THINGS THAT MAKE ME SMILE

Today I was busy painting again and was looking at things around me that make me smile and I tought I should share them with you...they may make you smile too! 

This is my new 2010 Calendar by the artist Romero Britto.  I really don't know anything about this artist and the work couldn't be more different from the images I paint but...I LOVE THEM!  They really make me smile....

The next thing that I saw that made me smile was my new red reading glasses...cheaters...they are so sassy!

Then I happened to think about my assortment of colored paper clips...you know, I don't know why but they always make me smile too.

Then I noticed this and realized he definately NEEDS to smile more...especially since he is on the cover of such a great product.

Guess I needed a little break from painting...hope you had some smiles visiting my blog today.

See ya later!

CAREFUL WHICH CUP YOU SIP FROM

Today I have been busy painting.  It was a dark, dreary day which called for a hot cup of Joe... needless to say...be careful when painting and drinking coffee at the same time.  If I wasn't almost drinking the paint water I was almost cleaning my brush in my coffee!

I love listening to podcasts while I'm painting and today I enjoyed listening to Craftsanity.  It's great listening to the interviews and hearing how people started their businesses.  If you ever get a chance you should check it out.

So here is a peek at my next piece... it's not totally finished and this is a bad picture of it but I'm enjoying the spring images.  I've got a bunch of images lined up to paint.  I'll share the finished products later.

Hope you have a great week!

PHOTO SHOOT

Last weekend was so beautiful here in the Pacific Northwest.  I was fortunate to be able to go for a drive with my lovely SIL, Holly.  She drove me around her picturesque surroundings allowing me to go crazy taking pictures.  The Canadian Rockies are so AMAZING! 

Yes...Holly lives in a beautiful part of the world.  She also drove me to a friends house who I was happy to meet for the first time even though I felt like I've known her for awhile because I visit her almost daily...here.

Thanks for such a fun day Holly!

Hello Mr. Robin

Hello Mr. Robin,

What are you looking for today?  A piece of straw... some sort of hay?

Or could it be it's time for lunch?  A juicy worm to munch munch munch.

I've seen you twittering in and out with other birds flying about. 

Was it a bird convention in my back yard?  There were 30, 40, no... 50 or more...birds of all kinds that I simply adore.  I'm sure that I saw you... I looked very hard.  I know it was you that I saw in my yard.

You are very busy...so hard at work and

here's hoping you find what you want in the dirt.

IF THIS GATE COULD TALK...

Hello friends,

Here's my new inspiration for a series of "garden" paintings.  I saw this little old house in town and decided I needed to take a picture of it and start painting. 

It spoke to me...the gate said "do you hear the squeaks when my doors open and close?...each squeak is a story to be told...about the people that came through my gate...the people that love this home and the people who live in it.  The years that have gone by may have faded the memories of others...but not mine.  If you could hear through my squeaks the stories I have to tell you...the secrets that came and went late at night...the excitement of children running through my gate, the romance of young adults sneaking through my gate, the joy of special friends welcomed through my gate, the sweet tenderness of a newborn held in the arms of Mother opening my gate so carefully to keep my squeaking from waking the baby and the excitement of returning home, swinging my gates open wide.  There's so much laughter, tears and love that I have seen.  When the doors on my gate swing open to greet you...you will feel it, the whisper of stories untold."

Silly old me...pretending to be a writer...I do love this gate and it does seem to have one or more stories to tell.  I hope you have a great weekend. 

Blessings to you!

Meagan

CRAFTY

(My trusty Prismacolor pencils)

Hi friends,

Yesterday was craft day with my friends Joan and Rosario.  We had a great time together making fun things, enjoying yummy food, conversation and inspiration. 

(Joan made these yummy thumbprint cookies...Thanks Joan!)

One thing that we did together was rubberstamping rocks and then embossing them.  They turned out so great!  If you try it just make sure to not touch the rocks for quite some time...they really hold the heat from the heat gun.

(not sure why this picture keeps rotating in this direction!  But you get the idea.)

 The other thing we did was making these cute little envelopes from this template...Joan recycles old pictures from magazines and scraps of paper she has to make them and they are adorable.  You can see them on her blog here. 

Joan and Rosario are the queens of green crafting.  They inspire me daily.  Rosario is one of those amazing artists that can just look at something and draw it...perfectly...I'm not kidding!  She is so talented!  Yesterday she was working on these darling place cards for a wine tasting party.  On the front of the card it had the persons name and the back said 2010.

We also made Valentine cards...Joan is so organized, she has files of ideas from magazine articles that she has pulled out and kept all neat and tidy in individual files... each one labeled and organized!

It is so good to do some crafting and letting your brain explore some other things than you are usually doing...I think it helps me to be more creative with my paintings...kind of makes you think out of the box.  Anyway, it was a fun day and I can barely make myself put all the stuff  away...I want to keep crafting!!!

Have a wonderful weekend.

Meagan

Dog Sitting

Hi Friends,

Today our petless house was filled with joy as we got to dog-sit.  B.J. and Harley came over to get spoiled.  We went on a REALLY  LOOOONNNGG walk...and ate bad things in the kitchen.  It was so much fun! 

(That looks good!)

(Hey...We want some of that!)

(YUM...YUM...YUM!)

(That was GOOD!)

Hope you had a good day too!

Meagan

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Happy New Year.

I love that word...NEW.  A NEW start...a NEW year...a NEW me...no not really, it's the same old me only with some new ideas.  I have to admit that the last few years have been a bit of a roller coaster, a rocky road, character builder kind of years.  I know it's been that way for so many of us.  I'm excited for the NEW YEAR, 2010...or Twenty 10... however you wish to call it.  I'm glad that 2009 is over but even though I'm so glad it's over there were a lot of good things that came out of those tough times.  The tough times may not be over but they have definately helped me to see what good can come out of them...even though I don't like it.  I was discussing this with a local artist who told me that she calls it the "Trevi Lesson of Life".  I had no idea what she was talking about.  She asked me if I had ever been to Rome and I haven't.  So she told me about this wonderful experience she had when she was in Rome.  She was wandering around these small streets...nothing special...and takes a left onto another not so special street (now remember...we're talking about Rome...so "not so special" may have a different meaning) and suddenly on the left was a small street that opens up to the Trevi Fountain.  Completely unexpected...and there it was, this magnificent fountain.  She went on to compare her find to a life lesson...those turns we take that open up completely unexpected possibilities. 

I loved this...the adventure of it all.  So this new year I am looking forward to the completely unexpected.  Hopefully it will be for the better...but one thing I know for sure is that how I look at things is changing.  Maybe I'm up for things not necessarily looking like I thought they would...and that's ok.

Happy New Year everyone!