Pics of Our New Apartment

Tyler's Room

My Room

My Closet

View From My Bedroom/Living Room Also

Bathroom

Living Room

Kitchen

Breakfast Bar and Tyler

Eating Area and Tyler

My Balcony (The Middle Right With Nothing On It

Close Up of Our View

We dropped off the deposit today and I snuck in some photos.  The master bedroom is smaller than what I have now and the closet is smaller but workable.  The bathroom believe it or not is larger than where I am now and so is the kitchen.  I love that we will have a full size dishwasher, have what I call a 'Barbie' dishwasher now and there is a space for the table in the kitchen area that is not carpeted.  :)

Nothing positive on the dogs yet.  Everyone wants Peanut because she is so cute but honestly, Lucy is the perfect dog.  She is very laid back, extremely friendly, does not bark unless someone is too close to our door and does not chew/whine/have accidents in the house.  I'm thinking we're going to have to separate them which really makes me sad but one of my coworkers said there is a Beagle rescue close to us that would have no problem placing Lucy if I can not find a home for her. 

Thank you for all of the well wishes with the puppies.  I don't know what I would do without all of my bloggy friends.  You have all been so wonderful with the loss of Jeff and now the dogs.  So again, thank you so much!

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We Are Moving!!

It's funny how things work out sometimes.  I called on an ad on Craig's List Sunday evening, went to see the apartment yesterday morning and found one that we really like, is affordable and in the same area where we live now.  We are officially moving on the 29th but will have access before that so I can start moving some of our smaller items over before hand.

There is a bit of sad news though, we are unable to bring our dogs.  Every apartment we looked at had a no pet policy.  Our apartment complex is one of the only ones in our area that allows dogs.  Unfortunately due to the high rent and some events that have occurred over the past year, we need to move.  So I am in the process of trying to find Peanut and Lucy a good home where they can go together.  They are too attached to one another to separate them.  

It's a huge relief to have found a place but now I have the stress of losing my dogs.  There's always some bad with the good I guess.

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Sunday Sketches - Practice Pieces

 Happy Sunday!  I've spent most of the weekend doing practice trees so I decided to try to do a quick landscape.  Nothing spectacular just trying to apply some of the things I learned from watching videos on YouTube last night.


Not to be upstaged by a silly little practice piece Peanut just had to get in on the action and have her photo take also.

We're going to look at another apartment this afternoon.  Much cheaper than the last one, hopefully just as nice.  Need to decide soon as we only have a couple weeks before moving day.  It sure would be nice to have somewhere to move to. lol

To see more Sunday sketches hop on over to Blue Chair Diary hosted by Sophia.

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Inspiration Avenue - Mother and Sweet Saturdays

"Mother"

I'm using this image for both Inspiration Avenue's prompt and Sweet Saturdays as I think it fits for both.  I had a lot of fun with this one.  My distant trees aren't exactly the greatest but I still love this one.  I think it's my new fave!  BTW, it is the first painting I've put my signature on.  EEEHH!  I was so tempted not to but I know I should get used to adding it.  I think next time I will make it more subtle though.  Don't want it to distract from the painting itself so much.

To view all of the Inspiration Avenue submissions click here.

To view all of the Sweet Saturdays hosted by the lovely and extremely talented Diana Evans click here.

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Paint Party Friday - Sea Turtle

I have been so excited about this week's PPF since last Friday!  I actually painted this last Friday afternoon and it has taken every bit of will power I have not to post it before today. lol.  I sketched the sea turtle out a few weeks ago but was too afraid to try painting it right away because I didn't want to mess it up.  I love him!  I used liquid frisket to mask off the light areas on his body after putting down a wash of the blue/green color then layered on some browns.  After I removed the frisket I went around the brown edges again and darkened the blue/green slightly.  I had so much fun doing this one I couldn't decide if I should post him for Sunday Sketches last week or my moon, which if you missed that post, the image is below and the post is here.

To see more wonderful PPF submissions or to join in on the fun hop on over to the Paint Party Friday blog.

