SOLD!

Hooray! I sold another painting! It's a big deal to me.

I didn't take a photo of the painting but here's a copy of my sketch from my sketchbook. It's an alley in the Old Town Triangle neighborhood.

The Plein Air Painters of Chicago (PAPC) has a show called "The Four Seasons of Old Town" running through the end of the month at the Old Town Art Center.

There is a closing reception with free wine and nosh on Sun. Nov.30 from 1-3 at the Old Town Art Center 1763 N. North Park, Chicago, IL -- All paintings, including the one I sold, will be on display until then. Don't miss it.

Simple Pleasures

I admit it. I am culpable in this cupcake craziness. It was my pleasure to deliver the Grand Prize for the Cupcake Race Art Competition to the 5/6 Grade class at Pilgrim Lutheran School. Over 20 students created original works for this contest. The Grand prize winner taking the spoils and earning cupcakes for his/her entire class. Securing positive social standing at least in the short term. That winner was Harper Fox! He is somewhat shy and reserved. However, his depiction of a raging cupcake literally took the cake! Here is some footage of my entering Harper's classroom. Needless to say they were exicted! It was awesome and fun to partake in such positive energy! Way to go Cupcake Race! Thanks Justin for going along with these crazy ideas! You Rock!




Check out the remaining art up for voting at www.cupcakerace.com. Vote on your favorite piece and tell him Beck sent ya!

Cupcake Art Contest

Boy, things have been busy around here! One of the things I've been organizing is the Cupcake Race Art Contest. Kids from Pilgrim Lutheran School were asked to create art about cupcakes. The winner wins cupcakes for their entire class!

The grand prize winner has been chosen by Mr. Cupcake himself, my bff (buddy blogger friend) Justin. But you can get out the popular vote! Go to: www.cupcakerace.com and choose your favorite.

Here's mine. But I'm bias! Go Indi! The lines around the cupcake indicate, per Indi, that there is angelic music emanating from around the glorious cupcake (she loves cupcakes!)

Indi Bails me out!

I don't know why I am still surprised when I experience the creative talent of children - but I am.

I had a kick butt head cold all week long. It knocked me down for two days. The other days of the week I scuttled along (read: dragged my ass) just trying to get thru. I'm, happily, on the mend. During one of the days I was really sick I kept my 5 year old home from school to help me with my 2 year old. They play well together and I knew it would allow me to rest on the couch a little. The older one would sound the alarm if anything unfair or dangerous were to happen. I wasn't sleeping. I do that in bed - not on a couch in the middle of the playland the kids call my house (yes, the entire house). And honestly, I just didn't know how I would make it thru my day without some kind of help. My awesome friend, Laura, was babysitting later in the week so I could teach Artsmart and my Mom and sisters are working women. There wasn't anyone I felt I could call. Not to mention, I don't know a Mom who wants to watch a kid coming from a "sick house". And I bear no ill will for that! Next time I'm calling my mother-in-law. She's always willing to help in a pinch. I just felt bad about calling her very last minute (she lives an hour away with no traffic). OK, you get it, it's tough being a Mom when you're sick. Moving on...

One activity I did with Indi (the 5 y.o) on my "sick day" when her baby sister was napping -was have her take photos around the house with my digital camera. I do this from time to time. It's an interesting way to see how she is viewing the world and what is important to her. She turned the tables on me and video'd me amidst my day (it's usually the other way around!)

I'll spare you the myriad photos of our ceiling lights (all 8 cans indivudually photographed). As well as the spare pics of the individual pages of her School Days book (most are empty as of yet). She took shots of her art, my art, my office, the kitchen, the TV, her foot, herself, and my favorite shot of all, my watercolor paints. Phew, selfishly, I'm so relieved that they look used! I haven't been painting as much as I'd like - only about once a week. But, hey, we all need to recover from a bad cold.

I did get some fresh air (but forewent showering - took too much energy). Indi LOVES to climb (parking signs, the fridge, the swingset - anything). So I let her have a treat and do some climbing. I loved to climb too (I'd still do it if I had the upper body strength - but ya'll we're heavy!) Check out the spooky orange sky in the background.

Here's to Indi who was amply rewarded with treats for helping out her ol' Ma. Enjoy everyone!

Bloggers Unite!

There's a blog by a local person that I like. It's called Cupcake Race.


No, the cupcakes do not race or get hurled anywhere. This blogger goes to bakeries in Chicago, rates the cupcake and takes nice photos of it (really nice, I thought he was a pro photographer). I did this in a few of my blog entries - sans photos. (But I don't have a whole blog dedicated to it). One of my favorite Cupcake Race blogisodes (ok, blog entry) is where this cupcake blogger creates an elaborate graph matrix about the cupcakes reviewed. It wasn't a joke, so stop laughing. It was awesome. What a cool way to waste time at work. ;-)

Mr. Cupcake has been very busy lately and approached me about possibly doing a review for www.cupcakerace.com. I'm a big fan of the blog so I jumped at the chance. However, before I participate in anything collaborative, I felt it imperative that we meet in person. Just to make sure things were cool and he wasn't some freak slipping poison into the icing. We all have those odd fears about folks we meet on the Internet; friend or foe? Yikes. Some of you may have made some friends or significant others on the Internet but I'll bet many of you have not. What does it look like? Well today you will get a front row seat. Don't be too underwhelmed.



So there you have it folks - Mr. Cupcake Race in the flesh having coffee with moi. He's a person in the neighborhood. A person that you meet when you're walking down the street; a person that you'd meet each day (well, once a week at the bakery). Despite irrational fears of Internet strangers, Justin was well groomed with good hygiene and authentically cordial. Frankly he is an interesting and neat person and artist. I like him and hope you will join him (and maybe me) in a few cupcake adventures! Stay tuned!