Portraits inspired by the artist Margaret Keane by Kelley Smith

I have been working on a "big eye" series inspired by Margaret Keane. Here is the start of my granddaughter Remi.

Here is the semi finished painting of my granddaughter Pepper. She is going to be holding a cupcake and giving it to the viewer to represent Good Works. I still have a bit more to do. These portraits are more "flat" than my usual portrait painting, but that is the charm of Margaret Keane's paintings.

and this portrait is of our granddaughter Goldie. She did not make it through labor, but she is in our family's hearts and minds every day. She has given us a renewed desire to strive to live so that we may all return again as an eternal family together in our Heavenly Father's presence. I am going to gold leaf her halo and the banner she is holding.
I'm so happy to be able to be painting again and I am thankful for this opportunity to share.

At Long Last..... A New Post

  I can not believe I have not posted since last November!!!!!! I am now working part time at a wonderful boutique called Pretty Please. I'm still working at the gallery and painting whenever I get a moment AND last week glambaby #16 was born: Summer Haggarton!

 

and I have started a new art website at http://1-kelley-smith.artistwebsites.com/ . You can order canvas prints, prints on metal and such and greeting cards. I think this will be great and the quality is very, very good. I am going to try to catch up a little with my family photos, etc. Thanks to everyone for hanging in there with me.  XO

The Giffin Glamchildren came to stay.

 The next week after babysitting my Jackson glamsons, the Giffin glamchildren came to stay for a week. During a few of the days, the Jacksons came over and so did my cute little Haggarton glamgirls, so there were some periods of time that 10 of my glamchildren were here! Fun, but it is soooo hot here that we stayed inside whenever we could. During that time, the kids wanted me to watch MANY episodes of "Dr. Who" with them. It was great!

 On our Giffin day outings, we went to the trampoline place (I could feel sweaty germs floating in the air.....) and then later we went to the Phoenix Art Museum (which had no sweaty germs floating in the air and was sooooo much nicer).

 and we went to see 2 movies!

I am lovin' these glamchildren!!!!!!!

The Jackson Glamchildren came to stay....

 A couple of weeks ago, my Gourmet Girls went to Utah for 2 weeks to do research for their catering company and it was my pleasure to babysit the Jackson boys for a week. One of the "life skills" that I think is soooo important is paper mache. Need I say more. The kitchen was a mess the whole week (and the next week when I babysat the Giffin kids) but is was fun and well worth the effort as you can see! These boys waited eagerly between drying layers and layers of paper mache over inflatable beach balls.

When the paper mache was drying, the boys played video games, I introduced them to the old "Twilight Zone" TV shows on Netflix and we played laser tag. Laser Tag was intense!!!!! I sure do love these glamsons of mine!

Swimming Glamchildren

Today we celebrated Cruz's 6th birthday at Great Grandma Burke's house. Those kids make a Glamma proud!!!!

Camping at the Beach

 Cruz dug a bunch of big holes looking for buried treasure.

 A walk to the store brought us right over the railroad tracks. The boys thought it was "freaky" when the commuter train zoomed below us under the bridge. I thought it was "freaky" too!

 You can not find a happier baby boy than Walter. He looked like this the whole time.

 Conway thought he was King of the Mountain. He loved just sitting there for awhile and then suddenly jumping off and rolling into the deep pit around the sand mound. It was hilarious.

 The big boys rested to read and nap after wrestling the waves and rocks.

 Daisy's Mom turned her into a mermaid. Then Daisy proceeded to tell us all her story about how she really wanted to grow some legs but she was trapped in the ocean.

Grandma Burke bought all the little girls matching pink swimsuits. Whenever someone walked by out little group they smiled at all this cuteness playing in front of them.
We missed most of the Giffin clan as they had recitals.... It is getting harder and harder to plan things that all the family can do or go to at the same time. Oh well., but Yeah for our wonderful big crazy family!

Melted Crayon Painting

I have always wanted to make one of these melted crayon paintings that you see all over pinterest and I thought it came out so good! I sprayed triple thick epoxy lacquer on top and that made the colors pop. This canvas is 24" by 8" by 2" deep and I painted the sides black.

I put it on top of the mantle above the fireplace in the kitchen next to a painting by one of my favorite artists Lee Kaster (her artwork in also at the AZ Art Alliance Gallery...fabulous stuff!) and some of my store front letters that I collect. (you really can't see the "K", but the letters represent "Dennis & Kelley Smith" Anyway, it was fun and easy. I think it will make a fun craft thing to do with the Glamchildren.

Sousical the Musical costumes

My daughter Hilari is a home room school mom, so as Glammas do, I helped make some costumes for their school play coming up next week. My mind went a million ways to go about making these hats as the kids are just wearing school t-shirts and they are going for a certain style. I ended up designing these fleece hats. The crazy bird has a craft foam beak glued to a pink $1 store hat.

I thought that elongating the Giraffe back of the hat would give a sense of tallness.

The Elephant is also glued onto a blue $1 store hat. I also put boning in the front of the Kangaroo's "pouch" to make it stick out a bit. We had to make multiples of several of these costume hats, so it has been crazy with fleece scraps around here!

Thanks for letting me brag!

Happy Thanksgiving!

