It’s been another gray-sky day here in beautiful Portland. I love the rain! I’m guessing that the squirrels like it too because they are out in droves today and looking rather feisty. My backyard is a miniature forest and from my studio I can see them running and chasing each other from branch to branch. The squirrels we have in this neighborhood are just ginormous! I see them tightroping on a telephone line which runs through our backyard causing it to bow dangerously toward the ground. This little forest also has lots of robins which is why these birds tend to show up in my art a fair amount.

Here’s a brief moment of ooey-gooey cuteness:

On another note, I listed this new watercolor painting last night in my shop (although I admit, it’s not as cute as the baby):

Grape-a-licious Flowers — Original Watercolor ACEO

What fun it is to have a baby boy! I never realized that changing their diapers could be such a risky endeavor (baby sprinkler!). I’m learning something new every day. We put up these monkeys as targets on the wall over his changing table. He gets 10 points for the bottom monkey, 20 points for the middle, 50 points for the top monkey…but if he hits mom or dad, he gets 100 bonus points! He’s definitely winning this game!

Today Oscar decided to wear his new Pee-Pee Teepee as a Party hat:

After the party Oscar and Johnny Cash decided to take a nap together:

Here is a new watercolor I recently put in my shop. It has a polka-dotted background with stylized red flowers over it. I just love the way that the red flowers in this painting are translucent enough so that you can still see the dots underneath them. That’s one of the most beautiful aspects of watercolors and why I choose to paint with them. I also love to paint with a vivid color pallet and graphical design:

Polka Dot Flowers — Original Watercolor 4×6″

]]> http://popwheel.wordpress.com/2008/05/04/baby-party-hat/feed/ popwheel http://popwheel.wordpress.com/2008/04/30/pink-ninja-girl/ http://popwheel.wordpress.com/2008/04/30/pink-ninja-girl/#comments Thu, 01 May 2008 00:56:48 +0000 popwheel http://popwheel.wordpress.com/?p=75

I don’t typically post pictures of my teenage daughter online. As her mother I tend to guard her privacy and shelter her from the many varied safety issues posed by the Internet. And yet, I’m still a proud Mommy! So I decided to draw a picture of her instead:

I kid you not…she was dressed like this yesterday afternoon. A few of her favorite things are: Naruto, YouTube, Manga, Cosplay, and Tokyo Urban Style. So she was wearing red and black striped tights, a purple shirt, a long fuzzy scarf, and pink kitty ears. Oh yeah…did I mention she has bright pink hair?

The weekend before last, Pink Ninja Girl went to a fancy-schmancy beauty salon to have her hair cut and colored. It took several hours and she arrived home with mommy-approved hot-pink hair (a weave with dark brown) and this oh-so-cute flippy ‘do!

Ooooo…I’m feeling inspired to do a series of prints with Pink Ninja Girl as the subject. Be watching for a shop update in the near future!

Lately I’ve been making more of an effort to take better photographs of my artwork to use in my shop. People always say that it helps people envision how the artwork will look in their homes before purchasing. The two pictures on the right are framed ACEO/ATCs:

I am pleased to announce that I am officially a stay-at-home mommy.

What will I do all day? Just go ask this guy:

I plan to spend a lot of my time working in the studio while he’s napping. It’s also good because I can spend more time with my 13-year-old daughter and she’s thrilled happy that I’ll be staying home. She says she wants me to greet her at the door every day with milk and cookies. Not every teenager wants to spend more time with their parents, so I better take advantage of it now!

So here’s some new artwork from my shop:

Pink Cupcake — Original Watercolor 4×6″

Orange Daisy — Original Watercolor 4×6″

Red Flowers — Original Watercolor 8×10″

My baby is turning 8 weeks old on Sunday!

I see Oscar changing on a daily basis. He is now able to hold his head up for longer periods of time. Just this last week he has also started shaking his head back and forth and grabbing my hair with both fists. This last part is especially frustrating when he is crying and I can’t get him to let go. He also will try to mimic any sounds I make–Last night he successfully growled back at me. It was soooo adorable!

