Day Trip to the Beach & Bayou City Wildlife

One of my favorite places to visit near Houston is Bayou City Wildlife. I end up going every couple years, and I always leave with a smile on my face.

Surprise date

I was busy organizing and hanging stored away art and photos on the wall when I took a quick seat at my desk to check my email. I have many "favorites" filed in my Bookmarks, but I have one called CultureMap Houston that I have only been to once before.

I saved it under my Personal folder which is where I keep my email and some of the social media websites I tend to visit more often, but this one CultureMap Houston-strange I would place it here when I've only been to it once before.

I clicked on it tonight and within a couple clicks and a couple minutes I found something
screaming my name for my husband: "hotdogs & beer."

So I looked up the address of this must eat place called Moon-Tower Inn and threw my fuzzy hat on, went upstairs and told Patrick I had a surprise for him and that he would need his jacket. Within 20 mins there we were standing in line outside in a dark yard ordering beer and hotdogs. Patrick was more than pleasantly surprised and we found a cozy spot next to one of the three outdoor fires.

Luckily, because Patrick and I have been going on picnics lately we had a fluffy blanket in my car to wrap around us and talk while we waited for our wild boar hotdog that we ended up sharing. Perfect Surprise date night for us. :)

Our attitude towards others determines their attitude towards us.
—Earl Nightingale

Today

Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control. To these I commit my life.

A time for painting

As 2012 draws to a close, I am finishing the year off with the start of a new painting series focusing on octopi. I would say the first image for an octopus painting came to me I believe back in 2009 when I was in CRNA school. I've been waiting since then to create him/her, but it has taken all the way until now.

Here is the first....I call him "Octopus # 1" and he is 39.5 by 35.5 inches. Consisting of a mixture of acrylic & oil paints on wood.

Here are some detail shots....

Next I chose a completely different color palette from how I usually paint and I'm glad I did. I think this one came out great. I love the shimmer of the silver.

"Octopus # 2" 24 by 24 inches, acrylic on birch

Next for "Octopus # 3" I chose pinks & some peach. My favorite things about this one are the background and composition.

"Octopus # 3" 24 by 24 inches, acrylic on birch

And finally here is a picture of me working in my studio art room!

shannonmurrayart.com

Wreath Making 2012

My friend Tiffany came and visited me last weekend from Austin and we were originally wanting to make Christmas tree skirts out of felt, but decided to make wreaths instead. We survived the mad rush of women at Michael's and made it home with plenty of time to make the wreaths before going to Uchi for dinner!

dinner & playlists

Aren't Saturdays the best? I think so.

Lazy Butters...

We grilled tuna steak for the first time over charcoal. Diced it and mixed it with sliced avocados, red onion, green onion, and toasted sesame seeds all mixed in a special sauce I made from scratch.

Then salads with homemade pesto made fresh from basil grown in the backyard.