Fun Video - Update and Weight Loss

Ok This is just a little piece of fun!

Use this link if the video doesn't show up for those of you who get this by email.
http://video.telegraph.co.uk/services/player/bcpid1137883380?bctid=17075685001


I haven't given up art - although it may seem like it. I have found two "somethings" and I am absolutely hog-wild-crazy about both. One involves my building a new business. My husband and I have pioneering spirits and have been entrepreneurs to one degree or another for the past 32 years. Mostly he has been at the helm and I have been the support system. This time it is role reversal! - I am at the helm of this business and he is supporting me! Fun - fun - fun!! This is really the most enthusiastic about a new endeavor I have been in ages! The product is so superior and good for you that I think every one on the planet should be consuming it.  This is just energizing me and I feel more excited and alive than I have in years, and I actually expect the new life and energy to show up in my art. I am committed to finishing the Joyful Project and having a show with the entire body of work, so  I am eager- and planning -  to start painting again very soon! Probably after Christmas though.Ugh - Christmas! This year it just feels like a monkey on my back and a big distraction. I am working hard to tame the "Christmas Monkey" and take time to enjoy the season - but this year I just have things that I want to do more.

Also, and this is the second thing I am crazy about - in the last nine weeks I have lost 32.6 pounds, an average of 3.6 lbs a week, a half pound per day. I just passed my halfway point and I still have a ways to go to meet my goal, but this is truly is a blessing from God - a miracle - at least for me it is. I was considering a lap band and beginning research on it when I was introduced to this and decided to give it one last try.  I have spent thousands - probably even in the tens of thousands - on Doctors and Rx and various programs trying to lose weight - to no avail. This is NOT a business - but I know how hard it is to struggle with your weight and have NOTHING work - this does. And it does at and extremely reasonable cost...and it is pretty darn easy! Weight is such an emotional and private issue - it has taken me this long to decide to write about it in my blog - but if doing so can help someone else then it is well worth it.  I will be more than happy to share what I am doing with anyone who would like to know just email me privately at nsdavisart at aol dot com - be sure to put "weight loss" or something in the subject line so it doesn't get confused with spam.


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Go Check This Out!!

This is a very wonderful and thought provoking painting. Be sure to go HERE to see it. Move your curser over the painting to read about it. Also BE SURE to read the explanations below the painting.


While this painting is not my personal taste - I LOVE it. I love the point it makes, the story it tells and the courage of the artist. As a believing Christian, politically conservative artist I often feel very alone and isolated. There often seems like there are not many of us out there. I applaud any and every effort to express these ideals in your painting. Check out the rest of the web site while you are there too.


go here: http://mcnaughtonart.com/artwork/view_zoom?artpiece_id=353#

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Stuck in the office and bored?

This is pretty fun - if you can't see it in your email you need to come to my blog to see it - click here or just go to nsdavisart.blogspot.com

EepyBird's Sticky Note experiment from Eepybird on Vimeo.

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Careening off in another direction

Seriously.

My life has hit an oil slick and sent me careening off into an entirely different direction than I was going - or ever imagined I would go.

I fell into a business opportunity that is just way too good to pass up. A product that I not only believe in  - I am pretty much crazy about! (Learn more here) So I have been on a giant roller coaster of a learning curve with that.

And if that isn't enough I got accepted into the San Diego Fine Art Society's  new cutting edge mentoring program. I am thrilled and will start that in December, so I have a little time to get my self together for that. I am super-duper stoked about this. This is a make-it-or-break-it-life-or-death type of endeavor and undertaking for me.

After years of trying everything under the sun, I tried one last thing before I started looking for a lap band clinic and I have found a diet protocol that is actually WORKING for me! I am now losing an average of 0.6 pounds per day! I have actually lost just slightly less than 20 lbs so far. Tomorrow is the start of week 5 on it for me. It is effective and easy and I do NOT get hungry. (to learn more email me: nsdavisart at aol.com)

I just started a Bible study and photography class before all of this happened too - so, Wow! My head is spinning.

Today we went to Dia De Los Muertos at the San Luis Rey Mission. It was wonderful - tons of people there. It used to be held in the streets of Oceanside - but moving it to the mission was an excellent idea . It was natural and open and organic. My husband desribed the atmosphere as being like what it might have been years ago, when the people would bring their goods to sell at the mission or have their celebrations there.. It was just wonderful.

