Unfinished Projects

To say that is has been a while, would be an understatement, so let's just get down to it. It has been a while. But I have been working on things, I promise. I just haven't finished a lot of them lately, and for some reason I always feel like everything I put on here has to be finished.

So, this is what I was working on right after my last post:


As you can see, it is not finished, but almost there. It will eventually be one of five in a series I am painting for my mother-in-law. Sorry, Janet!
This project was put on hold so that I could work on this for Dane's Birthday:






Most of you have no idea what a big deal it is for me to scrapbook. I don't scrapbook. This was a true gift of love. Dane really wanted one, and I told him that it would never happen. It is happening, but as you can see there are several blank spots yet to be filled with captions, and basically the rest of our lives to finish it.
This project was also put on hold when pretty much every ounce of my energy became dedicated to making this:





This has pretty much put everything in my life on hold for the past 3 months. Yikes. It really is a lot of work! But for obvious reasons, this also remains unfinished.
So, now that I have hit month four and some of my energy is returning, it is once again taken elsewhere to work on putting my classroom together for the upcoming school year. I have so much to do--everything from organizing my cupboards, writing lesson plans, getting visual and posters ready along with classroom management stuff like seating charts, procedures...etc

I have 3 more weeks until school starts, half of a classroom to finish and an entire year's worth of lesson plans to get ready. I have a feeling that this will really be taking up the bulk of my time and energy, so the are that I may be posting will most likely be done by other artists like these.

Sorry for the absence, but know that I am still here, and ALWAYS working on something!

onions, oil, 6"x6"

I challenged myself on this one to only put the paint where it belonged. I mean that in several ways. On the canvas, not my clothes. And where it needed to be in the drawing, not somewhere else. As simple as that sounds, it is a constant challenge for me. I think that is what I like about painting. The challenge. And no. I didn't get any on my clothes. Small victory? Yes.



p.s. Not that anyone else probably noticed this but me but this is my 6th post this year. Last year (2009) I had 6 posts. That was it. I can already tell this is going to be a good year.

Emily and Elizabeth, oil, 18"x18"

I learned many years ago with this painting, that I don't have to love everything that I paint. Sometimes I just need to finish it and move on. That can be exptrememly difficult when the painting you are working on is not only for someone, but a family member. To say that I have been "working on" this painting for 4 years would defiantly not be true, but it has been sitting in the back of several closets, following me around that long and it is good to be able to move on. For some reason I had a very hard time with this painting. I don't love it and I know that there are things I could change, but the painting would still be pretty much the same. I think it will be good for me to move on.





With that said, I hope that my sister enjoys this painting, as it is the last of her 4 children and the only one that I had not yet painted. It can now hang with the others as a complete set and that makes me so happy. I love you Elizabeth! I am sorry this took me so long!

new artist

I have added a new artist to my list on the side of my blog: Susan Mortensen. I have never met her, but she is the mother of a good friend I used to work with. She has done a series of what her friends call "kitchen paintings" that I love. These are a series of 5"x5" paintings of fruit and veggies. I think I want to do something a little like this. This is my favorite one. I love the composition.

photoshop head swap

One of my favorite features of photoshop is the "masks". Imagine if you had an image of a family you loved all but one person. Wouldn't it be nice if you could just cut their face out and paste another image you liked better of that person behind? That is something you can do with a mask. Also ever wondered how people make those cheesy shots where everything is in b/w except, say a red rose? You can also do this with a mask. There are so many things you can do with it....I love it. This was one of my afternoon projects today. Love you Kathy. Your family is beautiful.

time to create

I am almost 100% positive that the people who read this blog also read my other one too, but also know me well enough as to why I haven't had much time to update this blog, and this part of my life to be quite honest. I am happy to say now that the chapter of my life where I was working 50-60 hrs/week is on hold--for at least 5 months. So what that means is that I have time to think for myself. Which means I have time to be creative. And I can't tell you how amazing it feels.

I am not just talking about having time to paint or crochet or do whatever new thing I am getting myself into, but also time to make dinner, try new recipes and even create some of my own. I think that if I had another life, I would go to culinary school. And in another, cosmetology school. And in another, study interior design. Who knows, maybe I can still do all of those. Either way, it feels good to have time to dream. It has been a while.

So, what have I been doing with all of this found time? Cooking a lot. Still crocheting. Finishing a painting that has been waiting for me for....ummmm...5 years? Wow. That long, huh? And getting ready to paint lots more little pleasures.

Yesterday I went to home depot to get some fresh masonite cut and today I made these. Waiting to become 22 6"x6" creations.


A few years ago at an art teachers' conference I got 2 free sample pads of canvas paper, one 6"x6" and another 6"x12". I love canvas paper. This is what I pasted to the boards. I haven't used it in years but remember how I loved the texture. The painting of the little boy in my blog heading was painted on canvas paper. (oh, and I love that I was able to make all of these panels for only $5.61.) Did I mention how good this feels?

I guess I am back

I have a good reason why it has taken me so long to update this, but I will have to explain later. For now, here is my latest: Christmas presents I crocheted for my sister and her daughters this last few months.

For Molly:


For Annie:


For Leslie Ann:


Click below to see bead details: