monkey oranges

monkey oranges, originally uploaded by Melsky.

I'm still sick, but it's not as bad as I thought it would be, I'm just slightly uncomfortable. It's not turning into the full fledged sinus infection from hell that I was worried it would be. At least not yet!

I bought a whole bunch of books, mostly about ghosts and New York State history. There's a great book store up the street from me. It's been nice being sick, reading about ghosts under my electric blanket with my cat by my side. I guess if I have to have a cold this is as good as it gets.

Ollie and Minty visit the sick

Ollie and Minty visit the sick, originally uploaded by Melsky.

I have a cold. The cats love it when I'm sick and spend a lot of time in bed. Oliver likes to be held like a teddy bear.

Christmas Cookies

Christmas Cookies, originally uploaded by Melsky.

Merry Christmas!

Looking Serious

Looking Serious, originally uploaded by Melsky.

This is me. I have been taking a lot of photos of myself because I need a really good one for some of the sites I am selling prints of my work on.

I think I need one where I am smiling though, so I modified this one to look vintage.

My Studio, December 22

My Studio, December 22, originally uploaded by Melsky.

These are some of the things I'm working on now.

I went skiing again today and it was great! I'm tired now and it's only 8:30.

Me in my living room, with an insane look

Me in my living room, with an insane look, originally uploaded by Melsky.

Here's me without glasses! I had a pretty uneventful day, post office, cleaning house, laundry, grocery store. Then I went out to dinner at Kitty Hoynes Irish Pub. We enjoyed ourselves very much except for one thing, they were playing Frank Sinatra, which I am not a fan of at any time but when I'm in an Irish place that is about the last thing I want to hear. So we went to the Limerick pub which was almost empty so I got control of the juke box!

My cat Oliver is trying to crawl on me as I type this.

Adventure in Space: Space Pilots

Adventure in Space: Space Pilots, originally uploaded by Paula Wirth.

Didn't do much today so here is a cool picture of space pilots.

I shoveled a lot of snow to make room for Dave's car, did some cooking and housecleaning and a tiny bit of painting. Never made it to the grocery store. I cuddled the cats a lot, that's important.

It's supposed to snow tonight but not stick. I'm going to try to go skiing in the park, and go to the post office and go to the grocery store... I hope.

I did make a lot of high resolution scans of my paintings to make stuff on Zazzle. That's something at least.

Snow

Well, I spent most of the day shoveling snow. A lot of the day. It felt like all day. I am tired. I just keep telling myself it's good exercise. I actually kind of like doing it, just not for this long!



It's still snowing.

Tomorrow I plan on painting no matter what.

Our House Decorated for Chrismas

Our House Decorated for Chrismas, originally uploaded by Melsky.

Big storm today, which is still going on! There's enough snow that we could ski on the street. We also went to the park to ski but there was too much snow there and we were sinking in to far even though the ski trails were groomed.

Skiing by our house, originally uploaded by Melsky.

Colorful Painting, Blah Day

Colorful Excitement, originally uploaded by Melsky.

This weekend we were going to have company on Saturday and Sunday was a big Christmas party for David's work. Both events were cancelled, the visitors due to illness and the party due to a huge snowstorm that is supposed to come through here. I was kind of looking forward to both things. I think I need to make some more friends in meatspace. I'm lonely.

I did no painting today, that painting I'm showing is pretty old. I did some cleaning and I made blueberry muffins and a stew.

Our Christmas Tree, Cats and New Couches

Our Christmas Tree, Cats and New Couches, originally uploaded by Melsky.

We finally got somewhere to sit in our living room. Since we moved in last August, there's only been one chair in the living room and nowhere to be comfortable and entertain guests.

We got these very cheap, they are lease returns, which means that someone leased them and returned them, and then the leasing company sold them to us. I'm not crazy about the blue color but they were the most comfortable and also the cheapest.

The cats really like them. As soon as they recovered from the terror of having deliverymen in the house they had a great time exploring the new furniture. In addition to the couch and love seat, we got four coffee tables, two nightstands, an office chair and a dresser. So we won't need any more furniture for a long time.

Finally, a place to sit in the living room.

We got our new couch and loveseat today. It makes a big difference to have somewhere to sit in the living room.

This is another Psycho Kitty painting I finished on wood. It's hard to scan or photograph it because it has a glossy coating on it and they don't turn out well.

Earnest Cat

Grey Cat, originally uploaded by Melsky.

Doesn't this cat look earnest? Like he wants to go home with you maybe.

This is a painting I did very quickly and it's already been sent off to someone! But you can buy prints and greeting cards of it in my store: Melsky Art on Zazzle. This is a new store I just opened. They sell greeting cards, prints, magnets, t-shirts and mugs. I ordered mugs and cards the other day and I'm really looking forward to seeing them.

