on the home front!

I think we may have another winner!  Good thing there are so many fishies in the sea :)  So, we looked at a beautiful 2 story victorian home yesterday, and then again today.  We are going to look at it one more time tomorrow (ya know- third times a charm!) and then possibly sign some papers to put in an offer!  But, we've been here before, so we're trying not to get our hopes up... but definitely keeping our fingers crossed!

here is the 2nd bedroom... I think I see a very well lit studio!! :)

This is the master bedroom.  It has a set of super cute little french doors that lead out to the roof of the seasonal porch downstairs. 

 A very promising little porch for the master bedroom!

And now on to the art... My friend Katy and I have decided to challenge each other to paint more.  We went through the painting/drawing program together at UWOshkosh, but now that we're away from school it has been hard to get motivated.  The name of the game is famous painters... mostly portraits since we love them the most.  Vermeer's 'Girl with a Pearl Earring' was the first challenge.  

As you can see, it is still a challenge for me!!  I have yet to finish it... the end product will be posted when all is done.  For me there is a challenge within the challenge- for some reason I get very anxious when copying a master work.  I think it's because I know that I am no where near as talented and there for the end product will never compare.  So it makes it hard for me to finish a piece like this, maybe because I'm afraid of what it will look like in the end?  So this is me taking my sweet, sweet time.  It holds a resemblance... but really, it's no Vermeer. :)

about 1/2 way there...

bummer...

Paul and I are in the process of house hunting.  It started out being very exciting and has recently turned out to be frustrating and stressful.  We put an offer in on a house last week and after waiting for what seemed like forever- the sellers pulled the house from the market!  It's exhausting when you've already mentally moved into house with all of your belongings and started 'renovating'.  Blah... back to square one.   :(

TAKE 2

I've always been truly bad at keeping record of things.  Diaries lasted maybe a month, portfolios showed sparse at the end of a semester, and the last blog lasted a whole 15 minutes while I wrote the first (and only) entry.  It's not that I don't do anything worth keeping record of, it's just that when I'm done- I'm really done.  Then paintings and drawings go to homes without first taking a photo or end up in the back of a closet. Since I graduated last May (over a year ago!!) I've barely touched a paintbrush.  I think that I have only good intentions, but the follow through is terrible.  

My fiancee, Paul, always says: "You are what you do everyday."

Side note: This is Paul. We are getting married in August of 2010. He normally doesn't wear his facial hair like this. But I like the photo. :)

So, this blog will be a true and honest approach at keeping track of everything that I create.  I also hope that this will motivate me to keep up and create more. To play a little catch up, here are a few things I've worked on in the last year and also a few inspirations:

A few wedding portraits...

My good friend, and fellow artist, Katy and I went on a day trip to Chicago.  There is inspiration in every corner that you look.  We of course hit up a few art museums, but I think that the landscape and aquarium were just as inspiring.

Katy and myself

A few friends we met along the way.  They LOVED the camera!

This gigantic statue was just a couple blocks away from our hotel.  You can never escape the American Gothic father/daughter duo.

This beautiful landscape is what greeted us after our short train ride to Chicago.  They are trying to impress the Olympic picker-outer people.

So I know that there was not too much of my own art on this posting... but I promise that more will come.  Time to go paint!!