Hi Everyone!! Its a new month and so I will start the new cafe off. This weekend was pretty bland for me. I did a little spring cleaning. Put my new Drawing Table together (by myself) that was fun I may add. I asked hubby for help and he replies with I did, I bought it for you. ( Shhhessh MEN!!) Other than that I really didn't do anything. How is everyone else?

Busy, busy, busy. Every week and weekend filled for a while. Just had my granddaughter's 4th birthday party on Saturday and got my new computer that my son built for me. How exciting except for putting on my programs. Gonna wait until he comes over in a couple of weeks and have him just network the 2 computers so I don't have to copy all my data etc.

Getting ready to go on vacation the day after Easter. Going to Vicksburg Mississippi and Memphis Tennessee for a few days. We were going to go to Gettysburg but I've been seeing a lot of reports of flooding in Pennsylvania so we decided to go south instead of north. Anyway, I hope to take a lot of pictures while I'm there.

Not much time to draw lately.

Here's a picture of my little "Princess Holly". Her new dress that she had to put on the minute she opened the box! I think its more like the "Queen" because she rules the castle where they live!

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What's everyone else up too? Easter is coming.......special plans for Easter Egg Hunts?

Yesterday was my youngest son's 3rd birthday. He's my little April Fool.
We had a busy day with his B'Day party. When it was time for candles and cake he was seated at the head of the table and everyone stood around singing Happy Birthday. The expression on his face was priceless as he was realizing that he was the absolute center of all attention and he was LOVING it.

And I had forgotten my camera.

Good time for you to try to draw his face from memory. How precious if you could get that look down on paper. Use other photos and him as guidelines.
Paulette

Welp, Yesterday started as a good start of the month. Today it turned sour. I just found out my foster mother has been diagnosed with breast cancer and she is at the doctors office right now getting information on radiation treatments. I don't know a whole lot about breast cancer but I do know it is a #1 killer in women. My grandmother is a survior of it but then when she had it about 30 something years ago they just removed the breast and hoped for the best. So now I am scared for her and worried. She is a precious woman. She has taken in kids for the state for the past 20 years and loves them all like they are her own. She has 6 living with her that she adopted and all range from ages 18 years old to the youngest being 3 years old. It just really sucks when someone does so much good with their life and others goes through something this tramatic and has to worry about their own life. So I guess all I can do is offer my help when she may need it and support her the best I know how and do alot of praying.

They are doing alot nowadays for breast cancer ..if caught soon enough .
I am sorry to hear about her having cancer .. I am sure its a very stressful thing to have to go through ..my heart goes out to her .
they are trying to make high risk like yourself Venus to have a mamo every 6 months and a c-scan once a year .. was just on the news .. I think that would be a smart thing ....I just bought some New Balance walking shoes with the pink ribbon on the tounge .
around here we are on spring break so we have kids home all day and I love it . I know that sounds strange but I love being with my kids .. they are funny and we get along great .

Kim, luckily with her consultation with the doctor today they say that her cancer is a stage one and it was caught fairly early. The lump was small and they believe that they got most of it when they did the biopsy. They want to however, go in next month and reopen the incision and check her lympth nodes and make sure the cancer didn't spread there and then start radiation treatments following some new pill they have that she is suppost to take for 5 years. They said though for a person to even notice any type of lump as a type of possible cancer it has been progressing for at least the past 5 years. Can you believe that? 5 years of cancer developing before the lump is even noticeable. I know when I get a little older I have to really be checked. My grandmother is a survivor. My mom has been getting checked and she has been clear so far. I suggest anyone that gets checked and any type of abnormalty shows on a mammogram make sure that you get checked regularly or annually!!!! Thats how her mammograms have been for the past 5 years. They showed abnormalties but the lump just recently surfaced. Kim my whole AOL theme supports breast cancer awareness. Even before I knew anyone that ever had it (besides my grandma) I have always been a big supporter. My foster mom is an avon lady and avon is really big with breast cancer awareness and sell different types of things to go for research and cures for breast cancer so anytime I place an order with her (before she was diagnosed) I bought something just for the support. Then I never kept it I gave it to her or let her give it to another customer. But I will keep her in my prayers. She sooo doesn't need this stress. She has already been stressed because of her grand daughter. She is drinking and doing drugs and only 17. Dropped out of high school in her senior year with just a month or so to go to graduation. Her grand daughter is literally a miracle baby. She almost died at 6 months because her liver shut down. She was lucky and recieved a partial liver from a 4 year old little boy who tragically passed from an automobile accident if I am not mistaken. Before, she recieved the liver the doctors Of U of M Hospital were only giving her another 24-48 hours to live. She has been on medications to keep her liver healthy her whole life and I know last year they were talking about possibly taking her off of them at her next checkup but her test came back low on the functioning of her liver and they decided to keep her on the meds. Well, almost everyone knows alcohol can not only kill but it destroys the liver. It could literally kill her she she continues to drink. I don't know what she is going through right now but I am really scared for her more than my foster mom. So hopefully things turn around. I am definately keeping my prayers going thats for sure..
Ok I think I am done venting and feel a little releaved.

