A Day in LA

Back to the doctor at UCLA for Jennifer's throat. With the traffic on the freeways lighter than normal we made good time and arrived early. I had my little sketchbook in my purse but no pencil. I settled for a blue ball point pen in desperation. In the corner of the waiting rooms sits a endtable next to the many chairs. On this table is a giant nose made of marble with a bronze plaque proudly mounted on the top front with the artists information and probably the name of the piece, although I dare not walk over and look too closely at this giant nose. I assume they felt it to be appropriate decor for a top ears, nose and throat doctors waiting room. I suddenly started to wonder about the decor in maybe the proctologist office for example, the urinary doctors offices? This is how my mind began to wander as I sat in the office drawing a giant marble nose. LOL After we got some good news about Jennifer's breathing we felt like celebrating so we decided to go out to dinner and to a play at the Geffen Playhouse which happens to be just across the street from the hospital and the medical center. We sat in the courtyard and drank coffee as we waited for the playhouse doors to open. The courtyard is really lovely with wonderful plants and wrought iron tables and chairs surrounding a fountain. I sat and drew, with my blue ball point pen and happened to capture these masterpieces. LOL just kidding, the sketches lack many things but did give me a few minutes of relaxation as I became absorbed in the details of the buildings, both inside and out. We were one of the first to arrive and I always enjoy watching people and in L.A. there are such colorful people to watch! There were a lot of older people, many who seemed to be regulars and came in greeting everyone. There were those who were dressed to the nines and those who were underdressed. There were several gay couples sipping their wine as they walked around the room. It was great fun, just the energy in the room was exciting. I love when we take this long day and make it an adventure, I can't wait till we come again!

Pool and painting, doesn't get much better than that!!

Today we were being baked alive as the sun heated us into the triple digits. Marta came over and we had lunch, swam and watched my grandkids. It was a much deserved lazy day as we drank sangria and thumbed through magazines. It was so nice to just visit and hang out with a friend. So much is going on in her life, I hope she will start to heal. The pool is staying at about 82 degrees now so its easier to get in and it still feels refreshing. Its funny how much work it is to just lay out by the pool. We have to make sure everything is shaved, pulled up, pulled in and we have to have a cute bathing suit and cover up. Waterproof makeup if you decide to wear it and a cute hat, sunscreen and a recent pedicure. Sunglasses, music, reading material and a towel all just to relax. LOL That calls for a nap! I think Marta headed home to do just that.

I did make myself pull out my much neglected paint brushes and paint and do the Wet Canvas WDE challenge. Here is the girls husband, Duane. He has a great smirk and I loved the picture. Maybe he was checking us out by the pool!! We did look pretty cute.

The Oasis

We went up to visit my mom and hook up her electricity. I hadn't been to "the valley" as it is called for over 4 years. I won't bore you with the reasons, none seem good enough to have stayed away so long. Both my mother and my youngest brother live there. My brother bought a piece of property and created a home and successful business. My mom followed and helped him while she searched for a place of her own. She found a 5 acre parcel that overlooks the valley almost to the ocean. This is where she began building her dream.

My mother is talented in more ways than anyone I have ever known. You might think that I say this only because she is my mother. I am not alone, in fact, most people she meets feel this way about her. She is generous to a fault, and works harder than most people a 1/4 of her age. She never complains and her soul is fed through the satisfaction of her labor. One of the great loves in her life is gardening, flowers, roses, and design. She has worked most of her life in design. Making things beautiful is her greatest gift. She can turn the ugliest things into coveted treasures. She has a Midas touch and all of us consider ourselves golden to have her in our lives.

Our trip would take 12 hours, and the closer we got the more excited we all became. We drove through the central part of California, agricultural land, without much to look at. But as we start getting closer to her neck of the woods the hills start to green, the fauna and flora become richer and denser. The last 45 minutes consist of windy roads covered in oaks and bay laurel trees. The shadows lap over the road to create dark, mottled tunnels and then open up into sun drenched asphalt again. Our eyes struggle to adjust as we make our way around each turn. At dusk we have the added worry of darting deer which have been known to aim for passing cars. Their homes are in between Booneville and Philo. Both are small towns where if you blink you have missed most of it. We slow down as we make our way through the heart of Booneville passing, the senior center, elder center, fairground, general store, hotel, cafe, ice cream parlor, nursery then we can increase our speed as we pass miles of vineyards on each side of the road. Mountains surround us as we make our way through the valley that is being consumed by grapes. I recognize the white picket fence that is the vineyard next to my moms and brothers place. The sun is almost gone yet as we drive in there is just enough light left to see the explosion of color that awaits. It is like visiting a botanical garden, a retreat in all aspects of the word.

