Monday, October 31, 2011

Hello, Halloween!

This morning I’m…

:: Gearing up for Halloween night

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::Putting the finishing touches on  costumes

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:: Trying not to eat my weight in Tootsie Rolls

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:: Vowing never to send Jonathan to buy Halloween candy ever again

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:: Wearing all black to celebrate Halloween, not because my stretchy pants are super comfortable and allow for candy binging.

:: Setting up a dentist appointment to take care of the cavities I’m sure to get post candy coma

:: So happy my brother’s home from Libya, safe and sound.

 

Happy Halloween!

nessa dee

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

IF: Fuel

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I want to eventually paint this guy, but for now, here’s my rough sketch.

xo

nessa dee

Monday, October 24, 2011

Hello, Monday!

This afternoon I’m…

:: Trying to play catch up…the day’s half over and so far, this is what I have marked off my list:

                            -take a shower

:: Enjoying my pretty fall flowers.

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:: Attempting to put our Halloween costumes together. Nothing like waiting until the last minute.

:: Loving our new art/photo display wall.

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Isn’t it fun?

Now to go get something else marked off my list. Perhaps…

                                        -Eat some candy

xo

nessa dee

Thursday, October 20, 2011

I’m going to Hollywood!

If you’ve read my blog for more than a week, you probably know that my daughter plays piano. Yes, I tend to brag about it every other week [day], but I’m her mom, and it’s my job. Maybe if Finn or Trixie would step it up a bit and learn to play an instrument, I’d have a little more variety, but until that happens, you’re just going to hear me brag once more about Audrie.

Audrie recently participated in a Roland piano festival here in Austin, one of many held across the US. This is her performance of Hedwig’s Theme from Harry Potter:

She ended up winning this round to move on to the semifinals. For the semifinals, Audrie was recorded playing her song, and her performance was judged against the recorded winners from the other festivals. We just got notified last week that Audrie made it to the final round, so they’re flying her out to Los Angeles next month to play in the finals! Of course, we’re going, too, as well as the paparazzi  grandparents. I don’t know if my daughter’s ever done anything in her life without an entourage of at least 20 people cheering her on.

It’s going to be an exciting trip, and I’m sure I’ll have plenty to brag about by the end of it. I’m also pretty sure that my family will somehow make it into the tabloids while we’re there.

xo

nessa dee

Tuesday, October 18, 2011

IF: Scattered

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*scattered snow*

xo

nessa dee

Monday, October 17, 2011

Hello, Monday!

This morning…

:: Someone’s doing schoolwork…

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:: Someone already did his schoolwork…

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:: Someone has no schoolwork…

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:: Someone’s getting in the way…

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:: Someone else is getting in the way…

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:: Someone’s getting carpet burns on her elbows from taking all of these pictures…

:: And after taking these pics with her phone, someone seriously misses her camera.

Happy Monday!

xo

nessa dee

Thursday, October 13, 2011

IF: Contraption

It’s been a looooooooong time since I’ve posted for IF, but I’m making an attempt at a comeback. I started this sketch with no real plan in mind. The “contraption” quickly got out of hand, and I have no idea what it does, hence the confused little guy at the bottom of the picture.

Contraption

xo

nessa dee

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Coffee Talk

Here’s the proof that I actually hung some artwork at a coffee shop. I hired a few college students to pose in the pictures, so my art would look young, hip and fresh. Is it just me, or are these college students looking younger and younger these days?

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I have to admit that when I started making paintings for this display, I had never visited JP’s Java, and happened to overlook its location on the north side of the University of Texas campus. This is a good example of not knowing your audience, and as a result, I have a bunch of new children’s paintings for my Etsy shop. The week before my paintings were to be hung, I visited the coffee shop and realized that instead of families with young children, my audience would consist of hipster college kids. I don’t think these whipper-snappers would appreciate the adorable critters and whimsical gingerbread houses I had been working on the previous month. So I put on my procrastinators thinking cap, came up with the vintage technology theme, and knocked out nine paintings in a week. I did include paintings that cross over the boundaries of age [mainly robots and one owl] in keeping with the content of my Etsy shop. Hopefully some good will come from this exposure, but if nothing else, I have some pretty cool pieces for my house.

xo

nessa dee

Monday, October 10, 2011

Latest Works

Here are my latest pieces that went into the coffee shop. I’m going to turn some, if not all of them, into prints for my shop. I hope I can manage such technologically advanced skills given that I just tried to fill a colander with water to let it soak for a while. This whole 5 hours of sleep each night isn’t really working for me anymore.

