His wife was at work. All his laundry was dirty. Good thing he knew his way around the laundry room. He threw a big ole load in the washer.

He, in his underwear, sat down and watched a bit of tv.

After the wash had finished its last spin cycle, he realized he had nothing to wear out to the clothesline. So, he borrowed his wife’s skirt and sweater. As he hung up his orange shirt, he glanced around to make sure no one was watching him.

This is a 6×6 print mounted on chipboard and sealed with beeswax. It’s made from a painting I did a few months ago. The original is not for sale, but you can get the reproduction in my etsy shop.

This painting was created because lately my little neighborhood is much too noisy. Dogs bark all night and keep me awake. Dogs bark all day, which makes me lose my concentration. A very sweet, but noisy guinea hen likes to hang out in the backyard. She squawks all day. Kids, kids, everywhere!! Noisy, RUDE, distracting KIDS. Kids who come up on my porch and move furniture around at midnight. Kids who play on my lawn when I haven’t invited them. argh!! If only I could have my quarters moved. That would be ideal!

If the noise disturbs you, too, perhaps this painting is for you.

This one took a while, which is why I’ve been so quiet lately. I’ve been bizzy, making a mess, getting things done. This was a big project. I decided to paint both the front and back covers this time. Not only that, but there are several layers. Several. It took about a week to complete. It’s quite big - 8 3/4″ W x 11″ L.

As always, photos enlarge when you click them.

close up front cover

back cover

close up back cover

Can be used as a art journal, scrapbook, photo album or whatever you’d like.

Available in my etsy shop now. Or it can be purchased directly through me via Paypal.

i set up a zazzle account today, and now i have three of my favorite collaged paintings on the side of mugs. woah! it’s a little strange to see something that i made with my own two hands mounted onto a cup like that. heh. looks like something you could buy in a department store. only better, right? heh!

oh, and i put the image on both sides of the mug, so you can see it whether you’re right or left-handed. cool, eh?

i gotta tell you, i have been having such fun in the Les Petite Dolls workshop so far, and class hasn’t even started yet. i have chatting with the most fabulous people. oh hey, if you want to chat with me, i put a chat thingy in the sidebar. you don’t have to be taking the workshop to chat. just click the link and it will open up a chat window, so we can talk. it’s such fun, really. do it! do it!!

okay, that’s all for now.
good night!

i promise it’s not that blurry in real life. for some reason, my scanner hates beeswax. probably because it’s bumpy and doesn’t lie flat flat. but, it’s better than what i can do with a camera (that needs a serious cleaning), so there you have it. it will be in my etsy shop soon.

i have joined plurk. if you want to add me, please do. i’m not sure how long i’ll be there. not addicted yet. depends on how many people i find, and how active i get, i guess. i only have 2 friends so far, so please add me!!

4″ x 4″ on chipboard
click to enlarge

to prove her point,
she held her breath
until her face turned blue.
the others stood
and watched,
unamused.

available in my etsy shop now

i had no idea that lilies only last one day. sort of disappointing, really. just one day of pretty and then they dry up and turn crispy brown.

anyway, this is another one of those choppy entries. I’m pretty excited. i was approved to join the VAST (Visual Artists Street Team) last weekend. I’ve been feeling my way around a little bit, and trying to figure the ins and outs of the group.

Honestly, I’m a little nervous about being new in groups. i just joined 5 or 6 yahoo groups, and I’m always afraid I’m going to mess up and do something wrong. Each one I join always has a different set of rules, and I often times can’t remember which one has what rule. ACK! So, i’m cautious, but I did post tonight on the VAST blog. I figure they’ll let me know if i messed it up too badly.

some of those yahoo art groups, though..man, you really get your hands slapped and a stern talking to if you do something not according to the rules. well, that was a couple years ago, hopefully things have calmed down by now. relax people, it’s only art.

speaking of yahoo groups, my fairy house collage made the home page of collagecats on Sunday. Collage cats is a cool group. No hand slapping or stern talking going on there. Just a bunch of ladies doing collages every Saturday. it seems like a pretty cool bunch. i know the head lady cat because she had a livejournal a couple years ago. maybe she still does? i tend to lose track sometimes.

oh yeah.., the reason i posted on the VAST blog is because i finally got all the note cards from the last post listed on etsy. i hate to complain, but etsy really needs an overhaul of sorts. i know they are working on it, but it is just sooo unstable. yesterday all my hearts disappeared, then reappeared, then disappeared again. Listing was impossibly slow and too unpredictable for me, so i only listed two cards and ran off. sometimes it’s just not worth the effort.