No matter how busy my mom is she always is the supreme hostess. The house is spotlessly clean, a fire is roaring in the fireplace and there is music playing. Each of our rooms has been lovingly prepared for us, clean sheets, warm feather down comforters and fresh flowers fill every room. Dinner is still hot and waiting for us even though it is 9:00pm. We can't wait to get out and get our hugs then to explore, see all the changes that have taken place since we were last there. The house is always warm and comfortable with her there. I love just having coffee with her in the mornings or ice cream at night. She loves to feed us well too, we all gain weight when we visit. No wonder I found that I was so tired the whole time I was there, my mom said I was just relaxed! I knew that I had been drugged with the food, wine, summer breeze and a mothers warmth.

The yard was full of flowers and gravel paths that both Jennifer and I spend many mornings exploring with mom. I often was so overwhelmed with things I should paint that I couldn't paint at all. Everywhere I turned there was something else that needed to be painted, an artists dream. I took almost two hundred pictures since they have decided to sell these dream parcels. The truth about living out a dream is it is often better in the dream than in the reality. Although the area is really beautiful it rains much of the year and country living is hard work. Running out of water, losing power, no emergency services, no shopping, no close neighbors makes it hard. My mom is tired and suffers from arthritis so she now wishes to live closer to her doctors and have less to care for. She told me this visit that no matter how hard she tries nature keeps taking back the land. Its so true, we struggle even in the city to keep out the weeds and there is a constant reminder that it is not really ours for long. If anyone was wondering where Randy is during all of this, well, we did have our walks but he worked much of the time. Doing moms electrical for her cottage. He told me to enjoy my time with her and I did! Here are some of my sketches while I was visiting in my moms Shangri-La, I will post the real photos on flickr for anyone interested. Such a wonderful week with my mom and family.

A New Toy!!

I got a new case of pastel pencils so I can do some details that large pieces of chalk won't allow. I was dying to play with them and was looking for something small to sketch when I saw it! Jenn's pill holder. Since her accident she takes a ton of medication, its really sad. When I first brought her home from the hospital my goal was to try and reduce the amount of meds from her system. It seems as though when your in a hospital environment they give you a pill for everything. It took me months to weed through what was necessary and what was not until we arrived at a much reduced number of meds. I also wanted her to be aware of what she was taking and not allow people just to give her meds without her consent and knowledge. I know I can't be there to watch over her forever. While she was still very blind we spent lots of time feeling meds, tasting meds and letting her put her own meds together, with me closely watching. Over the years her vision has gotten better to where she can actually see colors and it helps her sort through her meds. We got these small containers, like the ones they serve condiments in at restaurants for her hold her meds in by her bedside. I know, lots of unnecessary information about this silly sketch. But Jenn now adds vitamins into these little cups and the other day I was talking to her about all the pills she had now added to her daily medications. It was a sea of color, these pill manufacturers are making pills in all colors. This was my sketch for my new pastel pencils, it was fun and challenging due to all the ovals, circles and angles.

Sneaking in a sketch

I am so hungry to draw. Sometimes I feel as though I need to be able to just stop everything and just disappear and get absorbed into a painting or drawing. With all the sewing I have been doing my artwork has been ignored. Luckily for me, I had my little sketch book in my purse while I was sitting at the airport. This secretive drawing at the airport is almost a learned skill. Here is my airport sketching tips for you newbies.

1. First you have to get out the sketch pad and open it without drawing much attention to yourself. Its a slow movement, keeping yours eyes down.




2. Always have your pencil attached to your sketchbook as to not have to re dig in your purse.




3. Slowly open the book, pretending to write something as if you were making a note to self.




4. Glance around the room and see who might be watching you and who is totally absorbed in something where they won't move long enough for you to sketch them.




5. Try to position the sketchbook in a place where the people sitting on your right and left can't see what you are doing.




