Ring around the moon ~ Tonight I stepped out on the deck and there it was...this huge ring up there around the moon. I had read that ice crystals up in the atmosphere are what create these halos. I grabbed my little digital camera and snapped some pictures of it. This is kind of fuzzy but I was happy that I actually captured this beautiful sight! My husband wasn't feeling well tonight but he came out and looked at it too. One of nature's amazing sights! They mentioned the moon halo on the local news tonight too. Here's NASA's lovely photo and explanation: http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap000515.html

The Tree Harvesters ~ Those little tiny people down there by the ladder are harvesting trees. I don't know exactly what it means but the trees seem to be a combination of Christmas trees and trees with fall foilage. I stayed up late last night painting on this and had so much fun! It's acrylics on 140 lb. watercolor paper and it's 7 1/2 X 11 inches. I'm going to put it up for auction in either artbyus or ebay.

Bridge of Sighs ~ I got an e-mail advertising an ebay special listing fee of .15 for today only so I listed this one for 24 hours. Hmmm, it's funny how .15 can turn into a $2.50 fee so easily though. I have this one hanging in my living room right now, and I'll be very happy if it sells but also OK if it doesn't. (acrylics on stretched canvas 16 x 20 inches)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&ih=010&sspagename=STRK%3AMESE%3AIT&viewitem=&item=200062951313&rd=1&rd=1

Bright Window with Red Drapes ~ I just finished this painting and it's acrylics on cardstock yupo paper. I was doing an abstract (non representational painting) and this window and red drapery appeared so I went with it! It's 8 1/2 x 11 inches.

~~~

Well I am now using the NEW blogger! It was much easier to do than I thought it would be. I just clicked on the upgrade button, logged in my google account and then waited...and waited...and waited. I got an E-mail telling me that I had succesfully upgraded. yea, I'm glad that is over, I have been putting it on my 'to do' list for a couple of weeks now.

Testing...Testing ~ For some strange reason my whole blog seems to have disappeared so I'm making this test post. Also I was going to upgrade to the new blogger version (not beta anymore) but still can't find the link to do so and I used to see it every darn time I logged into my blog! arrrrrgh!! [:(

Lost River Cave ~ I grew up in Kentucky, not far from where the longest cave system in the world is located, Mammoth Cave. It has over 300 miles of mapped passageways and multiple levels with underground rivers. It's an amazing place to visit if you're into spelunking! In Bowling Green there is also a place called the Lost River Cave . Don't take the boat ride if you have claustrophobia! The boat glides over the murky green water and up under a solid rock ceiling which you can almost touch if you raise up your arms. Back in the 30's and 40's there was a big room in the Lost River Cave that was actually turned into a nightclub (check out the cool pics in this link!). It used to draw big name bands and must have been one neat place to party!! My Father used to tell us tales of how him and his friends would hang out in there. Another cool fact: legend has it that Jesse James hid out in this cave for a while after robbing a bank in a nearby town! The above is actually a quick painting I did last weekend but I manipped it into a digital work because it is still a WIP. I just had to try out the tiny bottle of flouresent orange acrylics that my husband bought to paint on his gun site for the turkey shoot but that's another story LOL!

Immunity Necklance and/or Immunity Idol ~ For those who may need one of these items to present in the event they are one of those 'tagged' in blogland!! My dear dear friend and fantastic artist Cheri (Ladywolf1 in wc) http://digisbycheri.com/, who I met in the Quickie Digi thread in wetcanvas, gave me this idea when she presented one to me when I tagged her once upon a time! :D

Tag you're it! ~ I've been tagged by Lisa (asil-art) http://asil-art.blogspot.com/ and I have to name 6 weird things about myself (LOL that should be easy). OK here goes:

6 weird things about myself

1. I've been a night owl all my life. I find myself more awake at 3 a.m. than 3 p.m.
2. You'de think at 53 I would be in to easy listening music but not me, I'm like listening to hard rock (Alice in Chains, Smashing Pumpkins, etc.)
3. I can write upside down and backwards.
4. I can remember my phone number and address from when I was a small child.
5. My fingers are pretty long but double jointed (one thumb is). I can turn my hand into a claw looking thing when I want to LOL.