PS...Looked at a very cute apartment today, has all hardwood floors,  new windows, a basement with storage space and a washer and dryer!  Little smaller than the apt we're in right now but it does have a large fenced back yard and central air.  Still going to look at another unit on Sunday.  I think we're getting closer.

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Playing with Watercolors and Apartment Hunting

Well, the hunt for an apartment is still on.  The guy with the condo did email me on Sunday saying he had been called in to work last weekend and would be able to show us any time this week.  I emailed him back, twice, and have not heard back from him.  I have given up on that one.  Even if for some reason he did finally email me, it makes me a little leery.  What if we moved in and there was an emergency and I can't get a hold of him.  No thanks.  So we're scheduled to look at a different apartment on Sunday and I have a few more prospects to call still.  I have not given up hope...yet.

I bought some new watercolors yesterday.  Not the best idea I've had since money is so tight but every now and then you just have to treat yourself.  I picked up the Koi Water Colors Pocket Field Sketch Box from Hobby Lobby, with the 40% off coupon so I don't feel quite as guilty. lol.  The little scene above is what I came up with.  Not a masterpiece by any means but it was sure fun to play with new watercolors.  I love the little box they come in and it came with the water brush (where you fill the reservoir with water if you are out in the field).  I haven't tried the brush itself yet but I may give it a whirl later today.  Can't wait for PPF tomorrow.  I have a watercolor I painted last Friday that I'm super proud of.  :)

Hope you are having a good week so far.  Thanks for stopping by!

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Sunday Sketches - Midnight Velvet

'Midnight Velvet'

I've been practicing with my watercolors and was looking at photos online for some inspiration and found this gorgeous glowing moon with black background and treeline and couldn't resist.  Now, my treeline isn't as nearly as cool as the real thing and I kinda cut off the moon a little too much on the right but I think it turned out really good.  The colors in real life really pop and it looks as if it's glowing so I'm super psyched about this one and can't wait to frame it and hang it!

I use watercolors for the moon and gouache for the black to make sure it was more opaque and not too transparent.  I've had some small tubes of the gouache for about three years and haven't touched them until now.  It's much thicker than regular watercolor so I only had to give it two coats to get a nice rich black.

The hunt for a new apartment is still on.  We're supposed to look at a condo for rent today but I haven't heard back from the owner so I'm not sure if he found someone else to rent it or he's just been really busy.  I'm hoping it's because he's busy because it sounds really nice.  It has two bedrooms and a loft area, 1.5 bathrooms, a washer and dryer right in the unit and central air!  Knowing my luck he already rented it out and is just avoiding me now. lol.  

Anyway, to see more great Sunday Sketches hop on over to Blue Chair Diary hosted by the lovely Sophia!

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Paint Party Friday - The River

"The River"

I missed PPF last week so this week I made sure I took some time out to paint!  I didn't want anything structured where I had to sketch first so I watched a few videos on Youtube and just started slapping paint on. lol  I think it turned out pretty good.  I've been on days for the past two weeks and for some reason it seems like I don't have as much time to play.  But I go to afternoons for the next two weeks so I should have more time to practice painting.  We're still searching for a new apartment also.  We're going to look at a two bedroom condo on Sunday.  I'm super excited about this one so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's not a total dump and that it works out.  :)  I'm off to work soon but will be back later to look at all the pretty paintings!

To see all of the Paint Party Friday submissions click here.

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Sunday Sketches

This has been an incredibly busy week.  I have not had time for any artwork until yesterday afternoon.  This was the first week of being on days which is always rough in the beginning.  By the time you get used to getting up early, you go back to afternoons.  We've also been searching for a new apartment.  It's one of those situations where we really can't afford to stay where we are but really can't afford to move right now either.  I've been feeling pretty much like the girl in my sketch.  It seems as though it is getting harder rather than easier as more time goes by since Jeff's passing.  I think once the stress of knowing where we will end up living is over, things will get better.  Thank you to all of my blogging friends for all of your kind words.  I'm usually a very easy going person and I hate dumping all of this on my unsuspecting readers but sometimes it helps to get things out.

For more wonderful Sunday Sketches hop over to Blue Chair Diary hosted by the lovely Sophia.

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