6. With your head kept down, glance up at your victim, oh sorry, subject. LOL Try to capture the shape and angle of your subjects head and/or body. Once you have the general shape you can now concentrate on one area at a time so you can remember it, draw it. Glance up again, repeat.




7. Every once in awhile you can raise your head and look around the room as if you are just checking out the people in general. Then zero in on your subject again and take in a good long look. Sketch more. I like to make sure I don't have people watching me at this time.




8. I like to draw people that don't know that they are being studied, if this doesn't work try doing some contour drawings as you stare them down. If they ask why you are staring at them show them your rendition of their face and I am sure people will stop asking. Enjoy.

Changes

I am home from the show and trying to get all the orders out along with unpacking. Next I will have to try and get my studio back to some sort of neatness so I can just work in there. Those last few days were just a blur of grab and throw so needless to say the studio is a mess. My sister had scheduled to come down for a visit and arrived on Wendsday. I had told her to come and sit by the pool and relax, well it rained, even hailed while she was here! We are having such weird and unusual weather as is much of the country. We did manange to sneak in a spa night. As most of you know my sister is fighting breast cancer. She is doing a great job too, she looks great and isn't feeling sick or weak from her treatments. I am so thankful for that. She was here for 4 days and we tried to stay busy but it isn't the things we did that are so special. It is the night we laid in bed, all curled up under the blankets waiting for Jennifer to be ready to be put into bed. We layed facing each other, the blankets up to our chins, our heads nestled in our down pillows. We talked and giggled and laughed so hard tears ran down our cheeks. We were just being sisters. Since we were kids everytime we get together at night we would just sit infront of the TV and brush each others hair. We didn't do it this time, but we talked about it. She goes back for her last treatment and I continue to pray that "IT'S" gone!

She fell in love with this painting my brother has over his mantel. It is a portrait of a womans face with a hat on, it looks very 30's and she wanted me to paint her something very similar for her house. When I first saw her in the hat she wears to go outside I knew that she would be the subject for the painting and it would be a portrait of her. I took many photos and I can't wait to start that.

Spring Market

Well we made it back alive and well! The show was great and we had a ton of fun being a part of all the commotion and excitement.  We did something called a "Sample Spree Sale" and sold many patterns to hundreds of crazy women who had waited hours for the opportunity to buy things at a discounted price.  It was only two hours and it was amazing.  I did get a few moments to sketch in the airport, but besides that it was all about the quilts.  Randy was looking pretty good, he was only one of just a handful of men in this sea of women. Watch out.. he's mine. They told him that only a true man could wear that T-shirt! LOL

The trade show

Well, I have been scrambling to get things all wrapped up for my first trade show. I am frantically trying to get all the last minute details finished up along with all the sewing, writing, quilting etc. I had my business cards and post cards arrive today and they turned out great. I ordered them online from a company I had never heard about before so there was so apprehension. I was so pleasantly surprised to see how good they did come out. I even ordered some more today. We leave on the 15th so time is running out. I am also still working out Jennifer's care with our other kids. Now with the pool everyone is happy to stay over!

I have missed visiting everyones blog, please forgive me, its been so long since I have had time to just visit. I am typing this at 2 am in an effort to just post something. I miss France with Ronnel, Arizona with Teri, SC with Lyn, Thailand with Ai, Art class with Marta. I hope I got all that right, my brain is starting to fog just a bit. I will be back in a few weeks with lots to share! I am looking forward to flying to Oregon, even to work, its wonderful to just get away for a few days. I love the thought of traveling anywhere! I did get a wonderful card from Ai, thank you so much, you are too sweet.

I have been working on new patterns and quilts, this is one of them. Its called "Just Ducky"

Its a sewing marathon

I am busy sewing new quilt patterns that I am designing for a trade show we are doing in May. I feel like a production sewer! It will be nice to get back to my art quilts and painting. I have done a few postcards for my postcard exchange. These two are the ones for the fruit series. Not overly exciting but I am glad that I am seeing the light at the end of this tunnel. I have taken a ton of pictures of the grandkids at the park and in the pool that I want to paint. I bought these two giant frames, 8'x4' I am trying to think about what to paint for the picture inside. I thought a giant family portrait might be nice although pretty tough. Still thinking about it, I want it to hang in the office so it need to be the right kind of painting.

Mikes Mural as a slide show!