venus i am sooo glad she caught it early. she will have to go through alot but her chances of survival is very very good. my aunt had a lump for 7 years before she went to see a doctor and she lived about 5 years after but if she had went when she found it she would be alive today. she too was such a great person. very loving and caring to everyone. i have never heard her say a mean thing about anyone. i dont know why these things happen to such great inspiring women. Kim your right though-- this should show us all to have regular screenings of everything. us women go through and can get so much. i am so glad you have shoes with pink tongues. i would like to get some too. where did u get them? hopefully the girl will wake up and really see what is important in life. maybe this will be a blessing in disguise. i hope everything turns out okay for your foster mother.
our spring break starts this friday. its been so beautiful outside the past few days but not much kids out yet. we had our first fire outside over the weekend which was nice. i love to sit out in the summer nights and have a fire and just hang out and look at all the stars. just heard on the news that its suppost to get cold again for the next few days. arrrhhh. i want it to stay nice.
i too have been so some spring cleaning, not a whole lot but some. i need to break down my kitchen and get it all cleaned and organized again and still so my windows from the outside. i hate to clean behind the stove and refridgerator. but i know it needs it bad. my kids cook sometimes and they make such a mess. sometimes i dont know if its worth teaching your kids to cook for themselves.
Lori

Thats a neat idea.
but I have a hard enough time making a drawing look like something I have in front of me.

Me too!

My brother just sent this to me. Cool Hand Art
Paulette

HeHe! Very funny and very clever!

Andrea

Paulette that was such a cool site .. each one that passed i said .. " oh thats my favorite one lol " ...come to find out they are all very very cool

Yeah those are amazing! Not to question the truth of it but it looks like someone just projected the image of the animal on the hands.

I think they are painted on which makes it so amazing.

cool site paulette, whats everyone been up too? just hanging out here really. started on a new drawing finally.
Lori

Ok, now this is just cool!

Spray paint art - http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1...36969&hl=en

This is the kind of art I started out with. Later this week I'll run out to my parents house and get some pics of the ones I did, but they are nowhere near this involved.

Blade .. I have seen it done in Vegas on the fremont its pretty wild .. you can tell when a painter is painting cause you can smell the spray paint ... but they sure do a great job and they are fun to watch .

2 words:
Very Cool

For all those wanting a baby update, here she is my grand daughter Kiora, now 14 weeks old and thriving. She's learned the art of smiling and laughing. I'm sure it will stand her in good stead in getting out of trouble in later life.

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She's adorable! When my kids were born, my mother forgot my name! Tell me if you think you'll have this same problem.

Awww, Jeanette. She is absolutely adorable!! Thats the stage where you wish they would stay and grow up...

Since we're showing off offspring...

We had another birthday party for my son who just turned 3. Some of the family wasn't able to travel for his actual birthday, so we had a re-play. He thinks he's 4 now.

I remembered the camera and fresh batteries this time.

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Here's the facial expression I was lamenting having missed getting a shot of last time.

What a cute face lol

Darus, that is a perfect reference photo for you to draw his face and exspression with now, so no excuses!! Start Drawing...

Gosh - what a sweet little boy!!

