Before the lights went off...

Priming

It was a beautiful day in Chicago - I swept out the garage and primed boards to be cut for future paintings. I love it, our old garage on Oakley was leaky and falling apart, this is twice as big with a high ceiling and only a few years old. I'm still making peace with my new basement studio, perhaps I'll take refuge in the garage for part of the summer or at least work on some larger paintings out there. Just good to work in daylight and have fresh air circulating through...and Alice, happy as a clam, keeping watch over her kindgom in the backyard.

The Princess and the Pea

Alice - our own, not so little anymore, princess...and her snoozing pal, IZzy.

Another Brush with Hollywood!

Last year I signed a release for the use of several of my postcards on the set of the New Line Cinema Movie: "23" starring Jim Carrey. The  trailer for the movie just came out on their website. In the  kitchen scene my postcard featuring "Urban View" is on the refrigerator next to Jim...I know, pretty small - but still kind of cool. Maybe we'll see more featured in the movie...although it looks like it will be very creepy!

My previous brush with Hollywood was in the movie The Break Up starring Jennifer Aniston & Vince Vaughn. I was one of several artists who played extras and appeared with our art fair set ups at Buckingham Fountain for the closing scene of the movie. After two days of filming it ended up being cut and a completely different ending was shot. That alternate ending is on the dvd - but all you can see is the top of my tent...

Pet Friendly License Plates

We finally got Illinois Pet Friendly Plates for our car, it's $40 well spent as "Proceeds from these plates goes into a pet overpopulation fund toprovide money for spaying and neutering Illinois Companion animals." It was very easy to do...visit the Illinois Secretary of State site to find out how you can get yours. I would love to contribute art work if they ever go for a redesign!

If you live in another state visit PALC to see if your state has or is working on getting a Pet Friendly plate program.

Cool Eyeballs

One of the greatest benefits of biking when the temperature is below freezing is the way your eye balls feel when you close your eyes or blink, Cool and ice-y in their sockets. Yes it was a very chilly day - in the 20's. I needed some exercise and I had a donation to deliver, and who am I kidding - my morbid curiosity was killing me, I had to ride by our old house and see if it was still standing (it was! how am I supposed to get closure?). So I biked down to Green Dog Inca wonderful new GREEN Eco friendly dog day care facility. It smelled like a spa (a little canine aromatherapy at work) and had such a great feel, and it's always such a joy to see a huge gaggle of pups frolicking and having fun. I met Brenda Lang who is co-owner and also a boardmember and volunteer with Friends of Chicago Animal Care & Control. They are having a Wine & Howl event fundraiser on February 1st at the Artisan Wine Cellar at the Merchandise Mart...call 312-224-1116 for tickets. I donated one of my spiffy new mounted prints and some stationary. I alsohad the pleasure of meeting Shadow - a very sweet black pup who isavailable for adoption.I wish I could have brought him home with me...

Stripes . . .

I celebrated the New Year by trying something I've never done before. I painted the laundry room walls with STRIPES, it looks great! I was going to try and actually paint individual stripes...I'm glad I had the sense to research it - the key is to paint the entire wall first, then tape it and paint the second color. What a bright cheery space ... now what to do with the adjoining bedroom walls...?!

Christmas Cookies!

Yesterday I baked homemade Christmas cookies and decorated them. My favorite Holiday childhood memories are baking with my Mom spending hours decorating all the cookies with my brother and mixing really great shades of icing...I think this is probably where my palette developed. ...just wrapped them all up for gifts...warm and tasty holiday wishes to you all!