How Long Gone?

It hasn't quite been 6 months since the last post, but close enough. Thanks to Mike C for missing me!

Well, things here in Friedmopolis are as crazy as ever with Lennie either at school or studying 18 hours a day... Every day... For the last half year. How is it that some people can survive on 5-6 hours of sleep? For me, anything less than 8 1/2 and I'm like a creature from the Thriller video. But he's goal-oriented and focused. He wants all A's. I want 8 1/2 hours of sleep and a cookie.

Anyhoo, these paintings are how I've passed the long lonely hours. Sorry Ella, you're cute and all but you can't even say the word, "Milk." Our conversations aren't as stimulating as I'd like. But when I say you're cute, I really mean it. Now practice, "Mmmmmiiiiiillllk"


Seahorses, 36x36. So much fun to paint this one!

Lennie's portrait, 24x36. Much more labor intensive, but there is a plus side. Lennie is totally humiliated by the fact there is a portrait of himself hanging in our living room. Next time, I am going to transpose his face onto a centaur (just like Alex Rodriquez's girlfriend claims he has in his house) and title it, "Oh Mighty Beast."

This last one is just me playing with pretty colors (36x48). This one has so much paint on it that I might have been high on the fumes -but hopefully the brain damage was minimal. But really, who can tell?

I hope everyone who still occasionally checks in to see if I'm alive is surviving their own busy Decembers. Have a great Holiday Season!

This and That

Interesting things were heard in the Friedman household this morning.

Exhibit A: (Sayde)
"I don't want to brush my teeth. The toothpaste stings my eyes!"

Exhibit B: (Connor and I)

Me: "When the bottom half of the Earth tilts away from the sun, it becomes winter there. Penguins live on the bottom half of the Earth. Do you know who else lives there?"

Connor: "Uncle Seth?"

Me: "Um, no. Uncle Seth lives in Brooklyn."

In other news, here are some paintings I've been doing lately.

Psst...that last one is me. Wow. Look at how skinny I am! I love my paint brush. It's like Harry Potter's wand, "Flabulous Repairo!"

It's ALIVE

In the unannounced and unplanned month long hiatus I took from blogging, you will be happy to know that I didn't squander my life away eating ice cream on the couch in my PJs. Ok, well I didn't ONLY do that. Just one hour each night to eat ice cream and watch Ghost Hunters, but I label that "Sanity Preservation," not "Life Squanderization." Instead I took a week long, 14 hour a day, painting workshop. During this workshop, I began the portrait of Sayde you see above. Next step, color - and that's where it all goes wrong for me. But I'll post it up anyway when it's done, good, bad or mediocre.

I also took my portrait model up to Massachusetts for the2nd annual "Girls' Weekend!" Whoo HOO! My mom, my daughter, and my 3 younger sisters, and one almost 2 year old nephew, all get together to engage in the distinctly female social gathering behaviors that include:
pedicures
ice cream
Smirnoff Ice
prowling the mall for sales
group mothering (it takes a village sometimes, people)

Relaxing? No. Not really. But fun, heartwarming, and much needed? You betcha hot doggie.

Just for the record, I'm not planning any month long blogging breaks in the near future, but you just never know. It's part of the excitement, right?

3rd Painting

Here's what I've been up to lately. I finished the Madonna and Child, which I adapted from Raphael's originial from the Sistine Chapel. This one is displayed in the Friedman kitchen, on a chair, in the corner.

Ain't No Woman Like the One I've Got

3 posts in 2 days? I clearly have way too much time on my hands this morning. The one perk about having a sick baby is that they sleep a lot. I'm an awful mother.

Anyhoo, just for the hell of it, I decided to google my own name to see what came up. Happily, I saw the first link was to my art website that I started earlier this year. I'm working on my third painting so far. Some are incomplete, all are for sale. Ahem...

But as I scrolled down the google search I came across this:

Click on it to look closer, because I am too dumb to figure out how to zoom it.

Just to clarify for those of you who don't know me well, I married this guy:

He's pretty much the opposite of small, pretty, and feminine. And he lacks the long smooth hair the other writer admires.

I would like to say however, that had I been born gay, I probably would go for the small pretty type too. And if I happened to be a gay penguin, I would prefer the short fuzzy, egg hatching type. Mazel Tov, little penguins.

The Finished Painting

Well, it took me 21 hours over the course of 2 months, but I'm finally done with my first painting. I'm pleased with it and hope to improve in the coming months.

Yeah, I'm slacking, but, I have an excuse.

Remember those art classes Lennie signed me up for as a Christmas present? Well, I recently started going to them and I think I finally know what I want to be when I grow up: a starving artist - except with the 32 Hershey bars, I'm not exactly starving...and I'm not quite an artist.

But, at least I love it, and for so many reasons. For example, I get to drive for 30 minutes by myself to get to my class. While a 30 minute drive alone in a minivan may not seem like a treat, to me, it's fucking awesome. I don't have to listen to Bearenstain Bears or Frog and Toad CD's. Nobody asks me 5,000 ridiculous questions that always start with "Why," and there's no arguments to settle. Just me and some cool ass music. Yeah, so if you pull up next to a white minivan and there's a crazy lady in the driver's seat who seems to be screaming at no one and having a seizure, don't worry, it's just me and I'm only singing.

Then, once I get to class, my teacher is an amazing, funny, and easily likable lady who instructs in the kindest and simplest way possible. I get to paint my little heart out for 3 hours once a week and it's like a mini-vacation for me. It's so soothing and stimulating at the same time and I finally feel like my brain is being used for something other than a collection bin for nursery rhymes, quick recipes, and the answers to where everybodies' stuff is in the house. "Your glue stick is in your pencil case in your backpack, which is in the laundry room, behind the door, hanging on the hook (for the third time)."

The art class and my vegetable garden are really making me happy right now. Hopefully, I will have some small measure of success with them. Here's what I've been working on so far, it's just the first step, I have many more hours to go with this one.