Baby Project #2

 This was the big one, painting the room.  Super glad to have it finished.  These are the most delicious colors, I want to hang out in his room all day.  Three quarters turquoise, one quarter aqua all around the room.  The ship was fun to paint, I hope it gets his imagination rolling... as soon as he can see that far.  And the sheep are above his bed to help lull him to sleep.

Sunday Drawing

Lil' Red

Baby Project #4

 Another project down.  My girls used their wonderful embroidery kits, thank you mimi, to design and embroider these pillows for their baby brother.

 I finished them up, and recovered an old ottoman.  We are ready to rock!

Barefoot and pregnant, classic.  In the kitchen whipping up a batch of delicious eggy-strawberry-macadamia muffins.  

Today we said buh-bye to our chickens.  We gave Stella, Crystal, and Emily away to a loving family this morning.  We will miss the eggs, catching them walking by the french doors out of the corner of our eyes, their enthusiastic greetings, and most of all eating cookie dough.  But, we won't miss the poop!  We can't wait to get our patio back.  It is going to take some serious scrubbing.  Maybe it will put me in labor... just two and a half weeks till my due date!!

Baby Project #1 - Finished

I've set myself up to do nine projects for baby boy.  With a four week countdown (!!!) and all project started (and making a giant mess), I've got to get in finishing mode and wrap these up!

I tried to explain to Gavin the nature of nesting as being a real, true need.  More than an urge, more than a funny label to put on kooky pregnant behavior, much more than a whim.  I need to have my entire house in order to feel ready to give birth.  Down to the tops of closets, which I will soon be obnoxiously obsessed with.  All the tops of all the closets in my whole house.

Project #1: Paint Dresser.  Sari and I got this dresser when we were little.  I'm having a memory of a tape line down the middle of the top, front, then zig-zagging across the rest of the room to divide mine and hers.  She often put me in a conundrum with the door on her side and me having to go to the bathroom real bad.  Sisters rule.

Before

After

Golden Week

I am just wrapping up my 33rd week, and I am 33 years old - that makes this my Golden Week!  I did something delicious every day.  

On Monday I went to a movie by myself!  (As much as I enjoy being solitaire, I missed my sisters terribly that day.)
On Tuesday I dropped all my "should do's" and painted all day.  It's been a while and it felt soooo good.

On Wednesday I finished said painting and went out for a frozen yogurt treat.
On Thursday I visited Dawn, my magical chiropractor, and had my sacrum put back in place.  Ahhh, sweet relief.
On Friday I cashed in on my Mother's Day gift and got a massage to further my sacrum's plight to stay where it belongs.
On Saturday... ok I worked all day.  We reorganized all bookshelves and Gavin took loads of donations away from here.  Organization is golden, and only six weeks left to get baby's room ready!!
On Sunday, relaxation room, our weekly tradition.  I get one girl with foot lotion, another with hand lotion, and one more with belly lotion and/or a back-scratcher, cucumbers on my eyes, soft music, water with lime, and all the TLC a mom can absorb.

I wish every week was my golden week. 

Because I couldn't get it out of my head the whole time was painting, I am calling this one,

"You gotta fight for your right to PARTY!"

Little Miss Muffet

Little Miss Muffet 

sat on a tuffet

eating her curds and whey

along came a spider
who sat down beside her

and frightened Miss Muffet away.

300 Plates

Art Access Gallery

Salt Lake City, Utah

May 19, 2011

I wish these pictures were better!  My Little Miss Ezra was learning nursery rhymes in preschool and Miss Muffet was her favorite.  So, she let me dress her up and take lots of pictures.  I love how she is looking at the spider like, "um, I don't think so."    

Baby

We've got baby on the brain!  Nine weeks on the countdown, single digits.  I'm anxious to get the baby's room done.  Loving the turquoise, aqua, and brown.  After Ezra's Tangled birthday party, it's on - all baby, all boy, ...and lots of naps.  (I have had a hard time with productivity as of the last seven months, it drives me crazy!) 

Sari and I made a few onesies for baby boy to wear to church.

I crocheted these rattles, but gave them away to a friend having twin boys.  I'm working on more crocheted love.

And, the girls are busy embroidering darling pillows for their brother.

Secrets for the Stars

Her skirt is a tapestry, telling a story.  This story comes from a dream, based in reality, laden with surreal emotions.  It is in the dark of night, when all is quiet and dreams are near the surface, that my secrets are whispered.  The stars are always loyal.  You can tell them anything and they will listen and hold your secrets safe.  They won't be disappointed in you for admitting your fears and weaknesses, or make you feel ashamed for putting things into words.  They will stay just as bright, moving ever so slowly, left to right, in with the night, out by mornings light.

Secrets for the Stars is hanging at the Springville Museum of Art for the 87th Annual Spring Salon.

Happy Easter

Thank you Stella Crystal and Emily for the eggs.

(3 eggs a day adds up when you save them for two weeks, this isn't even half!)

(Loved not dying the eggs, just drew)

The family that eggs together, stays together... forever.

 Remember how pregnant I am?  29 weeks down, 11 to go.

My Beautiful Girls

My Handsome Egghead

Mind Your Manners

BYU TV is airing a documentary about my dad tonight.  Here are some details.

A little fuzzy, it says Monday April 18 at 6pm and 9:30pm.

Weekend Treats

So, I'm having a hard time being productive as of late.  Among the many balls being dropped are finishing any of the many blog posts I have running through my head, even those half-started.  My sister, on the other hand, is quite up to date.  We will be doing a couple of fun shows/events this weekend in Utah.  For information, visit Cass's blog.

What I have managed to complete are a few new paintings, like the above piece which I titled: Hippopotamus Secrets.  You may be thinking, "But, that's a rhinoceros."  Indeed it is.  And that tells you something about the state of my brain in my sixth month of pregnancy.  Cloe (7) mumbles, "I told you it was a rhinoceros," in the background.  Nobody ever listens to kids, except rhinos and hippos of course.

Cradle

My mother groan'd, my father wept,

Into the dangerous world I leapt,

Helpless, naked, piping loud,

Like a fiend hid in a cloud.

                                -William Blake

Sunday Drawings

Sunday Drawing

Five of them were Wise and Five were Foolish

 

 I painted this triptych of the Ten Virgins for a show brought together by Art of the Restoration, opening 1 March at the Church Museum of History and Art.

The Day his Dreams Came True

This movie is about Gavin, my dear sweet husband.  After graciously accepting his role as father to three lovely daughters as his lot in life, his wildest dream is coming true.

Sunday Drawing

My sister's response to our big news, "You are in uncharted waters."  Indeed I am, and don't I know it.

Painting Pregnantly

Jenn asked me about painting with oils while pregnant.  It would take electric shocks and some time on the rack to get me to switch over to acrylics.  Fortunately for me, I already use walnut oil alkyd medium (by M. Graham) in place of liquin or another toxic medium.  I also clean my brushes in walnut oil, so very seldom do I break out the turp.  Walnut oil is so non-toxic, you could drink it.  (I don't recommend it, maybe in a salad dressing.)  Other than that, I try to keep paint off my skin and out from under my fingernails.  (I am fairly tidy, if I do say so.)  I do use liquin to seal off a painting, and a spray varnish, which are both harmful to feti.  I always go outside to use these and I wear a mask.  (At all times, not just when I am in the family way.)  If you have been using liquin it takes some adjusting.  You use a lot less walnut alkyd, too much makes your paint dry shiny and plastic-y.  I have been using walnut for four years, and glad for it.  (I'm rather sensitive to chemicals.)

Sunday Drawings