Beauty & the Beast

I have a new favorite child. THIS is my new favorite painting! I had been putting off doing it for a bit because it intimidated me a little, but I am so glad I finally did it. And it turns out there was nothing to be afraid of! I hardly had to use my eraser at all when I was doing my sketching. I guess that whole 'practice makes perfect' idea has some truth to it since Disney Princesses don't seem to be giving me much trouble lately (however, I still refuse to believe this theory would have worked for my piano practice, mom ;-) )

Here is 'Beauty & the Beast':

No matter how much sense it would make to do my sketching and painting left to right because I'm a rightie, I still usually start working on the right....which leads to pencil and paint smudges getting all over myself and the canvas. Every time I start a new piece I swear I'll do it the right way, but I prefer to start with the most difficult parts, whatever side they're on. And when I'm painting, I stick to doing the same color families at once. Mixing paint can be a huge drag and sometimes it feels like I spend half of my time doing that (part of the reason why I love my bi-colored paintings, like my last Little Mermaid piece so much!).

And finally....

"Beauty & the Beast"
18" x 24" Acrylic original

Under the Sea

I've been working on paintings like a machine, and have so many new ones to show you! Here's the first of the batch:



Yes, I have a slight addiction to doing Ariel paintings

And finally.....

"The Little Mermaid" 20" x 20" acrylic original

As soon as I get around to downloading the pics of the other ones, I'll post them on here too!

You Know You're a Runner When....

The other day I realized that I have been seriously running and racing for over 8 years. Man, that seems like a really long time. As a kid who tagged along to her brothers' countless soccer games and practices, hunting for spare change under the bleachers and reading books waiting for the games to be over, I remember being jealous that my brothers' had a "thing". In college I remember having a conversation with my friend lamenting my lack of a niche. Well, since that conversation I have proudly been able to call myself a runner, and I could not be more proud of that title.

On that note, I had a list of "You Know You're a Runner When..." sent to me today, and I decided to make my own version:

You Know You're a Runner When.....

.....You willingly wake up early on weekend mornings to run.

.....You have an enormous collection of safety pins scattered around your house, car, purse, etc. You never know when you'll need to fasten a bib to your clothes!

.....You schedule vacations around races. Disney Half Marathon! Plus, I'm googling races every time I book other vacations too!

......You're always hungry. And I mean always. Seriously, I could eat two 'Gotta Have It' sizes at Coldstone Creamery and still be hungry.

Feed me Seymore!

......You've run thru fire alarms. I'll leave when I see flames.

......You've become an expert on different injuries and ailments...And freely diagnose other runners and yourself.

.....You've named your Garmin. Mine's George.

.....You have black toes. If you have any toenails at all.

.....You get great enjoyment out of grossing others out with your mangled feet.

....You know the location of every water fountain in your neighborhood.

....You know the exact distance of one lap around your block. .22!

....You're a wiz at converting miles to kilometers. 9 miles = 15k!

....Your constantly judging terrain on your travels for suitable running paths. Flat. Must be flat.

....Your favorite pictures of yourself are when you're running...Not that you can find non-running pictures of you...

....You've slept in your running clothes the night before morning runs. That's like 3 extra min of sleep!

....You turn into an absolute monster when you miss a run. Seriously, just don't even talk to me on those days.

....You've run with a fever, flu, cold, nausea, injury, whooping cough, malaria....you get the idea.

....You've named your running routes... like 'Nuthouse Trail', 'Big Boy' or 'Puke Hill'

Puke Hill

.....You feel your most beautiful in your running gear. There were days I swore I wanted to get married in my bra top and shorts.

I think the shoes went smashingly with my dress

And my number one.......

You Know You're a Runner When......You feel most like yourself when you're running.



How about you guys? How do you know you're a runner?

Wishes!

Last week was pretty rough. First, I had some crappy runs, I'm still not quite sure how I was able to drag myself around the track 75 times both days.

Then, I got a Dear John letter from another art show, one I had been sure I would get in to. That was hard. When the Turtle asked me what I wanted to do for dinner Friday night and instead of answering Chinese or Turkish I burst into tears....I don't think he knew quite what to make of it! So, I let myself have a good blubbering cry while watching Tangled. Then, I wiped my tears, had some yummy Turkish chicken and attacked the elliptical with avenges on Saturday morning.

Oh yeah, and then I painted. Even though the selling and gallery shows are going a lot slower than I hoped, I refuse to stop. When I started painting, trying to sell my work never even crossed my mind. I did it because I enjoyed doing it.  And that's what I'm going to continue to do.  So, even if the Turtle and I are drowning in paintings, I am not going to quit!

My favorite fireworks show in Disney World is Wishes at the Magic Kingdom. I don't think there is anything more magical in the world than Wishes. Every time I see it my heart skips and I forget everything in the world. It is the definition of magic, it really is. Here is my take:

The fireworks were definitely not as easy as I thought they'd be. It took about 3 or 4 layers to get these right.

And finally......

"Wishes" a 20" x 30" acrylic original

And today, I had the best run I've had in awhile. I kicked butt and felt great the entire time, not just at the end. So, maybe things are looking up!