Where have I been?

D'oh.

It is apparently exceptionally easy to get out of the habit of blogging. Probably because blogging is kind of hard. I mean, if I went out and took fabulous beautiful photos every week and spent a lot of time on "social media" making nice with everyone else - then people would visit here and leave nice comments.  Or if I was famous - well, I imagine that simply helps — assuming it's like good famous and not D-level reality tv also ran famous or something.  If I was into fashion — you know, I guess that's what the young ladies do... except that just not my thing.

So, I'm guilty of not blogging here and I do openly admit that not writing anything and just posting a something on tumblr seems to be a lot easier. That and tumblr is searchable so random people have a greater chance of finding your content. 

But anyway, it's September because I dropped off somewhere in August. It would be nice if I had some story or pictures about some fabulous vacation. But I don't. I didn't go anywhere. I was somehow busy between work and life and home.  There was a lot of overtime (aka 6 day work weeks), and some home drama. The latter I should have probably not mentioned, because apparently it's an unmentionable thing. It's not a divorce or domestic incident or fire or natural disaster, and no one is injured or ill or fired or boozing it up or anything particularly interesting... it's one of those dumb things that apparently you're never supposed to speak of. And I know this because I have mentioned it casually to a number of people that I know and they look at me as if I just told them that so-in-so is (insert scandalous thing). 

Let's just say that in the month of August, as I have been doing in very small increments for the past year, there was a sudden burst of cleaning... because someone seems to have a little problem parting ways with things that ought to be thrown away. Before there were tv shows we just called it the Mess. There's less of it now. There may have been some words exchanged and some strained faces every time Wednesday rolled around. And I may have gone on clandestine missions and snuck garbage bags out of the house, but there ought to be a clear path to the fuse box. And we are no longer not throwing out junk mail, because that was some moronic bullshit. If I am writing out a check every couple of months for the garbage man to come take away 3 bags of trash every week, then, 3 bags of trash are going to leave every week until I run out of stuff that needs to go.

Otherwise, in another 10 years we would have qualified for an episode of one of those shows, although we don't have any cats or rats or insect problems... although someone may be crushed to death someday by totes of craft supplies.

It's difficult to explain to non-relatives how there have been arguments and hurt feelings and dirty looks over throwing away empty shampoo bottles and milk jugs and  plastic bags.

So, that was August: work, cleaning, and exhaustion. Also, it was still too frigging hot.

And now it's September.

Anyway, I have been drawing and writing on and off when I'm not trying to catch up on sleep or think of how to better organize the thousands of things we have in this house... and one of the things that I endeavored upon was a new etsy account. Yeah, I know, like I really need another one.

esotericSarah — my photography will be slowly matriculating there because I actually opened the account with a completely different intention, and maybe, just like I thought last year - I'll get back on track with that project in January when my schedule clears out...

I laugh as I type that. But all the cleaning that I did in the month of August and throughout the past year was a bit of a journey in an attempt to live a happier, neater, better life; with some level or organization and planning. So, while I may look back on my summer and recall it being too hot to do anything and spending a lot of time with a the vacuum cleaner and a spray bottle of cleaning fluid - it was a path towards a more functional home and a more functional home life, where things get put away and there's a place to put things that we actually use.

Plus, I have 12 pictures to draw in less than 3 months. Eek! Good thing I have most of them sketched...

Hope everyone had a good summer!

Picture Story: nectar

I think that illustrations are often self evident. That's why they're illustrations. And that's what I do - I illustrate. So, I realize, when I talk about my work, instead of explaining what is in the picture or why it's there - I tend to talk about how I illustrated it.

So, on to the obvious: "nectar" is a picture of ruby-throated hummingbirds eating the nectar of fuchsia. Ruby-throated hummingbirds are native to the eastern United States, for most of us on this side of the country - they're the only species of hummingbird around. They show up here (in Michigan) in May or June and usually hang around until September, when they fly South for the winter. Ruby-throated hummingbirds have a head and body that are green and a white underbelly, only the males have a ruby-colored throat.

Contrary to the depiction in this picture - this species of hummingbird is very territorial. I have never seen 2 of them aware of each other at the same feeder or plant at the same time. However, you can find videos on youtube of multiple ruby-throats in the same feeding area at the same time coexisting peacefully... that just doesn't happen in my yard.
This clip has music - but this is what it sounds like on the back porch all day long: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twqrrlAEHf8 Just tiny little birds fighting and squawking over the sugar water (often referred to in this household as 'bird koolaid') in the plastic container.

