Do Do Do Lookin' Out My Back Door

Well, just like I thought I would, I have skipped a few days. In my defense I have been a bit busy. I have been working on a painting and a few other things. See how vague I am? LOL If I am to be really honest there have been a few naps in there too. I love a good nap!

One of the things I was working on was my very own webpage. You can view it at www.suebrassel.com



Kelly Barton and Danielle Donaldson have a bit of fun going on. artFoolishness The challenge this time was:
quote: “those who wander are not always lost”
color: blue and green with a sprinkle of stars and clouds
pandora playlist: johnny cash radio

I decided to join in the fun. Well folks, first let me say that I do not smoke anything stronger than home extruded cigarettes made from legal tobacco. That being said, below is my painting.

Not all who wander are lost = Animals go about their day, just wandering around, not lost, they just have no agenda. If they see something that interest them they move towards it, not worrying about what others will think. It is how I think more of us should approach life.

This painting was inspired by CCR's song "Lookin' Out My Backdoor" which played on Pandora (Johnny Cash)








Surf on over to Kelly's blog http://kellybarton.com/2011/01/30/724/ and check out their paintings. These gals are what I strive to be like when I grown up and perfect this thing we call art :-)

Have a great week you all!!

The day before Monday....

Sunday :-) A day for drinking coffee in your jammies and shuffling around the house. Oh crap, wait a minute... that is EVERYDAY! Ok, so I won't feel guilty about it today?! That works. See how I can justify my bullcrap so easily? Yea, I'm like that.

So more on the art addiction today. I first decided I loved art markers. I found out I could use them on canvas. I went to Wally World and bought some el cheapo paints. I mean CHEAP.  Crayola Kids Paints. I knew I had to have something for the background. I went to Hobby Lobby and bought a cheap set of markers. Ok, now I'm all set. I painted the background and used markers on the rest of the design. Find Your Bliss was created. I am proud to say a really sweet gal bought this and it is hanging in her office. What she doesn't realize is she has my baby, my first born!

 

I then surfed the net for some other ideas. Woodstock was created. The ticket and the mini-poster are images I obtained through my surfing. I loved this painting. It is in a gift shop in Brownsburg, IN for sale as are the next two.

 This was fun :-) I liked the idea of using "found" items in my paintings. I studied Kelly's paintings and loved how she used bits of paper and labels. Some friends of ours live in Florida but the Navy took them to Sicily for a few years. During this time we would drive down to check on their house and stay for a few days. That was really good of us, wasn't it?? 

During one of these trips I was in a painting frenzy. We had a couple of rainy days and I got my paint on! I "found" a Jose Cuervo label and the little drink umbrella. What's Florida without a few adult beverages?!

At this point I had actually bought some acrylic paints and was having so much fun using them together with my markers. After every painting Drewbie always assures me, "That's nice. I wouldn't buy it, but that's nice." I am not really sure I have ever painted anything he would buy. But that's cool. He brings me coffee and snacks as I have my head down immersed in a painting. He let's the dogs out to pee and makes sure the house hasn't caught fire. What more can you ask for? He could offer to buy one of these damn paintings!

Peace out peeps 

P.S. I didn't want to mention it... but this is my 3rd blog! They say a habit takes 21 days to develop. So I have 18 more blogs and I'll be so used to blogging it will be second nature to me, right? Tell that to my guitar!

Hairballs and doodles

*wave* Hi, it's me again, actually doing this blog thing. Please, no one hold your breath. I wouldn't want you to turn blue waiting for the next post. So as I finished up my first post yesterday I have to admit I spent about four hours just screwing around with the settings. After which I had to laugh and think to myself, "Really? Is THIS the next big thing that you will spend hours on only to grow bored and let it sit?"

I have to tell you all I am the Queen of wasted time. I am laid off, yet my house has giant Aussie hair balls whispering across the floors. My office is a wreck and I spend 90% of my days in fleece jammie pants with my hair standing on end. Did I just admit that? Please don't watch for pictures... it'll never happen. While I may be a professional time waster I also have a bit of pride and am horribly vain!

Thank goodness Drewbie doesn't mind doing laundry. OK, he does laundry because the washer & dryer are in a small closet off of the living room where he hangs out. When he dries clothes it keeps the room warm. We have one of those vent thingies that vents the dryer into the room. When you are on a limited income, and trying to conserve your savings, you become REAL creative! The colder it gets outside the bigger desire he has to do laundry!

Below is one of the first drawings that I did when I started dabbling in art again last year. As you can see it is a bit off the wall. I used to doodle in high school and throughout my life. When I was working I used to doodle during meetings. It kept me focused and also helped prevent my eyes from slamming shut and my head from slamming on the table as I fell asleep. Jim, if you are reading this please forgive my candor! Dianne, a dear friend and co-worker, would analyze my doodles after marathon meetings. She usually came to the conclusion I was flippin' nuts!

I don't know why these doodles, along with my art today, have such a hippie quality to them. I graduated in 1977, well after the hippie era. However, I am drawn to peace signs, earth tones, and this type of art. As I post my various art you'll see that I am all over the place. Some is whimsical, hippie-ish, and just plain strange at times. I do know one thing, I don't do REAL. I can't just draw a dog, or person, or paint a picture that looks like a photo. I admire anyone who can, but I don't feel the need to even try.

