greenbeanbaby art

it's been awhile...

and this isn't just a reference to the amount of posting lately... [yes, it has been some time between each post]... no, it's been awhile- a long while that i've been blogging... three years to be exact... can you imagine?! for three years, i've shared with the blogworld my family life, art life, and ramblings in between...


do you  remember when and/or why you began blogging?! i do... i remember being frustrated that we bought a home, couldn't find a tenant to rent the lower, which had ramel working 1st and 3rd shift...  diego was about 15mos, my artwork was put on the backburner, and being home alone with diego was not how i thought it would be... i mean, it's wonderful to be a stay-at-home mom but after awhile, a person gets to wondering if that is all she is going to accomplish...

some tears later with the contemplation of tossing my illustration degree out the window, i decided to look for online communities revolving around illustration... low and behold, there was illustration friday that contained hundreds of links to hundreds of artist out there... and as i clicked thru them, there many females with children... mothers who cared for their kids AND worked on art!!! with hope, i emailed a few asking how in the world they do it... and one sweet lady responded back ;)

now, to fast forward like you wanna hear the ending... after that moment, i fixed up my studio, worked on art, got pregnant with isabella, started an etsy shop, begged ramel to get the bigger studio, gave birth to isabella, put diego into preschool, worked on more art, started a children's book, was featured in the etsy storque and in the craftzine, worked on more art, got an xbox360, and now, work on art nearly everyday... my time is forever consumed with family life, art life, etsy/blog life, and gaming life... in one paragraph, i've summed up 3yrs of accomplishments...

so to celebrate, i am doing two things... i am having another etsy restocking sale on December 5th, 2008... there will be free prizes for the first few customers plus a raffle drawing... i am hoping this will be a wonderful event worth waiting for... and a wonderful event to commemorate 3 years of blogging and meeting so many talented and sweet friends!

there will be candy, ornaments, magnets, and some cards... a few surprise along the way... and there will be further details by the weekend... i'm pretty excited and doping up on non-aspirins to keep this cold abay... [gotta love the change of weather leading to wee colds, eh?!]

so you are welcome to join in on the celebration... in fact, i'd be honored if you did... i really appreciate all the support, love and encouragement you have given me in these last 3 years... so many times, i've wondered if making artwork here and there was worth the lack of sleep... if my ramblings were worth reading [and worth the $5/mo typepad fee].... but honestly, having this blog, having you all as inspiration, keeps me ticking and also inspired... thank you!!! and i hope december 5th, will be a wonderful time for us all :)

an interview with greenbeanbaby [by ellia]

ellia: what have you been doing with your time, now that you have an xbox?!

greenbeanbaby: um, working... hard... super duper hard...

ellia: really? on what?

greenbeanbaby: wait a minute, is this an interview or is this an interrogation?

ellia: wow, someone is snippy... so i take it you haven't been working on art?!

greenbeanbaby: i have.... but i've been working on getting a few achievements in gears of war 2

ellia: ah... you've been putting your xbox to use, eh?!

greenbeanbaby: yes... very much so... but in all honesty, i HAVE been working on alot of art... just not as much as i hoped...

ellia: what sort of stuff [artwise] is on your list?!

greenbeanbaby: christmas goodies for the shop... sketches for a friend [which will turn into 5 illustrations], a scrapbook, a few more custom orders... my list is very jam-packed but sadly, my energy doesn't match and i must make it so...

ellia: do you have plenty of coffee?!

greenbeanbaby: yes, when the kids aren't begging for a sip

ellia: speaking of the kids, how are they?!

greenbeanbaby: great and full of spunk... diego has been enjoying my new xbox AND my new chair... my mom gave me a christmas present early and it's a round pink awesomely soft chair...

ellia: nice!!! and isabella?

greenbeanbaby: she's been a sweetie but she has also been very um- TOO full of spunk...

ellia: how so? or should i not ask?!

greenbeanbaby: one minute she is all smiles and the next minute she is throwing a major tantrum... she cries so loud and hard that she ends up puking, leaving me disgusted, frustrated, and with another load of laundry to do...

ellia: wow, that sounds gross... is she 2 yet?!

greenbeanbaby: no, but she's acting like it... and then after a moment in the crib [where she honestly prefers] she is fine and dandy... but this happens about 3x a day...

