Artwork for the Album "Ground Swell"

album cover

back cover

Here are the finished paintings for my friend David Mauk's new album "Ground Swell"
They were basically my renditions of the Edward Hopper paintings"Ground Swell" and "Cape Cod Evening". A little useless fact: "Boulevard of Broken Dreams" was a painting based on Hopper's "Nighthawks". Mine aren't quite that kitschy but I do hope they serve their purpose well! (The dog is actually Dave's pup, Petey.)

T'is the Season!

I truly have been a busy little elf! I signed up to host an Underwriters Laboratory House Party this weekend. I thought it would be such a perfect match since I tend to go a little overboard with my holiday displays. I didn't take into consideration how tiring getting the house in order (and decorated early)would be. In addition to that, I have my show that I participate in every year quickly approaching so I am frantically trying to get all my projects completed. I also had 2 illustrations to complete recently. A friend of mine is a very talented musician who is getting ready to release his second CD. The music for the CD is completely based on many of Dave's favorite Edward Hopper paintings. I was honored to be his go-to-gal for the artwork. They are my rendition of of Hopper paintings. I can't wait to see his final package design and to hear the album in its entirety. He had sent me a few of the tracks and they are incredible. I'll have to review it when I get a copy :o) I think we are finally settled from the move now we just need to get through the holidays! Hopefully, I'll be able to get back into the groove of blogging on a regular basis. If I don't manage another post before next Thursday, Have a very Happy Thanksgiving!
(and while we're being thankful, Thank You all for following my blog and being my cyber friends!)

What's Up?

It's been a busy week in this part of the world. I had a large play dough order so I decided to make batches of each color instead of filling the order from 3 batches. I ended up making 11 batches of play dough and a large batch of alien guts. Since I'm going into my busy season it should make life a little easier having extras on hand.

My husband is actually on vacation. It's been awhile since he has had any time off so we've been trying to enjoy it. We had incredible weather for the first couple of days so we took advantage of it by going out and about in our neighborhood. I also managed to get my transplanted flowers from the last house in the ground, hopefully they will be okay. A few dried out while they were waiting for their new home. We will see!

Nature Walks

We took advantage of our surroundings the other day(even though it was in the upper 30's/low 40's and a bit nippy!) The little guy and I started out walking a trail at the Mentor Marsh then we moseyed on over to Headlands Beach and finally had lunch at the Holden Arboretum. The pictures uploaded in reverse order, but it was a great day and we look forward to doing it again very soon!

Out My Front Door

Everyone is warning me about my garden. That the deer will destroy it. Well, it's okay, I have decided I like seeing the deer every morning, just like I like seeing an occasional skunk (from a distance) and other wildlife. I guess it is my hierarchy of living things. Like flowers but they aren't as dynamic as animals. Of course it is fall, so maybe my outlook will change after a long , cold winter when I start itching for signs of life. But then maybe a constant feast of wildlife throughout the cold months may take the edge off of my desire to see plant growth. Who knows? We will find out in a short few months!

Living Inside a Painting

Sunrise over Morton Salt plant

I used to work at the Cleveland Museum of Art. Before that, the CMA was one of my favorite places to visit. I have favorite paintings there that I visit every time I go. One of those is
Twilight in the Wilderness, Frederic Edwin Church (American, 1826 - 1900) 1860

[link to Church Painting]

As I drove home from taking my husband to the Park and Ride, I saw a beautiful sunrise forming. It has been a typical gray fall here as of late, which I actually love, especially with the vivid autumn hues of the trees in peak color playing against the dreary sky. However, as I drove toward home I saw beautiful, peachy-pink clouds forming above the horizon. I quickly returned home, ran inside and grabbed the old Nikon. I then proceeded to try to find an ideal place to capture the beauty of the morning sky. Alas, I had to settle for the sky over the Morton Salt plant. (I saw more picturesque locales but no good, safe places to stop the car and since the wee tot was strapped into his car seat, I made the best of what I had to work with) Obviously, the beauty still shows. As I looked at the sunrise, I realized how it feels to live in a painting. There is a great similarity between the Church painting and the photo. Thank Goodness for an artist's eye. I realize the freedom of my artistic license. I naturally delete the sordid details of my view and focus on the beauty of my vision. I also do that with people, although people tend to remind me of their less attractive side so I can't linger in my idealism for very long! I wish everyone the freedom that I felt that morning. Enjoy!