OK so now I have to tag 6 people (insert evil laugh here!) unless you present the immunity necklace like one of my friends did when I tagged them hehe! :D

I pick:

Alfreda (Jafabrit)
W.J. (art 166)
Cynthia
Janet (A Planet Named Janet)
Florence Artur
Nina Kuriloff

Genesis ~ This is a new digital work I did recently. I am woefully behind on keeping up with my painting/art the last couple of weeks but I'm looking forward to catching up once the holidays are over. arrrgh, I just remembered I was going to finish addressing my Christmas cards tonight so I can get them in the mail.

Has anyone upgraded to Internet Explorer 7 yet? I did the other day but I seem to having some strange bugs with it so far...things such as overlapping type on some web pages, posts that appear, then disappear??? . I do like the darker type font though.

Trees of Surreality ~ I finished this one today and it's acrylics on 140 lb. watercolor paper and 11 x 15 inches. Brrrr it is getting cold outside and it's going to go down in the 20's tonight! I can hear the wind from the cold front hitting the windows outside. It's a good night to stay inside and drink hot chocolate or something!

Combine a Christmas Tree with a Full Moon and make a little digital magic! This is a digital painting and HOHOHO it's time to get in the Holiday Spirit!

OH CHRISTMAS TREE OF CHRISTMAS PAST ~ This is a photo of our tree taken a couple of years ago. We usually don't get our tree up until about the middle of December because my husband likes a real tree but those artificial trees are looking awful appealing to me lately. Several people I know already have their trees up and they come with the lights already on. Which means - no struggling with strings of lights that only half work, watering the tree every couple days, cleaning up all the dried needles...ah I love the Christmas season, I really do!! It's the most fun time of the year!

NEWEST ACEOS ~ I did them a week ago but finally got a chance to get photos of them this morning and they are all 3 listed on ebay too. These are called 'Dancing in Fire' (a little coal dancing through the embers), 'Deep Blue' (with the fishie), and 'Ice Droplets' (abstract of ice). Whew what a busy week! I am going to get my Christmas decorations down from the attic today and get in the moood but hey it's still early yet, we're not even into December!

DEW DROPS, GLASS PEBBLES, AND A DIRTY WHITE PLASTIC TABLE AT SUNRISE ~ This sure made an interesting surface and while I got some photos of my new ACEOs I saw a great photo op in this scene too! I am thinking this would be a good idea for a new painting!

Mystery Factory ~ One of the strangest sights we see on our annual drive to Kentucky to see my family is the Ashland Oil Refinery. Right after passing the Kentucky state border from West Virginia is this sprawling huge industrial complex with stack after endless smokestacks and big round oil tanks. It looks huge and mysterious and I can't image what all is going on inside the place. I think it's better to see from afar though, as sadly I read that lots of people living nearby have been experiencing health problems. It is an awesome sight at night, lit up by countless tiny white lights and big flames shooting from the the tops of some of the stacks. Experimenting, I took the photo I had taken of the place last summer, put it in photoshop, and pasted it into the horizon of the sunrise painting (below). I may go ahead and paint this in acrylics because I kind of like the way it looks huge and looming and mysterious on the horizon. Anyways I'm mulling this one over.

Whew what a busy week! ~ My part-time job has turned into a full-time job because of Christmas coming and plus doing my art business after work. Well here is my tree painting again (for the third time) but I swear it is finally really finished now and I just varnished it this evening. I titled it 'River Aire' after the River in the U.K. but it is totally from my imagination, I just loved that River name because it sounds so magical to name a body of water after air, I love that! I also did these 2 aceos last weekend and just getting around to taking a photo of them. I'll probably get them listed on e-bay when I get some free time this week. Hope everyone is having a great week!

Sooper Duper Light Show ~ This is a manip off of my acrylic painting so I guess it's a digital painting.

ACEO Madness ~ Wow I have 8 bids on one of my ACEO's that I listed on E-bay!! I can see how a person could get addicted to listing in there as long as the fees don't outweigh the bids. I haven't had this much excitement about an auction ever! I did 5 more and listed them tonight so I'll see how that goes the next few days, keeping my fingers crossed!

