I'm back!

I'm baaack! Arrived home yesterday morning, but was pretty much incapacitated from all the hiking that I had done and the red-eye flight that I flew. I called it in early last night. I have lots and lots of pictures and doodles and stories to sort through and will be posting them in the next few days. For now, here is me with the GIGUNDA three-leaf clovers that they grow out west and a beautiful waterfall that I hiked up and beyond (850 feet!!)

Greetings from Portland, OR!

Hello! I've been in Portland, Oregon since friday morning! I'm having a lot of fun; LOTS of walking around and exploring the city. Very quirky city with interesting and pretty sights and an odd assortment of people and surroundings. Today I'm renting a car and driving out to Multnomah Falls for a day of hiking and nature. Luckily, it's a beautiful day out and quite perfect for a hike.

So much good food! I took lots of pictures so far and will post them when I get back. Speaking of, I'll be back home on Wednesday.

xoxo
michelle

Apple of my Eye

Beautiful day out! This is that painting I was talking about. I've been eating a whole lot of apples lately, which is something that isn't very common this time of year. It's the only fruit at the farmer's market though! Lonely apples. And they have been pretty tasty too. Ohhh, I can't wait for summer fruits though. This is the time of year when I get antsy for more variety in my fruits/veggies. No more root veggies!

Anyways, this was painted with watercolor and gouache on a heavily gessoed pine board. 16"x20". Prints are available in my shop!

Yeah, I like pet worms

So I haven't had a chance to scan that painting yet, as it's been rainy and gross here and I don't want to chance taking it outside to bring to work and scan. Hopefully it will be nice out tomorrow and I can bring it.

I've been up to my ears in planters! I almost had a crisis when Home Depot ran out of the terracotta planters and the sales associate was real lame about telling me when the next shipment would come in. I scoured the flower shops of Greenpoint looking for planters and managed to find 6 and this cute little lady's shop. Thankfully, Home Depot restocked today so I bought a big supply (now to get them home without breaking any...hmm). People like cuteycakes. :)

I do have a drawing I have been working on to show though! I have had a thing for fat 'lil birds lately. I think it is because of all the twitterpated boy birds I've seen outside, chasing after the girl birds, with their chests all puffed up. I'm not quite done with this image yet; I think I want to do an antiqued version with sepia-colored lines on a yellowed watercolor wash. Anyways, pet worms make me smile.

apples with pb on it is so awesome.

First off, this makes me sad. I carefully gessoed this piece of cedar, that I got at the farmer's market, and sketched everything all out. The next morning, there was this GIANT crack right down the middle of it and it keeps growing everyday. Boo!! Lesson learned: fresh cedar does not like me and my painterly ideas and impatient ways, and this is what i get for contributing to its downfall. :(

see? sad.


Yesterday was Dr. Sketchy's Anti-art school and Amelia Danger was the model, in full ballerina awesomeness. She was a great model; Sometimes a little too good, with some kinda unnaturally bendy poses that just made me look like I drew her wrong. Her outfit was pretty awesome also, paired with the pink and yellow lights. I forgot my brushes, so just pen this week. She's holding a metric-ton of tulle in both doodles. 10 min. and 20 min., respectively.



I bought a big paper bag of apples at the farmer's market yesterday, so they made their way into breakfast this morning: apple cinnamon pancakes. mmm...


This morning, I woke up all bleary-eyed and rushed a few blocks down to Warsaw for Bust's Spring Fling craft fair. Had to beat the crowds! I got there at 11:30 and it was already bustling. I got myself some yummy smelly things from Lollibomb's booth and called it a day. Lots of fun free things too.

I have a brand new painting that I will, hopefully, be able to scan tomorrow. It's a bit on the big side. This will be a busy week; trying to square a bunch of things away before I leave for Portland, OR on thursday night. Yay vacation!!

Neat-O

My 'lil cutiecake planter is on the front page of Neatostuff today!

New ACEO's

I made some new ACEOs last night. The "Bee & Tipper" one is my favorite. I'll put them up in my shop later on when I get home from work.

Bee & Tipper:


Lady Loo:

Oh Sister:

Picnic in Central Park!

Yesterday was one of those absolutely perfect Spring Days, and Nik, Amina, and I took full advantage and packed up a picnic to take to Central Park. I made an Eggplant and Spinach Muffaletta (From Veganomicon, with olive relish, roasted red and yellow peppers in a fresh sourdough bread) and brought some fruit from the fruit stand. A yummy Avocado Bean salad and marinated Eggplant was also gobbled up, thanks to Amina. I forgot to take a picture of my plate. I was excited because I got to play my favorite card game in the world: Uno! Nik totally sucks at it. Ha!

Central Park is such a great people-watching place, and in the springtime it is especially beautiful with the blooming flowers surrounding you. It never gets old. And even though you know that there a million other people enjoying the park alongside you, it never really feels extremely overwhelmingly crowded.

After our picnic, we meandered around random paths, taking in the lack of traffic noises and enjoying all the fresh blooms and sights. All the Cherry Blossom trees are in full bloom! And we're talking MASSIVE trees here. So Beautiful.

People carved their names with their sweethearts on this tree, as high up as we could see. The higher up you go, the more serious it is, you know.



I loved these leaves. They felt fake! like thin foam core or something. So much detail in them though.



I always remark on how "cute" flowers are. Cute flowers always remind me of Alice in Wonderland. Best part of the story! These flowers most definitely fall into the cute category.



That girl in the rowboat had two shirtless boys rowing her around!


This has to have been the most pimped out bike I have ever seen. We were all mesmerized for a good 15 minutes by this Roller-dancing party we stumbled across. Girls with synchronized dance moves and coordinating outfits; Guys with some serious 12-packs moving in slowmotion around the "dance floor", senior citizens getting down with their bad selves on their rollerskates to the bumping beats. Pretty insane.

This is one of my favorite parts of Central Park; The mall area, with these enchanted looking trees surrounding you. I think I like it because it's hard to see the buildings surrounding the park, so you feel like you are in the middle of grand forest with happy people all around you.