Posting...posting...one, two, three....

Alright, I have about a thousand pics to post to this blog, so I'll try not to do a lot of rambling on about them. First off, here's another birdhouse I made for our feathered friends in the backyard. I could get really into this... I'm thinking I might make some of these and sell them as a little side gig.

Easter was a blast this year. I hadn't dyed eggs since I was pretty young, so it was really cool to be able to do that with Dylan this year. I think that's one of the best things about having kids, getting to do all those things I had kind of forgotten about.


He was pretty scientific about making sure the colors made their way evenly around each egg. Here's the inspection process...

Finding Easter Eggs...

Michael & Bodie later that morning at my Brother's house...

And this past Tuesday, April Fool's Day, was neighbor Tom's 30th birthday. Bonny picked up pizza and made some awesome hot wings. We supplied the cake (which Dylan was greatly excited about digging into)...

Dylan has a huge crush on Bonny, he has a hard time sharing her with Bodie.

Wednesday morning we dropped the boys off with Michael's parents and headed out to the California Adventure Park. We had gotten those "Two-fer" tickets when we took Dyl to Disneyland and had to use them within 30 days. We hadn't been there before. It was pretty cool. Plus, since it was supposed to rain that day there was hardly anyone there. I'm always amazed at the amount of detail Disney puts into designing everything...

Amanda Visell's work in the "Off The Page" shop...

Faux fossils...

Pretty beautiful stuff...

Psuedo Wine Country...


Aaah, Heimlich.

Me being a dork....

They have this Pixar Parade at the park that really gave me pangs of guilt that Dylan hadn't been there with us. He would have shat himself over seeing Lightening McQueen & Mater. Luckily he's years away from reading my blog :)


I'm always kind of afraid of costumes and characters. Roz wheeled right over to us and asked Michael "Why aren't you clapping", it kind of freaked me out.



A picture taken over by the rapids....

They had an incredible display of original art from "Snow White". It was really something to see in person.



This was the one thing I couldn't bring myself to do that day. I used to be all about thrill rides, I have no idea when I turned into such a pussy. If it was just one single drop I think I could have handled it.... but it's this runaway elevator that goes up and down all crazy. I have this fear about being in an elevator and the cables breaking anyway. I'm afraid my heart would stop on this one. Maybe next time (yeah right).

And finally, this is what I'm working on now... so pics of that soon!

Disneyland and new art!

I made another birdhouse for our backyard. I've been saving up our beer bottle caps trying to figure out what to do with them, and I was struck with inspiration. A little bird beer house. If I were a bird, I would totally call this place home. I think it'll be cool once it gets a little rust and patina on it.

I used an old "Lucky Lager" opener for the perch.


So yesterday was Disneyland day! We all had such a good time. Dylan was super cool and really fun to take. We saw a few other kids having extreme meltdowns and tantrums, so we were really happy with how good our day went. We spent quite a bit of time in Toontown. He was way into the cars there.


Here's Michael and Dylan on the firetruck.

In Mickey's prop room. We thought it would be cool to get a picture of him standing by the Fantasia broom, but there was so much to see and do ...

On some weird contraption...

Meeting the Mouse.

This turned out to be a bad idea about halfway through the ride... but he recovered nicely.

Cutie patootie.


There's this bitchin' Buzz Lightyear ride where you score points by shooting at robots and toys. Somewhere in there they take your picture, and at the end you can email it to yourself. Michael took this one pretty seriously, his score is on the left, Dylan held his own on the right.


Formerly the "Swiss Family Robinson" treehouse... now it belongs to Tarzan.



Aaaah, nothing more beautiful than when the lights go down in Disneyland. Here's Dylan being mezmorized by the parade.

A great time there! We drove home with him singing the "Tiki Room" song over and over until he fell asleep in pure blissful exhaustion. And yet, the surprises were not over! Today I had a package waiting for me from Colin Johnson. He included a whole slew of fun things to look at and play with.

Here's the new addition to our collection "Fringe Festival". It's so beautiful. It was on the cover of "City Pages" .

Perhaps my favorite toy in the bunch... the beauty in the bottle.
Thanks Colin!!!

Colin's Piece

Finished up Colin's piece of art. I'll be shipping her out tomorrow.