So while my life is careening out of control I thought I'd share these pictures of some of the cars that were there.. (These are for you Bill)

Bear with me - I will get back to painting very soon - I need to figure out a way to balance my life and I am working on that...

Remember - if you double click an image it will open to a larger image.

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Tell me your favorite!

Which way do you like it? I think Dominique might prefer the top one. I am leaning toward either the first or third. Email or leave a comment below. I am open to suggestions  -
 

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I think I may like it this way!

 May Angels Lead You In

20" x 24"

oil on canvas

Gee - I think it is supposed to go this way - maybe!

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Progress on the abstract - see previous post

 May Angels Lead You In

20" x 24"

oil on canvas

This is how it is developing - it got to be a lote more fun - and who knows where it will go from here! The color is not nearly accurate as my light is creating glare and washing it out - but you get the idea.


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New Underpainting Started

Oil on Canvas

20" x 24"

I am starting a new 'larger' painting - well larger for me. I have painted on a scale around 6" x 6" or 6" x 8" for quite a while now, so these canvases fall in the larger catagory for me. The huge catagory is 4' x 5' like The Dog Stealer was.

I have been having lots and lots of distractions lately, can't seem to focus more than 30 seconds or so, and running in circles. Now is not a good time to try something new but I am doing it. I am trying an abstract in oils instead of acrylic. Also I am doing it from a sketch I made on an airplane. I was listening to music and a line in the song was "May angels lead you in" - I think, I really don't remember - but that is what I wrote down on the sketch. I think I was listening to my ipod so I will have to go through all of my songs and try to track it down - or maybe I can Google it. Anyway, that is what I am thinking and trying - I can say this - it presents many more challenges doing it in oil over acrylics, which is already the hardest thing for me - abstracts that is. Stepping outside of my comfort range - again, (sigh). Geesh, I wish I wouldn't so this sometimes.

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Today's Photo

No painting today - busy making a new friend and running errands. This is something I've wanted to "show and tell" for a while - and it's another iphone photo. I am pretty much loving my iphone camera. It is quick and convenient and I kind of like the grainy look.

These are the most gorgeous beads made by my brother in law. He made them especially for me the last time I was in Toledo. I had purchased the bracelet and the silver beads - sort of a Pandora knock off. Before I bought glass beads to add I wanted to see if Tom could make me some and he sure did! I LOVE these beads more than anything I could buy - the colors are so bright and beautiful and unique. The beads on the necklace chain are the first batch he made to test the size of the holes and they  were too small for the bracelet chain - but they fit on this chain perfectly - I just need to go get some silver spacer beads now. I am a very lucky girl. I have a few other items he made that will probably be showing up here before long too. He just sent me some super pretty blue beads....I am so lucky.

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Finished Painting and iPhone Photo

Pink Wedding Flowers

20" x 24"

Oil on canvas

It is finished and I am pretty happy with it. I hope somebody else will be too. This is going to a silent auction for Christian Liberty Academy in Escondido, CA. They support homeschooling, which holds a huge part of my heart. The best time of my life was while homeschooling my girls, even though I was terrified almost all of the time.

Look at this little guy. This is my daughter's dog, Action. He is my grandson-dog and just about the best little guy ever. SO cute. He is an Australian Terrier mix.  I took these with my iphone, and was a little bit of a challenge. She didn't name him Action for nothing, this little boy is busy, busy, busy, and wants to PLAY - like all the time

We are babysitting the boy while my daughter and her husband are honeymooning in Italy.

And here are the (current) 3 Musketeers, and just like the real Musketeers there is a fourth, but she lives in Pasadena and couldn't make it for the photo-shoot. The gray mini-schnauzer is Lexus, she is mine and super sweet. The little black mini-schnauzer is Porsche, she is the traitor. She was mine but my husband stole her away, and she went.  I blame them both.

They make me smile everyday. I think dogs as pets is one of Gods best ideas ever.

You know...I don't think I have ever painted a dog portrait. Well except for Porsche being in Ricks arms (where she spends most of her time when he is home) in The Dog Stealer and the Traitor  painting. Hmmm, maybe it's time

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A MUST See!! Again

I posted this the other day and it got buried at the bottom of a longer one and people missed it. I think it is so worth a "look see" that I am sending it out again. 


