BIG NEWS.....

I have been away from my blogging for a while and I hate that I have not been current with it. But it is all I can do to keep up with daily life right now. My Uncle passed away this past weekend and we will surely miss him. He was a great man and accomplished much in his lifetime, not to mention he pulled off a succcessful 69 years of marriage to the same woman.

While we were at the family home after the memorial service my son and daughter-in-law called and gave us the huge and happy news that they are having twins. What a joyful announcement that was. My DIL is a twin, but on my side of the family and in my husband's large extended family there are no multiples, so I honestly feel like we are the first ones to ever do this. I know that's not true, but that's what it feels like to this grandma! And they are going to be identical twins which is not heriditary, so how special is that! Below is their first family portrait. I think they might as well enjoy all that room they have right now, because in a couple more months it will start to get a little more crowded!

We will be gone for the next five days....to Destin, FL for a company trip. As company trips go this is a pretty darn good destination if you ask me!
I have three paintings to post when I return!

Flags Over the Coast Oil Painting

Flags Over the Coast...12x24.......Oil on Gallery Wrap Canvas......$275

This is the flag display that is on the beach as you enter Biloxi leaving Gulfport. The other side says Gulfport Welcomes You. (This is a good painting for the Fourth with all the flags and all.)

I painted this side because it is the side I remember best from my childhood. We lived in New Orleans and my grandparents (I'm going to be one, you know) lived in Mobile. I-10 had not been built, so whenever we went to see my grandparents we traveled along the coast. We would wake up (we loved to sleep in the car) when we left Bay St. Louis so we could see the beach along the way. Then when we got to the Ocean Springs Bridge and the beach could no longer be seen we would get our books back out or go back to sleep.

Ocean Springs was the end of the excitement back then, but years later when I lived there I came to find that it was lovelier and had as much or more to offer than any of the coast towns. The same goes for Bay St. Louis.

Another interesting little side note about those trips. There is a very strong possibility that sometime between 1st and 5th grade I probably had a chance to glimpse my future husband as we drove in front of his grandfather's house on Beach Boulevard. But he would have been too old for me then! When you're in 1st grade, three years is a big difference!

Blue Crab Oil Painting

Blue Crab......30x24........oil on canvas..................$600

Another painting for the coast show in August. I LOVE crab paintings and I can't believe this is the first one I have ever painted! I really like this fellow.

If you follow my blog you know that I had a low spot a couple of weeks back and I am just getting rolling again. Painting is so tied to your emotions and it's not just something I can go do just because it needs to be done. At least I can't. But I have been enjoying it again and feel like getting in there and doing it. So that is a good thing.

Another good thing is that I have sold 10 (read that t-e-n) paintings from the Fitness Center that is displaying my work through the end of July. I am blown away! I thought it would be good exposure, but sales(?). I was not expecting much and certainly not 10! If anything can make you feel like an artist again it is selling a few paintings. With my gallery sales, that makes almost 20 in a little over 2 months! I am so thankful you just don't know.

And did I tell you I'm going to be a grammaw? : )