These look pretty fabulous if you enlarge them.
(can I say that about my own pictures? hm..)

I filled my print cartridges yesterday. Oh, how I dislike doing that. It is messy, and my fingers are stained. Not to mention, it takes forever because I have to keep cleaning the cartridges once I have them back inside the printer. The only upside to this is it saves me money, and well..it gives me pretty pictures.

How are you doing today?
I’m sleepy, and thinking about taking a nap.
I should be painting, though.

So, this is where you come in. If I use the title you suggest, I will send you a prize. You’ll have to scroll all the way down to see what I’ll be giving away. Suggest as many titles as you like, there aren’t any limits. Tell your friends about this contest!! Please! I can use all the help I can get. Here’s the book..

front cover

close up front cover

back cover

oKAY..NOW, HERE’S THE PRIZE:

It’s a print of an original book cover I made called Thimble and Thread (her name is Thimble, his name is Thread). I mounted this print on chipboard using gel medium. I then hand painted over it to make it more of a painting than a print. I also added some goodies, like glitter and beeswax. It is roughly 6″L x 3″W.

If I choose your title, I will send you this mixed media print. Free! No strings attached. You’ll simply have to provide me an address, and it will be yours. I will ship worldwide, so no worries if you’re outside the USA.

If you’re like me, and can’t think up a title for the book, never fear! I have another one of these available in my etsy shop.

Contest ends when I pick a title from one of the comments.

You know how really old books have two names? One that is short and will fit on the front cover, and another on the inside across the title page. The one inside is usually much longer, and sometimes gives a little clue as to what the book is about.

Well, this painting has two names like that, too. It’s called Putting the Cat Out or Offering Her Empathy By Way of Cupcake. heh heh Or something like that, anyway. Okay, so I’ll work on the name.

This is one of the six unfinished paintings I was talking about the other day. I am so truly out of practice, I forgot to scan or shoot a photo of this before I started painting on it again. Oops!

So, I can’t show you what it looked like before, but trust me..this version is better. I had no idea what it was even about last time I worked on it. No clue. No story to tell..nothing! I had a flower, which somehow developed a face. I had a woman with a cat. That was it. But, now I’ve figured out that the woman has been kept awake by a very noisy, naughty cat! I mean, look at her face. Her expression says it all. And, although the jury is still out, the cat looks guilty to me!

You can’t have a cat in the house and not know this feeling. You just want to get some sleeeeep!! My three are all indoor cats, so I don’t have that option. But, there are nights when all three of them would go outside, for sure!

The flower with the cupcake is offering up her empathy. She can only imagine what it’s like to live with a noisy, naughty cat.

It’s not done. The story may develop more as I go along. Or, I may decide to put the finishing touches on it and call it a day. I have about 10-15 hours in this right now, and I don’t know how much more I’m going to work on it.

Oh, btw..this was done using Kelly Rae’s style (I plan on writing about Kelly’s book once I have a chance to read it all the way through). You can’t tell by this lousy scan (something is still wrong with my scanner. grr!), but the background has layers and patterns beneath the paint. It shows up a bit too dark here to see all the colors under there. I’ll show close up shots when I get ready to sell it.

So, yeah, I did the background first, and then the woman. I felt like I was working backwards the whole time I did it. It just didn’t feel right to me, but I’m definitely going to try it again. I loved the challenge, even if I was feeling very uncomfortable the whole time. You gotta try new things and mix it up now and then. Otherwise, it gets boring.

Oh, and..hop on over to my friend Trish’s blog and wish her a happy birthday. Please? Poor girl is feeling under the weather. She needs some birthday loving.

One of my favorite painters, Mary Ann Wakeley emailed to tell me that I’m in the same treasury as she is, and wow! what a triple surprise. The first being that Mary Ann emailed me!! I have been drooling over her work ever since I found her on Flickr. The second surprise is that I’m in a treasury. And the third surprise is that I’m in a treasury with Mary Ann! Today must be my lucky day. YAY!

Please check out the treasury on Etsy. The more clicks and comments it gets, the closer to the front page it will climb.

My thanks goes to mloartwear for including me in her fabulous treasury.

At this time last year, I found out my mother was sick. We didn’t know a lot of the details; there were tests to take.

On New Year’s Eve, I was told it was cancer. A happy new year, it was not. I spent the entire day in tears, and many days after.