ellia: it's gonna be quite the winter, eh?!

greenbeanbaby: indeed... that's probably why i'm not as full of energy like i'd wish for...

ellia: is there anything that you are working on the most?!

greenbeanbaby: well, the sketches for a friend were being completed fairly fast but i've had to make the scrapbook a priority

ellia: any reason?!

greenbeanbaby: yes... it's a very hard project to work on- emotionally.. it's a pro-bono piece for a family who's little boy has terminal cancer...  he may not make it to christmas and i want to make sure the family gets the book in time... my heart goes out to the family... you can read about carter here

ellia: last question, why are most of your pictures on this post blurry or off color?

greenbeanbaby: i was in a rush... i'll scan some of the products this week and also announce the etsy shop opening date...

ellia: awesome!! it was swell talking with you, greenbeanbaby

greenbeanbaby: it was swell talking with you too ellia!

a gamer [not] by nature

here's a little history about how greenbeanbaby got into gaming... we'll start back... wayyyyyyyy back... i was born in 1981.... and that was right around the time atari systems and games were all the rave... i was far too young to enjoy them... and although my parents were merely 21, neither were into games...

growing up, our family played a few board games... like pictionary... pictionary was often a mix of emotions... i mean, i was the artist so this was the right kinda game, right?! sadly, no one could really regonize my drawings so my team would lose... and my team's loss left me in tears, not to mention frustrated... pictionary became the game everyone dreaded... i wasn't a good loser [and at times, i am still not]... eventually, my sister and i resorted to a card game called "war"... that didn't require much havy duty strategy...

by 6th grade, i got to see what an atari looked like... maybe it was earlier but my memories revolve around 1992... we'd go to a friend's house and play pitfall or seaquest in the basement... classic! we'd even play on a black and white tv.. it was fun times, but by no means was i a good gamer... pac-man... did i ever win?! or what about river raid?! good thing atari had a "game reset" button...

around 1995, my mom started finding atari consoles at rummage sales... she'd find them in good condition although the controllers were not as easy to find... most of them had electric tape near the ends where cord meets controller... [hey, you know what i'm talking about!] she even found a sega master system... i swear, i thought that console was modern and IN... well, i think we were still nearly a decade late...  did i complain?! no way, jose! in fact, despite the fact we lived in a ritzy suburban area, i gloated about our many gaming systems...

still, i wasn't good at the games... in fact, i didn't become semi-good at SOME kinda game until i was married... so that was in 2004... we got a gamecube and ramel began me on mario kart, mario parties, and x-men legends... ask him how our early days of gaming were... fights about him killing all the bad guys and not giving me a chance left us worn out... or maybe it was just me... eventually we moved onto a bit of star wars and a few xbox originals....

then 2008 happened... it's a blur... somewhere i began playing halo 3 on ramel's xbox 360... it became an addiction... i started playing more games... and then ramel's xbox became MY xbox [only it was still really his]... what's mine is mine but what's his is ours ;) every few days, ramel would rave about how i needed my own system... in fact, we know a wonderful new york couple who each have their own... i think it was them that gave ramel hope that one day he'd not have to share his... i just wanted to play...

so you know what happened? ramel surprised me... with my very own xbox 360... as cole would say [from gears of war] YEAH BABY!!!!! IT'S ON!!!!!!!

so yes, i am doing artwork... a little slower today but don't worry, i won't give up my artwork to play games... i mean, i still couldn't beat one round of kung fu kid... still, the love for gaming runs in the family now... diego was so excited to play legos batman that he fell and "kissed" our kitchen floor... he was sad for only a moment... and he sat down to play games with a swollen lip but happy anyhow...

and i'm just happy to have my own system in my own studio with my own copy of gears of war 2...i wenet from owning atari systems to a sega master system to a nintendo ds to an xbox 360... thank you babe!!

ps. not all pictures match the paragraph below them... i just wanted to show off my atari games- and allow you the remember those days in the 80's...

a weekend gone swell...

what could make a bitterly cold weekend a SWELL weekend?! tons of mail goodness, that's what!!! [oh, and a bit of gears of war 2... but we shan't rant on my latest addiction right now]... the weekend began with a wonderful swap package from kimberly... scrumptious and beautiful sheets of paper had me droolin' like a fool...

