Pumpkins

I totally forgot to blog about our pumpkin adventures on Sunday.

Chloe was helping me find the perfect pumpkin.

We decided to head over to Sauvies Island on Sunday, with the dogs. We were hunting pumpkins.

Bri and Carly

Sauvies Island is a weird place. It's a beautiful place. It's just odd how you can drive 10 minutes out of the city and be in the middle of farm country. Literal farm country.

lots o' pumpkins

Nate found a nice one.

Pumpkin farm entrance.

There are a number of pumpkin patches on the island. The first two are always crowded and crazy. We decided to head out a little further to try to avoid all the craziness. It was perfect. There were tons of pumpkins and it was much more quieter.

Volvo full of pumpkins.

friends. kinda.

field of zinnias.

The dogs loved it and Chloe passed out for the rest of the day :) 

Before and after

June 3rd

Remember a few weeks ago when I posted a picture about our evolving garden?

Well, I'm here to post a before and after picture for you.

We haven't been putting too much work into our garden the past few weeks, but it seems to have exploded on it's own.



Last week we finally got enough dirt in our troughs to plant something.

Sometime in april? I think?

Grow tomatoes grow!

July 12th. Still room for more plants!

We were at Home Depot and spotted these very sad tomato plants for $1.00. We decided to get them to just see if we could rescue them, and plant them in our troughs. So far they seem to be holding their own. I think with a little love and fertilizer they'll make it. We also got some more lavender because I just love it so much.


I want to plant some kale and some lettuces once the tomatoes are done! I'm so happy to have a house and a place where we can grow flowers and produce. I also love how many bees and butterflies we get in our yard! One of our neighbors has a couple of hives and I like knowing we help contribute a little something to their hives.

Beach

I'm sitting in a little beach cottage listening to the wind, and rain, hit the big windows, in the living room. It's a stormy day at the coast and I'm loving every minute of it.

We arrived here on Monday for a short vacation. It's been wonderful so far. The weather has had it's moments. It will be beautiful and calm one minute, and hailing and windy another minute. We weren't expecting sunshine and warm weather. This is the Oregon coast, after all. We mostly just wanted to get away from the city for awhile, and enjoy some fresh ocean air.

It's been so nice having some down time. Chloe loves it here, so much. She loves running on the beach and catching her ball....she also loves finding the dead animals on the beach...I do not, however love this.

Okay, back to doing nothing ;)

Lucky!

I sometimes forget how lucky I am to live in Oregon.

I spent a year and a half living in a place that was the complete opposite of where I live now, and sometimes I forget just how fortunate I am to live here.

Yesterday Nate and I went on a 12 mile hike at Multnomah Falls. Multnomah Falls is located about 20 miles outside of Portland. There are many trails you can hike on and many waterfalls to see. It started out being very cloudy and cool, but by the time we were done the sun had come out and we both had worked up a good sweat.

It was really beautiful. The foliage and the falls were so inspiring. Towards the end of our hike we came across a small bridge located right under a water fall. We stood there feeling the force of the wind on our face and the mist of the fall. It was amazing. Just what we needed after such a long hike.

Hope everyone had a good weekend!

Busy Days

Yikes.

It's been awhile since I blogged!

My show opening went well on Friday. Thanks to everyone who came out :)

I've really been just been taking the last few days off to try to regroup and refuel.
It's been great. I went hiking yesterday up at Multnomah Falls. It was such a beautiful day. I'm so glad I got to be outside enjoying it. I wish I had photos, but I can't seem to upload the pictures from my camera....

Hope everyone is having a great week so far :)

New Work!

Ok!

So as promised here are the new paintings I am working on right now. They aren't the best photos, but you can get a good idea. These paintings are going to be in the show I will be having in October. The show is taking place here, in Portland, at a very cute shop called Tilde in Sellwood.

I am pretty excited about this show.

My day off yesterday was great.
I need to do things like that more often.

Hope everyone is having a good Tuesday!

Taking the Day Off

I know I haven't written a blog in awhile...and well...I don't really have a lot to say today.

I have been working a lot in my studio, and I have several new paintings I'd like you to take a peek at...but, that will have to wait until tomorrow. Today, I am taking a break from my very hot studio, and spending the day outside. My friend Nate and I are heading out to the river, and I am really excited.

So, come check in tomorrow, and hopefully I'll have a sneak peak at some of my new paintings :)

Hope everyone is having a good Monday.

Etsy!

So Thursday night I got to meet Maria Thomas, CEO of Etsy, as well as some other Etsy admins and peeps.

It was pretty cool, and great to meet some fellow Etsy peeps!
They also provided all the alcohol for the evening!

I was going to post this on Friday, but either I had the worlds worst hangover, or I caught some sort of stomach bug...I was very sick.

But I'm much better now. :D

Other than being sick, I had a great weekend. I got tons of yard work done, and started some special orders. it was very productive.

Hope everyone else had a great weekend!

Thursday!

What is it about Thursday?
I love Thursdays and I don't know why.

I have a lot of things to do today, and I am ready to get started....

Just trying to figure out if I want to go for a run this morning.
I'd like to get as much running done before the winter comes.
Ah....winter. I am ready for Fall. It's still really warm and sunny here.
I want cold and rainy :) My friend thinks I am crazy...but I love that weather.
I guess you kinda have to if you live in Oregon, well, lived in Oregon.
I do get tired of it around March...but for the most part I love it.