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All of these paintings are for sale, but will be on display at JP’s Java until the end of November. If you are interested in purchasing any of them, or have questions about them, or want some prints, or just want to chat about the weather, you can contact me through my Etsy shop, or just leave a comment on the blog, or send me some snail mail, or swing by my house. Whatever suits your fancy.

xo

nessa dee

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Sneak Peek

I’m heading out of town for the weekend, but I wanted to give you a sneak peek of my latest works…

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By the way that guy coordinates with my paintings, you’d think I paid him to sit there and pose. And maybe I did…or maybe he was lured by the prospect of gaining international fame [amongst my family] by being posted on this blog. The world may never know.

xo

nessa dee

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Interview with an Artist [who’s slightly insane]

Hi there, folks! My name is Vanessa. I am an artist and mom of two children, and also author of a popular blog [and by popular, I mean that it’s read by a lot of my family members across Texas, a few random people across the nation, and by at least one person overseas. Thanks, Brother!] I had the privilege of interviewing a fellow artist/blogger who happens to share a name with my blog. I hope to see what Nessa Dee’s been up to lately, and why she has been neglecting her own blog.

Vanessa: Hi, Nessa Dee! Thanks for taking time out of your hectic schedule to humor me. How have you been lately?

Nessa Dee: Good, though I’m slightly worried about you.

Vanessa: Why’s that?

Nessa Dee: Well, the fact that you are interviewing yourself, for one. Not to mention that you’ve got me playing along with this whole charade.

Vanessa: So are you saying that I should be worried about you?

Nessa Dee: Let’s just get this over with.

Vanessa: We haven’t been seeing much art on your blog lately. Being that this blog is called Nessa Dee: [Art + Life] one would assume that we would see a little more art. Can you comment?

Nessa Dee: Well, first of all, Van… can I call you Van so I don’t have to type out Vanessa anymore?

Van: Sure, as long as I can refer to you as ND.

ND: Works for me. First of all, Van, I have a bunch of new paintings that will be making their way to the shop real soon.In addition to the paintings for my shop, I had a couple of commissions that were recently completed, as well as a series of paintings that made their way down to a coffee shop in Austin this week.

Van: So why haven’t we seen any of these paintings in the works? It’s not that hard to post a couple of pictures now and then.

ND: Well, it’s not that hard if your camera works. My camera kicked the bucket, and since a detailed description of my art doesn’t really compare to picture, I haven’t mentioned all of the new paintings.

Van: With all of the advancements in technology these days, there must be other ways to snap pictures. Don’t you have one of them fancy phones with a camera in it? In fact, haven’t you been posting pictures from that camera phone?

ND: Yes, you’re right. I do have a camera phone, and I have posted some pictures from that phone, but the quality isn’t that great, and it’s not ideal for taking pictures of art.

Van: Really? You’re going to use that excuse? A little pretentious are we? Okay, so your phone camera isn’t good enough to take pictures of your art. Even so, we haven’t heard much from you in the life department either. Is there a reason for this neglect?

ND: Along with making all of these new paintings, I am homeschooling two kids for the first time, instead of just one. I’m also teaching an art class to homeschooler’s every Friday.

Van: Yeah, so what? The Duggars homeschool like thirty kids at once.

ND: Well they’ve had years to perfect their homeschool.  I am going from homeschooling one very determined child, who’s very disciplined, and has a very long attention span, to adding a very rambunctious child into the mix, who’s very determined to school his own way, and has a very short attention span. It’s a very hard transition.

Van: Very?

ND: Very. Besides, with only two kids, I have the added pressure of making sure I don’t screw up homeschooling. If the Duggars ruin their first few kids, at least they have over a dozen more to try to get it right.

Van: Very well then. I have to say that I still don’t see the reason for neglecting your blog. Look at Pioneer Woman…she’s homeschooling four children, blogs everyday, has written a cookbook, and is hosting her own cooking show. 

ND: Why do you keep comparing me to super humans?

Van: To get to the truth.

ND: Okay, do you want the truth? I’m unorganized. I procrastinate. I hate to write. It takes me a long time to blog anything that requires more than a couple of sentences. If I don’t have a picture to speak for me, I won’t post anything. When I have pictures, I have to find the time to edit them. And some days, even though I have the time, I’m just lazy. Most of the time, though, if I’m writing a blog post, it usually means I’m neglecting other things like teaching my kids, or cleaning.

Van: Well, by the looks of your house, you must blog all of the time [grin].

So this post must really be testing your every last nerve. No pictures. Lots of writing. Do you have anything else to add, Mrs. Lazypants?

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Van: Oh I get it…you’re ignoring me. Wait, where did that picture come from? I thought your camera was broken.

ND: I stole borrowed my friend’s camera to take pictures of all of my latest paintings. I was getting ready to post the pictures, once I got off my lazy bum, but then you so rudely interrupted me with this bogus interview.

Van: You’re just using this as an excuse not to edit the photos.

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Van: Alright. We’re done here. I hope we never have to do this again.

ND: This interview was your idea.

Van: Exactly.

xo

nessa dee

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

Happy Birthday, Dad!

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Since your present is going to be late, I thought I’d post something from the kids…

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Happy birthday,Dad!

We hope you have a wonderful day!

We love you muchas!!

jonathan, nessa, audrie, and finn