Wet Paint and Artistic Desserts!

It's been a great few weeks since the show in St. George and we've been busy with STUFF!  I mean, the days fill up and the evenings come fast and furious!

We started a little project of tearing up our laundry room, pulling out the washer and dryer, cleaning behind them--seriously?  I mean - super clean!  No lint or anything!!  Yeah right . . . oh, truly, it was downright embarrassing!  We replaced hoses and tidied everything up and decided to throw on a little paint.  I started out and Doug, being the very smart man he is, said "Hon, you're doing a fabulous job at this painting!!"  Me:  "Ya think??  Well, you wait till tomorrow and see what else I can do!"  And the rest is history - I painted the whole room and Doug was proud as punch and he didn't have to lift a brush, except in his studio!!  I told you he was smart and a sweet talker!!  The curtains are kinda "artsy".  Here's what he kicked out while I was painting in the laundry room!

"A Change of Scenery"
14 x 11
Oil on Panel

 I included the frame in the picture because it just looks amazing with the frame.  It's a boat from back in Wisconsin.  It's spectacular.  Now at Terzian Gallery if you want to see it up close and personal.

Mornings are filled with yard work and gardening for the past couple of weeks.  Gym memberships have gone unused because the sun feels so good and we're pooped by the time we get through!

Doug's got an amazing garden going.  He laid down a big tarp, then laid out some "raised boxes" in a big open area.  Put the sprinklers below the boxes and then cut the tarp, peeled it back, dug down a ways and then filled with some good rich soil.  VOILA!  The guy is brilliant I tell you I, said "hon! you are doing a fabulous job with this garden! . . . tee hee  nuf said?"  

So we have 10 tomato plants, then in these small "mini" raised beds, we have zucchini, butternut squash, eggplant, 3 different melons, and cucumbers. Then another larger raised bed with just peppers.  All kinds . . . we even went for a ghost pepper.  So we'll see how that goes . . . will we even see it grow??  ooooooo . . .  Here's me working while Doug is planting and doing such an amazing job, did I mention?  

So then, in the middle of watching our garden grow, he does this!

"Apple Blossoms"
20 x 21
Oil on Canvas

Amazing, right?  I know - a little surprising and not as "Doug-esque" as you would expect.  But he does like to paint the unexpected, right?  

I have been being a little artistic myself and not just painting the laundry room - I know I got duped there!  but every Sunday, we have all the kids over and it's so fun to cook for the fam!!  Here's a couple of my fun desserts that were damn close to being too pretty to eat!!  To the left is a great funnel cake and don't get all impressed because it's very cool-looking - I have a pan for that and it's so heavy-duty, they literally just fall right out!  and to the right, a sour cream chocolate cake with a dark chocolate, almost bitter, chocolate glaze that seriously, it was to die for.  Yeah, I took the picture on a doily and put a strawberry next to it - dorkie, I know!  But hey, this was good stuff!!  If you're in the neighborhood, you really should "drop" in some Sunday night - there's always good food, good fun, sometimes a fire out back and usually a great card game that we've renamed "Bloody Hell!!"  don't ask . . . Bloody hell, just come and play!!  

Classes are filling up - Huntsville will be perfect weather in June!!  Don't miss out.  Love to have you  jump in.  Here's the two paintings he did as demos last year - they were both spectacular and students started a bidding war on them!!  We've had such great feedback from the students who took this class. It's just such a great setting and Doug knows every nook and cranny up there!

Check out the colors in the tree below.  The photo doesn't do it justice - the original was magical to look at:

Here's the link to sign up for the class.  Go to our website - then click on "Workshops!"  

www.dougbraithwaite.com

Workshop goes from June 25-28 (that's a Thursday morning through Sunday morning - 7 sessions).  

K - check back soon as there are a couple of killer paintings on the easel right now I can't wait to share with you!!  

Also this Friday, May 1 from 6-9 pm, we are going to participate in "Ogden's Finest" at Shanna Kunz-Hernandez' wonderful little gallery "Bella Muse Studio & Galleries."  It should be an incredible compilation of some of Ogden's finest artists.  There's some amazing artists in this area and we are excited to be part of that show!!  and I'm helping make some delectable desserts for the show!   

