Puddintoes ~ Puddin' is the name of my cat and here she is all comfy cozy with her big toes all stretched out laying on top of the clothes dryer. She was enjoying watching me while I was on the computer and having a catnap. When we first adopted her a couple of years ago I thought she had too many toes because her feet seemed to look abnornally large but I found out that she just has really big claws! I soon discovered not to play wiggle footsie under the blanket with her (like I used to do with my last cat) after she stuck her claws through about 3 layers of blankets into my feet! But she's the sweetest, gentle, most intelligent cat I've probably ever had. Sadly, I lost my last kitty to leukemia before we adopted Puddin'.

"Fall Night" ~ Here's an update on my tree and moon painting which I finished tonight. The second one is an abstract I painted titled "Stopping Time". Both of these are acrylics on stretched canvas.

Digital paintings in RED and GREEN ~ Here are a couple of digital paintings I did and I couldn't get them to post the other day. I am going to do some more acrylic painting tonight. The weather has been wonderful here but still a little warm. Thank goodness the 100 degree temps have gone away!

Pumpkins 1 and 2 ~

ACEO's I did....

Holey Moley my images are appearing in my posts again!!! I've been trying for almost 2 weeks without success to upload pictures in here. These are little 2 1/2 X 3 1/2 inches acrylics on medium weight canvas. I'll be putting these up for auction at www.artbyus.com very soon.

"Where the Road Ends" ~ This one is much larger and is acrylics on stretched canvas 16 X 20 inches. It is silvery looking mostly black/white right now but in this picture I played with it in photoshop with some translucent color to see how it will look when it's done.

Blah Blah error on page..line 404..character 5.. permission denied! ~ Well I'm not the only one having trouble uploading pictures to my blog. I searched out the help threads and found one that suggests that quite a few people are having the same problem. Your picture uploads normally and when you click on "done" it doesn't appear in your post. You then get an IE alert message - error occured on page (blah blah line 404, character 5 permission denied). Several people suggested it's a IE browser problem in the thread. They said they dl the Firefox browser and the problem was solved. Apparently blogger is currently working on the problem so I'll wait a couple of days to see if they get it fixed. In the meantime this may be a good time to get off the computer and do some painting, yea! I am working on some paintings for some of my family in Kentucky and I need to start on the one for my sister Betsy! :D

Some digital paintings I did this week ~ I keep trying to post these and keep getting the message "permission denied". I don't know what's going on so I logged out and back in blogger, deleted all the cookies and cleared my internet history. Taking a deep breath and now I'm going to try again. These are digital paintings I did this week using the Dogwaffle art program. I haven't worked any on my acrylics this week since I had to work some extra hours away from home this week. I work part time at Target your friendly neighborhood big red bullseye and we are getting in Halloween shirts this week for sale! (eek didn't work again...is anyone else having trouble uploading pics to your blogsite this week??)

WIP the Tree and Moon ~ I just started painting this one last weekend and I have to 'make' the tree grow a little more before it's finished. I am still studying/looking at this and have several layers to go before it's finished. I am looking forward to the magical colorful season that is fall! This is acrylics on stretched canvas and it's 8 x 10 inches.

YEA a fellow rockhound! I just visited my friend Jafabrit's blog and I discover that she is a rockhound too and has some fascinating rocks with faces and personalities in her blog! You can see them here: http://jafabrit.blogspot.com/ When we went to Kentucky last month we visited the creek down there and I have found some really neat fossils and strange rocks under the clear shallow water. This is one I picked up because it has such an interesting texture and tonight I was looking and noticed some 'sparkly' stuff in one of the cracks. I washed it with a toothbrush and soapy water to see if I could see it more clearly. It's tempting to crack it open but I won't because it may just be sand inside and I don't want to ruin it's unique shape. Here is a plain photo of it and one I photoshopped. Darn no matter how hard I try I can't get a great close-up pic because they always look a little blurry.

Flowers roasted by the Sun ~ Digital painting ~ Will this horrible heat wave ever ever end??? The heat index the last couple days here has been over 110 degrees and will be the same tomorrow. I am so glad we have AC and I wonder and worry about those that don't. It seems like the whole eastern U.S. is being baked in an oven. Those poor animals out there.. but they seem to know how to survive the outside temps. I remember when I was 9 months pregnant with my daughter and we had just moved here to Virginia from Florida. It was August and we didn't have AC then and I remember sitting all day with my feet in a bucket of water to try to keep cool. Well, I'll be complaining about the cold a few months from now so I may as well try to enjoy it! :D

"Night Stairs" Acrylics on unstretched canvas
"Junkyard Treasures" Acrylics on unstretched canvas "Celestial Colors Red" 4x4 inches art squared
"Celestial Colors blue" 4x4 inches art squared


Acrylics on Canvas ~ I finally got some photos of what I've been working on the last week. These are all traditional paintings and acrylics on unstretched canvas. Sometimes I wonder where I get such a weird imagination. I just start painting with no clear plan in mind and end up with strange looking works like these! I'll be putting these up for auction at www.artbyus.com very soon!