RED WHITE AND BLUE ~ Woohoo, a tribute to the U.S.A. on election day! This is a digital painting. :D

Three New ACEOs ~ I put these on e-bay tonight and I'll see what happens with them. I can see how people can get addicted to listing their art on art auctions sites because it's so fun to actually get bids. On e-bay I guess it's more like a gamble since you have to pay to list and don't know if it will sell or not. BRRRRR it's cold outside and I can feel winter is on the way. Has anyone done any Christmas decorating yet? I start playing my Elvis Presley Christmas music after Halloween but everything else has to wait till after Thanksgiving!

Blue Sea Tsunami with Full Moon ~ After finally getting up my nerve to try e-bay last weekend, I sold one in there tonight!! I listed my aceo of the red sky with moon (below) and someone bid and won it tonight plus he also bid on the one above! I was so surprised because of my 0 feedback and didn't think anyone would even see them in e-bay because of so many listings in there but woohoo OMG I'm doing the 'happy dance' tonight cause I made my first sale on e-bay! Maybe it's beginner's luck but I'm sure going to try for it again and I did a couple more aceo's tonight.

SUNRISE (Is it finished???) ~ Did you ever do a painting, let it sit for weeks while you mull over whether it's finished or not? This is 8 X 10 inches on stretched canvas and I had planned on adding some more items on the horizon to make it more interesting but maybe it's finished after all. So officially I'll call this one a WIP but share the progress of it anyways. Well Halloween is over and I hope youall are enjoying all that leftover candy LOL, I know I am!

Stop the Clock ~ (or at least turn it back one hour) Acrylics on stretched canvas 11 X 14 inches. Well I just finished this abstract one last night and don't know what the heck it's about but I must have been subconciously thinking about turning the clock back one hour last night for Daylight Savings Time. Ugh that must be why I feel so tired today, it always messes with my internal clock when we have to do that but I'm glad we gained an hour instead of losing one. Well I finally got up my nerve and listed a my little redsky ACEO on E-bay last night. It feels like putting a tiny fish into a gargantuan ocean of listings though, eek! http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=200041854616 I have no feedback in there so I'll be surprised to get many views or any bids but you have to start somewhere with the big E I guess.

REDSKY MOON ~ This is another little one, an ACEO I just finished and it's acrylics and shiny blue metallic enamel for the dots on the crazy bridge which change from light to dark when they reflect the light. I also painted 2 of these in blue but I like the red one best. It's available at artbyus.com at auction right now.

What the heck is that in the sky?!? ~ I was driving to work very early Monday morning (about 3:40 a.m.) and the sky was all big with a small half moon. Well all of a sudden I see directly in front of me and over the road a flashing light streak across the sky and I'm thinking "Holey Moley what the heck was that!!?" It reminded me of a firework going across the sky but it was way too high. This was about 3:40 am and I'm thinking it's either space junk re-entering the atmosphere or a meteorite but Wow what an incredible sight!! It was visible and moving fast but a lot slower and lower than a regular shooting star. It was in the sky for 2-4 seconds, the end turned green and then it just disappeared suddenly. I tried to get what it looked like in a digital painting but it was a lot further below the moon, the trail longer and not as wide as the one I did here. "Night flash" (and no I promise I wasn't seeing things LOL! Has anyone else seen anything like this before or have any idea what it could be??

ACEO's ~ I have been having so much fun painting the little 'uns'! Here's 2 I got finished last night. One is called 'Spookyscapes2 fire ghost' and the other 'Fall garland with blue flower' abstract. Both of these are available at www.artbyus.com. I put these on a piece of cardboard I've been painting things on and it made a pretty neat frame for the paintings! I got the picture out on the back deck this evening. Wow the temperatures have been lovely the last couple of days here. It's cool at night but crisp and nice in the day with all the leaves turning those gorgeous colors. I love this time of year but I'm dreading the freezing cold of winter!

Purple-Blue of the Fourth Dimension ~ This is a digital painting I did tonight but I've also been making good progress on some acrylic paintings. I'll get some photos of them tomorrow so I can post them in here. I always love it when the art muse comes to visit and I get in a frenzy of painting. I have paint tubes laying everywhere, boxes with containters of paint laying around everywhere, paint spots all over the place, messy brushes in my big jar of water, ahhh I love it!!

Spiral Abstract Pumpkin ACEO ~ I've been having so much fun doing the Halloween ACEOs! Here's another big pumpkin which I did really quick last night. I had one that didn't look good so I just painted him over top of it. I guess he doesn't look very scary, mostly happy and silly!