I have added some captions under each picture, just drag your mouse over the picture to read the caption. The photos have some glare from the reflections as I photographed them but I think they turned out pretty good. I am very happy with this mural. The one thing about painting on Travertine is that due to the cost of the material you don't want to make mistakes!

Modified sketch for mural

Made some final changes on the drawing, I will now enlarge to the proper size and make sure I still like everything before I begin to paint. I added a pear to help balance the left side since it seemed so heavily weighted to the right. I also corrected the perspective on the large pot. Took out the sticks, added a spoon. I think its better now. But you never know, I like having the option to change as I go.

Old world mural

My son and his wife are in the middle of a major remodel on there home. They are adding rooms, redoing their kitchen all new flooring etc. It is a major mess right now. I promised them that I would paint them a mural on the travertine tiles they are using for their backsplash. I have done a sketch that I am happy with and they also like. I will be painting directly onto the tiles in washes so that the beauty of the travertine shows through. I do not want it to have a heavy painted look or resemble a decal stuck onto tile. My goal is for the look to be soft and old looking, almost like it has weathered with age and now is only a hint of a painting. I am happy with mine and I hope they are happy with theirs, the tile layers are waiting for me to paint it so I need to get it done today. I will post it as a WIP or a slide show so you can all see the progression, I will hopefully photograph it up too so we can see the end product all finished. Here is the prelim drawing that was approved. I might make some changes as to spoon placement etc but the composition is there. I am not going to add the "text" on the pot, I was just playing with some ideas. I would love to hide some personal thing in there somewhere, like there name or something special just for them but I don't want it to be too obvious or the next owners will not appreciate it.

Spa Night

I had a spa night, I invited Marta and Rudy and Dawn and Mike over for martini's and tapas. Randy makes a wonderful, summery martini called summer breeze which he made for us and then everyone brought munchies! We had tons of food and lots of fun sitting in the spa and talking about art and art classes and the museum. Great friends, food and fun, what more could we ask for. We did have some uninvited guests this weekend, a swarm of bees have decided they also like the new additions to the backyard and have started a hive in one of the walls of the outdoor barbaque area. The bees are swarming pretty good as of this afternoon, more and more seem to arrive daily. Tuesday we have someone coming to handle the issue, I wonder if I will get any honey out of the deal?

Today the kids wanted to swim so bad, so even though the water was in the 60's as was the outside air they jumped in and swam for hours. I showed them the bees and told them to ignore them and they would ignore us, as they did. I bundled up in a blanket to keep the cold wind off of me as I sat and sketched some of the features in the yard as the kids swam. I bought this giant buddah head, she has a wonderful green and rust looking patina and I loved it as an art piece for the yard. My kids now think I have gone pagan and given up my Christian faith! Wow, amazing that a piece of cement can cause such discussions and distress! So to clear up any doubt, I am not a buddist but I do love this head as an art piece for my yard. My faith remains intact. I have drawn it here as it sits on one of the columns next to the pool.

WDE March 28th on Wet Canvas

I decided to look at the photos put up for this weeks drawing event. The host posts 16 pictures and then you choose which ever ones you like to draw or paint. You have 30 minutes to choose and only 2 hours to do your drawing/painting. I did this one last night as I sat in bed until 2am. I just love this photo, it is of her dad shortly before his death. They own a ranch in Montana and they live and work the ranch during the summer and they leave for the winters. She had asked her dad to put on his cowboy hat and shirt and pose for the picture. He grumbled and didn't want to but finally agreed. What a great shot she got, the sun, the shadows, its great. Anyway, here is my version in graphite of her dads photo, I will paint him too! It was a great study in values and shadows.

Everyday things we take for granted.

Another hard day yesterday, the post op check was not good news and the fact that Jennifer may have to have more surgery or a permenant trachea left me in tears all the way home, almost 3 hours. My eyes were so swollen that they burned when I tried to read something. It made me feel so helpless and frustrated it seems enough to have gotten this far, can't we get a break. When the doctor spoke the words of more surgery, and a possible trachea again I could feel my eyes burn as I fought the tears back. Jennifer doesn't really see the bigger picture or think through all the issues. I think its a brain injury thing, which probably is a blessing. She is just resigned to the fact that it is what it is and she will have to deal with it. I find it amazing that she tried to comfort me on our drive home, assuring me she wasn't going to die. Then thanking me for caring about her. That almost made it harder, to think about how brave she is, what she has had to endure and how she just can't seem to move forward. Anyway, it made me think about those everyday things that we do that we all take for granted. The simpliest of things that don't require any real thought like breathing, rolling over, going to the bathroom, grabbing something to eat, scratching an itch, or brushing our hair. All things we do all day long, without being too appreciative of them. Yet, once you can't do them, once those simple things become monumental feats you realize just how complex they really are. How lucky we are to be able to do them. Its like the saying, you don't realize how good it feels to feel good until you are sick. I find a sad irony in the fact that the thing that once kept her alive is now threating her life!

