French Toast Girl

three balls and a frog

I foolishly didn't have time to scan in any of these Christmas presents (held by my awesome niece and nephews, their proud owners), so I had to settle for snapshots as they were opened. I'm especially miffed I didn't get a good shot of Kermit, as he came out pretty darn good.

But my favorite story is about the space pic in the lower left corner - it was for my nephew Joe, who as I understood, wanted "the night sky." So I looked up what the constellations would look like on his birthday, masked them out, added a moon, and painted it up. One night while I was talking to him on the phone, he mentions the TIE fighter he wants in the picture. "What TIE fighter? I'm done!" I said. But he's my nephew, and one of my godsons, and darnit, it's Christmas, and I love him, so I went back in with a wet brush and lifted out a whole bunch of sky and made him a TIE fighter, and while I was at it, made the moon into the Death Star for good measure. I think it came out even better, so everyone wins.

So I was telling my brother (his dad) that there's now a TIE fighter, it looks great, the force is with me, and all that. And he says, "Which kind of TIE fighter did you paint?" and my blood ran cold. I had no idea there was more than one kind! Luckily for me, the one I painted was the correct one. Phew!

While my pre-Christmastime was very busy with all the painting and crafting, I can honestly say it was also exhilarating. I spent my time painting and painting and painting, and I was so proud to when it came time to wrap them. I learned something new with each painting, and yes, there are even more to show (and... to finish.... ) I still also have one yet to scan and two more still to start! I'll show Peter's (which I did scan) next, and Paul's which is a work in progress that is proving to be quite a challenge.

Labels: art, creativity, family, illustration, kids, painting, watercolour

french toast girl

Now showing: no guys, and dolls.

The dolls are done! And are getting played with lots, thank heavens. At last they're finished and sat for their first photo shoot:

Angela's doll's dress is a sundress (under that fluffy lavender sweater) that is modeled after her favorite tie-dyed summertime dress, which naturally is also purple. She got it right away. Angela named her doll Velvet, after Angela's name she uses when we play fairies.

Sophia has named her doll Grace, after her own middle name. Grace's stockings are made from leggings Sophie wore a hole in as a baby, and her jumper is from the leg of embroidered corduroy pants Sophie outgrew long ago.

Peter and his doll refused to pose, but we set up a photo shoot for them anyway. His doll (as yet unnamed, but we're calling him PJ right now) wears jeans made from Paul's old pants. He will have an extremely colorful sweater that borders on being Cosby-esque as soon as I finish knitting it, as Petey loves to wear sweaters and the colors in it look like one of his meticulous drawings. But in the meantime, his doll wears a stripey shirt made from an old onesie of Peter's from back in the day. Good think I never throw anything out, huh?

Labels: art, crafts, family

french toast girl

Umbrellas

I've been madly painting and sewing in preparation for Christmas! Here's Sophie's painting. Her request was "A lamb wearing boots, a cat wearing boots, and a dog wearing boots." One sketch had them all having a picnic tea, but she voted for this one instead, playing in the rain.

More Christmas paintings to come...

Labels: kids, painting, watercolour

french toast girl

squirrels

Dancing squirrels, a little rambunctious for Illustration Friday this week.

Remember I gave everyone on our gift list the choice of an original painting? Well, Angela requested "Squirrels, dancing." And so she shall have them. I had a sketch where one was upside down on his hands and she was really opposed to it for some reason, so here are her dancing squirrels, all on their feet. They'll need to have shadows underneath them, but other than that, I don't think I want to do too much more to it. In a perfect world, I would have painted the background FIRST, but I'm toying with going back in and adding in a light wash.

Extreme tail close up:

Tomorrow hopefully: painting in progress of a lamb, a cat, and a dog, all wearing boots and carrying umbrellas.

Labels: art, family, illustration friday, kids, nature, painting, watercolour

french toast girl

small faces

While making all the presents for Christmas has been fun, and rewarding, it's also time consuming. At least the dolls all have hair and faces... now they need some clothes! And while 4 of the 11 paintings are completely done and framed, and 4 more of them in various other states of completion, I can't show any of them yet or the recipients (and their parents) might see them. When my kids' paintings are done, I can post them, as all they're interested in seeing on the computer is YouTube, Cute Overload, and the occasional visit to Flying Pizza Kitty.

Labels: crafts, family, kids

french toast girl

how we got the tree home

Labels: family, kids, nature

french toast girl

The catchiest songs you've never heard

Thank you so much for all the book suggestions! Some of them are favorites of mine too, and I can't wait to get to the library and share them with the kiddos. I could go on and on about books all day because I love them so much.

I have been hard at work on paintings for Christmas, and the dolls (hopefully will be posting a photo of them tomorrow), but in the meantime...

In that photo of the fridge Thanksgiving week, you saw a picture of Paul McCartney that I clipped out of Blender Magazine, with a balloon coming out of his mouth singing "Obla-di Blah Blah Blah." (Taken from an article naming him one of the worst lyricists of all time. That photo just cracks me up.)

Anyway, one of the things I love about the interwebs is the fact that people post their bootlegs! Woo! So... if you ever wanted to hear unreleased gems and stuff that got bumped from albums, here are a few of my favorites. And I must remind you: pay no attention to the lyrics. Lyric disdain must always be suspended when reviewing a new McCartney tune.

♥ A Love for You, which I shouldn't really list because it's been plucked from the vault and now has been released. But it has such great raw energy to it.

♥ Waterspout. The catchiest darn thing ever, and we like to dance around the house to this. Kind of like C-Moon in that respect.

♥ Two Fingers/Mary's Song. Great story, and interesting in how he was inspired by art to write a song with only two-fingered chords. This song eventually got words, but I like the whistling version much better.

♥ Ivonne. It's a demo for 10cc, but I've never heard their version. When I was in high school and first heard this, I used to have a whole set of alternate lyrics made up about my brother and his beard. Something like "Antoine's the one I've been counting on... "

Labels: Beatles, diversions

french toast girl

ART, iNSPiRATiON, AND WHY LiFE iS LiKE FRENCH TOAST.