This moved me so  much I am posting it everywhere - watch to the end! It is Ukrainian - but it doesn't matter if you can or can't understand the words, you will get the story.

Or view it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=518XP8prwZo

Just in case you are wondering - this is sand she is playing in and its on a light table, they also have it projected to a big screen set up so people can see what she is doing. there are a lot of these on you tube if you search - but I found this one particularly moving. besides that she is beautiful and so talented

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An Uninspired Nothing Day

Today I did nothing. I sat on the sofa in the same spot the entire day. 

My head hurt all day and I sat.

I surfed and researched Twitter and all kinds of junk on the internet.

 All day.

What a dumb waste.

 I did not paint, but I found  photo for today that seems fairly appropriate. I will call this a self-portrait.

My head still hurts.

Darn.

I took this with my iphone on Sunday. I think for a phone it does a decent job. At least it's the best of all of the phones I've ever had. Does anyone know how to mute the shutter sound?

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Painting Progress and Photo of Day

..

Pink Wedding FLowers

20" x 24"

oil on canvas

Here is today's progress on the painting I started on Friday. I think it was Friday...

I like it better, but still needs work on the lower right corner -and  maybe a little tweaking on the shadow area - maybe. Hmmm, what do you think?

I am tired for today though - so I am done for now.

And here is the photo of the day-

This a corner in my "Banos de los Muertos".  (Bathroom of the Dead) It is my favorite room in the house - and not becasue it is the bathroom. I just love the way it turned out. The walls are faux finished in deep, rich  blue - and I am not a fan of  blue  at all -  but I love how this room makes me feel. It has to do with a dream I had and the fact that Dia de los Muertos is becoming one of my favorite holidays. I painted this room because of that dream and it is waiting for me to make 28 special paintings to go in there to complete it

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Thinking out loud - all about me - blah - blah - blah....

I love technology. I love my iPhone more than I can even describe. I love my laptop, desktop, Wii, Nintendo DS lite, ipod, digital camera, etc. But I don't KNOW technology. I waste hours and hours of my time fooling around with this stuff, trying to figure it out, how it works, trying to understand it, just playing. It is fun for me, but it is not really productive.

I love blogging - that is my favorite, but I also have Myspace, Facebook, Linkd In, and now - yes, I have a Twitter account. I love the idea of them - but again they take up so much time. They really aren't a very productive use of my time.

Last night I decide to stop wasting time. Okay, stop wasting so MUCH time. I decided it was time to say goodbye to MySpace. Really it mostly just sits there and makes me feel guilty for neglecting it -so it is time to just get rid of it. This won't free up much actual time  - but it will free up space in my head, I hope.

So I went to MySpace to start retriving photos and stuff that I may want to keep and found this photo:

I really like this picture. Like most people I hate photos of myself, but this is different. It's not a good photo, it is not in focus,  it was taken on a deep sea fishing trip -which was my daughter's Bachelorette Party.
I like the lighting and the word Voyage over my head contrasted with the "boxed in" elements of the doorway structures (I think the boats name was The something Voyager - I don't really remember). It seems very meaningful to me in ways I can't explain. I even like the ceiling light in the dim hallway.

So that brings me to the online class I am taking. Hang in there - I am going somewhere in all of this - really. I discovered and have followed Jessica Wesolek' s blog called Whatever...Whenever on and off for quite some time. I decided to sign up for an online workshop she offers called  Photographic Design 101 and make some Christmas gifts. This is a very good online class. Jessica has very good materials, explains things very clearly and I recommend her highly. But what I discovered is - I don't really have many photos to work with or that I really want to make anything with. No inspiration! So I signed up for Guerilla Photography which will start in a few days, and I am looking for ward to it a lot.  A new challenge!

In the meantime I am not happy with the inconsistency of my painting and blogging as of late. So - even I am getting bored with my blathering on here so I will end this quickly now

Love technology + found photo that inspires me + realized I don't have enough inspiring photos to make me happy + I am not happy with my blogging consistency = I will be trying to post a photo a day while wasting less time.

