Up to Speed

Hi...
Hello!
How the heck are ya?!!!

*Hugs you*
I've missed you guys!!

Let's catch up a bit, shall we?
Where to start? Hmmm.....let's see.....
Our Easter was great :)

This is Maggie with my Brother's son visiting the Easter Bunny.

The weather has been on and off rain with the most beautiful clouds!  I love clouds!

Maggie moved up from an Orange Belt to a Purple in Karate....

....and tied her own belt during her promotion.  Which is a big deal for a not-quite-6 year old  :)

Sally has been growing and doing a lot of, well, what cats do best....haha!

....and yesterday just happened to be my Birthday :)

I spent it having a Garage Sale.  It was a neighborhood Garage Sale.  I spent Friday night and Early Sat getting everything ready...stayed up til 4am not even sure if it was going to rain or not...slept for 2 hours and got up at 6am to put everything out in time for the 7am start time.  It ended up being a beautiful day!  I tell ya....despite the lack of sleep....I might just have to make this a birthday tradition....cuz Momma's going shopping tomorrow...haha!

While I was outside wheeling and dealing, my Hubby put these beautiful bouquets and chocolate covered strawberries out to surprise me!  

...and a big thank you to Daniele for sending me a little special something in the mail :)

Because sweet gestures can never be overdone, I am extending a coupon code to you all for my Birthday to use in my Etsy Shop.   This will be good to the end of April. 

 Just enter BdayWishes  to enjoy a 15% discount...

...and thank you all so much for your support and friendship! 

And, as if that's not enough, I've got some new art to show you.
Really, I do!

This is, "Raindrops"
in the beginning...

...and completed...

The quote reads, "Tomorrow's flowers are the raindrops of today"

8 1/2 by 11 1/2 inches

She's in the shop waiting to brighten someone's rainy day ;)

One of the covers of an old children's book.  Here's what I did with the other.

"No Love Like Mine" in the early stages....

...and after...

"In all the world, there's no love for you like mine"

She was made with the before mentioned Daniele in mind.  Do you see the 3 kites behind the house?  She has 3 girls...and loves to sport gorgeous, bright red hair at times.  We are doing a trade....so I painted this for her.   I just love trades....heehee!

So...now that I've got you all caught up with the haps around here, I need to go make my rounds and get caught up with all of you!  I really have missed you *another hug....cuz I'm a huggy kinda girl*

I promise not to be away so long!

My best,

Cameron

Crude Gestures - Lesson 3

Welcome to Lesson 3 of Carla Sonheim's Book, Drawing Lab for Mixed Media Artisits.

In this Lesson, we are supposed to do super quick gesture drawings of a moving pet.  Using a charcoal pencil or other soft utensil and just seconds per drawing, the goal is to get the idea of the animal and it's position and/or movements.

But before I show you mine, I want to give a  Thank You to NatashaMay for nominating me for an award on her blog!

Part of the requirements is to share 7 things about yourself. The other part is to pass it on to 15 other Bloggers....and I just don't know how I'd choose....so I'm going to skip that part.  I always love finding out more about my Blog Friends, so feel free to consider yourself nominated and spill some juicy beans ;P

Anyhoo....back to the lesson!

I used a 6B pencil....otherwise, I'd be covered in charcoal!

1. I'm one of those left-handed people that has their hand all curled upside down....smearing everything in it's path.  I usually succeed in transferring it to other parts of me, clothes, surfaces, etc. when I use anything soft-leaded :)

I found this exercise to be difficult for me.  I like to take more time than the allotted 2 seconds Carla recommends.....and trying to draw a moving kitten (more spastic than an adult cat, I think,...haha!) was more than challenging.  I found myself more than once trying to "fill in" where I thought limbs and such to be after Sally had already changed positions.  I guess I don't follow directions very well :)

2. Which leads me to my cooking style, too. Some of my family's favorite recipes of mine are ones where I've just thrown stuff together.  I like to tweak ingredients and add more than the usual stuff....I put veggie puree in my meatballs, cilantro in my turkey chili and sour cream in my pancakes....I make Island Water (that's what we call it, anyway) for my daughter and myself with a splash of coconut milk, sliced ginger root and water over ice.  I love French Toast with a hint of orange zest in the egg mixture and I eat them with a layer of berry preserves instead of syrup...

