FEBRUARY BEGINS!

So getting back into the swing of things. We finished off January with Ray's 60th birthday.  The original guest list included 20 people, so we built a big eight foot square table to hold everyone in one place.  We had gold framed name placards strategically placed to give everyone a chance to maybe learn more about someone they weren't as close with, none of this sitting couples together...I set up each corner with the perfect four people to occupy...a lot of thought went into this arrangement, it took me hours to do.  

We had white table clothes and napkins, and Ray picked out hot pink Roses, with purple Lisianthus and some green mum type flower.  We filled the table with dozens of candles and a two tiered rusty cake.  I hung shiny star garland in consecutive circles of color around the chandelier that we moved to fit in the center of this  humongous table.  First teal, then green, ending with cobalt...you won't be able to tell from the photos, but the finished work was spectacular!  You felt like you were in a magical special place.

Unfortunately we had eight, count them, eight last minute cancels, so that left our count to 12.  Which was still nice for Ray.  It turned out to be everyone who lives here and our dear friends, Barb and Mike...so there you have it!  It would have been so much better, with the smaller group to have a smaller more intimate table, but in the end we all visited and had great food and played pool and sent Ray into his third phase of his life a happy camper!

Now I'm just attempting to get my mojo pumpin....it's takin me almost two weeks but I finally figured it out.  I had to put the paintings aside for a moment...just wasn't working.  I redid Michaels shirt collar a dozen times...so I decided to work on another one of my unfinished pieces to get ready for a little local showing...and still...challenges.  

So the other night I sat down with my old illustration sketches and realized I had never finished Annabel, one of the main characters in my new book.  So, it took me one whole night to get the ideas flowing, since I now had a story line to contend with and not simply something of whimsey to produce without direction.  So I sat and brainstormed and the next night, there it was!   I went on a roll and I haven't looked back. So here are a couple close ups of the two new pieces I'm presently working on.  It's great to feel like I'm finally accomplishing something!  Yay!

And speaking of the book...I've had my share of rejections this past month.  It's super disheartening when that happens...but all it takes is just one person to say, "yes, we'd like to see more".  This process is a long one.  Usually all you send an agent or publisher is a quick one page synopsis of what your book is about, and sometimes they ask for a few pages or chapters as well.  But you're really lucky to get past the query, usually that's where it ends.  

It's a major challenge to explain your three hundred and something page book in two paragraphs...AND hook someone long enough, and big enough, for them to ask to see the body of your work, or to be interested in even going one minute further.

Well I'm happy to say that I finally got someone who wrote back and asked to see more of my manuscript!!  Yay!!  I think this could be the opportunity I have been waiting for...let's hope!!

So onward and upward into February....we are planting some new fruit trees in our new orchard...and it couldn't feel more like home...xoxo juners

You can really see the different colors in this one...
the teal, then the green
 and last in the circle was cobalt

It's difficult to see, but I took some old house numbers made of iron and painted them to look rusty.
I used a rusty garland with stars to wrap around the entire cake...
I also had big brass star napkin rings...
so stars were the unplanned theme.

He looks great...for 60!
(I love how people always throw around numbers,
as is he can't just look good no matter his age.)

Massive table...but we had fun regardless
of all the empty chairs, which are on the opposite end.

Mugging for the camera...
I'm really NOT tan at all, Taylor is simply THAT  pale!

Some of the boys...
actually there were only four women...nice odds!

Ray's choice...nice!

Yay!  Chocolate cake with
chocolate ganache/raspberry cream and
buttercream frosting.
And a tray of cherry collettes,
(which are AH-MAZE-ING)
and chocolate orange truffles that I
made for the celebration.
Oh, yeah, and home made french vanilla bean ice cream...
I did good for my boy!

A pool game break

An unfinished rendering of Pips's Aeroquatic,
(a plane that becomes a submarine)
 The LizzieBelle....ahhh! 

A VERY unfinished drawing of Annabel and Pips...
the finished product coming soon...

Michael has a bit of a face now....
this is the toughest painting I've ever worked on!! geez!!
But I'll get it...don't worry.

Some of the red texture in the background of this painting..
I've stepped up my game a bit...it feels good!

Hope to finish this piece this month...
keep your eyes peeled for this one....
if all goes well, it should be my best one yet.

So hope you're all doing well, keep creating!  xox juner