Narragansett Beach, Rhode Island, Looking North from the Wall

This is the beach where I learned to surf when I was 22, and where I taught my husband, countless friends, and now my two daughters!

Napatree Point, Rhode Island, Southernmost and Westernmost Point of Mainland Rhode Island

My girls and I, and my good friend Kristin DiVona are painting the great state of Rhode Island. The next step in feeling completely like I'm back home.

Sleepy

My friend Kristin encouraged us to get drawing again. We pick a word and then we draw what comes to mind. The days word was "sleepy." Yay, Kristin.

My 40th Trip Around the Sun | Day 1 | My Birthday

Today is my 39th birthday, or as my Dad would say, it's the day I entered my 40th year.

It's funny how one year can change a person. Last year, the birth of my second daughter and death of my grandmother were my biggest life alterations. The second event sparked my quick exit out of Austin and move back home to Rhode Island.

This birthday I was blessed with surfing, family, and friends.

Top Birthday Memories:
1. Waking next to my two girls
2. Surfing with my husband and his new stand-up paddle board
3. Making my mom laugh talking about my skinny self and still fat belly
4. Hearing Aunty Lou tell me she was
feeling great and "ready to get out" with her cute laugh
5. My lunch and still warm free bday cookie from the "Picnic Basket"
6. The smell of the beach
7. My kids and their cousins and the bday whoopie cushion laughter
8. Seeing my Pop play 9/5 with my Dad, Husband, and Brother-in-law
9. Seeing my youngest still in her swimsuit, after our return from surfing
10. My niece singing and saying "Happy Birthday" a million times with balloons
11. My many txts and emails from friends and family
12. My oldest daughter's bday excitement, insisting on making me a special fruit dessert before bed, feeding me a chocolate chip and strawberry together, telling me, "you have to try this"
13. My pop telling me how much yard work he left me for tomorrow after his week of digging around the pool looking for leaks
14. Seeing my sister eat ice cream cake and making us all laugh about kids and ear infections
15. Confucious banter with my husband on the ride home from the beach

So here we are, on another go around.

a rainbow, a unicorn, heart flowers, clouds, and rain drops

Hi everyone, I had my second daughter, Rell, in late January. I now fit in my clothes again, so I figured that meant it was time to get the paints out. My daughter Annalee, was my first client. She commissioned a big painting which needed to include: a rainbow, a unicorn, heart flowers, clouds, and rain drops. We worked on this together. It was her genius idea to ad buttons to the unicorn.

41

My belly now measures 41" around at its widest point and as of tomorrow I will be 41 weeks pregnant.
Can't be long now.

34" of Belly

My friend who gave birth to twins noticed that at some point in her pregnancy the circumference of her belly was equal to her height. I have about 2.5 months left before my due date and my belly is now 34" around. Here it is in the abstract.

Abstract Monday "Sunday Afternoon with Annalee"

I was quite tired this weekend, and needed lots of rest. I have 3 months left till the end of the pregnancy and it seems that I can't get a night of uninterrupted sleep. I have trouble being kind to myself when I need rest. There was one moment on Sunday when I sat down and painted with my daughter. I felt great joy to be with her, painting with her. I felt calm and hopeful. I had some lingering sadness over my tired state, so I drew some of the rainbow above the smile and some below. I explained the painting to my daughter. Later that day she painted one more painting, of her smile and mine, with rainbows all around. It was awesome.

First Day of Kindergarten

I dropped my daughter off for her first day of kindergarten this morning. Texas is full day kindergarten (7:45-2:45 my goodness). It has been an emotional day for me and many of my friends. There is a beautiful Dar Williams song called "End of Summer," one line that I keep thinking of today: "It's the end of summer, when you send your children to the moon..."

As I shopped for school clothes for my daughter that seemed unnecessary because in Texas it's still 100 degrees and summer clothes will do just fine, I thought of the many trips to the outlets with my mom, sister, best friend Stacy, and her mom, picking out every color Levi's cords they had and sweaters lots of sweaters, readying for the cold RI fall to come.

The older my daughter gets the more I appreciate and understand all that my parents did for me growing up. My mom could walk and drive then, I'm grateful for the memory of her as young and independent.

