V,W,X,Y and Z...

I'm finishing up some art for the ABC's of Art, featuring trees...and I've decided to post pictures here backwards, starting with Z.  

 Zentangle

 Yellowing

 Xerox

 Watercolor

Vertigris

I'll keep posting until I get to A.  Still working on Q...I'm just not inspired.

Well, December is just hours away...Genevieve and I saw a couple tiny, tiny snow flakes today while cold drafts snuck through the cracks of the windows and doors, chilling our toes.  Our heat is a whole 10-12 degrees higher than it was last year because of lil' Gen...and Oh, the gas bill cometh!  Alas...even though I've been adding all sorts of fun needs and wants to the Amazon Christmas list...I truly am just happy to be warm. :)

Gen's 1st Thanksgiving

 Grandma holding Gen back from giving "touchies" to the pie....

Eh, let her at it!  Next year we'll let her have her way with one of these!  She was beholding the wonder and majesty of the ever-loved pumpkin pie...she did get a few fingers on it before we whisked her away!

A lesson in sharing...here she's sharing a toy with Grandpa!

 Later at her other Grandma's house, she got to lick on the beer bottle!  It was daddy's, and it was empty.  ;) Don't worry, it's Boulevard Pilsner...we would never let her lick on a Bud Light bottle...we're not those kind of parents!

When abuse is funny...

Fridge abuse!  Watch Gen go hysterical as daddy whips the fridge with a kitchen towel...(fave spot @ :39)

You'll notice that the dog is nowhere to be found.  One time we flicked a towel at her to get her out of the kitchen, and now you just SHOW her the towel and she slinks away!  The poor abused fridge, this has been by far Gen's most excited fit of laughter!

Here it comes...

Gen got this super cool shirt from our friend Jeanne, it's a "Too Many Suitors" design.

Here comes Black Friday.  Thank God Gen isn't old enough to be begging and pleading for some toy that is all sold out in stores and we'd have to go to some lady's house and pay top dollar for one because SHE bought them all from the store and is "scalping" them from her house!  Ahem, *cough* *cough* Cabbage Patch Kids!   Mine was named Geneva Jaquelyn and I simply adored her!!  :)  (Thanks, mom)

I'm learning a lot from Genevieve about being (even more) easily amused.  I buy Gen funny toys and squeaky things, and she has a swing, a walker, a bouncer and a play gym...and she loves them ALL.  But, today I showed her a few links of a rosary I was working on and her eyes got huge and she started "vibrating" in her seat until I gave it to her.  She was happy for a long time.  Last night, I was cleaning the kitchen and she got bored, I gave her a plastic measuring cup...this was magical to her.  How long does this last?

Granted, I'm no slouch when it comes to cheap fun...I'll dig in a dumpster for goodies to play with and a "fun night out" to me is just leaving the house!  If perchance, there's a scoop of ice cream thrown in with that...or a trip to Home Depot for a $5 gallon of some heinously beautiful OOPS paint...then I'm overly satisfied.  BUT...I desire trips to Arizona, and someday a big beautiful house...and I like art supplies...and decorating...and...and...and...

For Black Friday this year, as last year...I will revolt completely.  I've never gone on a BF adventure, I'm not about to spend my Andy Warhol 15 minutes of fame by being shown on TV trampling old ladies to get to cheap junk at Wal-mart!!   I'll be here, sipping warm drinks and tearing old sheets and skirts into 1"strips.  More on that later... :)

AWOL

Where have we been?  AWOL.  Arting With Out Leave!  I've been illustrating an "ABC'S of Art - featuring Trees" book  for my sister-in-law...and when I'm not painting or collaging or just THINKING....I've been playing with Gen, cooking or attempting to clean this old house!

Here are a few pages from the book.  They are roughly 15" X 8", all original works of art.  I'm still working on a few..Zentangle isn't finished and haven't even started on Quilt...I'll scan them all next week and post them for all to see.

K is for Kitsch

 X is for Xerox

 Z is for Zentangle

F is for Fabric...a close-up of the stitches.

So that's what I've been up to...and even though it's been a blast making all these pieces of art and an honor to be part of this large project, I think I'm "all done" for awhile. I've had a headache for 3 days, and the only things that give me headaches are champagne, and stress...and I haven't had the bubbly since I got married!  It's time to do my work, and although this project has given me a jump-start back into art making...I'd like to do my own work, and start selling it again.  Or rather, start selling it...I've always sold rosaries and jewelry, but art, I usually give away. After this book is done, I'm making art to sell, making Christmas stockings for my little family and Christmas gifts...yep, that should keep me occupied for a while!  

That reminds me...something has been bothering me.  Let me ask...if you made and sold something for a living, let's say...COOKIES...would you call up a small bakery and ask them for their best cookies recipes?  Probably not.  If you were a writer, and were writing a book to publish...would you tell someone else that wanted to write books the whole story and every detail and twist and turn and give them a list of good adjectives to use?!   Only a fool, right?! 

I sell rosaries, jewelry and art to make money to buy things for my cute baby girl, and my super cool husband!  (And lately I've been padding up a "base board for the dining room" fund :)  I love to help people, but why should I tell other people who sell rosaries (locally) all my techniques and where to buy the beads?   So they can make my work?   I'll teach children, but hey...I learned by looking in books and on the almighty internet, I paid to take some classes...I didn't call up a jeweler and ask them to teach me what they knew, or borrow their books, or tell me where they get all their materials.  And I'm a terrible liar so when people corner me and ask, I tell them!  So if you see me running to the Missouri River with duct tape over my mouth as I hurl my cell phone into the murky swills...you'll know why! I've always wanted to do that, without the duct tape though...

Oh, last but not least...a pic of Gen waking up from her nap today. :D

Oh, my back...

It appears that I've thrown out my back after lifting Genevieve into my truck.  Lifting an 11 lb. carrier plus 15+ lb. baby equals buff arms and sore lower back!  Oh well, on to the pictures!!!!

It's hoodie season...yay hurray.  It's that time of year that Tim loves because females start dressing more modestly...if even only to prevent being cold! (And then there's a bunch who brave the cold and risk being ill because they think that everyone needs to see "what they're made of"!)  Another reason why I love him...a man that does not care to see every woman's cleavage who also prefers that women dress self-respectively?  Unheard of! ;)

Good thing I see this cute face first thing every morning...I'm on "Return of the King" in Tolkien's Lord of the Ring series and I've been having very strange dreams...