Bookcase

Yet another semester of college has gone by and woodworking continues to be the only thing that I enjoy about school. I love to go and, although I have not done quite as much this semester, I did finish the bookcase I have been working on for sometime. I am rather pleased with the final product. I have a serious problem when it comes to normal bookshelves. You see, I have a few large books that are around 16 inches tall and then I also have books that are extremely short. There are very few bookshelves that are high enough to fit my big books and if they are big enough, they are just much too high for the little books. I kept this in mind when I was looking at bookcase ideas. I finally found the perfect idea at Ikea of course. There was a great deal of guessing and deviating, or as I like to say "tweaking", but it turned out similar and, in my opinion, even better than what I saw at Ikea.  Now all my lovely books can have their allotted place. My only problem now is that my expansive Harry Potter collection requires an entire bookcase of its own, but I will have to tackle that little debacle later. For now, I have a sweet new bookcase that is living in its new home and what will be my new home in 2 weeks. In exactly 2 weeks I graduate from EAC and move up to Mesa to live with Shannon and Zach for the summer before I leave for Zhongshan in August.

In the shop

The only down side of a bookcase like this is that it takes an eternity to stain. Check out all the surface area on that thing. You dont notice until you have to cover all of it 6 times.

Finished Product!!!

My dad just bought a new X-Terra last week and really wanted to test its hauling abilities. So despite the fact that there were three of us traveling in the vehicle for three hours, he was determined to haul my bookcase with us. Was it necessary? No, but Square Knot it was a test of his hauling abilities so failure was not an option. In case you cant notice, there is very little room on that seat. I barely fit!

Flower Power

Arizona has been my home for 18 years. I like living here but it is often very difficult to see the beauty of it, especially when it is hotter than hell, everything is dead, and you get frequent nose bleeds because of how dry it is. Sometimes, in this time of year, it is beautiful. We have had alot of rain this year and because of this the flowers in the desert have been AMAZING. They are rarely this beautiful. We have been doing our best to take advantage of it since we have never seen the flowers this beautiful and possibly never will again. We have been on many rides out in the desert and even went and cooked dutch oven dinner among the flowers last week. It was lovely.

On one of our drives to look at the flowers, Square Knot was too anxious to jump out of the car and get photos that he turned the car off without putting it in park. This causes a bit of an issue when you are on a hill headed towards a huge cliff with me in the backseat. I was powerless to save myself but thankfully Square Knot was able to save me. I told him that he could not count a life saved if he was the one that made it so the life was in need of saving. He disagrees.

Allison, Loren, Wendy, Me, Fabiana, and Jordon chilling on the desert. I think this photo because I feel that our outfits completely encompass our personalities. Allison the tennis ninja, Loren the super stylish one, Wendy the free spirit, and me the nerd. I think it is funny that I am in plaid pants and a button up shirt on the desert.

Loren, Wendy, and Allison are becoming cactus.

I have no explanation of these photos.

I love all of these girls immensely.

What a lovely time we had on the desert. Dads dutch oven cooking was as good as it has ever been.

Paintings Paintings Everywhere

It has been a crazy month. I have been very busy with school, painting, and my recent Robert Downey Jr. obsession. There was a time, long ago, where I would blog about a painting the second it was done but that time has passed and gone. Here are many of the latest paintings I have done over the last few weeks. I have been selling many originals and I really appreciate all the support I have been getting. China is getting closer and my money raising goals and seeming to be within my reach. I have a facebook fan page that I update frequently. If you are not a fan yet, get on that bizzle! 

A Flock of Birds

I love these little birds. I am very happy that this cute little girl has so many friends with her as she leaves on her journey to new places. I want to travel places by birds. I am sure that would be a lovely way to travel. I just need to find me some bird friends. I will get on that.

Within A Cage

My dad said this one looked 'terrifying'. I am not sure if that's an accurate description but it is a little oppressive. It reminded Zach of the movie Willow. I am not sure I understand this either. I suppose I will let you interpret it as you will. I enjoyed painting it while watching Iron Man (remember that Robert Downey Jr. obsession I was talking about).

Moonscape

I love city scapes. I always want to paint them but they never turn out how I want them to. That little girl has a hard time letting go of things. In this case, she has a little bit of an issue letting go of the moon. I do not blame her, I also love the moon. I have a hard time letting go of things too.

Commissioned Pieces

A lovely friend of mine asked me if I would paint something special for her and this is what we came up with together. She said she wanted something happy. I think this is happy. My favorite part is the umbrella's. I want every single one of those umbrellas in real life. Is that really too much to ask? I think not.

My wonderful momma wanted me to paint this for her to give as a gift. It is very similar to Within A Cage that I did a couple of months ago and have since sold. It is bigger and took more time and patience. I am happy with how it turned out and am not sure that this will ever leave the house. This may end up being a gift for herself.

I did a painting like this about a year ago. A couple wonderful ladies came over and both wanted one so I had to do another so both of these wonderful ladies would be satisfied. I like the second one I did much better than the first. Pages from Lord of the Rings serves as the background.