Owls!

  I LOVE OWLS. I liked them before the owl craze that seems to be everywhere lately. I'm planning and brainstorming ideas for Salem's new room in the new house. And naturally, I want there to be owls incorporated into the decor. Chris says if I keep pushing owls on Salem, she's going to end up hating them.

Like I said, I liked them before they started popping up in Target on shirts, jewelry, and purses. My love for them began three summers ago when Chris was deployed.

As some of you know, Chris was in the Marines for 4 years. Thankfully he only deployed once, to Afghanistan. He was gone for 10 torturous months. It was the hardest thing I've ever been through. During the deployment, I decided to leave NC to return to LA to be around family with the hopes that it would ease my loneliness. I stayed with my inlaws for a few months, which surrounded me with memories of my husband and me back in high school.

The road he lives off of is a winding country road that runs along a river. It was on this scenic road one particularly lonely night, that I was driving home to my inlaws, extremely upset about God knows what. I remember being on the verge of tears, trying to pay attention to the road, when to the side of the road I saw this owl. Just a typical country owl, sitting on the side of the road, eyes glowing in my headlights. He stayed there looking at me until I passed, and the flew away. Being the sentimental-Disney-princess-loving type of girl I am, the pretty majestic owl made me cry. I had this feeling God put him there on the side of the road to cheer me up. I felt like God was saying "Here Steph, look at this beautiful creature. I sent him to make you smile."

So that's my story. I once saw an owl on the side of the road and thus began my love affair with owls.
SO, back to Salem's room...

  This is the painting I recently finished for Salem's room. I drew much inspiration from this pic I found online.

The painting is acrylic on canvas  and took probably 10 hours altogether.
(Of course that wasn't all at once, silly. It transpired over many nights while watching House with Chris after Salem was in bed.)
This is the first of many owls you will see in Salem's nature themed nursery.
So Salem, you're stuck with them in your room :)