A Place to Call My Own

*The painting is sold (thank you!),... but I'm researching printers at the moment and will offer prints/note cards when I find one that makes me happy!

January didn't start out the new year "sickness-free". But, maybe we are done for the year and have had our quota?? :)

We all shared the germs for sinusitis, bronchitis and I had pneumonia (cause I have to out-do everyone! Lol),...and just a few days before we all got sick, my sweet and clever husband created a place for me to paint! So, all I could do is look at my new painting table from my bed and think of things I wanted to paint. But, now that we are all over the sickness....I've painted my first "masterpiece" on my new table!!

As a "recap", I've painted in and on some interesting places over the years:

* The kitchen table- (not that interesting, but it sure gets old clearing off all my "stuff" when we have to eat!).

* My bed- we rigged up a large board to place on our bed for me to paint, but that was really straining on my back, having to hunch to paint!

* The car- well, not while driving. But, yes, I used to take all of my paints in plastic tubs so I could paint while waiting for my boys at appointments/school, etc.


But now.........

I have a place of my very own!! While it doesn't really qualify as a "studio", it is my place to keep all of my supplies, my drawings, ideas and paints! I'm so excited to have this space! And, it is cute to boot! :)

My wonderful husband made the dry sink many years ago and when we moved to our current home (over seven years ago), the only place the dry sink really fit was in our bedroom. And, now it has another purpose! In it I now store my paper, drawings, reference and research books for inspiration, ideas, lists, etc. On top, I'm storing paints, pencils and paint brushes...and whatever my "current" project is at the time.

The table addition my husband added to the dry sink has dowels on the end and these simply slip into holes he made with an extra piece of wood that attaches to the dry sink. So, the table portion isn't permanently attached.  I can remove it,  if I ever need to or if I no longer want to paint...WHAT? That will never happen! :)

 My first creation on the new table was for Lilly Dew Designs.
You can check out "A Winter Coat is Like a Hug" over on my other blog.

And then, I painted something for the February update on TDIPT -The hand holding the bouquet of flowers at the top of the page. (something simple, but sweet...remember I was sick! lol).

You can follow this link to find my paintings for TDIPT:

Pear Tree on TDIPT

Happy Painting!

A Happy New Year

In proper new year fashion, I stayed up to ring the New Year in last night. We usually go to bed MUCH earlier, and no, there was no "partying" going on :) It was just me...in fact, I stayed up after everyone else was in bed!

...my reason? To paint! I was painting A Token of Love until two this morning. And, yes I slept in! :)

You can also view Presidents George and Abraham in silhouette on my January update on TDIPT.

Pear Tree on TDIPT

~*~*~*~*~

Another "New" year item to tell you about: Do you get the publication Early American Life? If you do, and you have opened the "new" January issue to page 62, you'll find an article entitled: "Commissioning a Portrait". And, if you read the article, you'll see my name! I was honored to be interviewed by Greg Lefever for the article he wrote about portraits of the past and present.

And, WOW, what talent my humble art shares on those pages! Thank you EAL! :) Not only placed in the company of the present-day artists whom I admire, but a thrilling thing for me was to be on the same page as Ammi Phillips! (Yep, I'm a little weird, but that was a BIG deal!)

Now, I think it is time for my nap, so I can feel re"new"ed! :)

~Happy New Year! ~

Christmas Catch-up

Well, it's about time! Our family has experienced much this year, (snippets can be read on the post below).  Hopefully, 2013 won't be as "exciting"!

In 2007, my husband asked for some original artwork for our church's Christmas Eve program. So, for five years now, I've painted something original for Christmas. It is a "joint" effort, my husband gives me "ideas" of what he would like to see, and I have to "execute" them. lol!

Here is this year's artwork~

~2012 Mary and Babe Sketch~

~2012 Mary and Babe Painting~

(as you can see, I didn't really stick with my original drawing when I painted this one!)

Wishing you a Wonderful Christmas with family and friends. May your time together be a Blessed time of celebration. From our family to yours, Merry Christmas!

~*~*~*~

A look back on Christmas covers past:

And Then What Happened?

 It is update day on TDIPT, and although the cooler autumn weather hasn't hit Boise yet, I've been thinking about and planning fall items since July. I took August off from the selling site to catch up on stuff here at home, but.......that didn't work out as planned! It has been a crazy August!

Here is the rundown: (Mind you, this has all happened in a few weeks, and no, I'm not making this up!) :)

* Husband fell, caught his ring finger on a railing as he went down and cut his finger deep enough for stitches. The wedding ring flew off, but he found it! He had nerve damage in the finger, so he had to have surgery. He will have to wear this HUGE bandage for three weeks while he tries to play the piano and guitar for school and church. Oh, and school (he is a Choir/Music teacher) started for him.

* Oldest Son (Ethan) has a severe sleep disorder. Sadly, no one in the medical field can figure out why he sleeps 18 plus hours a day (some days are worse, some are a little better). And, we do our best to keep him on a schedule and get him to wake up....again, some days are worse, some are better. He has sleep apnea with hypersomnia...which just means they don't know what to call it, or why it is happening. But, they gave him a CPAP (which only helps with the sleep apnea). This has been going on for years and impacts his life, as well as ours. Prayers for him please! He has decided to take classes at BSU, but we talked him into just two this semester...and they are both online.

