When I don't know what to draw I can always pick something that is just laying around the house, we have a lot of antiques and odd things that I forget other people are not accustomed to seeing like my vintage microscope in the dinning room or the big bass drum that sits in the living room.

This is my favorite cup to drink hot tea out of. It is from, well lets call it my orange period, where my bedroom was bright orange and most objects I bought were orange. I bought it at Starbucks long ago. This is gouache in my big sketchbook, quick and sloppy. I haven't been painting in my 5 inch square book each day like I was supposed to, need to get back on that!

Cerberus

We watched the Beatles Yellow Submarine movie which was really interesting and weird. There was a Cerberus character (3 headed dog) on there that got me thinking, what if Cerberus was a chihuahua. Could that little body even hold up three big apple heads, there would be so much quivering and so many teeth. If you had a bag of pupparoni he would let you pass no problem. (It is the key to every chi's heart) This is painted in gouache with magazine clippings taped around it, so a mixed media piece in my little 5 inch book.

Parakeet

A parakeet in gouache in my 5 inch square hand book. I really enjoy painting birds, and I love all of the colors that parakeets come in. I got a lot done that day!

I found this picture of a basset hound dressed for the 4th of July in a magazine and thought it was pretty silly so I gave him a top had instead. Can't say he really looks any happier about that. Painted in gouache in my 5 inch book.

Exotic Chicken

Just a quick little gouache painting in my 5 inch square book with the reference taped to the left page. I added the word Friday from a magazine and wrote a note that Copper (Dog) killed a groundhog. If you want some major inspiration go check out Roz Wound Up I have been reading her blog for years and she is the reason I bought a set of gouache.

Our old barn

I went outside with the little travel gouache pallet I made out of a tin and some half pans and some water brushes and Mandy my 4 year old. I wanted to paint our old barn that sits on the back of our property. I had never used the water brushes with gouache before. They are plastic brushes that hold their own water in the handle. I went out, sat in the grass, opened my pallet and discovered that the colors had all run into each other and there was red everywhere, I must have tipped it as I was walking out back. Before I knew it there was red gouache all over my hand and my shoe and later it was even on Tommy Cat. Despite all of this I was determined to paint. It is in my larger sketchbook. This got way too wet for the paper I was using. One of these days I need to start using better paper. While I was painting Mandy took all of my water brushes and used them to "water the flowers". I eventually got them all back. Tommy Cat thought that since I was sitting down in the grass that he should climb on me and rub on my sketchbook the whole time I was painting. I am very happy with the outcome considering all of the difficulties I had along the way.

A lot of people say we should tear down the old leaning barn out back but I like it the way it is. We have been taking pieces off when we need wood for our projects. We used some to fix our other barn, and we have made a small shelf from some of the wood. Every time we get a windstorm I go check to make sure the barn is standing and so far so good. I think there is beauty in these old weathered structures that are slowly vanishing from our landscape.

Bearded Dragon Plays Guitar

This is probably the most accurate picture I have ever painted out of my head. Mandy and I got to meet a bearded dragon named Tiger while we were camping at Indian Lake. My imagination can run wild with little adventures for critters I meet. This guy has been traveling for a long time and has decided to sit under a shade tree and play his guitar. I found a photo of a bearded dragon sitting in a tiny chair on pintrest, I had a tiny guitar picture from a guitar center ad, and I also looked up a tree to try to make it look right. This "quick morning painting" took me most of the day but I am very happy with it. I tend to get carried away with my small rigger brush making all of the spines and dots, and details. This is in my 5 inch square book in gouache but I didn't do a to do list that day, good thing because nothing else got done anyway.