Things to Do, Things to Do

I decided to add a show in Denver this weekend… Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the Merchandise Mart if you’re in the area (booth #H-57)!

Today is Halloween, and Wes is going to be a “Kalen Comedian.” “Kalen” is a world he made up a year or two ago. Ha.

I spent some time yesterday looking at blog links and here are a few I really liked:
http://www.smosch.com/
http://kalman.blogs.nytimes.com/index.php?cat=3
http://virkverket.blogspot.com/
http://www.thirddrawerdown.com/
http://finelittleday.blogspot.com/

Translations

My elephant sketches/watercolors from last week translated into a new painting! I love this one.

Happier Day

On Tuesday I had some blood tests taken to rule out cancer and, yay, I have anemia! (So all is well in the Sonheim household this afternoon, after “the” phone call from the doctor…)

I generally work on several paintings at a time … once I finally sit myself down to paint I need to keep moving while paint layers dry or I will get up and do something more important, like laundry.

Anyway, I started some paintings this afternoon and am in that “I suck” stage. But one of them is starting to come around a little bit and I can see that soon I might be in the “I’m good!” stage. But for some reason I couldn’t go on and so am here updating you about my health. But now I need to get back to it so I will say goodbye for now.

The above painting is of two little Parisian girls!

I’m grateful for my family today. Here is Wes in his new glasses!

I’m on my way to the doctor this afternoon… I may have picked up a friend in India that is causing me to continue to lose weight (not that I’m complaining! But, I’ll get it checked out).

My creative burst last week combined with not feeling the greatest are two reasons I’m behind in all kinds of stuff. (Other reasons are procrastination, laziness and mild bouts of depression.) Cheering up is definitely needed over here! (Help!)

Carving Creative Space

I’ve been in a wonderful place creatively the past week. It’s a place that doesn’t come often enough for me. I’ve been giving myself time to just “mess around”, something I can’t let myself do very often (and, even now, it’s only about an hour a day. But an hour is all that I seem to need!).

I start the morning with coffee, a stack of blank index cards and a pencil. Then I let all kinds of drawings emerge… some from life (like my cat cleaning herself), but most from my head. (Elephants have been a main theme for some reason, probably from my India trip, though I’ve always loved elephants!!)

I have been making between 10-20 little drawings before I’m “done”. Then I choose one or two to recreate in watercolors. I have this “stack” of sketches and paintings – I like that they’re all stacked up like papers on my desk…

Here is a sample of a horse sketch and finish I did last week.

Here’s a bird completed yesterday!

POSTNOTE: The minute I posted this my “freedom” seemed to fly out the window. Isn’t creativity funny like that? So now I’m sewing India books, which I needed to do!!

Yellow Moon Elephant

Elephantie

The title of this piece is inspired by this youtube video (a Wes recommendation).

More playtime

Now, back to work.

Just Messing Around

Steve wondered why one of the horses has glasses. I just realized it’s because it is a portrait of us!

Mystery… can you help me solve it?

The above image is a screen capture of the last few days of my blog stats… for some reason, on Sunday, when I hadn’t posted in over a week, I got over 200 hits! I’ve tried to find a clue as to why this would be but remain flummoxed… Ah well, the narcissist in me wishes those new people (I’m assuming they’re new) had seen a clever, funny, intelligent and wise post. Instead, well, they saw photos of my hair.

Here are some more mysteries maybe you can help me solve:
1. Why is my cat meowing incessently in the middle of the night?
2. Why can’t I fall asleep for hours after I get up and put her out? (Note: she HAS a cat door.)
3. Why are banks so mean?

And a note to all the wonderful people who purchased India books: I’m working on them and they’re coming soon!!