"nectar"

"nectar" was one of my first experiments with coloring over a printed image. The fuchsia in the picture were actual flowers that I photographed. I then edited the backgrounds out of those photos, combined several photos together and adjusted the color on the image I had created. I printed that out and colored over it with prismacolor pencils, and then scanned that and edited it as the base of my illustration. The background is based off one of my photos of the sky. I adjusted the colors and then merged it with a color layer to get it the shade of aqua I wanted.

And the hummingbirds were also an experiment in coloring over a print out. They were originally drawn in pencil. And that was scanned and printed as a blue page — and then inked. And then I colorized the ink outline and printed that out and colored over that in prismacolors, and then scanned that back in and made another print out. I colored over that print out — adding details, and then scanned that back in and 'cut' the hummingbirds out of the background.

And then I added the hummingbirds into the illustration, in a layer that was above the sky but below the fuchsia.

I know, I know, the boring technical stuff is only remotely interesting to me.

Since it's August, I come home from work every morning to the sound of a 'bird fight' taking place on the back patio... and I imagine this squawking and fighting and chasing and otherwise all-out territory dispute goes on until dusk. They're lovely creatures and they're complex.

And when I go out on the back porch to do something I am often reminded that I am interrupting their visit. The hummingbird will just pause and hover and look directly at me, and then jut forward, and pause and look at me again, and then decide whether it's on to the feeder or to quickly buzz off to go sit on the edge of some nearby leaf and wait for me to leave... like as if I'm not the one who keeps making them more bird koolaid or something.

Yes, they're complex creatures.

vacation...

I think I'll be back next weekend. It's not that I'm going anywhere. It's just that it's too damned hot. Yes, I was 9 in the summer of 1988 when we last had record droughts & heat here in the U.S. — and yes, I remember it. I was just conveniently young.

I went to the Art Fair on Thursday. It was kind of like a ghost town. Oh, and it was like 100˚F; evidently it was only 95˚F for the other 3 days. Anything over 80˚F is too hot... so, anyway, I think it's time for whoever plans the Art Fair to stop being obstinate and change the date to the end of June (when we have conveniently 70˚F days). When I'm not drenched in my own sweat and knowing that a sunburn and dehydration are going to happen - I'm better at buying stuff.

For those uninitiated with the United States inability to convert to metrics: http://www.wbuf.noaa.gov/tempfc.htm

Anyway, the day before I had googled the forecast, and it showed me a grumpy gray cloud with a lightning bolt. So I was hoping for rain. I didn't bring my umbrella. It didn't rain.

So, I guess maybe my fish are enjoying this time of year. Me? Not so much. Hopefully it cools down this week. Stay in the shade & stay hydrated.

just because

Evidently it's Wednesday... I forget that sometimes because I work midnights and sometimes the days just kind of blend together.

Apparently it's 79˚F, and the skies are sort of overcast and yet sunny — so there's that atmospheric light. It's humid, but it isn't ridiculous. It's warm, but it isn't sweltering. It's just nice...

And I've been sitting here, working at the computer this morning, indoors... until I finished what I was working on — which, as it turns out was the new background for my blog — which you may have noticed if you've been here before. There used to be a lot of #867cbb around here. But then I was meandering around my blogger profile or the blogs that I follow or something — and I opened this blog: http://bittersweet-enmi.blogspot.com/
And, yes, I was envious — in that I wanted a background and something maybe a little less generic — because her blog just looks cool.

So, yes, it's summer and it's nice outside and I've been sitting here at my computer tinkering and copying and pasting from my files like as if the design layout of my blog was the only thing that mattered... and actually, I didn't change the layout — I just changed the colors, made a new header and assembled 100 square samples of my work together into one large grid to make a new background — since I finally figured out that blogger will let me upload my own picture for the background.

So, thank you, Emmy Wahlback, for the inspiration.
And now, I suppose it's time to get back to cutting out butterflies... or maybe I'll go outside again.

Enjoy your summer, and the wondrous things that exist just outside the back door.

Outside: irises (part 3)

This is the third installment of the irises. I don't quite remember what type the first image is, other than just pretty... The second is honky tonk blues, the third is jacaranda falls (which came from Frank's Nursery before it when out of business), and the fourth is a superstition.

Superstitions are 'black' irises - in other words, when the sun isn't hitting them directly they're very dark. Mine are planted along a fence, and it's almost impossible to take a picture of one that isn't backlit, unless, of course, I want to wander into the neighbor's yard. I really need to move these ones to somewhere slightly more practical...

