Spring Skies

Moody sky.
Originally uploaded by michele_maule

Not a whole lot to report this morning.

It's been a very productive week and I'm quite proud at the amount of work I was able to do.

This weekend is supposed to be beautiful and in the 70's! Nate and I are trying to figure out what to do with the nice weather. Hiking? a day trip to Hood River? a bike ride and a picnic in St. John's? Sometimes the amount of outdoor adventures is a little overwhelming.

Whatever it is, I know it will be great. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Hooray!

It's Friday, and I actually have a real weekend. 


My plans include, painting, gardening, and celebrating my friend's 30th birthday. We're kicking off the weekend by going to see The Cabin in the Woods with friends tonight. Yikes! I love scary movies and I'm looking forward to seeing this. Mostly I'm excited about getting out of the house and going to the movies. It's been awhile.

I'm also hoping to finish my book Blue Nights by Joan Didion. If you're not familiar with her writing I urge you to pick up this book as well as a Year of Magical Thinking. Both books are a bit heavy. Blue Nights deals with the death of her daughter and it's also about how the author deals with her age and immortality. a Year of Magical thinking is about the sudden death of her husband. although both books are about the death of two loved ones, the books are not necessarily sad. They are reflections on her life with them.

I love how she writes about time and memory. How she compares this time last year, this time 5 years ago, this time 10 years ago. She also has this great train of thought kind of writing. It is lovely, thoughtful, and inspiring. 

So there. That's what I've got. Have a good weekend! 

Not Much

Not a lot to report on today.
It was a great weekend that included beers, donuts, antiquing, and cozy movie time.

We bought tickets to head out to Pittsburgh, and that is also exciting. We're planning on visiting the Warhol Museum and also The Mattress Factory. at first we thought The Mattress Factory was an actual mattress factory, and we were pleasantly surprised to learn that it is in fact an art museum!

Many people have told me that Pittsburgh is a lot like Portland, or a lot like Portland used to be. I've heard there is a lot of industrial architecture, water towers, and bridges. So, I'm looking forward to seeing the city, and maybe even gaining some inspiration.

On another note, I've been adding to my sale section on Etsy. Some prints, and now some originals. I'll be adding to this section, so keep your eyes open! 

Sickness

Oh my...
I had a short bout of some sort of plague yesterday.

I'm feeling much better this morning, however! Hooray!

Wonderful Place - Mixed Media Collage

Despite feeling like death yesterday, I managed to get two new little pieces listed in my shop. Wonderful Place lives here and Be Brave lives here. For the record, I didn't start to feel too terrible until just after I posted them ;)

Be Brave - Watercolor Painting

anyway, it's Saturday! We're supposed to get snow tonight and tomorrow! We'll see if that really happens... Thankfully it's a weekend so we won't see this city totally loose it's mind. Hope the weekend is treating you well.

Missing Out?

I feel like I've been really getting back into my groove and working lots the past week or so. It feels really good.

I've been catching myself when I have the "Must-make-something- quick-so-I-can-post- it-on Etsy" thoughts. It's been hard, but I've been really good about it.

The little birds I've been working on have been making me happy. Now I feel like it's time to move on. I don't know what's next, but that's what I'll be thinking about all day at work..

I'd really prefer not to be at work today.
The Summit of awesome is taking place today in Portland. Well, it's been taking place the last few days. I really wanted to go. I just didn't have the funds and inventory at my job also happens to be this weekend. So double poop.

I feel like I am really missing out on this. Part of me wishes I would have just went anyway....
I like my job, and I'm thankful to have health insurance and a retirement plan, but part of me wishes that I could go back to making art full time. Silly money and health care. Why does it have to play such a big role in our lives? ;)

Well, another grey day here in the City of Roses. It's supposed to rain all weekend too. I like the rain and grey. It helps me get work done, but at the same time, I'd really love to feel the sun on my face today.

