My funky art dolls

I finished working on some my dolls. I like them if I may say so myself.
After making a series of sketches at the end of the day the doll (as the paintings) go where they like to go, and end up looking the way they like... not always like the sketch!

I'll list them on ebay and my etsy shop

In retrospect...

I am bad at keeping blogs, I have to admit.
Guess that's why I never really kept a diary either lol
I think of writing something, updating, share with the world (ok, the 3 people who read my blog :oP)
But then life happens, kids need help with homework, or need to run errands and you know, the whole stuff that people have to do during a week, and by the time I turn around, it's been FOREVER since I last updated.

OH! and something else! When you type and hit preview, you see all the wonderful stuff you typed right? Then if you want to go back, you delete ALL your text if you are not careful!!!
That happened to me a couple of times in the past months and I was so discouraged, I just did not re-type the entry.
Yup, that's me, the disappearing text master. :oP

Now that we clarified that point, I could say that since the past February (my last entry to this blog) we had a nice March, April, May.... then summer fell on top of my head.
Just now I went to dig all over the place for my password (I know, I keep loosing the darn pass, I'm just glad is not my house key!) and came here to merrily type with no goal or purpose.... so if you get bored, you are free to click your browser's back button :oD

OK, in more detail I'd say through this months I painted like a maniac... left a bunch of drawings half done... found a new passion for my oils, so I started to cut a lot of canvas in ACEO size, and painted some more.

Here's a painting I made of Frida. Acrylics on canvas:



I also have several paper dolls in different stages of creation. Some just need a few touches to be ready, but since we re-organized this room, somehow I think I packed my creative muse as well.

Then I craved fabric, so I went to get a bunch of colorful cuts of fabric and made different patterns to make dolls.
If I like what I make, you'll see it online, if I don't like them, the dog will have a lot of new toys lol.

Who knows

Things have been pretty slow lately. Even my auctions are slow!
It's funny: when it's hot, people say the market will pick up in winter when people are indoors.
When it's cold, they say the sales are slow when it's cold or the holidays.... then after the holidays and cold, all that is gone, and things are still slow, they blame the nice weather, school time, or whatever! LOL
Me? I think it's just luck.
I have been painting a few larger canvas and started 2 oil portraits. Somehow it feels like it takes forever to dry!
That's one thing I love about acrylics. They just dry so fast you can keep going instantly.
On the other side, sometimes you just need a few more minutes to move around with that paintbrush and by the time you want to mix a bit, the acrylic dried on you. As a painter, you have to be friends with mediums!
I slow my acrylics, and speed up my oils. :o) I sent a few requests to other artists to fill out a short questionnaire for my other art blog, but I guess they are feeling shy. Hardly anyone has sent the thing back for me to post.... Who knows why.

I still like to go around and drool on their auctions or websites. It's so much fun to see art!

2007 stuff

Well, I had the best intention of sitting and blogging, specially after I listed a few things on ebay and wagglepop but unfortunately life gets in the way ;oP
So anyway, January 2007 is almost over and I am ready for Spring.

Warm weather: I love it! Heat does not bother me as much as cold. I take a hot day over a cold one any time! Particularly at the moment, after the icy weather here in California.

You know, I live in the dessert part of California, we are not used to walk on ice, specially not run on ice at 7:20 AM.  Therefore when presented with those circumstances, it's not so surprising to say I fell flat on my butt the other day while running on ice. :o(

What is funny, is that I was trying to help my son (who fell while running to get to the school bus) but unfortunately for me, I thought he tripped with the backpack. Too late I realized it was the ice on the sidewalk that made him fall, as my feet were flying up in the air and my bottom landing hard on the concrete. Ouch is right.
If I had known, I would've never run. Same for the lady driver who didn't expect ice either, came running to our rescue and almost fell on top of us LOL ..... just like one of those really silly movies from Charlie Chaplin, we just needed the cake smacking.

Needless to say: that day my son did not make it to school on time. He wore a knee support for a couple of days and still has a bruise.
I only have to take it easy for the next few weeks, walk slow, sit funny and be thankful that nothing broke.

By the way, I didn't know they don't even take tail bone X-rays any more! Since they can't do anything about it, it doesn't matter if you broke it!

As I said.... I am ready for the warm weather! :o)

Visiting family

We had the best time in TX. We visited some of my family and my mom.
I have a really big family, so if I say I saw only 13 family members, I have to say that it was not even one third of it.

Just in my dad's side there's 9 sibilings, spouses and each of them has 3 kids. In my mom's side there's 7 of them, with their children, plus some of my cousins have children of their own.

Anyway, I had a great time. I had not seen my brother in a long while. I only have one brother, but he makes up for half of the planet. I adore him. We always call each other and email all the time, but is not the same to bug him in the distance hee hee hee

We took tons of pictures, we all went in the river walk, the boat, the Alamo the whole thing.... I had not been in San Antonio for about 9 years, so it was fun to visit again. We wanted to go to Frederiksburgh too, but it was raining that day and decided not to.
I still want to go and check out all the artsy shops there!

