably be woodgrain.

In other news, I got some better pics of the Stargazer this morning and will prepare that auction and start it tonight. I’ll put a linkie up to the auction when it’s ready!

Have a great Saturday everyone!
xoxoxo

oh, yea, PS!
I just calculated INCHES on my weight loss. Those commercials are misleading to me when they say “so and so lost xx inches!” ok so now I know they’re adding up the total. hehe! So far I’ve lost a total of 23 inches. 5-Bust, 8-Waist, 6-Hips and 2-Each Thigh. 😀

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

Would someone please explain to me the point in spamming products to every e-mail address on the planet, when filters have been so jam packed with keywords that spammers can’t even complete a full normal sentence with correct spelling and punctuation anymore????? What is the point? Look at this! (I’m sure you’ve probably seen it before!)

Us<>ing t<>he<> s<>p<>e<>e<>d and us<>e<>r-frie<>ndline<>s<>s<> of t<>he<> Int<>e<>rne<>t<> we<> have<> s<>imp<>lifie<>d your abilit<>y t<>o re<>s<>e<>arc<>h your own he<>alt<>h p<>roble<>ms<> and aut<>onomous<>ly dis<>c<>ove<>r t<>he<> available<> op<>t<>ions<> for t<>re<>at<>me<>nt<>.

LOL!

::grumble grumble::

Okie doke folks, here’s the news!

The City of Toronto (Canada) has a big, beautiful waterpark (links to come). It has been up and running for about 10 years now, and they are expanding! Their general contractor searched for a large frog to add to the new section and found one of the frogs I did last year, Swampy, and contacted me to create a frog similar to Swampy for their waterpark!

So this will be a BUSY summer! The frog fabrication will take approx. 2 weeks, and once it arrives here I will be a busy bee! I’m estimating the whole project will take about 4-6 weeks or so. Then, next time you’re in Toronto, you can stop by the waterpark and see Swampy II!

I will be creating a separate page to display the progress of this one, and of course keep you all updated!

This is going to be FUN!!!!!!

So there’s my big big big announement. Not bad, eh?
😀
xoxoxo!

I really didn’t want to get into politics here, but I just noticed something and wanted to share.

This weekend, after the news that Regan had passed, I was pretty upset. I still am. When he was President, I was just old enough to be aware of who he was. I remember speeches, I remember seeing him on TV, I remember him being President, and I remember liking him.

I found myself comparing Regan’s Presidential style and personality to Bush’s and found so many similarities that I know who I will be voting for this year. I also have a news feed from GWB.com and there was a small link in there today to read the remarks made by GWB on Regan’s passing. I went to the homepage of GWB.com, and here, you can see for yourself. (and if you don’t see it today, I don’t know if it will still be up, but it’s a very nice full page memoriam with a link at the bottom to go to the GWB normal home page. the very last thing on the page.)

www.georgewbush.com

I am very impressed with the honor, integrity and respect GWB has shown toward Regan.

Then, just out of pure curiousity, I went here:
www.johnkerry.com

And once again have been slightly surprised (and as usual disappointed) that Kerry’s respects are second in importance. He couldn’t even give our former President a few days of top priority on his site? And if he puts himself first on his site, what does that say about how he would behave as President?

Sigh. I knew I knew better, but now I really know why I knew better.

/end politics (I promise!)

Have a good one…we have mosquito bites to tend to today.
xoxoxo

RONALD REAGAN, 1911-2004

“I now begin the journey that will lead me into the sunset of my life. I know that for America there will always be a bright dawn ahead.”

The sun has set for President Ronald Wilson Reagan, 40th President of these United States of America.

“His work here is done, and now a shining city awaits him. God Bless Ronald Reagan.”
President George W. Bush
June 5, 2004