Those who know me well know that I don’t watch the news on TV, nor do I read it online. I bloghop, and get tidbits here and there from the blogs whose authors I’ve come to trust.

I feel it’s important to take some time today and think about the gravity of the bombings in London. I think we all know the kind of people who are responsible for this type of assault, and it really pisses me off. (Sorry for the vulgarity.) I’m totally irked that (1) these people are still alive to even pose this kind of threat and (2) we’re obviously not doing enough to completely eradicate the problem.

I can’t even find the words to express how I feel for the people who lost their lives in these bombings. These are people who did not volunteer for this fight, who weren’t in uniform and were unable to defend themselves against those attacks. What kind of cowards target people like this? I am so sorry for those lives lost, and SO angry at the people responsible.

I added a new blog to my blogroll, SC&A. I’ve just started reading, and this entry over there today is so profound I think I will go back and read it several times. I think it says it all.

On a side note, I’d just like to say that I rarely delve into politics here in my blog and I really don’t want to go there now. This is not about who is on who’s side in politics, this is about us, the people of this country and the people around the world, who are walking targets for this kind of tragedy. I wish that somehow we would all get angry enough, and want our freedom enough, to make a difference.

Here’s Lucy’s background color. Her portrait doesn’t wrap around the sides of the canvas so I gradated the green all the way around (the left & right sides are more dramatic since they’ll be much more visible when the painting is hung!).

I’ll add a tinge more depth and lightness to that chocolatey colored foreground, I’d like for it to accentuate her rust colors and really bring those out. I’ll be working on her eyes next, then the foreground again once this layer is dry. 🙂

This is Lucy, a custom cat portrait I’ll be working on over the next week or so. She’ll be done on a 10×10 gallerywrap canvas in oil, and as you can see from my reference photo she is an absolutely stunning Tortie kitty. Her mom picked out the most beautiful shade of green (matching her eyes) for her background color, and that will be the first work in progress shot you’ll be seeing of her.

My daughter, the papercrafter. Lastnight she amazed and astonished me with her latest paper creation, sandals. She made them for the Chickeymonkey out of one single piece of paper. Neat, huh?

Yes, there are some slight manufacturing problems that need to be overcome, but what do you think? Have I got myself a future shoe designer or what? She can make paper patterns of her shoes, and sell the designs, and be rich and famous by the time she’s 15.

My head is just spinning right now, I’ve got a ton of thoughts and ideas swirling in my mind about my blog, website, marketing, custom portraits, pricing etc. I’m feeling like I need to make some major changes, but I’m still trying to pinpoint what those are. I also need to get my floral piece finished!

The last few weeks have been pretty strange for me, if you didn’t notice. I’ve gone from painting every single day to wanting to paint, but feeling like if I do I am neglecting my kids. So I make plans with them and we do things and have fun, since it is summer vacation. I’m venturing into photography more than I thought I would be, which I am really enjoying. It feels like a very natural thing for me to do, and doesn’t even make me feel guilty! (You guys aren’t used to that though huh? You miss my painting updates, I can tell.)

I could take the whole summer off, and thinking about that makes me envision my whole painting career being slowly gulped down by a huge toilet. I’m at a bit of a crossroads, wishing there was enough time in the day to do it all, to be everything I want to be (when I grow up), and being realistic. It seems like every day I wake up and have a plan, and by 10AM I’ve changed it a thousand times over!

I hate when that happens.

So I’m trying to chill out a bit. To just go with the flow, not worry about things, not stress that I haven’t painted so much lately. Not stress when the girls are off playing “Let’s make paper shoes” for a few hours, because they really are having a good time. Not worry that since it’s been a week, I’ve probably completely forgotten how to paint.

See? (Care you’re right!) It seems my head likes to make stuff up to worry about. I’ve been working on that. Just breathe deeply, eat right, and enjoy every moment with whatever it brings.

Mark and I are going to do some business brainstorming tonight though. It’s going to be an interesting evening, and hopefully a very productive one. 🙂

HEY, do you wanna help? Name THREE reasons why you come to my blog/gallery. (I hope you can come up with three?) Conversely, you can also name any reasons why you wouldn’t come back daily. (I’m okay with constructive criticism!)

That would be super helpful in deciding what changes I need to make. THANKS!

Did you notice? I went away!

I packed up the girls and headed north for the weekend, where a few interesting things occurred. But first, a pic of the view where we stayed, a place called Lake Lawn Resort. I have to go back to this place some day. With a fishing pole, and a boat!