Although yesterday my spirit was crushed and bruised , I am always thankful for the dawn of a new day. When my energy is renewed and my body is willing to fight again for her quality of life. I don't mean to sound special, or like I am handling something harder than many of you are dealing with, because I am not. I find that so often most people are dealing with a lot of sadness that they never share. So I pray that I will try and be extra nice to people I meet today just incase they are struggling to get through the day and fighting back the tears too!

The Water is finally in!!!

As some of you know that follow my crazy life on my blog, we have been working on our backyard and a pool. We designed everything and have been working on getting it all done, doing some of the work ourselves for about a year now. I am so excited to announce that there is water in the pool and we had all the kids over at Easter to swim. The weather couldn't have been nicer at a warm 90 degrees and we barbecued ribs and I also made a roast. My mom was still down and she made her famous Macaroni and cheese. We added a salad and fruit and that was our Easter dinner. I told Randy that I was living out a dream I have had for so long. Enjoying all the kids together, playing in the pool, laughing we had such a great time. I made sangria with all the fresh oranges and lemons I had. It went over very well, my adult kids had never had it before. We aren't really big drinkers, I never had any alcohol in the house at all while the kids were growing up. Now I will have a glass of wine or sangria, usually with Marta! I guess we have never needed it to have a good time and I am glad about that, especially now, in light of Jennifers crash. What a wonderful day we had, although Jennifer was not up to the pool she loved watching all the kids playing, dyeing eggs and then hunting them. We bought Nathan a swimsuit that has floaty things sewn right in so we didnt' worry about him drowning, although he was under close watch at all times. He would just step off the steps and he traveled all over that pool by petalling his little legs like he was riding his bike, it was so funny!!! So much to be thankful for, we are blessed to have such a close family! Pictures of our new pool, yard and Easter!!

Life drawing

I managed to get out last week with Marta and Dawn for the museum's life drawing class. When we arrived there was a note on the door saying that it had been canceled. We were all so disappointed and as we walked down there stairs to leave the model came up to us and said "I am here but they told me that it was too late, they canceled". We convinced them to let us go in and have class and so we all got to draw. This model was new to us, and I think he was new to modeling since he asked us how he should pose and how long etc. It was really weird because he didn't really know how to pose, trying to hold his arms above his head for 20 minutes, I think he needed the money. It went ok and others soon joined us. It was great to draw but meeting before hand for sangria and tapas and just visiting with each other was the best.

Just needed to vent

Its 3:30am, another restless night as I lay in bed, in the dark praying for wisdom. The tears seem to run down my cheeks and wet my pillow once again. I thought after all these years I had cried out all the tears and I was just working on moving forward. Seems as though moving forward is harder and harder. I don't wake my tired, overworked husband who was in his own pain tonight as he fell into bed. I feel as though I am left to make these major decisions on my own, often wrestling with the options and God night after night looking for the answers. I wonder how many others are out there doing the same thing, I know I can't be alone, not really.