SPOOKYSCAPES 1 ~ ACEO 2 1/2 X 3 1/2 inches acrylics and sharpie on medium weight unstretched canvas (available now at www.artbyus.com at link here on lower right... Oh Yea I'm getting in the mood for Halloween! I love this time of year, it's so darn fun! I love how the days start getting a little shorter every day, the nights get that crispy cooler feeling with the stars shining a little clearer and brighter, the leaves start turning into glorious reds, yellow and orange and woohoo the scary movies start coming on TV! Also lots and lots of yummy candy that I buy every year for Trick-or-Treating and get to eat it myself since we live out in the country and we rarely ever have any Trick-or-Treaters! Although a few of the little goblins coming to the door would be fun, I miss that part of living in the city.

Hearts and Jewels ~ I've been painting some little ones lately and this one is acrylics on unstretched canvas and it's 4 x 4 inches.

We had a pretty strong storm move through last night and the electricity went off at 7:30 p.m. (darnit missed Survivor). It didn't come back on until 6 this morning! The power was off all over the area and I counted 11 of the power company trucks on my way home from work today. Those guys had probably worked around the clock getting everyones electricity back on. I would like to salute those workers and say "Thanks for turning the lights back on!"

Candelabra ~ I'm still doing digi manips of that last big painting I did in acrylics. I still can't figure out if that painting needs something more and I'm experimenting with it in photoshop in the meantime and getting some good manips.

I stand corrected! ~ About the bees commonly known as Japanese hornets re the post below. I just read every page in the website which I linked to in the post below and it seems (I had no idea!!) that these are actually 'good' bugs! It is even illegal to kill them in Germany. It seems these bees have a very bad reputation because of their size and the extremely scary look of them. They are peaceful and non-aggresive unless their nest is messed with, and beneficial because they kill massive amounts of flies and bad bugs. They do have a painful sting (I could image that as I watched it violently stinging my kitchen curtains today) but no more toxic than a regular bee. I wondered why there seemed to be so many less pesky flies and bugs this summer and now I have my answer. These large bees have been hunting them on a huge scale and taking them to their nest which must be somewhere nearby, probably out at the back of the yard where we have 2 old apple trees. I don't want to kill one now but OMG please don't let another one get inside my house LOL! :D My husband got back tonight so I'll let him herd the next one outside without harming it.

Hornets: Gentle Giants! ~ eeeek yea right! Well anyways that's what the website link below says about them. There are some good (scary!) photos of them in this site.

This morning I got up, made my coffee and had just poured a cup when I happened to look up above the window by the kitchen sink and saw one of these monstrosities crawling along the ceiling. After almost fainting, I grabbed my trusty can of Raid flying insect killer and I swear I don't like killing anything but this humongous striped black and yellow killer was in MY HOUSE! So I creeped up (gritting my teeth and being brave) and sprayed up at him and ran like the hounds of Hell were after me to the safety of the room where I paint, shoving a towel under the door to make sure he couldn't get in under the crack and get me for revenge. I was the only one at home since my husband was out of town at the NHRA race event up in Pennsylvania. Whew I could have used him for this mission.

Well at least I got some painting done while the Raid was doing it's job (I thought) so I came out about a half hour later and the giant carcass was NOWHERE to be found. I looked through every nook and cranny in the kitchen for about 2 hours and finally gave up, thinking he had croaked somewhere and I was in for a nasty surprise later. I was googling hornets about 2 hours later when I heard an ominous loud zzzzzz over to the right of me. Well after searching for another hour my cat finally helped me find him. He had fallen down into my potted mother-in-law's tongue plant and was wedged under one of the plants. All I could see was his huge yellow face and one spastic black leg moving. WHEW OK so I carefully drug the whole plant stand outside. because he was still alive when it was getting dark this evening and he had somehow unwedged himself and I never did see if he was still down in the tangled mess at the bottom or got away to go terrorize someone else. I guess that plant will be spending the winter outside cause it's sure not coming back in here!!

http://www.vespa-crabro.de/hornets.htm

"Candle Works" ~ A digital work...

