Karla's Cottage

Puppy Portraits

Last year, when Honey had 8, look-a-like pups, I did diagrams of them so I could learn their markings and try to figure out how to tell them apart.  
The diagrams were used for watercolor paintings and I ended up putting them into their puppy books.  I didn’t have time to do Sugar’s litter then because, well, 16 pups kept me hopping.

All 16 got baby books, and I am doing that again for the latest litter.  I also thought it would be nice to paint the little guys, but 9 pups is still quite a few to do, so I found a shortcut, with my friend, Beth’s help.

When I did the previous paintings, I’d posted a picture of one of the drawings on Instagram.   Beth saved the photo and printed multiples for me on watercolor paper.  Ta-dah! What a great shortcut!  I was able to start painting the drawings with help from photos I’d taken of the dog’s markings.

I used acrylics instead of watercolor, so I could make adjustments and cover up lines when needed to change the pup’s appearance a bit.  Basically, they look a lot as tiny babies, but there are more differences than just color and markings.  This little black one has a more narrow face and was thinner.

Four done, five to go.  It is nice to have the drawings on my art table, ready to work on when I get a chance.  It’s a slight cheat, but hey, it’s a copy of my own drawing, so not a big cheat, right?

I’ll leave you with some of the latest pictures of my babies.  We still have four boys available if you are looking for a new family member.

He cared so much about things that made me happy

We had lovely remembrance moments for Ryan.  On Sunday, some exceptionally wonderful friends brought over dinner and wine.  

We sat on the patio, and we all cuddled pups before I spread some ashes on the Uncle Tree and gave an egoogley (Zoolander for eulogy).

The Sugarbabies thought the get together was all about them.

Well, typically, everything is.  But my pals were very kind and considerate about honoring Ryan. 

It was a small, but meaningful group.

Ryan’s legal time of death is the 24th, but we feel like he died the night of the 23rd, so we did something both days for him.

On Monday, we tried to get as many of the family as we could together for a walk on Ryan’s favorite trail, dinner at a place he loved, and squeezed in between all of that, an 8th grade concert.

The day we found him, we had planned a big, family walk on the trails he loved.  

But that didn’t happen.

We took a walk there a year later in his honor, and I brought some ashes to sprinkle.  I wasn’t sure where I would do it, until I saw this perfectly mossy heart!

I can almost hear the excitement in his voice, if he’d been with me when I found it.  He cared so much about things that made me happy.  We often took time to stop and exclaim over tidbits that I found, or just to watch the red wing black birds in the pond.  

“He cared so much about things that made me happy.”

That sums up a lot about Ry Guy.  I was beyond blessed to have a person in my world who wanted me to smile.

 

 

One year today. No words

Part two, old art pictures

While flipping through my scrapbook of old artwork, I came across some pieces from years ago that I thought I’d share.  There were even some of the actual originals in the book like this one.  It was a sketch for a series of hand painted tee shirts I did for Silver Dollar City.  I should take it out and pop it into a frame.  

These are all pictures taken of the album, so the quality isn’t great.  

Mostly, I painted a lot of flowers, especially iris.

But there was an assortment of subjects in the book.

Even a few not so great portraits.

And some meaningful ones.

It’s funny how few I remember doing, or know what happened to.  

Recently a friend posted this photo of a painting she got from me ages ago.  It was so nice to see and to hear that she still had it hanging.

Then, another friend posted this one.  It felt good to see them.

Pictures from the past

The other day, I had an idea for a thank you card, but needed a photo I remembered being in an album. I thought I’d search through the books to find it to use.  While doing that, I came across some other pictures I thought I’d share.

There are multiple scrapbooks of my previous work.

I used to do a lot of murals, and tried to keep a record of them all.

It had been a long time since I’d looked through these and it took a while to even find the books. I finally remembered tucking them into a hidey hole cabinet in the guest room wall.  

Flipping through page after page, I was impressed by my prolific production!  

Here are a few pictures that I took of the photos in the album.  

I wish I’d had a good camera back when I took the originals, but I am glad that I have the photos that I do and that I took time to create an album to have now.

Some, I barely remember.  I had to think about this one, then recalled it was a basement laundry room in a KU apartment building.

And this was at a snack bar in Florida by a tennis court.  I had some fun jobs! And was lucky that the people who hired me let me come up with my own design and trusted my ideas.  

