Cool Link

A good friend of mine sent me this link and I just had to share! This is an animated drawing of a woman done from the inside out. Very cool....check it out!

http://fcmx.net/vec/get.swf?i=003702

Hoping to post a progress pic later today! :)

Another rough day

Actually, I should say, rough weekend. If you read rough day you know I'm having problems with my 16 year old, middle son. Well, he cemented it, he's going to Arkansas to live with his dad. He doesn't want to, he's going because I want him to graduate from high school. I don't know what it is with my boys, hopefully not my youngest one too, but the older one went to live with his dad at 16 too. Hopefully, my ex will have better luck with him. He did in the past. It is just tearing me apart! I keep going back and forth between wanting him to go, knowing it will be good for him and not wanting him to go, knowing it's going to hurt. Luckily, everyone in the family is with me on it. I know it is going to be for the better in the long run, but my heart is breaking!
So, I'm dealing with my pain the only way I know how, I'm painting, or at least trying to. Obviously, I'm here typing right now, taking a break, right? I am about to go back to painting so I can post a progress pic later. I'm mulling a title for this painting, probably going to have something to do with heartbreak or torn in to a million pieces or something like that. I'd like it to be more positive though. I hate negative titles. Oh well, back to painting now.

New Lettered Mats!

Today I'm working on something a little different. I call these my lettered photo mats. The top one is currently for sale in my Etsy shop. They are all 10 x 20 inch mats. The Peace mat has 3 x 4 inch letters and the baby mats have 4 x 6 inch letters. I have filled the Peace mat with small giclee prints of my daily journal paintings. The baby mats are left empty so you can add your own 4 x 6 snapshots. The Peace mats are selling for $25 as it has my prints in it and the baby mats are going for $15.

I can also cut custom lettered mats with any name or word you would like. I plan to put up a listing for the custom lettered mats and they will go for $20.

Progress on Newest Floral Spiral

So, even with the rough day I had yesterday, perhaps BECAUSE of the rough day I had yesterday, I started my next Flower Spiral Abstract. This is an oil painting done on a 20 inch square canvas. This is a progress photo, there is still a lot to be done! Just wanted everyone to see that I am painting daily! I need to get some more small canvas boards so I can continue doing the daily paintings. I'm really liking this one so far! Click on the image to see the details better.

Rough Day

I'm having a rough day today. Hard to concentrate on work. I don't really like to write too much about my private life on here, but at this point, I need to get it out!

My 16 year old son is making our families' life hell. We have made the decision to send him back to live with his dad. This decision is based on the fact that his dad seems to have power over him, because when he has lived there in the past, his grades were great! He behaved himself. He did what he needed to do. This is a boy who has never done well living with me. He was diagnosed ADHD at the age of 5. This was a few months after my divorce from his dad. Looking back now, I think he really missed his dad to be totally honest. I hate to admit that! My ex is not a good person as far as I'm concerned. I mean he's much better than when we were together, but it kills me to know that he just has the magic touch with my middle son.

Without getting into all the details, I think he would be better off in the long run. This is really hard for me to admit! I feel like a failure as a parent! Which is also hard, because I know I'm a good parent, but.......and the doubt creeps back in. Being a parent is so damned difficult! I have so much more respect for my parents now. Why is 16 such an awful age??? It was awful for me, my oldest son and now the middle one. I hope the youngest will spare us!

I am trying to work on my latest large canvas right now, having a little luck, but I can't stop thinking about the problems with my son. I love him soooooo much, it's killing me! I guess I should get back to painting, hopefully get into the zone and forget about these problems for a little while! :)

Track of the Day

Time to do a little bragging! My husband (Aaron Lewis) recently posted one of his songs (he is a classical guitarist/composer) on Garageband.com and after only 2 days he was made the Track of the Day in the Classical section! Garageband.com is a site where musicians post their music for reviews and contests. Follow the link below to go listen to his song, "Awaken". It will only be on the front page for today, so go NOW! :)

http://www.garageband.com/genre/classical

Today I'm getting orders out and working on getting things together to put into our new flea market booth. We just moved into the indoor flea market this past weekend. We have been flea marketing for over 5 years, but haven't had an indoor booth in a while. We do it to make a little extra cash, but it's more of an excuse to feed our addiction to shopping yard sales!

I'm hoping to start my newest large sized painting either today or tomorrow. I will post a progress photo once I get going on it.

Great Hike in the Snow!

Yesterday, my hubby and I went for a great hike in the Sandias east of town. It was a little chilly, so we left around noon. The sun was out so once we got going it was perfectly warm. The cold air on the face was so invigorating that we made it farther than we expected. Ended up having to turn back because of the snow!

For anyone not familiar with New Mexico, we DO get snow here! In fact, there are several ski areas in the state. The amazing thing to me is that we can hop in the car, drive about 5 minutes east of town and hike up the mountain to the snow in a couple hours. I think it is this fact alone that has kept us living in the city for so long. We are both nature freaks and if it wasn't for the escape the mountains provide us, we would have moved away from Albuquerque years ago. Enjoy the photos!

