The Art Blog of Kelly O. Murphy

I'm back.  So, more about that hit and run in ATL.  Here's what the fool did to the car:

It's fixed now, thank goodness.  It's disgusting, isn't it. 

Well, I've got a new piece up for the NibbleFest Art contest, the theme this month is Twilight Zone, so I painted something related to my favorite episode, "The Invaders."  Here's the final piece:

That's all for now, I seriously need to get painting again....ah, I'll probably forget all about my acrylics after I order my birthday gift:  a Sennelier 120 oil pastel box set.  I'm going to order about $30 extra from Dick Blick so that I can meet the $200 minimum to get free shipping.  Why not?  Shipping on the box set would be $15.00, so it just makes sense.  At least it does to me!  LOL

That was quite an extended absence from LiveJournal, sorry!  I'm back now, with tons of updates.

First, I'll talk about the new medium that I'm really getting into:  water-soluble oil pastels.  They're great to work with, and I'm in love with the vibrant colors.  Sort of tough to deal with because they're incredibly messy, but overall it's very satisfying.  Here is one of the new pieces that I did in this medium...all of them so far are on the theme of flowers in vases with lemons:

And, you can CLICK HERE to see all of my current listings.

So, I've been having fun...I'm going to see if I can find another set of pastels with more color options, so that I can do my next NibbleFest piece in oil pastels.  (the theme is awesome, Alice In Wonderland!)

Other than that, things have been going well.  My doctor put me on a pain patch which, although it's too strong and I need him to bump it down a notch, is working fantastically.  The first time in a year and a half that I have had NO PAIN.  I've been so happy, it's really life-changing.

I had a really nice time the other night...I went to see an old High School buddy perform at the Whole World Theater in Atlanta.  It's an improv show.  I tell you, if anyone was destined to be a comedian, it was Joe.  He had the best sense of timing, and had such a droll way of being hilarious...and the great ability to keep a straight face.  Needless to say, he was terrific!  The show was a blast, and I literally cried I laughed so hard throughout the night.  Totally worth the oh, ten hours that I drove to get there and back (with a few detours).

You know, it's times like this that I really wish that I lived closer to civilization....I am burning to go to an art store, but of course the closest one is an hour away (each way).   Ugggghhhhh.  Sheer torture.

Well, that's the update in a nutshell....oh, and also, I bought a chess set yesterday.  Kevin and I played (neither of us had played in YEARS).  He beat me right at the last minute.  Very good game, and he did remarkably well, considering that I took his Queen quite early in the game.  I look forward to a rematch.

That is all for now....go now and buy all of my auctions so that I'll be happy, I totally deserve it!  LOL

I'm a cross painting fool today...I painted two yesterday for ACEO (Art Cards Editions and Originals).  They're like art trading cards.  Anyhoo, I'm working on a series of nine, and painted two of them yesterday.  Tonight, I finished the other seven.  I'm really enjoying these, but the series is over now, so I've got to think of another series of 9 things that I can paint.  Perhaps coffee mugs?  Eh, I don't know.  I had thought of doing more crosses, but making them on backgrounds that look sort of like stained glass.  We'll see how motivated I am with that idea after I see how these sell. 

I tried a little something different, since my hits are in the toilet....Ebay has half off of a lot of their extras today, so while it's only $10 I sprung for updating one of my auctions to Featured Plus.  <---hating myself for doing that.  Well, hating that I HAVE to do that in order to get exposure.  Stupid Ebay.  So anyway, I took one of my larger paintings and featured it.  It's one that I have hanging in my office at home....I absolutely love it (it looks SO much better in person)...Kevin absolutely hates it.  At least he doesn't ever complain that it's hanging in the house.  We'll see if it will sell this go 'round.  I was devastated when it sold for such a nice price on Overstock, but the person never paid.  And the other bidder never responded to a second chance offer.  FLAKES!  I hate flakes!

Gah.  So, I listed the featured auction right before midnight, and it has several hits already.  We'll see if it's working for what I want it to do in a few days.  If people view all my other auctions off of that one, it's a success.  Heck, even if they don't and that big one sells, it's still a success.  I'm not picky. 

But....I have a feeling that hits will start rolling in tomorrow, because I listed two of the ACEO pieces.  Here are photos of  #1 and #2 in the series:

I reallllllly like them.  You should see how they look in person, all glossy from varnish.  They're really sharp.   Seriously, there shouldn't be a big deal about getting $5 a piece for them, but I'm sure I'll have a hard time getting bids, as usual.  Really, I'm never a negative person, but Ebay brings out the worst in me sometimes. 

Now that I'm thinking about it, I've got to try to get in touch with that Prana gallery again.  I emailed to ask several questions about their contract (they mentioned one piece for their permanent gallery, and my minis to sell in the bizarre---that bothers me the way they spell bizarre, but it's not my Gallery, so whatever)  ANYWAY, my email bounced back to me...it was the email address of their website, so I don't know what's up...I'm going to look around some more for a legit email addy.  I've heard they joined EBSQ, so I know they're a legit gallery.  (and really nice, to boot, which helps).

