gobsmacked and drooling

I am gobsmacked, head-over-heels and drooling like a silly grandma over the birth of my first grandchild. A baby girl of such beauty and perfection never seen before was born to us 7 days ago. So much rejoicing and excitement has been exploding in my home and life that I have not been able to find a moment to post the good news on this blog. Instead, I have been constantly wasting my time on facebook making announcements and sharing baby pictures.
I don't usually talk about my family or post photos of them on this blog since it is mainly to share my art but this event is going to change my life and my art from here on out. I might as well admit it!
Here is my portrait of her at just 40 hours old. 

prescience

Still waiting for the wonderful baby today. I made these illustrations for Wild Animal Baby magazine sometime ago. These are from the series about Skip the goat that I wrote and illustrated for a May issue.





















I was prescient when I drew these, I put myself in this art as a grandmother holding a baby.
The mother-type woman in a straw hat holding a plate of strawberries is probably me also. I tend to put myself or my family members (and my pets) into all my illustrations. Sometimes consciously, sometimes not, to my surprise.
At the time, none of my four children were even thinking about starting families, none were married either. The older ones were busy with graduate school and studying abroad. Now, three of them are married and all that has happened in rapid succession in the past few years. And so, a new era in my life begins, I will be a grandmother!

waiting for baby

I made this drawing on gessoed paper from a photo I took while in the Philippines. I don't think I have ever mentioned in this blog that I grew up in the Philippines. (More on that another time.)
Well, my real point in posting this drawing is that my oldest daughter is at the end of nine months of pregnancy and just about to present me with my first grandchild. Any day/hour now, we are just waiting for that wonderful baby.

currently on display

My artwork is currently on display at the DuPage Art League in Wheaton, Illinois.
The theme in the gallery this month is "Night song".
I have titled this painting "Hibiscus After Dark".
acrylic on canvas 30x34 framed.