"Early Morning Wake-Up Call" - An Abstract Painting (ACEO)

"Early Morning Wake-Up Call"     2.5" x 3.5"     Acrylic on Bristol Board (ACEO)

SOLD

I am SO not a morning person, so any of you who know me will know just how crazy it is that last night I went to bed at 9:30 and woke up at 3:30am. And I mean, wide-awake! So, might as well get out the paintbrushes, right?

I had a rough night's sleep last night - woke up with the most painful stiff armed cramp I've ever had. I cried out as I was waking up, scaring the living daylights out of Ty, who had to get up and help me straighten out my arm because I couldn't do it on my own. It hurt like the dickens. Definitely a result of over-doing it yesterday. But I can't complain, you know why? Because it was sooo totally worth it! Ty and I got to go on the sweetest little date yesterday curtesy of Joleen, who watched our kids from 9:30 to 4. It was A-MAZE-ING!!! Thank you so much Joleen!

So what, pray tell, did we do? Well... First off we went to Carl's Jr, because for months now, actually years if I remember correctly, we have both been dying to try out their breakfast menu, but have never been up and out with nothing to do early enough to try them. Oh man, so good! I got the Country Style Burrito, or whatever it's called. Yummy! Then we went shopping at World Market, one of our favorite date stores, because the stuff in there is just so random. And I found quite the find of this little potpourri collection of seashells and oddly large nutshells and other various accompaniments in the colors of tan and teal blue - oh so pretty! It's supposed to be for our house but I honestly bought it because I saw so much potential within it for painting subjects. I'm so excited! And then, as usual on our dates, we went to Barnes and Noble and browsed for a bit, got a Starbucks, and then headed home to relax, and of course cuddle. "Great date,"you're  probably thinking sarcastically to yourself I'm sure, but it actually really was. It was so refreshing and beautiful for our relationship, and I loved it and I love him so very much. Okay, enough of the mushy stuff now.

I hope you're all having a great day out there and that hopefully you're nice and rested, even if you did end up getting an early morning wake-up call like I did. (Do you like how I did that?! =D Like how they do it in the movies where they drop the title in there somewhere amongst the dialogue... I'm such a rock-star! Oh yeah! Lol.) Oh man, I'm sorry, I'm such a nerd, but you know you love me. Or at least I'm gonna pretend you do... Once again, ANYWAYS... Well, have a great day all! =D

MY TIP FOR THE DAY:
Oh, wait, before I leave, I actually have a painting tip today for any of you out there wanting to try to paint on Bristol Board, which is actually quite fun and economical as well. To keep the paper from warping and curling up on you, paint an X on the back to stabilize it. You can even add an extra T over that, to give it extra support like I do. I do this before I ever even start painting on it, and then if I notice it starting to try to warp at the end when I'm all done, I repaint the X & T all over again, which will get it to stop warping all over again. Oh, and make sure you do this in a light color like white or cream if your painting is going to end up on a light ground, or really even if it's not, so it doesn't end up showing through on your final work. It should look something like this:

How to Keep Bristol Board from Warping & Curling

Umm... Except maybe a touch cleaner. Hmm... I never have been know to keep my workspace free from splatter, so I guess that's true of the back of my paintings too. Oops. Let's just say it gives it extra character. Lol!

Good luck! =)