It’s been a while since I’ve done a photoblog

It’s been a long time since I’ve done a photoblog. This is what’s been going on around here the past week or so..

My pretty girl Sweet Pea hanging out on her cat condo

floral paintings in progress

Prepping 100 more minis that I found yesterday in storage.
Ugh.
I’m thinking strongly of retiring the 4×4 series after this.
I’m getting so burnt out.

Someone asked me in the comments recently what I use in my mixed media paintings. I use all kinds of stuff, but I think these are my favorites: oil pastels, chalk, hard pastels. I also use colored pencils, watercolor pencils, charcoal, pens, oil markers..you name it! Whatever I can get my hands on at the moment that will do the job is what I use. 🙂

Also can’t live without this stuff

Goodbye my buddy

Now a bit of sad news. My heart broke into a million pieces last Sunday night when Big Red Fred passed away. When I woke up that morning, and saw the date, June 25th, I knew in my heart it was going to happen that day. I was right. I hate being right. :/

If you haven’t read the weird story about my connection with the number 25, and June 25th in particular, it’s here. I don’t know what it is about that day, but it’s starting to freak me out a bit. My grandmother always said bad things come in threes. If she was right, let this be the end of it, please.

I rescued Fred when he was on death row. He had less than 24 hours to live. He was only 2.5 years old at the time, but they were going to put him down because he had been returned to the same pound 3 times. He had a bad habit of stealing food off counters. I saved his life that day, and in a sense, he saved mine, also.

the pet couch

For the past 14 years, I’ve woken up every morning with Fred on my mind..gotta let the dog out, and feed everybody would be my first thought. I still think of him when I wake up, and then reality hits me. I’ve cried every day since he’s been gone, and I look for him every time I go downstairs. The house is too quiet now.

He loved watermelon, and yesterday I ate some for the first time without sharing it with him. It will never taste the same again. I had to swallow hard to get the big lump out of my throat. 14 years..I got used to having the old boy around. As my son said, he was a big old silly meathead. I said, “Ah, yes, but he was our meathead.”

Once you have had a wonderful dog, a life without one, is a life diminished.
— Dean Koontz