So, today is summer solstice. It's the official start of summer according to the calendar, and it's the day with the longest period of daylight. And it's also my birthday.

So, even though it's 68˚F with a possible high of 86˚F (and rain, damn it, weather!) - the oven will be turned on, and the traditional birthday cake will be baked. Yes, Betty Crocker Cherry Chip cake with the corresponding Cherry frosting. I first had this cake when I was probably about 6 years old. It was at Grandpa Duda's birthday party - and by far it was the most awesome cake I had ever had as a six year old. White cake, yellow cake, chocolate cake, that ridiculously dry German chocolate cake — they've got nothing on cherry chip cake, particularly not when it has the corresponding cherry flavored icing.

Grandma & Grandpa Duda (c.1988)

Anyway, I got my love of kitsch and cheap jewelry from Grandma Duda; and my green eyes and my premature gray hair (well, okay, Grandpa Duda probably contributed to that too. I don't have any memories of him without white hair... allegedly his hair was once brown). I got my first pet from Grandma Duda - 2 bettas (Calvin and Mike). And generally, Grandma Duda bought me and my sister a lot of weird kitschy stuff... plus, she also showed me the first cockroach I ever saw - which was a Madagascar Hissing Cockroach - consequently I thought all cockroaches were giant so when I saw an ordinary cockroach for the first time I was like "oh, that?" Grandma Duda was a secretary for Richard Alexander of the herpetology division of the Natural History Museum at the U of M. So, she always had something strange to show us grandkids... plus I got that Naked Mole Rat t-shirt that I wore all through high school from Grandma Duda via her job...

Anyway, since it's my birthday I'm going shopping today, and no doubt, there will be some kind of "Grandma Duda" purchase. Yes, I'm going to buy something inexpensive that I really don't need that probably has no practical purpose. It's in the genes.

Summer begins...

Well, summer officially starts on 21 June... which I know because it's my birthday. But it's summer now. The weather really doesn't care what the calendar says. It's humid and 70-80˚F out right now — that's summer weather.

So, a couple weeks ago I happened to look up at the obsolete tv antenna that towers over the house, and sitting way up there on the top of one of the rods was the male hummingbird. It's amusing to see such a tiny creature sitting way up there, where presumably he's surveying the territory. So, I cleaned up the feeder and made some bird kool-aid for him and the rest of the hummingbirds to fight over... and this weekend I finally got around to taking all the snowflakes down. Yes, I still had vestiges of the winter decorations hanging around the place. Laziness, I suppose.

So, the hummingbirds and the butterflies are now up.

A few years ago I was looking for snowflake Christmas ornaments at Target, and I happened to notice that they had all these resin bird ornaments... so I picked through them all, carefully, and literally bought all the hummingbirds that didn't have broken beaks, as resin is fragile, and these were just hanging on hooks. They had bluebirds and chickadees and goldfinches too, and yeah, I bought some of those as well, but they were all made in a perching position, where as the hummingbirds are flying. (Some day I'll get around to making something that my bluebirds can sit on)

So, anyway, all the birds were painted as the male form of the species... so, I brought them home and repainted them. I made males and females, and went so far as to use iridescent nail polish to make their feathers more authentic. So, every year when I finally let go of my laziness for an hour or so - I get them out and put them up - and they stay up until October or November - long after the real birds have flown south.

I made the monarch butterflies probably about 10 years ago. I suppose it's silly or childish or whimsical or maybe a little 'Flowers in the Attic'-ish, but I like weird stuff I suppose. And if you looked at the pictures and you're wondering - that brown blob on top of my computer is a snail knick knack.

I did some paintings on a whim last weekend, so now I need to scan them and varnish them, and sign them, and print out and attach the labels for the backs of them... I finally went through my paints this week (since the garbage was off by one day in observance of Memorial Day), and threw away all the bottles that were dried up and chunky or almost completely empty. I do that every now and then, particularly when I can no longer fit all the paint into the basket that holds the paint. The overflow of arts & crafts supplies gets to be a little much every now and then...

The summer flowers are here. The irises are blooming! Irises are my favorite flower, hands down. I love them in virtually every color (except the brown ones - that I will never understand). But violet (and any other shade of purple) is my favorite. Violet is also simply and unilaterally my favorite color.

