Updated Website

Nothing exciting to report today...colder than cold out today and the wind is howling. Glad I'm inside, and thankful that I have a warm home to be inside of!

I just updated my website. It took a loooong time but I finally got it done. There's a new page on it now.
http://www.brydenart.com

Christmas has come and gone. Everyone can relax now. My cats certainly aren't wasting any time....

And this is the cross legged pose, for my dainty girl.

All is calm at our house finally. Maybe I can actually get back to painting now. There's a certain amount of peace and quiet one needs to create. Oh gee, just as I said this my oldest woke up (it's 10:22am) and turned the TV on. So much for peace and quiet! When is school vacation over? No, just joking, I love having my kids home, noise and all. I've only got a few more precious years of this chaotic joy.

Christmas Day pics

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas!

Here was ours....This is our the tree decorated with home made wooden ornaments with family photo's on each one. I usually make 3 or 4 each year. I LOVE decorating my tree with them every year- it's like looking through a photo album from about 1991 (when Brielle was born) to now.
We had dinner at my sister's house. Qena was trying to have dinner too, but her aim was off a little.

Quince couldn't wait to open his gifts. He loves planes so I made these canvases for him with planes so he could paint them then put them on his wall. He looked at the first one and he told me the exact name of the jet! It's amazing what he knows for a 5 year old.

Everybody wanted to hold Qena (as always). She had on her cute little Christmas dress.
My turn!

My mom stopped over for a little bit. I suppose I could have taken photo's of the girls in their pj's with no make up on, opening presents, but at this age, they wouldn't appreciate me posting that on my blog for the whole world to see. So here you go girls, you all look lovely (even you Qena)!

Christmas Eve

It's Christmas Eve and Grandmom and Leon stopped by to exchange some gifts. We finished unwrapping our wonderful hotpacks and scarves (just what we wanted) and now it was their turn.

In this photo my mom is saying "This is great hunny, but what the heck is it?" And Leon who had just received a .....candle (Oh boy!) can't wait to open the next one -that is shaped exactly the same. (yes, just LOOK at the excitement on his face!)

"Yep, I was right. Unbelievable."

"Oh hunny...a sparkly ball of yarn!? I guess I can find something to do with it...."

"And this is lovely..... but what is it?"

"Is this something I wear on my head?"

I think I heard Leon whispering to my mom "Quick, let's get the out of here, before think of anymore crazy things to give us!" And my mom was saying "Ya, I know! Just keep smiling until we get in the car."

Merry Christmas!

Winter on Cape Cod

I took a few pictures of the snow today and thought I'd share.....This is in Dennis at low tide.

These are our Cape Cod "mountains" .... aka sand dunes.

This is my back yard squirrel. I made sure all the birds and squirrels had food AND unfrozen water. I think they appreciated it.

A man walking his dog at Sesuit Harbor in Dennis.

I saved the best for last. This was Sesuit Harbor too. It's pretty neat to see how the ice formed. It looks like scales on a lizard or a really great abstract design. There are still quite a few boats in their slips on the other side of the harbor but I think they circulate the water over there with a pump to keep it from freezing.

I mean, you never know when you might want to take the boat out for a cruise, even if it IS only 20 degrees out.

We just got back from taking Quince to look at Christmas lights. He ate dinner over then we took a drive around singing Christmas songs. (It's more fun looking through the eyes of a child!) There's a place in Harwich on Forest Rd. and their entire yard is full of things that light up (candy canes, trees, fish, even a fire breathing dragon) in time with the music on a certain radio station. It's a whole show! How fun.
Can you believe that Christmas is now only a couple of days away?

Sledding at the Golf Course

Here are a couple of pics my mom took of the girls helping her decorate a TON of Christmas cookies yesterday. They spent hours doing it while the snow kept falling outside.

Brielle kept her hat and scarf on the whole time. Silly girl! Oh, and can you tell -just by the look on her face- that they ate almost as many cookies as they decorated? They both came home with stomach aches and neither one wants to see another Christmas cookie for the rest of the year!
Today, the day after the big storm, Sienna and I took Quince (my nephew) out to the local golf course for some sledding. We took him to a different spot than we usually go to and found out it was the MEGA hill (I was even scared to go down it!) so we had to travel a bit to find the perfect hill for him.

But we did. It was still a nice big hill and this one didn't go straight down with a massive jump on it (he'll want to do that one next year I'm sure).
We had lots of fun and we discovered that Sienna needs boots. Her ankles were totally exposed with her little hiker shoes on. Did I tell you I'm missing 2 pairs of boots now? They must be with the Christmas presents that I still can't find.

I went down a couple of times and had a ball, but it was a long, hard walk up the hill. The snow was really deep in the drifts; not to mention I had to pull Quince up the hill on the sled because the snow was too deep for him to walk in it. (Life's good when you're a 5 year old!)

The sun was setting as we left the golf course. It's no wonder, today is the shortest day of the year! We all came home and had a cup of hot chocolate and I know at least -I- will sleep good tonight!

A White Christmas!

