What an Art Supply Bonanza!!!

Don't these look nice???  They were given to me!  My cousin was helping a friend of the family clean out his father's house after he passed away (Rest in peace, Win.).  Both of Win's (the father) wives had been artists and there were tons of art supplies.  Dana (the son) didn't know what to do with everything and my cousin said that I would be happy to have them - and she was right!  Aren't they gorgeous?  And look how many!  There are TWENTY-SIX brand new, unused brushes there!  Can you believe it? 26!!!

And that's not all!  Take a look at this unbelievable sight:

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These are the used brushes!  Look at that!  I first thought that I would be able to get them all in the green jar that that same cousin had given me for Christmas this last year (See next image, isn't it cool?).  But I was sorely mistaken!  Three containers later...Wow! There are 145 brushes in the picture above!!!  For those counting at home, that is a total of ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY-ONE brushes!  I may faint...

(These are the super-tall ones only - and the jar is filled up!)

There were also these (mostly unused - and what's there is fantastic) sketchbooks:

These 2 smaller (with just 2 or 3 totally sweet watercolor paintings) watercolor pads/books:

(How awesome are those graphics?)

And these extra large pads.  One 140lb, 24"x 36" water color paper.  One is a mystery weight 11"x15" watercolor pad (cover is gone).  One is a 13.25"x17" sketch pad for charcoal, pencil and watercolor - nice, heavyweight paper.  One is a medium textured, 12"x16" canvas pad. 

There is also (not pictured) this nifty contraption for holding tight the canvas sheets - I think.  I haven't quite figured it out yet.  I'm going to take it to Gini (when I finally get over there, Gini!) and ask her opinion about it.  My cousin said there is also an easel - very sturdy, she said - that she couldn't fit into her car that she's going to go back and get (Pinch me!). I simply cannot believe my luck!  I keep looking at them.  It's just amazing.

Thank you 

Winston, Dora Mae, Margit, 

Dana, and Kim E.

Winston Coy, the most elegant man I've ever known.  
Loved by many. 
His passing was noted here.

The Book is Available for Pre-Order!

 Look! You can preorder Pam's book on Amazon!  We're all so excited!  Pam has written a beautiful and inspirational book about making room for art in our every day lives.  Several of us were lucky and honored to have been chosen to contribute to it.  If this is your first time hearing about it, read the book blog here.

Random Tuesday Thoughts

This is my second time participating in Random Tuesday!  Thanks to The Un-Mom for hosting!

First, should my old roommate ever come upon this blog:  You do not have to soak a Non-Stick Pan overnight after you've used it - and you especially don't have to soak it for 2 or 3 days.  Yes, I mean you, Crazy Ex-Roommate.  Yes, I've been holding it in for the last 19 years - what about it?

My husband sent me this awesome link to a collection of photographs from 1939 to 1943.  They are rare color photographs of the era and some of them are just breathtaking.  All of them so evocative of the time period that you feel as if you're right there.

This short film of a poem is beautiful.  This is the same filmmaker who made the Art film I posted about here.

It may be cheating because I posted the previous two things on my Facebook page - does anyone really mind?

(How could someone hurt this girl's feelings???)

Can I just say how much I really hate the next door neighbors who make their 7yo look after their 2yo all the time?  Just because I asked if just one time  the 7yo could come over without the 2yo because there was already a girls' playdate going on (the 2yo is a boy - and a rough and tumble, disruptive one at that) they decide to use the children as a weapon and threaten not to let the little girl come over without him and say that my child cannot come to their house then.  (Seriously?  You think it's okay to saddle the 7yo with the responsibility all the time while you sit at home free and clear?  Not to mention the free babysitting you're getting from me.)  I really hate them.  There.  I said it.


Am I the only one that wants to cry when my child is unhappy?


Here's some stuff I've gotten recently at estate sales:

Happy Tuesday!  Live long and prosper.  
(Yup, stole that one from Mr. Spock.)

Illustration Friday, Caged

I'm not sure what happened, but my Illustration Friday link didn't let my thumbnail show up!  Thanks for visiting if you took a chance and clicked my link anyway!

For Your Protection

This piece illustrates how we can inadvertently become prisoners in the interest of protecting ourselves.  And, also, how we can inadvertently make prisoners of others in the interest of protecting them.  The rust symbolizes how this process can sometimes be so gradual that it is years before we realize what we have done.

This piece reminds me that it is good to take chances sometimes.

Please visit the Illustration Friday site to explore work by other IF artists.

Neighborhood thievery - what to do?

So........the newest little neighbor girl took a quarter out of our bathroom and held it up for all to see claiming she had found it on the way over - unfortunately for her it was a Canadian quarter and so recognizable as the one that had been on our bathroom counter (Rexy was using it for play money - sorry Canadian friends).  It happened while I was at the store and my DH was in the backyard with Rexy, the 7yo from next door and the 6yo in question from 2 doors down.  DH said he could tell something was up because of the way she stumbled over the quarter-finding story when she realized he was sitting right there.


(He was already freaked out by her because he had overheard her talking about French kissing to the 7yo!  I repeat.  She's Six. Years. Old.  He had no idea what to do with that, luckily Rexy was out of earshot at the time.)

This girl always - within 5 minutes of her arrival - asks to use the bathroom and I've found her in Rexy's room afterwards each time, while the rest of us were outside in the backyard.  Now I can't help thinking that she's been stealing every time.  I suspected it once before when she kept putting her hand in her pocket and then looking at me.  

Frankly, it's only a quarter - what do I care? Right?  But I don't want success to encourage repetition.  We confronted her and sent her home.  The DH told her to tell her dad because we were going to talk to him.  Yeah...right.  Like she's going to do that.  Now I feel like I have to go over there tonight when he gets home (I was in the middle of cooking dinner last night when the DH told me about the quarter conversation and had to get right back to the stove after we sent her home - otherwise I would have gone with her.)  So how do you start that conversation???


Ugh.