What to do?

This picture, snagged from the excellent Facebook page Grammarly, pretty much sums it up. I told you last week how awesome "The Girl With All The Gifts" was. The problem is, I have started and stopped four other books since then. It's not that any of these are fundamentally flawed in any way... I just can't seem to find the right follow-up. I am also reading "The Last American Vampire" by Seth Grahame-Smith, which is great, but I need an audiobook so that I can read while doing other things. My paintings don't turn out nearly as well if I'm reading hard copy, and the library tends to get cranky about paint on their books. If anyone has any suggestions, feel free to share! Otherwise I am just going to browse Audible and cry until I fill this book-shaped hole in my life.

In other news... it's been a slow start to the week for painting. Between homework, packing, and work, I haven't gotten too much done. I am working on a second Tolkien portrait, by request. Like a crazy person, I decided to fill in the lettering first, then start working on the background. It seemed like a good idea at the time... instant gratification and whatnot. But now I am painting around all those little detailed letters and leaves. This is what it looks like so far.

I'll post tomorrow (hopefully with a finish!) but in the meantime, there's always Facebook, Etsy, and now Instagram! Thanks for stopping by!

Late night update

 

Hello readers. :) Just wanted to post a few updates before I head off to bed for the night... or I guess morning at this point. With two paintings finished in as many days, I would say it's been productive around here. Can't make any promises for tomorrow, because I have a ten hour shift scheduled. Monday, on the other hand, will be a different story.

I chose two rather different subjects this weekend. The first one I'll show you is the one I just finished the details on. If you don't recognize the face or the quote, it's probably because he was someone who made many of his creative contributions from behind the scenes: Jim Henson. I ran across one of his quotes the other day, and knew I had to paint it. "Life's like a movie, write your own ending. Keep believing, keep pretending." Doesn't that sum up his work perfectly?

The next painting was for fun... it's The Stig, from the British motorhead program Top Gear. If you don't know who The Stig is or what Top Gear is, get on Netflix and watch it right now. Even if you aren't very much into cars, the program is ridiculously entertaining.

Marley and Zino are both giving me the hairy eyeball for still being up instead of in bed, so I'd better get to it. I hope you like these latest paintings, whether you're a Muppet fanatic or an auto enthusiast, or both! That's all I have to share at the moment, but stay tuned. For other excitement, "like" us on Facebook and check out the Etsy shop. Good night!

Catching Up

Hello there... I have certainly let a lot of time elapse since my last post, apologies! I will try to be more diligent from here on out. We have had some very high and some very low points, but as always, we keep on trucking and see where the road goes.

Nate's battle buddy, Zino, finally came home to stay, after 33 months in service in Afghanistan. Now he is enjoying retirement. And the couch. We lost Jade in March to a rapid onset pneumonia. It was very sudden and extremely painful but we were lucky enough to have the support of our friends, especially Natasha. We miss our little Bug terribly but we are so fortunate to have had her in our lives.

We brought home this crazy little girl about a month ago. Her name is Lola, and she is absolutely hysterical. She doesn't really talk as of yet, but she likes music, flying in circles, and stealing shiny objects. We are hoping to welcome a new furry family member soon, one of Zino's Army peers. I can't elaborate on details since I don't have any, but fingers and paws are crossed.

We are also looking to move in the near future. We really want to be near downtown, and think we may have found "The Place!" Again, fingers and paws and feathers crossed.

Lots of good books to update you on, but that's for another post. I went back to school in December to pursue my Bachelor's in Creative Writing. It was finally time! Thus far I am focusing on one course per semester, so it's slow going, but I am so glad to be studying again, polishing up old skills, and learning new ones.

Finally, I have launched a small venture on Etsy called Something Wicked Art. Right now I only have a few pieces posted, but I am spending anywhere from two to ten hours on any given day working on paintings to add. The revived October Country blog will still talk lots about books and I will keep you up to date on my latest cross stitch adventures, but I hope to bring you along on this art journey as well. We do have a Facebook page as well, so please check out the shop and "like" the Facebook page if you want to see more. Nate has been trying to sell me on the idea of Instagram, but I haven't quite figured that out yet. Here are a few sneak peeks at some of the paintings... click the links above to see more.

Well, to anyone that's made it this far through the post, thank you for visiting and reading! And stay tuned for further updates!

-Carolyn