HOT! HOT! HOT!

All I can say is, its been hot, very hot these days, well over a 100 degrees. I'm willing to bet that yesterday it was at least 105. I love the hot weather, however, scorching hot is not very pleasant. It's hard to work outside, it's hard to walk outside, it's just plain too hot to do anything. Even the pool water is like a bathtub. When it's that hot it's a good idea to stay indoors and read a good book. Hot hot weather is like cold and stormy weather in the sense that it is best to stay indoors. Read with the children, do puzzles, clean out those drawers that you always meant to clean out, get rid of all the stuff in your closets that no one ever wears. I never could figure out why they say to clean your house in the Spring. Everyone is doing Spring cleaning. The Spring is when everyone should be outside having fun, walking, jogging, working in the yard, the heck with the house, save all those extra cleaning chores for the hot hot weather and the stormy cold weather.
Have a wonderful day!

DIRT DIRT AND MORE DIRT

We are putting in an outdoor kitchen and the back lawn is being dug up as I type. I didn't realize how much dirt has to be removed. There is dirt everywhere. The only ones that love all this dirt are the little boys and the puppies. They are in heaven with all this dirt around. One of the little boys loves helping the workers dig the dirt, he isn't afraid of a little hard work. I on the other hand don't really like dirt at all. Somehow it gets all over the house, even if everyone takes off their shoes the dirt seems to find its way into my living room carpet, kitchen floor, bathroom floors and believe it or not, in the bedrooms. I don't know how that happens but it does. Well here comes the pups, they are here to tell me it's time for their breakfast. More later.
Have a wonderful day.

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

Today is a special day for all you dad's out there so Happy Father's Day to you all.
My dad is almost 91 and still going strong. He has a wonderful sense of humor and enjoys watching old westerns and eating seafood. Yesterday I cooked him lobster for dinner and he really enjoyed it. Today we are having a BBQ with the family. Hot dogs, chips and watermelon. There is no way this crowd is getting lobster, there are so many of us it's a wonder we can remember everyone's names. There will be lot of little kids here, all his great great grandchildren. He loves watching them swim and play. They all love their grandpa too. Well better go and get ready for the crowd that will be arriving soon.
Have a wonderful day!

THE POT RACK IS IN!

I have always wanted a pot rack and now I have one. After putting in can lighting in my kitchen the electrician asked if I was going to have a pot rack over my island. I have always wanted one but thought there wasn't enough room. Not so, said the electrician, there's plenty of room, even one with lights. I found one, brought it home and it was installed yesterday. I am really loving it. I even have some fresh Rosemary hanging from it drying. There is nothing like fresh spices, basil, rosemary, etc. So far I just have basil and rosemary started but the cilantro is starting to sprout. Anyway my pot rack is beautiful and I am very happy. Now my kitchen is a little bit more homey. When I get the painting done and the light over the breakfast table and the tile on the back splash it should be almost complete. The only thing I am having a problem with is the texture on the wall. I don't know exactly what I want so I'm leaving the walls in one section of the kitchen bare until I figure it out.
Have a wonderful day!

I LOVE CRAZY BANANAS

The picture I just posted, Melting Bananas is a favorite of mine. It was so much fun to do. I painted this one for a food show and it also took second place in a still life exhibit. I love doing crazy abstracts that make no sense like melting bananas, or flat pears, or smashed grapes. This particular painting is done in acrylic but doing paintings like this one in watercolors is just as fun especially when the colors flow all over the canvas. I'm going to my studio in a little while and try and come up with a painting with a theme for Stars and Stripes for our local fair.
Have a wonderful day!

Melting Bananas

FANS and LIGHTS and LIGHTS and FANS

The last couple of weeks I have had new lighting and fans installed in my house. I'm in love with my new fan in my living room. It is a double header, two fans on either side, and they tilt in all directions. Boy does this fan move the air around. I love it! I also love my new lights in my living room. They can be turned every which way and show off my art work. I had them all on last night and went outside and looked through the window. Boy did the art work look good. No more dark places in the living room either. I have a new fan in the dining room and in my bedroom and in all the other bedrooms in the house. I have a new fan in the puppies room too. Last night all the kids in the house told me I had enough fans in the house and I couldn't buy any more fans. Hmmmm, I might need one over the table in the breakfast nook.
Have a wonderful day!

