Just Some More Painting Stuff.

Well, this week I finished my cow.  My friend Linda named her "Branded".  It's an 18x24 oil on senso linen canvas and I LOVE how it turned out ANDDDDDD it's already sold.  My cousin, Helen took the photo while in Panama and wants to buy it to take back to her Papi (adoptive father from her exchange student family days).  The cow is his and so she will go home, so to speak.  I'm very happy about that and she will adorn my house for awhile before she is gone.  

I have several more cow pictures to paint and looking forward to HOPEFULLY capturing this again.  

While at the cabin last week we went to CS's cabin and I took a few photos that I plan on painting.  I have so many to paint lately.  I've gone from a dry spell of finding nothing that inspired me to a plethora of stuff to paint.   

Can't decide which one of these to paint (without the a/c unit in the background). 

This one I'm going to play with it in my photo program to lighten it a bit of like the shadows. 

Spring...Well, Maybe

 This weekend we scooted off to the cabin for an absolutely glorious time of most EXCELLENT weather.  When we got there I immediately saw that the Carolina Jasmine was popping and just behind it were my daffodils. 

How exciting.  In fact the weather was so great that we even slept with our bedroom window open all night long.  

This past week Snicklefritz was finally feeling better and I decided that she needed to spend the night on Tuesday since I was going to watch her all day Wednesday.  Also, her parents were meeting with there money guy and wanted to finally get a Valentine's date.  We had a great time and she was in bed by 7:30!

Sadly, feeling better didn't last.  She started complaining again about her ears and finally back at school on Thursday her parents were called as she was projectile vomiting.  So a day at home on Friday and then Sunday morning another run to urgent care.  Double ear infections are now plaguing our little dumpling.   By afternoon her temperature soared to 104.5 with 105 being the cut off to again rush to the hospital ER.  She just can't seem to get well.  I think maybe spring has sprung and she may be experiencing some allergy drainage that is affected her ears.  

Hopefully this week she will finally get well.  

A Painting We Will Go, A Painting We Will Go, Hi Ho The Derrio, A Painting We Will Go

Finally, I am feeling better.  I am still hacking and blowing but I'm finally getting over this dang crud.  Snicklefritz is too, thank goodness.  I've avoided visiting Daddy for at least 3 weeks but plan on paying him a visit on tomorrow and have lunch with my favorite mother-in-law.  I have been enjoying some good times on a few canvas's so I thought I would share.

This cow is from Panama.  My cousin took the photo and I pleaded with her to paint it.  I've wanted to paint a cow for awhile so here we go.

First go around with paint...let dry...

Second go around and I am LOVING it.   Next week background.

So had to let Mrs. Cow dry and started this one.  I took the photo with my phone at a Valentine's dinner dance Friday night.  It turned out awesome and even my instructor was amazed. 

Now roses, they are a different kind of beast to paint but I am game to tackle them.  Ross (my instructor), when I asked where to start (after sketching it on the canvas) offered, "THE ROSES." Yeah, right, so off we go...

Next week more table, background, stems and glass. 

Tag You're It

Should I be kind of ticked...maybe I shouldn't.  Really I just a tad annoyed.  The niece that has been doing the rehab thing TAGGED me on Facebook with this:

"Attention family and friends (that are sober and worth my time) I will be Tulsa sometime next week for a day. I'd also like to hit an AA/NA meeting while I'm there. I'm missing my Oklahoma family. Hopefully I'll be seeing some of y'all this following week."

I think it will be nice for her to see family and friends since she has been gone so long.  MY issue is the tagging thing which made it pop up on my FB page and the ensuing comments and comments and comments that kept rolling through my email.  I got up this morning with no less than 33 emails, all from someone commenting on this little blurb.  I hated to hide it but enough please.  Am I being a bitch, I think my girls will have issue with me being a patoot but it is what it is and I have a RIGHT to be a bitch sometimes.  