In this season of my life, while it is difficult to paint & post daily I am challenging my self to explore photography some more and can at least take one shot per day. So I will be adding photography in addition to  painting on blogging voyage.

See? there was a point after all - sort of.

Here is my photo for today - even though I didn't take it today. 


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Not so Daily Painting - Pink Flowers

Well, here's something I hardly ever do - show a painting on my easel with the easel and light and stuff showing.  I started this oil painting today, it is bigger, 20" x 24" on canvas. I was so excited to start it and I had great expectations. Right. Once again I am stuck between a looser more abstract image and a tighter more representational one, and therefore it is boring and lost and so am I. The composition is just goofy, ie. bad. It is lower on the canvas than I wanted - but in all of my eagerness to paint I didn't realize it until I was well into it. I thought I'd scrape it off and start over - I even started scraping - then I thought "what the heck" - work on it and see if I can pull something out of it, and start another. I've changed the background 3 times, and I still am not happy. Right now, I am just exhausted and am taking a break. I hope I work on it tomorrow, even though it's Saturday and I don't normally work on weekends. We will see...



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Orange Bouquet Daily Painting

Orange Bouquet
Oil/Acrylic on board
24" x24"

So here it is - pretty much finished - but not a great photo. "Not great photos" seems to be a current theme, that needs to change. I wonder how and why I have gotten so bad at taking photos? Maybe it's because I have been lazy about taking them downstairs and out on the porch to photograph like I used to. Maybe - but anyway  it's too wet still to go running through the house with it. I did not go where I wanted to go with this painting, that is for sure. But it is a happy painting and for that I am glad - it will make someone happy too. I have someone in mind for it.

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Still underpainting today

I wasted a ton of time today. I think out of fear.

When I did finally mosey into the studio I  was grabbing at smoke again, so I just started painting. Using acrylics still. I am afraid that if I switch to oil now I will begin picking away and noodling - maybe. Probably. After I took the photo I decided I had lost all the drama of the light and threw this diox purple wash over it.

Now maybe I am sorry I did that. I don't know though. I do know that this is NOT going where I was hoping - although it isn't bad and I can probably pull off a pleasant enough painting from it.  I hope tomorrow I don't waste so much time and I get right to painting in the morning before I have to go to work.

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Underpainting on the easel today

Underpainting for something
acrylic on board
24" x 24"

I am posting the photo of what is on my easel, even though it is just a start, just an underpainting. Maybe it will be interesting to see how it develops.You may want to skip the rest of  today's blog. You've been warned. If you continue, prepare to be bored. This painting and this blog post is for me and might not be a so very interesting rambling.

I have a restlessness going on inside that I can't explain, and it is not new. I enjoy painting the little birds, and pears, and still lifes, and portraits. I enjoy it - but it feels empty and kind of meaningless to an extent. The abstracts have much more substance for me actually. But they are so darn HARD to do and I can never tell if they are good or not. I can't judge them like I can the traditional "realistic" stuff. I mean a pear looks like a pear, a bird like a bird and if you don't get it right - it's obvious to anyone. How do I know if I don't get an abstract right? Blah, blah, blah. Ok, now I am boring myself.

I found myself flipping through books and magazines - looking at painting techniques and styles for the umpteenth time. I know I had an idea in my head and I wasn't seeing it or finding it anywhere I looked. Is that looking outside of myself for inspiration? maybe that is the issue. But as usual, the idea I had in my head, the image that was floating around in my head, was vague and ethereal. It is always like trying to catch smoke. I know it's there, it's real and yet unattainable. And like smoke, when I go after it, it shifts and changes and slips just out of reach, reforming, eventually dissipating.  Out of frustration I decided to just go paint - just start and see what happens. I knew I had some photos of the orange flowers that I loved and that was as good as anything for now. And I knew I wanted to do something larger. I started by drawing with charcoal thinking I would try to preserve some of the drawing and then the next thing I knew everything was covered up with paint. I used acrylic as I didn't have a lot of time and I knew it was just a start. My intention is to finish in oil - but we will see. Now the idea has dissipated again, and I am not sure where to go next. I have ideas - but I am not sure which one to go with, and they are all vague anyway. I guess it will just happen.
One thing I learned from Bob Burridge is to write down my intentions, composition and color scheme etc right at the start so this doesn't happen. But how do I write down smoke? Once again - a struggle of passion and substance - or the lack thereof maybe...with a touch of ADHD mixed in for good measure. I want thick juicy paint with a good amount of texture, rich, intense bright color. More abstract than representational. Directional, dramatic light and shadow. Interesting line work.  Something to shoot for tomorrow. I am also eager to get back to the Joyful project - maybe I can work on both tomorrow. Maybe....