Well my good friend Cyn tagged me in her blog this week so I have to share 8 facts about myself then pick someone else to tag! OK here goes:

1. I was born in Dearborn, Michigan.

2. I served 4 years in the U.S.A.F. back in '76 - '80 and worked on the Minuteman missiles out in Wyoming, Colorado, and Nebraska. (Wow still can't belive I did that LOL!)

3. For 16 years I pasted up newspaper pages and was a journeyman printer.

4. Cats are my favorite animals but I love dogs too.

5. I've always been fascinated with drawing and art. I could get lost in drawing something abstracted.

6. I grew up in Louisville, Kentucky and lived about 1 mile from where the Ky. Derby run of the roses is.

7. I actually like brussel sprouts and broccoli.

8. I'm a U.K. Ky Wildcats fan and love watching the NCAA when they are winning.

OK now I have to tag someone to share 8 facts about theirself in their blog and I pick:
W.J. ! LOL gotcha! Check out her amazing beautiful art in her blog: http://art166.blogspot.com/

...and a little photoshop magic to see how I would like my painting to look when it's done!

"Puddin's toes" ~ I did a pencil sketch on unstretched canvas of the photo I got of my cat lying on top of the clothes dryer with her big back toes stretched out (digital photos of her below). Tonight I got out my acrylic paints did some work on it. I just had to get those cute big pink toes painted first but the rest will be worked on in the next few days. She just swished by my feet heading to her catfood. She's a sweetie and I don't know yet if I'll be able to put this one up for sale unless I do another of her to keep!

Bridge of Sighs ~ I did more work on this one and I think it's mostly finished now. I think I am going to paint some more aceos this weekend. An update on my Mom - she is still in the hospital and we are going to have to put her in a nursing home which breaks our hearts. She's not able to live alone anymore and I'm hoping that it will be good for her to be around some people her own age. My sister has her on a waiting list for one in the country that her husband's grandmother is living at so hopefully it won't be as hard on my Mom since there are people living there that she knows. It's a horribly hard decision. The doctor recommended an Alzheimer's floor (locked floor) but we're hoping we can avoid that.

Pile 'o Pumpkins


Mr. Evil Pumpkin


Butterfly Fantasy

ACEOs are so fun to paint! I did three more of them tonight and I'm feeling in the fall season/Halloween mood. These are all done in acrylics on medium weight canvas and they are each 2 1/2 x 3 1/2 inches. I'll be putting them up for auction at www.artbyus.com. A link to my auctions is down in the sidebar under my profile in the 'myartbyus' link. I guess I should mention that when I'm going to put them up for auction. One of these days I'm going to try the big E auction site.

Where the Road Ends ~ WIP (an update) - I'm still working on this painting and I hope it's almost finished now. I think I'm going to try and put more contrast in the sky and get rid of some of the white dots in the water spout/tree weird thing. I'm still not sure what that thing is. I just started painting this purely from my imagination with no kind of reference and sometimes I find I am surprised at what comes out.
This has been a sad and tough week. First the death of Steve Irwin (OMG so sad! we loved that guy!) and then I found out my Mom is in the early stages of Alzheimer's Disease. She is getting ready to turn 80 years old in a couple of weeks and she has had a good life with loving family. She is having confusion about dates and remembering things right now.

The many faces of Puddin' the cat ~
1. The evil look. When are you going to quit taking pictures of that boring fruit and pay attention to me?! (maybe if I stare at you long enough with this mean look...)
2. Athlete or mountain climber look. eek what's that noisy monster doing down there and when's it going back to it's lair?! (vacuum cleaner, notice cobwebs)
3. You can detour around me look. So what if I'm stretched out in the main path in the middle of the kitchen floor?! (My husband loves this one)
4. Grumpy Scholar. Her thoughtful but tired and annoyed look. Why is all that junk up there when I'm ready for my nap?!





Well since I've been posting pictures of my cat Puddin' I may as well share some other funny ones I've taken of her the last couple of years. She's a ham for the camera! Then I am going to get off here and do some painting! A huge thanks to Janvangogh (her very cool blog link: http://aplanetnamedjanet.blogspot.com/) for sharing the link to a very talented and funny author Dav Pilkey, who wrote the book Kat Kong. I've just got to read this book! LOL on his 'special notes' in this link:http://www.pilkey.com/bookview.php?id=14, which inspired me share these other photos. I hope you enjoy them!