I know, I'm zany....what can I say ;P

3.  I loathe washing dishes!!  I will scrub toilets all day long over hand washing a sink full of dishes.  I bring this up because our dishwasher is broken!  I never had one in the 13 years we rented.....and ever since having one here at the house, doing dishes has been fine....pleasurable, even!  But now, aaarrrgghh!  I never seem to catch up :(

This one is my least favorite of what I'm showing you today....but, trust me when I say there were others that were worse.  I just don't want to show them to you  ;P

4. I used to have a huge dark side.  Brooding and depressed, I'd entertain fantasies of running away, waste a lot of time feeling alienated from what "normal" people wanted and enjoyed, was convinced that no one understood me.  I always thought that this is where my creativity came from...that this darkness made me special.

But, once you have a child, this way of thinking can be detrimental.  It can cause resentment to build.  Motherhood has been the most wonderful experience I have ever undertaken, but it made my demons feel trapped and angry. A lot of things began to suffer....including my marriage.  Something had to change. I originally started Blogging because I was tired of feeling torn....

The name of my Blog was another attempt at me being clever....and was to elude to me "painting" myself in a better light....to put the best of me forward and focus on that....to paint myself pretty, rather than the ugliness I felt inside...

Had I known, though, that it was going to be such a great experience, and that I'd be opening a shop, too....I would've picked a shorter name....haha!

5.  I still love dark, brooding images and places.....all things forbidden, gothic, scary and macabre...I adore cemetaries, fairy tales with unhappy endings and blood and gore......but, I've learned to not dwell there.

6. Blogging really is better than therapy!  It allows me to connect with real artists....moms....women...who have taught me that I am not alone in my struggles....and who give me a reason to paint and laugh and share and rush to my computer every day!  I can't imagine my Life without it now ;)

This one is my favorite.  Sally had put her paws up on my lap and was watching my pencil as I sketched her.  Everything that moves is potential prey to a kitten....so it was time to stop.

7.  Trying to think of something you don't know....hmmmm....let's see.....

How about this.  I always knew I wanted to be an artist since the first time I could hold a pencil.  I decided I wanted to go to a prestigious art school  in Laguna Beach, jumped through the hoops to get in, took out the loans...and didn't even complete 1 semester.  And I am SO GLAD I didn't!!

As much as I feel foolish for being so flakey....I never, then, would have gone to Bartending School and gotten a job at Embassy Suites.  I would have never met the cute, polite, interesting Room Service guy who would later become my Husband.  I would not have my daughter....sure, I might have a daughter, but not this daughter, who is all the goodness I strive to be :)

Please link your gesture drawings here:

I am really so honored to have you here with me...on my little journey to become a better artist and all around happier person :D

I hope you paint yourself a wonderful weekend!!

Group Hug,

Cam

Making and Baking

It's been over a week since my last post....and I feel like I have nothing to show for it...

I haven't been "making" anything in the last week.  With Thanksgiving festivities...which included multiple stops on multiple days and Maggie being out of school all of last week...there hasn't been much time for making stuff...

But there has been plenty of excitement for the upcoming Holiday...and I realize we've been "Making Merry" :)
Which counts....or at least is the excuse I'm using for my absence...heehee!

Here's a peek at what we've been up to....

The wreath My Hubs made for his parents over a decade ago hangs on our front door...

A cute little easel displays some Seasonal colors and a Happy Snowman....

Our front room was supposed to become our Formal Diningroom...but the piano my Hubby doesn't play but won't part with is in there...and it's not a huge room......sooooo, I put up a little place in the corner that I can dress up and satisfy my "Oh what a lovely table" urges ;P

...and of course, there's our tree...

Fake this year....a pre-lit one we got as a hand-me-down from my MIL who is Christmas obsessed.  I wound in 1 long strand of colored lights thru the entire tree which gives little hints of twinkling blues and purples and reds here and there.  I like the effect :)

The one thing I made over the weekend that I enjoyed the most is this....

