Jack Russell Terrier Sleeping - Finished

Here is the finished piece.....apart from painting the edges and varnishing, of course.

Meet Lachie! He is a Jack Russell Terrier and belongs to Deidre, the lady who lost her beloved, pet Rainbow Lorikeet last year. My sister commissioned this painting of Lachie as her gift to Deidre.

Lachie - Acrylics on 12"x12" Gallery-wrapped Canvas© Serena Lewis

I was reading this post on Julie's blog this morning where she showed a cute ATC of a Chihuahua. Julie went on to comment how blessed she felt living in the States and she prays for people starving and/or suffering in other countries. I join her in those prayers. I believe that this also applies to animals worldwide. I look at my little dog, Cody, and see how loved and well cared for he is and my heart then goes out to all the animals in this world who are treated with such horrific cruelty, insensitivity and indifference. When I read of the shocking atrocities being done to people and animals alike, I feel pain in my heart. I think this world would be a better place if ALL people had compassionate hearts towards all living things other than themselves.

Animal welfare organisations worldwide rely on our donations to help make a difference in animals lives who have no voice of their own. If you are so inclined, please visit any of the Animal Welfare links in the right column of this blog and BE a part of that difference. Thank you.

Wednesday's efforts

I'm on the home stretch now and just need to fine detail and touch up a few areas on the dog and blanket before I can call it finished.

Acrylics - Work In Progress

Pay It Forward gift

I mailed this 'Pay It Forward' gift off to Ben yesterday. Ben is a writer so I thought the handmade notebook and (purchased) pen would come in handy for him. As Ben likens himself to a modern day Plato, I painted a Plato statue on the front of a CD wallet. I figure he can use the wallet to store a hardcopy of his book and other computer data. I hope he likes what I have sent and makes good use of it.

I should have an update on the doggy in a blanket painting for you tomorrow. I've had an asthmatic cough bugggin me all week so it's been a little hard to focus on painting.

Doggy in a blanket!

I had quite a busy day yesterday starting out with a parent/teacher meeting. Then, I was off to buy groceries for a few vegan recipes I want to sample. I met a friend at the shops so spent over an hour just chatting. I did manage a spare hour in the afternoon to get more done on the painting. The dog is pretty washed out at the moment but he is only roughly blocked in. More layers to come.

Work In Progress - Stage Three

For dinner, I tried a nice vegan recipe which I found over on Urban Vegan's blog. Broccoli Alfredo style -

I sautéed lots of fresh garlic in Extra Virgin Olive Oil, then add some boiled broccoli and seasoned with sea salt, pepper and a dash of veggie stock powder. I kept adding water and let it simmer down to a nice, mushy sauce which I mixed through some Penne Pasta. I sprinkled the top with Cayenne Pepper and it was delicious!

As promised, here are a couple of pics of Beau in his outfit for the costume party he went to on Saturday night. He was very pleased with the cape I made for him. He went as a devil and Nicole, his long time friend, went as an angel. They had a great time!

Today's efforts

This morning, I watched Rendition. Reece had hired it out last night to watch with his girlfriend so thought I'd watch it before he had to take it back to the video shop later in the day. Good movie and certainly opens our minds to what really goes on.

After lunch, I worked on the painting shown in yesterday's post. I can tell you I was feeling quite googly-eyed by the end of the afternoon......all those stripes going all different ways. At one point, I was regretting not going with just a single coloured blanket. lol I think it's pretty obvious what the subject is now that all the background is blocked in, however Julie, your guess was very interesting and may well turn up in a future painting....thanks ~ :)

I hope you are all having a happy and pleasant week.

Back to the easel and sewing machine

It's been a busy week but, today, I managed to make a start on my next painting. Can you guess what it is? And, no Maria, you are not allowed to guess because you already know the answer. lol
I also did some sewing today. My son, Beau, is going to a Costume party on Saturday so needs a cape to go with his outfit. The chequered fabric is the lining for the black cape which I finished this afternoon. I will take a picture of Beau in his devil costume on Saturday to show you all because I know you are all just dying to see it......well, maybe not but I'm going to show you anyways. ;)

I can make BOOKS!!!

Can you tell I'm excited???!!! I have been wanting to try bookbinding for some time now as I've been quite frustrated trying to find a nice looking journal with good quality art paper over the counter. Now....I can make my OWN! These ones were made using the basic long stitch to sew the signatures to the spine but I do plan on learning how to do the Coptic stitch. I adore cute, little books and now, there will be no stopping me....the possibilities are endless!
Aaron begged me to make him the Zebra print one after seeing the end result of the striped journal so how could I refuse. The striped note journal is made with good quality drawing paper and will be mailed to one of my Pay It Forward gift recipients. I found it particularly difficult to actually decide on what type of gift I would do for Ben but, as he is a writer, I thought a note journal would come in handy. I feel bad that it has taken me so long to do but time just got away from me with life distractions and sickness. Better late than never, right? The book will be accompanied by a couple of other goodies too so I hope Ben will forgive my tardiness.

Inside books -

Rainbow Lorikeet - Work In Progress - Final

All finished....apart from varnishing.... Rainbow Lorikeet - Acrylics on 12"x12" gallery-wrapped canvas - © Serena LewisClick on image to enlarge

Zentangles and....P.S. I Love You!

A couple more Zentangles.....I do enjoy drawing these as, they are quick to do, with no expectations. I just go with the flow....so relaxing.

I finally got around to watching the movie - P.S. I Love You. I was shocked when Reece, my son, told me that Gerard Butler was the same dude who played the role of King Leonidas in '300' as both are such vastly different roles. I didn't even recognise him until Reece pointed it out. Gerard is obviously a great actor! I'm not a huge fan of Hilary Swank but I thought she did a great job in her role. I was happy to see Kathy Bates in the movie too....she has always been one of my favourite actors. I LOVED her in 'Fried Green Tomatoes'. All in all, I thought 'P.S. I Love You' was a lovely movie and well worth watching. Yes, I did have the tissues handy and yes, I did cry. So, if you haven't seen it yet, get those little tootsies on down to the DVD store and hire yourself a copy.