2 days til we leave

Two more days until we leave and I'm getting ready. I have hair color on my head now, have a box packed up with the kids clothes and some small christmas presents and 3 loads of laundry done and folded yesterday. I have my painting of my mom's dog at the framers and when that's done (tomorrow) it's going into the box packed up with the other stuff and getting shipped off to Florida. Then I just have to pack up my stuff and some odds and ends for the kids and I think I'm done.
So I had to take Lyla to school today because Matt went to Maryland for business and left at some unGodly hour this morning. That's done and now me and the boy are hanging out by ourselves. Don't know what we're going to do but most likely it'll be in the house since it's a whopping 19 degrees outside. Me and the cold weather don't get along very well.

Anyway.....enough bitching! Time to go rinse my hair.

My stressful existance

The kids and I are leaving for vacation in 3 days. It will be the 16th of December so the past few weeks have been filled with Christmas shopping, finishing the last few painting jobs I had, going to gallery shows and oh yeah, taking care of my two little kids. I have a girl who is 3 and a 1/2 and a boy who is almost 2 and I also have my own painting business. My life is anything but boring.
I have a gay husband who lives next door. Our little girls play together. He's my bestie. We are very retarded. Like we both get onto facebook and "chat" with each other while watching our "stories". Like Grays Anatomy, Dancing with the Stars, Desperate Housewives, etc. My husband doesn't have a facebook account so he thinks it's all very weird. It is kind of strange that we live next door to each other and chat on facebook.
So lately I've had all kinds of art shows and gallery receptions and stuff. It's great but I feel like I'm losing my mind. With all of that going on and Christmas coming up and leaving for vacation it's very stressful. And I am really looking forward to the two weeks off I will be getting in Florida.
I will be traveling with the kids by myself also so that has me a little concerned as well. My stepdaughter lives in GA so my husband is leaving 2 days after us and picking her up in GA and then will drop her off in GA on his way back. It's all very complicated, of course. Wouldn't have it any other way.
Right now I am watching "Christmas Dora", as my daughter calls it, for the 400th time. I wanna poke myself in the eyes with a fork when this is on. So I'm trying to ignore it and update my blog. I think I am going to start getting more in detail with my crazy life, not just my art and creative stuff. It is very interesting. At least I think so.
So comment if you'd like and tell me what you think of my art work or whatever else. Thanks!

Mandy-girl, another painting of a dog.

My mother is hard to shop for. She always says she wants a gift card or she'll tell me exactly what to get her for her and I always feel like it takes all the fun out of getting her gifts. Her dog, the love of her life, passed away about 8 months ago. I have had a picture picked out of Mandy laying on top of a canvas since probably a month after she died. Never got around to painting it so like a month ago I thought, well, I'll paint it for her for Christmas. I also bought her a DVD (as instructed) of Eat, Pray, Love, as a back up in case she doesn't like the painting!
Here's the painting I used:

and here is the painting.

I told her about the photo album that I was commissioned to do of a man's dead dog. She sort of chuckled like it was a weird gift for him to give that to his wife for Christmas. So here's to her not thinking it's a weird gift if it's HER dead dog. Ugh, this could go terribly wrong.

If you're reading this post please let me know what you think!

Tyler

I finished the wooden album. It turned out great, in my opinion! He wanted this picture painted on the front of the album but wanted to be able to see a lot of the wood around him. I think I accomplished it.

Here are the pictures I was working from. It makes any job extremely difficult when I have bad research. If at all possible I will find the picture or take the picture but in this case it's a dog that has passed away so was not possible.

He wanted this painting on the inside front cover. He said it was something his dog used to do while they were in bed. Just peek the top of his face over the edge of the bed.

I've been so busy painting and shopping and taking care of these little creatures I call my kids that I CANNOT WAIT to go on vacation next week. I can't wait to not have to worry about Christmas shopping or what art show is next or what jobs I have going on. And I will actually have help with the little creatures! yay! I meant the palm trees and the beach will help with my stress also but I'm really just looking forward to just slowing down a bit.
Oh, I just finished 3 baskets for all of Lyla's teachers at school. Her main teacher (or head teacher, I don't know what her official title is) is Ms. Lindsay. She's a really good person and really loves her. So she gets the bestest gift! If I could afford to them all the bestest baskets I would but I can't. : (
Here's Ms. Lindsay's basket:

I put in it: a terry cloth pillow for the tub, 2 pair of the softest socks I've ever felt, a vanilla cookie candle, bodycology cinnamon body wash, a pomegranate body wash, a sleep mask, a loofa, Gherardelli chocolate chip cookies, chocolate squares and caramel filled squares (they are da bomb), a bottle of Bogle Chardonnay, a fancy opener and a wine glass. Everything a girl needs for a night of pampering herself!