Priceless!!!!

jeanette that is the cutest smile i have saw in a long time. i love babies at that age--when they are happy babies-- they smile and laugh and it is soooo much fun.
darus what a cutie, he is going to be a ladys man. he is soo cute. love that face. both pictures are worthy for a portrait.
whats everyone been up to lately?
venus how is school going, doing any digital art lately?
i just been working on the indian portraits. dont know why i just got into the mood. havent been participating in the weekly challenges but may start soon again. nothing really going on here in ohio---just waiting for the beautiful weather to come back.
Lori

Lori,
I haven't really done much with digital. I did participate in the Digital Challenge that Sandworm started for me. It was alot of fun, too. You should try it. I am currently working on the Figure Drawing Class. I had hoped Jeanette would help me with it but she said she cant because things are really hectic for her right now. I hope they get better for her. So basically even with not knowing much I plan on still running the class as well as learning with the class. I hope it works out. I hope to have it started by next weekend. So Everyone that voted for the Figure Drawing class come on in when it starts and lets all LEARN TOGETHER!!!

for sure i will be there. if i can help venus let me know. i dont know about figure drawing but if there is anything just let me know. where is the digial drawing challenge. i will look for it. havent been on for awhile. i am hoping to get another computer soon so i can have some more time on it. everytime i go to get on someone else is on it or jumps in front of me. and i tell you i am all argued out. we have two computers right now-actually three but one is networked for the kids school. hopfully soon we can get another one. i would love a laptop and have a birthday coming up, hinting to hubby but i think i will have to scream it at him to get the hint!!! hahaha
Lori

LOL Good luck Lori, I have found that husbands don't take hints very well and you basically just have to tell them what you want to get what you want. But then again I am quite spoiled. I bought my own computer (not a laptop though) off of ebay with money I made working glow works last year. I am quite happy with it. I think I pretty much got the figure class figured out and worded the way I want it to be and how I want people to construct their drawings and I have my own examples I have done as well. I am still in need of some pretty amazing references that are going to grab peoples attention to want to draw the figures. I am going to call one of my least modest friends today and see if she would be willing to send me some photos of her partially dressed but mostly close to nude. I don't want full nudity as we have had the issues of the **** spam and have children that frequent the site. So hopefully I can get those and the class running by Sunday night. (I am working from tomorrow night and saturday). But if you or anyone else has any reference photos they think are great please feel free to email them to me at Godess4883@aol.com , I will be happy to look them over. I just don't want to search at the others free sites and try and get the others permisson to use pictures on our site. Other than that I feel pretty confident that this is going to be a great class I am teaching for my very first time and am pretty excited about it. I have always loved teaching and learning, so now I will be doing both. Kind of like a student teacher.

it sounds really cool. cant wait for the class. i am really looking forward to it. you have really worked very hard and i think this is going to be a great class. and thank you so much for all your hard work. cant wait
Lori

I fear that.

His older brother (8 yrs old) is already a ladies man.

Hey, I am insulted. Or I would be, if this wasn't... well, you know... true.

The class sounds great -- looking forward to it.

I learned today that my 5 year old grandson has recieved his first "love letter". This is Shayden. I drew his picture, the one with the mohawk. He was the one who told me about it.

He said she told him that she loved him.

Oh, they are in Head Start together.

your grandson has that look about it lol ... very cute at such a young age .

wow had to look for this thread to find it. i guess everyone been very busy lately. so have i-- just checking in to see how everyone is doing and what everyone had been up too. i have been drawing and cleaning and some cooking--gettting tired of cleaning and cooking. been buying alot of frozen stuff that i can just put in the oven. hubby is working on our sons girlfriends car-- i can hear using choice words so must not be going as smoothly as he thought. i better go see before a wrench goes through a window or something!!
Lori

Well I haven't been around due to a very heavy workload, tons of meetings and next week another set of national meetings in Quebec. I will be staying at Chateau Montebello, so that's a bonus as its lovely there.

Then I had an exhibition last weekend that I put four pieces in and one sold. I was nominated by a realist artists association for Best in Show and am waiting to hear the verdict.

