Starlight, Starbright

First star I see tonight... Wish I may, Wish I might, have the Wish I Wish tonight.

I hope that we can help grant a lot of wishes for some kids. That's what this project is about. I really want to make a positive difference in the world and I think that a lot of people do too. There's so much negativity out there that we need to infuse the world with some positive energy. It's like that idea that you are in control of your own happiness. The master of your destiny... or something like that. If you only dwell on the negatives you will miss out on all the wonderful parts of your day and your life. For so many sick kids, it's probably really easy to get stuck in the bad stuff... so help me raise some funds to give them some good. Maybe even some amazing. No one has to solve all the world's problems on their own, but just imagine what we can do with little steps.

Tonight I decided to paint a fairy with butterfly wings. She's a bright light in the night, flying through the darkness by the light of a tiny but powerful star. A small thing is still beautiful and amazing despite its size. I called it "Starlight" and I think it's a great image for how I've been thinking lately. It's easy to sink, and harder to find the tiny brightness that exists. Once you find them... a whole world opens up to you. And... once you get into the habit of searching for the good stuff it becomes easier to see. Just like when you look up at the night sky and as your eyes adjust you can see even more stars are out there.

So... do have a good night... and take some time to think of a few good things about the day, and also to maybe shoot for a fresh, positive perspective on your life... no matter what you may be going through there is always some good in it. Even if you just need a moment to adjust your vision to be able to see it.

Beautiful Day

Well, finally! A beautiful day... lots of sunshine, absolutely no rain... it almost feels like summer. We had a birthday party to go to this afternoon for my good friend Nikki, and after that I delivered some umpteen zillion cookies to our friends and neighbours who got married this afternoon. Combine that with a father/son swimming lesson, an earlier than usual trip to the gym, and my daughter's weird nap schedule and it made for a busy and unpredictable day. But it was a good day. I fell asleep watching a movie... but a good day nonetheless.

Tonight's painting is called "Quiet Night" and is on a 4x6 board. I saw a brief image at the start of the movie with a blue/pink sort of sky and decided to try to paint something like it. I also painted a spot on our carpet in the process. Clumsy me, dropped my brush! Ah well... it's a darkish colour carpet. :)

As I said, I fell asleep during the movie which is not a regular occurrence for me, so I'm going to pop myself into bed as early as I can and hopefully make up for some lost sleep. With the start of childcare it seems that the weekends are being crammed full of stuff we need to do, and probably overcompensating a bit for time we aren't spending with the kids. I kinda miss my boy. But, he is loving daycare and I'm sure it's good for him so it's ok... but yeah, there are a lot of extra hugs and kisses these days. Anyway... to bed, to bed, to bed. Good night!

Week 31 - It's Picture Day!!

Thirty-one weeks... well now, that's a lot of painting. :)

Today was a great day! I started off with a drop off at the daycare, my son was off and running in moments... followed by a quick stop at Rona to scope out some bathroom reno stuff. Don't you just love it when those renovations creep up and surprise you? I'm just hoping the damage to the floor is minimal. Cross your fingers! The staff there were very nice and helpful so thanks ladies & gents. :) Then... a visit with our daughter's sitter (our lovely neighbour). Dropped off some supplies there and then we went over to Halifax to meet my parents at Wizard Optical on Spring Garden. I cannot say enough good things about the staff there! Prices are great, the staff are really wonderful, both professionally and personally, and the location is good too... easy to get to. Anyway, they both have snazzy new specs on order so all is good there. Then we went to Gatsby's (right next door) and had a great lunch there. The staff there were super nice... made my girl some chicken and steamed veggies even though there wasn't a "kids menu". Just really good to us. So... that was a great morning... then went and picked Chris up from his overtime. Home to decorate my good friend's birthday cake (hope it tastes good!) and bake a zillion cookies. Picked my son up (turns out he missed us a bit during the day today and yesterday, but he's a trooper) and had a great chat with his teachers. They are SO nice there! Had a yummy supper of leftover spaghetti and then some playtime before bed. Now... here's the uber highlight of the day... my daughter (finally) took her first two steps!!! This is something I've been anxiously waiting for... and worrying more and more that I would miss. Chris had her in her sleep sack and I was sitting down in her room ready to give her a good night bottle and she was just so excited to come see me that Chris stood her up and she took a step or two with his help and then just kept going on her own... with a huge smile on her face! LOVED IT!!! So... we were both there for our son's first step and now we were both there for our daughter's first. Couldn't ask for much more than that!

Anyway... enough about me and my life... on to the pictures!! I sense a butterfly theme toward the end of the week. :) Enjoy!

July 30 - Little Miss Daisy

July 31 - Orange Haze

August 1 - Stained Glass

August 2 - Yellow Sky

August 3 - Butterfly

August 4 - Wings of Sunshine

August 5 - Splash of Colour

Busy Day

So today was quite a full and busy day. The morning was spent grocery shopping and having a playdate with a friend and her daughter. Then nap time for my daughter meant a mix of fun and not-so-fun chores... then we went out to Value Village to see if we could find some inexpensive stuff  to make her transition to out of the house child care a little easier (booster seat with a strap, for example). Didn't have any luck there... but we'll keep our eyes out. After that, picked our son up from daycare (he, as usual, didn't feel too inclined to leave, but at least that means he likes it there!) and went home to cook dinner. Then I ran off to the gym where I managed 45 minutes of Body Attack (meh) and then did the full 50 minutes RPM class (oh boy). My legs are going to hurt tomorrow! Home to bake a birthday cake, then down to paint.