Signing off with a great picture (one of a bagillion pictures we take of our only grandchildren at this point.)  Max is "chillin'" with Doug and when I say "chillin'" I mean, it was really chilly!  Max was shaking like a leaf so Doug tucked him in his coat!  Aren't they both just cute as can be?  Both have very nicely groomed mustaches, don't they?   

And Jeffrey, well, he's just damn cute!  He absolutely loved our whirlwind snowstorm in the middle of April.  Me,  not so much . .  Bloody hell . . .

Good Night!!

J'net

Wet Paint and the Runaway Cockatiel!

Home and totally on the mend!  Thank you, one and all, for your outpouring of well-wishes and concern!  Last day of antibiotics and I am back onto solid foods but drinking lots of water and taking all of your great advice on kidney wellness!!

Doug still has the plein air bug, however, and has been getting up at the crack of dawn to go paint!  (ahhhh, that phrase reminds me of my dad who used that often growing up as my mother's name was Dawn!  He was such a kidder!  "I wake up at the crack of Dawn EVERY morning" he would say!)  Monday morning he went out to Farr West and painted this beautiful little piece:

"Storage"
8 x 10

Ah - I can just smell that hay!  Heading out in that area, it reminded me of a story I forgot to tell you!  Doug has a cockatiel named Nigel who is a "studio bird" and keeps Doug company throughout the day.  He comes and hangs out while Doug paints and occasionally thinks it's fun to "fluff" his feathers in paint!  Anyway, a few weeks before we left for Door County, I got a frantic call from Doug one evening just before he was heading to come home.  Nigel had responded to Doug's whistle in the kitchen and had flown out to see him.  But instead of landing on Doug's finger, which he usually did, he flew right past him and through the next room, out the open door to the wood shop and out THAT open door to the wide open world!!  What???  Doug frantically followed him out and tried to "whistle" him down, but he circled him two or three times 100 feet in the air before he flew up over the trees and headed west.

We walked several blocks west and whistled everywhere (I'm sure everyone was thinking we were seriously crazy) but to no avail.  We had a few cockatiels whistle back at us in their own cages but no Nigel was to be found.  It was a sad day and we came home with our heads down and looked somber as we stared at Nigel's empty cage.  Doug was pretty distraught and Wesley put it on our local "KSL Classified Ads" that we had lost our bird with his picture but to no avail.

About a week later, on a Saturday morning, Doug and I had just gotten back from a Saturday morning errands run, Wesley came and said he had something to show us.  He brought us over to his car and opened the door.  I thought, "ahh, Wesley has gotten his Dad a new bird."  Sure enough, inside the door was a cage and inside the cage was a bird, and wow, this bird also had paint on his feathers!  Just.  Like. OH MY GOSH, YOU FOUND NIGEL!!

Someone had called Wesley and said "Wesley, we think we have found your bird.  He has paint on his feathers!"  He had been found in Hooper, a town about 5 miles west of Sunset, clear down by the Great Salt Lake!  Their kids thought he had marker on his tail feathers!  Wesley said, "nope, it's paint!"

Nigel - happy to be back!

We were so happy to have him back and he is getting his "whistle" back.  He does a "mocking" whistle  that sounds like "pretty bird" and also does the "WOOT WOOT" wolf whistle that he likes to whistle WITH you.  Doug has built him a perch near his easel and he also has a cool cage in Doug's painting area that has some awesome sticks and some "steps" that he uses for exercise!  haha  No more vacation time for you, big guy!!

So anyway, back to Doug's plein air bug.  He had it again this morning so here's what we got to enjoy today!!  Doug headed to Huntsville where he painted Fox Point.  Call me if you think either of these or both of these paintings would look fabulous on your wall as they're looking for a good home!!

"Fox Point"
8 x 10

Have a great evening!  Hey, we reached 50,000 hits on my blog!  Thank you thank you!!  You keep hitting, Doug will keep painting and I'll keep writing!  

Cheers!!  

J'net