I'm also trying to get another workshop set up soon too and that's taking time, as well as trying to get into a class by Gerry Squires, a great Newfoundland artist, but my timetable never seems to sync with when he's offering classes.

Then there's the farm, with new animals and the greenhouse that's getting into full swing with seedlings and planting, etc. There's never enough hours in the day it seems.

I hear that! We just finished a whole round of robotics tournaments with the kids and are getting a new puppy on Tuesday.
My son William made first place in sumo at the World Robofest. There were people from Korea, Singapore, Canada (of course) and all over the US. Luckily for us the World Robofest is just a half hour across the border . My boys and some friends tried real hard to win scholarships to Lawrence Tech University, but it wasn't in the works for us this year. They are already discussing what to do next year.
I love dogs, but am just dreading the work of a puppy. We are getting a Bouvier des Flandres. We went and saw them the other day, boy are they high energy! Our Dane is getting up in age and is a very good dog so we hope he will pass on some good traits to her.

Jeanette,
Sounds like you did well at the show. You will have to let us know if you get that best in show. You should post a picture of the drawing to let us see. I love Quebec, have a great time and don't work to hard.

Paulette

wow jeanette-- i thought i was busy. there never be enough hours in a day to do all that. i always thought about a greenhouse. i love going to look at all the flowers and plants. just dont know if i could handle all that. they are alot of work. i cant wait til i can plant some flowers outside. they are digging all around my house to waterproof--hopefully soon so i have to wait. my son got me alot of clay pots at an auction he was working at for mothers so i can plant some flowers in them.
i think thats awesome that you sold one of your pieces.
paulette--i dont do puppys--they are so much work. you really have your work cut out for you. our dog was 7 mos when we got him and he still was alot of work. he was already house broke--well crate trained but he never had an accident in the house. i tried a puppy once and just could not train her. i got her to go on paper but just could not get her to go outside. and then the chewing and the whining at night--oh my i just cant imagine.
Lori

Hi Everyone!! Its been awhile since I wrote in here and its the last day of April!! Oh my this month has definately went by fast. I am sure this month will go even faster since the kids only have about less than 5 weeks of school left..dreading it here. I love my quiet days <sigh>.
Paulette, good luck with the puppy. They really are alot of hard work. My husband I talked and he has finally agreed after the past year that I can get rid of our dog. We have had problems trying to train him since he was a puppy. We also didn't realize that when we got his particular breed (shihtzu) that he was agressive with children. My kids can't even pet him without him nipping or growling at him. He messes continuiously in my sons room, so we are going to call our vet we take him too and see if he can be donated for an older couple or an elderly person. I had talked to them before and they said that if I signed him over to them that they would, I just have to do it while hubby and kids are in school. I feel bad about doing it but when you have all of the household responsibilites and no help from others its hard and frustrating, and I just dont know what to do with him anymore. If it rains or is too cold for him to go out he won't. We tried liter training him and everything. Sorry, I am just getting upset, thats why I am talking so much about it. I guess its one of those I love to hate him type things, but really love the dumb animal and at my wits end..LOL. So I think this is the best thing for him. Then I am done with animals!!!
Other than that things are going pretty good here. Been busy drawing everyday and waiting for Spring to come into full bloom so I can get out and start taking pictures.

Hi Venus, I totally understand what you are going through with the dog situation. We had a maremma sheepdog (big, white fluffy thing) but she turned agressive when she turned into an adult. She was totally loyal to us but generally didn't like anyone else and would try to attack them. We tried to rehome her but she bit their adult son, so we took her back, we were so desperate we spent a fortune on animal behaviourists, to no avail. So in the end we had to have her put down. It was horrible, it took me a long time to come to terms with it. I felt so guilty because she trusted us, but we had a responsibility to be safe to others. I could never have forgiven myself if she had seriously bitten anyone or god forbid, a child.

My thoughts are with you and for what it's worth, I think you are doing the right thing.

Andrea

Andrea, thanks. I guess the good thing is, is he doesn't seem to be aggressive with other people who visit our home. But, he is with the children. He was a great puppy, but your right for some reason since he has hit his adulthood he is mean, which I have learned after we purchased him that his breed tend to do. So hopefully, he will find a home. If not once I sign him over to the vet its out of my hands so I will probably know nothing after I leave. Trust me, I am taking my sweet time in doing so, and even regretting what I must do...

