Drawings & Paintings

Cartoon painting of Sheba. Just an extracarricular painting that I did at home.


Self portrait ... it doesn't look much like me. There's a "mask" peering between my arm - the mask is weird looking.


Charcoal drawing from figure drawing class


Pencil drawing from drawing II class


Pencil drawing from drawing II class


Drawing II class - charcoal drawing...


Drawing II class. We had to glue papers on top of paper.


Charcoal drawing from drawing II class. Cecille's wedding in Cozumel inspired this drawing.


Charcoal drawing from drawing II class.


Vine charcoal and charcoal drawing from drawing II class.


Vine charcoal and charcoal drawing from drawing II class.


Vine charcoal drawing from drawing II class.


Pastel drawing from drawing II class.


My final for drawing II class. I got an A!! This is a piece of matte board spray painted with blackboard paint. I used conte crayons, pastels, sidewalk chalk, & charcoal. We had to draw about something that was happening in our lives. The instructor really liked this piece. I'm very happy with the result.



This is a charcoal drawing of some paper bags from drawing II class.

This is a painting by my 7 year old Amelia. She loves to paint!

Congratulations Jenny & Jeremy!

Congratulations to Jenny & Jeremy!

Website updates!

More flowers from my sweet husband!

I'm working on the website! It's almost done. I want to add a lot more photos and will try to do that this week! I have a few more pages to make such as FAQ's and comments. I have to update the galleries to several of the topics that I have. I'm excited about the new website. A special thanks to Michelle for designing my logo. I think it's fun and vibrant!
I'm really excited about 2007. I have been getting a lot of inquiries and will be meeting quite a few brides this week and next! Dates are filling up fast and I am so thankful to all of the awesome brides that I'm photographing this year!

Well....Doug & I are still on the search for a house. Now I'm just praying we find something nice and get moved in before the summer! We are concentrating on the Rogers/Bentonville area as there is nothing for sale in Fayetteville! Most everything for sale in Fayetteville are condos and we don't want that as we really need a backyard.

Lori.....

Well....Lori moved to L.A.! She's big time now! ;-) Lori was shooting so many weddings in L.A. that it just made sense for her to move! Anyways, I assisted her at the last wedding she photographed here in Fayetteville. I was surprised to see the governer as the officiant! I got a picture of Lori meeting the governor. I thought it was pretty neat. I'm really really going to miss Lori. She & I had such a good time at weddings and a great time eating at La Huerta! I'll just have to visit her in L.A. I'm gonna miss you girl!

We lost baby Marshall

Doug got this tattoo. BM stands for baby Marshall. We are both upset about the loss. Doug wanted to keep the memory. The heart is part of a whole big design on his arm. I will post pictures of his arms sometime soon.

I had been in bed since Tuesday Jan 2nd. I started to bleed on Tuesday and went to the ER at the doctors recommendation. Doug & I were there for close to 7 hours. I was sent home to "rest" and call the doctor in the morning because the ER couldn't decide what was going on. After 2 visits to the doctor and having blood tests done, it was determined that I needed a D&C due to hormone levels only going up somewhat but not doubling. After having the D&C, I was told I'd need shots of methotrexa-something (can't remember the name) but basically I needed the shots to dissolve the baby since it found its way in my tube. So I was pregnant with a tube baby. Everything else was fine but the baby was in the wrong place. My tummy went back down and I'm doing fine today. I had to do the proecedure on Friday. Doug & I said a lot of prayers to take baby Marshall and keep him/her safe. We won't try to get pregnant until the end of 2007. I want to finish the spring & fall semester of 2007 at school and shoot weddings this summer. So there are a lot of positive things that can come out of this tragedy. Doug & I are devestated naturally......but we are happy that we have each other & Amelia.

Pictures!

My friend Kelly. She married Adil earlier this year. They are so sweet!

Amelia & I riding the sleigh at the square for Amelia's birthday.

Doug, Amelia & I riding the sleigh around the square!

Doug & Amelia being silly!