Jennifer, my daughter, had her surgery and is struggling to recover. Tomorrow, or really today, I need to get her into see someone since she sounds like her lungs are becoming more and more congested . She has such a hard time recovering from surgery, even these short 1 hour procedures. We have tried to avoid all unnecessary surgery for this reason. I am now forced into making another decision about more surgery, when will it stop! She has just been through so much and the thought of more pain and long recovery times just makes me crazy. The tears just don't stop as I am forced to weight the risks, consequence's and options. And who am I?! I am not a doctor, or a specialist nor do I have any special degrees in the way our bodies and brains work. Yet it will be me who eventually decides what to do with her leg. Oh, don't get me wrong, I will have consulted all the top doctors in the field, as I already have. I will talk it over with Randy and Jennifer, but it will fall again onto me to finally make the decision. Sometimes, that responsibility weighs so heavy I don't know how long I can bear it. Its one thing to make my own medical decisions but its entirely different choosing for my children, no matter what age. The "what if's" are so frightening and the thought of having something really bad happen because of a bad decision I might make would be unforgivable. I find that the doctors offer little help these days. They just really don't know, she is so complicated and they are so over specialized. They can't see the forest for the trees as they say. The surgeons want to do surgery, the prothetists want to make braces, others want to add more drugs, all in attempt to compensate for this misfiring brain which is causing her one remaining foot to be almost unusable. The last surgery she had on the foot was for tendon lengthening so that she could hopefully stand and walk. The surgeon put on a full leg cast and what was supposed to be a 5 day hospital stay turned into a 22 day nightmare. More surgery, infections, a nursing home because they felt I wasn't qualified to care for her injuries! It was a day and night vidual until I had to break her out of the hospitals so I could take her home to let her recover. In the hospital she developed a wound on her heel which took me 27 months of wound care to get cleared up and almost 3 years to finally get a shoe onto and they all wonder why I don't want more surgery! This burden is so heavy some days, what do I do!? I try so hard to stay positive and keep that flicker of hope burning but the more time that passes the harder it gets. Jennifer is so trusting and so full of hope. Every time someone offers her their ideas for a "fix" and tells her this will work she is all for it, thinking this time it will really solve the problem. I think, because of her brain injury she has some long term reasoning issues which is very common in brain injuries. So she doesn't really concider the ramifications of things not going well only that it is going to "fix" the problem. I spend alot of time trying to walk her through the long term issues of decision making with me but again, the decision will fall on my shoulders.
We continue to react to her conditions in an attempt to give her a better quality of life....... but is it? All this and more because someone decided to drink and drive!
I guess I sound like I am just having a huge pity party, I don't know, maybe I am. Sometimes it helps to just get it out.

Easter Card Exchanges

I am in the middle of doing a few Easter Cards for some exchanges on WC and Watercolor Haven. I need to paint something this weekend to swap with someone that signed up late so that everyone gets a card. I have done two, limited color palette and experimented with masking fluid. I am thinking of printing one of them for my cards although I already did the one with the baby ducks and eggs. I love all the spring colors!

We are getting ready to go to UCLA again for surgery. Jenn's breathing is getting very labored so we are going to do it again. I posted our trip last time and you can view it here. I hope that its better this time and lasts longer!

The Cantor Museum

I so appreciate all the wonderful support I have gotten from all my blogging friends. You all are so special to take the time to leave comments. It really means alot to me! While I was at my sisters we managed to go to the Art Museum at Stanford University. She lives in Los Altos which is really close to the University and we were looking for distractions. The museum was filled with so many wonderful pieces. I took some pictures I wanted to share, and one of my sister standing on the front steps.

The horse is a bronze sculpture made to look as though they put it together out of driftwood. It was amazing and one of my favorite pieces. This guy was upstairs in the contemporary area, he had his back to us as we entered the room. A nice example of the male physique!

My trip

Our family got the sad and shocking news that my sister had breast cancer during the holidays. She has been going through tests and biopsies to try and better understand the whole breast cancer word! At first we were all so scared and upset but the more we talk to the doctors and other survivors there is a hope that takes root and starts to grow. In an effort to continue the hope my family has tried to be there as a support for her during this hard time. My mom has been with her mostly, then my youngest brother who lives the closest to her. Last week I went up to go to the doctors with her and just to spend some much over due time together as sister's. We had such a wonderful visit, and although I didn't sketch or paint much my days were filled with the colors of our relationship. I really loved every minute. Today my other brother flew up to go to yet another doctors appointment with her.

One late afternoon as I was sipping my tea and sitting outside I decided I would sketch the tree in her backyard. Its not anything special but I noticed it was sitting dormant, waiting for the spring warmth and the sun to allow it to burst forth in bloom. I am hoping the same for my sister, that this will only be a short season in her life and that she will be able to burst forth out of this time of fear and saddness. The other drawing is of a man in the airport waiting for my plane home. The only two things I had time to do yet I filled every minute!

Your award

Margaret presented me with this award and had some very nice things to say about me and my blog, I think everyone should go read them! In turn I am supposed to present this award to 5 people that inspire me and who's blogs I love to go and read so here goes.....