I'm working on Christmas Cards right now, ones that I made and am sending.

A blah day

I wanted to go skiing but it's been melty. We were supposed to go to Binghamton to see a friend of Dave's but there was a weather advisory so we didn't. Supposed to be freezing rain. Dave decided to spend the afternoon getting snow tires put on his car but nowhere was open. I put the tree up but we don't have enough lights and I've kind of stopped in the middle until I can get more lights. I feel unmotivated.

I made a half batch of chocolate chip cookies, made six cookies, which we ate, and then intended to put the rest of the dough in the freezer for next weekend except we accidentally ate it all. Haven't got much painting done either.

So that was today, not a great day or a really terrible day but just an unsatisfactory one.

Welcome Sign

Another welcome sign available on Etsy

I got our Christmas tree today but haven't set it up yet. Tomorrow we decorate! I'm going to take a lot of photos. It's a smaller tree than I had planned on but I carried it home for one and a half miles so I couldn't get a huge one. It's still a good size. I just wish we had a couch or something comfortable for the living room so we would like to hang out in there. It's a cold and uncomfortable room, though it's very pretty.

Yellow Syracuse Fire Truck

Yellow Syracuse Fire Truck, originally uploaded by Melsky.

Can you see where I did the clumsy editing job here? I took this from my window and my next door neighbor had a big pile of trash in his driveway that showed in the foreground. So I duplicated the snow and covered it!

Today I went cross country skiing. I love that I can walk to go skiing! Sunnycrest park is about three blocks away and when it's not covered in snow it's a golf course. When the snow comes they make trails in it, and there's a ski lodge where they rent skis on weekends. This was my first time cross country skiing ever and I loved it. But I would like to find some place flatter. I did great except for the parts with hills. And there's lots of hills! I don't mind going up the hills but down is very scary and I actually just took my skis off and walked down a few of them.

After shoveling the driveway and then skiing, I was very hungry and made myself a nice piece of salmon and some rice for lunch.

Welcome

I'm on a sign painting rampage! I love these signs. They look so cute in the house all together. I guess I should take a photo of that.

Welcome Sign for sale

I'm really sleepy today.

Wine Bar Sign

Ok, if Martinis aren't your thing, how about a nice glass of red?

Wine Bar Sign painting for sale

I do actually drink wine, about two or three times a month. I did not drink any before painting this sign though.

It's still snowing! I decided to slack off on clearing the snow out of my driveway. A lot of my neighbors have not cleared their driveway or walks at all. We have a clause in our lease that says they have to be clear but last night my husband pointed out that even if we had hired someone to do it, they would only be doing it once a day tops. Then someone on my LiveJournal pointed out that they only do it every 24 hours. So I am going to slack off today. My back and shoulders are very sore, but it's a good sore not painful.

Today, more painting and I may also take a walk to go to play it again sam to get my skis.

Snow in our Backyard

Snow in our Backyard, originally uploaded by Melsky.

Wow, did it ever snow. And it's still snowing. I have to go shovel the driveway. That's probably going to take over an hour. I do actually enjoy it though, once I get out there and get going. It's great exercise!

Pink Peony Mirror

Pink Peony Mirror, originally uploaded by Melsky.

This isn't a new item. i didn't finish anything today! I just thought I would post this because it's one of the things I'm surprised hasn't sold and I think it turned out really well, especially the green pod parts.

Pink Peony Mirror

I did sell a bunch of stuff to someone who was my very first Etsy customer! He also bought stuff from me on Ebay. I think he owns some of my flying saucer paintings. Anyway, I was thrilled to wake up to a big sale.

Today it rained, then a big snowstorm came in, the kind with lots of wind where the snow looks like it's snowing horizontally. I had to walk to the post office in that! I kept putting it off, then as I was finally getting ready to go Dave came home early and was able to give me a ride. So procrastination paid off for me, for once.

Back to the Martini Bar

The other bar sign I made sold very fast! So here is another one.

Martini Trio Bar Sign For Sale

I also am working on a wine bar sign. I love these signs! I may do a separate Etsy store for just signs eventually. I'm planning some changes in my store, will probably not be selling the smaller items in my main art store, but just selling large paintings and prints. But I do enjoy painting these small signs. I'd also like to do some street fairs with them.

Anyway, I have to go shovel snow. My mantra when I shovel snow is: It's good exercise, it's good exercise, it's good exercise. I imagine my abs becoming very firm by spring. But I totally don't want to do it right now.

More Olives Please

When my husband saw this martini magnet I just painted he commented that it made him want to eat olives. He really loves olives. I like the black ones ok but I don't like the ones with pimentos, the ones I paint all the time. I like the way they look though. I like martinis but probably have about one per year.

Martini with Extra Olives magnet