Sunday, May 26, 2013

I Picked These For You!

What a crazy busy week I've had!  I look back on it and it seems like nothing too out of the ordinary happened, but geez Louise, it flew by!  

Work always steals a lot of time, but I do need to eat and buy art supplies, so I have to give up 40 hours there, plus drive time.  

Sleep takes up the next largest amount, but only by a small margin.  Sleep and I have an awkward relationship, where I'd like to see more of him, but he's comfortable maintaining a healthy distance.  It's sad really, because I'd love to take our relationship to the next level...

Then, of course, there's a mild amount of house cleaning that I do.  And when I say 'mild amount', what I really mean is just enough cleaning to keep a clear path from the bedroom to the fridge, fridge to craft room, craft room to bathroom...and just enough for us not to catch scurvy or some other horrible disease...after that, I don't mind so much.  We have a really small house.  No matter how clean you get it, it always looks cluttered...so I don't like to waste a lot of time and energy trying to fix that...because it is an effort in futility.  I have a sneaky plan to help alleviate some of this problem, but it's still in the works, and I don't want to jinx it.  You'll hear more about it when it gets closer to becoming a reality...until then, I will leave you in suspense...

I wanted to share what I made for my (birth) mother, Marian, (not to be confused with my sister, Marian...she's a Marian Junior...nor to be confused with my work mom, Miss Lettie) for Mother's day/just because she is sweet and adorable (and it happened to coincide with Mother's Day).  I'm late in showing it, because I didn't want her to see it on the blog (she reads my blog because she loves me and stuff...) before I actually gave it to her.  

I picked these for you!
I wish I could have gotten a little better picture.  The light has been bad recently, due to copious amounts of rain...which, I must say, was supposed to have happened in April (you know, April showers bringing May flowers and all), but the rain clearly did not get that memo this year.  So I'm going to blame that...  In real life, this piece is much less dingy (?) looking, especially the daisies.

This piece is acrylic on canvas, and it is meant to look like the flowers are closer to you and I am farther away, like I'm handing the flowers out to her.  And before someone asks, yes, this is supposed to be me when I was a little girl.  And yes, my hair was THAT long (I could sit on it) when I was a kid.  And yes, I had gappy teeth when I was a little girl.  And yes, I still have gappy teeth as a (newly) 30 year old.  And no, not a cute little gap, but a (cute) big gappy gap.  And no, it does not make me able to spit farther, nor can I whistle through it on purpose, although sometimes it happens on accident...(for some reason, those are the two questions I get asked the most about my gappy teeth...if you have a question about my gappy teeth, I will be happy to answer it if you leave it in the comment section below...trust me, you will not offend me in any way, so just ask, and I'll do my best to satisfy your curiosity...)

You may notice a striking lack of eyeballs in this piece, and before you go around thinking I don't have eyeballs or that I just forgot to paint them, let me clear the air.  My 12 year old nephew, who lives with my mom, is utterly creeped out by inanimate objects having eyeballs.  He is of the opinion, as many people are, that they follow him around the room...but instead of being an interesting phenomenon, to him it is terrifying.  I try not to judge too much...I personally have an irrational fear of space aliens.  Snakes, spiders, axe murderers...you know things that could actually hurt me...I have no problem with...but space aliens creep me out so bad.  The worst part is that I don't even think they're real!  I therefore understand the ridiculousness of that fear...but it doesn't matter, I still have the uncontrollable desire to scream in horror when I think about them.  So, like I said, I don't judge my nephew for being freaked out by things 'watching' him.  Since I knew my mom would hang this painting up (because, you know, she loves me and stuff), out of consideration for my nephew, I chose to leave the eyeballs 'out of frame'.  But I do have eyeballs...and gappy teeth...in real life.



11 comments:

  1. Oh I can only imagine how much your Mom must love this! I love it that the eyes are "out of the picture"...it makes that adorable gappy teeth mouth so adorable. Your work is incredible, Sweets. Your writing is also awesome, I smile every time i read your boog entires. I understand living in a small space, my little teensy apartment is about 550 sq feet total and I love it...the whole place is my "studio" of sorts. I'[ll have to take some photos to share. I have a doll collection and although i see them as works of art, people get toally freaked out by their eyes! So, I understand your little nephew. Keep up the great work....I still think your work would sell, Sweets but I also understand how you might not want to do that because I have found, when doing my decoupage vases, that when doing art to sell it does not have the same meaings and work of heart that art does that is created for a journal page or to give away. I love you dearly and it appears you have lots of "Moms" so I'll just stand in line! <3

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    1. Thanks, Cheryl! It makes me so happy to know I'm not boring! I worry about that sometimes...nothing too exciting happens in my life, it's just work, sleep, art most of the time...in my imagination though I have a huge amount of things going on! I think it has to do with reading a lot, especially when I was a kid...I got very good at imagining and so inside my brain is a crazy, colorful, interesting world...I hope I can keep getting better at putting that onto paper!