I had a lovely end of summer, one trip to the California mountains and one to Rhode Island, both with family. This is my "Abstract Monday" for this first day of kindergarten, the end of summer.

Tired as All Getout

Sometimes, when I'm super tired and have things that need doing, it feels like my happy parts and doing parts are being held down by something heavy. A nap is usually the answer, even if for a mere 2 minutes, and occasionally some tea.

Girl or Boy

We found out yesterday that we are having a girl. I had a little guessing contest on facebook for a free abstract to one right guesser. My friend Ly Ann won.

Sequoia Lake, Sequoia National Park, CA

We are just back from a week at YMCA Family Camp Sequoia with my husband's side of the family. It was lovely and fun, and it's hard to be back in the Texas summer heat.

Late vs. Early

Diamonds as Best Friends

"Diamonds are a girl's best friend" wiki says, "The song was listed as the 12th most important movie song of all time by the American Film Institute."

Abstract Monday, Secret Abstract

It's abstract Monday. Any idea what this one is about?

Austin Train Bridge, Big Texas, Little Painting

I went to the little beach yesterday morning and painted two more tiny paintings. This one is 2" x 4." There were red ants all over one part of the beach, the part I sat on the first time, so I moved slightly to the right and just in front of the tree they were busy with. That seemed to do the trick. The tree I sat under weeps and drops acorns, the cicadas were making their electronic music, and it was hot, but a little cooler by the lake. My husband brought me some cold water.

The Monarch, Train Bridge, and Lady Bird Lake, Austin, Texas

The train bridge in Austin, where it crosses the Lake is quite a site. I set out today hoping to get a good painting in from beneath the bridge, I aimed for my usual spot and found it completely filled in with all manner of vegetation. I searched around just a bit and found what felt like my own private one person beach, which I will call Kimma Beach. I sat down on my towel on the sand with lake waves lapping up next to me and painted this 20 x 20" painting for 2.5 hours. It was the first time in all these free days that I didn't feel rushed. The train came by twice, so I was able to place it in the painting. The Monarch Condo across the way is beautiful but a complete pain to paint.

The Secret to Happiness

It's abstract Monday again, and here is my abstract piece of art for the day. It's called "The Secret to Happiness." I'm personally happiest when I live in the now. What you are seeing: one line of music, the infinity sign, the "you are here" dot from maps, and the repeat sign. Happiness, done.

360 Condo, Seaholm, Frost, Austin, Texas

I made some time to paint today. I sat by the Lamar bridge in the Austin summer sun, heat index 105, for one hour, and managed one larger painting 20 x 20 of the scene I've been studying in the smaller paintings.

Sun Rainbow Repeat

My daughter includes a rainbow in all her art and they always look great. So I'm following her lead.

Austin, Texas, Skyline from Lamar Bridge

This is a watercolor of the Austin skyline. Watercolors ad their own atmosphere to a painting, but when you mess up there is little you can do to fix it.

Pregnant Lady Good Day

Here's a bit of news, I'm 11 weeks pregnant and due on 1/1/11. Here is a little abstract painting based on that. The baby is 5.4cm and already has arms, legs, and a whole bunch of other stuff. Most importantly the doctor said, "A little butt and big head. " Funny.

Abstract Monday, Calm Confrontation

Monday is such a strange day, that I will post my abstracts on Monday. This one is called calm confrontation. It's the visual for how one might feel when trying stay calm during a disagreement.

Austin, Texas 360 Condo from Auditorium Shores, Mini Painting

Here is the other mini painting I worked on from Thursday's outing at Auditorium shores. These mini paintings are so small that they are more fun in person.

Austin, Texas from Auditorium Shores, Mini Painting

I found the cutest tiny canvases on Wednesday and painted two of them with my tiniest brush yesterday morning. I found a new spot, under the blue gazebo at Auditorium Shores. Nice and shady, with a great view of the condos and the water. One squirrel was a bit friendlier than expected, but I survived. This canvas is 2" x 3". My husband says I should market these tiny paintings as cubicle desk paintings. He may be right, because I like seeing them on my desk.

360 Condo, Austin, Texas, Close Up

Here is another painting from yesterday's outing. I will head out later this morning to work on some others. I bought these tiny little 1" canvases, I'm dying to see if I can actually get a painting on them.
I'm also working on my Etsy store, so it should be simpler soon to buy any paintings you may fancy.

