I was looking through my facebook page this morning and saw a beautiful baby face.  The post had the word cancer in it so I was at once drawn to click.  It was Praying for Taylor.  A sweet baby girl that stole my heart as I looked through pictures of what she is going through.  Cancer of the spine stage 3.  I prayed for her all day, and my heart ached.  As I drew this picture Kalvyn and I talked about her and prayed together.  God is wonderful and has a perfect plan for little Taylor's life.  I was missing my sister (who died almost a year ago) today.  A dear friend said that I had been on her heart and in her prayers.  She text me this verse.
   "Oh Lord, be gracious to us; we long for you.  Be our strength every morning, our salvation in time of distress."
I pray this verse for Taylor and her family.  May God's arms be felt around you right now . . . 

I am happy to announce that my baby boy is growing up!  He is now potty trained. . . or at least mostly potty trained.  :) 

Once again an hour is not long enough for a pastel portrait by any means.  I need another few, or 5 hours to get this done . . .

My Aunt Marie and my Uncle Herman are an inspiration of staying young.  They fell in love just 10 years ago or so and got married.

An hour is not nearly enough time for a pastel portrait.  This is what I could get done, and I used the whole hour.

My great aunt Marie . . . 

 I am going to do her husband next to her in a few days.  Eventually i will try to finish her too and do more on the hair.

I have been very busy with art, which I love, but I am going to finish potty training Kalvyn this weekend.  So hopefully my baby will be in big boy undies soon! :)

So I tried watercolor. . . it is a challenge.  I am going to do it again and pastel.  It kept me interested though.  

This little lady is Ava.  She had a hard start to her life. Her mom posted on facebook about how 6 years ago today she was able to come home from the hospital for the first time.  So she was on my mind when I was looking for a picture to paint.  I had this picture as a painting idea on file for years.  Finally got to do it. . . maybe someday I'll do it in oil spending more time than an hour of-course.

This is his sister . . . 

 Brianna.

So I haven't figured out what is wrong yet.  I'm in a slump, so I'm going to shake this up a bit.  I'm going to do a different medium tomorrow.  So stay tuned!  : )

I had this drawn last night, just didn't get it on the computer.  This is Clayton my husband's cousin's son . . . 

 For some reason I'm having trouble with likeness lately.  I think I know my problem though, so I'll see if I can correct it today! : )

Monkey . . .

Couldn't be prouder of my baby sister right now!  She just finished a 17 song album, and had the release tonight.  Of-course she was AMAZING!  God is shining through her life.  I did a portrait of her today, but it is not nearly as amazing as she was tonight.  In fact the eyes are too high, so it doesn't look just like her! : (  I tried . . . 

 

Thanks God for family!  My sister's and some wonderful friends have been helping me watch Kalvyn all day today so I could work on my audition drawings for an illustrating job.  Here is a picture I was working on today.  A portrait of a family . . . 

 

Another little one from the party.  She didn't want me to take her picture, but I think the one I got is pretty cute! : )

 

I went to a cousins birthday on Saturday and this was one of the little boys there!  I know you can't tell here, but he has the prettiest blue eyes.  

 

I have not done this very often!  I drew a face without looking at a picture, just let my pencil go.  I don't know who this is . . . 

 

You might say my dad inspired me to be an artist! I admired his art when I was very little.  He would give my older sister Becca and I lessons once a week.  It was what showed me from the very beginning that art was what I loved to do. . . and wanted to keep My dad is my greatest critic, and will always sit and talk to me about art.  He will watch me paint for as long as it takes to be an extra eye and get things just right.  It is a wonderful thing to know your dad is there for you no matter what.  I owe so much to him, and am so grateful for the godly man he is.

I love you dad . . . 

                                                                 . . . . and he is handsome : )


                                                Happy Father's Day!

So I wasn't planning this, but this is the Lab version of our little family :)

 Kalvyn loves climbing on poor tired out daddy! : )

I just love how labs look . . . 

                           I wanted to hug this one while I was drawing it!!!!!

Shirley Temple . . . 

 I loved her shows growing up.  "Animal crackers in my soup"  When I look at her face I can't help but wonder how real all those smiles were?  It has to be hard to be so famous at such a young age.

So I need some pictures from you guys . . . I need people to draw.  Send me some shots with nice artistic shadowing, not all washed out!  Thanks! 

Sorry followers!  Kalvyn got pink eye and gave it to me!  My eye hurt and my vision was somewhat blurry yesterday, so I couldn't draw.  I did two today to make up for it.

Cary Grant . . . 

 After drawing Audrey I just couldn't resist doing Cary too!  They are so good together!

Audrey Hepburn is truly one of my favorite actresses ever . . . 

This one is for you Abs and Aubs <3   

You are right Phil . . . 

 Johnny Cash!  A singer my sisters love. . . or at least they did at one point, and I think they still do! : )

Kalvyn and I have had a hard day.  We were potty training and it is going well.  He almost has it.  I think a couple more full days and we'd be good.  It's just things always seem to happen to stop progress.  This time it is a black eye. After he got his black eye, from running a roller car into the bumper of my car, I noticed that his over eye was swollen too.  So now he has a black eye, and the other one has an eye infection of some kind.  My poor baby!  We'll see how he is tomorrow.

Here is a portrait my sisters will love.  I have not been getting any comments on my blog, so I'm going to make you all guess who this is . . . 

I will post who it is tomorrow : )

Queen Elizabeth . . .  

 I spent some time in England and I still love this culture.  Queens and princes and tea . . . not that I like tea really, but I love the idea of it! : )

Kalvyn did so good potty training today.  Here he is giving his all day buddy a kiss.  

 

Quick half hour portrait today.  Sorry! : ( Potty training has me all messed up! But it is going better. : )

 

 ONE MONTH!!!! I have been blogging for a month now . . . only 11 more to go! : )


I saw this picture and loved it . . . 

It was fun to draw.  I would love to do those big oil paintings of judges and presidents for a living.

A very dear friend (sister) of mine's niece . . . I'm on a niece kick!  Although when you think about it, all the girls I've drawn are a niece to someone.  : )

Kalvyn love's his Auntie Faith.  We played out at big creek and then curled up and watched a movie.  We are taking a little break from potty training, but starting again in a few days.  WE WILL GET THIS!!!!

My niece . . .

                                                                                                                        . . . a few years ago! : )

Marylin Monroe . . . I didn't do a perfect job on this one by any means.  In fact, if I didn't say her name you might not have seen it at all.  I am getting better though, I think, and that is exciting to me.  : )  An hour isn't much time, and this is really making me think harder about what I'm doing.  I'm asking myself if I have the measurements right more often, and checking value all the time.  As I said, that is very good for me.

     
Kalvyn and I are going crazy stuck in the living room potty training.  

 

OK . . . I know this looks like the same picture, but I erased the girl and drew her again.  The first try looked nothing like her, so I got a different picture.  It still has a lot of work to do, but this is what I could get done in an hour.