This and That Saturday

It's Saturday morning and the sun is just glowing through my window, sort of.  Wow, fantastic.  I still see that the sky is kind of gray but the sun is still beaming, a bit.  It's been a hectic week with me watching Snicklefritz at least a bit everyday and us both sick.  She's like a 100% better, me on the other hand, am still hacking up crap and blowing my nose like there is no tomorrow.  Plus we hosted some customers at our house on Thursday evening to look at our lighting and automated lighting system.  So, the house had to be spit-spot clean.  That meant floors, cabinets, bed made, and for The Hubby, the most important, his garage floor, because the panel thingy was out there.  He spent two days cleaning that space and they were here 30 minutes.  We also went out to dinner with Bev & Kel and then to see Kinky Boots on Tuesday.  That was an AWESOME show.  Painting, well, I did get a bit in on Thursday morning but missed my Tuesday all day gig with class.  Hack, cough, blow.....  excuse me.  I'm staying away from visiting Daddy right now because I don't want one tiny sniffle to enter his door.  I do not want to possibly make him sick.  I've worked at the office too, in between watching kiddo, painting, hacking and blowing.  I think I've got my taxes together and this week was payroll.  We have a few guys out sick too, one with a huGe kidney stone, which he has to have broken up; one with the blow chunks kind, another with a wife sick thing, and now Snicklefritz's daddy started getting her stuff by Friday.  Then there is me who is still there no matter what.  All this sitting around watching Snicklefritz has also been spent reading.  I have read 10 books since January 1, well on my way to the 50 goal.

A Reading Fool

Recently I've been a reading fool, polishing off eight books since the beginning of the year.  The best so far that I recommend are:  

The Life We Bury by Allen Eskens

The Mountain Between Us - Charles Martin

and the last one of 2015, 

The Pecan Man - Cassie Dandridge Selleck

See that stack, I plan on "trying" to plow through it this year.  I read mostly on my Kindle but I still LOVE to hold an actual book and I am ADDICTED to buying books, whether virtual or real.  So far I have started the top one, The Murder House.  

And since little Snicklefritz has been ill and I have been watching her a lot, well, reading is being done A LOT!  At least she is feeling better, me too.  She and I have both been sick, her with RSV virus.  Poor baby.  Actually, it started as a cold but I think that was the beginning of the RSV, then morphed into an ear infection and with the antibiotic on board, now a rash.  We suspect a reaction to the antibiotic.  She has never been sick and never been on anything like it so...

By yesterday afternoon she seemed to be feeling so much better, playing and laughing with the nasty cough she has.  It kind of sucks that I'm sick too but I'm getting better too.  I had to miss art yesterday and probably will tomorrow too, sucks!  So today, like Monday, I watch Snicklefritz but hopefully it's at the office where I can at least get some private time painting in.  I miss my friends but I do have this sweet buddy to make my day and tell me, "I miss you today Granny."  

Weekend Fun

What a glorious weekend it was.  The weather was just fantastic and we all reveled in it at the cabin.  The blue skies, the warm weather, oh what a wonderful time.  I took a ride on the golf cart to check out the damage was from the recent flooding.  It is truly a mess but spring will hopefully bring renewal again.  

We've always had a plethora of turkey buzzards but wow... 

they were just everywhere... 

The water was very serene. 

My new camera was quite fun to capture this handsome one (haha).   

On our ride home I told The Hubby to slow down at one of the farms to capture this bull.  He was in the same place a few weeks ago and I wanted to capture his photo to possibly paint. 

We did have some news though of our sweet Snicklefritz.  She has been sick and she in turn has passed it to me but hers just got worse and worse.  She had a cold that developed into an ear infection and then on Saturday a rash popped up.  That was concerning and her momma was told to take her to the emergency if a fever came.  Well, Saturday afternoon she had a fever of 101 so off the the emergency she went.  They ran a bunch of tests and ruled out strep and flu but this morning they got the rest of the results, RSV.  Egads.  Most children get it by the age of 2 and it can cause problems for young babies and elderly if their immune systems are compromised.  Fortunately for her she is three and healthy otherwise.  She still has a nasty cough and the rash doesn't seem to want to go away.  She was on antibiotics for the first time and it might be a reaction but she is actually through with them so the doctor said it could be a secondary virus.  Good grief.  That kiddo has only had 3 days of her little school and been sick, sick, sick.  At least she is in good spirits and let the doctors do all kinds of things to her without complaint.  I will be looking after her a lot this week as she needs to not go to school for a bit till well.  

Juried vs Judged

Yes, I'm lacking in posts here but that is just the way it is.  I've been busy gathering and getting ready for a kind of big deal, actually a couple of big deals.  I'm still in the early stages if learning the art world and I've recently become acquainted with a couple of terms, judged and juried.  A judged art show, which I have done several through Alpha Rho Tau here in Tulsa are just that, judged.  You present your art in a show and someone judges it and you win a ribbon or prize.  Recently I've a couple of opportunities for juried shows.  The first one is for a group called Southeast Oklahoma Fine Arts, or SOFA in McAlester.  It was a whirlwind of getting info and paintings, or photos of, for the deadline of January 1.  I did it and in the mail it went.  Juried is where you submit photos or the art and it is then determined if it will be a part of a show, then it will be judged.  I got my acceptance letter for my first juried show that will be in March.  Now I will have to deliver my three paintings to McAlester in February then go back for the reception and announcement of judging results.  It will hang at the Scottish Rite Masonic Temple for two weeks then back to McAlester to pick up and hopefully some will be sold.  My issue yesterday was that I could NOT remember which three paintings I put in.  Had to make a phone call to figure that out but all is good.

