Let me see your peacock....

When I created this handsome peacock, I couldn't help but sing Katy Perry's song Peacock in my head.  My daughter was mortified when I started singing it at the dinner table.

I know that's not the most appropriate song for the dinner table, but in my house nothing is off limits....especially during dinner.  Rarely does an entire meal go by without someone mentioning poop or other bodily functions.

My husband has learned to live with it over the years and has actually joined in during a few of our disgusting dinner time discussions.

Anyways, here's the latest!

Beanie Chimp

So, I have really enjoyed drawing animals.  I usually stick to girls, but when I decided to draw the giraffe I was really inspired.

People love animals.  People love animals more when they are wearing or doing people stuff!  Not sure why, but it's true.

Here's my little chimp wearing his cool knit beanie!  He's kind of a skater chimp.

Not sure what I'll do for my next drawing/painting.  Thinking about maybe a meerkat or otter.  I mean who doesn't like otters?

Any suggestions?

Side note:  My 16 year old daughter started work this week.  She works at The Artist Within as an assistant.  Her hours are from 9am to 4pm.  Tuesday she worked from 9am to 6:30 pm.  On day three, when we pulled up to the school she burst into tears!  She said..."I'm so tired.  Working is hard!"  I just had to laugh.  It is so funny seeing her get her first taste of the "real world."  By day 5 she was much better, though.  I'm so proud of her!

Hipster Giraffe

Here is something I've been working on this week.  My husband and I spent Friday night in San Antonio.  While we were walking around, I saw a place called the Pink Giraffe.  It totally inspired me!  When we got home I started out thinking I would make my own pink giraffe.  As I started working, I realized that I wanted to go in a different direction.  Thus, the hipster giraffe was born!

I really like how he turned out!  So, now I'm thinking about doing a series!  I posted his picture on Facebook and I actually sold it!  Yay!  And it wasn't just a pity sell.....it wasn't a close friend buying it, but rather a woman that goes to my church that I have met maybe once and she bought it because she likes it not because she's my friend.  Did that rambling make sense?  Anyways, I'm super excited and can't wait to get started on the next animal!

Hugs!

And the winner is.....

So, I finally had a day that I could sit down and do a very sophisticated random drawing for Fiona and her Flamingo.  I wrote all the names on slips of paper and drew one out of a hat.  Of course, I then had to make sure that the person who won was also participating in All Together Now and they were!  So without further ado....The winner is Sunshine Shelle!  Please email me your information so I can get this painting to you! My email is tnfoshee@sbcglobal.net

I have to say, I'm going to miss Fiona, but I know she will have a good home!  Thanks to Amy for setting this whole thing up and for everyone who participated!

Hugs....Nicole

Anemone Heart

This weekend Avery, my oldest, had to cheer at the Spring Football game.  Normally I let the youngest stay home, but since she spends most of her time inside glued to her ipad, I figured some outside time would be beneficial.  She was not happy at first, but then she saw several friends at the game and all was good again!

After the game, I spent the rest of the evening drawing.  Again, I never have a specific idea or vision in my head when I start, but I have been wanting to draw a girl with a flower as her heart.  It was not an easy concept to translate, but I was pleased with the results.  It took me all weekend to finish...in between laundry and being a mom.

On a different note, I have really stalled with my weight loss.  I have only lost 12 lbs. and it seems the more I focus on it the less I lose.  I've been getting on the elliptical about 2x/week for about 20 mins. and then doing some weights.  Maybe I'm gaining muscle....yeah, that's it....I'm gaining muscle.  We'll go with that!

Hope you have a great week!

Small plane fear conquered!

So...I don't really know where I've been.  I mean it's not like I've been away on an amazing overseas vacation or busy writing a novel.  I think I've actually been avoiding my blog on purpose and I'm not sure why.  It might be because I haven't created anything worth sharing in awhile.  I used to feel bad when I didn't have any followers....but now that I have a few I feel more pressure to create something wonderful!  It's crazy that I do that to myself. 

I did do one really cool thing though.  I got to ride in a VERY small airplane!  Here's a picture of it!