The 3 of us plus Amelia's baby doll that she has had forever!

I'm already showing!!!! Doug is a twin.....and twins run in my family......hmmm.....makes me wonder....

Siloam Springs Nursing Home

Amelia & I went to the Siloam Springs Nursing & Rehab to help Santa hand out candy to residents. Amelia got to be his little elf. It was very cute! I've been talking to Amelia a lot this Christmas season about helping others and doing things for others to bring a smile to their faces. She's such a sweetie. She wanted to donate her savings to kids that don't have toys.

Well darn....

Well darn.....we had the house inspected but the seller didn't have the gas turned on. They were in breech of contract and did not have the gas on for the inspection. We still went thru with it but didn't like all the little things wrong with the place. Not knowing about the gas water heater, furnace & hot water made us decide to back out of the deal. So it was not meant for us. Doug & I decided that God will lead us to the right house. So back to the drawing board! At least Doug & I learned a lot during the inspection. We now have a better idea on what to look for when looking at houses. I did fall in love with several houses in Siloam Springs when Amelia & I went to the nursing home last Thursday. There are so many cute houses in Siloam Springs and they are priced better than Fayetteville. Who knows where we will end up. It's very stressful looking around and making decisions. So back to looking.........the saga continues...........

Studio

Studio Space.....Chris and I are going to rent this space out. It's pretty cool! Close to 800 square feet of open space. Lots of natural window light and wall space for backdrops. There are so many wonderful shooting opportunities in this space. After a fresh coat of paint, sweep & mop - presto - It will be as good as new! I love all the storage, too. I will now have a place for all my dress up clothes! YAY!

House!

OK....so we put an offer on a house & they came back with a counter offer of $2,000 more and we agreed upon it. Doug signed the papers and we are getting a house inspection on Wednesday the 20th........before Christmas! Eeeek! If all goes well.....we can be in the house by January 16th or earlier. I am opting for earlier since the 1st day of school for me is the 16th! Doug & I are nervous and excited! I can't believe that we are going to own a house - finally! Both of us have dreamt of owning a home but because we were married to the wrong people in the past - it never happened. I have an awesome husband, perfect little daughter and now onward to owning a home! YAY! Then next year we can start work on a baby!

Fingers crossed.........hope the inspection goes well!

Miscellaneous Pictures

Christmas is around the corner! Doug & I put up our Christmas tree. I got an ornament for us to put on the tree to start our new memories together. Doug loves Christmas and I do, too. I've been shopping for gifts for awhile now and gathering little things here & there for him. I just have to think of something extra special to get for him! ;-) I can't believe how fast this year has gone by and I'm thankful that I managed and did so well! I had my finals today and I was so nervous I made myself sick! It's over now.....tests are done, I've sold my books, and I've signed up for classes for next semester. I have 2 classes that I'm signed up for now. 3D design and computers & art. I need to sign up for 2 more. I'm so thankful that Doug supports me and my endeavors. I got my final project back from art class and I got an A! I will have to photograph some of my works and post it on my blog. I won't be able to post my final project because an ex of mine may find it offensive because he'll assume it's about him (oye vay!) but my class did get a good kick out of it! ;-) I'll have to post it next spring. I did get an A on it, though! My instructor wrote this: This drawing is very ambitious and very successful! Good intergration of various elements - well constructed. Good use of materials! What I did-I bought a huge piece of matte board. I spray painted it with chalk board paint. I then drew my outlines with chalk and did the rest of it in conte crayon, charcoal, chalk & pastels. It was a huge mess but I enjoyed drawing it out. It's awesome! My instructor thought it was good.
Well Doug and I are still on the hunt for a house. We've been everywhere from Bella Vista to Fayetteville. Bella Vista & Rogers look promising as far as housing.....Fayetteville is grossly overpriced. We made an offer on a house in Rogers but the seller was stubborn. The seller bought the house last year for $120K (totally remodeled gorgeous 2 story victorian) and he was trying to sell for $153K but made zero improvements on the place - not to justify the price jump. He had it for one year and didn't want to budge. I'm not about to give away money for something he paid only $120K for last year! No way! So Doug & I moved on. I swear I have seen one too many houses. Our realtors are so sweet! Some of my friends have suggested we wait until after Christmas because more houses will come on the market. It's all about patience!!! I just want to get in our 1st home with a house payment on something we own!!!! What a concept! ;-)


Amelia on the square.

