Halloween and Day of the Dead Paintings

for sale on Ebay now - HERE

 

 

I'M NOT A GOOD LIAR.

Even if it's a lie by omission.
So here's what happened:
I go out for lunch almost every day.
I run errands and sometimes go through a drive-through, but when I do that I always order something that I've researched the nutritional value/info on first.
So that I can stay with my healthy eating lifestyle.
If I don't go get lunch, I nibble on pretzels or fruit or turkey while I'm at work and then just run my errand.
So a couple of weeks ago I went to the ReStore.
I was so psyched because I got this cool white table with black trim that adjusts to different angles like a drafting table....for $20.00!
I drove through McDonald's and opened my mouth to order the Berry Chiller but instead of MY voice, this strange Linda Blair voice came out and ordered a Mocha Frappe! Suddenly my sanity returned and I spurted out "No Whipped Creme Please!"
I drove up to the window and my hands were shaking as I took the paper off the straw.
AAAHHHHH. Damn that was good.
I returned to work and walked up front to the office and told the girls-
"Guess what I got at lunch!" and then I told them about the table and what a bargain it was.
They all congratulated me on my great find.
I stood there for a moment and then blurted -
"You won't believe what happened to me a lunch!"
They all turned and waited to hear.
I told them that I went through McDonald's and....
Ordered a Mocha Frappe!

They all gasped.
It was like I told them I had stabbed the girl through the window.
"What made you do it!?"
"I don't know!" I exclaimed! "It just happened!"
One of them said, "I won't even tell you how much FAT is in one of those things!"
"I know" I replied, my head hung in shame.
(It was SO good.)
But I immediately went back to eating good.
Then last week I went through Taco Bell and a similar thing happened. Instead of ordering a Fresco Soft Chicken Taco, I ordered a regular Crunchy one!
I didn't tell anyone when I went back to work.
Then this last Wednesday, I had cereal for breakfast.
and for lunch and for dinner.................
I've hit the wall.

I think it's because the scale isn't budging.
OK, it budges.
Total weight lost so far - 31 lbs. 28lbs. 30lbs. 29lbs.
Those numbers go up and down every day.
I'm kinda freaking out.
I'm trying to remember that this wasn't about weight.
It's about being healthy and making right choices for LIFE.
So...I'm going to start brown bagging my lunch

and try to force myself to walk.
Any other suggestions?

Something Different.

I've been busy painting again!
and then yesterday my friend Nita, from

wrote this wonderful post about my paintings
HERE
and directed her Followers over to my Ebay page.
                                                                            HERE
I figured I better get busy and list as many as I could while there's an increase in traffic.
THANKS SO MUCH NITA!
Several  of my paintings now have bids!
WAHOO! Blog Buddies are the BEST!!!
So I was puttering around my art room (though I end up painting at the kitchen table) and I found these rain drop shaped craft crystals and thought of the quote -
"Some People Walk In The Rain, Others Just Get Wet".
- by Roger Miller.
This is the result:

and here's a close-up -

The dog is painted paper and the grass is tissue paper.
The crystals are firmly attached with gel medium.
Everything is sealed in a matte finish.
and it's currently listed on Ebay along with a few others that I listed today.

and these I've shown on the here before:

 

"It's Never Too Late to Be What You Might Have Been"

Several years ago I painted a painting VERY similar to this.

 http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320988178975

I sold right away and then I had several emails for more.

But for some reason at that time I thought each and every painting I did had to be unique.
No repeats.
I then had a woman email me about making a larger painting in different colors for a Christmas gift and I relented.
I mean it was for Xmas!
I don't know where I got the idea that I couldn't repeat.
I now see many artists painting the same thing over and over, varying it just a bit.
This makes a lot of sense. So I plan on doing that.
Sometimes the same, sometimes not.
ANYWAY... I've listed it on Ebay and I'm hoping that it's popular again.
Alpha dog has bills to pay! LOL!

SICK

I'm sick today.
I tried to deny it.
I could feel it creeping up but I chose to ignore it.
Sometimes that works. Ignore it and it will go away.
Or buck up and muscle through it.
That's what my Dad always said to me.
He didn't believe in being sick.
He never had a cold and if something hurt he didn't talk about it.
So he didn't allow me to be sick either. I had to go to school every day. No matter what.
He always said "If someone asks you how you feel, say FINE because no one really cares, they're just trying to be nice."
I woke up this morning and didn't feel so great.
I got to work and my head ached. I felt dizzy and my joints hurt.
My stomach was upset. ( and I have this jaw/ear ache thing going on but that's been going on for awhile.)
So I decided that I was going home.
I got my boarding dogs and cats feed and cleaned.
Did the paperwork and documentation that was needed, showed one of the vet techs what needed to be done later and left.
It was odd to drive home in the middle of the day.
It was dreary out, only in the 50's and sprinkling.
Such a grey day.
I had Blue and Jimmy with me and when we came into the house, we startled the others.
I think they were all sleeping. 
I opened the door to silence, then a hesitant bark followed by a chorus.
I let everyone outside for a few minutes and then back in.
They all looked at me and I back at them.
What now?
So I put them back into the laundry room and went upstairs with Blue and Jimmy.
And went to bed.
So odd. I never sleep during the day.
Guess I needed it.
I feel a little bit better but guilty.
I wasted a day.
Thanks Dad.