Today is the Dia de la virgen de Guadalupe day. Many native Indian groups go dancing from their far away towns all the way to the Basilica in a days long march. It is a big celebration down in Mexico. I remember one time when I was little, I saw this lonely indian, all dressed up with bells and feathers, dancing and bouncing down my block. He was lost, there was no church near my house, but he never stopped dancing. Now that is dedication and faith.

I started to sketch some Madonna/Virgin art cards in 4x4 size. I can see the colors in my mind and I'm adding very native looking icons. Let's see how they turn out. :oD

Thanks giving

Well. I guess I'm still thankful, and I really had a lot of good things to thank for this year, but MAN... what a stressing Thanks Giving day!
Let me start from the beginning:
My sister in law and I decided we were not going to spend the whole day in the kitchen so we both agreed to order and bring something already done, and some extra easy-to-put-together stuff, salad, pie, etc
We always spend the day at my MIL but she is not able to cook anymore, so we had our plan all set and ready to go.
We have to drive 3 and a half hours to get there so I ordered everything ahead of time, just to be picked up hot and run.
Yeah right....

I got there to this unmentionable place, to pick up my fancy precooked and WARM dinner.
What do I get? A frozen turkey!! Everything was frozen!

I panicked, almost fainted and suffocated, let my husband deal with the store guys.

He came back with all the boxes and stuff, and an explanation of why things were like that etc....
He had to pay extra 5 dollars for a "bigger and not frozen" turkey.

OK, Alright... we'll heat it up when we get there.
I took a precooked ham just in case, and before we arrived to my MIL's house, I stopped to get some Pollo Loco's tamales for the kids, so they would not starve.

We took our sweet time chatting, deciding what to warm up first etc. It was time to warm up the turkey and the ham.
Then, my sister in law tells us with this strange face "Your turkey is bleeding"

What a joke, right? No... the darn turkey was raw!

At that time I was not sure if I was going to be mad or just start laughing hysterically.
I opted for the laughing.
It was so funny! There we are, with a humongous raw turkey, past noon, and everyone getting hungry. OMG I don't remember when I laughed so hard.

We put the turkey back in the bag, heat up the ham that was *really* precooked Thank God! and meanwhile, the kids ate chicken tamales and pizza.

After dinner, and thanking of the laughter, we still had a huge raw turkey and all of us had 3 hours + to drive back home.
We gave it to a neighbor. I told her it was so raw, she could almost keep it for a pet.

Good thing it's only once a year!

October again...

Around here, October is a very busy time of the year. Almost everybody has their birthday in the same month! Kids, parents, grand parents, husband, friends... me!
Great opportunity to eat cake every day LOL

Is fall really around the corner?

So what I have been up to lately?
I participated in a local art show. Had my kids' first communions with their respective run-like-crazy-find-the-right-outfit-get-the-party-ready-and-buy-a-pinata rush. Had family visiting from out of the country (too short time though). Managed to hurt a foot so bad, I couldn't do anything but complain for months (poor husband). Spent a fortune on doctors and tests (really poor husband). Took the kids to 194 different kinds of summer lessons (maybe not quite so many, but my foot gave me a different feeling). Got the children's school supplies, got them ready for school and, after a big *sigh* I finally felt a need to draw/paint/create again.
And now they tell me summer is almost gone and fall is coming???

What the heck happened to my summer!?
And more importantly: What the heck happened to my summer!? Oh, never mind. I'm I repeating myself again? ;oD

Lost in space

I lost my password, so I didn't post for a while in this blog. :oP
Silly me ;o)

.... Well, I have been painting, working on the never-ending project of our master bathroom, and also making some dolls. I am loving the dolls!

OH! We also have a new puppy (they should call them poopies!) So I have been busy potty training her.
MmMmmm I wonder if it is called potty training when you are actually training them to go on a news paper?
It's been cold for her to go outside, she is only 2 months old, and also a Chihuahua, I don't really want her to freeze out there.

Anyway, her name is Cookie, and her last name is Crumb. Although, if she keeps eating this way we will have to call her "Cocoa puff" hehehehe

They said it was going to snow today here in California, but in my area rained for a while, then a little of hail and that was it. Pretty cold, but no snow.

I listed a few Art Cards (aceo) tonight:
calla Lilly hat  Clouds    Windy
http://www.ebay.com/sch/passion4colour/


And if I have some time tomorrow night, I'll post some more. Keep an eye over here :o)

I wonder if there is a way to have my friend's links here or a group, like in other blogs...

Wow, is it mid January already?

OK, so time is flying. We are already thinking on Valentine's day. I am thinking of the chocolates mostly!! hahaha
I opened a shop this weekend! I am so excited. Everyone is invited to take a peek.
The first costumer will get free shipping *anywhere* in the world.

Sold

http://www.etsy.com/shop/AyalaArt

All this past days I have been running around cutting paper and trying to get some new art cards done. It's so funny, I start painting and pretty soon I have my kids and their friends trying to paint too. It's a wonderful way to keep them entertained and doing something creative!

My son is getting an award for "best artist" in his school. Reminds me of my school days, only that they were not giving kids awards for "that" in those days, but still I was the one girl that would spend all her time drawing.... even in the middle of Science class. :)

Thanks for your time, and Hasta la vista!