And the winner is...

First of all, I wanted to tell you how this person was chosen. Blogger put all of my followers into some order- I can't tell what order that is, but it is the same order each time. I went to random.org and had that site pick a number for me. I then counted down the list to the number chosen (which happened to be 42). It was all very random, so you all had the same chance at winning, except maybe my husband- I give him paintings all the time :)

jennifersaddress is the winner!!

There is no blog or site associated with this name, so jennifersaddress I need you to email me, or comment, letting me know that you are there. I also need your address to send you your painting. Please respond by Monday at 10:00 am Pacific time. I will post the painting that is being sent after I hear a response.

Thanks a bunch, you guys! Good luck next time! If you aren't a follower yet, click to become one. I will do giveaways like this periodically. But, you're only eligible if you are a follower!

Cakes

I have made 2 of these little cakes in the past couple of days. Two of my young women girls had birthdays this week. The first one was pink- light pink base with bright pink and green polka dots and a bright pink bow- and this one is white with two shades of green spots. I didn't get a picture of the pink one, regrettably. The green is fun, though, too. I am going to make Liam's birthday cake and needed to practice using and making fondant, as I've never even touched the stuff before now. I made a marshmallow fondant, which supposedly tastes better than the real stuff, and is about a million times cheaper. :) Cheaper is GOOD! I'm off to deliver this little cutie!

What up my 50 followers?!

It has happened! 50 followers, my baby is turning 1 (crazy!), it's my big sister's birthday, and I now get the Sunday paper with all sorts of great coupons! This is cause for celebration. Who wants a painting? Should it be a surprise as to which one I send, or do you want to know what you're getting? All you on my followers list will be eligible... I will let you know who it is tomorrow, August 27. Until then...

VOTE NOW!

I don't know when voting began because I never received an email, but when I went to the Gerber site I could now vote for my munchkin. So, go here and vote if you want.

The Gerber Site

You can do a search for specific pictures by first name or entry number. His first name is, of course, Liam and his entry number is 49265

(You can vote once each day from the same computer, so vote every day if possible!)

Also... I now have 49 followers! One more and one of you lucky people will get a painting!

46 followers!

I have been vacationing and Art Committee-ing the past month or so, which is why I have not posted a new painting in a while. I have just completed 4- 5X7 acrylic paintings, though. I will get those posted in the next couple of days.

My sister took some photos of my family when we were there visiting. I did the photo editing and had a few favorites, which I've posted.

The main reason for this post, though, is to inform you that I just need 4 more followers and one of you will get a painting!

4 followers!

Cherries

I just completed one of the more difficult paintings I've done... ever. I have a few theories as to why it was so blasted hard: 1- I wanted to try out acrylics since I haven't for a while. I have gotten so used to the juiciness of oil paints that the acrylics just seemed dry. 2- I painted on paper. That was a bad idea from the beginning. Add to the dryness of the paints the dryness of the painting surface. 3- I have a lot of other things I should be doing but decided to paint instead. My focus was just not here. 4- There are a lot of colors in these little fruits. I was wanting to paint and get it done quickly so I could get on to other things, but I kept finding little flecks of blue or bits of yellow or green that needed to be in there. I don't think I would call this painting done, but I have to be done for now.

This painting is for the Rookie Painter online painting challenge. I think I've participated in it just a couple of times. Since the dissipation of the Different Strokes blog I am having a hard time painting as much as I should. But, I liked this photo and thought I'd give it a try.

Cherries
7.5 X5.5
acrylic on watercolor paper

Vote for our Gerber Baby

I entered the photo from the last entry into a Gerber contest. There are something like 50,000 entries so far, so it will probably be a far-fetched idea, but go on over and give him a vote. It would be so cool if he won!

http://www.gerber.com/Photo/?entryid=49265&source=10086654&utm_source=Gerber&utm_medium=email&utm_content=PhotoAcceptedReminder&utm_campaign=GerberGeneration#/gallery/

You can do a search for specific pictures by first name or entry number. His first name is, of course, Liam and his entry number is 49265

Get on over there and give him a little votey vote. (I think you can vote 1 time each day from each email address.)

UPDATE: VOTING WON'T BEGIN FOR ANOTHER MONTH. I WILL LET YOU KNOW WHEN YOU CAN VOTE FOR OUR LITTLE MUNCHKIN.

Still no painting...

... but I DID play around with some photos- does that count?

Original photo

Exposure, brightness, contrast, saturation, sharpness, blur, composition all tweaked.
Added the burned edge-
much better!

In other news: I now have 40 followers. 10 more and someone will get a painting. No joke!

Follow Me... again

38 followers as of 9:56 pm on Friday, July 9, 2010. 12 more and someone's getting a painting!

By the way... I kinda like this color combination lately. I made Liam a hat and shoes using these colors and I think they're so cute!

Test

Some cute baby face to test photo size... I'm tired of having tiny pictures while the rest of the world has great big ones that are so awesome! Here's my adorable baby in living color!

Camp Angelos

This is the lodge at the camp I will be going to this afternoon. I am teaching a watercolor workshop (if you can call it that) to 22 teenage girls. It is simply for girl's camp certification, so I doubt it will be as intense as that sounds. I wanted to give them an example of the type of painting they could do. Mike had a good idea- to give it to the Stake President at the end of camp. I think I might.

Happy Birthday, Mike

click invitation to make it bigger

Hot dog

I painted again today. I decided this morning to submit something to the Weener-Art Expo. A buddy from our ward in Salt Lake City puts this crazy event (Ween-O-Rama) together every year and added the art expo to their lineup of other hot dog related activities. It sounds like a good fun time. Anyway, I thought it would be funny to submit something. I actually think I might want to eat a hot dog now. I can't let the staged weener go to waste, can I... :)

Hot dog

oil on paper
8X8

I painted today....

It's been a while. If you've seen our family blog you've probably seen this photo. I thought it would make an interesting painting, so I did it. There are some bits that need fixing, but I think I might call it done for now. It's been so long that I've kind of forgotten what I'm doing. I need to pick up the brush a bit more often, but with an active baby boy... oh dear! He just fell and cut his lip...

As I was saying... with an ACTIVE baby boy it's hard to find the time to get any painting done.

He's so cute, though! See:

Liam playing in the grass
oil on canvas board
8X10

Teapot

I gave myself about an hour and a half to paint, start to finish. Liam was sleeping and I have lots of other things I need to do (I get to go see family in about a week!) but I haven't painted in far too long. By the way, the previous painting was named Liam, got it submitted to the show on time, but I didn't get in. :( I'm a little disappointed, but not much I can do about it. Next time...

Anyway, I gave myself an hour and half to do this painting for this site. This is my first submission to this online painting forum. I wanted to stay loose and just get it done so I can get on to other things. I don't know... I like the composition and colors well enough, but I think I could polish 'er up and have a more striking piece. Perhaps some day I will tweak it to my liking. For now, though, I'm off to clean or sew or make food or play with Liam or something.

Teapot
8X10
oil on canvas board