All wrapped up! So pretty! And here are the smaller gift baskets for the other 2 wonderful teachers that are in Lyla's class. In each: a hand-etched coffee mug (by me, of course), Gharardelli hot chocolate, different chocolate squares, various other Gharardelli items, and a sparkly glitter candle. All wrapped up in a festive sleigh.

I hope they all love their gifts.
If you are a teacher please tell me one of the best gifts you've received. I'd love to know!

Tyler-a painting for the memory of a lost doggie

A man contacted me through my site about doing a special painting for his wife. Their dog, Tyler, passed away and he wanted an album with a painting of Tyler on the front to give to his wife as a Christmas gift. So he ordered a wooden photo album and had them leave the varnish off of the front cover. He then sent me a ton of pics and came and dropped off the album. I started the drawing on it yesterday. I will start laying paint on it tomorrow (I sort of take the weekends off from painting, if I can). I will be posting pictures when it's done. It will probably take me a few days to complete since I only paint when my little boy is napping. But it has to be done in the next week because I am painting a small canvas of my mother's deceased dog, Mandy, as a present for her when we go to visit her in Florida for the holidays. Another reason I have to finish this painting in the next few days. After the painting for my mom I'll be taking two to three weeks off. It will be nice to be off and then get back to painting.

Another commissioned piece done called Macie and Daddy

So this one I was commissioned to do (the 2nd of the two ordered by my stepsister). This is a gift to her "baby daddy" from her little girl for Christmas. It's called Macie and Daddy. I have to copy and paste the response she sent when I sent her the pic through facebook (love that I can do everything online).

"OMG...Trac! That is amazing! I have tears in my eyes! Thank You!!!!! I will check my schedule and get back to you over the weekend on when I will get them, either Mon or Tues. I am so excited!!!!!"

Love to make people cry. I do really love it.

And tonight was the art party at Tru Blu Tatu. I sold a painting! Yay! So the one of Lyla and Ax in the tub called You are the Bubbles in my Bath is now sold.

And it went to the tattoo show owner, Denise Albero.
It was a fun party and we had a great time. By the time 10:00 rolled around I was exhausted. Ready to go home. But I left five of my paintings there and they'll stay there until they kick me out or I do another show and I need them. Time to paint some more....these walls at home are bare!

Commissioned piece is done. It's called Surrey Ride

Got this job about a week and a 1/2 ago. Actually it's the first of an order for 2 pieces from my stepsister that she's giving as Christmas gifts. This first one is her mother with her daughter on a surrey bike on the boardwalk and this is the first one finished. She will be giving it to her mother as a gift.

The next one is for her daughter's father. It's a picture of him and his daughter, Macie, watching a football game together. There's a lot less detailing in that one so I decided to do that one last. Call me crazy but I like to get the difficult ones out of the way first.
I won't be starting that one for a few days though.

Last night I participated in an open house for a client of mine and brought my stuff. I was hoping to sell something, considering I cut most of my prices in 1/2 for this event. Well, there weren't many people there so I ended up not selling anything. Kind of upsetting because I thought I might sell at least one piece. Oh well.
To get ready for this show I added some ribbon to 3 of my pieces that were done on canvas board because I thought it would add a little bit more to them. Here they are:

You are the Bubbles in my Bath!

You are the Pumpkin in my Patch!

You are the Water in my Ocean!

I think they look much better this way. I have a bunch of little canvases that I'm going to do paintings on to try to sell. We'll see what happens.
If you're stopping by to view some of my work and reading my posts please let me know what you think! I'd love some interaction!

Yellow Lily in Bloom & To Philly

I just finished two new paintings today. I started them both a few days ago but because of in-laws visiting and then Thanksgiving to prepare for I put them away. I finished both today while the kids napped.
This one, called Yellow Lily in Bloom, is from our beautiful yellow lily tree in the summer. I planted it about 2 years ago and it's really just a gorgeous plant. It grows to about 6' now but is supposed to be 8'. When the flowers bloom it's so fragrant that every time you walk up to our door you can smell them. Smells so great.