LET THERE BE LIGHT

Yesterday I finally got my new lights in my kitchen. I had that recessed lighting put in, can lighting I think it's called. It looks great and it is so nice to have decent light to cook by. I'm very excited. I'm also going to get a pot rack over my island with lights on it. I can also turn on different ones if I want and not have all of them on at the same time, and I'll be able to dim them too. Now all I have to do is finish the texture on the walls, hang up the art work and I'm ready for a party. Gosh, what should I cook. Think I'll visit some of the Italian sites I follow and check out their recipes.
Have a wonderful day!

THINGS ARE JUST TOO SLOW!

I am re-doing some of the rooms in my house and getting rid of a lot of junk, just got a 20 yard dumpster and it's almost full, geezeeeeeee! I have a lot of help from my family, grandsons, nephews, granddaughters, daughters, etc, and it's wonderful to have all this help. My studio has never looked so good. Now when I go in there to paint I can find things and there is so much more room to move around. I love being out there, I think I want to live out there . The only drawback to all this family help is you are never working on your clock it is always their clock. It seems I have been trying to get my bathroom finished for a couple of weeks, I want it painted and the trim and baseboards replaced, oh, yeah, the door put back on. It's always nice to have a bathroom door on one's bathroom, at least it's inside a bedroom. I have also been getting my weeds weed-eated, is that a word, for the past three weeks. It seems like the yard gets worked on sporadically so by the time the second batch of weeds are eaten the first ones have already grown back. It's a vicious circle with weeds. Oh well, I wouldn't have it any other way. Of course if I were rich, I could have things done on my clock.
I wonder if there is a millionaire out there who would want to adopt a nice Italian lady. I can cook!
Have a wonderful day!

CHICKEN SALAD SANDWICHES, HELP!

Today is our chamber of commerce luncheon we are hosting at our gallery. I must have made a 100 little sandwiches. My goodness, what a chore. I have to admit however, they are very good. But...when you are shoving every fourth one into your mouth, they are very tiny sandwiches, also very addicting, it's a no wonder I don't ever want to see another chicken salad sandwich.
Have a wonderful day!

WOW! I'M IMPRESSED!

Just looked at Bollandi's new soap line. Oatmeal, wow, it's beautiful. A total work of art. I would love to paint some of Bollandi's soaps in watercolor. How awesome would that be?
Today I am hoping to get my bathroom finished so I can put the door back on and move things back into my cabinets. I am having the bathroom redone, just some cosmetic work. The cabinets are being re-stained a beautiful dark wood color, called Jacobean. It's a wonderful color, so dark and rich. Reminds me of a decadent tall dark piece of chocolate cake. I am also having some work done on my kitchen. I think I want one of my walls plastered, like the side of an old building in Italy. I know, I know, everyone says it will get greasy and things will stick to it because of all the cooking I do in my kitchen. Well, I am looking into some very good sealers, then I'll be able to wash the wall and it won't get greasy or steamy or sticky. Hmmmmmm?
Have a wonderful day!

A GREAT MOTHER'S DAY

Today was a great day. I woke up to a big hot tasty Latte, then some breakfast, mighty tasty, eggs with cream, toast with marmalade, and tiny tiny potatoes. I received flowers, gift certificates, movies and an offer of a blue popsicle. It's been a very good day. Now I think I'll go and play with my puppies for a little while. Then the family is coming over and we are going to cook pasta and veggies. My favorite.
Have a wonderful day.

TODAY IS COSTCO DAY!

Today I have to go to Costco and buy the goodies for the 30/30 shows reception. We are expecting at least 200 people to come through the gallery. The 30/30 show is a spectacular show and so many different pieces of art. They are paintings done on 6"x6" boards and then hung. Each artist does 30 pieces in 30 days. We have hung close to 600 pieces. The gallery looks so great and very impressive. We like to have lots of things for the viewers to eat as well as to see. Our sales always seem so much better when buyers are fed.
I have posted a few of my 30/30 pieces from our last show. I only had a few left so I put them on Etsy and posted on my blog. Take a look.
Have a wonderful day!

WOW! THE BOYS CAN REALLY COOK!

Saturday was my son-in-laws birthday. My daughter was sick with a cold and didn't want to cook and spread around her germs. I'm glad she is so considerate. Well, we all looked at each other and said, what about the birthday dinner we have planned. I certainly didn't feel like cooking over a hot stove and oven and doing all that work for 15 people, besides I'm no spring chicken. So...my teenage grandson said, I'll cook! His brother said I'll cook too! So.. off to the store we went and bought everything we needed for dinner. The boys made Chicken Crosta, hope I spelled it right. It's chicken breast with mushrooms, that are sauteed in butter and wine, then wrapped in puff pastry. When done it's served with Bearnaise sauce.

