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!!