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...



Have you visited me here?

I May Not Be A Genius, But...
Nathalie Davis web site
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