I had to go to Corpus Christi for work, so the owner of our company offered to fly me in his plane. At first I was like...absolutely not!  I kept picturing myself in the air hyperventilating and acting the fool in front of our company's owner!  But then the convenience of the whole thing outweighed my fears.  If I drove, it would be around 4 hours one way.  If I flew, we were looking at maybe 1 hour!  So I tucked my fear way back in the back of my brain and hopped onto this bad boy!  It was awesome!  You could still see the ground, which for some reason made me feel better.  It was so beautiful!  Nothing like jumping on a plane  and not having to wait for everyone else to get settled.  You are literally in the air within minutes!  I'm definitely spoiled by this whole experience.  Commercial flights are so beneath me now.....just kidding! 

Lovely Little Things

I am so proud of my oldest daughter.  She is trying to make money for a car, so she started a photography business called Lovely Little Things.  She's 16 and desperately wants to be able to drive herself around.

She is actually really good at photography.  It's what she wants to go to college for.  Normally, she forces her sister to be her model.  She keeps telling her that when she hits it big in New York, she'll make it up to her!

Knowing Addison, she'll hold Avery to it!

I'm so excited to see her find her passion in life at such a young age.  I know she will go far!

Damn it!!!

Last night I decided to work on a face using only graphite.  I thought it was turning out pretty good and then I held it up.  I was like....damn it!  I think the nose is too far down.

It's actually not that big of a deal. I can just graphite the back of the original and then transfer the picture and move the nose up.  But it's just frustrating when you work and work and then realize that you screwed up!

  So in my frustration, I turned to my art journal and just played.  By the end, I felt much better.  I love art journaling.  It is so freeing!  No pressure to "get it right" because it's just a journal!

 It's not finished, by the way.

If you have any suggestions for the face, I would be grateful for your help!

I still have soooooo much to learn!

Fiona and her flamingo

I am so excited to be linking up with Amy.  She has invited fellow artists to create together and learn about each other at the same time.  Technically, I have until May 18th to have this post done, but I got so excited I couldn't wait.  When I sat down to paint something for the challenge, I really didn't have any specific idea set in my mind.  I just started working on the girl and the rest evolved from there.  The one part of the challenge that I am not very comfortable with is the "tooting of one's own horn."  We are supposed to talk about how awesome we are and other things about ourselves.  So, in keeping with the rules......here I go!

A little about me:

I grew up here in Houston, Texas.  I was adopted from North Carolina at 6 weeks old.  I was quite the rebellious teenager, although I couldn't hold a candle to my older brother!  It took me a long time to realize or even accept how cool of a person I am....What is awesome about me? 

I am smart.  Way smarter than I ever thought I was in school.  It just took awhile to get there. :)

I am very accepting.  As long as you are nice to me, then I will be nice to you.  Don't care what size, color, age, sexual orientation, whatever.  Be my friend and I'll be yours!

I'm adventurous and spontaneous.  Not adventurous like go hiking up Mt. Everest...but like grab the kids and hubby and just go somewhere fun for the day without planning it. 

Well, that was a little outside of my comfort zone, but I'm glad we were pushed to share.  I can't wait to see what others do. 

Here's the art part of the challenge :)

This is Fiona.  She has a sweet little pet flamingo that loves being held.  This is a mixed-media painting on a medium weight 15 x 20 piece of illustrator board.  I used colored pencil, water color, and acrylic paint to make this piece.  She will be given away at the end of this challenge.  If you want to join in, just click on Amy's name at the top of this post or the All together now button on my page and sign up!  Easy, peasy!

Oh....I forgot to mention in order to win her just leave a comment and join in with Amy and the all together group and I will choose randomly!  Thanks!

Weight Watchers Update

Ok...so here's a quick little update on how I'm doing with my whole weight watcher's goal.
Drum roll please...........I have now lost 10 lbs!!!!  I know it's not a whole lot, but I am thrilled.  My jeans are finally starting to fit loosely. 

I'm really excited!  I am ten pounds closer to my shopping spree!

Also, in the Foshee Family News....Avery made Varsity Cheer for her Senior year!  Yay Avery!

Now we just have to wait to see if Addison will be picked for all year Art class for next year.  It doesn't sound like it, but it's a really big deal.....especially for this little artist.  We had to submit three pieces of her artwork.  They said we will get them back, but it was still hard to part with them. 