Red Flower and Moon ~ This is a little digital work I did tonight..I love painting moons and flowers! I did this one using the Dogwaffle digital art program. You can go to www.squirreldome.com to download a totally free version if you are interested in making some digital art. It's an awesome little program!

My Old Kentucky Home ~ Here are some photos I got on our recent trip to Kentucky to visit my family. From scenic views in Western Virginia during the trip..someone splashing through the creek..to views we saw driving through Lexington, Kentucky...old stone fences, a mural painted on a stone wall at a horsetrack, fences, barns, big trees and lots of bluegrass.

Grrrrr! Spam stinks! I found out what "comment spam" is unfortunately! About 30 comments all at once posted in my blog with links to spam sites. ARRGH! OK now I have to get the word verification thingee to prevent this from happening again. (insert mad face here)

Drake's Creek ~ I was so glad to get back home from our trip last night! Aargh that last couple of hundred miles seems to last forever and when it's 100 degrees outside even the AC in the vehicle feels sort of weak to cool a person off. It takes about 12 hours to drive from central Virginia to south central Kentucky where my Mom and lots of my family live. Everyone was doing really well and we enjoyed our visit so much! My sister and her family had an awesome cookout on Sunday evening with homemade chocolate ice cream for dessert, it was all yummy! On Sunday morning, we drove to an old creek we used to live near and it looked so beautiful. Every time I visit I always feel drawn to the ancient cool green mystery of that old creek. It's called Drake's Creek but it's simply known as 'the ford' because it was so shallow (except during floods and that's another story :o) that people could drive across the creek to the road on the other side. Here are some photos I got of it this weekend. The water is very clear and splashes over what looks like zillions of creekrocks and strange fossils.

1. Lilystract manip ~ Yep I am still playing with my lilies! I did a digi manip of my lili photo and she came out looking pretty wild! I love exploring new realities by taking a photo and turning it into something entirely new. I'll see ya'll Tuesday!

More photos of the tiger lily. eek I just realised that I've been spelling the word lily wrong, it doesn't have 2 'L's just one. Anyways, Cynthia and anyone else that desires to paint this, please feel free. I would love to see it if you do paint it. I think I may give it a try myself. I will go post these later in the IRL in WC also. This plant is puzzling me. The original seeds (bulbils) came from the backyard of my Grandma's house in Kentucky. Later my Mom had them growing from the bulbils (black pods on the stem) also that she got from my Grandma's place. I googled tiger lily but none I saw were as huge as these things. The size of them were about 3 ft. but the ones my Mom had growing looked at least 6 feet tall! Mine are around 5 feet tall. Also the stems looked different than the ones I saw when I did the search.

Tiger Lilly monster ~ My tiger lilly bloom finally opened today! Up close, in this blurry photo I got before my camera batteries went dead, it almost looks like something from 'The Little Shop of Horrors'! I rubbed my hand on the funny brown things and this dark brown powder got all over my fingers and it turned my fingers orange where I touched it. I had a hard time getting the orangey stuff off my hand even with soap and water!

NO these are not chili peppers ~ they are flower buds growing out in front of our garage. My Mom had some that she got from my Grandma's old place and the things were like 6-7 feet tall, monster flowers. I brought back some of the funny little shiny black seeds (growing on the hairy stem) and planted them here in Virginia about 5 years ago. A couple of years passed and nothing came up so I sort of forgot about planting them. Well, last year 2 of them came up and boy was I surprised. This year more of them came up! Mine aren't as tall as the ones my Mom has but they're still a little taller than I am. I can't wait till the buds open. My Mom said these flowers are tiger lillies.

PAGE ONE OF A FAIRY TALE ~ I finished this painting today and it's acrylics, 9 1/4 X 12 inches on unstretched canvas. I just bought a new color of acrylics and had to try it out on this one. I usually just use red, blue, yellow, black and white to mix all my colors but couldn't get purple to come out right so I bought some dioxazine purple and woo I love it! Purple here I come!

TGIF!!!! ~ Every Friday in the Quickie Digi Abstract thread in WetCanvas.com we take turns making up a virtual digibar for artistic friendship and fun. Has anyone noticed that WC has been down today? Arrrgh! :( I keep getting a message that there is a problem with the database. Well, I have some plans to do some painting this weekend. I stopped by Michaels after work this evening and bought some canvas and paints and assorted art goodies. Sheesh, the price on some of the paintbrushes are scary though!