and what about these BEAUTIFUL earrings she MADE?! four perfectly handmade earrings that isabella will NOT steal ;)... every single pair is a different style and each one suitable for any occasion [we'll ignore the fact that 90% of my occasions are trips to target]... miss kimberly is the sweetest, thank you!!!

my dear friend and gamin' buddy, alison sent along a few yummy goodies... roasted peas that are purely addicting... ramel has eaten mostly one bag on his own [she sent 3!!] and diego has even eaten a few... that is the closest he gets to any veggies so we must thank ali for contributing to his good health... it's a snack not to feel guilty over, eh?!

so not only is she a darn good halo partner and yes, a gears buddy too, she is a wonderful cookie cook!! these are mostly organic chocolate chip oatmeal coconut cookies... they were DELICIOUS!!! they didn't even last for 4hrs before the greenbean family devoured them... thank you so much ali!!

another dear friend, andrea [who sent along a package blogged about] sent isabella her very own magnetic drawing board... isabella kept taking diego's diego book so andrea gave isabella her own... wasn't that just sweet?! of course, the girl took a liking to it... and I GOT MORE PAPER.... can we squeal with delight?! more paper to drool at and no complaining that i ran out of red and brown paper for hair- hehe

on top of that, andrea won diego over with the coolest marvel shirt... diego's smile should say it all... the minute i opened it up, he was like "aw wow! that's so cool!! can i wear it now?!" and then he told me about every character minus daredevil... he loves his new shirt!!!  thank you so much sweet andrea for thinking of my family...

and yes, you see MORE goodness!!! sweet amy sent a care package to diego and isabella filled with candy and gummies and creative treats!!! isabella has a handmade felted hair clip which she'll be sportin' this week... and while the book is for her, gossie is a DARLING read for even me... [hey a mom likes having good reads too especially if kids want the same story read to them over and over]

amy and her family also sent diego a ton of creative books and crayons to keep him entertained and his creative juices flowing.... i had to keep isabella abay [that girl goes after ANY of diego's stuff... not like she is lackin' in toys and such]

but what diego loved the  most, was the toys!!!! can you tell?! we get these sort of sets at target often [in various characters]... he has all the iron mans, a couple star wars, a couple other people and now HULK and silver surfer.... these toys are called his "too smalls" and there are some that are just a wee bigger than the rest... like hulk is bigger than the surfer dude... but he is as big as one of the iron mans... so diego makes sure that those two characters play and fight together... he's organized in his toy strategy, eh?! thank you so much amy for such wonderfulness!!

and just today, in the middle of me blogging our friends came to visit [and lend us battlestar gallactica season 2].... karen handed me a HUGE pile of BEAUTIFUL wall paper 8x8" squares... oh, so many to drool at and use!!! so many silvers and whites and browns and golds- all perfect for some greenbeanbaby illustratin'... miss karen is a sweetie!!

now that was a long post... the greenbean family had a swell weekend for sure... we are all so grateful... and just to end the post, here is a photo of isabella in her new outfit ;)

gears of war 2

yes, i'm gonna be getttin' my gamin' on tonight and tomorrow... we got the game the minute it came out [midnight] and played horde mode... can we say, hot diggity dog?!

so have a wonderful weekend... we will ;)

ps. this illustration took only an hour... inspiration from such a gorey but awesome game

7 things a greenbeanbaby family did

1. today we voted... isabella and i...

2. today, isabella and i raked leaves... there was a TON!

3. this is the bug i found while raking... ramel took the photo since i'm not keen on bugs...

4. diego is a wonderful helper in the kitchen... he helped make p.b. cookies... see him smiling?! isabella helped too but really, she ate peanut butter off a separate spoon... ramel posed for the photo but he had nothing to do with making the cookies

5. ramel's illustration made it in game informer too!! isn't that awesome?! [his is the brown kratos]

6. diego and i made truffles [from this recipe] last night... ramel likes them... i hope my mom does too

7.here is my latest illustration... it's for a wonderful lil boy who is suffering from cancer... his name is carter... you can read his story here

this post was created because miss julie and miss jen tagged me for the "7 random facts"... i am to tag 7 others but would rather not this time... however, if you want to post your 7 random facts, let me know [you can comment here] i'd love to read it!

happy tuesday!