I wasn't lying...

when I said I painted ALL last weekend.

Listed on Ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320986905598

This one might be my favorite.

I'm not really sure why.

The cat doesn't even look like any of my kitties.
Or any of the clinic cats..
But I just kinda like it.
It's done in acrylics and ink and the bumblebee is watercolor on watercolor paper and ink.
Then sealed in a matte finish.

Listed currently on Ebay:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320986286920
and I also listed Cat & Spider last night -

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Folk-Art-Mixed-Media-White-Cat-Spider-Primitive-Naive-Outsider-PopArt-Painting-/320985666894?pt=Folk_Art&hash=item4abc3c954e

Sometimes you don't need words...

I usually include a quote or saying on my paintings but I think this says -
WALK the DOG! without the actual words.

Currently listed on Ebay :
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320985616566

ANOTHER ONE.

I've decided to list my paintings for a week on Ebay.
If they don't sell, then I will take them to the clinic
and hopefully someone there will purchase them.
I think this one will fit in well at work! Ha!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=320985038365&ssPageName=ADME:L:LCA:US:1123

Black Cat Halloween Painting and THANK YOU!

First, I want to thank everyone SO MUCH for your comments on my last post about the commissioned painting. You brought tears to my eyes when I read your comments. I knew that I had Fabulous Blogger friends and TRULY, you all keep me going. Sometimes in my REAL life I feel kind of alone and no one is really listening and it means so much to me to have you in my world.
XOXO

So... I've been painting all weekend. Going from one painting to another as one "layer" dries.
I did ONE Halloween painting in paint and paper and I think I will list it tonight on Ebay and see what happens!
Here it is! -

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Halloween-Black-Cat-Folk-Art-Primitive-Naive-Outsider-Painting-Mixed-Media-OOAK-/320984433843?pt=Folk_Art&hash=item4abc29c4b3

 

Update on my Commission Painting

So I thought I'd post an update about the little poodle painting I was commissioned to do.
The client had wanted it to be small. Ideally 5 by 7. I thought I had a 5 by 7 canvas but only found a 6 by 6 instead.
When I had finished it, I sent the client an email with a photo attached.

She did not reply to the email so I sent another saying that I would bring it to work and if she liked it she could pick it up.

No reply.

I emailed her later in the week, we had never really talked about a price but the painting she had seen of mine which was much larger, probably 18" by 18" had a tag that said it was selling for $50.00
To be honest, I have a hard time pricing my work.
One of the girls at work who has purchased a couple of my paintings, my smaller ones, told me that she thought I priced my work too low.
So I asked my co-workers what they thought was a good price for this piece.
They said since it was personalized it should be at least $30.00, maybe even $40.
So I emailed the client that I would leave the painting up front in the office in case she came in some time when I wasn't working and I was thinking $30.00.
So this Monday I come in and the girls tell me that the client had stopped in on Saturday.
They gave her the painting and waited in excited anticipation.
They all had loved how it turned out.
They said she looked at it with no emotion on her face.
She was just blank.
They said she turned it over in her hands a couple of times and then said
"30 dollars?"
"If I knew it was going to be $30.00 I would have asked for a bigger one for $50.00."
So the girls told her, "Well, she said $30.00"
and the client wrote out a check to me.
Everyone told me again how much they liked it and couldn't believe her "non" reaction.
I told them that she had specifically asked for "small" because she said it was to hang on the wall above her dog's things.

I told them that the last time I had someone ask me to paint something for them was the big C logo for the Chicago Bears on a bean sack board game thing.
I had told the wife I'd would need to go out and buy some paint pens and that they would total to just under $10.00.
So the wife stopped by and picked up the board and gave me a check.
She left me a voice mail as she drove home on how much she loved it.
Then the next day she called and asked me if she could have the paint pens.
Since they were included in the price.
She needed them because her husband wanted to go over it again and make it darker.

Seriously, I doubt if I will ever do a commission again.

GHOST PAINTING

I've been blogging since June 2009.

My second post was about my cat Ghost.

It told the story of how he was a scared timid little thing who followed my cat Harry around and was scared of his own shadow. If you would like to read the whole story about how he became lost and then found 1 month and 3 days later in another town, just go to this link: http://oldblackcatboo.blogspot.com/2009/06/this-is-my-cat-ghost.html
I searched for him relentlessly and worried and imagined awful things.
On nights when it stormed, I could not sleep. He was always terrified of the rain, thunder and lightning. He would hide under the furniture and refuse to come out.
And then he was found. He had become a Warrior.
He is no longer scared when it storms. He leaps from surface to surface with confidence.
He dismisses the dogs with confidence. He's a changed cat.
He is still very loving and likes to follow me around and gently touch my face with his paw.
But try to trim his nails now and he will fight you to the death.
So this painting, done in acrylics, watercolor, ink, crayon and paper is about my Ghost.

