atwhim.com Blog

Well, actually it won’t be my birthday for a few more minutes… but I like to celebrate it as a week long thing.  Because really, what other holiday is all about me?  I’ve been busy this past week, the coming Spring has given me a second wind to finally get started on some things around the house.

I’ve been *slowly* painting my dining area (which is currently serving as my art studio) a beautiful orange color called “fresh peaches”.  It makes the room look so warm and bright, but my arms are tired of the patching, sanding, scrubbing, priming, and (finally!) painting.  But the work will be worth it.

It’s still raining quite a bit here, but on the sunny days I’m (again) slowly digging my new garden beds which will be bordered by flat rock and slate.  I think it’ll look very much like an old English garden to compliment my “English cottage” (at least that’s what they called it when we bought it!).  Right now though, it looks like I’ve dug 2 graves for very tall people.  At least I have the piles of daffodils to look at too!

They’ve always been my favorite.  They remind me of Alabama, Spring, and most importantly my birthday!  And as a little gift to myself…

Chickens!

Well, chicks right now.  I’ve been waiting through a LONG winter for these little guys.  I love to hear their little cheeps!  I can’t wait for them to grow up and lay me some eggs.  They’re suppose to be light blues/blueish greens and sometimes pink!  I can’t wait to have pink eggs!

Then I finally used the DickBlick gift certificate my brother gave me for Christmas to by this Pochade Thumbox I’ve been eyeing for a very long time.

Now it’s all mine….
Sadly though, all this house stuff has left me little time for new art.  I did manage to squeeze out this sweet little house looking for a home.

…and luckily it found a home on the same day I posted it!  YAY!  Now there’s sweet little prints of it waiting for homes in my shop.

Hopefully I’ll get my garden done before Winter hits again, finish the orange room, and then paint paint paint till my hands fall off.  But not really because I’d be sad.

Oh AND as another BIRTHDAY event, I’ve marked down all my original works from $10-$20 until next week.  So if you’ve been eyeing any of them, I’d snatch them up now because they’ll go back to the original prices after Tuesday, March 27th.

Now all of you have a wonderful day on my birthday, okay?!!!!

Last night I watched the movie version of Rent.  It was alright and actually better than I expected; probably because most of the original cast was in it.  The music was wonderful and made up for the cheesy parts.  Now I have the entire thing running through my head and have been singing the songs all day.
I’ve also been playing around with the filter function on my image program on this handy little computer, and I really like what it did to some of my older paintings. Take a look!

before after

I’ve put a few of the filtered prints in my shop. I think they’re lovely.

My dearest friend Portia has started her own website, please visit it when you get the chance!

http://web.mac.com/nomadic.jester

I haven’t had time to sit down and write something for awhile, but I wanted to give you a few tasties to look at while I’m preparing for the Spring (my favorite time of year!).

I painted them for my kitchen, but they’re just too cute not to share.  So I’ll have prints available in my shop tomorrow!

It’s a constant downpour out there! The front of my house is one giant puddle. The back of my house looks like a swamp. To try to cheer myself up, I attempted to make a chocolate cake. After I baked it, it turned out to be about two and a half inches tall. And the recipe said to cut it in half so I could put frosting in the layers…. riiiight. So after deciding I can not make cakes (this isn’t the first one that’s been a disaster!) I trekked through the rain to the grocery store and bought this giant lucious slice of strawberry cake for two dollars.

Yummy. Next time I crave cake, I’m going to skip the 3 hours of preperation ending in disappointment and just go spend the two dollars for a big yummy slice.

So my painting has slowed down a bit. It’s the RAIN! I feel so heavy and tired and WET! I don’t think I’ll get my focus back until these gray days are gone. Today I did finish a little drawing for you to look at…

I have a few other things in the works, but it may take a full dose of sunlight to get me to finish them! Until then, I hope you all aren’t as wet. Take care!