Marta- As most of you know, Marta and I are great friends and have lots of fun together. Although we live close we don't get to see each other too often since we are both pretty busy. I love to just jump over to her blog and check up on her and see what she is up too. You never know what you will find on her blog, pictures of a trip, sketches, recipes. Its a wonderful feast for the eyes and heart as she sometimes shares very touching insights she has from working with kids who have cancer.

Wendee- I have know Wendee for a few years now, we met on a sketchcrawl in LA. She is also a quilter and we have many things in common. I love her blog and her sense of humor. In her blog she often shares her witty sense of humor on just everyday life. You will often learn something about a new place to visit or she will inspire you to sketch. Her sketches are lovely as are her photos.

Andrea- I have just recently found Andrea's blog. I can just get lost in her drawings! The details are amazing and she can take a boring, everyday object that we see all the time and turn it into a piece of art! I love the way she stacks things and draws them. My eyes love to go over and over her drawings, the buttons, the tapes, the notes on a bulletin board. Just go and see if you can look at just one!

Ronell- Her blog is full of wonderful pieces of artwork and lots of food references. Living in france she has wonderful places to paint and eat, I would love to go and meet her! One of the things I love the most is her wonderful sense of humor and her inspirational stories. I can read, and read her blog and never get bored. Between the words and the paintings it is a full course meal!

Laura- full of beautiful artwork and always traveling. It is like taking a trip with her all the time. I love her work to the point of wanting to buy some of her sketches. I still love this dress she painted in a shop window! Its not often we remember art sketches in a blog from some time ago. Hers are very memorable, and her use of color just captures your interests and keeps you wanting to see more.

I have so many others that I love, I am sorry I can't mention them all, next time I will share more blogs I love.
I hope you all know how much I enjoy your blogs and the inspiration you give to me everytime I visit. Here's the award for you.

The participation rules are simple:
1. If you get tagged (and want to play along) write a post with links to blogs that you love, too.
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Its been over a week!

I can't believe I haven't posted in over a week. So many things going on and I just didn't know what to post. I have gone to the Getty Villa and saw some incredible artwork, had an awesome Valentines Spa celebration with my handsome hubby, and I had a wonderful few days with my youngest grandson, Nathan.

At the Getty Villa they have on display wonderful antiquities, many of which are now caught up in a scandal of how they were acquired and if they will be returned. Some of which have already been returned. Its really quite the story of secret deals and acquisitions, kidnappings and infidelity. The Hollywood writers couldn't come up with a more elaborate story. On the three + hour drive home I looked up and read many articles about it to Randy and Jennifer from my wi-fi on my iphone! It is so cool. I took some awesome pictures and would love anyone who is interested in painting them to feel free and grab them. Just share your paintings with me, I would love to see.

Friday night Randy and I spent the night together at the spa. We had a wonderful couples massage and then went and had dinner in the courtyard of the Mission Inn restaurant, it was very romantic and we toasted many times! NO Pictures! LOL

My daughter needed to be with her husbands family for a family matter. They felt it was just too hard with Nathan, so I got the honor of watching him for two days. He is so cute and he is just loaded with personality. (I am his Nana!) At night he gave me lots of kisses and said Nana, I just want you to hold me! OHHHHH I am added a picture of him in our spa tub taking a huge bubblebath. We giggled through the whole bath.

Tonight Marta and I went to figure drawing at the museum, yes its that time again. That 3rd Thursday event. I wish they could get some new models, this guy we have done several times and he doesn't stand still, so the lighting along with the pose continues to change while you draw. It makes it even more challenging. We did have tortilla soup and chips with salsa and margaritas before making our way to he museum. The rain was just starting as we were leaving our night of drawing so the timing was perfect all day! I might post some of my sketches tomorrow, if I can find any I like well enough

Now you can concider yourself caught up on my week, what exciting things have been happening to everyone else this week??

OUCH!!! EDM #10

EDM draw your hand, well its my finger.