Today, I'm working on cleaning and organizing so I can get more work done this week! I have such a hard time concentrating on work when the house is a mess. That has got to be the main pitfall with working from home.

Peace on Earth

Click Here to Buy

Today's daily painting is called Peace On Earth. It's been quite some time since I painted a peace theme, so, being that it's the Holiday season, I figured today was as good a day as any to paint peace! I used the red and green to give it a holiday feel, although being in New Mexico I guess it could be a chile theme as well. For those who don't know, the official question in NM is 'red or green?'. This is another 8 x 10 oil on canvas board and you can find it in my etsy shop for only $30! In fact, all of my daily paintings are specially priced for the holidays at $20 off the regular price.

Rested and Ready to go

Click Here to Buy

Yesterday was nice and relaxing, after getting the mats packed and shipped along with the other orders I had. Above is today's daily painting. The goal is to get back into painting one of these every day. I felt a little rusty today as it has been a few weeks since I painted a daily. It felt good to be back at it though. This painting is already up for sale in my Etsy shop. I'm running a Holiday Special on my daily paintings right now; $20 off the normal $50 price.

Tomorrow I will start a new large size painting. I have two 20 inch square canvases ready to go, still thinking about what I will paint. I know it will be a spiral abstract, just not sure of the colors or flower yet. Back in September while I was at the State Fair I took some great photos of different flowers in the flower section. The last red sunburst flower came from those photos.

It seems that every Holiday season I'm behind in everything I wanted to accomplish for the year. Then the Holiday season descends and I'm swamped with everything else I have to do! Maybe next year will be different, in any case, I think that will be my resolution for the New Year. Maybe I should call it a goal instead. Seems resolutions usually end up in failure!

Woke up to snow on the ground this morning. My guys even had a 2 hour delay day! Which is actually pretty funny because there was only a dusting of snow on the roads. Nothing like when we lived in Colorado and the snow had to be 4 feet deep before they would delay or close the schools! I guess the problem is, New Mexicans don't know how to drive in regular weather, so a little ice on the ground is cause for a major shut down. Of course by this time in the day, the sun is out and the snow is melted. It is still pretty cold out there.

I have a lot of new listings to put up today, so I'd better get busy!

Is it Tuesday already?

I had a somewhat relaxing weekend. I worked on finishing up the large mat order I've been working on. Finished this afternoon.

I don't have anything interesting to blog about. I just hate to leave a big gap in postings. I'm currently relaxing after all my hard work over the past month. Looking forward to getting back into the studio and back to my daily paintings. Hopefully, tomorrow, I will have something new to post. I plan to post some new prints and notecards in my etsy shop this week.

Happy Thanksgiving

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving! We are having a small dinner at home, my oldest son is coming over with his girlfriend. Turkey and all the trimmings, of course!

I am having a Holiday sale in my etsy shop. I have several Daily Journal Paintings for $20 off. I hope to have several new items also listed by Friday evening.

I'm taking the day off tomorrow to spend with my family. Gobble, gobble!

Final Portrait

Here it is, the final portrait! The client has seen it, approved it, picked the frame and I am almost done getting it ready to go! Everyone was right, btw, he loved it!

Today I'm working on cutting mats and cleaning house. My brother and his wife are coming up from Las Cruces to visit, so everyone will be at our house for dinner tonight. I'm making beef stew in the crock pot, so I can still get my work done during the day.

I'm really excited about finishing the portrait and mats because that means I can get back to working on MY art! I am going to get back to my flower spiral abstract series, as I have a gallery show in December to get ready for. I will let you know more about that as I know. What I know so far is the gallery is in Gallup, New Mexico and it is a new gallery for me. The owner saw my work at the state fair in September and invited me to show in his grand reopening in December. They are moving into a new building at the moment. Once I get more info I will post more.

Not much else exciting happening. Holiday season is upon us and I am in a rush to get everything together. I have lots of new things to post in my etsy shop, hopefully they have worked out all the bugs for the new V2 by the time I get around to listing everything.

Anyway, I'd better get back to work, hope everyone is having a wonderful day!

Last progress photo

This is yesterday's progress photo of the portrait commission I'm working on. I finished this morning! Waiting for my camera batteries to recharge so I can take the final photo. There were only a few last touches to be made after this photo, so I figured I'd post it while I wait for the batteries. I don't think I said before, but this is an oil painting on canvas, 16 x 20".

I'm so nervous about showing it to the customer. That's always the hardest part with doing commissions. Will they love it? Will they think it was worth the money they paid?

Personally, I love it and think it came out beautifully!

Now it's back to cutting mats!

Portrait progress

Latest progress photo, taken before I worked on it for a couple hours today. I seriously have to be done with this by Friday! I am getting close. I ran out of light to take a photo of today's progress, but I want to work on it another day before I post another one.

Today I went to the doctor, she prescribed physical therapy for my back problem. Hopefully, that works. I may just have to get a massage too, oh darn!