* Youngest Son (Ben) ran into a base cabinet door at church while playing a game at youth group. His knee started swelling, so we had to take him to the ER (second time to visit that place in a week!). He didn't break anything, but tore some cartilage. He has to wear a brace for a few days, but should be okay.......and we started our last year of home school!

Well, I guess "home school" may never be over, especially now that "we've" started college. So far, we are taking Psychology 101 and Sociology 101. Should be an interesting semester! :)....IF I can keep him awake!
So, thank goodness I started some of my offerings before all of this happened! And, if you'd like to visit them, please click this link:

Pear Tree on TDIPT

Here is a quick peek at all of them:

Crow's Feet~ This was one of those quirky ideas in my head that turned out cute when I was done, lol! 
 

 Autumn~ A primitive portrait. Haven't painted one of these in awhile, but thought I'd give it a "fall flair".  She was started way back in July! :)

 ~Little Miss Muffet and her Pumpkin Tuffet~ My Halloween/Harvest spin on the nursery rhyme.

Sorry for yet another longish post. Things happen so fast around here, I just can't keep up with blogging about them! 

~Happy "Almost" Fall! ~

Fall Cleaning

I'm having a "Fall Clean-up" over on Ebay. I haven't put anything on Ebay in so long...they changed how you do it on me! So, after staring at the computer screen all day and trying to figure out a little "html", I've uploaded four items, and plan to add more later this week.

I'm starting items "low-ish" to clean-up my storage area. (I think this is typically called "Spring Cleaning", but I'm a few seasons behind!...or ahead?).    :)

Please have a look, and check back later in the week for more:

Pear Tree Primitives on Ebay

 

Here's Your Sign

Thank you for the Happy Birthday wishes. :) August is a big month of birthdays for us. Next week my oldest son will be twenty! YIKES! Why does that seem more of a milestone than me turning fifty?! GULP!

This week I had a rare afternoon alone in the house. It was quiet and I was trying to get some painting done. Then came a knock on the front door. Molly, our min schnauzer, started to bark. Well, it was more like she became unglued! She really goes nuts when someone comes to the door, even if it is her owners! :)

Thinking it was one of my boys who forgot their key, I opened the door. Nope, not a family member, but a salesman! Grrrrr!

Evidently my signage was not a deterrent for this guy.

When I opened the door, the young man said, "Ha!, that is the funniest thing I've ever seen!" (referring to my sign-photo above), and then asked, "Can I take a picture?".

Really? Well, just for the record: This sign is counterproductive. Haha!

Oh, but that's not all. After I said,"Sure", and pulled the barking schnauzer back into the house, he called all of his friends over to see my sign. You know, the van load of salesmen that are released on a street to canvas a neighborhood? Well, they all gathered on my front porch.

Molly was beside herself at this point.....so much for my "quiet" afternoon alone at home!

Click to Enlarge

  And here is what I was trying to work on that afternoon. The boys have dubbed her "Creepy Girl".  Lol! Guess she is a little creepy, but she will be getting a dress and some hair next, so that should make her a little more attractive and self-confident. *snicker*

50 is the new......me!

Today is my 50th birthday, and I'm okay with that.  :) For some reason I thought turning 30 was hard, but now, looking back, it wasn't. Life changed for me at 30, I had my first child. My husband and I were "late" bloomers. When others already had two or three children, we were just starting our family. So, that has kept me "young", at least, young-at-heart. :)

However unintentionally, I've given myself a birthday present today. My birthday present started over the last year and four months- since April of 2011. My husband and I began a fitness program called P90X (and went on to complete P90X2, just 'cause we are crazy like that!). We both have changed, in a good way! And this change will help us hopefully be stronger as we grow older. This isn't a "plug" for any specific program, just a story about our journey.

Our son, Ethan, introduced us to P90X. His developmental therapist had showed it to us and had Ethan using it....as much as he could. So, we thought we would support Ethan with his new fitness routine and he could join us. He did for a few weeks, and then he had his accident.
 (It is a long post.  If you click to read it, just scroll down to the "Blessing" part!).

Although we had a billion excuses to stop, we didn't. We continued....without Ethan. (He started a new program this past month). We started for Ethan, but we continued for us. And, if you think about it, we really continued for both of our boys as well.

It was time we carved out of our day to spend together, it was good for our bodies and good for us mentally and emotionally too. And, honestly, I think we really just needed to relieve stress from our lives, and the physical changes were a bonus. So, in the evening, after dinner we workout. Not the best time, we are already tired from our day, but that is the only time we can be together. And, with only one night off a week, we push on.

It wasn't easy however. Lots of interruptions, until the boys understood that this was our time to workout. And, lots of soreness! Working out at our age after years of a sedentary (or semi-sedentary)  lifestyle wasn't easy. Plus, the things that crazy Tony Horton makes you do on those DVDs seemed completely impossible, but after a few weeks of trying,  it's not as impossible as you originally thought.

We've completed P90X three times and since January 2012 we've completed P90X2 twice. We are now doing a hybrid of both. Next, my husband wants to try another program called Insanity....and now, after a year and four months of working out beside him, I don't think he is that crazy to suggest it! :)

50 is just a number and I can do that in push-ups! :)

 If you would like to learn more about the programs we've done you can visit Michelle Sylvia (you may also know her from The Black Berry Briar-link on my sidebar).