Work in progress update slideshow

Threw together a quick slideshow of the pics I snapped during the progress of this new piece today. I'm gonna answer an email or two, then I'm gonna hit the hay! :D G'nite y'all!!

Click here and the slideshow will open in a new window

P.S. Let me know if you have any trouble viewing the slideshow video. It's a Quicktime video, so you may need that in order to view it. I didn't have the energy to try to load it onto Flickr or YouTube, so I thought I'd just try to post it here directly. :)

Play time in the studio

Ahhh it feels sooooo good to have paint on my hands again!!!! :D A sweet artist friend of mine has been busy making ACEOs and it inspired me to pull out the linen canvas ACEO cards I just bought and play with some new techniques for a brand new class.....yep, ya heard me right. ;) I'm brainstorming for some new classes. One of which I'm close to announcing on my mailing list and the other I'm just in the planning stages of right now.

The first one will be a inspiration art journal class focused on helping you find your "style". The one I'm playing with in the studio right now.....well it has to do with creating backgrounds and it's a  technique class, so it'll just be all art play and fun with no pressure to have a polished finished piece!!! Just me filling your head with tons of techniques and lettin' the paint fly! LOL! :D

Aiden had a great day on his first day of kindergarten yesterday! Thanks so much y'all for all your sweet comments and well wishes! He was so excited to go back today....although I did have a bit of a problem getting him going this morning, so I guess the excitement has died down a bit. ;) But he really seems to love it, so I hope he'll flourish there.

Below is a pic of him after leaving his classroom. He was full of smiles! Then I had brought him a special snack to have in the car on the way home. I think he shared a bit of it with his best friend Simon (the bear in the background)....he's such a good sharer. :)

And much to my surprise, I had two deer cross the road in front of me as I pulled out of our subdivision to go pick up Aiden yesterday. Thankfully there was no one behind me and I had my camera with me. It's a  blurry shot, but it's the first one I've managed to get of the beautiful deer we share the area with.

I'd better get back to work in the studio....gosh it's lunchtime already!!!! Man, time sure does fly! Oh and speaking of my classes, my "Organic Dimensions" backgrounds/collage class starts in just over a week (Sept. 15th), so you still have just over a week to sign up for the last time I'll be offering this class in 2008.

Not feeling very talkative...

I haven't been feeling very talkative in the past week or so. I think that maybe it has something to do with the scare my Granny gave us the end of last week and over the weekend. She seems to be doing somewhat better, but its really just a wait and see....and with her in Florida and me all the way up in Oregon....well, it's hard. I can't just jump in my car and run over to visit. Your prayers would be much appreciated.

I'm including a couple of pics from my and Aiden's little outing yesterday. I posted a pic from our lunch at Quizno's yesterday and afterwards I needed a recharge so we went over next door to Starbucks for a coffee for me and a chocolate milk for Aiden. Then we went to the library for videos and books. And the other pics are of a new painting I'm working on and my new easel. It's not the one I posted about earlier....they are giving me a refund on that one (still haven't seen it on my credit card). And even though the refund hasn't come through yet, I decided to buy one locally because my back just couldn't take hunching over my work table anymore.

Hopefully I'll feel back to my old self in the next few days. I just feel kind of introspective at the moment....as I've probably mentioned before, when things get tough or stressful I have a tendency to just withdraw inward, which means I disappear for a while. I've become okay with that....it's how God made me and it's how I best deal with stuff. I've been talking to Him quite often this week and that always helps more than anything....wrote some in my prayer journal, did some sketches, and worked a bit on the new painting last  night...her face and hair are pretty much done and now I need to work on the rest of the piece. I already know what it needs to be finished...it came to me while driving to pick up Aiden from his last day of VBS last week, so it's just a matter of doing it.

There have been many bright spots in my week...of course one of them being lunch out with my little guy yesterday....all your sweet comments on my "Etsy Art Goodness" video (thank you!!!), a wonderful surprise package from the sweet Suz (Thanks so much Suz!!! It really made my day and came just when I needed some joy :D ), and snagging another one of Jenn's sweet Lulette houses last night (WOO HOO!), then some time to do a little sketching and painting. My house may be a mess right now, but oh well....I'll get around to it eventually. ;)

Hope you're all having a wonderful Thursday! I'm hoping to be back to my chipper, rambling self soon....I've got lots of ideas for new videos and other fun stuff, but just not feeling in the right frame of mind to do anything about it. If you've emailed me recently, I'm behind on emails....waaaaaaaay behind.....and I've become just awful at keeping up with them. I do read each and every one as soon as I get it, even if it takes me a month to reply. Thank you all sooooooooo much for your encouragement and support!! Much love to y'all!!! xoxo

More progress pics

I'm off to bed, but I thought I'd post a few more progress pictures to show you how much I managed to get done on this new painting this evening. I would work on it more, but I'm having a hard time keeping my eyes open and Aiden's getting up earlier and earlier these days so I'd better hit the hay. Please excuse the not so great quality of these pics....I didn't turn on all my lights here in the studio, so they may be a little blurry or grainy, but I just couldn't wait to share! :) Nighty nite y'all!! xo

Started another painting...

While Aiden was at the drop-in daycare for a few hours today, I decided to start another painting. This is one of the sketches I showed y'all yesterday....thanks for all the lovely compliments on them btw! :)  I had hoped to play with some new brushes I'd ordered, but they didn't show up 'til after I got back from picking Aiden up. LOL! Oh well, maybe later in the week.