Redbubble Happy Nowruz Persian New Year Mug

I’ve been drawing and painting on my iPad for about six years. A lot of my work is commissioned pet portraits. Once the painting is completed, I upload the digital files to a variety of websites. If someone likes the image enough they can make something out if it - a t shirt, pillow, card... the sky is the limit. The sites I use for this purpose are Fine Art America/Pixels, Zazzle, Amazon Merch, and Redbubble. So rather than have to paint anything, I get a notice from these places whenever something of mine has sold. So it’s always a treat when this happens. Yesterday Redbubble sent an email that someone in the United Kingdom bought a coffee mug with my Persian new year motif. The haft-sin display is actually from a photo my niece sent to us several years ago of their celebration. I also have a Persian art section in my Etsy shop for ready made downloads. These images were painted from photos I took when we were visiting Iran ten years ago. I also have several Washington DC scenes, as well as paintings from the three children’s books I wrote and illustrated. Digitalart is a really great hobby. My studio travels with me wherever I go. It is really exciting to be noticed out of the millions of images out there. Thanks so much for that! 

Redbubble Budgie Sale

We had a blue parakeet when we were small kids. Then we got a blue and green parakeet to replace him. After them, we got a white parakeet - he was mean! The last bird was the best one. Ringo lived a long time and performed many tricks. He talked, rode on the Barbie car steering wheel, and flew to your finger when you called him. One of my commissioned pet portraits is a blue budgie. I usually upload all of my digitalart portraits to websites to showcase them, and sometimes the image is something someone out there really likes. Then they can create whatever product they like using that image. Today I got a notification from Redbubble that someone from the United Kingdom bought a 6 months baby one piece with the blue budgie image on it. It always tickles my fancy whenever I learn that someone liked my work so much that they purchase it for themselves, or give it as a gift. So thank you for noticing my work. I really appreciate it! 

The Day After the Storm is So Much Better

People are probably sick of snow and ice. I know I am. It’s one of the main reasons we moved from the Midwest. But it is very disappointing to know it snows a lot more here than we thought. And all the winter clothes we needed in the North are needed here - including snow boots. Yesterday was a pain in the neck walking - all the added junk one needs to wear as well as carry an umbrella. I don’t even feel like taking pictures when it’s like that outside. Today was very different. A hint of sunshine (what is that!?) made all the difference in the world. And most of the sidewalks were cleared. Things always look so much better to me in brighter skies - even if it involves snow. It all makes spring seem so much more appealing. We saw our first daffodils, and the little bird baths all seemed to have a snowball in them - they were perfectly placed. The snow design on the bench was different on each one. The path through the rose garden looked all too perfect. The little bulbs were trying very hard to pop. It’s always harder to walk with rain and snow boots so I was happy to get home. Spring can’t come soon enough! 

Pinterest Saves, Follows, and Favorites

Aside from all of my digital art websites, I have a lot of different social media outlets to keep up with. One of them is Pinterest. I started using Pinterest several years ago without really knowing what it would do. It included Garden, LIT Capitol Hill, Pet Portraits, LITDigitalArt, Iran, England, France, Copenhagen, and Baseball Autographs Boards. Several boards were made up of photographs I’ve taken while traveling, the rest were art related. Then I changed over to the business version when my digital art was introduced several years ago. So now there are boards from Etsy, cool Stuff, Artist Collab, and other art related subjects. Any time there is activity on these boards I get an email notification about what it was. Someone may have liked a pin, a pin may have been saved, or a weekly activity shows the top pins and impressions. I always try to follow any one who likes anything of mine. Pins of Borzois are saved to “my favorites” board. You can also review your personal stats and do a lot more with Pinterest than I do. One of my dog portraits seems to get the most mileage. The goofy dog portrait gets high marks. It was one of my favorite paintings because looking at that face just makes me smile and I’m guessing it has the same affect on everyone else who likes it. Pinterest is just another way to get noticed, but I’m not so sure it’s translated in to anything more tangible. 

Early Spring Bulbs, Flowers and Buds

We are expecting more snow this week. It’s annoying because I hate it, but I also need to make arrangements to get our Subaru Forester in for a milestone visit at about 50,000 Miles. It’s a trip to Alexandria that I dread. While contemplating the best day and time, we took our usual walk to the Mall. The sun was trying to come out - a bit of an unusual sight these days. Sunshine always makes me feel so much better! So today we were on the look out for anything that hinted at the upcoming spring season. My husband loves spring - it’s his birthday and it’s also Persian new year. It started at the US Botanic Garden - the reddish little blooms on the bushes along the sidewalk; then the yellows showing at the Air and Space Museum; the tiny whites at the Sackler garden; a little rose in front of the building museum; and of course all the little bulb greens sprouting up near the Bartholdi fountain gardens. And to bring it all inside we have white tulips displayed in our wall vase. It is a wonderful time of year. Why does it have to snow? 

VHSL Track Wrestling State Championship

Last year we surprised our grandson by showing up for his high school wrestling state championship tournament in Norfolk. He was a freshman and the first from his school to go to state as a freshman. He didn’t win, but he always does because of the effort he puts in to it. This year he is in a different weight class and got to go to state again! That in an of itself is a huge accomplishment. But this year we couldn’t go so we followed his progress on Track Wrestling. I learned about the website last year. You can find out everything you want to know about the event - the matches, the teams, the mat assignments, the brackets, and the wrestlers stats. It’s pretty impressive to see it all. I grew up watching my brother play baseball. He was a left handed pitcher and was drafted by the Orioles out of high school. It didn’t pan out, but was a great experience for him. Watching wrestling is grueling - it’s just you and your opponent. Although my brother had a line drive smack him in the eye and he came home with stitches. All I can say is all sports build character. It worked on his grandpa, his dad, and now him. At this time I still prefer being the observer. Our grandson is turning out to be a very nice young man. Maybe wrestling has a part to play in it all. 

Tyson’s Galleria

For whatever reason we needed to be out of the house today from nine in the morning until three in the afternoon. We usually go out for breakfast every Saturday morning at McLean family restaurant followed by grocery shopping. So we could still do that. But what else would we do to fill the time? So we drove about and decided to see where the French restaurant was located that my sister has made reservations for her birthday later this month in the Falls. After that we had breakfast and then drove to Tyson’s Galleria to walk, but then to sit for awhile to pass the time. Both my husband and I brought our iPads to stay occupied. The view is rather bland. There are people milling about but the Mall doesn’t do much for me. But given the circumstances it’s not a bad option. We first came to Tyson’s Galleria when we moved to DC thirteen years ago. My hairdresser/stylist in the Midwest told me to go to a Vidal Sassoon Salon for a haircut until I found someone in DC. Since then we have taken route 123 millions of times. It’s nice that Tyson’s is close by but I wouldn’t want to live there. It reminds us of Northbrook near Chicago that we frequented regularly. For us, McLean is a favorite location. Maybe one day it will become more than that.