Ramblings of a working mom, would-be photographer, and proud geeky gamer girl, hoping to make sense of this life and the world around her. Welcome to Hooperpalooza!
Friday, June 5, 2015
Painting with a Twist: Garden of the Gods
Sunday, February 8, 2015
Painting with a Twist
Scott and I have been to Painting with a Twist several times together and once with the kids. I’ve even gone with a friend as well. Today, I went by myself. It was a benefit event for the Black Forest Animal Sanctuary. It was also a ‘Paint your own Pet’ session, where you submit an animal photo and they prep the canvas for you to do the painting. They create an outline and give you some guidance, but otherwise, it is all up to you. I chose to do my mother-in-law’s dog as a birthday gift to her. Her birthday was last month and I told her that I planned on doing this, so she was getting her gift late.
Here’s the outline they did. Below the paper plate are my paints.
They suggested that we start with the eyes and then the nose.
A little darker than what she’s supposed to be, but getting there.
Finally, it is done! I wish I could have spent more time on the background, but otherwise, it
Monday, January 5, 2015
Keeping busy
Scott’s latest news has weighed heavily on my mind. We are still trying to do things, check things off his list. Just spend time as a family. Despite his symptoms progressing, more fatigue, more nausea. We got some options from his oncologist and most aren’t looking too good. He could do chemo. He technically only did one treatment back in October. Then he did radiation and when he was supposed to do chemo, his counts were too low for a few weeks. Then his symptoms progressed and he couldn’t do chemo. So much time has passed. There are two other options we will learn more about later.
But Scott doesn’t want to do it. He really doesn’t want to continue to get sick. He can’t have another operation – the tumors aren’t operable. Nothing can be done to eradicate the cancer. The doctors can’t make any promises that the treatments will even work. If they do, they aren’t even sure how much time he could gain from it.
Scott sets small goals for himself. Right now, he just wants to make it to his 35th birthday. That is all. Beyond that, maybe Valentine’s Day.
We went to see Mockingjay with the girls, went shopping at Kohl’s, and went to Painting with a Twist as a family. We spent time with some friends who are in town, playing Magic: The Gathering and Crokinole. We evening went out to eat with them.
I am now in the planning stages of a big birthday bash for Scott. I’m excited about putting on the biggest, baddest birthday party he’s ever had!
Wednesday, June 6, 2012
My Little Pony - Minimalist Paintings
There is so much still to do. Tomorrow we have the circus (I'm so excited!!) and on Friday we leave town for Nebraska to pick up the girls (also excited!!). Lots to do and so little time to do it all in.
| Twilight Sparkle (my favorite) |
| Applejack (my husband's favorite) |
| Rainbow Dash |
| Fluttershy |
| Rarity |
| Pinkie Pie! (My daughter's favorite) |
Saturday, June 2, 2012
More Minimalist Paintings
So, I convinced her of Disney princesses. I had a plan all worked out. Then my plan got bigger, grander, and, unfortunately, improbable. I didn't know what to do. I didn't know where to start.
One morning, I sat with my daughter as she watched My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic on Netflix. They redid the show I had watched when I was a little girl. My daughter was mesmerized. I found out from my husband that she loves the show and she especially loves Pinkie Pie.
Light bulb!
I searched for minimalist pictures of the six main characters of the show. I now know their names by heart. I even know their cutie marks. To my surprise, I found exactly what I was looking for.
Here are two that I've done so far. I have to get better pictures of the three others I've done and post those, too. The first two I did were Pinkie Pie and Rarity, but the picture came out horribly.
The second two I finished were Rainbow Dash and Fluttershy (shown below). The pictures were taken before I did touch up work on them, but you get the idea.
These were super fun to paint and I have one more to do, my favorite, Twilight Sparkle. I have some touch-up work to do on one of the other ones, and then they'll be ready to adorn my daughter's wall. :D
Yes, my daughter is wearing a splint. Over the holiday weekend, she decided to take a spill of the couch and fracture her arm. She got a beautiful pink cast with sparkles. Unfortunately, I think she likes it a little too much. :S
Thursday, May 31, 2012
Minimalist Paintings
Previously, we had our daughter in the larger of the two rooms and a majority of the toys. In the smaller room, we had our son's huge loft bed and a cabinet holding a 37" TV. We found that because his room at the TV, the kids would take all the toys into his already small room and make a huge mess of things. When we asked them to clean up, they would stuff everything in his closet or in large bins. Furthermore, our 3 1/2 year old daughter love to stay up late, past her bedtime playing with the toys in her room, since most of them were housed there.
We decided to switch the kids' rooms and give our daughter the smaller room. We also set up the bunk bed in the new room in preparation for our daughters coming this summer. This setup gave little room for toys, so the functionality of her room became just a bedroom. In the larger room, we put Tristan's loft bed, the futon for seating under the loft bed, and wall mounted the TV. We purchased some Trofast storage from IKEA (I love that store, by the way), a little table to act as a desk, and I went to town organizing the kids' toys.
With the new set up, most of the toys tend to stay in our son's room (where the TV is), so we've dubbed his room the playroom. In fact, the kids have been pretty good about keeping things cleaned up. Organization, though, is another story.
Unfortunately, the walls in the rooms are bare, except for a few of their works of art drawn onto the walls. I've wanted to do themed rooms for the kiddos for quite a while. Never found the time and I really still don't have it. Anyway, I asked my son what he wanted for his room and he opted for Star Wars.
We decided to purchase a few Star Wars things, like a Millenium Falcon and a few light sabers. But I needed stuff for his wall. Fortunately, for my birthday, my husband got me some canvases, acrylic paints, and some brushes. I did some searching online and found these minimalist paintings of a few Star Wars characters. Then I went to work.
I traced the outlines using an old school projector a friend is letting me borrow. It wasn't easy though, since the projected images weren't in focus.
They measure 16"x20"
Darth Vader is definitely one of my favorites. I think this one and C3PO turned out the best. They were also the most challenging.