:::sigh:::  I'm running off at the mouth.  I just have this inner frustration that I can't ever seem to shake.  Things pile up in my mind until I feel so weighed down that I can't stand it.  I feel like I'm just bubbling over right now, but that's probably good in the long run.  I'm just extremely anxious about what it's going to be like when I run out of medicine.  The withdrawl is probably going to kick my butt, and that's not considering the pain I'll be in.  I'll have to face that when it comes, I guess.  I still have an appt. set up at Emory with Dr. Klapproth.......that whole appointment setup thing ticked me off so badly, I swore I wouldn't go back, but hmmmm.  I'll make that decision in a few days.  The appt. is for the 14th....perhaps I could go and make something good out of it, and go to the comedy club later.  But I swear to God, if Dr. Klapproth tries pushing Remicade on me like he's been hinting at, I'll scream.  Right there in Emory.  I'm sick of these doctors accepting the tentative GUESS of the colorectal surgeon as God's Truth About Kelly's Behind.  They hardly even examine me, and they've made a diagnosis of an autoimmune disease?  Heck, they keep saying that I have a fistula, and it's NOT.  It's a tear...big difference.  I've had a fistula, I should know the difference, I had to live with the gazillion surgeries to fix it.

Ahhhh....you know what calms me down at times like these?  Vegging out, watching ShopNBC.  But only when they have jewelry on, which they do right now.  It's 14k gold jewelry.  Not my first choice, my absolute favorite is 18K, but it'll do in a pinch.  Wait....I have another favorite....those ancient coins that they make into pendants.  GORGEOUS.  And history as well.  Could it get any better?  I treasure my ancient coin pendant...it's over 2000 years old, and that still baffles me.  From Persia.  I love that necklace, and wear it more than any other necklace I've ever owned.

Alright, off to bed...it's only 6am, I guess it's time.

It's Wednesday.  This week is flying by.  My parents came down and spent the night on Saturday, and left out Sun. evening.  It seems like it was yesterday.  My mother is highly interested in the house behind ours....we heard that it was foreclosed on, and that it'll probably be sold on the courthouse steps for $280,000.  It's a gorgeous house, I like it far more than ours...it's a shame, too, the people are so, so nice that live there.  The thing that I like the most about that home is that it has copper gutters.  I'm a fool for copper!  (I should take a picture of my kitchen...copper everywhere.)

So.  I've been quite depressed today.  Well, actually for the past few days.  My pain has been terrible, and that's with my pain medicine on board.  I have three day's worth of pain meds left.  That's it.  I'm not going to go to another doctor.  I've decided that I'd rather live with the pain than to be percieved as a drug seeker, which is what I'm treated like.  Just once, I'd love to swap places with my doctor for a day....let him live with the bleeding, spasms, and knife-like rectal pain, and see if he'd want something for pain.  It's really so mind-boggling to me, that people can be sent to pain clinics for back pain or whatever, something you technically can't prove is wrong with you....but you can look at me and SEE that something's wrong, the massive scarring, the blood, and yet no one thinks that warrants pain control.  It's so depressing, really.

Well, let me go on to other things...get my mind off of all that.  I've got a ton of auctions going, and that's depressing as well.  My hits are dismal....I have no idea what's going on.  Oh, and forget about bids.  I can understand no bids, but no hits??  What, are my auctions invisible?  (with Ebay, I wouldn't doubt it)  Anyway, here are three little ones that I am so pleased with....they're tiny crosses.  The first one is 3/4" x 1/2", and the other two are 1" x 3/4".  Good grief, one of them is even listed at 99cents, and still no bids.  Amazing.  Here they are:

You can see all of my auctions by clicking here.

Well, that's about all for now.  I'm trying to work up some energy to paint.  I haven't painted in over a week.....I just can't bring myself to.  I hope I snap out of this soon, it's PITIFUL!  Ugh.  I just wish something would happen to boost my spirits.  It won't happen, though, so I should stop with the wishful thinking. 

Wow, I had such a blast this past Thursday night.  I went with my friend Christie to the Whole World Improv Comedy theatre in midtown Atlanta.  It's very reminiscent of Whose Line is it Anyway? and it was terrific.  These guys were hilarious!  I laughed my butt off, and I definitely plan to make it back there as often as possible!

I have to get sketching...I just got a commission request from a lovely lady, and it's such a fun concept.  I hope that our visions of her idea mesh together, and that we will come to pricing terms and I can work on this.  If not, though, I've got a few EBSQers in mind to take over.  I want this lady to be happy!  Now, off to sketch angels and pizza boxes.  (no, really!)  LOL

Oh, and my parents are coming for a visit for the weekend.  So I killed myself yesterday cleaning the house like a madwoman.  But boy, is my house squeaky clean now!  Smells so good....lemon Pine-Sol rocks!  At least this time I diluted the Pine-Sol....unlike the other time when I thought I'd cut to the chase and mop with it straight out of the bottle.  Fumes that would kill a medium sized horse, and it was like an ice skating rink, the whole house was so slippery!  LOL  Won't make that mistake again.....