Well, hope you all have a good weekend! If it's sunny where you are, go outside and let the sun shine on your face for me!

Summer Monday

It actually doesn't really feel like summer today. More life Fall. That's okay with me. The heat was getting to be a bit much.

I had a good weekend. I went out on Friday, and saw some old friends.
Saturday we headed to Silverton, Oregon to hang out with my friends Angie and Nicole. They live next door to each other, on kind of a farm. Nicole runs a bug farm, where she provides bugs for pet stores, and television shows. You know, those television shows where they get people to eat bugs for money? Most likely those bugs came from Nicole's farm :) It's true.

She also has chickens, turkeys, goats, and peacocks. Chloe escaped from us and got to chase after a chicken. She had a lot of fun.

Then yesterday we went to a friend's birthday get together in Peninsula Park. Good times. I'm happy to be back home. Very happy.

Unfortunately, I didn't get any photos this weekend...but here are some Chloe pictures I've been meaning to post.

Hope everyone had a good weekend too!

Early Blog

I thought I would post an early blog today.
Change it up a little.

I was very productive this weekend. Lots of work done.

I am so close to finishing my paintings for my upcoming shows...very exciting and I can't wait to post them up for everyone to see.

I finally watched both the Godfather and the Godfather II and let me just say I feel more connected with my Italian American roots. haha :)

Just kinda spent the weekend at home. Michael got some work done for his upcoming figure drawing class, Chloe napped, and since they cut down all the trees on the side of our yard, we now get a lot of light in our apartment, so I was able to get a good picture of Heather Blackwell's painting.


Jenipher at Cherry-Runway asked me to do a blog interview for her, and of course I said yes! So here it is:

www.cherry-runway.blogspot.com

Anyway, it's time to Chloe for her walk, and then I am going for a three mile run...
Hope everyone had a good weekend :)

Egads!

I like that word. Egads!!

haha.

Anyway...I said that the other day when Michael said that he had built 83 panels of varying sizes for me!!! Egads! 83...panels....I *hope* that will get me through the summer. If it doesn't, well, I am going to raise my prices 125% and hire an assistant :)

I had a good weekend. Not as much work done as I would have liked, but I am waiting for my panels to be finished so I can get to work on them. I want to put more paintings in my shop....

I went to a craft fair in Flint that was really fun. It was called Flint City Handmade. It took about an hour to drive there, but Flint was actually kinda cute. I thought it would be like Pontiac. Run down and abandoned, but it wasn't. They even had really good coffee! :) yay!

I also met a fellow Ety peep! yay! My first Etsy peep. His Etsy shop is Kill Taupe and he was recently a featured seller. I bought these awesome Detroit Hooker magnets :)

I almost met him a few weeks ago at the 323 Gallery opening...he has work there too...but I was too shy. Anyway, this time I just walked right up and said hi, and he was really really nice. He's thinking about moving to Portland! He totally should. I think he would fit right in.

Anyway..that's about it. Look for new paintings very soon...very very soon.

Have a good Monday.

ps only 8 days until I leave for NYC!!

Mail!

I have some really cool stuff coming in my mail and I can't wait.

I'll be sure to post some of it once it gets here :)

My friend and fellow blogger Diana of A Muted Palette is having a contest on her blog!

You can win one of her amazing ACEOs. Just choose which one you like the best and post it in her comments. Then post your favorite on your blog, and provide a link back to her blog.

So this is my favorite! It was hard to decide, but I really like her pen and ink drawings. They are really beautiful.

So maybe I will win one of her ACEOs and have another awesome thing to look forward to in my mailbox.

Well that's it for me today. I have a lot of homework to accomplish today. This is the last project for my Graphic Design project and I can't wait to get it over and done with. I am going to have so much free time after this class! Whew! I cannot wait...

ps.
I found this really awesome Etsy shop where there is a Boston Terrier super hero :)





http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5635788


Have a great weekend and an awesome Friday!