Here’s the sketch for Titto’s second portrait. He’s such a gorgeous and colorful sun conure, his tailfeather spread has amazing bold gradients from lime green to deep blue, I’m excited to get to paint him again! I’ll work in his background this afternoon.

I plan to complete his portrait by the end of this week, so you’ll see more work in progress shots soon of his portrait as I paint him.

To all the mom’s out there today, I hope that you get to have your cake and eat it, too. I wish for you a bicker-free day. A day where your children excitedly cross something off of your to-do list for you.

Cherish those big hugs and kisses from your kids, and notice the subtle hints of appreciation from your hubby for the things that you do to take care of your family.

Grab a fork, or a shovel, or some mulch or something – and enjoy!

  

I am finally starting to catch up with my “to-do” list. Here are some things I’ve crossed off my list, and I still have to get visuals to go along with everything for you.

• Finish up a blog design, MommyHelp.com. That one was an EW project that launched last week, it turned out really neat, new moms will love the tips and information on Breastfeeding and parenting. There’s a forum there, too – lots of nice supportive women there. Check it out!
• Another EW blog design project that I just launched this week is The End User. This is my first fluid blog design for EW, and it’s that black & white one I talked about. It wound up being a really neat layout and project – even though I had to hold myself back from changing just one little hex code to bright red or something. The urge was there, and it persisted – but alas. It’s black, white, and shades of grey, and I shouldn’t even be showing you yet because I still have some tweaking to do. Go on and have a look anyway.
• Live.Love.Read. It just so happy over there. My eyeballs really enjoy it, it’s like therapy. Go. Get happy. I’ll wait.
• One of my blogging buddies enjoyed one of my Ten Little Fishies so much, she wanted a print of it. I’ve got one sitting beside me that I’ll be matting and sending out for her by Monday.
• Sketching Titto for his next portrait – he’s such a ham. His second portrait will be much more colorful as he’s preening and really has a gorgeous spread of tailfeathers. I’ll get his sketch up here later today.
• Two Mother-Daughter banquets. Two nights in a row this week, I’m telling you – it’s been a smidge busy over here this week.
• Balancing the checkbook. Next on my list. Ugh.

I still have some things to add to my list, too! I need to respond to some inquiries and add a photoblog design project, and I also need to find an hour to tell you about the wonderful experience I just had sending off my Great Blue Heron painting to his new home. The whole experience and sequence of events – beginning with meeting Laura – will leave you just as astonished as it did me. Divine intervention indeed.

I also need to tell you about my neighbor. This lovely woman we’ve lived next to for 11 years is not doing so well. I’ve been assisting her whenever she calls for help, and last weekend I waited with her as the ambulance came to take her to the hospice where she is now staying. She’s had trouble breathing for a couple of years, and initially when she was diagnosed they gave her 6 months. She’s well beyond that, but now she’s suffering and the pain she feels just from the effort it takes her to inhale and exhale breaks my heart. I’m going to cut some irises from her garden and take them to her today, and I’ll probably be saying goodbye. It’s very sad, but I’m glad that they are keeping her as comfortable as possible, she shouldn’t have to suffer through her final days. If you’d keep her in your thoughts and prayers, I know she would feel comforted knowing everyone wishes her peace. It seems odd, and I may even sound glib writing about her, but she’s honestly ready to pass on, she has been. She is tired of having to experience the pain of her body failing her before the Lord is ready to take her.

Mother’s Day, aaah Mother’s Day. What do you mom’s want for Mother’s Day? Me, I shared my secret with a friend, and I’m not going to spoil it here but wait patiently to see if my family knows me as well as they think they do.

Nancy has relocated her old blog to a new space – with a new face!

This was a fun design to do, I feel .. hungry when I go there. Yes. Hungry. For a big bowl of rainbow sherbet. There are worse things to feel when you visit a blog, right? heh.

Nancy is a doll, she’s so intuitive and sweet and wonderful. She’s also deep and thoughtful and intelligent – all of that comes out in her blog, and now I think we’ll be seeing even more of that as she finds her comfortable cozy spot among the bright sunshiny happy color scheme, and the sunflowers, too.

Her design was actually a real challenge, if you think about having a bowl of sherbet in front of you, if you stir it up too much it gets brown, eh? That’s not so good. I had to find that perfect balance, and then I had to figure out how to port an entire database from one server to another. WooHoo! All turned out well, and just opening her new spot will make you smile. So go on, just do it.

Of course any zoo is a great zoo in my book, and I’m thankful we have one nearby. It’s small, honestly it doesn’t take more than an hour to walk through – but I kinda hang out with the critters, talk to them, study them, and of course photograph them. I can never get out of the zoo with fewer than 100 pics on my memory card.

