Amazon Merch and Zazzle First Sales of 2019

I’ve been painting portraits on my iPad for about six years. I had several custom pet portrait commissions for Christmas - it’s always the busiest time of year. Many of the commissions are memorial portraits. Using the completed portrait files, I upload the images to my other shops - Amazon Merch, Zazzle, Fine Art America/Pixels, and Redbubble. They are transformed in to all kinds of products - from stickers to coffee mugs to you name it. It takes a lot longer to actually paint the portraits, and work with the customer until it’s just right. It’s so much easier to get a notice that something just sold. Obviously the per cent profit is tiny compared to custom painting, but the sheer excitement I experience is hard to describe. To think someone from anywhere around the world noticed something I painted out of the millions of items out there is astounding. The first sale of the new year came on Zazzle a few days ago. Someone in Australia bought a tile with a sweet face pup on it. Shortly after that someone bought a Bichon Frise t shirt from my Amazon Merch Shop. Now is the time to refresh all of the websites with the new portraits I just completed and tweak and make adjustments. It is all very time consuming but it is a very happy hobby. And I can do it all from my couch. 

SE Waterfront in Winter

Every once in a while we change up our routine and walk over to the SE neighborhood by the Navy Yard. It’s also called Yards Park and a lot of other things. None of it existed when we first moved here twelve years ago. Now, among all the high rises that were recently built and all the new ones that are half done with many more to go, it’s beginning to look like downtown. There is hardly any daylight in between the buildings. As one goes up, another goes up right next to it and blocks the view. The baseball stadium anchors one end and the Capitol Building can be seen up South Capitol Street with new buildings in all stages along the path. The one “free space” is by the Anacostia River. So we detoured over that way. Having just snowed it looked and sounded eerily quiet compared to all the construction noise opposite it. There were symmetrical reflections in the river mirroring the sky above. This place will soon be home to one of the most - if not the most - congested neighborhoods in DC. We don’t mind living near it, but probably wouldn’t want to live in it. When all is said and done it is pretty - along the waterfront. 

The Butterfly’s Dream

I love Big Fish games. Every night my husband and I spend about an hour playing these adventure hidden object games on my iPad. It’s a great way to spend even more time together. He doesn’t like it as much as I do but he’s a good sport. I am much better at solving visual games; he is better at math and analytical games. But something has happened to Big Fish. They haven’t been producing new games recently. So I have been forced to look for different options and haven’t been very impressed with them. Then I came across “The Butterfly’s Dream” - for free - and we attempted to play it. We actually got pretty far in to chapter one but got stuck at the mountain where you had to yell at it. Frustrated, I found the walkthrough guide and finally got out of there. It was such a pleasing game - and much different than what we were used to - that I didn’t want to get thrwarted and be forced to stop. The next evening we got to an even more difficult section and found a You Tube instruction video. This is when my husband said it just wasn’t worth playing if it took that much work! I haven’t deleted the game from my iPad - yet. Maybe this is one of the few I will play on my own. The artwork in the story is beautiful and for that alone I may just keep going. Playing these games really illustrates the difference between my husband and me. I will keep working at something until I get it done; he’ll stop if it takes more than a couple of tries. We tend to complement each other in so many ways. Playing games like these really makes it obvious. (Screenshots are from the app)

Gardens, Seating Areas, Patterns and Neighborhood Walks

Rather than walk over to the Mall this morning we took another path towards Union Station and then in to the neighborhood. For whatever reason we are avoiding the marches that are scheduled today and tomorrow. We usually like to see what’s going on regardless of the agenda, but just not up to it during  these last several dreary winter days. I was more interested to see what the leftover snow was looking like now that it’s almost melted. Sometimes the most unusual patterns can emerge. There was a huge chunk of snow hanging precariously from the rooftop - just don’t walk out the front door at the wrong time. The red brick townhouses stand out - each a little different than the one next to it. The patio seating arrangements don’t look quite as inviting as during the summer months. The flowers really pop in front of a white background. Sidewalks have patterns along the grout lines and you can certainly see the paw prints of the four legged fury friends. Some very thoughtful person set up three birdhouses far enough away from a predator, but I think the squirrels can still find a way to disturb them. I suppose each season has its attraction. I really have to work at not only finding the unusual sights, but actually liking them. 

Cookie Monster at Whole Foods

After walking around the SE waterfront Yards Park neighborhood yesterday morning we stopped by the newly opened Whole Foods. It’s really very close to our house - only about 2-3 blocks away. We usually go there to pick up things during the week that we either forgot to get on the weekend or ran out of. I usually have angel food cake for dessert but lately it’s been tough to come by. So I have been stealing a cookie or two from my husband’s supply. That temporary habit has depleted his stash. I really prefer the cake to the cookies for the calories alone. Angel food is just enough to satisfy a bit of a sweet tooth. Every evening my husband always has tea and cookies. So we needed to restore the supply. I noticed the last time we were in Whole Foods that you can select your favorite type of cookies rather than buy a box of one kind - but you can do that too if you prefer. So after we picked up an Italian loaf of bread and some olives, we checked out the fairly large assortment of cookies. The calorie count alone should scare one off. But we did pick out about 4-5 different types - chocolate chip, raspberry filled, pistachio based. We ended up having a 125 calorie cookie with tea after dinner. It was very good, but not something we want to do every day. Unfortunately Whole Foods doesn’t have angel food cake. That is very disappointing! 

Yards Park Construction

I read or heard somewhere that the Yards Park/Navy Yard neighborhood is supposed to become the most populated neighborhood in DC. By looking at it you can see why. Twelve years ago when we moved to Capitol Hill nothing really existed on that end of town. Now, once you walk just past the freeway overpass there has been an explosion of development. It started with the Department of Transportation, Nationals Stadium, and a Marriott. Then came the apartment buildings, townhouses and condos. A few months ago the Whole Foods store opened and it is surrounded by three huge apartment buildings - the last one is planned to open by the end of the year. At every turn, view and angle there are cranes and construction and noise all the way down to the Anacostia River. We are certain every square inch of real estate will be taken over leaving little, if any, green space. On this side of the overpass it’s like a suburban neighborhood with low rise, very old and original structures. Which one do you prefer? High rises, modern and noisy? Or very old, quaint and closer to the Capitol? We are still trying to figure it out. 

Lunch, Repaired Glasses, Car Scraper and Parking Space

You know who has a garage after a snow storm. When you are on the freeway it’s really obvious when the ice and leftover flakes start flying at your windshield from the vehicles in front. So after three days of being housebound, we decided it was time to get outside aside from taking a morning walk. So we went to lunch in Alexandria. But the real reason for our trip was to pick up my husband’s repaired eyeglasses at Voorthuis. We made sure our car was brushed clean before we started out, but noticed our scraper was a bit worn. So we stopped at Ace Hardware after munching on tortilla soup, salad, and a chicken sandwich. Of course we also ordered a chicken Parmesan dinner to go so we don’t have to think about dinner. We ended up with a long handled neon green scraper with a brush - and my husband used it to clear off any remaining ice on the car roof. The best part is that the repaired glasses are so much better than the very old substitute pair he’s been wearing for the last three weeks. They are lighter, less bulky, with a more recent prescription lens. And to top it all off when we got back home there was actually a parking space right in front of our house. We don’t have a garage so it’s always a pain to get parking in the neighborhood especially during the week. But with the government closed, we can tell because it’s so much less congested. Hopefully we won’t need the darn scraper any more, but I have my doubts. We’ve had more snow in DC than the Midwest town we escaped from. At least there we had a garage.