Bikers, Minivans, and Gangstas!

"Why hasn't she blogged?" you might be asking. It's because I was kidnapped by a band of musical-loving ninjas who wouldn't let me go until we'd completely reenacted Newsies (which is a totally underrated musical, just sayin'). 

Yeah, that's a round about way of saying I got busy. Sorry.

But fret not, I have been painting! I can't share everything because they're secrets, and... well... the internet is not exactly the best place to hide something. ;) But I can share a couple close ups.

What are these? Don't ask. I'll explain later. ;)

Update on my new (new to me, that is) minivan purchase, it's going great! I love the Toyota--driving it, riding in it, staring at it from inside my house, etc. lol Seriously, no person should be as excited about power windows as me!

I don't see many Toyota Sienna's on the road, so every time I do, I feel like I need to salute them or something like we have some sort of inside secret. You know like how the bikers have a two finger salute for each other: 

Everytime I see a Sienna, I want to do this! LOL!

This is a Blog Post in Which the Poster Could Not Come Up With a Creative Title

Here's another "new" painting. I know, shame on me. I should actually finish something. I consider myself spanked.

To be honest, I've been working on this one for a while. (By working, I mean painting, getting frustrated, quitting, painting again, etc.)

This is a special request for my younger brother, Mr-Think-Outside-of-the-Box. He sketched me a hilarious scene depicting himself and a buddy lounging in their economy class while the teacher does an obnoxious impression of all the adults in Charlie Brown.

I love the bright red and royal blue along with the simple, cartoony concept. Based on his sketch, here's what I have so far:

It's been "fun" to paint. You know, as in I stay up until midnight (because that's late for us old farts) and paint feverishly while cursing my brother and his crazy ideas, but admire what I've done the next day while sipping coffee. That kind of fun.

Enough blogging, time for me to get back to the classroom. ;)

Isn't She Lovely?

Bambi, look out! I'd like to see you try to take this thing out! That's right, I'm the new owner of this:

Just kidding! It's actually this:

Yeah, I'm a soccer mom now. It's not like I was ever driving a fancy car anyway. After Bambi tried to take out my old car, I decided it was time to get a new vehicle. I mean, I had my other car since I was 16 (and it had been wrecked at least 4 times). It was time to give it a rest. 

But every time I look at her, all I can think is this:

On The Burner: Sleeping Beauty

Just like most right-brained people, I love to start projects. Finishing is a little more challenging. I decided I wanted something to go along with my Red Riding Hood paintings. So, I started my version of Sleeping Beauty.

That's just a preview of the face. It's going to be almost a full body shot. Right now she looks like she popped out of the 1960's. I'll fix that later. 

Her skin colors were inspired by this:

No, I am not a Twihard. But I have to admit they did a good job making Kristen Stewart look striking.

And in other sparkly news, since Bambi tried to take out my car, I am now test driving a sparkly crimson minivan. Yes, the dealer actually told me to take it home and drive it for a couple days. As my oldest son said, "I love this car! (pause) And Jesus!" Amen.

Friends in High Places

Remember Mousiekins?

Well, apparently he had friends in high places. *cough*Bambi*cough* One of them tried to take out Daddy the Destroyer today while he was on his way to work.

My car now looks a bit like this:

No, this is not actually my car. It's too dark out for a decent picture, but this is pretty much what my car looks like right now. Le sigh. 

Even in death, Mousiekins taunts me...

Here's Yer Sign!

TA DA! Recognize this? Oh yeah, that's right! That's my art on a glowing sign! I'm so proud. Felt kind of like having a baby, "He's so beautiful..." *sniffle*

For those who don't recognize my little farmer boy, here's a recap: I was commissioned by a friend to color some line art for his restaurant. I came up with this:

They did end up tweaking it a bit. They changed the wheel a little, colored the shirt red, and let the poor boy eat chicken instead of a burger. (Hey, chicken is healthier, right?) 

I am definitely one proud parent! ;)

On the Burner...

Here's what's cookin' on the burner this week:

I worked on it for about an hour last night. It's the companion piece to this:

It was really fun to paint and coming together quickly. I made this little square brush with rounded corners and slightly softened edges. It paints really nicely and reminds me more of oil painting. And thank goodness, because I'm having some oil painting withdrawals! 

I don't oil paint much (okay, like almost never) because it's such a pain in the rear to get all of my supplies out and then put them back away again. I mean, set up and clean up time are at least 30 to 45 minutes, whereas it takes me 2 min to paint digitally!

Still, I miss the way that oils blend and the beautiful look they give a painting. I'm going to have to take time to do some more oil painting I guess. :)

Farewell Mousiekins

Let's have a moment of silence for Mousiekins the Bold.

Poor Mousiekins met his untimely end not in a mouse trap, but by the hands of Daddy the Destroyer. You see, when Daddy went to open the shed, Mousiekins popped out and ran down Daddy's arm in a scene that looked a lot like this:

I'll spare you the details of Mousiekin's death, but let me just say I'm glad to be mouse free. For now. 

More pictures, less talk

Before I share my latest art piece, let me say that I accomplished much today. The house got a thorough cleaning-- not because I'm super wife, but because I couldn't find my favorite shoes. Yeah, that's sad, I know. But I picked up toys, moved furniture, vacuumed, and scrubbed dusty walls until I found them underneath my husband's laptop case...

...in the living room. Sometimes I amaze myself.

I'm kind of addicted to painting these paper cut out pieces: 

Today I started wondering if I could make something in this style that adults would like, too. So, in the Halloween spirit, I did this:

I really like it. I want to make a companion painting for it-- maybe a dapper dude in a tux with a top hat or Phantom-of-the-Opera kind of mask. What do you think?

Russia!

The coolest thing about this blog is my stats. Seriously.

Blogger breaks it down. Not only do I see how many views I get per day (drawn on a cool graph), but I can see what countries they're from. I have people from Russia reading my blog!

RUSSIA!

International stardom, anyone? Okay, just kidding! Please don't curse me and stop reading!

In other news... We have a guest in our house. I call him Mousiekins the Bold. He's a lovely light brown mouse who has made himself quite comfortable in our kitchen, even darting across the room in the middle of the day. I suppose he wouldn't be quite so bold if he new who he was staying with. 

That's right, Mousiekins. Meet your nemesis--Mama the Murderer and her henchman, Daddy the Destroyer. There's a reason you're the only mouse guest here.