I also had a job painting a chain of daycare centers across the Midwest.  I used to do four to five rooms in one day. Each room had its own theme and no two ever came out the same even though I repeated the themes a dozen times.

The daycare murals were done lightening fast because I was on a tight schedule, and not paid much per painting.    They aren’t as detailed as some of the other work, but were quick, colorful, and fun.

The book had some watercolors in it that I’d forgotten about too.  I’ll, show some of those next time.

(By the way, I still can’t find the photo that started the search!)

I ❤️ Puppies

Ta-dah!  A puppy heart!

And a puppy Oreo?

We got carried away.

Beth, Karla, and I started out with line ups, trying to pet sleepy puppies into oblivion so they could be placed in a row and not wriggle around waking each other up and messing with our design. 

First was just the girls.

Then the boys.

And then, ALL of the babies were put in a row.  That is an accomplishment.  


I was pretty pleased with the heart, too. 

Afterwards, we tucked them back into their nest and left them to snuggle up on their own.

Karla looked over and noticed they had formed a heart all by themselves!

I said that they are very smart dogs and learned tricks quickly.  Plus, they had excellent trainers.  

 

 

The importance of finding time to create and just enjoy yourself

Sugar’s puppies have been so easy to are for, that apart from keeping Shuggie fed and getting some cuddle time with the babies, I have been pretty much free.  

They don’t keep me up at night, she keeps them perfectly cared for.

There has even been time to get the baby books done and completely updated. One litter at a time, is certainly the way to go!  I was frazzled and exhausted last fall with two at once.

Plus, Honey tends to lay on or step on her babies and I was constantly responding to terrified squeaks from puppies in danger.  Sugar is very gentle and these little sweeties have been a pure joy to have around.

In addition to the last round of pups needing more care, it was in the middle of a major puppy shortage and I was getting dozens of applications for a baby every day.  I was overwhelmed and not ready for such a huge response.

That made me decide to slow things down with these guys.  I haven’t actively marketed them yet.  I wanted a week of enjoying them as newborns and learning to tell them apart from each other before FaceTiming so many people a day, it is nice just to be with them, not try to sell them.  

It has been an ideal interlude, a time to relax and just be happy to have these new, little lives to love.

 
And I have had time to host some paint pour parties.  The paintings above are all done by the participants.

This is one of mine.

So is this one.  Acrylic pouring is such a relaxing craft.  

Typically, when I paint, I get too detailed, like in the rose behind these landscapes.  I decided to try pours to loosen up and get more abstract.  It’s not only been good for my style, it has been good for my soul.

 Following the paint as it swirls and glides around the canvas can be rewarding and zen like.

Watching family and friends create is every bit as refreshing as doing it myself.  I love sharing the technique and watching their colors slide around to form arty creations.  Fin and I did this one together.

My friend, Shanna did these two.

Friends are coming by today to see the pups and have a craft date.  Soon the puppies will become more demanding, I’ll be training and caring for them more each day.   I’ll be finding their new homes, interviewing families too.  And I love doing that.

But this last week, when they are all still just mine, not anyone else’s? It has been just what I needed.  And thank you to everyone who came for a craft day or to paint with me in the last couple of weeks, I sure have enjoyed it.

Mother’s Day

Ryan always cared about Mother’s Day.  He was so proud of whatever gift he chose, and I knew that thought had gone into it.  He made me feel very special when he grinned and handed me a dozen roses, a bag of candles, or a pot of flowers he would plant for me.

And most of all, the wind chimes he splurged on last year.  He was about to burst when he gave them to me.  It was pretty cute.

I have dried some of the hydrangeas he helped me plant, along side this bouquet that came when he died.  

A ruby toned rose bush and a patch of pink and purple iris from him are in bloom now.  I’ll pick a few blossoms, and sit by the wind chimes while drinking a Coke Zero on the holiday this year.

Coke Zero was our guilty pleasure  we both tried to stop the habit, sometimes with more success than others, but always went back to it.  We’d tell each other we were giving it up, then joke that there were worse habits, and decide to enjoy our nightly coke together.

Ryan had been through addictions in his life.  He gave up junk food and kept 100lbs off for way over a decade.  He went through rehab for morphine addiction.  After that we built my studio with an apartment above it, so he could always have a safe place to live and be close to us while still having his privacy.

So a few bottles of pop didn’t seem too bad.  He was secure enough in his recovery that we could joke about his past, and laugh together over our soda habit.