Fingers crossed!

Chips, dips, chains, whips.

It's amazing what you can get done when you are rested and have a day off!  This week is both of my daughter's spring breaks.  I had a doctor's appointment scheduled for Friday to get a cortizone shot in my elbow.  My right elbow.  So I knew I wouldn't be able to do much Saturday or Sunday.

I heard all kinds of horror stories about getting the shot.  I was so worked up that I almost got up and left while I was waiting to see the doctor.  But I didn't.  And it wasn't so bad.  The shot has a numbing agent in it, so by the time you notice the pain, "Poof!", it's gone.

Saturday morning was a different story!  I woke up with my arm aching.  It felt like someone stabbed me repeatedly in the elbow.  I spent most of Saturday doing nothing....keeping myself loaded with motrin and icing my elbow.  But by Monday I was feeling almost no pain!  I was so excited that I jumped right into my art journal that I made a few posts back.




It's hard to see, but this one says, "Step a little closer.  I want to see the color of your eyes."


After sleeping in, I joined my littlest daughter in the playroom/studio and painted to the sounds of Sponge Bob and Adventure Time.  It was nice.  While she drew My Little Ponies, I painted, inked, scrapped, and all other kinds of multi-media adjectives.

Both of my girls think that I should make some of these into postcards.  What do you think?  I could use them for Postcrossing.

Not sure what this one will say.  I'm still thinking.

This was definitely a highly productive day off.  OH, we also went to the park and then took my oldest to the gym to work on her back hand springs.  Then we finished the day all together on the couch watching Weird Science.  "Chips, dips, chains, and whips.  You're typical teenage party."

I also linked up with The Butterfly Effect.  Go check it out!

You've got mail!

Over at Inspiration Avenue the weekly challenge was your own interpretation of "You've got mail." I immediately thought of how post crossing has changed the way I look at mail.

When I was young, I always had a pen pal.  When my best friend from Kindergarten moved in the 5th grade to Taiwan, letters were the only way that we could keep in touch, since calling was too expensive.  We wrote to each other often.  I remember the first time my dad told me that I had a letter from Maggie.  I screamed and raced down the stairs.  It was so cool that it had air mail written all over it!

Now that we have the internet, email, and texting, it seems that we don't need letters to keep in touch.  We just go on facebook and see what's happening in real time.  I love the convenience of it, but I feel sad that my children don't know what it's like to send and receive letters.  Then a friend told me about postcrossing. It's a cool project that connects people from all over the world through postcards!  Since I signed myself and my daughter up, we have received cards from Poland, Russia, China, The Netherlands, Taiwan, India, Latvia, Spain, and Australia, just to name a few.  Each postcard is tracked on their website and we can see how many miles it traveled and how long it took to get to us.  We have really enjoyed looking forward to checking the mail.

In honor of one of my new hobbies, I decided to create a piece of artwork about postcrossing on top of a letter that I received from my parents the other day.  I used the large envelope as my canvas.  Hope you like it.

The light at the end of the tunnel

I haven't blogged much or painted much.  My life has been consumed with cheerleading and I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel.  This weekend is our last competition.  We go to San Antonio for the American Spirit Championships.  Hopefully we will come back undefeated.  I checked out our competition and they are really good!

I got the team a super cute cookie cake for practice Wednesday.  Not because I love cookie cakes and am constantly trying to find a way to incorporate a cookie cake into our lives, but because I'm sure that every kid loves cookie cakes and well....it just made sense.

My daughter pointed out that three of the cheerleaders only have one arm!

Anyway, here's a picture of a painting I've worked on this week.  Not really sure what I am going to do with it, but it's definitely not finished.

 And here's a picture of my daughter that will make you cringe! 

What a weekend!

This cheer season has been a rollercoaster ride!  We were the team that nobody wanted.  The pilot team.  The first 4.2 in the history of our gym.  Many thought our gym wasn't ready.  Many thought we would fail.