This is how it went down.  Last night I walked into my master bedroom and saw some movement on the floor.  I was face to face with the equivalent of a Fear Factor-esque Madagascar Hissing Cockroach.  Seriously, it was like a giantic palmetto bug....I have no CLUE where it could have come from, or gotten into my house, much less way back into the bedroom.  Luckily, the odds were in my favor, since it seemed to be dying from the pesticides in the house (we have pest control spray every 3 months).  I was shaken and a bit squealy, but I managed to put a water glass on top of him and slide some paper underneath so I could take it outside.  I know one thing though....if I ever got onto Fear Factor, I wouldn't be able to eat one of those suckers.  I couldn't even pick it up, and it was almost dead!  Blech.  I was lucky to make it out alive, but I prevailed.  I'm just glad that Barkley didn't find it first, because it would have become quite a tasty snack for him.  (and fun one...he likes when he can chase his snacks around for a while)

Well, that's that. 

I'm working on my next NibbleFest project (look ma, no procrastinating!) and I'm making headway.  The theme is Nursery Rhymes, and so I'm working on Little Red Riding Hood.  It's nothing groundbreaking, but hey, neither is anything else I've ever painted, so why start now?  Mediocrity is the BEST!

If you're good little boys and girls, I might work on scanning a progress shot, even though I'm about 80% finished.  Eh, nevermind...the internet is down, so I can't.  (I'm talking to you courtesy of the air card)

Well, enough yapping, I've got to get painting. 

Here is the ferret painting I was talking about.  Possum passed away very recently from adrenal cancer.  His mom is a very special lady, and I hope that she likes Possum's painting:

Possum In Paradise:

It's that time again....the NFAC is going on now, and it's going STRONG!

  CLICK HERE TO SEE MY AUCTION.

Congrats to all that are kicking butts with the bids.....all are well deserved!

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In other news...we got a new television today.  Actually, we got one about two days ago, a 46" DLP (better picture than a plasma, but not as thin...it's about 13" deep)....but Kevin started noticing a rainbow effect and HAD to exchange it for a different type of television.  He came home with another thin one, but this one is 50".  Keep in mind, this TV is for the guest bedroom, and now it sits on the dresser in front of the dresser mirror.  Kevin can lay in the bed and have a gigantic TV staring him in the face, so he's happy.  He even moved the Bose surround sound out of the master bedroom and put it in the guest bedroom.  (because he knows I don't give a crap about it...besides, does Judge Judy even come in surround sound??  LOL)

We now have a menagerie of big screens....the new 50" widescreen, the 52" in the master bedroom, and the 65" widescreen in the living room.  This is getting out of hand!  Although if he came home and said he'd like to put a plasma screen over the bathtub, I wouldn't object.  LOL

In non-television news, I just finished a painting for a great artist, Tracey Greene.....fabulous lady, and she just lost a ferret named Possum.  I told her I'd try to paint him for a tribute, and I don't think I did so badly...I'll post a picture up as soon as I scan it.

Oh, and my commission?  All that's left is varnish, and I'm DONE!!!!  I'm going to do it tonight so I can photograph it tomorrow.  Woo!  Now the absolute hardest part will come up, which is packaging three 24" square gallery wrap canvases.  Ugh, that sucks finding a box that doesn't overshoot the USPS guidelines.  I hope that I can safely pack them back in the box that they came in, but I worry about not bubblewrapping each one individually.  I guess I'll figure it out as I pack them to see if it's a possibility.

Also, before I go, I just want to ask that if anyone can send good thoughts to my online friend, I'd appreciate it.  She's battling cancer, and has an operation coming up, I believe on Wednesday.  I do worry about her, she's such a darling lady, and a true pillar of strength.  Plus, she's my partner-in-crime of Wes-Love, so she's extra-special.  : )

The theme this month for the NibbleFest Art Contest is The Wizard of Oz. Immediately I wanted to work with ruby slippers, but I didn't want to do the same old thing. The title hit me first, then the concept: "Dorothy's First Wish was for Manolos." Of course, I'm talking about Manolo Blahniks, the expensive, sexy stiletto high heel shoes favored by Carrie Bradshaw on Sex and the City. After I came up with the concept, the sketch went quickly. It did take me quite a while to paint....I had quite the time getting the white onto her dress. I just bought a 30/0 extra long liner brush, and used it for the first time to do the stripes. I had just gotten in a shipment of swarovski crystals, so I had a good time putting them into play on the ruby slippers. I do know one thing: these crystals are TINY, and it was pretty painstaking in applying them.

The contest starts on the 20th, I'll link to it once I get it listed. Here's the painting, it's 4" x 6":