Oscar now smiles and “talks” to people and definitely recognizes all the members of the family. One of the most exciting things of all is to see him light up when his Sissy enters the room! (”Sissy” is my 13-year-old daughter–his big sister)

I have discovered that there are a few consequences when you name your baby Oscar. For instance, most people immediately say,

“Oh…just like !”

Or they picture one of the following:

So now I have two super-cute “Oscar the Grouch” t-shirts and when I drink my morning coffee, it’s in this cool mug:

I have been spending a lot of time in the studio. There are too many new pieces to list here, so go to my Etsy shop and take a look! Here are a few:

Little Orange Owl — Original Watercolor ACEO

Red Poppies — Original Watercolor 14×18″

Night Flowers — Original Watercolor 4×6″

At long last, the baby has arrived. It’s a boy! We named him Oscar. The middle name is my Maiden name and the last name comes from dad. Anyway, here is a picture of my bouncing baby boy:

This is a trick photo–He doesn’t actually smile yet.  I caught him dreaming today and making all kinds of silly faces and his eyes were open.  This picture will be cute on our birth announcements!

I’m down to the last few weeks now.  The doctor said at my last appointment that she doesn’t think I’ll make it to the end of the month.  So it could really be any day!

In the mean time, I’ve been working on new watercolors.  Probably more than I can list here. So head over to my shop and see the new selection.  Here are a few:

I’m now 37 weeks pregnant!  This is how far along I was when I had my daughter, so the baby could really come at any time.  I’ve been enjoying my time working in the studio so much that I’m hoping it doesn’t happen next week!

It’s always interesting to me looking at my site stats to see how people find my blog.  You might be fascinated to learn that the majority of you stumble upon my site looking for “dead flowers”.  I say give the people what they want!  So I’ve painted a new watercolor depicting dead flowers.  I have listed it in my shop:

I have also listed the following new paintings:

Hi everyone! Well, I’m finally out on Maternity Leave from work. I was starting to have some health issues relating to pregnancy but feeling a bit better now with plenty of time to rest.

Last week, my daughter turned 13 years old. So exciting!!! On the morning of her birthday, Lance asked her what she wanted for her birthday breakfast. She said, “Cupcakes!” So cupcakes it was! These were such lovely pink Valentine-y cupcakes too…I couldn’t resist having one myself.

This is my cat Sadie. She weighs about 18 pounds (she recently lost a couple) and has been feeling rather sassy lately:

I’m now 8 months pregnant and getting very uncomfortable! So I’ve been keeping my mind off things by painting many new Watercolors. Here are the ones I have listed in my shop:

Autumn Leaf

Pink Cosmo Flowers

Blue Tulips

Purple Flowers

I’m fast approaching that moment of the game where I get to add another “child peg” to the car. This one is a blue child peg to go next to my pink child peg. Actually, this is almost literal as my daughter has pink hair (better to identify her as the female child

Here’s the latest picture of me. I’m now 29 weeks pregnant. Only 76 more days to go! (Please imagine the toilet not in the picture–this is the best mirror in the house!)

29 Weeks Pregnant

I’m soooo ready to have this baby! When it’s finished cooking, of course. I’m tired all day long and it’s both an emotional and physical struggle to be at work all day long. By the time I get home, I’m ready for bed. Mostly, I spend the evenings drawing. I wish I had new material listed in my shop to tell you about. However, this will have to wait. Rest assured that all this drawing I’ve been doing every evening has given me an opportunity to explore new ideas and styles. When I’m ready, I will have a bunch of new prints to list in my shop. I actually find this pretty exciting to be able to list a new set of artwork all at once!

Oh! Did I mention…I’m completely unprepared for the new child. It’s been 13 years since I had my daughter so we have no baby supplies whatsoever! We haven’t started the nursery painting and decorating yet. No discussion has happened regarding names (I’m still calling him Zoidberg).

*sigh*