Apartment Therapy

Thank you so much to everyone who commented on the last post! Everyone is so kind and its great to hear after working so hard. I'll do some actual posts later but for now I wanted to share my entry on Apartment Therapy's website!

Food will have to wait!

I finally got the chance to take pictures of my apartment. Tohny and I have been working hard (him painting, me decorating) on getting it to look like a home and, as Tohny put it, not a place to stick our "crap." Haha. So here is the living/bedroom. We do have a one bedroom apartment but, because of my sewing/art things and Tohny's massive computer, we decided to use the bedroom as an office and bring the bed to the living room. Its worked out really great and now we feel like we have more room all the way around. So, enough with me talking, here are the goods:

We still have a few more things to do, like paint the ceiling, reupholster my chair and get a bed skirt. But I looooooove my apartment now! Next, the office!

Paint is good

I've been painting all day today. It feels so good to be painting and relaxed. I've been stressed out over my paintings for the last year. I think I took a turn where I was trying to please my professors and I ended up not doing work that was true to myself. I'm transitioning into faith based work now and it just feels so right. The paint flows easier, my work looks better (to me at least) and I feel like I'm being myself again. I'm finishing up one of the paintings from last semester (not faith based) and its almost done:

There's still a bit of shading work to be done and... I do think I should give her an eye!

I have some good food stuff to share as soon as I download the pictures off my camera. After my 7 hour cleaning spree, I've been baking and cooking non-stop. Cookies, almond chocolate chip banana bread, bacon wrapped chicken... And I'm sure I'm not done!

Morning

I'm terrible at waking up in the mornings. I don't sleep well at night and it always causes me to sleep in, which makes me late for everything. But, on the days where I manage to wake up early, I love it. I love the feel of morning and watching the sunrise. The stillness, quiet and calm. I woke up and rolled over and saw my old chair sitting there. It looked lonely in the morning light, almost like it has been neglected. And I suppose it has. I've been meaning to re-upholster it. Then, I rolled back over and saw the blue glow of my kitchen (the kitchen I spent 7 hours cleaning the night before). I wished in that moment that I could wake up in the morning easier. I want more moments like this in my life.

Bedroom

This is one half of our living/bedroom! Its about the only spot in our apartment that I have done... I still have all of my picture frames waiting for me to hang them up and organization that needs to happen. I also spent about 7 hours last night giving my kitchen a good cleaning. Sheesh, I'm tired. But, its all coming together and I'm super excited! So, here's a little bit of a comfy spot:
(Ignore the messy dresser and the bad cell phone picture!)

Re-do

We're in the process of cleaning up and re-doing our apartment. Paint and swapping rooms! I'll post pics when we're done!

I'm Messy- With a capital M

Its true. Ask my mom, she'll tell you. I've been in my studio for three days and I've managed to make it look like a tornado hit it. Granted, it wasn't spotless when I left for Christmas vacation...

See? I told you. Messy.

Blank canvas that is sitting and waiting for me to start painting on it.

A canvas frame that needs canvas and an unfinished painting. There's a lot more to show of my studio but all I have on me in my camera phone which doesn't take the best pictures in the world. But, I wanted to share where I am most of my life. Where I spend all of my free time and where I hide away from the world. Cozy, eh?

Website

I just realized that I never actually anounced on my blog that my website was up and running! Tohny really did a fantastic job on it. :)

Here are some screen shots: (click on the images to go to the site!)

What If I Could Show You My Faith?

I've been thinking a lot lately about what I want my final show to be (for my undergrad degree). Then I had a thought, What if I could show you my faith? So, this sketch is kind of the first of many to come. :)

Self Portrait time

I tried to take a self portrait that was stripped of everything.. more natural I guess? But I suppose natural isn't the right word since I have make up on but, hopefully you get it. Here it is:

Not that exciting.. but I wasn't in the mood for anything elaborate.

It has been a tough couple of weeks for my family. My dad suffered a heart attack the day after Christmas and had quadruple bypass surgery about a week ago. He's home now and recovering faster than anyone expected. My oldest brother, John, came all the way from Georgia to be here with us (my other older siblings were all here too) and the day after he got back to Georgia, his wife went to the hospital for chest pains. If not for our deep faith in the Lord and knowing He never gives us more than we can handle, I think we'd all be losing our minds.

Here is my dad before bypass surgery:

My father really is a fighter. He's determined to get better and he's so thankful to be alive. He's excited to see was God has in store for him and so are we. :)

A part of me doesn't want to leave my family right now. I've been trying to help my mom out, making meals, getting dad things when she's busy. I worry about them a lot... I know my mom can handle taking care of dad on her own, especially when he's doing so well but, I hate to leave them now.

But, another part of me is missing my apartment and my studio. My own spaces and my artwork. So, starting school next week is going to be bittersweet, I think.