Josiah & Thalia

I am so very excited to get these pictures up here! This was the last session I did last year, and I really enjoyed editing these! You may remember Thalia from this previous session. I must say, I'm just a sucker for chunky cheeks. =)

"Purple Starfish"

"Purple Starfish"    8" x 10"    Acrylic on Canvas

$400

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I also painted this one a long time ago, back in 2009, and wanted to include it here. We found this little guy in Monterey during our anniversay, and I just had to paint him. For some reason, even though this little guy was found on a totally different trip, it reminds me of the time that we went to Monterey after Levi got out of the NICU. When we were sitting down taking a break from all the walking at the Aquarium, two little old ladies came up to us and asked us how many days old Levi was. I told them over 2 months, and they insisted I was wrong, that he was brand new. It was pretty funny, albeit a little annoying that they seriously would not believe that he was that old. We tried explaining he was born early so it was like he was only a week or so old, but they just kept insisting that he was only a few days old. People can be so odd at times...

Ha, that was a little off subject, but I thought it was funny and wanted to share. So, anyways, this one's not a new painting by any means, but it's new to the blog, so I'm happy. =)

"Do I Dare...?" - Levi's Owl Painting

I finished this painting over a year and a half ago, and I don't know why I haven't posted it yet, but here it is. It was for my son, Levi, and now that I'm working on another one for his baby brother who's on his way, I thought it was past time to get it up here. I'm hoping to finish his brother's painting before he's born, but with how crummy I've been feeling this pregnancy, and the fact that I have way too many pictures to edit right now, we'll see how that works. =P

I'm thinking this is going to be the first in my new series called "The Secret Lives of Animals." Little squirrel is feeling rather daring today... He's got his eye on that tasty acorn, and not even a huge, menacing owl will stand in his way. Let's hope he makes it through this alive! =)

"Do I Dare...?"    16 x 20    Acrylic on Canvas

The Bird Family

This is my sister and her beautiful family. I've been dying to get my hands on editing these for so long now, and finally found a moment to do so. =)  I still have way more from this session to work on, so I may post more of my favorites later when I get them done, just for the fun of it. To be honest, I am way, WAY far behind in my editing. I don't get how professionals find the time for all this, and have personal lives, and maintain their families. It's crazy how much time it takes to edit them properly, but perhaps that just gets quicker with practice. Or at least that's what I'm hoping! Well, here's what I managed to get done so far. Hope you like them!

*Updated on Tuesday, August 7th, 2012: I love how these ended up turning out and I just couldn't help myself from reposting this! The images I had chosen earlier just were not my favorites in the end, and really did not represent my best from the shoot, so I decided to scrap those and have you see these ones instead. Ahhh, so much better! (Perfectionist much?! Lol) Enjoy! =D

 

 

Blue Jellies

I've been wanting to get to this painting for some time now, ever since drawing it up in one of my sketch books when I was back at LMC, and I finally just got the chance to do it last weekend so I'm super stoked! We went and saw these amazing creatures at the Monterey Bay Aquarium, and for the life of me I can't remember what they're called. What I do remember is hanging out with Tyler on our honeymoon in the jellyfish section for over an hour, taking photo after photo of them and trying to stay out of the way of other guests. Now we have way, way too many jellyfish photos to wade through some day and delete, a task which I am not looking forward to. But in the meantime, I will be content with knowing that at least one of my pictures finally got some use! =)

"Blue Jellies"     11 x 14     Acrylic on Canvas

Manna from Heaven

So we've been missing Levi's medical card for some time now, since June in fact, and haven't been able to find it anywhere and we need it desperately this week. Well, I was reading my bible today, about how God rained down manna from heaven in Exodus 16, and realized I needed a pen to take notes. When I stood up to get one, out of nowhere falls Levi's medical card, right onto the floor! It was like God was saying, "Don't worry, I'll provide for you too. I'm looking out for you." Thank you, Lord, for wonderful little miracles like this one!

Cowboy Cake

Wow, I can't believe it's finished! This is the cake I made for my dear friends' son, who turned one this week. I can't believe he's a year old already - time is just flying by like crazy lately. For his party they went with an adorable cowboy theme, hay-bale and everything, and even made their own little saloon and sheriff's station set that kids could play in - it was awesome!

I had the hardest time with this cake, even after giving myself plenty (and I mean plenty) of time because we couldn't find Jet Puff marshmallows anywhere. I've been told only name brand marshmallows work for Marshmallow Fondant, but I had to make due and buy the store brand, and boy did I ever pay for it. The fondant was ridiculously unworkable, a sticky, tearing mess. And after a huge breakdown Sunday morning at 2am, while telling my husband "I'm in the depths of despair!" (someone's been watching a bit much of Anne of Green Gable's lately - haha!), my husband in great sympathy actually drove to the store to pick up all new supplies for me. How amazing is that, right? Tyler, seriously, you are the best husband ever, and I love how much of God I saw in your compassion and love for me this weekend.

In the end, after much prayer and pleading with God I actually ended up getting everything to work out, and out of the gooey, gobby mess I saw earlier today, came this:

And while the majority of the cake was covered in fondant, the hat, sheriff's star and rope were all made out of modelling chocolate, which I absolutely love to work with. It's seriously just like the clay we used in ceramics class, just edible.

I was so happy to see it turn out like this! I mean, to get something presentable at all was just phenomenal to me considering the circumstances. And once everything started working for me, I ended up having a blast making it, so win-win! =)

I also made a little "smash cake" for Logan too, so he would have something to get covered in. Here it is:

And here's what happened to it:

He's such a little cutie pie! Well, thanks for reading! =)