Riding with the Bulls

Every weekend, hubby and I take a mountain bike ride near our home.   To mix it up, we met my brother to bike an area near where he works and NOT your designated bike trail.   We came across some very suspicious looking characters. All I could think of were the California cow commercials....

"Excuse me... but are you lost?"

  

"Hey, don't make me come over there!"

"That's right...you keep going and don't come back!"

 Maybe we were the suspicious ones...

Mi Casa, Su Casa

mi casa, su casa 8 x 10

Here's my first painting taken from the day in Santa Barbara.  This gent was napping at a bench in the Paseo Nuevo.  There nothing better than an afternoon nap! 

I did do a little detective work when I was taking pictures of people.  I  tried to look like I was taking a bunch of  pictures of buildings and whatnot, but I was really fascinated with the people. :)    This is watercolor on bristol board and a little white acrylic for highlights.

Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara Mission

If you ever get a chance to visit California, you must see the city of Santa Barbara.  My hubby and I drove there for the day and while he worked, I tooled around town taking pictures for potential paintings.

Santa Barbara Trolley

The temperature is always a little cooler there because of the ocean breezes.  It was gorgeous and warm that day. 

Paseo Nuevo Downtown Santa Barbara

 There's always great shopping and flowers in bloom year round. 

Me at Cost Plus (didn't buy the scarf..too hot)

Siesta Time!

  I only took 2 pictures of him, because I was afraid he might wake up.

The Beach

I'm told that the beach is the only one on the west coast that faces south.  Next up, my first painting. 

The New Studio

Dana's Old Bedroom and My Studio Before  : (

About a month ago, my daughter, Dana, suggested I move my art studio out of our little spare room and into her larger bedroom.  With both girls away at college and me working from home all day, it was just more practical that I move into a larger space.  I felt a little guilty about taking her childhood bedroom away for about a minute, but then jumped at the offer. 

It has been a lot of work reorganizing and going through years of stuff. 


 

My Studio After ...WoooHoo!

This is today!  The wall color is from Dunn Edwards- Newbury Port DE5881. The gallery shelves are from Ikea to display artwork, etc.  I brought a very ugly stained side cabinet home from my office job and painted it white. Hubby and I put wheels on the bottom so it was real easy to move out of the way to paint the wall.

I got these sweet Martha Stewart photo boxes on sale at Michael's for $1.66 ea.  What a deal!

Ikea $10 box frames

(Whenever I think of you I smile inside)

Next, window seat area needs work, because Tucker has worn out the fabric sitting there all day and looking out the window.  I'll save that for another day!

Let's Get Our Feet Wet With Creativity!

"The girls" have creativity in their bones, but in a different way than I do... for Kristen, its photography... so I have to tell you about how these pictures came about...

The other day, I asked Kristen to take some pictures of me for my blog and facebook, but I didn't want to spend a lot of time, somewhere close.  We knew about this graffiti pool from friends of hers but had never been there before.  I imagined it was some old community pool that we could park, take a few pictures and be done.  

I knew something was up when one of Kristen's friends met us on this old country road and took us part of the way up this dirt road to where she could direct us.  She pointed and said, "Just keep following this road up, turn left at the top.  

It was a long hike UP this rocky, dirt road, and we were both hot and sweaty by the time we got there.  It turned out to be the remains of a burned down residence and built-in pool on top of this mountain ridge with gorgeous views in all directions. Up until then it was cool and overcast, great for pictures, but then of course, the sun came out...not ideal for this mama's face.  To top it off, I dropped my ironed, extra clothes somewhere on the hike up. 

So, it really surprised me that quite a few pictures did turned out.   More to come... I think she needs to start a blog for her photography, don't you! 

Decision

Here's another imaginery landscape painting using a mixtures of papers, stamping, gesso on watercolor paper. I'm still using the cheese cloth and have stamped it green to give movement here and there to the foreground.  I am really enjoying these small paintings 6 x 8, and am working towards selling prints on Etsy soon.

Annie

My daughter's friend, Alyssa, told me about sweet little Annie who had recently past and would be deeply missed by her grandparents.   She and her mom thought a portrait would be a nice memory for them.  Interestingly, this wasn't their first German Shepherd.  She said they loved the breed.

Some dogs are really special, aren't they?  Do you have a special dog?  Tell me about him/her.

All I can say is my dog, Tucker, is emmm "special"....and we love him.

Distant

Mixed Media on Watercolor Paper

8 x 10

I am Artist ... See me Soar

photos by Kristen Mulder

Remembering how to be fearless... a difficult task these days.   Why is the creative spirit so tender?   When I speak of the on-line course I took with Kelly Roberts and show my friends the different blogs I follow, they don't get it.  They wonder. Why?

(follow your bliss)

I don't really have an answer, except that I defend Kelly and how I identified with her.   All I know is that if this course teaches me how to take small steps towards whatever my creative dreams are, than it was well worth it.   

Paint It

 Taking the leap...are you with me?

Lights, Camera ...

One rainy summer day, my mother used up the film left in her movie camera by making a short film with me, my brothers, and our cousins that we called "Batman".  No sound, but if you remember the "Batman" series, we made little signs, "POW"  "WAM", etc.  It was all of 5 minutes, but the kids (the actors) loved to play that movie in the projector over and over.  We had always wanted to make another ...but then, we grew up.

I continued the tradition started by my mom with my girls.  We've made many home movies and put them to music. Usually,  I would pick an upbeat song and start envisioning an idea.  Even when I started, it was a difficult process. I did everything manually and put it on a VCR tape.   Now, we have a program "Pinnacle Studio"on our computer for making movies.  Since "the girls" could hold a camera, they've contributed and made their own.  They've complied many a school group project and we've had many friends come to our house to finish their video projects over the years.
 

I would advise any new moms to film a lot of videos as well as take pictures and get them uploaded to your computer.  My husband did our videos all at once a couple of years ago, and now we have a permanent file for our kids.  Although Dana probably spent many hours looking at videos to make the short movie for Kristen's graduation,  the videos and the music were all there in the computer ready to grab and use.  

 This movie is an example of one of the movies created by my daughter with her friend.  It's one of my favorites.

Congratulations, Kristen!

My daughter, Dana, made this video for her sister as a graduation gift. We all laughed and cried. You tend to forget over the years about all the things you did as a family. 

And now with our youngest graduating H.S., I'm feeling nostalgic and a little sad to close the door to their childhood.  Seeing these clips reminds me how precious these moments are and I'm so happy to have them to look back on.  I know I'm the mom, but I get choked up every time I watch this.

Check back.... I'm working on a post about how Dana made this movie...