Rosemary's 1st 7th Birthday Party

Here's some slides of our little party we had for Rosie last night.  I didn't get any pics of the cake but I did get evidence of Joey opening one of Rosie's gifts.  Rosemary was very gracious about it.

Happy Birthday Rosie!

Rosemary is 7 years old today!

First thing is a birthday party at school and then presents when she gets home!

(and Grammy called at 6:55am to sing to her!)

Peter Pics

These are already on my Facebook page, but I'll post them here, as well.  Some pictures of Peter (and some of his siblings, too.)

Two Of a Kind

Here's Rosemary and Carmellina going to school together for the first time.  (Carmellina only had orientation yesterday.)  Rosemary is in her gym uniform.  Carmellina is very excited about her jumper and her new sneakers.

First Day of First Grade

Here's Rosemary in a slightly over-sized jumper on her first day of elementary school!

Got Art?

Since I have all sorts of free time on my hands (ha) I decided to start a second blog. Actually, this one is for my art students. It's a resource they can use to keep up with the 24 slides a week that I bombard them with in class. Take a look at http://ccaarthistory.blogspot.com/ to see what it's like. You can search for an artist by course or by the artist's name. There's even a weekly study guide for the current quiz.

The Fam

Peter Tiberias Rohs Sinagra

Peter T.R. Sinagra's First Day

Summer Vacation 2009

We had a great time this summer when Joey, Jessie, Rosemary, Carmellina and Joseph visited us for 3 weeks! Besides for Joey working very hard on his drawings, we also had a fun time enjoying the great outdoors! There were at least 4 visits to the beach, swimming in family and friends' pools, and having family visit. Can't wait for next summer!

The Hardest Part

This Friday is Jessie's due date.
The house is ready.
The bags are packed.
We're all ready.
All we can do now is wait...

I CAN'T STAND THIS PART!!!

Carmellina

So we're back in Philly now. I managed to pull of 12 "nature studies" while we were in NY. Now as we wait for the arrival of the new baby, I'm attempting to do some newer drawings of the girls. Carmellina is going first. Here are some slides to give you an idea of how it's going so far:

Day 39

So, Joe's work has been flourishing this week despite birthday events and many, many interruptions. He has always wanted to draw a rose and finally had the opportunity to because of this time in New York. We are very aware of God's hand in directing this endeavor even though we can't see the finished product of it.

What a refreshing time we are having too! Our parents have been so very helpful in caring for our children with us and fully supportive of us as artists (not many struggling artists will tell you that). Their love for us and encouragement is just one more facet of God's love for us and encouragement in using our artistic gifts to provide for our family.

And that is our prayer in this creative experiment: that God would enable us to use our talents to simply supplement Joe's income. From experience though, we expect He will do more. Please continue to pray for us specifically that God would provide buyers for our work and further commissions throughout the year. There will be more images in a few days as Joe begins his final series of seashells.

Thank you for reading, enjoy the work, and may God bless and keep you.



Begun... Completed Calla Lilly.

Day 34

Two more! An oak leaf and a maple leaf. He rendered the stem so well on the oak that I feel like I could pluck it from the page. And the maple leaf suffered alteration by our almost two year old son, who in emulating his daddy, tried to use a paper blending stump over most of the drawing. Joe very patiently corrected Joey and his work and the outcome is all the better for both. Now we keep a gate across the living room where the studio is to avoid further "artistic endeavors" upon Joe's work. Our little guy can keep practicing at the kitchen table with crayons for now.

Yesterday Joe had about two or three hours of uninterrupted work time and was able to complete a rendering of a pear. It is unphotographed, but once he has a few more I'll post them.

Have a blessed Lord's Day!

Day 32

Happy 32nd Birthday Joe!!!!
It is a sunny, breezy day (would you expect anything else for his birthday?) and full of fun and giggles. The girls were very excited to celebrate and give him his gift from them. Joey, our son, was just happy to tackle him with hugs and big kisses. Here are a few pictures from this morning's festivities.

And since it is his birthday, he's taking the day off from drawing. I'll post the new studies tomorrow.

Day 29

Here are some pictures of Joe's completed work. Please excuse the amateur photography...there is a lot more contrast in the actual pieces. We hope to have the fruit and future nature studies professionally scanned and printed when Joe is done. Enjoy!

Day 27

To all of our faithful readers: Sorry for the delay in our next entry. The change of hands in blogging took a bit of time with inexperienced me (Jessie) taking the wheel. I hope you enjoy my portion of this experiment, though I make no promises of beautifully edited videos with a score. There will be pictures though! Once I learn how to add them. :)

We arrived in New York safely after a brief stop-over in Philadelphia. Joe took his motorcycle and I followed at a distance with the minivan full of children, luggage, and our dog. We had a perfect ride with beautiful weather all the way.

Now, being here since the fifteenth of July, Joe has completed the commissioned piece from last summer and begun his work of nature studies. He launched his first attempt today by photographing a plum, an apple, and a cherry. By midafternoon he astonished us all by displaying a finished 5X7 plum study...it is such a delicious rendering that Rosemary was tempted to pluck it from the page. Joe feels these type of drawings will not take much time to do because compared to a face, the fruit is just a lump with a stem. Good point, but what an accomplishment for his growth as a artist to crank out a drawing that a few years ago would have taken him much longer.

As for the children and myself we are happy to play in the yard at Grandma and Papa's, splash in the pool, slide down the slide, and just enjoy the time here. I don't think we've completely turned the house upside down, but we've definitly loosened the look of Dad's carefully manicured house. Since Friday we've also enjoyed having Grandma Oreste, Joe's grandmother, here to stay. We've had two cookie fringed visits with Uncle Dom, her son and Joe's mom's brother, who brought the girls black and whites cookies on Friday and rainbow cookies yesterday for Joe. Yummy Italian cooking abounds with sausage and peppers one night and meatballs and ravioli tonight (the girls helped Joe's mom make the meatballs...Carmellina especially takes an interest in cooking). We are definitly well fed-even unborn baby Sinagra.

More soon!

Day 22

Day 18

Day 17

Day 15...take two