Maxine got her hair did

Maxine's hair was so tedious and could probably look better but I've had it with her. She's done. Took me a few hours just to cut her bangs, who has time for all that?

Like I said earlier she tried to wait for Jack but that just didn't work out. His loss don't cha think? I think she is beautiful, if you like that type...

Maxine

My husband and I went junking last week and going through my booty inspired Miss Maxine to come to life. She is a little loose and smells like a french whore but, can't wait to finish her hair and jewelry. She of course wants to wear some huge gaudy earrings but I'm not going to let her get away with that. Not sure of her entire story but do know that she tried to wait for Jack and that just didn't work out...

The sale was a steampunk heaven if you don't mind a little dirt. 

Color charts

Some beautiful colors just by adding yellows and reds to the blues and greens.

I decided to combine my color charts into a water color journal I made a few years back. It is turning out good and it will be so convenient compared to the many sheets and sizes I've made over the years.

I am lucky enough to have duplicates of a lot of my inktense colors so I decided to divide them into separate cigar boxes so  I can have them no matter which box I'm working from. I prefer them over just water color because I enjoy that they are permanent once activated and then dried.  I'm crazy for the muted tones of the graphitint. My advise to all is to buy the largest set they make from the beginning because they do duplicate way too many colors. I love them I will use them so not upset but would have done it differently if I had realized. These are all Derwent product and so worth the money. Even if all you ever do with them is make beautiful color charts. 

Garden salad

 So excited to eat my first garden salad that I grew from seed! It was really good!

We had a little rain finally and the lettuce really responded. The bleeding hearts bloomed even though they got frost bit last week.  

Lilac city

One of the best things about lilacs is they continue to open after cutting.

Davis collage

I played around in photo shop with this encaustic collage of my memories. The jewelry is mine from when I was a child, my Cinderella watch and one of a set of three butterflies with my birthstone. I'm amazed that I even have little pieces of my past because it was all under 24 feet of water. I remember going back to the house for the first time after Katrina, there was a couple of guys there gutting it for the builder who we had sold the entire mess too. They had our shit loaded in their trucks, the stuff they thought was worth saving. You should have seen their faces when they saw my husband get out of the car, all 6'4" 275#! He had told me that anything porous was not salvageable so they weren't in trouble. He dragged my nightstand out into the front yard and using his bare hands and had to tear it pieces to get to my jewelry inside. I was sure all of it was long gone hence the looting and such going on. It was a sad sight because he had built that very nightstand with the very same hands in high school, not to mention our entire life in ruins. Everything he had worked for his whole life just trashed. 

 

Not sure if I have ever shared because it really disturbed my niece, she told me "it's so weird". She is the beauty in the top righthand corner. Added a few more family members and myself adorned in my jewels from my spectacular junking haul of the day.

I think weird is what I was going for. This was a few years back so I have a few more wrinkles and many more jewels! I may just load myself up for another photo shoot and use it as my profile picture on Facebook.

Wow, I just got inspired to go find those metallic leaves and see if they will work for texture on my gelli plate! 

bucket of lilacs

What do you do when they are calling for yet another freeze and the lilacs are in bloom? Cut a whole bucket of them. I wish you could smell them.

tulips

That is the three new colors  of Archival Ink  by designer Wendy Vecchi, garden patina, cactus flower and sunflower. Could not resist them.  The three blue items are the Molotow grafx art masking liquid. I saw them the last time I was in the store but thought they were too expensive and they were. Still are, guess I couldn't live without them. So, a couple sheets of stickers off the sale rack a white Signa white gel pen,  a Tim  Holtz water brush and a wooden garlic stamp. 85 bucks. Ouch.

I tried to chill outside for the last two days sketching my tulips.

My dog

This is my dog, not his. I keep telling them both and they just smile at me.