#113 Home for Christmas!

It's Christmas Eve and I'm grateful to be snug in our home and to have Dean and the girls and Jake here with me. I thought I'd post a few pictures of our home decorated for the season; this old house seems to really love being decked out!

The entry hall:

This year I put lighted garland on the stairs:

 

The tree in the living room/music room:

 

Another view:

 

My Buddha loves his greenery and stars!

 

The "boys" on the mantel in the music room:

 

The mantel in the dining room:

 

Lladro polar bears on loan from my sister:

 

The other end of the dining room mantel:

This year I put a tree in the dining room - it's all gold and stars and icicles:

 

Detail of the dining room tree:

 

The dining room table with a runner I made from IKEA fabric:

 

The dining room in the daytime:

The Foo dogs love sporting their holiday spirit, too:

 

I hope your Christmas is magical! Merry, merry Christmas to you and all those who are sharing the day with you!

(and now I'm going to take off until New Year's Day!)

#112 Puppy Love!

Emily took this picture of Jake yesterday - what a sweet puppy he is! He is all that is wonderful about dogs; loving, obedient, protective (well, he has a big bark while his tail wags...) and Soul-full! Boy, do I love this little guy!

#111 Cleverness!

I was doing some online shopping today and came across some T-shirts (available at the Mental Floss Store) that had clever sayings that tickled my brain:

 

 

(If these are too small for you to read, click on the link above and you'll be able to see them larger.)

I saw another one somewhere else that I really loved - it read " More people read this shirt than your blog" - great, huh? And true!!!

Well, that's all I've got for the Peanut Gallery today. It's been an especially l-o-o-o-o-n-g day and I'm really, really, really looking forward to going to sleep. My bed is sooooo comfy!

Should wake up to snow falling. There is a Winter Storm Warning in effect and we might get up to a foot of the white fluffy stuff!

Yahooo!

#110 Color Studies...

It's really hard to get the color reproduced correctly for this little (4"x6") painting. The real colors are less intense and more dark purple-blue/magenta. But I wanted to share it anyway..

I'm having fun with these imaginary landscapes. They are a good way to learn about working with acrylics and playing with color and texture. I need Dean to cut some more pieces of scrap MDF for me so I'll have them ready when the mood strikes!

#109 Everything's okay but...

My mama and Christmas trees don't mix. Two years ago she fell while decorating her tree and ended up with a titanium rod in her femur. Today she was trying to wrestle a new 6ft. pre-lit tree out of her car and up to their apt., passed out  and fell backwards hitting her head. Nothing's broken, and no concussion, but she'll spend a couple of days in the hospital for tests to determine why she passed out.

At least she doesn't loose her voice every Christmas like she used to until she realized she was allergic to the pollen of our real tree...Poor mama!!!

I just looked for the post I wrote when she fell two years ago - I even drew a cartoon about it. Here's the link since it's over at Scones and Crones.

Advice to Mama: Stay awaaaaaaay from the tree!!!

#108 New Work...

I can't remember the last time I painted with acrylics, but I think it was probably in college and that was many, many years ago. But last night I decided to give it a go since I had a piece of  5" X12" MDF and a new box of acrylics just waiting for me to be inspired. This is, of course, a landscape (an imagined one)  but I think of it more as an experiment with color:

I'm happy with it and think I'll try some more when the mood strikes. The idea of something using blues and purples appeals to me. Need to go search for some more scraps of wood or MDF!

#107 Playin' Around...

I got the Christmas cards finished and in the mail (complete with a typo on the letter that I didn't catch until I had most of the envelopes sealed- argh!!!) so I decided to take some time and play a bit. Here's what I did:

With the second snow of the season on the ground and more to come, it appears my mind is somewhere where the flowers are a-bloomin'!

#106 Sometimes...

Sometimes I think it would be wonderful to have a really limited color palette in my home. I know I'd be happy for about 2 seconds, but, well, when I see pictures like this, I start thinking...

It's lovely, isn't it? But I think what I really like about this room is the way the mantel is arranged. Mantels are always a challange to get right!

#105 What a Sweetie...

When I was going through images today, looking for work to put on my professional site, I came across this picture of Jake when he was just a wee pup. He was so dear sitting there, surveying his yard, absolutely content. Anyway, how could I not share it with you???

p.s. Have a great week!

#104 Classics Rule!

You just can't beat the graphic appeal of Stendig's 4'x3' wall calendar:

The pages alternate between white on black and black on white...love it! I had one of these in my first apartment and I "wallpapered" one whole wall by taking the calendar apart and tacking it up in a checkerboard pattern - really made the room!

Designed in 1966 by Massimo Vignelli, the calendar has been part of the Design Collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York since then.

I wouldn't be surprised if one of these found it's way onto my studio wall once I get all the painting done. Won't it look great???

(Hope Santa is reading this!)

LATE ENTRY: S/he DID read this and it will be a Christmas present! Thanks Kristan!! !

#103 Sheesh...

So I decided to go for the MID level of the Online Galleries for my professional site, and of course it's not working now because it takes a few days to settle in. (I thought it broke because I was looking at it so much!) But I'm thrilled never-the-less and can't wait to see it up and running.

With this level I'll be able to have 4 galleries so I can organize my work better and include more. I'm considering making one of the galleries for Etsy stuff; I could showcase some of the things I'l have in the shop. (I'm being confidently optimistic here; my new mantra is "I WILL sell things on Etsy in the New Year!") Anyway...

I'm excited!

Late entry: I was just sent an email saying the site can be viewed here until it settles out. Whew!

#102 Playin' Around...

Oooooo goodie! Found a new site that lets you have a basic gallery site for FREE so of course I had to sign up and play around....

To check it out, click:  HERE.

Amazing how time flies when I'm working on anything related to design. I've been having fun for the past three hours and now it's late, Late, LATE! Best get to bed; the better to PLAY tomorrow!

Wheeeeeeee!