Cheerleading is split into different levels.  The levels range from 1 to 6.  As the girls master harder stunts and tumbling, they move up in levels.  Then along came the level 4.2.  I have to say that when we found out that Avery was going to be on a level 4.2, I had no idea what that meant.  I just knew it was a step up from her level 1 last year.  Piggee, Avery's flying coach and best friend, explained to us that a level 4.2 meant that the athletes could compete using level 4 flying stunts, but tumble at a level 2.  We were so excited since Avery had spent the whole summer working on her flying stunts.  She has never been strong at tumbling, so this team was going to give her the chance to show off her new flying skills without having to master the tumbling.
Some people didn't think this was fair.  Why should they be able to do all the fun level 4 stunts without having to work as hard to get the tumbling?  I can see their point, but if the tables had been turned I'm sure they would have felt differently.

From the beginning our team has struggled.  They have struggled big time!  And since 4.2 teams are relatively new, we didn't have much competition, so all of our wins were not as sweet.  People said, "of course they won; they didn't have any competition."  And they were right. 

Throughout the course of this season, we have lost several athletes and have had to replace them with new ones.  Avery even thought about throwing in the towel, but she couldn't leave her teammates in a bind.

Fast forward to this weekend.  NCA: National Cheerleaders Association.  The Superbowl of Cheerleading!  Hundreds of teams from all over the country.  Six 4.2 teams.  We finally had competition!

And...Cobalt....the 4.2 underdog of Prodigy All-Stars won!  I couldn't have been more proud of our girls.  They worked hard and never gave up!  They deserved the jackets they won.  They deserved to bask in the glory of it all!  This team is proof that adversity builds character and hard work creates winners.  And during this whole season, God has taught me so much more.  He has humbled me and shown me that even this....this amazing win is not bigger than He is.  That without Him nothing is possible and that we should not place anything above Him.  And that even if we do lose sight of what is most important, He still blesses us in the midst of our "temporary insanity."

Hailey and Avery

Doodling Unleashed Class

I signed up for the free classes through strathmore here..  The first class is Doodling Unleashed.  I have really been having fun with it.  It's nice to try something new.

I've always enjoyed using bold, bright colors and this workshop really encourages that.  Go check it out!  It's free and free is always better!

Always Love ATC

Here's a sweet little ATC I made with a graphic I got from Graphics Fairy.  This vintage pic of a little girl in a "Heart" costume got me in the Valentine's mood.  I used a quote from one of my favorite songs by Addison Road called....take a wild guess.....you're right... Always Love.

The words are:  Always love.  Hate will get you every time.

Don't forget to show some love to the important people in your life this Valentines.  

Postcard Inspiration

About a month ago, I received this beautiful postcard from a young girl in Belarus.  I had never even heard of her country!  I'm not really sure, but I think they are day lilies?

The vibrant color inspired me to play with my Derwent Inktense pencils.  I had taken a personal day at work and spent half the day sleeping.  The other half I spent drawing one of these beautiful flowers.

I did a practice one and then I drew the "real" one.

Here's the practice drawing:

I experimented with different ways of laying down the color.  Some of these petals I started with coloring the whole petal yellow and then going back over it with the orange.  The others I put the orange down on the page without yellow underneath.  The more vibrant petals are the ones that I started with the whole petal yellow.  I liked that way the best!

Here's my finished piece:

I love the inktense pencils!  They are so easy to work with and give such amazing color.  I am pleased with the end results.

How cool is it that someone from a country that I didn't even know existed gave me such beautiful inspiration?  I love postcrossing!  Thank you Eugenia, in Belarus!

Marry The Night

I love Lady GaGa!  When she first came onto the scene, I tried not to like her.  I couldn't figure out what all the hoopla was about.  Then I actually listened to her songs.  To me, she is a brilliant song writer.  So, when she came into town a few years back I just HAD to go.  My oldest daughter loves her, too, so I took her to the Monster Ball Tour.  We were on the floor, standing room only tickets.  We got there super early and stood mere feet away from the stage.  It was AH-MAY-ZING!  

When I saw that the theme for February at Creative Everyday was night, I immediately thought of GaGa's new song, Marry The Night.  I had originally thought of a picture of a girl with the moon as her solitaire, but somehow once I got started that vision didn't happen.  Maybe in the next piece.  Anyway, here is my interpretation of Marry The Night.