We're going to have a white Christmas after all!! We're in the middle of a blizzard here on the Cape. This is our very first snow of the year. I'd say we've gotten around 12" so far and it's still snowing out. Now it suddenly feels more like Christmas. Yesterday I spent the day wrapping presents, baking cookies, and taking care of some last minute details. We've only got a handful of days left!Today (not being able to go very far because the roads were so bad) we spent shoveling the driveway and then we all went over to my mom's and did hers. (This was us coming back. )It was really cold and windy out but there's nothing like the feeling of being outside in the cold then coming in to a nice warm house and making a cup of hot chocolate to thaw out. Tomorrow Sienna's school is cancelled so she's planning on going sledding at the local golf course. Maybe I'll go too! One is never too old to have fun. Ok, but I'll get the Ben Gay out just in case.

Christmas and computers

The other night everyone was home (even my ex) so I turned on a Christmas movie and this is what they ALL did! It struck me as so funny I had to take a picture! Is this the wave of the future or what? -One eye on the TV and the other on the computer. It's a typical scene at my house and it makes me wonder: what did we ever do without all these electronics?
So here's the scoop on my ex: he needed a place to stay for a while so I said he could stay here. Am I crazy? We'll see. We've remained good friends since our divorce 10 years ago, but I bet I won't get too many dates this way! lol

By the way, Simba says "HElllllO!"

Here's a shout out to all my friends up there in the snowy white north (Alaska). I don't know how you survive up there in the winter. brrrrrr! I painted this one with you in mind because we have no mountains here on the Cape. Oh and these are my 'special' monkey armed snowmen. Well, can't you see? They had to use their arms for rowing the boat!

Baking Cookies

Yesterday was the Yarmouth Art Guild's Christmas Luncheon. We had a gift swap under $10 and this is what I got- with a $5 gift card for Trader Joes (which was great!) The only problem is- I have no idea what this thing is!
Can anyone help me out? The wooden thing goes up and down with the little skewer on it.


While I was at my meeting/party Brielle and Sienna were at Auntie Grethe's baking cookies and making bread. (And yes, that is Max in the photo too) Where there's food, there's Max.

Brielle decorating sugar cookies.

She's only recently started to become quite domestic, and it's usually at other people's houses- not mine. Although I have to say, she came home and made me some gluten-free cookies, which was really nice.

While Brielle was baking up a storm, Sienna was occupying her little cousin- or should I say her cousin was occupying HER. Qena is just so much fun- to hold or even just to look at. Now, at almost 3 months old she's smiling up a storm and seems to recognize us (not just mom dad and Quince)
What a little doll. Merry Christmas!

Cold Weather Sets In

Today it finally feels like winter. It's only 30 degrees out right now and the wind is howling. Brrr. It reminds me of this little painting I just listed on Ebay. "Winter Beach Walk". It's funny how, even though it's freezing out, a few nuts like me still want to walk on the beach!

I like how this painting came out (2.5"x3.5"). It reminds me of the serenity when the snow starts falling on a calm winter's day (or night). I love that feeling, even when I know it's going to turn into a blizzard. There's just something about that stillness that is so peaceful.

And this little guy looks like he's fallen and can't get up! Well, here's a better scenario: He and some of his reindeer friends decided to go sliding down this hill. (They do these things when humans aren't looking) The others were already at the bottom, laughing and coaching him on, and even though he's a little scared, he does it anyway and has the time of his life! Then they all trot back up the hill and do it again.

:)

By the way, I found my vacuum cleaner! It was in Sienna's closet with her clothes strewn all over it. Phew.

Poodle Painting

Just finished this 8x10 commission.

It's been a strange week. It seems that I have lost my ....get this...vacuum cleaner! How can someone NOT be able to find something like THAT??? (Lost in the clutter perhaps?) No- I've been cleaning out!! So where the heck did it go? I swear, I'm probably looking right at it but just don't see it. Since I started wearing glasses a few years ago, I feel so discombobulated with my sight, and things like this do happen. I also have a smaller one that I use more frequently, and it seems that now the filter attachment is missing, rendering it totally unusable.

Anyway, I'll be looking for my vacuum, and filter, and at the same time, keep an eye out for the Christmas presents I hid and now I can't remember where they are!

:)

Life Lessons

I learned a very important lesson from my 18 year old this past weekend. She let me know in no uncertain terms that my house was too cluttered. Well, at first it was hard to hear because I have a tough time keeping up after my kids and most of what I consider clutter is their stuff that gets dropped everywhere, not my home decor.
Then the more I thought about it, the more I realized my I DID have too much unnecessary stuff and I could let go of some of it. I guess I've been holding onto it for the time when I finally get settled. To give you a sense of that, the girls and I have moved 7 times in the past 10 years and I keep thinking ONE of these days I'll find Mr. Right and we'll be able to "settle down". But now that Brielle is off in college and Sienna is already in high school, my whole life has changed since I initially made that plan. I'm going to be an empty-nester soon and I have to stop living for an imagined future and realize it is here and now. It kind of makes me sad to think my kids never had the stability of one home, but I also feel blessed that we have a warm dry roof over our heads and they have the stability of me and my unconditional love. Isn't that what really counts? You can't take the 'stuff' with you when you go...
So that was my lesson for the week. It's off to the recycle shop now with another load!

Angels and more Angels

These are a few of my latest angels. I've been very busy lately making them, snowmen and handcoloring antique maps. Oh and right now I'm watching a Hallmark channel Christmas movie with Sienna. It's nice just to drop everything and do that once in a while. She's usually busy with her friends, so when she's receptive, I jump at the chance to spend time with her (and Brielle when she's home from college). Oh, the commercials over, gotta go!