360 Condo Austin Texas Stage Left

Yesterday was my second day with a chunk of free time in the morning. I grabbed my paints and set a goal: 3 paintings. I started at 9am. It was already so hot at 9 and by 11 when I finished I was ready for cold water and AC. This is the first of my paintings. I sat on the stone steps off the Lamar Bridge.

View from Lamar Foot Bridge, Lady Bird Lake, Train Bridge, Austin, Texas

My daughter has summer camp mornings 5 days a week. I work 3 days a week. Yesterday, I had my first morning off from mommy work and work work, in 5 years. I grabbed my paints and sat on a bench on the Lamar Foot Bridge and did a little painting. I miss the ocean and RI more in the summer, so it was nice to spend some time staring at the lake.

Tired, Floaty, and Content

Higher

My husband's first love was the little girl he would meet for a swing after Captain Kangaroo. Here's to the happiness of swings, friends, summer, and free time.

1997 NYC Times Square Mother and Daughter Braving a Storm

If only there were blogs in '97 when my husband and I painted and wrote about Times Square for a year. Although, it is fun to blog about it now.

1997 NYC Times Square 42nd Street Subway Entrance

NYC is the place for such highlights and shadows.

1995 Me with my Head Shaved

My senior year at Parsons I shaved my head in reaction to being dumped by someone who loved my long hair (curious behavior, I know). I didn't shave my head in NYC where I was living. I went "home" to RI and had my Dad's barber, Mario, do it.

It physically pained Mario to shave my head and he gave me every chance to change my mind. Slowly, he cut my long hair shorter and shorter, asking at every stage if "maybe this was enough." I finally insisted he get out the clippers and do the thing.

Much to my surprise my mom and nonnie liked me with a shaved head, they said it reminded them of when I was a baby. The lesson: when you do something in anger, you look like a baby. The most enjoyable thing about having no hair was looking the same when going to bed, waking up, and after showering.

1997 Times Square Man Before a Storm

Here is another from my 1997 Times Square series. This was a stormy night, I had an old-fashioned camera with film and had terrible fear of people. I would quickly snap all these photos while trying to be invisible and later develop them to paint from.

1997 Times Square Man Resting in the Shade

This is the second painting I ever sold, to my creative director at Travel and Leisure, who I loved working for.

I got news today, that literacyhead.com will use a piece that I painted with my daughter in an upcoming issue of their magazine to illustrate the term 'properly."

I think it's a little funny because in the painting we are playing some serious kick ball in the house, which is not quite proper.

1997 Me in Blue

I painted this in 15 minutes while living in our apartment on Bergen Street in Brooklyn. As I dashed off to work I almost tore it to pieces because I was so frustrated by the end result. Luckily, I simply tossed it on the floor. When Harold got home he found it on the floor and called me at work to tell me it was my best work yet. Later a work colleague offered to buy it and it was my first sale. A note to artists, it's sometimes better to judge one's work after some time has passed. It's acrylic paint on blue paper.

1998 Harold in Quebec City

I was able to rescue zip disks full of old paintings this week, thanks to a very organized and generous friend. I think I'll post some of them on the blog.

Sometimes I forget that my art career didn't start with this blog. But thanks to it, maybe someday it will be an accurate archive of all my work.

Driving with Daddy in His Red Truck by the Sea

My goal this week: start sketching at least one spread based on the new Super Baby story board. I chose to start at the end of the book and with the big picture. As I went over the story board, I took notes on objects to research ie: old trucks, cool houses, basketball courts, the coast from above. For this sketch I mostly did old truck research. Luckily living in Austin I found examples everywhere. My daughter and I found an old blue Chevrolet and she was quite upset to see me color my truck red. The other elements are from my mind. The coast is a mix of Matunuck and and Narragansett Rhode Island. The hill is more from the west coast where my husband is from. Looks like the book will be set in the land of Texarhodefornia.

On a news note. The Bill Walsh book Hello Week that I illustrated and first published images of here in 2007, is going to become a children's book app. thanks to Touchoo Publishing. I designed it with tiny app size images years ago before apps. Psychic?