walters mural progress

so... i started work on the mural in the walters' family art center today. here's how far i got. sorry this is a lame entry but my back hurts and my hands have paint brush abrasions on them. owie.

Is this heaven or what?!

Who me? Oh, I'm just knitting a custom hummingbird knitimal with a dachshund puppy on my lap, that's all.
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ATCs

how many of you are into this whole ATC thing (Artists Trading Cards)? I am "into it" in my mind, but haven't had time to start making any yet. my good friend Riley (proud friend of many a Knitimal) makes 'em like crazy... there's even a club and trading and what not. here's a few of his best (his words)... look at that one top and center! not too shabby. :) xoxo danamarie

mason knits!

ok, he doesn't really, but he DOES make a good lap warmer while I'M knitting.

and a mural is DONE...

two days! 14 hours! completion!
isn't it just so sweet?! (am i allowed to say that about my own work?)
i'm quite pleased with the final mural. particularly the crew alligators, the birdies on the wire and the sweet birds listening to the stories being shared from the family photo album.
i tried to include a lot of details for little Nate to explore as he grows up (that was always the kind of art i liked most... still do! the kind that keeps pulling you back in).

i like the color a lot too.

i tried a few new things with this mural and i think they worked out well. i usually measure and calculate and hand render everything from the sketch (which is always very polished) to the wall... but i invested in an overhead projector, which aside from just being fun to have (if not bulky and oversized) is very helpful to muraling! one thing i noticed is how much freer it made me, in terms of "painterly" painting--- not having to stay within pre-drawn lines (but rather using the projected image as a guide which i could turn on and off at will) and then being able to determine when to outline, if ever--- i think there's more depth in this piece because of it.



SO, you might think that i, having spent two days bent awkwardly, straining and stretching and crouching would be done with murals for a little while... well, no. i'm actually starting a new one at the walters art museum this coming monday. i wont tell you what of, but i will keep you posted. or maybe i wont and you'll have to bring your kids to the Family Art Center to find out. yes. i like that. that's what i'll do. xoxo, danamarie

weekly dose of cute

little man! are you kidding me, mason? you can not be that cute. it's too much. no one can take it.


i implore you... please take your cuteness down a notch or 4.

so, baby mason will be 3 months old on Saturday. he's going to the vet tonight for his next set of shots and i'm gonna guess that he's... 5 lbs now (he was 4.1 last time). he's gotten longer, but not taller. and yes, since you were clearly going to comment on it, yes, he is continuing to get cuter.
he's developed this very serious expression that i am currently finding very funny. i mean, you're pocket sized. why so serious?

and a mural is born...

it was off to the city of brotherly love this week for a little mural-ly love. these are some of my favorite things; opportunities to take a plain white wall and make it into something bright & (hopefully) inspiring. this particular piece? for a not- yet- born little man named Nate.

the wall is about 10 x 7 ft and the theme of the mural is family: here & there.... geography of the heart and the people and places that are important to family, no matter where they are. the focal point of the mural is a "family portrait" of the current "children" (3 cats and a dog named Annie, who befriended me and checked in on my progress throughout the day).

8 hours later, i have all (most of) the basic color blocks in place and am ready for day two: detail!

crabbe: my "swap" knitimal for theneedle.org

my new friends over at the needle organized a plush swap. i don't know who my plushie will come from but i know where mine is going. i can't spoil the surprise, so i'll just say he's heading west young man. we were supposed to base our doll on our location, so Crabbe is (naturally) based on the Maryland Blue Crab! i hope he'll be well loved in his new home. *also, on the "i thought this was the greenstarstudio blog, not the DOG blog" front, i just want to point out that i made this little guy whilst crate training. yes. go me. mason assures me he WILL let me get back to work soon.* xo, danamarie

shiloh's birthday & mason's first trip to the dog park

yesterday would've been shiloh's 11th birthday. in the week before we lost her, i'd decided i wanted to take her to the dog park ( a place she should NOT have gone to, as she hated dogs and dogs were sure to be there; but a place i thought, what the heck, bark yourself silly). well, fate didn't have it that way, so instead we decided to wait and take Mason there on Shiloh's birthday (and she tagged along, of course). he's still really little and not fully vaccinated yet, so he spent most of the short time we were there in our arms (ps... it was 30 yesterday and no joke, 70 degrees the day before). after a brief memorial service and a woman asking he we restrain ourselves from biting him (the answer, as any of you who know me would guess, is, i don't), we packed up the kids and headed home. it was short and sweet. we were pretty sure shiloh would've wanted it that way... but with more chicken mcnuggets. xo, danamarie

mason face

so, bringing you up to speed on mason's training... he's still not cool with being left alone. poor little guy. its simultaneously annoying and adorable at once. his lung capacity is better than mine (can i get a "what-what" from all the asthmatic dogs out there?!). what is the limit to how long you can bark before you tire yourself out? i can tell you what its NOT... 8 hours. it is not 8 hours. i also have a question to both the makers of the Kong toys and those of you out there who have them and whose dogs love them... how do you make that happen? mason "likes" his, but only in the light of day with all of his sides, top and bottom free to roam... in the crate? well, in the crate the only thing of value is getting OUT! still, i'm holding my resolve and repeating my mantra: "i dont see you. when you bark, you are invisible. when you are quiet, i magically appear. for now, however, you are invisible and i don't see you". during playtime, we are LOVING the way he runs--- it's this fabulous sideways run run run skip thing. his front half is wider than his back half and his legs are so sweetly bowed, even sitting is adorable. oh! and when he runs... his ears! yesterday we were afraid he'd be swept away by the wind like a little paper glider. he pees really cute (i'll spare you the pictures of that). he has this terrible habit of trying to jump on the couch and bumping his noggin on the coffee table (we ARE working on stopping that). he periodically rounds up all his toys and stuffs them in his crate. that's pretty awesome. and of course, when he's curled up asleep... it doesnt get better. in the moments when he ISN'T barking (or sleeping), i try to catch and appreciate the amazing little cutenesses of his being. and thus, i present: "studies in cuteness":


a puppy licking your nose-holes. (ok, cute & gross). he does this a lot. A LOT.



a puppy chewing on a similarly sized doll's nose



a puppy's "magic hairs" (as they are known in our household)... look at them! so long!


a puppy's sweet tiny little face

*addendum, added at 2:30am: must remember how cute he is. must remember....