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Just for the heck of it, I took pics of one of today’s snacks and lunch. Snack: Crunchy home-made cashew butter on a slice of honey, raisin & hazelnut bread next to a fruit medley consisting of apple, orange and banana segments, topped with blackberries and wild blueberries. Lunch: Lasagna with a side of seasoned and steamed [...]

© Photographer: Piedenero | Agency: Dreamstime.com

Yeah! I got 2 Kilos! Better than last year where I got 5! Wow That was scary!!!
Now I have to survive the 6th and well the winter!
Winter is so sweet with all that chocolate, cakes, candies, nuts and really hot winter food to eat..like lasagna or wait mmm Melanzane alla Parmigiana! Uh I'm getting hungry!!!

Let pay a visit to the fridge!!!

Last week we bought a small basketful of Clementines from the weekly village market. They look and smell so bright and cheerful and summery, lift the spirits even on cold winter days, and are absolutely irresistible. I've since discovered that they are also called Christmas Oranges as they're available from mid-November till January. Sweet and seedless they're teeny pop-in-the-mouth treats. Had to draw them of course.

This was done in coloured pencil on a large-scale moleskine sketchbook that I'm now quite in love with. I haven't really finished the drawing and I hate not completing something to my satisfaction once I've started it, but this will just have to stay as is, as I am away for a couple of weeks as of tomorrow and needed to post this in order to wish everyone a lovely Christmas and New Year!

I'll also add my latest customer/friend requested text designs, Natascha and Goddess. Enjoy the holidays! Cheers.

Natascha products at Floating Lemons Typography at Zazzle

Goddess products at Floating Lemons Typography at Zazzle

Two oddly shaped nectarines from the lady who has a wonderful organic fruit & vegetable stall every Wednesday and Saturday morning in the nearby village of Lauris. I love imperfectly shaped fruit, so when my mother (who has been an angel looking after me) brought these back I knew I just had to draw them.

It took me three days to draw them! Though that's probably due to the fact that I still tire easily ... and perhaps because, in some places, there are over twenty layers of colour in this drawing. I'm still not completely happy with it but knew that if I didn't finish it off I'd end up destroying it, so I finally stopped.

A special request, for the name Alexander. I'm quite enjoying doing these names. I have another one waiting so I'd better get onto it.

I'll have to blame my illness and recuperation for the fact that I'd forgotten to mention that this book that I'd ordered before getting so sick was waiting for me when I returned from hospital. I have been going through it with pleasure and pangs of hunger when I come across the too-yummy food drawings. Altaglich Folio: No Five contains beautifully delicate and detailed drawings by the extremely gifted Megan E. Bluhm Foldenauer whose artwork can be found here www.megalo-media.com or at her Flickr site. I've been a fan of hers since I discovered her drawings and am now determined to acquire books No 1 - 4 too! Cheers.

Flat Nectarines products at Floating Lemons at Zazzle
Alexander lime products at Floating Lemons Type at Zazzle

The Sikorski B-913 Skybanana. 200 ordered by the Ministry of War.
Pencil with digital colour.

Three Cherries products at zazzle

Well, I obviously tried to tackle far too much last month ... what with so much extra work and the arrival of my shipping, etc, I ended up sacrificing my daily walk with the dogs, stopped eating healthily, stressed out completely -- and as a result my defences went down and I ended up being taken by ambulance for an emergency operation as I was attacked pretty viciously by an extremely happy internal bacterial infection.

Won't mention the gory details but I essentially suffered from quite massive blood poisoning and am now still recovering though I'm finally home from hospital and what a relief that is. Still have to keep my feet up for another couple of weeks but at least I finally found the energy to start drawing again!

So here is my interpretation of Life is A Bowl of Cherries. Not a bowlful perhaps but I am truly appreciating every little bit life has to offer, so a trio seems apt enough :)

I was able to work slowly on a few text designs as well ... primarily requests for names, and here are the ones I've completed so far:

Shireen pink products at zazzle

Juarez blue products at zazzle

Angela hot pink products at zazzle

I'd like to thank very much everyone who sent me prayers, good wishes and positive thought. I've been too tired to write emails or respond to messages personally (general anesthesia truly leaves one exhausted) but I shall now slowly go through them all so that I can personally thank you.

Meanwhile, I have a close friend who has also landed up in hospital after an accident so if any of you reading this know Ida Nerina please please send her all those wonderful prayers for a speedy and FULL recovery.

Wishing you good health! Cheers.

Good Afternoon:

Just thought it would be nice to post an update on Homerella. She's still with us and seems to be coming along a bit. I say this carefully, as I've seen this happen before. She's taking these painfully odorous and very large Glucosamine pills. They do seem to loosen her stiff joints a bit, but they appear to upset her tummy some as well. A trade-off of evils, I suppose...

So, we watch and hope for the best, knowing full well that she's 13 and has had a fabulous life.
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While rummaging through one of my boxes of vintage photos over the weekend, I found a small box of my all time treasureful photos. I'd like to share one with you. It fascinates me and spooks me all at once. I think the photo calls to be framed and placed on the wall of my new studio. Isn't it a fabulous old photo? It's dated October of 1899.

The Mirrored Soul


I am going to hold dear to this photo. I simply can't let it go, so I won't be listing this in my Vintage Photo Shop
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I borrowed a few moments to browse through my backyard this morning. I found Springtime living there....

Plum Blossoms


Nectarine Blossoms


Soon, these abundant and sweetly perfumed blossoms will provide goodies for our sweet tooth! Nectarine cobbler and plum tarts anyone?

Until Next Time:
Kim
Garden Painter Art

Raspberries from the little store in the village. Had the foresight to take some photos before I polished them off with large dollops of cream. Delicious.

Life is still chaotic. I move again at the end of this month, hopefully for the final time as I am tired of being so unsettled. Fingers tightly crossed as I run around getting all the errands done -- again -- that are necessary for a move: changing address, insurance, banks, packing ... The good news is, that if all goes well, I will be in this next new home for at least a few years. Relief :)

Raspberries greeting card at Zazzle

Here's a new illustration just published in the May '07 issue of Cricket. It's done in the same "sketchy style" as TEA WITH MRS. ROSENBERG

I've had quite a few people lately telling me that they would like to learn to use Painter, but are too worried about a high learning curve.

While in reality Painter may be a complex program (there are a lot of things it can do using filters and brush building and "shapes"for example) In all the years I've used this software, I have been ignoring every tool but the few I actually need. I am only doing three basic things for each picture.

• Setting a size (usually 300 DPI) for my image and choosing the canvas texture
  
• Choosing a brush tool and color so I can actually sketch/draw/paint
  
• Using layers to keep my pencil drawings separate from my watercolor layer while I work.

Then I just save it as a .tif if it's to be uploaded to my FTP site for the client to grab. If it's just a sketch, at a smaller resolution, I will just compress it and email it to the art director.