National Portrait Gallery

One of the perks of having friends in a large city is avoiding touristy places and being introduced to new and interesting things you may not discover on your own; still, every now and then it's fun to just be a tourist and visit the popular attractions!  On a recent trip to DC for our good friends' wedding, we all decided to visit the National Portrait Gallery to see the Mingering Mike exhibit (very amusing), and we ended up staying for several hours.  I took about a billion pictures, but it's impossible not to when you're surrounded by such beautiful art.

If you find yourself in Washington, D.C. with several hours to kill, I strongly recommend a visit!  DC is only about 3 hours from me, which is perfect for a weekend trip, but a little bit of a drive just to visit a gallery for an evening, so when I just now discovered that an Elaine de Kooning exhibit was opening this Friday, I just about cried thinking I would miss it.  Although, in my defense, the near-cry could just be a by-product of these pregnancy hormones.

what i've been working on...

lately i've been up to my elbows, almost literally, in paint, paper, and eraser dust, and i love it!  i just don't know if i can put into words how honored and excited i am each time someone buys a little piece of my art, and even more so when someone wants a custom portrait!  that feeling never gets old.  so here's a peek at a few things i've been working on the last two weeks...

do you recognize the sunglasses in the last picture?  i'm constantly amazed and inspired by my friend beca from tumbleweeds, so if you didn't know, they're tumbleweeds sunnies, and they're being used on tumbleweeds product tags!  also, if you look in my sidebar you'll find a discount code to her shop.

i have a few other ideas for watercolor paintings and ink drawings that i'm trying really hard not to forget, so hopefully i'll be able to sneak in some time to work on those between a family picnic, helping my sister with her wedding preparations, and taking a quick beach trip later this month!

have you been working on anything new lately, artsy or otherwise?

stars, stripes, sales

i just wanted to do a quick post to let you know about two pretty exciting things.  the first - most exciting of all - is the fact that WE HAVE POWER!!!  chris and i had fun living in the camper and eating sandwiches and grapes (and we even talked about how we wish we could do that on a more long term basis and live like gypsies), but it's nice to have running water and air conditioning again.

second, i haven't given too much thought to what i'd blog about once the power was back on, but one thing i wanted to share was a little sale i'm having for the rest of the week in my art shop...

from now through sunday night (because let's face it, monday really begins a new week) get 10% off your order - whether it's one item or twenty - by using the coupon code STARSSTRIPESSALE in my art shop Girl + Parrot!  and yes, the discount even applies to the custom watercolor family portraits!

so happy independence day american friends, and happy hump day everyone else!