And the second one is a picture I took while I was heading into Philly for something (can't remember what). But one of these days I'm going to kill myself because I'm trying to take pictures while I'm driving the car. I'm kinda into the middle of the road shots now. I just like getting both sides of the street and the perspective going down the street. So this one is called To Philly.

I've got a few more small canvases so I'm going to look through my photos that I've taken to see what else I really want to paint. Maybe some more philly shots or maybe some of Collingswood.

I really need a little more thinking time

I was driving home from my appointment at my new skin doctor, who is about 35-40 minutes away, thinking that I get so much time to think while doing this stupid drive every week. I started seeing this new doctor because I was ready to get aggressive with the treatment of my psoriasis, finally. I saw an article in a magazine about how she does this laser phototherapy on patients with psoriasis and it's been very effective. I thought....wow, no icky ointments, no more oily crap in my scalp at night that stains my pillow with my hair dye while pulling it out, no more flaking so much on my scalp that I have to wear only light colors in the winter? That sounded like quite a better option. So I called and started seeing her. It's a hassle and a half with coordinating it with my husband's schedule so he can watch the kids while I go but I was so psyched about it.
In the first initial meeting (which was not with the doctor) I was introduced to the idea of starting injections of a drug called enbrel. Class blah blah drug, can use it while pregnant, blah blah, side effects mini-blah blah. Ok, so I go home and look it up and it looks like it's not such a bad thing to try. So the plan is to start these injections once a week and get the laser done once a week.
So we're into the 3rd week of injections and laser treatments. But it's still about a 35 minute drive to and from this office once a week, which I think it a hassle and a bad thing. Well tonight, my third visit, I changed my mind. I realized that on the way to the office I spend blaring my music in my car and singing very loud (which I do not get to do normally because I'm listening to "there was a farmer who had a dog and bingo was his name-o) and pretty much zoning out. While I'm there I read my book, which is now Kathy Griffin's Official Book Club Selection that I am loving. Then, on the way home I think of all the interesting things I want to paint next. It turns out that this little pain-in-the-ass trip is helping me in more ways than one.
So, what's next? Well, the doctor told me that I need to stop my injections if I start feeling sick and I told her that I have been feeling sick the past few days but that I don't feel real bad. She said to stop. She said it's serious that I need to stop because it might effect my heart and she's seen it happen. I don't know what that means exactly and I was a little afraid to ask but I thought I could die.
I am now driving home, emotional anyway because of undisclosed reasons, and now I'm thinking about my kids growing up without a "mommy". I start bawling. Not good on a road that is known for deer playing frogger across the road. I start thinking that I need to channel this into my art somehow. So all kinds of images go through my head. Ah....I've got it. But you'll just have to wait to see the sketch.

A commissioned jewelry box refinish & a child's stool

My aunt asked me to refinish her small jewelry box for her like months ago. I kept putting it off and off and off. It's maybe 10-12" tall and I just, quite frankly, didn't feel like doing it. Ya know, I get paying jobs all the time that I really don't want to do but I do them because it's either a friend or family member or it's an easy job for the money. So I agreed. I do not refinish anything because it's such a pain in the ass to sand off whatever varnish is on there already. And usually no one wants to pay for that step. Example...I buy a child's stool for like $15. and put a "charge" on top of that of say $40. to paint it. That's a total of $65. for a little child's stool. It's not like I paint crap either so it takes a few hours to paint it and that makes me about $10-$12 an hour. I used to make this at my second job. This is peanuts. But I charge that so that I sell the stools. Now if I take the $40. and put that on top of say the same amount, $15, for refinishing it no one wants to pay for it. Like they can justify it when they're not supplying the piece. But it's so much work it just stinks. Anyway....this is what I did for my aunt. She didn't tell me what she wanted, just that she liked a funky style.

And this is a stool that my other aunt ordered for her grand daughter for Christmas. It's really cute and I know she's going to love it.

I finished it this afternoon. I just have to varnish it so that it lasts for years and years and years. Then shipping it out. I really would be happy making 20 more stools in the next 2 months before the holidays. Love them when they're done!!

Palmer is done. Very happy with it!

So I was able to finish the newest painting and it's amazing because I finished on Halloween. The one day that you would think the kids wouldn't let me finish a painting and it happened.

