Catching Up!

Catching Up

I have been busy.

With painting. And with Life.

My oldest daughter just got her Master's Degree.

She graduated and is now a Doctor of Oriental Medicine.

Free acupuncture for life, here I come...

I am SO proud of her.

Four very long years of hard work and

I'm so happy I don't have to quiz her on Chinese herbs anymore.

In other happenings:

 This scene has been happening a lot around Albuquerque.

It's unusual and we are loving it!

Cascade sheets of rain just falling down in certain areas.

 Beautiful rays of sunlight shining through the clouds

 The sunflowers are starting to bloom and they are so happy and gorgeous, as always.

I really want to take a drive down the Bosque del Apache, 
the wildlife sanctuary near Socorro.

I've always wanted to see the sunflowers blooms against the water there.

 Some of my 145 paintings on my wall shelf.

I have been getting ready for the graduation party 

and working on commissions -

I am sort of behind!

I have to finish 100 paintings in 38 days.

Can I do it??

 Some cool Day of the Dead women I saw at a local antique store.

Not sure what they're made out of.

Kind of looks like paper mache.

 Another one.

Very interesting....

 A pic of downtown Albuquerque.

It's very cool, I think.

Downtown Albuquerque, not the pic.

The pic is just fair.

I'm using my new little Panasonic Lumix camera and

I REALLY miss my old Canon.

 I took a trip to Old Town the other day and I saw this guy 

just leaning against a tree, playing music.

I think this is a banjo...

 Isn't this so pretty? 

Old Town is one of my most favorite places.

The old adobe buildings, the church, the galleries.

My favorite gallery, Weems, is right around the corner.

 One of the cool little patios off of the main street in Old Town.

There are several of these - so colorful!

 My favorite antique store - The Antique Co-op.

What a way to spend the day relaxing and treasure-hunting.

 My sunflower still life painting for tomorrow's event for 

Presbyterian Healthcare Foundation's "Laughter is the Best Medicine."

I hope it bring some good money for a great cause.

 This was taken out of the window on a recent trip to Corrales.

We always love to eat at Hannah and Nate's,

then drive up and down streets, looking at all of the cool houses.

 One of my grocery store pears.

It's a little past its prime, you can kind of see it

wrinkling in the upper left corner.

This will become a painting.

 One of my pieces for the Weems Uptown Black and White Show

that is running for another couple of weeks..

They have six of my black and white paintings, all 8x8" framed.

For information, call Weems at 505-293-6133.

 Making 120 cupcakes for the graduation party.

I think they're all sad and tired....

and sick of cutting marshmallows.

 I bought 60 avocadoes to make homemade guacamole for the party.

I don't want to see another avocado for at least a month.

 Me....mashing avocadoes.

It was worth all of the hard work to get all of these

beautiful ladies together!

In the middle is Auntie Francis - our oldest aunt at 90.

She is followed by my husband's mom, Dahlia, on the left.

She just won the Gold Medal in the National Senior Olympics. In basketball.

Her group is the 80-85 years olds!

On the right is Auntie Alice.

In the back is Auntie Nellie, and on the back right is

Auntie Melva, the baby of the family.

These women are the glue that holds our family together.

So, that's pretty much what I've been up to.

Tonight I start painting again - finishing my 145 Challenge paintings.

I also have four commissions in the works.

September 2-7, there is a fun paint-out with an exhibition happening in Corrales.

September 29 is the special dinner at my home to benefit NMDDOG.

I will be posting more about that later.

Anyway, thanks for hanging with me, reading my blog, and now, let's paint!