Plus, after probably not having ridden on an actual bike for like 15 years - I bought a bike this weekend. Yes, it's a lavender shade of violet, which was most of the appeal... aside from the fact that it's a female model, adult sized, and has brakes. Yeah, I'm not one of those cyclist people, so, really I bought it because I want a bike to tool around on mostly for leisure purposes - which means riding it around the block in a residential area where I am least likely to be impeding traffic or hit by a car.

Hopefully your summer is filled with color and happy things, and maybe air conditioning, a fan, or the occasional cool breeze.

end of summer feeling

The birds and the trees are beginning to give subtle hints that this summer is going to ebb into autumn...

I've been seeing a lot of flocks of birds traveling through the skies in my various travels... and I went out to photograph the clouds on Sunday morning and noticed that the leaves on some of the trees in the orchard are starting to turn colors...

I suppose I'll be pining for summer come the first frost. I am however enjoying what we refer to as the "free air conditioning" — it's nice to have an end to 80˚ and 90˚F days.

What color are you?

I did this on someone else's blog and thought it was kind of fun...

GREEN

You are a very calm and contemplative person. Others are drawn to your peaceful, nurturing nature.

Find out your color at QuizMeme.com!

So, it's a bit out of the ordinary here, but I encourage you to try it.
http://www.quizmeme.com/color/quiz.php
Personally, I think I should be violet, since it's my favorite color, but I'll accept green...

Anyway, I was exhausted when I came home from work this morning, and considered just going to bed. However, I didn't. I mean, you know, that would have been responsible. Instead, I happened to notice the clouds outside in the morning sky... and put my shoes back on and wandered out into the field behind the house. On a side note, I think the farmer is growing soybeans.

Anyway, the sky was that kind of morning periwinkle color, and the clouds were kind of spotty, but fluffy, and they were white but touched by the colors of the sun. So, I was standing there in the soybeans, angling the camera, trying to avoid the pairs of mourning doves flying through (as they always end up looking like bugs on my photos) and noticed this silhouette of a giant bird coming towards me. To my delight it was a great blue heron!

I know it looks tiny in a small pic on the internet, but it was really cool to stand there and watch it fly over.

Outside: Queen Anne's Lace + bokeh

It was actually a very cold day in March sometime last year, or maybe two years ago? Who knows... Anyway, it was on a frigid day in March when I was standing on the edge of a half frozen pond in the dreary light of the morning when I finally figured out how to properly use the settings on my digital camera. Yes, I know, what better conditions than freezing air, a pond at the bottom of a steep hill, my dew soaked shoes and pant legs, and my freezing gloved fingers to finally just stand there and try every setting on the camera? Nothing ever happens on a calm, balmy afternoon in May, no.

Since that day, and even prior to that day, I have taken many many many pictures. And while I knew this before — you can take a picture of almost anything and create an image that looks good or interesting or is engaging. It's just that back in the olden days you literally paid by the image, one segment of film at a time. Other than recharging the batteries and always having to reset the time & date, my how convenient this new technology is!

Of course, even after you figure one thing out, there will always be other things to learn or experience. One of the things I find particularly visually entertaining about photography is "bokeh." I suppose, since figuring out the macro option, it's my current new favorite *thing.*

So, since summer is winding down — and man, I will not miss those 90˚F days — it was time for one last go round with the Queen Anne's Lace, this time with bokeh.

Hopefully, your summer is winding down in a pleasant fashion.

As always, if you're an 'etsian' (or even if you're not) I invite you to check out my treasuries
here or here, respectively. And if you are an etsian, and you like to make treasuries and would like to participate in the Serendipity Treasury Challenge, then check it out on this blog.

A drive down the highway...

I do a lot of driving. Probably more driving than I would do if I had a choice... and a lot of it is driving at night. So, it isn't so much scenery one is looking for, but that familiar silhouette standing by the side of the road.

Anyway, out of habit or necessity I drive a different route every now and then, and sometimes I get to see something special. As it turns out, an alternate route yielded a trip past a field of Queen Anne's lace. Now normally, this stuff grows in large patches by the side of every farm field that a highway runs through, but this was an entire field — not just some patch in front of corn.

It's a pretty interesting sight to behold.

It was fun to stand there in the first light of the morning and marvel at the field of wildflowers... until the swarm of mosquitoes appeared. Cursed insects...

And on a completely different note: some of the finished paper bowls are now available for sale at "sarahknight" on etsy.

