There are turkeys on my roof!

Last week, I went outside my front door to visit a neighbor and some of the turkeys that live in our neighborhood were hanging out on the sidewalk.  When I came back just a few minutes later, the turkeys were in our front yard.  No big deal.  After I went back in the house, I was working away in my office and suddenly one of the turkeys was airborne and flew up on the roof.  The rest of the turkeys followed suit and all four of them were walking around enjoying the view!  We see the turkeys often, but have never seen them get on our roof.  I snapped a few photos.

Glacier National Park and The Canadian Rockies

We had a terrific time in Montana's Glacier National Park as well as Banff and Lake Louise in Alberta, Canada recently. We hiked to some amazing lakes, glaciers and even a tea house perched high above that served an amazing assortment of teas! The wildlife in the parks did not disappoint either. We saw a grizzly bear, numerous black bears, elk, mountain goats, big horned sheep as well as deer, rabbits and those cute little chipmunks that always make me smile. It was a great vacation and I highly recommend it if you have never visited!

All of the above pictures were taken in Glacier National Park in Montana.

The pictures above were taken in Waterton Lakes National Park, Alberta, Canada.

The pictures above were taken at Lake Louise and Lake Josephine near Banff, Alberta, Canada.  The hikes here provided breathtaking views of the lakes well worth the time!

Progress on the kitchen continues

The kitchen is taking shape!  We now have sheetrock and the finishing coats of plaster are almost complete.  We look forward to getting it all cleaned up and applying the primer and ceiling paint.

Our goal for this weekend is to order the flooring.  We had travertine stone floors in our last kitchen which were beautiful, but they were also cold and very hard.  So, we have gone back and forth between different options.  We need it to work with our oak floors in the rest of the house without being too similar in color but not to dark either.  We like a fairly light and bright kitchen.  We had considered marmoleum because we were told that we could design our own custom pattern, but it was much more expensive than we thought it would be.  Marmoleum also offers a clicking plank system, but we don't care for the textures and colors they offer.  I found this 16 inch square tile by Mannington that has a very slight texture to it in grays and neutrals that we are leaning toward.  It glues down and the pattern could be alternated to make a nice subtle checkerboard effect on the floor.  The color chips on top of the tile represent our cabinet colors.  The majority will be the light olive green and the island will be in the cream.  We are going with a wood butcher block on the island and cesarstone quartz countertops in a white color with neutral flecks called "nougat."  It's really nice to be at the point of putting the kitchen back together again after all of the destruction and mess.

Chocolate Cupcake Scratch and Sniff Stickers

Another set of scratch and sniff stickers has just been released from Peaceable Kingdom.  These feature my chocolate cupcake designs and they smell pretty tasty!  You can buy them online here as well as at retailers across the country.

Progress on the Kitchen

The walls are out and the beam is in.  The new windows are in place along with two new skylights.  The plumber comes Thursday followed by the electrician next week.   Drawing up a plan on paper is one thing, but witnessing the transformation step by step is very gratifying.

New Canvas Prints With Oopsy Daisy

This week UPS delivered my newest canvas prints that are now for sale through Oopsy Daisy and their  affiliate company GreenBox Art.  It's always so gratifying to see my art on products, especially when they are so big and bold!  You can find these and other designs of mine on their websites here and here.  You can also find some of them through Amazon.com and other stores and boutiques nationwide.

Vintage Race Cars Wall Art for Target

A while back Oopsy Daisy asked me to illustrate a scene of vintage race cars that would coordinate with a line of bedding for Target.  I did two pieces of art for them, one for a 21 inch square stretched canvas and the other for a growth chart.  They are both now available at target.com.  You can find them here and here.

Kitchen Demolition is under way!

We have lived in this 70 year old house for two years now and the original kitchen is not getting any easier to work in!  We bought this house mainly for the view of San Francisco and the Golden Gate Bridge, but it also has some great period charm and wonderful light throughout the house.  The kitchen, however, was on the renovation list from day one.  That dream is now going to become a reality over the next two months or so.  Luckily, our house has a second kitchen we are now using that is in an area of the house that used to be a separate apartment.  The hammers were flying around here on Sunday and we certainly had aching backs, arms and hands to prove it on Monday and Tuesday!  Whew!  I wanted to post a few photos of the kitchen as it looked prior to all of the destruction, just so you can get an idea of what we are dealing with here.  The demo photos are a bit shocking, but this is what has to happen to get us from this hot mess of a kitchen to kitchen nirvana.  Stay tuned...  It's going to get loud and even more messy before it gets better.

New Peacock Pillow For Sale

I designed a new peacock recently and have had it made into a pillow.  It is now for sale in my Etsy shop, Pictorialboom.  You can find it here.  It is also for sale as an art print here.

On my desk today: Seashells

Bold Florals Canvas Prints now for sale at Greenbox Art

My series of 4 bold floral paintings are now available for sale at Greenbox Art, a division of Oopsy Daisy.  The canvas prints are stretched on a wooden frame and the designs wrap around the edges, so they arrive ready to frame with no need for framing.  They are also made in the USA at the company's factory in San Diego, CA.  You can purchase them here, here, here, and here!

Vase of Flowers

Butterfly Art Prints Now for Sale on Etsy

I just listed these two new butterfly prints in my Etsy shop, Pictorialboom.  You can see them here and here!

Office Renovation

Since we are finally finished with the renovation of my office, I wanted to show it to you!  The biggest transformation was removing most of the wall that enclosed the closet and turning it into a built-in desk alcove which we painted a light, bright coral color.  The alcove is the new home for my computer, scanner, printer, etc.  It makes the room feel so much bigger and I really like having my digital space separated from my painting and sketching space!!  I am really happy with the results and feel more productive and happy here already.  We attached sheet metal to the walls around my painting desk to create magnetic boards.  Now I can easily put up useful research and sketches and remove it when I am moving on to a new project.  My painting desk is a corner unit that came from IKEA.  The wall organizer rod that features the little white buckets I keep brushes in came from the kitchen section of IKEA and has been great.  It keeps a lot of the clutter off of my desktop!!  We used some vintage looking knobs in two styles to add a bit more of an eclectic look to the built in desk.

I already knew this, but it is amazing what a difference a little color and better organization can do for your daily life.