Grandma turns 100!

Grandma is doing quite well for 100. She is on no medication, drinks Coke every day and cannot live without chocolate. She has an entire drawer in her bedroom dedicated to candy. And it is a big drawer! It is reserved for herself, her grandchildren and her great-grandchildren. It is the first thing my kids do when we get there. We have lunch together every week, fried potatoes, Coke, dessert (rocky road or chocolate covered almonds...from Costco), and salad only if somebody makes her. She is still witty and sweet to all the kids. She is so much fun to still have around. Happy 100th Grandma!

Spring Break

No painting this week. Just some framing and prepping surfaces. We went out of town, and then spring break was upon us. With all 3 'shadows' home from school, we just played and crafted all week. This is Shadow #3's newest insistence, sitting in the high chair with the baby doll for every meal. 

Happy Easter! Even Grandma got into the bunny faces and the balloon ears (is that what they are?)......PS...that is Grandma's "doll" face which she is so proud of, her best party trick, she does it all the time.

My Birthday

For my birthday a few weeks ago, I asked for a photograph by my photographer sister, Amanda. She has great ones of my Grandma. When Grandma Muse saw this she screamed and sayed "Ahhh! It looks like I saw a ghost"..I think she looks pretty and sweet and I love the composition. Thank you Amanda (& Mom who paid her for it). I am featuring Amanda in my 'Artist to Look Up' so check her out.

Burnt Waffle

I went to Grandma Muses' house the other day and this was sitting on the outdoor patio. I took me a minute to realize that this was part of her bird-feeding obsession. Probably 5 times a day, she feeds the birds. Usually it is a pile of bread crumbs on the edge of the porch, where any other old lady would put them. But to my delight, she had an extra waffle from breakfast and threw it out the sliding glass door right where I was about to step as I went out.  Didn't even take the time to break it up for the timid little birdies. The amazing part:  you better believe that by the time we were done with our fried-potato lunch (her favorite), that rock-hard burnt waffle was gone. Those grubby little birds love Grandma's porch! I wonder if they are getting a little too bold. I think I will rent 'The Birds' for her so she is aware of her dangers.

Muse's Mother, Millie

My great-grandmother Millie. Serious farm woman. I remember her a little, but have heard some amazing stories about her and her 13 children raised on a farm in Benjamin, Utah. She was so tired at the end of the day she would fall asleep in her clothes and apron.

Grandma Muse (wedding day)

This wonderful photograph is of Grandma and her husband on her wedding day. She was so beautiful, I love this picture. She told Reed she would marry him if she could still date. She still wanted to date other men until they were married.....what? She loved the dances. She is a character. She has a million stories which all add to her muse quality.

New Old Wig

I went to Grandma Muse's house for lunch on Thursday. She came in the kitchen and yelled "Look!" and we all started laughing at her wig. She said she couldn't find any of her wigs and so she pulled out this old one. I was laughing so hard and then she got the giggles. It came out from her face at least 2 inches. So bad, but she still thought it was better than no wig....Her gray cotton hair was peeking out by her ears. I could not take her seriously all day. She would talk about politics and I would just start laughing.

Grandma Muse turns 96!

Grandma (elderly muse)

Grandma Roselle is the family muse. The first painting was a sitting my sister (also a painter) and I set up 2 summers ago thinking it might be our last to capture our 95 year old grandma. She is still going strong as you can see by her pushing my husband around in her wheelchair last week on Catalina island. She was complaining that she has been pushed around too much on this latest vacation and she needs exercise. Jason quickly and generously offered to sit down so she could push him. We stopped her after 30 minutes, she wanted to keep going. The other portrait was done a few months ago, again with my sister. Grandma is the best model, she needs no breaks, tells us funny stories about her wedding night and will sit all day. We just had to "coke" her up every hour so she wouldn't fall asleep. I really like this small portrait of her, I think it really captures her look. She always has this wonderfully thoughtful, sort of sad look when we paint her.

PS....She hates that we paint her without her wig. Is it creepy to have half a dozen paintings in my house of Grandma?