Tonight's painting took me a little over an hour and a half... and I like it. I was going to try to just do something quick and simple... but my version of quick and simple varies from day to day. It's another 4x6 board and it is another butterfly. This time it is from a different spot, and is called "Wings of Sunshine". I hope you all like it too. :)

And now... since it's quarter to twelve... I'm going to bed. Here's hoping I am able to walk tomorrow! Good night!

It's A Butterfly. Period.

Oh the originality and master artistry of naming paintings... yup, it eludes me. So, tonight's painting will be called, wait for it... "Butterfly". I wonder what it could be? I can hear you scratching your heads and wondering why, oh, why, a painting of a butterfly would ever be called "Butterfly". Surely it means something more... on a deeper level. Or something.

Nope. It's a butterfly.

I can't think of much to say today... for some reason my fingers refuse to type out witty refrains and pithy commentary. I guess I will just have to admit verbal defeat this evening. It feels like it has been a long day. A good day, but a long day. Bed is likely the best place for me! So... good night, sleep tight, and don't let the Zipperump-A-Zoos bite!

(Google it... you know you want to.)

Amazing Stormy Sky

Tonight's weather is just incredible! The sky was yellow, the sun peeked through the rainclouds, there was a rainbow, wicked lightning bolts... oh just awesome! Nature can be pretty cool. Beats a lot of tv out there, that's for sure!

Me, I love a good thunderstorm. That's what we've been having for the past 3-4 hours. It's wonderful! Not so good if you suffer from migraines, but amazing if you can enjoy the show. I sort of miss the storms we got in Southern Ontario... there were some doozies! Since moving East I've noticed a drop in awesome thunderstorms... but I guess we get hurricanes and tropical storms to um, even things out? Hmm... Anyway, tonight's storm is holding its own and making for some very interesting visuals.

Tonight's painting is inspired by a bunch of mental snapshots from our drive home post-dance class (which was lots of fun too). The sky was sort of a creepy grey-yellow... don't know that I've ever seen it quite that colour before... and of course the rain was bucketing down. Then there was the rainbow that morphed in and out of being a double rainbow, and seeing the whole thing or just the legs... it was very cool. The bolts of lightning and the actual light from them lit the whole sky up... it looked like daylight a few times, and I imagine there will be some great video footage posted tomorrow. It's neat to scroll through a video while on pause to see the stills of the bolts. I did that the last time we had a big lightning storm. So amazing! So... anyway, back to the painting... it's a 4x6 board... with a yellow sky, grey rainclouds, and a rainbow over some water/trees. It's one that I'm proud of for sure. I like that it's created from memory and not copied off of a picture. It probably loses some accuracy... but who cares? I opted not to include a lightning bolt because it looked pretty good without... the rainbow added a nice splash of colour and focus and I thought having both that and a bolt would take away from the overall effect. After all, in life the lightning bolt is just a super quick flash. Half the time (or more) you don't even see the bolt either because it's too fast or you just couldn't turn your head or focus your eyes quick enough. Ah well... I thought the painting was kind of neat and related to my day.

Quick personal update... my son had a ball at daycare again... my daughter had her first visit to her sitter's house, the toilet isn't leaking at the moment, and dance class was pretty great. So... all in all, a good day! Hope you enjoy the rain... or whatever weather you're experiencing. Good night!

Hoo Boy...

August is not off to an auspicious start in my book. While the day was beautiful weather-wise, and I did have lots of fun with the kids... we discovered that the weird warping in the floor that's been going on the last couple of days (Chris thought it was the door hinge) was not caused by the bathtub (yay) but probably by a slow, sneaky toilet leak. Nothing gross... but still damaging. Downstairs we took another closer look and found that yup, right where the toilet is there's a big wet spot in the ceiling and the drywall is a little softer there. Oh no. No no no no no. It's never good timing for potentially big repairs, but right now is really, well, less than ideal we'll put it that way. Sigh. Chris thought he had the problem figured out, went off to the store to get supplies, and from all appearances did fix it. For a few hours anyway. Now, just before bed, we've noticed that, sadly, it has begun to leak anew. It doesn't look good for our heroes. (I can still jest in the face of money flying away). So... he's poking at it again now (it's after 11 and he has to get up around 5am) and I guess we'll have to see what happens next. Anyone know a plumber who will work for cookies? I bake some seriously good cookies. :) Otherwise though... we had a good day. All of our plans kind of got botched what with the toilet, a teething baby, the bridge walk being at a different time of day than I thought, and all around general weirdness... but we still got some time together as a family and we did get to have some fun at home. So... it's all about the silver lining. You know, more or less.

In really good news, as pertains to this project, I finished two paintings tonight. Yay me. ;) The first one, for tonight, I called "Stained Glass" and it's colourful and blocky. Not much like my friend Erin's stained glass (which is amazing by the way... go check out her website Colour and Light) but still fun. After I finished that one I decided to just mess around with the leftover blobs of paint and came up with one that I think looks a bit like a leaf in autumn. So... beauty can be found in weird places if you let it sort of do its own thing. Both of tonight's paintings (the leaf one will be saved for emergencies) are on 4x6 boards.

I'm also starting a countdown.... 35 days until I become a full-time college student. Yup, the B.A. in theatre was great, enjoyed my time in that industry, but it is time for a change. I'm thinking next year I'll do some theatre stuff for charity... just to keep this ball rolling. :) It's making me feel good about things even when life throws a curve. So... think happy plumbing thoughts for me if you will... and have a great night!