Lena & Doug! My husband is so handsome! These are my favorite kind of photos! Holding the camera up myself and smiling!

Amelia as a cheerleader for Halloween!

Amelia riding the camel on the square.

Lena & Doug on the square.

Senior Pictures!

Pictures of Sherrie. She needed senior photos done. We went to Springdale and used the wonderful orange wall that is located downtown.

NWA Roller Girls

I had to choose 2 lovely ladies from the NWA Roller Girls to photograph for a calendar. I chose Sin & Nixin. I think they photograph so well! These are 2 of the many 100's of photos I shot on Sunday.

Christmas on the Square

I am doing Christmas portraits on the square! I've had several families come out to get some fun family photos to use in their Christmas cards. I charge $75 for the shoot and I burn you a CD of about 50 images to choose from. I give you rights to make prints for your Christmas cards! If you're interested in doing this, now is the time!

The Brain Died :-(

"The Brain" died this morning at about 10am. Doug took him to the vet and while he was there he passed away. Poor little guy. He was the sweetest cat and I claimed him when he moved in when Doug & I got married. His brother "Pinky" is alive & kicking, though. So no more Pinky & The Brain. We only have Pinky now. It has been a sad day. I am really going to miss "The Brain." He was such a nice cool mellow cat. He died of some kind of heart failure.......I was really dreading telling Amelia. I didn't want to. When we got home today I told her and she was sad but then she said "well, momma....at least we now only have one cat to clean up after in the litterbox!" I just love the way she makes the negative into a positive.

RIP - "The Brain"

Updates

Oh goodness.....my website is down......It's a big mess. The company that I bought the domain name from wants the last 4 digits of the credit card I used to set it up. Well....that was about 2 years ago & my ex is not going to give me the digits - he probably can't remember them either! Soooo.... now it is a waiting game to do a bunch of different paperwork. It's so crazy! Well, in the meantime I am taking the dreamweaver workshops from Eve at the university. (dreamweaver is what I use to build my website) I've learned some good useful things such as tables, layers, how to make a template, and adding pop-up menus to a webpage. I think the next workshop will be on how to do galleries and other fun little things on the website. I've learned so much already. I even learned some stuff in fireworks as well! It's very interesting stuff. I'm really enjoying my work study job on campus at the multi media resource center. This semester is almost over and I'm so happy about that. I am going down to part-time next semester and re-focusing myself on wedding photography. I'm going back to shooting weddings and I can't wait for the semester to be over so I can start marketing and delving back into the fun job of photographing weddings!

Well Doug & I have been married for over a month and it has been amazing! It took about 2 weeks to adjust to our likes/dislikes but now that we understand each others quirks, it makes sense. It is simply amazing to have someone who wants to do things with you. While I cook dinner, Doug is in the kitchen cleaning the dishes I have used to cook with. We do laundry together and fold laundry together, it's a pretty "hot" thing to do ;-) he he he he! We share in everything and it's awesome. He takes so much interest in what Amelia & I do. He's always supporting us and talking to us, he doesn't ignore us which is wonderful! I never dreamed in a million years that I would be this happy. Amelia & Doug get along so awesome, too. It is absolutely amazing being married to someone so awesome. Doug & I talk for hours and are always cuddling. Amelia is always yelling "hey! make room for 3!!"

Doug & I are buying a house!!!! We got approved for a home loan so we have been looking around at homes. I am running around with the realtor tomorrow to look at about 15 different homes. Goodness....I hope I can remember all of them!