Hey! The Alchemist: a fable about following your dreams is available for FREE on iTunes in the audio books section until July 14th (i think it said). I just downloaded it. Jeremy Irons narrates. Should be interesting, considering his English accent and all. I think it will be lovely to listen to while painting. so, i shall.

deep breath! okay, i think i’m done. i’m going to go paint now. and listen to the alchemist. hopefully, if i turn it up loud enough it will drown out those very annoying dogs barking next door. grr!

i spent most of the afternoon scanning and gathering together prints of my collages. i mounted them onto notecards and made 11 cards so far. whew! it was fun, but tiring. i haven’t put any of them in my etsy shop yet. i’m thinking the price will be $3 each or 4 for $10.

some of the original collages have already sold, but this will give others a chance to own a print. the cards would look great framed or just standing up on a mantle or shelf. or, you could send it to someone you love with a note inside.

i’m trying to make the cards look similar to the collages. i’ve added a slight bit of beeswax to the images, so the front of the card is soft and sweet smelling. mmm..

what else have i been doing? oh, i’m trying to catch up on the blogs i read tonight. kelly snelling has THE best fireworks picture i’ve ever seen. it is fabulous.

Katie Kendrick has been painting a series of faces. Absolutely stunning!! you must see them!! each one seems to get better and better.

speaking of blogs i read..i have updated my site today and added artist links over in the side bar. take a look, you won’t be disappointed.

If you’d like to swap links with me, please let me know. i only require that you be an artist, and i must like your style of work. i won’t link to website i don’t like. i keep it real that way, k? but, please! if you’re reading and you have a blog, let me know about it..leave a comment or email me. i’d love to hear from you.

okay, i’m going to get off the computer now. notecards will be up in my etsy shop tomorrow.

poor dude.
he has a bad taste in his mouth, and so do i.

i was contacted yesterday through one of my etsy shops by a woman claiming to be an artist. her profile is blank, and she has nothing listed for sale. she has 2 feedback. suspicious? yeah. but..but..she said she was very interested in my work. oh, lawdy, i was so grateful. WoW!! she liked this and this and that, too. oh, and she really wanted that!! and her mother’s birthday is the same as mine..aw!! sweet, right?

hold on, the best is yet to come..

she liked everything soooo much that she wanted me to cut all my prices in half..now, get this..so she could buy it, double the price and sell it. ???!!! i couldn’t make this stuff up. she told me she was going to double the price and sell it!! i mean, really. wtf?? could you be anymore insulting, lady?

her husband owns a gallery in chicago, she said. and there is overhead. so i should cut all my prices in half and sell everything to her. and, she would be back for more when that was gone. i bet she would! clearly, the woman has big balls…if you can even believe the story. it has scam written all over it. i was waiting for her to tell me she needed to wire me money (har har), what’s my bank account number? heh!

so we went back and forth for a while. i asked her, why i should do all the work while she makes all the profit? some of the stuff i have listed doesn’t even cover the cost of material as it is..my prices are not high. has she bought paint lately? or gesso? she wanted me to discount $2 and $3 books, which literally took HOURS to make. ???!!! lady, i’m not making any money now. i just love to do it. sheesh! i’m just trying to make a little bit so i can keep buying art supplies. i don’t count my time. damn!

i asked her if she’s an artist, where is her stuff? i want to see it, and i expect her to cut all her prices in half for me, so i can buy. i need stuff to sell. i have overhead to pay. maybe i should have asked her to contact dick blick and all the other art stores for me. have them cut all their prices in half, then maybe i could afford to work for her. heh!

the thing that got me was she told me she had contacted 5 people so far, and they all agreed to her scam. i’m the only one who was having a problem being devalued and slapped in the face, evidently. i told her i was very sorry to hear that. they must be starving or just plain stupid. when their fingers are worked to the bone and their checkbooks aren’t showing any profit whatsoever, and they can’t afford to buy art supplies, i hope they figure it out.

ps: i know galleries need to make money. i’m not questioning that. i’m just saying, if this was a legitimate offer, her approach absolutely sucked donkey balls. “you need to cut your prices in half, so i can double my money”. um, yeah.

available in my etsy shop now