Postcard from Mumbai

When I got home from cheer practice last night, I had a surprise in my mailbox.  It was a postcrossing from Mumbai, India.  I love vintage pictures and graphics.  This one is a picture of a railway station in Bombay, taken 100 years ago!  It traveled 14,470 km and took 9 days to get to my door.  I love postcrossing!

Night prompt

So, I've been doing pretty good on my weight watchers.  Over the cheer weekend, I gained a pound but I know it's because we had to eat out everywhere.  I've decided that the next time we go out of town for cheer, I'm going to bring a cooler with point friendly foods and snacks.  Luckily, I was able to lose a few pounds this week to make up for the gain.  I am still really enjoying the freedom of weight watchers and I can't wait to get to my goal!

Moving on.....the prompt for February at Creative Everyday is "Night."  I had actually started this piece before they posted it, so I was so excited to see that it fit the theme nicely.  I had created some backgrounds awhile back and I really wanted to use them.  

This little guy was taken from the art to share in one of my Sommerset magazines.  I thought he was super cute!  Of course, he needed a little cap and something to lean on.  I mean, he's so full of swag!  He looks like he's saying, "Just try me and watch me go all ghetto on your a##!"

Seriously though, I found this sweet quote to go along with the theme and it seemed to just make the whole thing tie up nicely.  Does that even make sense?  You know, like a pretty bow on a package?  

If you have to explain it.....

Anyshways,  I hope you like it.  The glowing lights are done with a super easy art trick that I learned at The Artist Within.  I will have to show you sometime.  But not today, cause I didn't think that far ahead so I don't have pictures of the steps I took.  Sorry.

Cheer Competition Hangover

So, I spent the weekend running around after a bunch of cheerleaders, making sure that they had everything they needed for competition and were where they needed to be, when they needed to be there!  I am EXHAUSTED!  It's not just the actual competition that wears me out.  It's the fact that I never get a good night's sleep in hotels.  I wish I could pack my tempur-pedic mattress with me.  That thing has me so spoiled!  Anyways, two nights at Moody Gardens in Galveston, Texas and I was ready to come home.  I didn't think that I would feel like doing anything artistic, but after a long nap yesterday, I was refreshed and dare I say... energetic?  So I got busy in my brand new art journal.  It's from strathmore.  It is called a visual journal and I love it.  The pages are great for multi-media, including watercolors.  I just layed down layer after layer and then added a picture from the art to share in Sommerset Studio's magazine.  It's always fun to make the first page in a new journal.  So many blank pages with so much potential. 

Side note:  My friend is coming over again tonight to finish the art journals we were creating from USPS envelopes.  I will post pics when we finish!

Creating a new art journal

So I had a girl's night in with a friend of mine.  We had been trying to get together to play with our art supplies and finally the stars aligned and we were able to get together!   I had seen a really cool tutorial on a blog that I follow and I wanted to try it. I thought this get together would be the perfect time.  If you are interested in the full tutorial you can click here.  I figured I wouldn't recreate the wheel!  :)  Plus, Amy's blog is awesome. 

Basically this project takes several of those really cool, waterproof Tyvek UPS envelopes that you can swipe at the post office.  As Amy says on her blog, "I consider them a gift." 

After cutting them so that the insides were exposed, I used alcohol inks, ranger color wash sprays, acrylic paints, and stamps to decorate them.  After letting that dry, I sealed them with a glaze varnish.  It ends up looking like really cool fabric! 

I had purchased a photography magazine at Half Priced Books for 1.00 and I used one of the photos for the cover.  Once these dry I will take my two pieces of Tyvek and glue them together, ugly side to ugly side.  Then I will sew them along the edges.  This will be the cover to my new art journal. 

This is a picture of the one my friend made.  I love the colors she used!  It was messy but lots of fun! 

This is my little space that I have carved out of the girl's playroom!  It's pretty cozy, but I love .

Once I get them put together, I will show you the finished product. 