I haven't updated my blog in forever! Thanksgiving is around the corner. Doug & I are going to Little Rock to visit tons of family & his friends and go to the LSU/Razorback game! I can't wait to cozy up to my sexy husband under a blanket and scream for the hogs! He's got me watching football and really....it's not that bad! It's a little more exciting than I thought.

We got our Christmas cards done. Now I need to type up addresses and mail them out after Thanksgiving........hopefully we'll be in a new house before Christmas - we'll see!

Another picture from the wedding....

Shawn sent me this photo that she took with her little digital camera and I just love it!!!! I had to share! :-)

I am married!!!!!!!

I am married!!!! I married the man of my dreams. The love of my life! The most romantic sweetest man I have ever met is now my husband! I feel like the luckiest woman on this planet. He treats Amelia & I with so much love & respect. It's a wonderful feeling to be loved and cherished.

Here are some photos from the wedding: http://www.lenaregina.com/wedding01.html There may be some typos but I was typing fast and I was exhausted when I made the pages. My little brother Victor took the photos with my camera.

We got married at the 5th annual shimmyfest.....you can visit that site at: www.shimmyfest.com It was such a fun party and there wasn't a dry eye in the audience! It was the wedding of my dreams and I couldn't have asked for a better wedding!!!

The rumors are true ;-)

I am getting married this Saturday October 7th at the Radisson during shimmyfest!!! Doug said I'd be surrounded by what I love most! Amelia, Doug, family, friends & of course - belly dance! It was his idea to be married in my "mess" of mad belly dance and I can't think of a better way to celebrate. We have cheesecake and carrot cake ready to go. Our wedding will be simple but an outrageous party as well. Princess Farhana is setting up the zeffa for the wedding.....I have the centerpieces bought, my dress is ROCKIN - holy cow - the color is amazing, oh the heels rock, too and the marriage license. What more do we need? Just love, friends, and fun! I don't want a big wedding but I do want to be surrounded by everyone that is awesome. Doug & I are saying our vows to each other. We've been "practicing" our kiss - it's gonna be hot! ;-) Everytime Doug is telling me what he's thinking of saying for our vows he starts to tear up. I can already tell that there won't be a dry eye at the ceremony. I'm already tearing up thinking of what he will say. He's also going to do something special for Amelia. It's gonna be so sweet!

SHIMMYFEST!!!!!

Rome

So I went to the 1st meeting in the art department about going to Rome in the summer. I can't imagine being there & just immersing myself in art and drawing. Taking pictures and drawing some more! The trip includes Venice & Florence. I saw the art displays from last years trip and it is just amazing! I spoke to one of the guys that went on the trip last year and he was telling me it was a chance of a lifetime. I told my art instructor today that I was still VERY interested in going. I have a special savings account set up just for this. YAY!

New Look, New things happening ....

Well I decided to change the whole look of my website. I only have the 1st page up - the front page - but it's a start! The links work but each link will change dramatically in the next couple of weeks. I decided to lean towards photography on my website. Enough sitting around and twiddling my thumbs, wondering what I should do. For now, I'm going to continue shooting weddings. I have fun at weddings and I really love being part of the fun day that brides plan for themselves. It's fun to see the whole process and to watch a wedding unfold before my eyes. I won't be doing 50 weddings each year but I'd like to book about 20 weddings throughout the year. Since I am going to school full-time, I'd like to devote as much time to my daughter as I can plus study and devote time to brides. If I shoot too many weddings then how can I put 100% focus on each bride? Yeah, I think 20 will be good for next year! So if you're engaged - call or e-mail me! My prices are super awesome (so I have heard) and I'm really relaxed and easy to get along with. ;-) I include negatives with the package and I'm very flexible with the needs of my brides!
I'm also focusing on boudoir photography. I am shooting a boudoir session this Sunday! YAY! I love photographing boudoir/lingerie/nudes, etc. They are so much fun and I since I am a woman, I know exactly how we feel! So if you are feeling a bit daring and want to do something fun and different - contact me!
And of course I am still teaching belly dance on Sundays at 5pm. I love all my students and we have such a good time in class.
I guess you could say I like being well rounded!