Here are some of the better shots of the day yesterday. The T-Rex is a really cool metal sculpture that lines one of the pathways. They’re doing a lot of improvements so there are a lot of critters we couldn’t even get to, hopefully they’ll be finished soon and there will be a few new animals for me to admire over the summer.

Oh, yes, and the kids had a good time, too!

Have you ever seen a mama squirrel with teeters full of milk climbing a 3/4″ diameter iron pole for a little lunch when there’s plenty available in her own private dish on the ground? There’s my QOTD.

This one here, well, he just wouldn’t stop lookin’ at me. Silly standy squirrel.

I’m a pacer. Not that it’s related to my crazy kooky squirrels, but it is, sortof. In my best creative moments I’m pacing from the front to the back of my house, usually munching on granola or yacking on the phone. Yesterday I paced. I was working on a blog design layout that is black & white. Literally. In a world full of colors, I had to restrict myself to black, white and a couple of shades of gray.

For me, that’s a little like being a two year old throwing a tempertantrum that momma won’t let me use her watercolors, just a stupid lead pencil and one lousy sheet of copy paper from her printer. ::stomps and pouts::

We work with what we’ve got, though, and I made it work. Phew.

Still, in the creative process of putting the pieces together in my head, I paced. I have my camera at the ready, and I was delighted to see a couple of really beautiful and unique birds yesterday. I know a lot of you might not remember to check my photoblog, and yesterday was an especially active day, I uploaded quite a few new bird photos. For the larger image, just click the thumb.

I used to post my photography here. I decided to create a photoblog so that I could not only make my photos larger for viewing, but to be able to post more frequently without disrupting the regular average everyday stuff I write here on my blog. Now I’m wondering, was that such a great idea? I mean, there are folks using Flickr who were given Nikon D80’s to test for 6 months – with an option to purchase at a discounted rate at the end of the tryout. Who wouldn’t want to be approached with a deal like that? Is Flickr the place to put your stuff, then? I’m so confused. I’ve got my own server space, my own place to do it – I’m not sure I see the benefits of putting my stuff on someone elses server, aside from the obviously cool opportunities, as long as people notice and/or like your photos.

And then there’s my gallery – and it must be “that time” again because I’m wondering how functional it is for my guests. And I’m also wondering when I’m going to have time to format a bunch of auctions so that I can offer my Eye Ate It paintings for sale – and Kiki, too – now that I have them back from exhibit.

I do this, from time to time, I start revamping my whole existence on the web in my head. I crave feedback from everyone who stops by.

Well, dude, could you help me out here? I’ll be in the other room(s), pacing.

Ode to a Gerbera Daisy

To my dear cheerful flower,
You make me smile.

You bring color to my world on a cloudy day.

Your broad green foliage protects your young buds,

Reminding me of a mother protecting her newborn.

You’re a finicky flower, you know.

Your need for hydration borderlines on obsessive.

You call out to me several times a day,
Starving for affection, attention,
And more water.

You make me crazy sometimes, Dear Gerbera,
The slightest droop and I fear for your life.

My hose is always at the ready,
To shower you with H20.

I know you appreciate me, too,
Within minutes you’re standing tall and smiling at me again.

Thank you, Dear Gerbera,
For brightening my garden,
And for your beautiful, bold color.

If you weren’t so daggone pretty,
I’d rip you right out by the roots.

~the end.

I know it doesn’t rhyme or anything – is it supposed to? Oh well. My Ode to a Gerbera Daisy is dedicated to everyone who wants to have them, but might not understand why you can’t get them to stay alive for long. I’ve learned, by killing a few of my own. You all think I have such a green thumb – I should show you the brown stuff I’m successfully managing to kill off in my yard. It’s so depressing – which explains why I don’t mention it. Just green stuff that’s pretty, and growing, and alive! That’s all you really want to see anyway, right?

Show of comments – who wants to be reassured that I have only a tinge of green on my thumbnail? I’m not afraid to show you the stuff I can’t grow, try as I might – I do have some pretty pitiful looking plants. Then you can laugh and laugh and know that I am totally normal.

I finished up a new design for EW last week – you can read more about the project here.

It’s grunge, masculine, industrial – it screams “guy blog”. Head on over to The Clay Show and see it live. 🙂

This morning I had the opportunity to meet this fabulous young lady for a photo shoot back behind the poplar tree. She wanted me to tell you that squirrels are really not all that bad. They have a soft, sensitive side – just like you and me. So in an effort to portray their inner “enjoying nature and foraging for food and shelter like the rest of us” beauty, she asked me to share with you these wonderful shots from her own personal portrait session.

I really have to applaud her for these shots. They’re personal and revealing, they tell a story about how sensitive and playful a squirrels’ personality can be. I’d be surprised if your heart doesn’t just melt. You’ll never see a squirrel the same way again. Maybe.

Keep reading »