Here's a close-up...


It's been between 70 and 80 degrees here lately in beautiful Southern California. Everything is in bloom and lookin' mighty pretty. We have our finch socks up & the boys and I have been spending a lot of time in the back yard planting new things and birdwatching (and for Dylan, playing in the mud, finding worms and slugs, seeing what happens when you cut them in half with a shovel...) Anyway, I wanted to put up some birdhouses. I ended up not seeing anything I liked at the garden center or on Ebay. So I made this one myself. I wanted something rustic. It only took a little over an hour to build. I'm going to make a few more of them to hang.


I ended up with a terrible ear/sinus infection combo this weekend. Major pain. Friday night Michael thought he was going to have to take me to the E.R., but he managed to find a Vicadin in the house, so I happily took it. Luckily I also had some antibiotics on tap, so I started taking those as well. I have to be in shape for Disneyland on Wednesday Dammit!
Here's a sad little picture of Bodie that was taken when he was in the throws of the flu. It's so sweet, he looks like one of those little kids they put on TV to drum up donations.

Alright, Dylan, Michael and I have a date with ol' Mickey Mouse on Wednesday. I love that place so much. It's really cool to be able to take our own kids there finally. I'll post pictures later in the week.

The Happenin's

I seriously think the family has been sick for the last 6 weeks straight. This has been the absolute worst cold & flu season that I can ever remember. Maybe it's just that I 've never gone through it with two kids before... so it seems worse. How do those people with 10 kids ever get through this kind of thing?!
I worked out a trade with Colin Johnson... and I'm just now getting it painted. I haven't been able to get anything accomplished lately... sorry Colin for taking sooo incredibly long with this. Anyway, here's the sketch. I'll post pics when it's finished.
Super cutie naked baby Bodie Bear. My boys are going to loathe me for this kind of thing later on... but oh well.

We went to the San Diego Zoo with the Soto's before all the flu craziness came down. It was actually their Christmas present to us. Dylan loved it. Here he is chasing a peacock.

Checking out the fish with his little lady friend, Shannon.

Walking around the Zoo.

Hippos rule.

We're taking him to Disneyland on the 12th of this month. I cannot wait. I've been chomping at the bits for a family trip to Disnyland sice I found out I was pregnant with him. It was always kind of a matter of waiting until he was old enough to appreciate going. He's such a funny little guy. His birthday's coming up so I was asking him what kind of party he wants, and he said (very excitedly) "A Dance Party!"
yes.

Shipped

Just got everything sent off this morning for the show at the Alcove Gallery. I'm always so incredibly late on shipping things out.
Here's a look at some more of the pieces.
"Robot Round-Up Saloon"

"Nice Pair Deux"

Also did drawings of some Lovely Ladies & their Pussy Cats.
"Stripes"

"Patches"

"Dots"
And on a sidenote..... friend Sloan gave us an Orchid at Christmas. I'm quite proud of myself, not only is it still alive... but it's sprouted 4 new blooms and has more on the way. Yay me!

Dylan has become snowman obsessed this winter. He did this fantastic drawing of a snowman all by himself the other day. Even threw in the corn-cob pipe. I thought this was incredibly well done for a two year old. My boy has mad skillz!

We took him up the mountain to Camp Arbolado to play in the snow. I used to work there as a camp counselor... hadn't been back in years. So it was really cool to see it again. Here he is making a snow angel.

... and making snowballs to throw at Daddy's truck. Bodie missed the snow... he slept in the truck through the whole excursion.

So here's Bodie big boy. Graduated to the high chair. Let the sloppy eating begin!!!

We've all been sick around here. I underestimated what a bummer cold & flu season can be when you add another kid into the mix. Looks like things are on the upswing finally, although Bodie pulled the vomit card on me (literally) again this evening.

On Stands Now!

The premier issue of "Stretching Canvas Magazine". You can pick up a copy at your local bookstore, or even Walmart!

Show pieces

Here's a peek at a couple of the new paintings for the upcoming Alcove show. I'll post more soon!
"Betty Crockbot" The fascination with boobs and robots continues....


"Pirate Booty" I was really happy with how the translucent look of her shirt came out...




Hope you all had a great New Year's!