After I started drawing these doodles I wanted to wear them. Oh hell yes... you guessed it right, this led to another little entrepreneurial endeavor. I bought transfers, a heat press, tshirts, totebags, a webpage and TuffTee was born. TuffTee is now dead!! I actually sold some items though. TuffTee died because I  got Drewbie excited about the idea and we took it one step further. But I'll tell that story another day.

You all have a great day. I am off to my grandson Hayden's birthday party. Nothing like a little two year old smearing cake to make you smile! Especially when he is in his own kitchen smearing it and Mommy & Daddy have to clean it up! Just sayin..........

Peace out peeps

Oh crap... what am I doing now?

I have to admit, I don't know where this blog will go. It may blossom into something, or fizzle out after a few post, like a lot of things in my life do. There is no deep dark secret that I am alluding too. I just have the habit of picking up a hobby or a passion, buy everything to do it, totally immerse myself in it for a few weeks or months, and then throw it all to the side and wonder what I was thinking. I come by this habit very honestly. My Dad does the same thing. Let me list a few:

• Cross Stitching -  I bought tons of floss, hoops, cloth, and for a few months cross stitched like my life depended on it. A few years ago I thought I would take it back up long enough to cross stitch a picture for my best friend. Well that worked out really well. She has since got married, moved to Florida and would simply die if I finished the picture of pretty flowers and a bird house and gave it to her. It matched her decor 10 years ago....
• Crochet - Again, bought every hook available, tons of yarn, a bag and various other items. I crocheted a hat that when you put it on you looked like that crazy Cosby cartoon character. It was freakin' huge! I am not sure where I went wrong! I gave everything away, which really sucks now. I have started crocheting again. This time I decided to pay more attention to the pattern and have actually created a few cute items. One being a very pretty sweater for my new Kindle!
• Treadmill -  Oh I walked my butt off on this thing. Luckily I was smart enough to buy a used model. I lost weight, and got all fit and decided I really didn't need to bother anymore. The treadmill went to the garage. I have since gained all that weight back and more! Not to worry folks, my hubby moved the treadmill back into the sun room a few months ago. I have been on it.... ok, can't lie... I am still very fluffy. 
• Weight bench and weights - Again I have kind of caught on to the fact that I have this problem, so I bought the weights used and splurged for a new bench. I would love to say I got all buff and look awesome in a bikini. I would REALLY love to say that. This lasted about two weeks if that. The cat liked laying on the bench, so much so she shredded the pad. Most of the weights I couldn't even lift to put on the bar. My son now has all the weights and bench. The dumb bells are under the bed. Isn't that where everyone keeps them? Women were not meant to be look all buff, right? I bought a one piece! Screw it, I am not in a suit that often anyway.
• Guitar - While sitting in a beach bar in Florida with my hubby feeling very confident after a few J.D. and diets we were watching a guy sing and play guitar. "I could do that!" And the sad part was I truly believed I could! My son bought me an acoustic for Christmas. Now the real problem was my hands were way to small to handle the chords. Forget the fact I don't read music...
• Electric Guitar - The neck is much smaller on an electric guitar. Hmmm I still can't read music, and this strumming thing.. looks easy, doesn't it?
• Harmonica - My brother said ANYONE can play a harmonica. Anyone? Really?
• Ukulele -  Ok now the neck on this thing is tiny. It only has 4 strings! I found out that you really need to be able to read music, be able to remember all the chords, and be able to STRUM! Folks that is way to much going on for this little pee brain of mine. All the instruments have found new homes except for the acoustic. What? My son bought it for me. It decorates my spare bedroom and who knows, I may wake up one morning knowing how to read music and strum and when I do...... I'll have had too much to drink.
• Writing a book - I have had some things happen in my life that I thought if I wrote about might help others. I wrote like a mad women. Had some people read what I had written so far and researched self publishing. About 4 chapters into it I realized I knew how it all ended. It still resides on my hard drive as a .doc file.
• Art - Now this is something that has resurfaced numerous times in my life. I majored in art in high school. I didn't take any of it real serious. In fact I didn't take high school real serious. I managed to get decent grades. I opted to not go to college. I would rather get married to the "Rebel Boy From Hell". (See: Writing a book) Still through out the years I would do what I call doodles. My stuff is a bit off the wall. Last year I met Kelly Barton . I was so drawn to her and her art. I started buying art supplies and discovered acrylic and multi-media. Here we go again........

I think the painting might just stay around for the rest of my life. My sweet hubby is waiting in the wings to see how long this will last. Poor guy. LOL We were recently laid off from our jobs. (Note To Self: Do not find jobs in the same company in the future.) I spend my days painting. I mean I spend ALL my time painting! I don't know if I have talent, all I know is it feels good! Kelly has been my mentor, teacher and cheerleader. So if my hubby gets irritated with my new passion infiltrating every room in the house... well I'll just blame Kelly :-)

So you see, this blog may last a lifetime, or I may never write again. Only time will tell! It may be about my art, or it may just be random dumb shit. One never knows!