Mommy's on the phone

I have an additional phone number set up for business calls, so when the phone does a double ring, everyone in the family knows it's for me. It keeps kids from answering business calls, and also should signal the family to be quiet. Keyword SHOULD.

A lot of times, I have to let my voice mail pick up the phone call and I call the person back when my kids are napping or sworn to silence. It is inconvenient, but not too bad. But today the phone rang with the double ring, and I quickly assessed my situation: toddler quietly playing, my daughter watching TV and the volume wasn't too loud, and Little Man was playing on the computer.

It looked safe. It looked deceptively safe.

I answered the phone.

Luckily the lady who called has kids of her own, so she could totally relate, because as soon as I was on the phone, everyone suddenly needed me. Little Man (3-1/2) started tugging on me going "Mommy, Mommy...MOMMEEEE!"....Little Guy (19 months old) started grunting and hanging on me as I kept trying to walk around the house to find a quiet place to talk. I was actually getting out of breath from this.

I signaled with pathetic puppy dog eyes to my 13 year old daughter to PLEASE do something. Both boys protested loudly. I quickly sketched a drawing of a chocolate Hershey's Kiss with 98.7% accuracy to tell my daughter to bring out the candy to keep the boys quiet. So she did. Little Man ended up wiping his chocolate covered mouth on my daughter's shirt, causing her to go "EWeeeeWWWW!" By the time I got off the phone, my son had had diarrhea and without going into greater detail, I had something I needed to clean off the floor.

So, lesson learned, this is why I do NOT answer any business calls when my kids are awake!

The new book's cover

What Really Happened in Colonial Times will be released soon.

I was excited to see what the book cover will look like. It doesn't seem to matter how many times I see my name on the cover of a book, I always get excited. It still feels incredible that it's my name on there.

The artworks on the cover have been tinted by the book cover designer. They also sometimes do reversed images of the artworks for use on the cover...for instance, the one at the bottom is Pocahontas, and I think I drew her facing the other way. They often find it works better in the cover design to change the positioning of the portrait subjects. It doesn't bother me at all, as long as it makes the cover more attractive, that's an important thing for book sales.

Want to see more of this series? Hop over to http://bramleybooks.com for all the details!

Smoke from wildfires

For the second time in a week or so, we're getting smoke in the Atlanta area from the Okefenokee/Florida fire that's over 200 miles away! It's really amazing and a bit scary too.
If I didn't know it was smoke blowing here from the wildfire,
I would swear that a neighbor's house was on fire. Even Tennessee is getting smoke from the fire.
I hope it can be under control soon, but everything is so dry.
You can look on the map and track both the fires and the smoke here: LINK

Portrait in Pencil of Two Brothers

Here's a commissioned portrait of two brothers I did awhile back...as you can see by comparing the photo to the artwork, I moved the boy's positions so it would be a more classic portrait pose, and so the younger boy's head wouldn't cover part of the older boy's face.

I wanted to keep the warm feel of the hand on brother's shoulder, so I left one hand in to show that. It created sort of a 'stair-step' effect in the composition of the portrait. Although the Christmas stockings and fireplace are nice in a photo, in a pencil portrait they would be distracting.

The nice thing about pencil portraits is that I was able to 'zoom in' in effect to the main focus of the photo, the boys - and the importance of their relationship.

The client told me that the family is big Georgia Bulldogs fans - and although I couldn't show the red and black fan colors in the portrait, I put in the younger boy's "G" for Georgia emblem on his shirt. I try my best to take the information that I am given and put it all into the portrait.

More portraits: www.pencil-portrait-drawing-artist.com

pencil portraits drawn from photos

I create fine art portraits in pencil, based on your photos.
Portraits of couples, adults, babies, children, pets...

I can combine people or elements of different
photographs to create the artwork.

See art examples at: http://www.pencil-portrait-drawing-artist.com/

I use professional artist materials and acid
free professional artist's papers so your artwork will be a family
heirloom, and investment.

I am booking now for August 2007, but if you need a gift more quickly,
I also have gift certificates available.

Darla

Darla Dixon Portrait Art & Illustration
http://www.pencil-portrait-drawing-artist.com/
770-736-1584

My brain takes 1 AAA battery

It has been awhile since I've posted to the blog. I kind of get writer's block from time to time.
I had a nice Mother's Day. My daughter made me a beautiful homemade card and everyone in the family signed it, even Little Guy made his scribble on it. This card is definitely a keeper!

I was also given the DVD of A Mighty Wind, the mockumentary about a folk group reunion. I love it. It's from the same people who did Best In Show, a mockumentary (fake, humorous 'documentary') of the dog show circuit. So now I've seen Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, The Rutles, The Rutles 2. Now I just need to see This is Spinal Tap. It's probably the best of all of them...I have heard good things about it and I can't believe I haven't seen it yet. Fred Willard really stole the show in A Mighty Wind, even though he only had a couple short appearances. I have really thought he's funny ever since I first saw him on the TV show Fernwood Tonight back in the 70's. I think it was the beginning of the same type of thing - it was a fake talk show. I think Fred Willard tends to be overlooked because he is such a good actor, it doesn't even seem like he's acting.

During the day when I can find time to draw, I have had the BBC America program The Weakest Link on. Sometimes I can really enjoy it, but sometimes the people can't answer the simplest questions. The questions are sometimes like "a cylindrical piece of meat which is placed between buns is called a Hot _____" - and the contestant will give a completely inane answer like "lettuce?" and I just want to reach into the TV screen and slap 'em. It's a good show that I can have on just to listen to though, and it keeps my brain from turning to mush...or at least, it makes me realize I haven't lost my brain yet. I get about 9 out of 10 questions correct. I often do better on the Great Britain questions than most of the British contestants do! But then again, I know they are under more stress being on the program. I love to have something like this or music to keep my brain active when I'm drawing.

After that, a show comes on called How Clean is Your House? It shows someone with a severe housekeeping problem (can't even walk in the house for all the clutter, a dead mouse in a kitchen drawer, etc). I mean, these people have clutter and filth in a major way (it is often depression that's the culprit). Kim and Aggie show the actual microorganisms that are growing in these homes, and how to combat them by cleaning. Kim suggests salt as a natural abrasive, lemon juice, vinegar, and baking soda as solutions for just about anything. Well, after that show, I feel driven to clean at least one thing in the house, and that gets me off me bum in the late afternoon when I start dragging.

Art Guild

It has been awhile since I posted to the blog. I have been busy working on art, and trying to spend a lot more time on housekeeping and general 'mommy-duties.' Every day goes by so quickly. I think that is a good sign. I wish I had more time to do all the things I want to do!

I am helping organize an artist's guild for the City of Snellville. We really need an organization like this. We would like to start fundraising to build an arts center in the city. Snellville is full of artists but lacking in the arts...seems strange, doesn't it? Snellville will be greatly helped by a cultural center.

See the Guild's blog/website in progress at http://snellvillearts.blogspot.com - and if you click on the affiliate links and make a purchase, that will raise funds for the group also.
We welcome other artists in Snellville to join us.