NIGHT at the MUSEUM

Two months ago, my best friend and I took a Wine & Art class at the Figge Museum.

I didn't blog about it because it didn't really turn out to be as exciting and educational as I thought it would be.

It was a "Pop up" class. We made some little folded books and a card with paper cut and pasted to create pop-ups.
I have not been in a class setting for a zillion years and suddenly I remember that I am not a good student.
I get easily bored. I also get easily irritated.
The instructor held up a piece of paper and folded it this way and that as we did the same.
Then she said "Oh, wait. No, fold it this way....wait a minute." then she brought down the paper looked at it and folded in front of her. "OK." she said and held it back up and folded it a different way.
I just get frustrated. Now my paper was folded the wrong way.
Then she had us do little frogs out of green paper....fold, fold, fold - cut.
Crap. Mine did not look like a frog.
So I didn't post about but...here's my pop-up card that I did.

I tossed it when I got home.
But it was a nice evening, spending time catching up with my friend.
Last month it was a "Clay" Wine and Art. I had to work late that night. So we weren't able to attend.
But last Thursday I was excited to go.
This class was to be about Mixed Media.
I really hoped to learn something that I could use in my paintings.
When I arrived, they were holding a Zumba class outside.

Maybe I should take a class in that!
When my friend and I decided to take the stairs to the second floor, as I tried to continue to talk normally, I was thinking that I should definitely take a class in Zumba.

Sadly, we didn't do Mixed Media. Instead the instructor (a different one) passed out paper and oil pastels.

Hmmm.
She started talking about Georgia O'Keeffe.
OK! I'm listening!
She showed some photos of her Leaf Paintings.
This was one of them:

She said that some people viewed them as sensual and sexual.
I'm thinking - Dah.
But she said that O'Keeffe was from the Midwest and Conservative background

and that this was created in the 1920's so that is just the opinion of SOME people ...
Yeah?
I mean, does she even anything about Georgia?

Sigh...

She passed out a laminated copy of some painted leaves and had us open up our boxes of pastels and on white paper she said we could copy the leaves -

or do whatever we wanted. We could draw a sensual flowing line....

or maybe just the leaves on the copy.
She walked by our table and said to me "Oh, you decide to not copy? Hmmm, purple."

Then she had us do drawings on black paper.
I tried to be a good follower. I copied the little leaves.

She walked by "blue?"
I smiled. "No, turquoise."
Finally she had us use water soluble pastels on white watercolor paper.
These look more like the copy.

But I still put turquoise in there.

My friend asked me later if I waited to do the "Wine and Art" class again.
She knew I was a bit disappointed.

I said sure. It was a nice night out. There were a couple of young college age girls at our table that we had a nice chat with even if they did call us "ladies" at the end of the evening...
as in "It was really nice meeting you ladies, hope to see you next time!".
(I hate when I forget that I'm old to young people)...
and I had never used oil pastels before.
So I did learn something.
Next month the class is "Black & White Charcoal & Oil Pastels".
Maybe we will do Mixed Media then!

Paint, Paper and Ink

Another Broken Heart Cat...

Another One Done and Tree Limb Update

Another one done.

I actually thought I had one besides this one done when I noticed a small little hair in the top coat.

So I sanded it down until I got to the hair and then repainted the spot and sealed it again.
It's still drying.
I always see so many imperfections in my work that it drives me crazy.
This one is brown paper attached to painted canvas.
I can see a ripple.
Yep, drives me crazy.
I'm currently working on another one with tissue paper gel mediumed to painted canvas.
I actually like it...so far. Hope I don't ruin it.

One thing I do have to remember though is to not smooth back my hair behind my ear when I have gel medium on my fingers.

I didn't noticed it immediately.
Nope, not until I went to smooth it back again and my hand got stuck.
Ouch.
That hurts getting that stuff out.

Another thing, the tree guy came. Cut down the limb on the roof and another one across the patio and above the power lines. He did it in less than an hour and never had to disconnected my phone/Internet line.

He then gave me a reasonable quote on repairing the roof. The metal edge needs to be pounded back down, the nests cleaned out of the soffits and then repaired and put back in place. Hopefully the quote includes cleaning out the gutter. I think there are tiny trees growing in there.
I will have to get some cash together but hopefully he can do it before winter comes.
I asked him if he paints houses. He hesitated but said he could probably do mine.
I said it would depend on whether I get any income tax money back next Spring.
I hope so.
My roof is a light grey color and I'd like the house to be a light yellow. Not too yellow Yellow. More of a bright white-yellow with grey shutters.....
although I do adore this pink house -

2 Paintings

Well, I've finished the commissioned painting.

I really hate doing them but...
This is the photo the client emailed me.

She wanted the background slate blue
but also thought maybe her dog should be on the grass.
She had seen my painting "In My Dreams, I'm Not Old" and wanted that on her painting.
I did it in the style of my other work.
Collaged papers, paint and ink.
Here's the finished piece:

I hope she likes it.

I did a little cat painting too.

 

Blue: "Quit Bugging Me

and go paint something!"