These boys fixed the Chicken Crosta, steamed broccoli, red potatoes in parsley and garlic and for a special treat I made polenta for my son-in-law, it's one of his favorites. Then we had fresh sweet watermelon slices on the table. The little kids loved that. What a delicious dinner. I had no idea they could cook like that. Hmmm, maybe we should have our own restaurant!
Have a wonderful day!

Black Chair

OKAY, WHAT HAPPENED?

I was writing away about my art shows, getting ready for some new ones, wanting to enter into some competitions and trying to get my house ready for the summer, when I took a little rest to read what I had written and I noticed this Monetize a the top of the page. I got curious and clicked on it, just to see what it was, and everything I had just written disappeared. So now there is a half finished blog floating around the internet somewhere.
Like I was saying, it's been a while since my last blog because I have been so busy with art, everyday stuff, fixing up my house and of course helping to take care of our beautiful puppies, Bella and Leo, King Leonidas and Queen Bella that is. Let me tell you, they both think they are royalty for sure. Bella walks into a room and expects all to bow to her and pet her head immediately. Leo comes into a room as if he were just shot out of a cannon. He wants everyone to notice him right away. One thing I can say is we are a fun household and Leo and Bella make it a very playful place.
Last night I had my grandson's family over for dinner. He has two darling little boys who are a lot of fun. I went to Costco and they had fresh Alaskan Halibut. I just put some lemon pepper and garlic on it and grilled it on the BBQ. I can't tell you how good it was. Even all the children ate it without turning up their noses. There wasn't a crumb left over. Well I have lots to do today as usual so I better get started. Here's another piece of art work.
Have a wonderful day!

PHEW! I'M FINALLY DONE!

Yesterday I finished and delivered all the paintings for my art show at the Silk Purse Gallery in Redding, CA. I have 20 paintings that will be hung in the gallery along with my colleague and artist friend, she also has 20 paintings. We will be featured together and our show will open April 3 and close in June but I forgot the date. What's great about this show is our styles are totally different. There will be a lot to see. My friend is more of a realistic artist, she does pastels, and oils and a little watercolor. Her paintings are of landscapes, seascapes, mountains, etc. Her work is absolutely beautiful. My work on the other hand is so far from hers. It is big and bold and I use lots of bright colors. I use acrylics and oils for my paintings, I work in watercolor sometimes too but I really prefer acrylics and oils. My trees are hot pink or turquoise, sometimes purple, I love shapes and lots of thick paint and some splattering. I'm very abstract and I love it. I do realism sometimes, however, sometimes I cry because it take so long, because everything has to be so perfect and I'm not the most patient person. I like to see results right away. I really like things that are slightly off center too, kind of like Henri Matisse. I dearly love Matisses' paintings. I also love Wolf Khan, Van Gogh, Kandinsky to name a few. Hopefully we'll sell a lot of paintings and I can go on a vacation, maybe to Italy, just kidding! I'll post one of my paintings from my show. Hopefully I can remember how to do it.
Have a wonderful day!

DAD IS HERE, AND HE'S NINETY!

My dear daddy arrived late yesterday and he is looking good and feeling good. He absolutely amazes his doctors. He weighs the same as he did when he was forty, his blood pressure is perfect, I wish my were, his heart is good and he doesn't have anything wrong with his prostrate and absolutely no dementia, life is good for my dad and this man is ninety. He loves seeing all the kids. He has seven grandchildren, ten great grandchildren, and seven great great grandchildren. The kids all love their grandpa and he loves seeing them. They like taking him for walks and playing games with him. Grandpa is still hard to beat at Fish and Rummy. He has always taken good care of himself. He eats about six to eight tiny meals a day, this is something he has always done his entire life, he never overeats, he eats more fruits and veggies than anything else. It is just the way he has always been.
When it comes to artwork my dad knows what he likes. He always thinks whatever picture he looks at it must represent something whether it is a hill, building, teapot, person, whatever, it has to look like it. Whenever he looks at my work he is so funny, he always says oh that's beautiful honey, then he turns to whoever is nearby and asks, what is it, or he says, I thought it was supposed to be a park, the title says, A Walk in the Park. I love my little daddy he is a great and wonderful man.
Tonight the entire family is taking him to the Outback for dinner and I know Dad will have the Alaskian King Crab legs because he loves shellfish and the Outback has the best crab legs anywhere.
Have a wonderful day!

