Siamese Twins

I have been working on some more watercolor , acrylic, ink paintings. I love cats but painting them has been a challenge for me. I have not used much acrylic either but I do like the boldness of the color and the ability to add texture if I need it.

This is called "Siamese" and is 12 X 15 7/8 on watercolor paper. Done with mostly watercolor, a little ink and acrylic.
$74.97

Deceptively Delicious

I have been watching the Oprah show and Jessica Seinfeld was on with her new cookbook, "Deceptively Delicious." She was talking about how it was a fight to get her kids to eat vegetables and dinnertime was not pleasant. Then she came up with the idea of pureeing the veggies and slipping them into the meals unbeknownst to the kids. They loved it. Dinnertime became pleasant again and she knew her kids were getting the nutrition they needed.

I am wondering where was this book when I was raising my kids! We had to negotiate on the number of peas that went on their plates. They wanted 5, we told them 15, and they ended up eating 10. Even now, we are still fighting about the veggies. I have to keep reminding my college kid to put something green on his plate once in a while. Otherwise, he would be on a caveman diet. My younger son is not much better, although he liked salads until he got sick and then couldn't digest the raw stuff anymore.

The book has some very interesting recipes in it, all packed with hidden veggie purees. Nothing has been left untouched even the desserts like brownies, cakes, and donuts were loaded with either beets, zucchini and others and it sounded like they were exceptionally moist and delicious because they had these hidden ingredients in them.

Barnes and Noble has been getting a lot of my money lately and I suspect they will be getting more as I will be back there looking for this book. The low fat, veggie packed delicious recipes sounds very appealing to me.

Watercolor Magnet Sets

I decided to offer 3 larger magnets as a set.These will be offered at a discounted price. I am also going to sell some of my work directly from my blog. These particular magnets have a Christmas theme.

These are acrylic frame magnets, size 2.5 X 3.5 inches. The watercolor prints are signed and titled on the back.

This set is $12.50 +shipping
To choose other designs, see my etsy store.

Saturday Football

Came back from the game yesterday and it was fun! We tailgated with friends and saw my boy, Nick. It's always refreshing to see him and my eyes just lit up when he came over to our tailgate party from his dorm. The food was good. We had teriyaki chicken wings, BBQ chicken, hamburgers, hotdogs, and BBQ elk. Plus potato, fruit and crab salad. Plenty of chips and dip as well homemade chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies.

We sat right behind the goal posts and had to field balls left and right. I didn't realize how many
times the kickers had to warm up and sometimes we were not always alert to when the balls would be coming. We had a couple of close calls. The game was close. Our team played better than expected. It came down to the last play, a field goal on our end. It was so exciting! We just needed it to tie the game. Unfortunately, the kick was too wide and we ended up losing.

Oh well, good game anyway. Then we took my son out to dinner and it was just nice catching up with him on his college life. He still didn't know what he wanted to major in although he has been going to the career fairs and I was glad to hear that. What I was not glad to hear about was the fact that his girl friend had suggested that they go to the city 6 hours away for the weekend to celebrate their 1st anniversary of being together. I was not in favor of that at all, although I tried to show some restraint. My son is just turning 19 and I don't want him to be so serious about someone at this time of his life. My husband was no help what-so-ever. He said his parents never questioned him on things that he did at school or trips that he went on with friends because he financed it himself. But then his trips never involved the opposited sex either. I'm still not sure on what I am going to say and don't know if I can prevent the trip from happening. I don't want to jeopardize communication with my son but it does not sit well with me at all.

Turned the corner

I haven't posted much on my son's condition because it hadn't changed that much until this week. For once, his stomach discomfort is now down to almost a zero. He's been able to do PE without having terrible stomach cramps. Instead of coming in close to last in the mile run, he has been coming in second place. His stool coloring is almost normal so I am thinking, perhaps, he is coming out of whatever flare up he had.