Essentially, they come in 3 sizes:
large (rim diameter 10 inches)
medium (rim diameter 7.5 inches inches)
small (rim diameter 5.875 inches)

I hope you check them out! : )

Of course, now I need to get off my duff and go finish and photograph the rest of them. Sometimes it seems like work just never ends. Hopefully your week is a happy & productive one!

I am prone to whims...

In the grand scheme of things, I am not a meticulous planner. In fact, in the entire span of my lifetime, I have only ever purchased one "day planner." The only reason for the purchase was because it was 75% off, and because it had Salvador Dali graphics. I never wrote, much less planned anything in it...

The world is large and full of possibilities, so, I really don't see how anyone really thinks they can plan anything down to the letter, or why you would want to.

That being said, I was sitting in front of the computer yesterday, and happened to notice the light change from the window. There were clouds meandering through the sky. So, I grabbed my camera, put my shoes on, and wandered all the way out to the back of the yard and took pictures of the cloud.

Life is full of moments, and serendipity.

That and I take a lot of photos of the sky anyway. They always come in handy for digital collage illustrations of landscapes...

Anyway, between painting trees and sky washes on bowls, watching television, photographing bowls for listings, watching more television, messing around on the internet, and enjoying a summer of strawberry shortcake, I have been working up some of my sky photos. Like in virtually all areas of life, I'm not a photography purist, so I have no qualms about editing or calibrating color to my liking.
These are some of the images I have finished so far...

sunlit wisps

cotton candy clouds


epiphany

On a completely unrelated note, whilst hammering tacks on which to attach picture frame wire to some of the many paintings I have painted this summer — I watched the documentary "Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage." I highly recommend it. Rush were one of my first favorite bands, and Geddy Lee was my first rock-star crush. If you are a Rush fan, then you must own this documentary! And if you're not, then go buy it anyway, and become a Rush fan.
: )

an ode to laundry...

I've been spending a lot of time painting the bowls lately. Apparently I have made 33 of them so far. I can never make a project in moderation.

Anyway, in lieu of writing a small novella of a post, here's a pictorial ode to good old fashioned laundry:

If you have ever visited my "sarahkdesigns" shop on etsy, you may know that the clothesline is a familiar theme in my work...

I invite you to check out some of my more 'rural' treasuries : )
crisp clean country air
rural

paper bowls & painting

Sometimes I'm just exhausted when I come home from work, which, I suppose, is why they call it work and not happy fun time. So, while I'm not entirely sure how my spare time was whittled away last week, I know that a large chunk of it has been spent working on my latest in a series of on-going craft projects: the paper bowls.

I was in 4-H when I was a child, and did papermaking which was taught by the artistic and talented Linda Partridge. And many times during my childhood I took out my mother's Oster blender and filled it with shredded paper and water. Fortunately, Mom didn't really ever make anything food related with that blender. Yeah, my mom sews & tats & crochets & cross-stitches; cooking, meh.

So, anyway, I seem to have been bitten with the papermaking bug again, and I'm not quite sure why or how. But when inspiration for an arts & craft project hits, it's best to just do it, and not remember 3 months later that you came home from work and zonked out on the couch (that it took you 2 months to upholster & assemble) in front of CSI: NY reruns everyday instead of just getting stuff done.

Believe me, there is a five year old project involving designing butterflies and mobiles that surfaces from the back of my mind every now and then... usually when I'm at work.

So, yes, papermaking.
I decided that this was going to be a 'green' project. All the paper that was used to make the pulp had already been used. 99% of the paper I used to make the pulp came from the office, they throw a lot of paperwork away at work. Don't worry, none of it is anything interesting; it isn't personnel files, it's mostly ordering codes. And it was all made into pulp anyway. Go ahead, scan a telzon on one of my bowls, there's no barcode, and nothing is going to happen.

I don't remember why I decided to make bowls, perhaps because it's easy, I've done it before, they're technically functional... who knows. But bowls are what I ended up using to mould my paper pulp. I made more than 20 of them, in varying sizes based on what I had purchased for the project (clearance sales on melamine tupperware at box-stores are always super) and what happened to be in the cupboard. Don't worry, there won't be any paper in the jello salad come Thanksgiving. My favorite imitation tupperware (it's violet colored!) will be thoroughly washed.

Anyway, the summer heat was excellent for this project, as I just left the bowls out on the back patio to dry. Well, there was that one Sunday when I had to jump up from my slumber and retrieve them from the patio because there was a storm. It was a hoot to get them in the garage and realize there was quarter-sized (USD .25¢) hail in my half-dry paper bowls. Yes, it hailed in July in Michigan in the middle of a spell of 90˚F weather.