Once I get the portrait done, I have tons of mats to cut! For any of you who don't know this already, I also do matting and framing jobs on the side, to help support my art. I have worked as a manager and even owned a frame shop in the past, now I work out of my studio. So, if you have any matting or framing that you need done, I have great wholesale prices, just email me. You can also find some of my mat listings in my ebay store. One of these days, when I have time, I also plan to put up some ready made standard size wood frames. Since I make them all myself, I have also considered putting them up on Etsy. All I need is a few 40 hour days to get it all done! Or possibly a little patience in the knowledge that I can't do it all at once. ;)

New Blogger

Finally switched over to the new version of blogger. So far, I like it much more than old version! I have already changed the template and colors. I would like to eventually add more links to my website, etc. If there is anything you would like to suggest, let me know in the comments.

Busy, busy, busy

Taking a break from cutting mats. I have new progress photos to post, but will have to do that later today. I plan to work on the portrait more this afternoon, so I will post more photos after I work on it.

It looks like it's going to be a long weekend of working. I will have a break on Saturday with a visit from my dad. He's coming up from El Paso tomorrow. (Looking forward to seeing you dad!)

So, I guess I won't be working all weekend. Hubby has a school function with the students this weekend, so he won't be around as much as usual. I should be able to get a lot done.

Nothing much else happening, hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Two more progress photos of the portrait commission I'm currently working on. The top photo was taken yesterday before I started painting, the second photo is at the end of my painting session yesterday. It's really starting to take shape now. I had to move the boy on the right's eye, I had them too close together before. The girl on the left is almost done. There is a little more shading to finish up and her hands still need work. I should finish the portrait by the end of this week!

On a different note, it's a glorious day to be an American! The American people have spoken and the Democrats are back in charge of the Congress!!! WOOHOO!! The Congressional race here in my district is still too close to call, only 1,303 votes difference with only 2% left to count. Go Patricia Madrid! I haven't been this politically happy in years! What took so long America??

Where have I been?

progress photo #2 of portrait commission

I know, gap in postings!

Yesterday was my youngest son's 14th birthday! How did my baby get so old so fast??!! I cannot believe how fast it goes by! My oldest son will be 21 in March!

I also have another large mat order to cut. Started on it Friday. Haven't done any daily painting in a few days. Right now my goal is to finish the portrait before I do anymore daily paintings. It has already taken too long. I hate to make people wait longer than a month for a commission and it will be one month on the 9th. So......I have to get busy. Today I'm posting another progress photo of the portrait (Finally!), but even this photo is a little dated. I will take a new photo at the end of the day today. It has already come a long way since this photo was taken.

The free hugs campaign sure is popular! I showed the video to my teenage sons and now they want to go downtown with free hugs signs. I may just take them up on it and go with them. What a wonderful mother/sons thing to do, don't you think? Thanks to everyone who linked to my blog because of the video. Wouldn't it be great to start seeing people holding free hugs signs everywhere?! Even better, for people to just start hugging strangers WITHOUT the use of the signs!

Top everything off with the fact that my back, neck and shoulders have been killing me for the past 2 weeks! It does no good to go to the doctor, they just tell me I need to exercise my back muscles because I have a large bra size! So....I've been exercising religiously for 3 years and STILL the back pain. I guess I should go back to the doctor, but I know they'll suggest surgery or prescribe muscle relaxers....which I don't want! What I need is a massage! Oh well......

Hope everyone is having a wonderful day!

Free Hugs Campaign. Inspiring Story! (music by sick puppies)

Peace on Earth!

I saw this video on Michelle Caplan's blog this morning and just had to add it here as well! What a wonderful idea! I may just have to make a sign and head downtown! Spread the hugs people!

November already!!

No daily painting for today. Not because I'm not painting! I'm working on the portrait commission today. I HAVE to finish it by Monday! It's coming along, I will try to post a progress photo later if I can. It may be tomorrow before I get to it.

I have also been working on getting my office and studio organized and cleaned up! What a chore! I guess I should follow my hubby's advice and do it more regularly so I don't end up with a week long project on my hands! Yeah, right! There is always something more important than cleaning to do. Like painting for instance. Or surfing the internet or anything for that matter!

I was a little bummed out last night, we didn't get one single trick or treater! What's up with that? Oh well, and we had good candy too! Chocolate!

I just listed all my individual Paula Beck prints on ebay, get 'em now, after December they are outta here!!! As in, up in flames! Seriously. And, if you are interested in buying them all in bulk for resale, there are bulk listings separated into categories too. If you don't know the story behind the Beck prints, check out my Art Story.

Etsy is going full steam ahead right now! I've made several sales and trades this week! If you haven't checked out Etsy, you just have to go there....NOW! There is this really cool thing called Treasury that seems to be the hot things these days. This is a place where you can pick all your favorite listings and make a cool page with them all. It's hard to explain if you aren't an etsyan, but just trust me and check it out! Also, this weekend, Etsy will be down in order to switch to the V2 Etsy. It will be back and better than ever by Monday.

I guess that's all the news for now, I'd better get back to painting so I can post that progress photo! :)