What are you still holding on to?

"Beau With A Toy"

a birthday card for my mother

It's Mum's this month and I didn't have to dig very far for reference as this image was on the top of my photo stack. Beau passed in January 2007 but still remains one of my most beloved subject matters as he was such a handsome and still a very silly dog. I have taken so many photos of him over the years, and being such a handsome golden, most of the paintings that I have done with him have been my most popular. There are a few that I will not sell as they are too close to my heart. My mother has quite a collection herself.

I did this painting with watercolor on 250lb cold press Arches watercolor. I used to buy the ready made watercolor cards that you could just paint on, but after using them for some time, I feel that they aren't think enough or have enough "tooth" so a lot of the paint doesn't stay. But if they were thicker, they'd probably be more expensive.

Of course, I can't get rid of any supplies that I have purchased or were given to me over the years. There was one time I donated some things to an art class for an elementary school but I think that was mostly markers. I still hold on to everything and with the Creative Group still in full swing I usually take that time to use the different mediums. I still have charcoal from art school! But I still use it!!

What about you? Do you have a tough time letting things go? or is your life clutter and art supply free? I can only imagine.....

Dear Mr. President,

I probably have no idea how difficult your job is, but I'm sure it's pretty tough sleeping at night. Lord knows I have trouble sleeping if there's a thousand things in my head. But anyway, I wanted to write to tell you that I watched your State of the Union Address the other night. In order to keep my focus on what you were saying I had to focus my attention to the television which I sometimes have great difficulty doing. So I decided to draw the Speaker of the House, John Boehner, who sat behind you the entire time. You have no idea how bored he looked and fidgety he was as you spoke. But I think my drawing came out okay. What do you think?

Speaker of the House, John Boehner

graphite

Anyway, I did want to say that I was very impressed with what you had to say during your talk. Firstly, thank you for taking care of the credit card companies with their outrageous behavior. You have no idea how much money you saved me in the long run. Secondly, thank you for putting a new spin on the two parties and mixing it up a bit in the seating arrangement. I think because of that, you didn't have any outbursts like you did last year. I want to say, however, that as much as I agree that we should excel our children in math and science as well as give our teachers a mountain of respect for doing what they do, you CANNOT forget about arts education. The arts, whether its fine art, writing, theater or music makes us who we are; human. Without it we'd be nothing but a bunch of army ants just going through the motions. Art education will keep young minds open. Also please understand that not all students are going to excel in math & science. (Speaking from my own history I HATED math!) I watch my two nephews right now and one is excellent in math, the other, well.... But I believe that not all children learn the same way. Please let the teachers and parents know about this and try to help them as they are struggling to keep up.

Also, Mr. President, today is my mother's birthday. I did a card for her which you can see here:

Sammy done in watercolor & ink

My mother turns 67 today. She is still working at her job because she needs her health insurance for both her and my father. I would love to see the day when my mum can retire (my father was forced to because of his Rheumatoid Arthritis) and enjoy the latter years of her life. She's still goes bowling, plays golf and is a huge Patriots fan. I know that you are working hard at making health insurance affordable for everyone. I just wish you could make it happen quicker. Let me know what I can do to help.

Thanks for listening.

Your friend,

Christine

Happy Birthday to ME!

Happy Birthday to MEEEEEEEEEEEEE! ha hahaha. Yes, Monday June 7th will be my 39th birthday. Holy Crap! The plan is to go to the house in Chester and whoop it up all weekend. It's supposed to thunderstorm so that really means Muggy weather, frizzy hair and bugs! But out in the woods, what else could you expect?

Last night I worked on the portrait of Shayeden, a pit bull mix from Ohio. Her owner won my gift certificate through the Poppy Mart Auction held by the Pit Bull Rescue Central. For more information on how you can help these wonderful dogs go here http://www.pbrc.net/. I've donated a certificate for the 2010 auction. I believe it starts in October and is done through Ebay. I'll keep you posted.

What a sweet face! This painting is about half way done at this point.

Speaking of Sweet faces, I just want to take a moment and let you all know a secret: I love my boyfriend (aw, so nice!) Anyway, this past Wednesday I went down to J's rehearsal space and watched his trio ROCK! It was a really good set and they are getting ready to put out an EP. Of course, when it comes out, I'll be a tweeting maniac!! J's a bit like Donald Fagen in the way everything has to be perfect, but we've talked about it and we both agree that why would you put anything out that's half assed?

He's an avid outdoors man, hunting and fishing and all. I call this picture his "Game Face".

So speaking of the space, Here's a picture of the rehearsal door. I'm posting it because I entered a contest for the Great Frog. The Great Frog is a silversmith in London who does a lot of very cool jewelry. Lots of skulls, but I'm waiting for the stag/deer ones. It's just a matter of time before they start creating those. *hint hint* Anyway, they have this contest that they'll send you stickers, you stick them, take a photo and send it to them and the winner gets a piece of Jewelry. So with out further ado:

And yes, I'm still a girl. And every girl has a sticker collection. Mine happens to be on the cat box!

For more info about Great Frog go here! http://thegreatfrog.com/index.php

Have a great weekend!!!!