This is not the first time we’ve walked down this road. This is the third time. She beat it twice, and it reared its ugly head once again.

She had chemo.
It didn’t work.

A few months later, the cancer had spread.

She tried again.
It didn’t work.

The doctors weren’t giving us much hope. In fact, they were being quite negative. I remember writing an email to my Mom one time. I wrote, “Tell your doctors to go to hell. They do not know my Momma. They don’t know what a fighter you are.” I know it’s not nice to curse, especially to your mother, but I couldn’t help it. At times, it seemed they were giving up, and it was making me mad.

We refuse to give up hope.
I will NEVER give up on her.

She is trying chemo for a third time, and.. AND…it just may be working!!! Her test number last month was 25. Today, it is 7.5!!! (it is suppose to be zero) We will know more in two weeks when she has another cat scan, but for now..

I am dancing for joy and ooooh, so thankful. YES!!!

If you’d like to enlarge the photo, please click.

The finished product? Well, I say, “eh, it’s not so important.” After all, it’s finished. Done. Completed. As a working artist, there’s nothing else to do at this point, except sell it..which, trust me, is not all it’s cracked up to be. And, that’s why I am ALL about the process from start to finish. That’s the exciting part. That’s where the real meat of it all lies..somewhere between the idea, and the sigh of relief. That’s what makes my little heart race.

I’ve been taking a good hard look at my blog lately, and I realized there is no way I am coming close to representing my true self here. I have forgotten how to document the things that are important to me..really important. I have been blogging for sooo many years, and before that, I had an online journal. heh! Remember online journals? All hand coded and flowery. Mine was never flowery, but I did hand code everything. html was my best friend.

Anyway, I guess that practice doesn’t make perfect. It makes “burn out”, which is what I’ve been for the past few years. I want to change that. So, from now I’m going to start documenting more. There will be progress shots of what I’m doing. Not so much for you, but for me. I hate to be selfish, but I need to keep better track of where I came from, so I can get to where I’m going a little easier.

Right now, I have six paintings started, but none finished. I am standing right in the middle of the process!! This is where all the drama starts happening. Frustration. Nervousness. Panic. And, little tiny breakthroughs. Ah! Love the breakthroughs. Hate the rest of the stuff, but I know it’s necessary, at least for me. I kinda wish I wasn’t at this stage with ALL six of the paintings because it makes going into the studio a dreaded chore right now..but, it’s okay.

So, I’ve been working on this one for a couple weeks now..maybe a month? I have no idea how to proceed at this point, so I’ve stopped. I’m going to look at it for a while until I decide where to go from here. I’ve been leaning it up against the wall, and it stares back at me while I work on other stuff.

It makes me think a lot. My eyes are constantly examining every detail. I can’t say that I like the background at this point. It was white with layers. I changed it to blue. Then, I changed it back to white. Then, back to blue. I can not make up my mind. Perhaps blue and white are not the answers I’m looking for.

I can’t say I like the dresses either. I have changed the color of them several times, also. First, mauve with no layers. Then white, cuz the background was blue. Nope, that didn’t work. Now, it’s a mixture of layers, white and mauve. I’m not in love with it.

The faces need more work. The one on the left has a droopy eyelid. I haven’t decided if I’m going to fix it or not. I have a droopy eyelid, and no one fixed me. heh heh But, I may spare her a lifetime of people pointing out her droopiness. I know it kinda gets old after a while.

Needless to say, this will be on my work table for many more hours before I’m anywhere happy with it. If I was to guess, I’d say I’m about in the middle of the process. The part where I start to sweat and wonder if I’m ever going to like it. The part of the process that really makes me uncomfortable. But, I know, I have to push through this stage in order to get to the finish line.

Stay tuned for more photographs and further updates.

Vivian came in on 11/20/08 because her owners were having financial problems and could no longer afford to care for her. She is 6-7 years old and weighs 22 lbs. She has been an indoor dog for the past 5 years, and MUST BE AN INDOOR DOG in her new home as well. She is completely housebroken and has never had an accident indoors. She is used to living with kids 1-10 years old and is said to do very well with children. She is sweet, and playful! She loves stuffed, squeaky toys! Vivan knows the sit command and is very obediant. She also loves to go for walks, and does very well on a leash. She is a great dog, and her previous owners didn’t want to part with her but had no other choice. She has been spayed, heartworm tested, and microchipped. She needs a loving family that just wants a lazy house dog!