Crabby is a good word for it.

For how I've been feeling, that is.

Strawberry crab

Well, look at that! There's the fella I mentioned in my post below. He's chubby and very fruity. Thanks for the link, Lorraine!

Rain, rain

To give you an idea of what I did yesterday, here is a "before pantry" and an "after pantry" shot from yesterday:

Ah, the life of a Domestic Goddess.

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Today rained and sort of snowed again. Can you see it out the window?

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And, while the below is by no means a masterpiece, it is at least something. It took me just about forever to get anything on paper. Lack of inspiration is a real bummer. I wandered around Borders looking for anything to get my mind running -- patterns in magazines, content in books... Lorraine helped by writing down words to get my brain going. Things like: robot, firefly, strawberry crab... (love love love and must google these crabs to find out what they actually look like). The word game must have helped because I jumped up and ran to the gardening section where I chose a book on Japanese gardens. Not sure of the connection between strawberry crabs and rock gardens, but at least my fingers were moving:

Rainy day

Today rained and rained. All day. Anahi, the babysitter came today so I went to Borders to draw. I was feeling uninspired and tired, but I thought perhaps I'd kick it into gear once I got started. Wrong. I drew something stupid. I was feeling organic, delicate and small, but what appeared on the page was heavy and linear and instead of staying muted and quiet OF COURSE a bunch of loud and annoying colors showed up on the page.

Forget it, I said. and went to the back of the store to lounge and read my dumb vampire book Living Dead in Dallas. which I couldn't concentrate on so I went home and snuck into bed to take a nap.

Now that was awesome.

Anabelle took a long nap herself. A few thoughts on her:

*she is so cute I want to hug and kiss her all the time

*she hates baths and stands up the entire time

*she says "Buzz" which sounds like Bzzz

*whenever she hears music, she sways and bops and claps

*she loves popcorn!

*she has figured out that if she runs away laughing, I will run after her yelling "i'm gonna get you." and she loooooves that.

Once we both woke up from our naps and I took some Tylenol for a headache, the day turned very cozy. We listened to music and played and then Navjit and Leo came over for a cup of tea.

And that, friends, is my day in a nutshell.

The Great Unveiling!

I am finished! (I'd say this was a total of....mmmm, 23 hours.) Then again, my critic Patrick, hasn't seen the finished product, so there might be a few last finishing touches added if he says some are needed.

A word about it: I came to think of the yellow as a halo around Cassidy's head. I have an unvocalized love for owls, and they show up from time to time in my drawings. Like in the painting I did for Anabelle before she was born. I thought of them as her protectors, watching over her at night while she slept. Wise and still. But I think my favorite part is Gus, the pup.

I feel overall pretty happy to have it done. I'm ready to do something new - start afresh. I'm craving a clean piece of paper and delicate lines. a few blank spaces. I have a thing called horror vacui that I need to work through apparently. It's fear of blank spaces. Which I find really amusing since I hate clutter and I can't stand Stuff.

Ok. I'm clicking "publish post" now. Yikes, scary.

Today went a little like this:

I had a really really fulfilling crafternoon today. These days I am going to Border's cafe where I can soak in the quirky, funny and interesting vibes of others sitting around me. Today there were 2 tables of high schoolers (probably seniors) studying for exams. What a breath of fresh air they were. Las Vegas nerds do exist!! They were darling - and void of any dark eyeliner or skin tight jeans. In any case, though I love the library, sitting in a silent, sort of air-tight room by myself wasn't inspiring me anymore.

Here's another tidbit of the piece I'm working on for my friend Tonya:

Some inspiration

here's a picture I find especially wonderful. i love the line quality and the pattern...

it inspired me to get out my pencil and sketch a little bit:

anabelle is finally on the mend after a bout with croup. we all slept a ridiculous amount last night - pat and i for almost 12 hours and anabelle for over 13. she is in a good mood and not as clingy and whiney as she has been the past week. "mama, mama mama mamamamamamamammama...."

we are getting ready for a jaunt to the park now. tootles!

I heard this at yoga today. Click on the link and have a listen:

Tuck & Patti - You Take My Breath Away

Will she like it?

This, dear readers, is my very first finished commissioned piece:

I'm still very much getting used to the idea of creating a piece of art work for someone. The stress level is much higher than just doodling merrily on my way. I am constantly thinking "I hope this person thinks this is worth the money she is forking over for it." And that has resulted in a few hours spent in frustration - running after the painting so to speak - not making marks toward any final outcome, rather making marks only to salvage the mess already made. In fashion terms, it's sort of like being worn by the dress, as opposed to wearing the dress. But somehow it seemed to pull together at the end, and voila. Here is Maria's bowl of fruit. It took me about 5 hours total which is waaay good for me in terms of time. It was a wonderful exercise in "speed" - helped me break out of Tiny Detail's headlock.

And these here are a little glimpse of Heaven my mom found in a store called Caracol in Playa del Carmen on Fifth Avenue:

I am going to frame these, hang them on my wall and love every second of them.

A little fact about me....

... is that I own no less than 25 scarves. And today I decided to arrange them in rainbow order (as if I don't have enough to do) while Anabelle rummaged through the clean laundry baskets and found some of my underwear to drape over her head like necklaces.

Happy holidays, happy new year and happy our internet is back up and running

Folks, I'm back. And I sincerely apologize for slipping out the back door and not returning till now.

In the past couple of weeks there was:

a trip to snowy Chicago

and a family trip to sunny Playa del Carmen, Mexico

And it was allllll:

absolutely wonderful.