THE BAND I

I HAVE COLORFUL PLANS THIS AFTERNOON

I have great plans this afternoon. After my doctor appointment I'm coming right home, making a crab filling to stuff pasta shells, Giganti Artigianali, then I'll make the sauce and let that simmer on the stove, wash my lettuces for my green salad and I'm ready for dinner tonight. Then, I will have the entire afternoon to paint in my studio. Using bright and bold colors always makes me happy and I should just about finish the commission painting I'm working on too, which certainly has a lot of bright and bold colors in it, and in a few days I will be able to ship it off to it's new owners. After paintings leave my studio I stress over them until I hear from the owners. I'm always afraid that they won't like the painting and I will have to refund their monies and/or do it all over. That has never happened before and every commission I have ever done the owners have been very happy but I still stress, silly I know. I should just learn to put it out of my mind until I hear that they received their beautiful painting and love it more than anything. I also posted a new painting today. It is one of my favorites I painted from a larger painting I did some time ago. My musical instrument paintings are usually pretty popular and sell well.

Have a wonderful day!

WHAT'S THAT ON BELLA'S BUTT?

While working in my studio I was splattering paint everywhere, I had mentioned a couple of days ago that I had splattered paint all over things in my studio like other paintings, my garbage can, the window, etc. Well I had an oil painting sitting across the room and low and behold when I went to move it I noticed paint splattered all over that too. Needless to say panic set in so I grabbed my oil paints and proceeded to cover up the splattered paint. The splattered paint was acrylic so I could cover it up with oil paint, however, acrylic cannot be used over the top of oil . Oil takes a long long time to cure and could cause the acrylic that's over the top to crack and look really yucky, anyway I brought the oil painting into my house and set it on a towel and leaned it up against my big plant in my bedroom. It wasn't touching anything so I thought it would be safe until it set up a little, well not so. Little miss Bella, one of our new puppies, came along and plopped her hind quarters right next to the painting, she was practically sitting on it. Well, she got green oil paint on her butt and then proceeded to sit all over the house and get green oil paint on several of our household items. Things like the carpet, towels, kitchen floor and a few other places. What a mess we had to clean up, but I did learn what takes paint out of fabrics. Very expensive Vodka. The more potent the better. It means Kettle One or Gray Goose or some other very expensive Vodka must be used. The cheap stuff just doesn't cut it. We even washed Bella's butt with the Vodka then of course soap and water. We didn't want her licking herself and perhaps getting tipsy.
Have a wonderful day.

HELP! THERE'S PAINT EVERYWHERE!!

Oh my Gosh! I was painting away yesterday afternoon, having fun, watching the Gilmore Girls on my little portable DVD player, and thinking nothing about what I was doing. I was using a big palette knife and laying lots of paint and color down on a very large canvas then I started splattering more paint over the top when something caught my attention. It was the spotty screen on my DVD player. Rory and Lorelei had suddenly come down with a bad case of the multi-colored measles. Not only was I splattering my canvas but I was splattering everything else in my studio. I was getting wild with the splatter brush, I guess you could say I went berserk splattering. I had splattered a new painting that I had just completed, I splattered my window and my DVD player, I even splattered my garbage can. The garbage can looks cool, but the other things that I splattered were a mess. I was using acrylic so I had to work fast and wipe everything off before the paint dried. I prioritized taking the most important things first, I cleaned the painting , then the DVD player, then the window. By the time I got to the garbage can the paint was too dry to get off. So now I have a multi-colored splattered garbage can. I'll bet someone will come to my studio and ask where I bought my garbage can.
Have a wonderful day.

It's Party Time

PINK, ORANGE AND PURPLE LANDSCAPES

Today I think I'm going to paint a big landscape. I have just finished reading a book on the artist Wolf Khan. I love his work. I especially love his landscapes, even though I am not a landscape artist his are unique and very different from other artists. His use of color is magnificent, and I think he is the only artist I have seen that uses such bright colors like purples, oranges, hot pinks and reds for his trees. His backgrounds are slightly muted, light violets, blues, yellows, then he lays down the very bright colors for his bushes and trees. He has one I especially love. The foreground is turquoise blue, hot pink and purple then he painted fabulous orange trees. Behind the orange trees is some yellow and blue sky peeking through. It might sound crazy, but his painting are really beautiful and so colorful. I'm going try very hard to paint a wonderful colorful landscape that will impress Mr. Khan, wishful thinking, and if it comes out good I will post it on my blog. In the meantime go on the Internet and look up Wolf Khan and look at his beautiful art work. He is so abstract which is what I love and of course color the brighter the better for me. I can't tell you how much I love color.
Have a wonderful day.