I started working on my self portrait series yesterday, and I am really excited.
I think that these are going to convey a lot of things that I have been thinking about the last couple of years, but never really knew how to do it.

Well, I am going to finish my coffee, and get this day started.
Hope your Thursday goes well :)

Trying Hard

So I have been trying really hard not to be homesick.
But today got the best of me.

I looked up Jack White and Loretta Lynn's video for Portland, Oregon, and that was a huge mistake....

Anyway, I don't want to harp on the subject...because a lot of you already know how I feel. So I will just post a few videos on my home...and you can see why I love it so much...

This one has some people I don't know, but lot of landmarks that I do know.


Bikes!


Lots of Obama supporters! :)


The street I rode my bike on everyday, to go to work:


I can't wait to go home.

Numbers

9.5 months until we move to Portland.

200 sales goal yesterday!

7 sales this weeks alone! (Can't complaint about Etsy being slow anymore!) :)

3 blueberries that Chloe is staring at right now, wondering if she should eat them...

12 paintings that I am working on for upcoming shows.

2 miles I ran today.

92 degrees outside.

yeah. Numbers.

Thursday

So this morning has turned out to be pretty awesome.

I woke up to a nice sale, which is always good.
Got the apartment cleaned. Went to the Post Office and there wasn't a line.
Posted several new things in my shop. Got some good feedback.
Things are good.

We are going camping this weekend at my dad's house, which reminds me that I should probably call him and tell him we are coming to visit...

So yeah, so far so good.

Anyway, I think Morning my friends' all black pug is still missing.
So again, if you live in the Portland area please be on the lookout for her.
She is all all black pug, with no tags, and her name is Morning.
She was last seen in N.Portland near Peninsula Park...supposedly she was seen being carried by
an African American male.

I hope she comes home soon. :(

Treasury!

Ah!

I got a treasury! Ok, so I have never done a treasury before because they are almost impossible to get. Unless you sit on it all day, and really, who has time for that? But last night I happened to open Treasury West and it was at 223 lists (it has to fall below 222) and there was only 15 minutes until it opened again. So I sat...and the elusive little treasury box popped up!

So I made a Boston Terrier Treasury. All things Boston :)
You can see it here.

I think I have found a new addiction...

On another note...
If you live in the Portland area, notably the N. Portland area
please keep an eye out for a little 2 year old, all black, pug named Morning. My former co-worker has lost her dog...she ran away June 30th and was last seen in Peninsula Park...

Morning is a sweet little pug, who likes to bark, and is missing her collar.
I hope, and I now my co-worker and her partner hope, she comes home really soon.

Come home Morning!! Casey and Cat miss you terribly!!

Homesick X 100

I feel so homesick today.

I didn't wake up feeling this way, it just kinda hit me this afternoon.

I was thinking about walking to the Bipartisan cafe, and how I use to run into Angie there all the time...and we'd drink coffee and talk about what we were going to do that day, and maybe make plans to drink beers and have a BBQ later...

Anyway, it's less than a year now, I gotta push past this...less than a year. Less than a year! 11.5 months!

So I worked on some paintings today, posted a new illustration, and a new painting in my shop.
Taking pictures of my work is so hard. I don't know if any one else has this trouble, but I always feel like the picture really doesn't do the piece any justice...I guess that holds true in art history books as well. Not that I am comparing myself to a Botticelli or anything!! But good Lord, when I saw his paintings in person...I seriously almost cried. Ok, that's a little dramatic :)

Ah well. I should go for a run. It's nice outside...

Oh!! We got a little tomato baby on our cherry tomato plant!!
The best part about summer is eating cherry tomatoes by the bowl full, and still having plenty more for the next day...

Monday Monday...

They are off!

I sent this morning via FedEx insured to the max.

They should get there by Friday.
I have a good feeling now.

It's going to be a good show. I wish I could see it.
One of my favorite things about shows in popular coffee places is sitting for an hour or two, drinking copious amounts of coffee, and listening on on people's conversations. Sometimes it's about my work, sometimes it's about being rescued from three feet of snow on a snowshoe trail after being lost for two days. Yeah. No kidding. That was the best overheard conversation I think I have ever heard.

Oh!
Awesome stuff. So Ryan from Littleputbooks asked me if I could put together some tips for selling fine art on Etsy! I put together a list of 11 things that every fine artist should know about selling paintings and other artsy stuff and it will be posted on the Littleput blog!

It's mostly things that I have had to learn the hard way, unfortunately.

Hope everyone is having a great day, and recovering from their chocolate bunny induced sugar commas nicely.

Friday

It's Friday.
Hooray!

Ok, so I don't have a regular job so I guess it's not that big of a deal...but Fridays always have such a nice energy to them.

Anyway, I posted two new paintings today, and sold one. That's awesome.

I got a great convo from a woman in Oregon, Janice, sharing some really great websites with me.

www.kristindeluga.com
www.liztran.com

These are two wonderful artists you should check em out :)

Not a whole lot going on today. Chloe got to meet my neighbor Josh's dog, Georgia, today. I think she's a pretty shy puppy when it comes to other dogs. She kinda ran away...
Georgia is a long haired dachshund with crazy coloring and one blue eye and one brown eye.
She has her own myspace : http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendid=55846171

Alright, speaking of Chloe I should post a picture and get home to her...
Mike took this picture. It's a picture of the sculpture just outside the Cranbrook art muesum at night. He took it with our new camera.