Here it is. It's 3' x 4'. It's a huge painting but it's beautiful.

Dear God...I feel like my children are conspiring to not let me finish anything.

I painted for about an hour today and then the shit hit the fan. Ax woke up first but that was because, right before falling asleep or just quieting down (really who cares which), his sister woke him up with her whining. She's perfecting that whine more every day.
Anyway, here is the progress of the painting "Palmer". I only have about 20 minutes left to finish it but of course the kids don't let me finish anything when I'm this close.

New painting started "Palmer"

I got bored with the onion painting and couldn't wait to start on this huge canvas. My problem is that I love working big. So I have this canvas that is 3' x 4' and couldn't wait to start it so I put the onion aside for now and started "Palmer". It's a look down our street, Palmer Avenue in the summer time. It was nice lighting with the sun making a very interesting look. I chose to do it in unexpected colors and I really think it's going to be stunning when it's done. The kind of piece I would be really upset to sell....but I will, of course.
Here's what it looks like so far:

"Palmer"-on 10/29/10

I'm bored.

I started the onion painting but now I'm totally not into it so I'm leaving it for a little while. I have a 3' x 4' canvas that I'm dying to start SOMETHING on but don't know what I want to paint on it. I really like how this one came out

so I think I might do something similar. I have a photo I took looking down my street at the sidewalk and some trees. I think I might paint that but in this style. Torn between the following photos to use:

ugh...help.

Mural "Prince and Princess" finished-10/22/10

It's finished. I finished up on 10/21/10 (yesterday). Axton was so much better and now I know he's ready to go into daycare. Cannot wait until Lyla goes to kindergarten next year so we can put him in Lyla's preschool three days a week. I would be able to paint for three days. I don't know what I will do with myself!!
Anyway, here's the pics. I could worked on it for probably another half a day but I had to stop somewhere. I love the way the Disney scenes have so much detail. I think that really separates them from the others. If there are any others. I could have added bunnies and birds and would have loved to added more weeds, as silly as that sounds.
It took me a total of 6 hours to finish it. Pictures are not head on because there is another staircase opposite this one and I couldn't get a really good shot.

Mural called....damn it...i have no name yet.

Half way through the mural now. I will be going back tomorrow to finish it.
The mural is commissioned from the daycare that my daughter goes to. My son isn't enrolled but they told me I could take him and put him in the little ones class while i painted. He didn't like that. He cried about 1/2 the time he was in there. So...what the hell is going to happen tomorrow. Oh, and good news!! There's been a case of lice discovered in Lyla's class....yay!!! Not bad enough that last week, when my husband dropped her off at school, he said that some kid was "hacking" like mad and she got sick 3 days later but lice? really? Oh, and that cold has now spread to my son and myself now as well. Love it! yay!!
Will post pics of the new mural tomorrow...when it's done.

Started a new painting "You Make Me Cry"

I started this new painting called You Make Me Cry. It's a knife through an onion sitting on a counter. I haven't figured out how I'm going to do it yet but I want to make a "tear" out of resin or something else clear like that to put on top of the painting when it's finished.

Ok, it doesn't look like much now but it's going to be fantastic when it's done.

Finished the sketch for the "Prince and Princess" mural

Got a mural job in my daughter's school (pre-school). They are giving me complete creative freedom with it and at first I found this to be like a brick wall. But, as I always do, I started sketching and it sort of came to me. I will post the sketches when I get them scanned. It's going to be a very cute mural. I really do love the children's stuff.
Start painting on Tuesday.

Going into a gallery

I met with a man on Tuesday night who owns a gallery about 5 blocks from my house. I emailed him and asked if we could meet and I can show him my portfolio. He said to come in that night. So we had a 2.5 hour meeting. Nice guy...has no art background but retired and wanted to do something interesting. Have to hand it to him for getting involved with something so out of his comfort zone.
So, in talking, he told me he really needs someone to give him some advice on art. He knows business and he's got lots of marketing ideas but doesn't know art. So I told him if he put some of my pieces in I would help him any way that I could with whatever time I had. He told me he's taking out some pieces of a guy's work who has high prices due to the fact that he doesn't really care if he sells anything. I said, "but YOU do so why keep his stuff in here?". He'll then move some of my work in. Hopefully in the next week or two.
This is truly a huge step for me. I've wanted this for the past few months (years, actually but wasn't doing anything about it prior to getting back into canvas painting). I know it's not a long period of time to wait to get into a gallery but I have no patience.

what to do today...