GOOD GRIEF WHAT A MESS!

Today is a work day in my studio. I don't mean I get to paint and listen to a good story or blast my favorite music, it means I have to clean up the unbelievable, incredible, huge mess that I myself have created. No one else, just me! I have such a huge mess in there that I cannot work, there is no more room to set down a tube of paint or a brush. It's amazing how one little old lady, that's me, can be so messy. So... I have hired a young friend to come today and help me clean. Hopefully we will get to see the light of day by this afternoon because I really do need to get back to my painting. I have 3 shows to paint for and one commission piece to finish. Gee, I really dislike myself when I let things get so messy. I can't even find things like my xacto knives, my ruler, pencils, pens, gosh!

Well my friend is here so I better go. I'll get the big garbage bags and meet her at my studio door!
Have a wonderful day!

COLLAGES ARE SO MUCH FUN

The new collage I just posted is entitled Jersey Bounce. This was a fun one to make. I put just about everything in it. Images from photos, I had some handmade papers sitting around and I even used copies from my own art work for the background. I copied a couple of my other paintings from photos on archival papers tore it up and used it in my collage. I might only use a small portion of my art work that I copy then save the rest for another piece of work. I also like using materials in my collages such as burlap, pieces of netting, I have even used tiny pieces of leather, bird feathers, whatever I find.

I have been known to look around the ground for things to put in my collages. My kids always get embarrassed when they see me searching around the ground or fishing stuff out of gutters. One time I found this wonderful piece of paper all wadded up sitting in the gutter. I grabbed it up, before anyone else did, and stuffed it in my pocket. When I got home I unfolded the paper and there was a partial note to someone named Fred telling him he should not have left the birthday party so soon. It said, you missed some really good cake and ice cream. The note was on very pretty purple paper and some of it was missing. So I put it in one of my collages and called it "No cake and ice cream for Fred." I painted a picture of a birthday cake with gummy worms and flies on it, and the frosting was bluish green. Yum! It was a fun collage and someone bought it to hang in their kids room.
Have a wonderful day!

Jersey Bounce

I'M HUNGRY MOTHER, I'M HUNGRY!

This morning I got up, put out the puppies to go potty and hopped back in bed for a little while. Well, I usually never sleep in and the puppies were beginning to panic. They always have their breakfast right after doing their early morning potty run. Well, I heard whining and thumping (that would be Leo with his big paws slapping at the door). Bella is quiet she just whines a little, hangs her head and looks sad. Leo on the other hand wants everyone in the world to know that he is hungry. Boy I wouldn't want to be stranded with him, he'd eat my leg off after the first 30 minutes. Well needless to say I jumped out of bed and made a mad dash for their food, grabbing up their bowls as I sped by. Wow, I was only a few minutes late and Leo looked at me as if I stuck him with a red hot poker or something. I guess I'll never do that again, gee.

Today I'm going to paint for a little while then I'm going to my gallery for our monthly Art Hop. We have a great Art Hop every second Saturday of the month. Lots of people come by our gallery to peruse the art, eat food, drink a little wine and punch and visit with people they don't see on a regular basis. It's all very nice and we always seem to make a few good sales. So I better get busy and get some painting done.

Have a wonderful day.

RING RING, SORRY I'M NOT HOME!

Today is one of those days that seem like I have a million things to do. I have book work for my business, I have other things to do for other people, my phone is ringing off the hook and I don't know what to do first.

Early this morning I went to my gallery to let another artist in to hang her artwork for a show and the phone started ringing there with people wanting my attention for one thing and another. My cell phone rang all the way home. I stopped to get a coffee and my cell phone was ringing and when I walked in the house my cell phone and my house phone was ringing. Helllllllllllllllllllllllp!

Well, I have made up my mind what I am going to do first. I am going to go somewhere and hide out for a couple of hours. I'm going to take a tablet with me and draw some designs to possibly paint, have some coffee and maybe a scone, very fattening but I don't care today, maybe read some magazines, of course leave my cell phone at home so I don't hear ring, ring, ring, for a while. I'm going to just relax and gather some energy to face all the things that need doing today, I don't have to worry about any of it, it will all be right where I left it when I return.

Have a wonderful day!