Looking forward....

I am in the mood to paint and create. I went through a creative funk recently and had a hard time getting going; perhaps it was the long, rainy winter finally settling into my bones. Now that the sun and warmth as returned, the days aren't long enough for me.

I am...

working on the 2018 calendar (one of two or three I hope to produce this year if I can maintain this level of ambition, that is) called Baby Boomer Toys. Oh boy !  That is quite fun. Everything is at the draft stage, but here's a preview of one month.

Be sure to get on the mailing list at the website if you would like notice of its arrival. 

starting another series similar to the Pears series I did here.  My friend Carol asked if I had ever done apples, so..why not? Just the first steps (painting a coat of red bas a base, painting and blending the local color):

I will be selling these (finished, of course!) in prints, cards, and other forms in my new website shop come late June. 

And I have also started a series i call "Family" using old family photos to paint a little collection. i like to think of myself as a watercolor artist, but I gotta tell you, I am enjoying the magic of painting over mistakes or changing one 's mind midstream ...easy to do with acrylic paints, almost nonexistent with watercolor.

Here's a snatch of the first one:

Still a work in progress but getting there.

Finally, my long-delayed Megazine will be revised and updated of for publishing soon, and i am doing my best to keep  up with Carla Sonheim's 365 every day. Well, at least I'm looking at the videos and prompts and thinking about them. That counts a little.

So my funk seems to be over for now, energy returning...now if only my Cubbies could get out of their losing funk lately...

Happy Birthday to Mom

Posts have been few and far between this month. I'm working diligently on a redesign of the web site and on some art for the shop. Given no unforeseen glitches, I aim to be ready by the end of June.

But I didn't want this Memorial Day to get by without remembering our Mom, whose birthday was today.  Gosh, she was a pretty woman. I very much see her smiling dimpled face in the faces of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Mom in kindergarten. I love this photo so much i had a stencil made of it. 

I think this was a graduation picture. 

Mom at 24. 

Mom and me on Valentines Day going to Grandma's. 

New batch of books

This love story, which I JUST bought me and every word is true:

and these:

High Noon, just completed, the story of the Hollywood Blacklist and the making of the Western classic - (pretty interesting if a bit long. I especially liked the gossipy parts (Hedda Hopper was a bitch).

Some Luck, Jane Smiley.  Just started, the first of what will be a trilogy, each chapter is a year in time of a family, which intrigues me. I'm liking it so far and have enjoyed this author's previous works.

American Boy, Larry Watson. This was the winner of my Shelf Random Pick that I described previously. I loved Montana 1948 by this author, which is the reason I bought this one several  years ago and kept it through my move. I haven't started it yet but am staying true to my Random Pick project. 

Last Call at the Nightshade Lounge. I read the first chapter in the bookstore and it called to me. I haven't gone beyond it yet mostly because I needed to read the book for book club, Did You Ever Have a Family, by Bill Clegg. Which I HIGHLY recommend. Good writing, good story, interesting characters, tied together in a unique way. I really loved this book. 

In celebration of warm temperatures...

(if not yet full sun) that we have been longing for up here in the Pacific NW**, I am posting a YouTube video that I know many of you have seen and loved as I have. But just in case there are some who haven't found this yet, I post it here as a reminder that, when you feel down, there is this pick-me-up always available to you. I watch this often and it makes me feel so damn good.


https://youtu.be/fmWa1gKrp6Q

** Climate things are tough all over - tornadoes, floods, earthquakes abound - so it is not a complaint (oh, well, maybe a teeny one) - but just for the record, the Seattle area has just broken the record for wettest winter ever. Just sayin'.

Where I take part in Independent Bookstore day...

by finding these two gems at Elliott Bay Books. I bought one, borrowed the other to test-drive it but love the wonderful and varied artwork in it so much, I will add it to my illustrated books collection. This book may have been shelved in children's picture books collection, but I would put it in the  For Anybody book collection, wouldn't you? 'Course, that's where I believe the beautifully (or otherwise specially) illustrated "children's" books should be.

I have linked the books to where you can purchase them from two of my favorite independent bookstores, Elliott Bay Books and Third Place Books, both in Seattle and area. I intend to continue to do so. Keep them in business, folks.

Radioactive, a biography of Marie Curie, illustrated in mixed media

A Field Guide to Redheads. Just Plain Fun.