You Are The Soul

I saw this quote by C.S. Lewis on a fellow blogger's blog and it really spoke to me.  We always talk about the soul like it is an appendage, when actually our soul is what makes us...well....us!  Eventually, our bodies will grow old and pass away, but the soul will live on for eternity.  It made me realize how much I have neglected my soul.  Sure, I go get my hair cut, my toe nails done, and the ocassional massage.  But how often do I take the time to give my soul the Salon treatment?

What does that even mean?

My understanding is that in order to nourish the soul, we must go to the one who created it.  I have definitely neglected my quiet time with God this past year and it has taken a toll.  I feel more anxious and fearful and less enthusiastic about my walk with Christ.  For me, my soul retreat will need to include quiet time reading the Bible and daily prayer.  Art is also a way for me to pamper my soul.  I will continue to take the time for that, but I think that once I really get deeper in my relationship with Christ, I will see differences in my artwork as well.

This doesn't mean that I will start neglecting my body. ie. stop my weight watchers.  On the contrary.  Taking care of the body is just as important.  In fact, I've lost almost 4 lbs. since I've started!  Yay!

Word for 2012

So I have really been thinking about the word I want to use for my inspiration in 2012.  I like the idea of coming up with a theme for the year and then creating something that represents it.  After looking up several words in the dictionary and thesaurus, the word that really spoke to me was purpose.

Purpose:
1. The reason for which something exists or is done, made, used...etc.
2. An intended or desired result; end; aim; goal
3. Determination; resoluteness
4. The subject in hand; the point at the issue.
5. Practical result, effect, or advantage.

As you know, my desired result for this year is to lose weight and feel better.  For me, the whole reason that I am in this mess in the first place is that instead of making purposeful choices, I would just turn my brain to auto-pilot and shovel anything and everything into my mouth.  I knew that it wasn't good for me, but if I didn't think about it, then it was ok.

This year I will be more purposeful in everything that I do.  It won't be easy, since I've been doing the opposite for awhile, but with God's help, I know I can.

Now I'm off to create my little piece of purpose.

More Resolution Motivation

Well, I have survived the first week of Weight Watchers and I have to say that it has been fairly easy.  Since most fruits and vegetables are 0 points, I don't feel deprived.  I have even lost 1 lb. already! 

Sunday, I went to the mall with my two girls and my mother.  While we were shopping, I spied an awesome outfit in the store window of Buckle!  I loved it and desperately wanted it.  The problem is that it is at Buckle.  I have not shopped there since NOTHING looks good on my size 12/14 body!  Everything cute is made for someone skinny.  That's when I got my brilliant idea!

I went home and told my husband how sad it was and how much I wanted the outfit.  I sniffled a little bit for extra effect.  Then I explained to him about my great idea.  I told him that if I made it to my weight loss goal of 140 lbs. by my birthday (July 31, 2012) then he would let me go to Buckle and buy one outfit.  He thought it was a great idea and even upped the ante.  He said that if I could then maintain the weight loss for two more months, I could go back and get another outfit! 

I was so excited that I went to the website and started pinning like crazy!  Miss Me jeans....Oh yeah!  Crash and Burn tops...yes, please.  Anyshways, I am so pumped about the whole thing.  I am going to do this!!!!

Here 's a peak at what I pinned:

I am so ready!  2012...Look Out!

Backgrounds for the New Year

Happy New Year everybody!

We spent our New Year's Eve with friends.  It's a tradition.  Every year we take turns hosting the event.  It is very intimate.  Just us and another couple and all of our girls.  This year we had them over for a roast and great conversation.  We never seem to make it to midnight (central time), but we always watch the ball drop in New York.

The past few days I have been concentrating on making backgrounds.  I rifled through the recycling bin and have been using all kinds of substrates.  I cut up an old cereal box, used the cardboard piece from the back of a note pad, and pretty much anything that could hold gesso and paint.  I wanted to focus on layers and I had a lot of fun using different things for texture. (bubble wrap, corrugated cardboard pieces, a piece of plastic canvas)

I also got some of Tim Holtz's color wash colors.  I love spraying them on the paper and then spraying them again with some water.  Then I hold the paper up and watch the colors swirl and drip down the page.  I just keep turning the page until the drippiness stops.

Here are a few of the backgrounds I have made.

I'm really excited to start adding more elements to the pages.  I'll repost when they are finished.