This is, perhaps, why it never occurs to me to make paper in the middle of winter.

Anyway, once all the forms had dried, it was time to get busy and decorate them. I'm not a handmade paper purist. I knew I was painting them. And so, that's what I have been and should be working on for the past week and into the next week. And then there will come the 2 day period where I hem and haw over whether or not I want to shellac them. Yes, I know, it's called varnish, but the word shellac is more fun. Craft projects are supposed to be fun, not work.

Here are a selection of bowls in progress...

Yes, I have a collection of kitsch garden critters : ) I am apparently particularly fond of frogs, lizards, and turtles; and using them to decorate indoors.
Hopefully your summer is fun & productive, and hail free!

Art Fair is in the air

The Ann Arbor Art Fair is this week. Yes, out of what I could only really consider sheer pettiness, there are technically like four "different" "art fairs" going on at the same time. Whatever. Honestly, I've been going to Art Fair since I was a kid, and no one cares who was first or original. They're all artists, crafters, vendors, and activist booths located on the streets of downtown Ann Arbor, really, it doesn't matter what street. I like finding cool things, and I don't care where the booth is located. Art Fair is July 21-24 10am to 9am wed thru fri, and closing at 6pm on sat.

I look forward to going to Art Fair every July. As per the usual, I plan on buying an opal triplet ring from William Fisk, buying more jewelry than I really need, visiting the Peaceable Kingdom, visiting Middle Earth, visiting my favorite shoe store, and hoping it doesn't rain.

The first shot is a leaf of the Japanese Gum Tree.

The blueberries are ripe in the yard — I made some very tasty muffins yesterday. That Better Homes & Gardens cookbook from 1972 has an excellent, very simple recipe. I'd double the amount of blueberries, but otherwise it's delicious every time.

And the tigerlilies are blooming!

Hopefully your summer is ripe with beauty : )

Outside: summer flowers

It's nice to see some color outside...

I'm not sure of the identity of the first picture. The second picture are day lilies. The last picture is an Asiatic lily.

please excuse my vacation...

Please excuse my absence, technically, I am on vacation. It's been a while, so I'm really rusty at this vacation thing. I seem to have spent the first day of my vacation cleaning the bedroom and the office / living room...

This did, however, prompt me to actually print out some of my own artwork for myself, and finish off some paintings and actually hang them on the wall. It's been a very long time since the artwork in the bedroom has changed.

Anyway, one of the last things I did on my way home from work was take some pictures of some flowers in a field by the highway. I admit that I don't know what kind of flowers these are. But, hey, there was a bee hanging out. It's always a challenge to try to focus the camera and get the shot before the bee moves on...

Whether you're at work or at home, I hope you all enjoy your week.
Oh, and since June 21st has already passed us by, which means that I am a year older, it also means it is officially summer. So, enjoy your summer!

watching paint dry

There is a part of my brain that is always designing ideas and things... which is probably why I'm always thinking about the next thing I want to make or project I want to embark upon when I'm at my job and I'm supposed to be focusing on the task at hand.

I have several ideas & designs involving butterflies which I think will eventually be the project at hand. But the present moment has been all about painting. I actually started painting again because I happened to be in a 'discount' store and saw an insanely good deal on pre-stretched canvases. I then found myself at the craft store loading up a plastic basket with paints... And in the span of 1 week I had done 20 'implicit landscape' paintings on canvas. I just varnished all of them. And my next step is to finish the backs & add picture frame wire to all of them... Then, of course, I still have to title them.

There were literally times when I was sitting in my living room / studio waiting for paint to dry, which was quite an amusing notion to experience. Anyway, since I have a proclivity towards sprees: not only did I paint 20 11X14 canvases, but I then also made 23 smaller paintings. It would have been 24, but there was a snafu with cutting the illustration board, so, yes, it was 23. They are 8X10s done on illustration board.

I just finished naming all of them, scanning all of them into the computer, and varnishing them.

So, yes, in the span of about 10 days I made 43 paintings... clearly moderation is not a familiar concept.
These are some of the 8X10s:

strawberry guava phantasm


ruby cerulean phantasm


midnight violet guava sundown

Eventually, these will be for sale at my "sarahknight" shop on etsy. I was amazed & delighted that the first painting I listed actually sold!

Next week, I think I'm finally going to get to one of those butterfly projects that have been percolating in the back of my mind for months...

Hopefully you're been busy & creative too : )