For dinner I made Easy Pork Stir Fry with Peanut Mole Sauce. Definitely could have caused Andy major problems. Pork has a lot more fat in it than chicken. There was tomato sauce and cocoa too. He had this meal for two days and had absolutely no problems. I'm still holding my breath and don't know if I'm going to try him on dairy. I think it would probably be healthier to eliminate dairy for good.

My son and I discussed that we should still try to maintain a low-fat diet although it won't have to be as restrictive as it's been. But mainly what my son wanted was to be able to go out with friends, eat pizza , hamburgers, drink pop and be just a kid without worrying that his GI system might go berserk. I am hopeful that he will get his wish soon.

Letting Go of Frustrations

I have been reading Wayne Dyer's latest book, Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life. It's his interpretation of the Tao Te Ching. It has a ton of words of wisdom in it and I have been trying to put it into practice although it has not been easy.

One of the things I am becoming aware of is the fact that I get easily frustrated when I am in a slow line at the store or behind a slow car on the road. It seems that I am always in a rush to get somewhere and invariably I get stuck behind someone that is not in the same hurry as I am. Actually, after reading the book, I am developing awareness of the fact that I am frustrated several times a day. I am also learning from this book to not pass judgment on these people, to surrender and let it go. Not easy to do but I am working at it.

Another issue that comes up is when people try to copy what I am doing ( and they end up doing it much better than me), whether it's things that I have done to my house or my art and etc. Copying is supposed to be the greatest form of flattery but I have trouble seeing it that way. I realized it has its roots in my past. There was a lot of sibling rivalry growing up and jealousy was a big part of it. I'm beginning to see that it's all about my issues and my insecurities. This has been the hardest concept to grasp. According to Dyer's Tao, our society is built on outdoing everyone else and being "noticed". By choosing the path called the "wisdom of obscurity", it allows you to eliminate competition and retreat into quiet strength. This releases your need to be more anything in the eyes of others.

I am also learning about "less is more" that I don't need to have so many materialistic things. Another teaching of the Tao is that success is really about the person who is centered and can have peace and harmony in the face of chaos and turmoil. I would love to get to that point. There are so many great teachings in the book that can help one live a happy, meaningful and peaceful life. You can be sure, I will be reading this book many times over.

Dreams of Horses

When I was young, I used to dream of horses and played with toy ones every single day. I dreamt of riding them and jumping fences. I would ask for a horse every Christmas and every Christmas, under the tree, I would get a plastic one.I finally got my wish in high school. My school actually had a riding club if you can believe that. The lessons were great! I loved it but I still wanted my very own horse. I drew them and painted them ever since I was 5 years old.

Finally at the ripe old age of 27, I got my first horse. A quarter horse/appaloosa cross. She was chestnut with a blaze and white socks. Very pretty but ornery at times. We lived on a 5 acre farm so I was able to keep her on our property. I found a riding instructor that taught me Dressage and took more lessons. Since I did not have a trailer, I had to ride the horse 7 miles on canal roads to get to the instructor's house. It was harrowing at times as my horse would shy and rear. I thought I was going to end up in the canal. My instructor did not want me to get injured so she allowed me to board my horse at her place for free. It was very generous of her. I definitely was not a natural at riding but I really worked hard at it because it was my dream.

Then my kids came along and I couldn't ride like I used to. I gave up riding and I gave up painting horses, I gave up the dream. I still had my horse and I know she had a pampered life. I lost my horse 2 years ago at the age of 28 which is pretty old for an equine. I am sure it was the West Nile virus that got her.

I am a little rusty but I picked up the paint brush again and decided to paint horses. Worked about 3 hours on this painting until 1 am in the morning. Haven't used much acrylics but I do like them. Watercolors are so difficult to use. Many times you can save paintings by incorporating the acrylics. I love mix media and would like to do more.

Here is the result of my efforts:

Mixed media-Arabian Horse in my Etsy Store