Great New Band: hyperstory

Give a listen! The debut album comes out November 10, 2009

I Love Autumn!

I took my little one out today for a play day since he had been such a trooper over the past 2 months with the move. We started off early and went to the Holden Arboretum we walked around and looked at the pretty trees and then the bug discovered an area where they seat groups before a tour. It is constructed with wood railroad ties built into the earth. The bug just walked back and forth, up and down, over and over and over. After I managed to pull him away from that, I had to supply him with 'cookie straws' (in 2 year old speak, that would be a doughnut) We got back in the car and drove to a little apple orchard a few miles away. We sat down and shared our doughnut and apple fritter and drank our cider and coffee. We went outside and looked at the pretty trees then made our way over to the pumpkins. I had every intention of buying our pumpkins but realized that I needed to have daddy there to pull that off.

The little bug got to play with some little ones his own age, a rarity, unfortunately, when you have a mommy of 'advanced' age. I then had to pull him away when I saw he was getting tired and the older boys were beginning to misbehave (throwing handfuls of rocks on the slides is not something I want to encourage the little one to do) I had to drag him out kicking and screaming (literally!) Luckily when other mommies are around, they understand! He fell asleep within minutes of hitting the car seat. I managed to get an appointment with my hairdresser today, it was a fluke and a very unusual happening, but it has been nearly 2 years since my last cut!! So I let the little guy sleep in the car from the time we left the orchard until we nearly got to the salon (two hours since I had made a trip home between the two spots) It was lucky he got such a good nap because he was so wonderful sitting patiently in his stroller while I had all my hair cut and styled. All in all, it was a very good day that was needed by both of us!

Oh and on another note, the deer have found my daylilies. The buds that were just opening up, mysteriously disappeared. The only thing I'm disappointed with is I didn't get a picture of it!!
I also realized I'd rather have an animal eat my flowers than a rotten kid unceremoniously rip them off as they walked by (yes, it happened often at the other house!)

Hello, Is Anybody Out There?

First off, let me apologize for my absence, I never would have thought I couldn't post or drop cards for as long as it has been! The move isn't complete but the old house chapter is finally coming to a close(thank goodness! When I recover from the move, I will share all the gories) In the meantime, I wanted to share some new images, not all that great (I actually had the date stamp on for nostalgia purposes at the ole' homestead and forgot to turn it off,whoops!) I snapped my first few photos of our neighborhood deer(hopefully they will get more artistic and just plain better as time goes by!), a couple pretty nature shots and the pick-up spot for my husband's bus. A little taste of my new life. Enjoy!

The New House

I got the keys the other day to the new home and have started taking boxes over. Drapes are now hung. The bathroom is coming together as is the kitchen. I still need to cover the old ugly drawer linings and shelf 'paper', it's vintage '60s and while my friend Karen thinks it's kitschy cool, I personally do not. And my studio, well let's just say organization is a very good thing! Best of all, the tot LOVES it. He can run all over and I don't have to worry about the stairs or the vents. He even keeps his toys more organized they all are in the front closet or the bathtub(don't ask :o)
On another note, I was so excited this evening when we were heading out to the new homestead for the second time today(I had gone out with the wee tot early this morning) Since I had been up since about 5 am, I wasn't exactly firing on all cylinders. I saw what I thought were those cheesy deer statues in the front yard of a home and I wondered why on Earth they would position the one with it's hind end towards the street. Now, while there would be times when that may make sense, it struck me when I looked at the second one that they weren't statues at all, they were REAL live deer! As we drove down the last main street to our new place we got to see a couple more beautiful deer out for their sunset feeding. After living in the city for so many years, I tend to forget about the wildlife that exists out in the 'sticks'. What an absolute joy! My husband also saw a couple of deer at the end of our street as he was unloading the car. Plus it is ultra dark on our street you can actually see the starlight. Boy, do I miss that. (I'm so used to those obnoxious orange street lamps, I don't know what I'm going to do with myself) Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera today(I know, for shame!) But now that I am reminded of the beauty of nature in the area around the new home, I will be on look out for some stunning photo ops. :o)