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Daily Painting - Another Blue Bird

Blue Bird 2
8" x 6"
Oil on board

Here is today's little painting. Not much to say about it - it's OK I guess. It's fun to paint but I think I don't like the "pose" - I may have to redo it from a different angle tomorrow, or maybe not. We will see tomorrow.



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Daily Painting - Blue Bird

Blue Bird

6" x 8"

oil on board

I have these cute little resin blue birds, which I bought because I love birds, but also because I thought they would be fun to paint.  Then for some reason I decided it was stupid and cheesy, and stuck them in my closet. Why? Sometimes there is just no 'splainin' me. I painted this yesterday, but when I went to photograph it, my camera battery was dead, then by the time it recharged it was too dark And that is the way it goes around here. Again it is really too wet to photograph and will have to be redone - too many highlight speckles from the wet paint again.


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Daily Painting - Shell

 

I haven't done a knife painting in quite a while and I loved doing this. I forgot how much! This may be my favorite way to paint actually. There are a lot of little highlight speckling in this photo, as it is still on the easel and really, really wet. I started out thinking I would do a companion piece to this other shell (see below), which I did last year I think. As usual, the painting just took it's own path, and while I am pretty happy with it I wouldn't call it a companion piece. One is a knife painting and the other is a brush painting - lots of difference in textures. Guess I will have to try again.

By the way - did you know you can double click on the photos and they will open larger? Yep, try it - you can see a lot more detail that way.

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New Cupcake Image

I shot a new photo of the cupcake image and here it is. Still working on learning my new camera - it is a simple little thing - but it seems to be tripping me up. So here it is - now it seems like the blue of the back ground is rather pale, but this is it. It is pretty close. I also sent it in to the Different Strokes from Different Folks challenge site.


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Didgeridoo Guy

Over the weekend Rick and I went down to Art-walk on the Bay at Seaport Village. It was a beautiful day. While we were there we encountered this guy playing a didgeridoo. I have never seen or heard one before, although Rick had on his recent trip to Australia. This is unedited - which I will apologize for in advance - you will see why - LOL. It 's just that I have a new camera and have no idea how to do the video thing, and well, when you are in a public place, you just can't control what people do either.
Not know anything about didgeridoos I looked on Wikipedia and learned that, among other things, that playing the didgeridoo requires circular breathing, which means you are breathing in through your nose while at the same time breathing out through your mouth...and that is can reduce or stop sleep apnea and snoring.



view on you tube here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5pV7IaMjSU

This man played for very long stretches at a time, and played much more interesting sounds and tunes than what I have recorded here - and had little kids dancing up a storm, but as I said I don't know how to work my camera and I thought I was video recording when I wasn't So I hope you enjoy this - I sure did.

Oh! I just found an even better video of him on you tube - check this out!



Or view the video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3iBe6J8lrY

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Cupcake Oil Painting Today

Cupcake
5" x 8"
Oil on board

I did this painting for the Different Strokes From Different Strokes web challenge. I may have to rephotograph it though. The background color looks nearly perfect as well as the shadow colors - but the frosting looks too blue. Thank you to Dominique Eichi for reminding me about the challenge. I really enjoy doing it and it's fun to see how many different ways there are to interpret the same thing. It felt so good to paint again, to do a sort of traditional oil. I may do a couple more before I return to my abstract experiments.


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Determined!

Yep - that is what I am. Determined to get back on track creating daily. So I didn't get to paint today but - I did make my first ever banner - for my Etsy Shop. I am not crazy about it but it is OK for now. I also assembled a bookshelf for my painting studio and started reorganizing a little bit, worked on my Etsy shop and some behind the scenes stuff on my web site, and a bunch of other piddly annoying little tasks, as well as fighting a headache. So while I didn't paint - I was certainly working...




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