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!