This pic (full size) turned out so very cool that Mark wants me to paint it. I think I will! (When I’m done with everything else, that is!)

The weather here is crappy. And I mean crappy. We went from a week of YAHOO sunshine and nice warm temps to blech. Rain. Cold. I wanna go back to Florida!! Whiiinnnnneeeeeee can I please can I can I can I?? Someone buy us a house and send me the keys ok? Thanks!

Mark and I will be having our heads examined today. Why? Because we live in Illinois and it’s an annual requirement if you live here. Or at least it should be. Seriously, we’re having vision checks. My left eye is getting weaker (can’t have that), and his vision is messed up now probably from 18 months worth of night vision goggles among other things that tortured his eyesight while he was gone. I’m a sqwisher. My vision gets blurry, I squish my eyes like they’re going to get better if I just do that 100+ times a day. Then, after a year or so, I figure that’s not working so I better get new prescription lenses! I’m as bright as the light bulb that just blew out here in my office. Heh!

I am also itching to have a new skin for the blogaroonie. Whatchya think? I’ll leave this one, and the lovey one, just add a new one. I need suggestions though. I want some “oompf”. Gimme some of your “oompfy” ideas okie doke?

Yayyyy finally!! I’ll have professional pics to share as well, but for now, these are my final pics. He’ll be picked up tomorrow and clearcoated, then photographed professionally for the brochures & whatnot that they’ll have out all summer. He goes on display in a couple of weeks for everyone to see (and mess up, the worst part, grafitti jerkoids) for the entire summer. In August he’ll be auctioned off to the highest bidder (C’mon, Bass Pro Magazine guys!) Click “read more” for the remaining pics.

I added metallic gold along his side, highlighted his eyes, and put reflections over the “fisherman” to make him look more like he’s inside the fish.

I cannot tell you how difficult it was to get a pic of this Blue Jay! They’re pretty fast birds, and I suppose they’d have to be since most of the time they’re stealing other birdie eggs (the meanies). I love their markings though!

So how you guys doin’? I hope you’re enjoying watching me get back in my painting groove. Me, I am still getting used to a bunch of stuff here around the house. For 18 months I was doin’ it all, and talking to myself all day, and talking to you guys when I felt like I was borderline “really wierd” for talking to myself so much! 😆

Ok, I’m really wierd anyway. I admit it.

I did manage to get boxes put together yesterday for all of the gifties I’ll be sending out. We did a lotta shopping at Disney! I’ll ship everything together when I finish up this Lion painting.

So today I have to go to the grocery store (again, I just went last week, yet another thing to get used to!), finish the underpainting on the Lion and finish up the Catfish. I’m doing a great deal of pacing, wanting everything to turn out perfectly for everyone, and I know I’m being a lil wishy-washy on any kind of set schedule. Bad for you guys, but better for the end result of these paintings. I hope you forgive me and know that it’s all going to come back together soon!

G’mornin everybody! I hope you all love oranges and reds, cause that seems to be the prominent color in my florals this summer. Today is “Mark’s choice”, he thought this shot was so cool he had to put his flip-flops on to go see the plant and make sure that’s what it looks like all up close and in-your-face. I have 4 gerber daisy plants, two are flowering (they say they’re gerbers, anyway). This bloom is about a week old now so it’s a little tattered but still gives great close-ups!

Today I am thrilled to announce that I will begin my next piece! I’m working on a 16×20 LION. ROOOARRRR baby, this guy is beautiful! I’ve been painting him in my head for a couple of weeks now. Yes, I paint in my head. It’s really nifty actually, lets me know which one I need to paint first in a craving sorta way. I spent the evening lastnight getting my studio cleaned up and ready for a new piece, finished cleaning my brushes this morning and I have a feeling I’ll be out there very soon! I’ll flip the cam on when I get going (check the webcam status in the left menu to see if it’s on yet), stop in if you can!

Well here’s the final progress shot of the day, I’ll be turning the cam off shortly and getting dinner ready. I’m HUNNNNGRY. Chinese sound good to you? Ok. What would you like? I’ll call in the order. (This is how I cook, remember?)

He’s lookin’ pretty dang cool, that squished up man of mine. LOL (I made up the boots. No I’m not even sure yet what I’m going to put behind him. Hm. Sky & River? We are dealing with the Muddy Mississippi here. Hm.)

Yesterday was more productive than I thought it would be, and I’m actually kinda exhausted! That’s highly unusual!

Started out the day fetching fish, running to pick up Cocoa and bring her home (our Guinea Pig for those who don’t know who she is), photographing the fish, scraping sanding cleaning and prepping the fiberglass fish, and then landscaping! (How did that get in there?!)

Yes, Mark is home. He has missed our yard, and I’ve missed having a big strong man who can toss dirt into a wheelbarrow in 1/4 of the time I can do it. I picked up just a few new plants the other day while running errands, so I think he decided yesterday was a good day to get them in the ground! He was right. So I am crossing my fingers for 1 Clematis on my trellis (since absolutely nothing likes my trellis), 2 full size Gerber daisy plants, a night something Salvia (which I keep calling Saliva in my head for some reason, but it looks nothing like that!), and a “yellow bush, those are really cool”. I’d have to look at the tag to tell you what kind of bush that is. It blooms little yellow flowers in the spring and we saw it all over on the drive home, and decided we had to have some!

So yes, landscaping. We moved dirt and made an island that I need to cover with plants and mulch and stuff. I’ll do that in my spare time. 😆

I did stay up late and work on the Catfish too, but I’m still in the priming & prep stage so bah, no pics of that boring stuff, white white white.

Today, I will dress up my husband in fishing gear and cool things from his tackle box, and mash his face all up on the window. HEH. This will be fun!! I love making my family members do crazy things for my creative visions. Those poor people, I should feel fortunate they stick around!

See ya in a bit!

And we’re home!

I have a ton of piddly stuff to do to get things back to “normal” here, so I’ll be back later tonight or tomorrow morning to catch up with everyone!

My immediate artsy project is the Catfish, which I’ll start pacing around tomorrow, and probably priming. I’ll fill you in on all of that in a bit!

It’s nice to be home!

This past week has been awesome, having my hubby home has really calmed my nerves as you can imagine!

The only bad part is that my fall last Saturday on my way out the door gave me whiplash. I’ve had a headache every day, and have seen the chiro twice this week. I really did a number on my head! Scar under my chin, put a nice hole inside my bottom lip, yadda yadda. What a mess! It’ll be one of those days I never forget though, huh? LOL

He missed last Easter, so this morning was really special. I don’t know about you, but our Easter Bunny leaves pawprints all over the house. He’s a crazy little bunny, the girls can’t figure out how he can climb on them while they’re sleeping and not wake them up, leaving pawprints on their foreheads and hands. hehe! He even played the piano while he was here!

HAPPY EASTER!!

XOXOXO
Leanne & Family

Here’s Riley’s final scan & a nice detail image – a closeup on his face, I love his eyes!!