I don't know. I also have the onion one to start as well. It's a painting of a knife going through an onion on a granite counter top and on the left side of the painting i will be painting a drop to look like a tear drop that is actually on the finished painting (i may play with doing it with resin to make it 2 dimensional) and that will be called "You Make Me Cry".
Then I've got the paintings that I need to start for my doggie children's book called "What does my doggie dream about?".
What to do...what to do...

Finished "Going to Jess and Justin's"-10/12/10

"Going to Jess and Justin's"

Finished this painting as a gift for my cousin, Jess MacNair. She lives in Brooklyn and we went there for the casting call for Bravo's "Work of Art". She said I could stay overnight but that wasn't necessary. I asked her to take Lyla for a few hours (it turned out to be 6 hours!) while we waited in line with Axton. They had a good day that day and I was so grateful that she took her. Lyla would have been a mess waiting with us.
I just hope they like it.
Mailed this out on 10/14/10.

Finished a frame for a friend's daughter-10/10/10

Personalized Princess framed mirror

I had several projects going on at the same time. This was one that I had to get done for this coming weekend for a birthday party. It's for my neighbor/friend's daughter. I painted his daughter, Julia, on the frame as a princess. I know they'll both love it.

"Trapped" is SOLD. So excited that she has found a new home.

I sold this painting a few days ago. So excited!

New painting done "Trapped"

"Trapped"

This is my daughter, Lyla. She will not pose for me but this was interesting for her b/c I asked her to "get into the cabinet" under the bathroom sink, where she likes to hang out sometimes anyway. She obliged but not for too many pictures and then she got annoyed. The picture I used as research was this last one, her being annoyed. I think her face is a little overworked but all-in-all I like it.
BTW, my husband and I found out yesterday that he got the promotion to V.P. of Finance. He's been told that they will make him CFO in January. That's when the salary increase will come and I will be able to put my little boy in preschool (along with my daughter) to free me up to paint and concentrate on my business. I'm very excited.

New painting "On the way to Jess and Justin's"

I started this painting a couple of days ago but think I need to start over. Only have 45 mins invested in it now so not that big of a deal to start over. I just didn't get the right start on it.

Finished painting "Pool of Blue"

This is a new look I'm trying. Little squiggly lines on a black background. After painting the blue pool/pond area I was thinking it's starting to look like Starry Night so I was hoping once the duck went in it started looking different. Now that it's finished I really like the way it looks. Very happy with it.

New Book "What Does My Doggie Dream About?"

Wrote a book tonight called What Does My Doggie Dream About. Will start paintings for it in like 2 weeks. I have a painting to do for a family member as a "thank you" for helping out while Matt and I did the casting call.

Casting Call for Work of Art: The next great Artist

On Saturday, September 25th at 7 am my husband and the kids and I left the house for Brooklyn, NY. The casting call for Bravo's second season of "Work of Art: The Next Great Artist" was from 10 am -2 pm. We got to Brooklyn at my cousin's apartment about 9:30am. I got changed and we said good-bye to Lyla (she was spending the day with Jess) as she cried her little eyes out. We then walked about 5 blocks to the Brooklyn Museum.
It was a cattle call so we got in line and had no idea what we were in for. After about 6 hours in line around the Museum I got my number-716. Shortly after this is where I said good-bye to Matt and Axton and went inside. After 6 hours outside (about 1/3 of it in the sun) it was nice to feel air conditioning! We checked in in groups of 30. Then headed upstairs. I waited in another short line and was then seen by someone(?). A nice girl but I have no idea what her credentials were. I turned in my disk and paperwork and after about 5 minutes of viewing my portfolio I was done. Sent on my way to go home and wait for a phone call.
I was finishing my glass of wine around 10 pm that night (that was the deadline for any callbacks) and just looked at my phone and cried. Matt hugged me and I just sobbed. I really thought I had a chance.
For the next week I just stopped once in a while and started tearing up. It's a difficult thing to explain if you've never been through this kind of thing but it just makes you feel like you're not as good as you thought you were.
I took a week off from painting or sketching or anything.
These are the paintings (originals) that I took with me along with me to the casting call. "Oh, Char" and "Funky Donkey"