Those of you who know me well know a couple of things. First, I don’t ever, ever get a single cheeseburger when I get one. (Moo.) Okay I can pack it away, most often eating just one meal a day. I’m a carb-o-holic, bakery goods are my friend. A few things have happened over the last week or so, I’m working toward an even healthier version of me. It’s been over a year since I started this whole thing, dropping over 50 pounds since I began, my heart valves which were deteriorating are actually healing as a result of being more physically active. I also had a major surgery that has more than positively impacted my health.

Nearly a week ago now, I quit smoking. Yep, I smoked, yick huh? Yeah. Well don’t crucify or even applaud me yet, because it’s only been a week. I quit cold turkey, haven’t had any withdrawls or anything, except for the expulsion of crud that’s been building up in my lungs for 15 years or so. I quit when I was pregnant with both the girls, we also never ever smoked in the house. Mark is also quitting (right, honey!?), we’re both trying to extend our lives a little bit, cause, as you all know, ’tis a great planet we have here. (hahaha!) We just want to see our kids grow up and have kids, that’s all. BTW, I’ m not a believer in cigs as an addiction. I’ve told a lot of people that, and a lot of them think I’m nuts, but I truly believe that your body doesn’t crave, your mind does. and I believe that we have control over our own minds, so if we want something bad enough, to break bad habits etc., we have the power to do it within ourselves, we just might not have the strength or desire. Just my opinion on the matter, of course.

One thing I learned quickly this past week though, it’s not a good idea to try to quit preservatives in the same week. No. Don’t do that. Saturday was miserable here, we ate non-stop, but what we ate was all healthy stuff and by the end of the day all we wanted was McDonald’s. Everything on the menu would have been nice!

I decided to transition a little slower, making baby steps toward my new goal. I concocted this healthy lunch today and had to share, because this sammich rocks. You have to try it and tell me how you like it okay? I think I could eat this for breakfast lunch AND dinner. It’s that good.

1/2 Avocado, mashed (60 cals)
2 slices honey wheat bread (140 cals)
Broc sprouts (10 cals)
Thin slice o’ Tomato (4 cals)
2 bread & butter pickle slices (30 cals)
6 slices smoked turkey breast (50 cals)
1-2 pieces of lettuce (4 cals)

Nummy good sammich
Total calories: 298

Basically you take 1/2 the avocado and mash it, and spread it on the bread in place of butter/mayo. Then put sprouts on one side and lettuce on the other (the avocado’ll help it stick, that’s my logic. I hate it when my stuff falls all over the floor while I’m pacing.), then just randomly stack everything else. Really, it doesn’t have to be in any particular order. You could even toss it from across the room, grab yourself a scorecard and see how it goes. Lunchtime fun, yea? Ok.

You guys have probably all tried this before right? I’m the last person on the face of the planet to try to eat healthy stuff? I bet I am. I thought I was being original, if that counts?

To all the dads out there today who interact with their kids, who are there to guide them and nurture them and give their kids the fatherly love and attention that every kid needs and deserves, who reacted to their thoughtful Father’s Day cards with tears welling up in their eyes; to the dads who are missing their kids today because they’re defending our Country, I would just like to recognize you guys and say “Happy Father’s Day”, and thanks.

To all the moms out there who act as mother and father in your household, I commend you and wish you a Happy Father’s Day, too. ‘Cause if you do both jobs, you should get two days of special recognition every year.

😀

Here’s another pic I took the other day while out with the mallards, why he chose to bend this way I do not know, lemme hear your captions!

Caption this!
(As many times as you want to, just for fun!)

I wish I may I wish I might, have this wish I wish tonight.

I wish that you could call creditors, and say something like “oops, I am completely out of checks, I’ll put an order in for more today and when they come in, I’ll send you one, mkay?” and that they would say “hey! that’s perfect! thanks for calling and letting us know, we love ya! no late charges!”

Wouldn’t that be nice? Because it’s not that I can’t pay our bills, it’s just that “write out the checks day” makes me think about not having anything left when I’m done, so I put it off as long as possible just so that I can sigh a happy and content sigh when I see my current balance.

Sigh.

Thank you all so much for your input. It boiled down to Nicki and Sissy for me, I think Ellie is gorgeous but she really didn’t feel as cohesive to me when I considered just apparent brushstrokes. So there you have it, there I have it, Caitibug had final say and she chose Sissy. Now if I don’t get in, I blame her, and you, and you and you and you….

😉

Seriously, if I’m not juried in, no big deal, I didn’t make it last year and I was just fine. It’d be cool though, eh? Yeah. We’ll see!