It sounds like his hormones have kicked in and he now thinks he is top dog over the children.
Good luck, I understand that you need to put your childrens safety first, but despite that it's not easy, is it .
At least you won't know what will come of him.
Andrea

I am sorry to hear of both of your problems.

A couple years back we took in a three year old Bouvier, thinking I won't have to go through all that puppy training. Wrong! He had separation anxiety so bad. We tried for a whole year, but I think our house was just to crazy for him(constantly changing schedules). We ended up giving him back to the human society and they passed him on to Bouviers in Distress. He ended up with an older couple who are taking great care of him.

Have you ever heard of Bark Busters? They are expensive, but it is a one time fee for the life of the dog, $400 in Canada. They started in Australia, where the lady was having amazing successes rehabilitating pound dogs, so they could be given to families. It might be worth checking out. I wish I had known about something like this back when I had that Bouvier. Check out the website there is info that you can try out on your dog.

Having said that, I will say if the dog is causing your family stress and you have tried what you can, then go ahead and do what you have to. Life can be tuff enough with out having our best friends add to it. Check the internet to see if there is a shitzu in distress type place to give him to. They will have a better understanding of his problems and how to best place him. Try pet finder, go to locate shelters and rescue groups in your area. It will give you a list. Also if he came from a reputable breeder they will take him back and adopt him out.
Good luck
Paulette

Venus my sister just had hers put down .. same kind of dog as you .. as the puppy got older he became mean and would bite and growl at kids and people ...if you moved past him too quickly he would turn and bite .

I use to groom Dogs at a local shop here .. and they are so inbread( i think thats spelled right lol ) that their triats have like mutated or something ....there is a list of dogs that are very inbread due to popularity ....the cocker is one of them ...they can be very mean and leave a bad bite .

We have three great danes and we are having to get rid of one. Not because she's mean, just because we don't have enough hands to take care of them. When you walk in the door (they're house dogs) they compete for your affection. You can pet two, but there's always a third trying to knock you over. It is heart-wrenching, because we love them so much. But it would in the best interest of the family AND the dog, if we can find a good home for her.

How old is the great dane you want to send off, do you have a picture? My friends are right know going thru a G.D. rescue trying to get one.
Paulette

Paulette, thats what I want to do is see if my vet will take him and donate him to an older couple or elderly person who needs a companion and doesn't have alot of children around. So thanks for the links, I looked at both of them and there seems to be alot of animal rescue places close to me. I saved the search in case the vet thing doesn't work out.

Please -everyone - if you can - use a dog RESCUE instead of the Humane Society - Please, please, please.

There are some fantastic people out there doing a wonderful job of rescuing dogs. Sometimes the Humane Society will put them down even if they are pedigreed.

I had to give a dog to an Airedale Rescue and was so pleased with them. I have also used a Schipperke Rescue for our last dog. We got a little guy who had been terribly abused and had just recovered from heartworm treatments and he was such a delight to have around.

The people who do dog rescues are #1 in my book! If you can't find one for your breed there are some that do all breeds. You can always ask at Petco or places like that.

I was very surprised to hear that Shizu's have a history of biting. Our neighbors had 2 of them and they were the sweetest little girls ever! They thought they lived at both houses! Little Niki used to come over every night at supper time to get a treat (she would only eat the bacon kind) and would wait patiently at the back door until we let her in and then she would go lay down and eat it then jump into my husbands lap and watch TV for a while and then get up and go home. What a sweetie she was - she got run over and we have really missed her.
Anyway, they had 2 small children and those dogs would never even growl at anyone, not even strangers. But they did bark alot.

Paulette, Fulla Joy, is almost 3. She was born right before we discovered my wife was pregnant. Luckily, I have a very good friend that just recently lost his dane and desperately wants another. He has two older children and three small dogs, and they all seem to get along well. It was pretty funny to see a chihuahua dominate a dane, though. She's been there for three nights of a one week trial period. Her parents, Odhin Joy and Miss Chievers are only nine months older than her and they have settled down nicely in her absence.