I am in love with this painting. To be clear, I don’t mean that in a “neener neener I’m so awesome” way. I just like how it turned out. You never know how paintings are going to turn out. They have a life of their own.

I love this one because obviously I had an adorable subject to begin with. The client requested a “snowy, nighttime” background which, along with those big blue eyes and cherubic cheeks reminds me of a Hans Christian Andersen character.

I think I’ll go read some fairytales.

My son asked me the other day if I thought he’d play in the Major League someday. Of course, I do. I’m his mom. It helps that he’s talented, and serious, and crazy for baseball. It helps that his dad plays catch with him until dark every night. And it helps that in his three short years in Little League, he’s had great coaches.

This week, I sent last season’s husband-wife coaching team portraits of their kids as thank-yous.

Play ball.

My kids only have two cousins (my sister’s kids) and the four of them are thick as thieves. Since they live in Arizona and we live in Oregon, they only get to see each other for a few weeks in the summer time. We call it Cousin Camp.

This summer, Cousin Camp is at my parents’ house and the kids have packed more fun, day trips and sugary snacks into a few weeks than I experienced in my whole childhood. Next week launches the Harry Potter bit of Cousin Camp, complete with costumes, horcrux quests, potion class and a cardboard reproduction of Diagon Alley. Wait ’til you see the pictures.

Anyway, my sister and I each have a boy and a girl and they are just months apart. We each have a child with blue eyes and one with brown eyes. The boys collect baseball cards. The girls collect clothes. They are at an age where they get along famously.

Here’s to cousins.

Evan

Reagan

Completed: June 17, 2011

Beverage: Three Buck Chuck

Soundtrack: Lady Gaga, Born This Way

This month, you can see my work in Grand Vines, a great wine shop in Salem, Oregon (my home city.)

Art + Wine

Last night was First Wednesday downtown and theme was “Dog’s Nite Out”. The place was packed. The rest of my family was at a Little League game in the gray drizzle, but I was happy as a clam with my wine, cheese and solitude.

And I deserved it, what with my car, washing machine and Shark steam vac all crapping out at the same time.

That’s all I’m saying.

If you read The Pioneer Woman, you’ll probably recognize these next portraits.

Like millions of other people, I read Ree’s blog every day. There’s always something that interests me on a personal level…but that’s why we choose to read the blogs we do, right? Her post last week about her kids saddling and unsaddling the horses prompted me to go back to my photo albums. I looked through pictures of myself as a kid with my horses (in order of appearance) Sonny, Babe, Theo and Rowdy, and re-live my own saddling and unsaddling days. When I got my first pony at 9 years old, I remember thinking how heavy the saddle was with its wooden stirrups and clanking buckles. You’re supposed to throw the cinch(es) over the saddle when you put it on, but invariably those buckles would slide down and hit me in the face. Consequently, I did a lot of bareback riding to avoid the whole situation.

My family lives in the city and I sometimes regret that my kids won’t grow up doing farm chores and playing in the woods like I did. They aren’t spoiled, but there is a different level of responsibility that country kids learn, I think.  Seeing Ree’s kids working on the ranch plucks at my heartstrings just a little.

In the past year or two, I’ve painted Ree’s dog Charlie and even her cow. I can’t wait to see how these portraits of her children look all framed up at the ranch.

Despite a headache that’s lasted for a million years, I awoke on Monday with a radically heightened sense of possibility.

And sure enough, good things started happening.

First,  it was announced that my painting, Naughty had been included in the Top 10 finalists for the Mutt Lynch wine label contest. We find out today if I win the case of wine, bragging rights and a trip to Healdsburg, California. Fingers crossed.

Second, author Neil Gaiman posted some photos of my paintings living in his house. In his entry hall, specifically. I am over the moon about this.

Look, Cabal's in the photo, too!

 Third, I finished an enormous painting of 21 dogs and two people and got an order for two more giant paintings. The first enormous painting required a trip to Home Depot and construction of a hoopty workbench.

I’m outgrowing my workspace and LOVING IT.

Remember last year when I went to the MTV Movie Awards celebrity gift lounge? Right. Well, it was sort of a last-minute thing, meaning, I didn’t have a a budget to you know, get there and back and feed myself and transport art and stay at a fancy L.A. hotel and everything. But I really wanted to go. So I tweeted a little and posted a little and before you know it, people were ordering art right and left to fund my trip. My sister’s mother-in-law even traded in some of her airline miles to buy my ticket which was over the top nice. In return, and because she’s family, I told her I’d paint her grandchildren. It’s taken me nearly a year to paint four of her six grandkids (two of which are my niece and nephew) but she’s been patient, which I appreciate just as much as those plane tickets.

Four down, two to go.

Just finished the painting for the winner of the Girls Gone Child giveaway. My baby had smooshy cheeks like that, but now he’s nine. NINE.

Completed: May 14, 2011

Soundtrack: Schoolhouse Rock downloaded for the kids (Conjunction Junction, what’s your function?)

Beverage: Starbucks Iced Mocha

Last month The Modchik hosted a giveaway for a custom portrait and the winner was Kimberly. She wanted a portrait of her cat Pepper who’d passed the year before and whom they were still missing terribly. The photo she sent me was Pepper in the lap of her adorable daughter and I asked if she wanted her in the portrait too.

As a mom with two kids and three cats I know how rare these moments can be. Our two geriatric felines spend most of their time avoiding our children. I mean, when they’re not sleeping.

Kimberly explained that in this photo, her daughter was so excited that the cat was tolerating her lap and I think you can see it in her little smile.

And, like our cats, Pepper looks like she is getting ready to split.