      My house is only about 850 sq feet for two people, a cat and a big dog (I have 3 dogs, but 2 prefer to be outside.)...it feels a little cramped in here sometimes! I have swiped the biggest room as my craft room and everything is in here...it's pretty much where I live my life when I'm not at work! I feel really lucky to have it, no matter how tight a fit it is...because I can leave my stuff out and not have to put it up every night like I used to...dismantling and reassembling a craft station everyday was NOT fun!

      I am not going to lie, I am one of those people who are a little scared of dolls...I blame the "Talking Tammy" episode of The Twilight Zone. It's not as bad now as it was when I was a kid; now I can see the beauty and the skill it takes to make the dolls and that has helped me overcome the heebie jeebies where dolls are concerned.

      I have been thinking about selling my work ever since you mentioned it the first time. There are a couple of things that are in the way of me doing it, but I am working on getting to a point where I can...it's part of the mysterious, suspenseful thing I mentioned in the post... :)

      I do have a lot of Moms! You are definitely on the list! You are the Mom that (to name just a few things) encourages me to follow my dreams and makes me feel like you are proud of me! <3

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  2. ...darn typos...I meant "blog" entries, not "boog" entries...geesh!

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  3. Sweet, I have been sitting in my living room laughing and laughing. You are a great writer as well as artist. I did wonder why no eyes...I think that is extra sweet of you to not paint them for your nephew. I know the fear.. I had to close all closet doors at night because I knew monsters would be in there in the dark. Even today, I like those doors closed when it's dark.

    I bet your mom loved her gift. It is wonderful.

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    1. Thanks Boo! It makes me happy to be able to give someone giggle fits! I like to write, especially the blog, it's like a diary and a conversation with my best friends rolled into one!

      I understand the closet door thing...it's why, to this day, I tuck the covers under my feet at night...in my head, it's the only way monsters can get you, so as long as my feet are tucked, I'm safe! And if the closet door is open, I sit there thinking "did I leave it like that?" for 10 minutes before I grab the cat and go shut it...I take the cat just in case there's anything in there...she's my escape route...I would shake the cat up and throw her at whatever's in the closet and the confusion that ensues will give me time to run away! :)

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  4. Sweets, this is lovely. Really like that you left off the eyes... it will always be you and you will never age. The flowers are great and very colorful. I am so happy that I know such a brilliant, talented, caring, beautiful lady like you!!! Hugs, Pam

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    1. Thanks Pam! I like that whole never aging thing! Maybe I can paint a picture of myself where it's like Dorian Gray and the picture ages instead of me, and I stay youthful and glorious forever! I have to go do a self-portrait now... :D

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  5. This is the sweetest and funniest blog post I've read in a long time! I just loved the part where you said you'd love to take your relationship with sleep to the next level. You crack me up, Sweet! :-D

    XOX

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    1. Thanks Bibi! The thing about sleep is totally true...I'd break up with him if it weren't for the fact that when we do finally get to spend time together, he's totally sweet and I just can't let that go! :D

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  6. What a wonderful post to read and brighten my cloudy, overcast & occasionally drizzly morning - (and that's just me! lol). You make me smile. I love how you write as though you were speaking to us. Thiose daisies are gorgeous - one of my all time fave flowers! Your hair colour is (was?), gorgeous and the gappy smile is lucky. Lucky? Yes. Well I think so. I know many a successful person with a gappy smile - Madonna, Mike Tyson, Eddie Murphy, Laurence Fishburne, Natalie Cole, Lauren Hutton, to name but a few. So prepare world - Sweet Clover is coming!
    Have a great & successful week :0) Mo

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    1. Thanks so much! I hope today will turn into a bright and sunny day for you!

      It makes me so glad that you feel like I am talking to you! That's what I try to do, and I worry that I don't do it right... I feel like the blog is a conversation with my best friends and I enjoy writing it so much!

      Daisies are my mom's favorite too! I wish my hair was still the same color as when I was a little kid! It was brown, but in the sun it looked red. I get it from my grandmother. When she was a young woman, she would walk down the street and people would call out to her what pretty red hair she had, but she didn't have red hair, it was brown! So I got my red shine from her...but the older I get, the less red it shines. The grey hairs are shining more than the red does now! :)

      I like your take on the gappy teeth! Maybe I'll get to be a famous artist and I'll take all of us right to the top!!! Companies will give us free art supplies and we'll get to travel all over the world doing art!!! That's a good dream...I'm going to be imagining how awesome that would be all day now! <3

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