We worked outside all weekend, I love being out in the yard with Randy. We planted roses and cleaned up some of the neglected areas. We decided to call in the tile layers to finish our pool tile. We just can't seem to make time right now and I would love to use the pool this summer. The last thing Sunday we moved the tile to the pool area for the tile layers. One of the big boxes of tile crushed my finger against one of the stairs in the pool. OUCH!!! Oh my, that finger turned blue then purple within minutes. I thought the nail was going to shoot off right then. The throbbing didn't stop till the next day and now the nail just feel loose. Yuck, but I where it proudly, my first black finger nail, I sure held out, not many 50 year old women with those kinds of nails! My journal entry was a painting of the actual nail then a painting of how the nail actually feels. They say, oh suck it up its far from your heart. But I beg to differ, you see my heart has now moved into my little finger. My husband keeps apologizing since he thinks he did it when he pushed the tile towards me, I think I will get a good run with this one!

Easter cards

I am hosting an Easter card exchange on Wet Canvas and Watercolor Haven. I have set it up so we only have to send one card out, so it makes it doable. I needed a picture to post for the exchange and painted this easter scene. I coincidentally happened to pick up some plastic ducks for 84 cents a piece and the nursery a few weeks prior. I thought my grandson would love to float them in his bath or in the fountain for Easter. I picked up about 6 of them. They were perfect for my models for this painting, I don't think they look plastic!

Avocados 4 for $1

Another fruit in the series for a Wet Canvas exchange. I like the way these turned out, the colors, shadow just worked on this one. I love avocados, we had huge trees of them where I used to live, they produced lots of avocados each year. They all seemed to be ready to pick at the same time which was late Nov. to Dec. It was great extra money as people would stop and get 4 for a dollar. We often couldn't reach the ones at the top of the tree so when the wind blew it sounded like bombs hitting the house. They would hit the roof and then roll all the way down till, pluck, right onto the cement. The dogs looked at this event with much anticipation, since to them it was manna from the Gods!

EDM #1 My shoe

I have this pair of tennis shoes that have never really played tennis, so does that disqualify them? My kids ordered them through Nike.com. You can pick the style, the color, size, then they will add your name and custom make them. From the minute I first put them on they fit perfectly. I have worn them to death and this last year from my birthday my kids ordered me a new pair. They no longer made the ones I had so they ordered me a new design. Ouch. I am trying to wear them but they aren't the same. Now to make matters worse, the older pair are all worn in and even more comfortable. Kinda reminds me of having to start over in a new relationship, trying so hard to make it work! Yuck. It just takes so long to break them in and I love it when they are worn in and so comfortable!

Super Tuesday!!

Ok, its Super Tuesday, the day when we all vote for our candidates for President. I did a contour drawing of each, I don't feel like I really know any of them well enough to cast a vote. As in drawing contour,I felt like I just placed my pen on the ballet and started marking, not really having any insight to what I was doing. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate my right to vote, I just wish I felt like their was someone worth voting for. Lets look at them.....
Democrates:
Obama-people thought he was muslim (he's not) for along time, very clean cut, almost looks like he scrubs with brillo every morning. No ones skin should be that perfect especially a mans! What about experience?
Clinton-I think a lot of people admired her for dealing with Bill's little indiscretions so bravely or was it maybe passively. The thought keeps crossing my mind though, if she were elected who would really be running the country? I don't know if I liked the whole crying thing during her campaign, I mean we never saw her cry when her husband was sleeping around!
Edwards- Nice guy, cute and devoted to his wife. But I guess he's out so I don't need to go on.
Republicans:
Romney- Nice looking guy for 60, even for 50! Millionaire, businessman from Utah. Conservative Mormon that is really giving the conservative born again Christians a voting dilemma. Does he represent the conservative christian's beliefs better than McCain? I think he has only one wife though.
McCain- I have really hated the way he has been campaigning against Romney, all that silly fighting . The polls say the people think he looks old, because he is old! Why does he always look like he is storing nuts in his cheeks for the winter? He might be telling us something about the economy here!
Huckabee-I don't know how I feel about a baptist preacher for a president. It seems to me that the whole meaning of "president" goes against his biblical beliefs. I think most of our past presidents have been womanizing fence walkers, unable to keep a promise to the people or their families. They seem to be easily swayed by lobbists, money and oil. Huckabee, save yourself, pull out now!

Yesterday the phone must have rang off the hook, as it did this morning. All the calls from my parties two front runners, calling to hopefully sway my vote to their side. It ended up just irritating me so much I was going to jump the the other party completely. Oh man, am I becoming a realist or just cynical!?