Every night when he got off of work, he’d stop by the garage fridge and bring us each a cold coke.  The night he died, we both just so happened to go out to the garage at the same time before bed to sneak a second bottle.

There was one cold drink left, and he insisted it was for me.  And we shared a hug, the first one we’d had since covid quarantine began, because he worked in a nursing home and wanted to protect the residents.

My final moments with my boy were with him giving me the last bottle of Coke Zero, getting a big hug, and him telling me he loved me.

How lucky was I!? We could have easily missed each other if one of us had happened to check the fridge a few seconds earlier or later.

Years ago, Coke had a campaign where they had names on the labels.  He and I made a contest out of collecting as many family names as we could.  We had a Ryan(!), Nathan, Randy, Martha (my mom), Rich, and Adam.   We didn’t save them, but had fun showing each other our finds.

I was at Target about Valentine’s Day and saw a few bottles in the cooler with names on them.  It looked to me like it had been a Christmas promotion, and I was just seeing the tail end of it.

I sat down, right there in the line and pulled every single bottle out, looking for his name with no luck.  So I went from cooler to cooler at the checkout lanes, searching desperately for one, while tears leaked down my face.  (I’m sure employees thought I should be stopped because I was sitting on the checkout lane floor, but one look at my desperation stopped them.)

After that, I frantically looked through the checkout lanes of every store in the area. And look what I finally found, one that says, “My Son”.  It’s been on the mantel since, but most likely, I’ll take the label off and add that to the book I made for Ry. People have almost tossed the bottle into the recycling, thinking it was an empty that I accidentally left out, so tucked away carefully in the photo album with my memories is probably a safer place for a treasure like this.

Our home is filled with the happy squeaks of newborn puppies, flowers are blooming outdoors, I have been getting together with friends for craft dates and fun, many have had the vaccine and fears are easing around here.  Life goes on, and is filled with all sorts of little treasures.

Hopefully we have all learned to cherish what we have after losing so much to Covid.  My heart goes out to those who have lost their physical or mental health, their jobs, their peace of mind.

Their loved one.

Tragedy can make you stronger but still crush you at the same time, we go on but we are never quite the same.  All I can do is love what I have, memories included.

ps- I did put the Coke Zeros back in the coolers!

Mini road trip with junkin

 

After returning from two days of junking with Angie and Beth, you’d think I’d be satisfied, huh?

No way!  After all of those months of isolation, I was starved for some good shopping.  The trip with friends merely whet my whistle.

With puppies due any day, I figured I’d better make hay while the sun shined, or at least get out of the house while I still had some freedom.

So, I road tripped myself up to the Sparks Flea Market to enjoy the beautiful day and have a funnel cake for lunch.

And to see what there was to see.

I wasn’t the only one, the place was packed and everyone seemed to be shopping like they hadn’t had a chance to get out in a year.

 Oh right, we hadn’t!

I mostly hit the dollar tables.  

If you went and didn’t see any old rhinestones or hats, you can probably blame me.

I was VERY lucky in my hunt for tattered blooms.

And other little tidbits. These were also on the dollar table.

These sparkly bits were each $1, so was the pretty plate with a faded rose on it.

This was $2, but was worth the splurge, I’ll enjoy fooling it up.

I whispered up a total of 15 hats, some on the dollar table (and yes, I squealed) all under $5.

It is possible that I am now satisfied.

Tell Sugar that Ill be out playing in the studio with my new beauties and to come and get me there when she is ready to have those puppies.  

 

Road Trippin’ with Junkin’ and Craftin’

My friend, Angie, invited Beth and I to visit the old farmhouse her grandma lived in.

She and her mom have been restoring it for years.  

It’s a great mix of original pieces and beloved collections. (Angie had the very old, still functioning fridge stocked with deliciousness for us)

The drive south was as much fun as the staycation itself.  We hit every thrift store between Lawrence and Chanute.

And got photos of the most unique offerings.  

While making some friends along the way.

And eating some of the freshest home cooking you could ever be lucky enough to find at a roadside cafe.

At one stop, there were baskets of $1 packets of old lace. I bought more than my fair share, but couldn’t stop thinking about them so stopped on the way home to buy more.

Beth happened to bring craft supplies too, and shared her 1800s era quilt pieces for us to embellish with some things we found along the way.

Impromptu creations made with just what you have with you can be an inspiring challenge.  We all managed to get a few pretties done.

But mostly we just laughed. And then laughed some more. Then we ate and drank wine and did more laughing.

It was perfect!