That's right!  Homemade Dutch Apple Pie!  This was the last piece....and I ate 5 out of the 6 pieces we cut it into.  Low carb diet? What's that?!  Haha!

Trust me...I don't eat all fancy like this everyday.....I had to remember to slip it off the paper plate I dished it up on to take the picture.  I thought I'd better prove I actually do cook before all the evidence was gone :-D

I hope you and your families are enjoying eachother....and the Holidays you celebrate together :)

Biggest Hugs and Candy Cane Kisses,

Cam

My First "Listing"

Hello my Dear Blog Friends!

Do any of you know Amy?  She has a thing with writing lists that I just love...well, truth be told, she is utterly hilarious, too...so raw, unapologetic, unique...and FUNNY...I know I said this already, but she is....that you can't help but instantly like her.  She makes some really cool art, too.....

But this post is not about art today...it's about lists....
I'm going to do one. Just for the heck of it.
A List of Randomness...yeah, I like that.... ;-P

1.  

 If you have an attached garage, don't store fertilizer in there during the hottest months of the year. Your house will smell like poop!

Oh, and if you have a hole in the garage door for your dumb cats to get to their litterbox, but they refused to go in there with the little flap covering it, so you had to take it off for them....you will get flies in your house!  Dozens upon dozens of yucky, buzzing flies!! 

2.

I will ooh and ahh over spiders....save crickets from bathtubs....

...try not to step on pill bugs on the sidewalk and rescue worms that have washed onto the concrete after a rain....but I hate flies in my house....

3.

And cockroaches....well, ants, too....guess I'm not the creepy crawly saint afterall...

4.

I pulled a muscle while swatting flies...

.....a testament to how many flies we actually had....and a wake-up call to just how out of shape I am...haha!

5.

I don't care about shoes.

I'm jealous of my friend's contact lens collection!  She has a pair to match every outfit.  I had a pair once....

I felt friggin' cool that Halloween...though I couldn't see anything.  Your pupil gets wider as it gets darker and starts to get overlapped by the white coloring of the lens. 

This makes everything blurry.  It's okay, they were itchy, too...so I threw them away.

Which leads me to 6.

I like to be comfortable!

This not only goes for shoes and clothes, but situations, as well.... I don't like crowds and will go out of my way to avoid them. 

7.

I tried on 2 occasions to dress with "personality"....once in Jr. High I wore 2 different colored neon socks (this was the 80's) and I was teased all day about how I must've gotten dressed in the dark.  Needless to say I didn't try to be unique again....until High School...Freshman year.

My Mom bought me a gorgeous black velvet skirt and vest at a vintage store after I begged and begged her for it.  The skirt was full without being ruffly and had a satin bow with one rhinestone button in the center around the waist.  The vest had the same buttons down one side.  I wore a crisp white shirt underneath and felt like a million bucks!

Then I walked into school....

Oh well, now I reserve my flair for funky, unique things for occasions where you get stared at in a good way :)

Ren Faire with my Dad...

...and Mom.

8.

Though, you'll find me in jeans and a t-shirt all other days. 

9.

I care way too much about what others think of me....always have.  Wish I didn't.

10.

Being in Nature relaxes and inspires me.

11.

I love animals!

12.

I am not a vegetarian.

13.

My daughter's goldfish took 3 days to die.  I think I cried more than she did.  This was the first time she dealt with the death of someone close to her.  It made me so sad to see her struggle with loss and come to the understanding that every living thing grows old and dies.  She took an active interest in seeing what happens next...so we buried him in our planter where she could see orange flowers and think of him. And we made sure to say some nice things about him, too.

Made me think of my own mortality.....

14.

I really need to start working out again ;)

15.

Isn't it neat when you find a sign out somewhere that speaks to you!

16.

Did you know the name Cameron is of Scottish origin and means Crooked Nose?

17.

I was adopted and came with the name....I have no idea why it was chosen :)

18.

My daughter and I visit the shelter regularly just to give the dogs and cats some good scratches and kind words.

No, we haven't brought anyone home.....yet.....

19.

Pansies are my favorite flower!

20.

I'm surprised I got this far....(and that you are still here!) 

This was a fun little experiment...doing this list....

Now, at least, I can cross it off mine.....haha!

XO,

Cam