Now, the next big deal is a local outfit called Tulsa Artist's Guild.  It is a group that has been around since 1933, as ART has been around since 1930 and am a member.  Last night, at this JURIED show, I became a member of TAG.  It was an ordeal of hoops where we were invited and sponsored for consideration of membership.  Once the application was filled out and JPEG's of the art submitted then we (some of my art friends) descended upon one of the members homes with five paintings or art pieces framed or readied as if in a show.  There were six of us up for membership.  Three of us, Linda, Charlotte and myself I of course knew, but the other three, not a clue who they were.  So that means 5 pieces of art between 6 of us, 30 pieces of art that was displayed all over Sheila's house, on walls, in the laundry room, dining room...you name it, art was everywhere.  So the day went like this:

* Up early and attend class (8-3)

* Spend a whole day painting then home to load up five paintings

* To Sheila's to drop off said art (3:30)

* Home to wait...wait...wait...

* Back to Sheila's for the Meet & Greet (6:30 - 7)

* Leave to wait at my house with Linda (& hubby) and Charlotte (7 - 8:45)

* Phone Call.....YOU'VE BEEN ACCEPTED, ALL THREE!

* Back in the car to pick up art and receive congratulations, handshakes, 

and THE BLACK BOOK! (9:00)

Yes, we three musketeers are now also members of TAG!  Sadly of the six juried, only five were offered membership in their group.  We were all ready that one of the three musketeers would not be a part of the group but the threesome is still intact!  

That was a long day and I'm still not sure if it is going to be worth my time as they have NO shows planned, so I guess just meetings.  We are afraid that all they want is new blood i.e. worker bees.  I have news for them, we three are way, WAY to busy for that.  

Number 40

Today, 40 years ago, we said I DO!  Yes today is our 40th Wedding Anniversary!  We met, we fell in love and we TIED THE KNOT.   

We shared that moment with friends and family, some still here and some gone.

We started a family and they, in turn have created their own families... 

HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO MY LOVE....

THE HUBBY!

Life Is Just Not Fair

Life is just not fair.  

Yesterday I found out that a dear friend is facing a divorce.  So very sad for him.  He has had so many knocks in his life and I worry, WORRY about him.  The weekend was not good for him, as his wife let him know that she was not happy, that he was NOT the "man of her dreams."  She has found another to fill that dream guy idea!  He is absolutely crushed and you have not lived until you sit with your guy friend and he is crying, just crying for a life he thought he had.  He was planning for retirement with his lady but it is not to be.  He will have to sell his farm she wanted and divey up the pets they both have.  He will have to move and more than likely his retirement is not to be anytime soon as I'm sure she will get a good part of what he has, which is not much really.  He said he tried to do the happy things for her lately.  Bought her a new EXPENSIVE quilting machine (like $20,000) a brand new kitchen, a new Tahoe...but alas she is not happy.  He said he just didn't get it but that he's a guy and he thought that would make her happy.  It's funny, when he walked in the door I turned to another friend and said, "SOMETHING IS WRONG!"  I could see it immediately and sure enough his life is changing forever, yet again.  He's weathered the loss of both parents in the last five years, and a brother, another divorce (many years ago) and the devastation of a deal done dirty to him many years ago.  This is the nicest, NICEST guy you will ever meet and it breaks my heart to see him so beat down.  It is so on my mind that he is so sad but glad he knows where his friends are and we are there for him.

Life As I Know It

This blogging everyday, well as you can tell, NOT HAPPENING!  Oh well.

This week in class I got a bit further on this sweet painting.  Hopefully it will be finished next week.

Got yet another commission, sweet Carter!  It's just started and now I wait for it to dry a bit so I can add more white. 

Snicklefritz started school this week and it was a rousing success.  She loved it and so did we.  Also, this "hasn't napped in a year girl" napped at school, both days.  Wow, I am impressed they were able to get her down.  Need to find their secret.  Unfortunately she has never been sick and second day when they got home, yesterday, she got out of the car and promptly threw-up on her momma's new shoes.  I sooo hope this is not going to be a problem.  She so far has had great immunities but we will see. 

While playing catch with her on Wednesday she turned and this pose caught my eye.  I told her to "DON'T MOVE" and snapped this beauty.