The day before Thanksgiving, We all went to see "The Muppet Movie" and all of my fabulous glamchildren were able to come. You would think that they would be used to having to group together for a photo or two, but it is like pulling teeth sometimes to get them to stand still for a minute. (the good thing is that they are always so excited to be together that it is mayhem... a good mayhem.) Anyway, this is the best shot that I got. Love those glambabies of mine!!!!

Last night the girls talked me into standing in line for two hours before midnight at the mall to get a free "midnight madness survival kit" which was a complete bust except for the free leopard print nail file and the coupon for a free cookie at Paradise Bakery. As I returned to our group once in the mall after a brief "powdering of my nose", I found them here... in the middle of the mall with hundreds of people watching them from both floors as they performed their dance skills. It was hilarious and horrifying at the same time. I videoed them (along with a bunch of other onlookers) and heard people all around me talking about the great entertainment that the mall was providing for them. Needless to say, the next few hours in the mall were not one of anonymity.)

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving with family and I hope that you did too. Now, it's time to pack up the fall decorations and get out the Christmas ones. (didn't I just do that last month?) "Someone needs to stretch out these Holidays a little more....

Glamchild #15 finally born!!!

Our newest glamson was finally born at home with his big sister watching as she pronounced that "Heavenly Father is flashing the green light saying Time to GO!" Walter A Jenkins was born Nov. 1oth at 6:57 am. He's big! 22 1/2 inches long and 10 lbs 13 oz!!! Both baby and Mom are doing great, and Walter's big sisters think that He is the best thing since Ice Cream and Beauty Pageants! Yeah!!!!!!!!!!

Boy Stuff

Conway got to visit his Glampa at "the yard". As with all of my other Glamsons, Conway was thrilled to get to see all of the big equipment and ecstatic when he got to ride on a big truck . Moments like these make life fabulous!

More Family Portraits...

above: sweet little Pepper who just turned One year old recently and

darling Pearl who recently turned two years old. We are expecting our #15 glamchild next month and it will be a boy... no name yet, but I am sure that it will fit in with the rest of the unusual names that my children have picked for their children. It is funny how each generation thinks they are starting something new with the choice of names that they like. I know I thought I was the most clever gal on earth at the time, and now there are millions of girls named the same names as I named my daughters. LOVE those babies though, no matter what their names are! I also posted a group of portraits that I did for a dear friend on my Kelley Smith Art blog today if you are interested....

6 Ways to Celebrate Ava's 6th Birthday

Last weekend, my Glamdaughter Ava turned 6 years old. We decided to celebrate her 6th birthday by doing 6 things. That evening we: #1 went to see the movie "Gnomeo & Juliet". (That was my 3rd time seeing the movie with glamchildren... 2 times too many, but sacrifices must be made for my darlings.)

Saturday morning, #2: we went to breakfast at McDonalds. After our breakfast, and leaving the littlest girls with their parents, #3: we went to the mall. Ava and Remi wanted to go into "Build-a-Bear" to "look", and came out with their own creations.

Ava then decided that #4: should be buying a gumball... (fine with me after the "Build-a-Bear" incident.)
We then went back home and #5: made crafts. The girls made sock dolls, necklaces, painted an assortment of wood and plaster crafts and tried their hands at sewing on plastic canvas.
then on Sunday evening, #6: all the family came over and showered Ava with love and presents. Happy Birthday Sweet Ava!!!

Wickenburg Gold Rush Days!

Last Friday the 11th, was my glamson Xander's 11th birthday. He asked me if he and his cousin Blue could spend his birthday with me. OF COURSE! (who can say no! I know it won't be long till he will rather spend his time with more exciting people than his Ol' Grandma!) Being that it was Xander's GOLDEN birthday (turning 11, on the 11th AND in 2011) We went to Wickenburg's GOLD Rush Days. The morning started with an small town western parade. The Sun City Dancers proudly marched and shaked their artificial hips with enthusiasm! (actually, It is a goal of mine to join them when the time comes.) They were FABULOUS!

And this cow was amazing with it's crazy big horns. AND it was IN the car!
The boys tried their skills at some games in the carnival area. They had high hopes for winning a huge stuffed animal for me. It was a rude awakening for them to see how hard it actually was to win. They did however win a couple of smaller stuffed animals.

I could not go home without purchasing a real cowboy hat for each of them. They pooled their money together to buy the fake mustaches, which they wore for the rest of the weekend! Happy Birthday to my wonderful glamson!!!

My daughter Devan made this Valentine with her little darlings this year. This was the only shot she got with both of the glamkids laying down. What a creative daughter I have!!!! I am so proud!!! Happy Lovin those Glambabies Day!!!!

My Valentine Tree

As I was taking down the Christmas decorations, I knew I was going to miss the white lights on the white tree that I had in the kitchen. So I decided to keep it up and see if I could decorate it for the upcoming holidays. Valentines Day, St. Patricks Day, Easter, Forth of July- no brainers... I am planning on getting creative with some other holidays. Let me know if you have any ideas. OK? Not all of my glamchildren wanted to get paint on their hands to make the valentines for the tree. (they must have some weird recessed gene, everyone knows that crafting is messy!)

I just love sitting on the couch and looking at the tree, it's like a fireplace for me. Fun!