A Girl With Attitude

I'm LEARNING. I AM.
It feels so good to see some progress.

• I'm learning how to blend my acrylics! THIS IS HUGE PEOPLE!! I'm so happy about that!
• I'm learning that I can use good paper to paint on and not just canvas and that they don't take up so much room (under the bed) and it reminds me of my journal which feels very comfortable.
• I'm learning to let my attitude show- that it is okay that I'm not SWEET, like some people I envy- that I have a EDGE-y-ness and I can let it show in my art.
• I'm learning that if I can't get a desired affect with one medium, then I can with another. The world is MMMIIINE in art supplies MMMMAAAHHHH.
• I'm learning that I can make it any darn thing I want it to be and that I don't have to show it to anyone if I don't want to - that I paint until I like it- period.
• I'm learning to use my hands in the paint and to rub charcoal in for drama, but wipe it off for goodness sake on the end of your fingers before you go back into it!
• I'm learning that consistently working, leaving a mess in your kitchen, everyday, does produce results and you can still cook with half a counter.

You can't imagine how much your encouragement has spurred me on.

One thing to ask- I haven't actually painted the words in - I only digitally placed them to see if I like them (another lesson). I would really like your honest opinion about the left side of the painting. Any better ideas?

• OH, and I've learned to ask my friends when I get stumped.

Conviction

con.vic.tion :

1) the act of convicting

2) the state of being convinced: strong belief

One of my favorite authors, Oswald Chambers, said, "It is easy to be determined, and the curious thing is that the more small-minded a man is the more easily he makes up his mind. ..... The difference between an obstinate man and a strong-minded man lies just here: an obstinate man refuses to use his intelligence when a matter is in dispute, while a strong-minded man makes his decision after having deliberately looked at it from all standpoints, and when opposed, he is willing to give reasons for his decision."

I have had many strong convictions and beliefs. I have been a person of strong opinions and never afraid to share them. And I've lived long enough to see many of them shot down and left to die a slow, tortuous death.

I have learned that there are very, very few real convictions that are worth more than relationships.

We should chose our convictions very carefully.

and the hill we chose to die on.

Or in the end we can be become a convict of our convictions.

Can you stand a little cheesy romance?

Sometimes you get magical paintings and sometimes you get a magical day.

You know, one of those days when you are so freakin happy in the moment that you think you could cry.

But I didn't.

Because Sweet Farmer is still clueless and gets confused about a woman's tears other than when someone dies.

It started out with a hearty breakfast and a good movie in bed! YEh, no hay to cut, rake or bale.

Then we rode on the Harley through the Hondo Valley to the little historic town of Lincoln, New Mexico. Now the Hondo Valley is the place that inspired the likes of artists Peter Hurd and Henrietta Wyeth. We ate at the Laughing Sheep Farm which is tucked right outside the quaint little town. This eccentric little place grows most of their own organic food and I could see the tomato plants and most of my other salad veggies growing right outside the open screen window by our table. That hot pink thing you see on my plate was a quail egg marinated in sweet beet juice. I had fresh vegetable soup with quail meat and rice and a generous glass of pignot grigio. And I just basked in the sunlit room, with a guitar player singing old songs, and a big white Pyrenees dog named "Bear" sleeping in the foyer. Sweet Farmer asked me several times if I was having fun because he knew that it was sooo my kind of place - simple and romantic with natural foods and natural surroundings. I just smiled and ordered a sweet apple crisp with caramel coffee and SF practically had to pry me from my chair when it was time to go.

This little pond was right outside.

I lay down in the grass and rolled around like a fat cat on cream and looked over at my Sweet Farmer, and thanked the whole universe for giving me this million-dollar-day.

And then he took me to my favorite art gallery in Lincoln.

And on the way home on the back of the motorcycle, I did cry a little when I thought about how happy I am, but the wind blew the tears away - swift and efficiently, and all Sweet Farmer knew was that I squeezed him a little tighter around his middle as we rode back down the valley and I could see him smile in the wing mirror.

It's one thing to create a great painting in a life-time, it's another thing to live within it.

It's cheesy- but that's how I feel today- thank you.

Animals Gone Wild

Thank you all for your encouragement regarding my last little odd painting. Nothing quite as magical as that has happened again even though I've tried to re-create that mystical experience, but it did spur a highly-creative period for me. I'm trying to enjoy different color palettes and techniques and continue to be loosey-goosey in my expectations and let things happen as they may.

Remember these fun little images. Well, I followed through and made some cards out of them and tried new techniques that included sewing and collaging.

So much fun!!

There is no way to fail using these messy and shabby chic ideas.

And I'll leave you with another little odd animal painting although it slightly resembles me and Sweet Farmer on a Sunday afternoon. We feel like snuggly, big, lazy blobs sometimes.

A quick thank-you to Kre8iveLife
for a sweet blog award. I don't really like the crazy roundy-rounds of blog awards but I do TRULY appreciate it when you think of me. I loved looking at the other blog friends that she included in the award and you will too.

My list would include all those listed to the right of my blog and all my followers. They constantly inspire me everyday- and that's the honest truth.

5 things I love:

walking on the farm

hearing my son sing

watching my daughter sew

blueberries

my kitchen bar messy with art supplies

"The Gathering"

This is a real painting finally (unlike my journal pages) on board with acrylics. I painted the back painting using some of my favorite colors and let it dry. Then I began to look at the board to decide what kind of drawing I wanted to start with- I had NO pre-conceived ideas.

NOW THIS IS THE FREAKIE WEIRD PART!

These little creatures just began to appear!! I am not lying- and I wasn't smokin' anything or drinkin.

I just took a pencil and began drawing around what I saw as quickly as I could before they disappeared. The first one was the little woman/ground squirrel in purple thing. She just made me smile and then there was the next and the next. They were all just standing there looking at one another like they were having an animal meeting over a serious subject. The fence was sort of there, but I went ahead and filled it all the way in to give the painting some continuity.

It was so much fun and SO EASSSSY to draw them, then to just paint them and darken the backgrounds so that they would stand out.

I'm sure this has happened to someone else besides me- but you need to share it with me - because I'm a little freaked out. I mean, I've been practicing making watercolors and "finding" fun little animals since I got the new book from Carla Sonheim but this was different. Mystical- Magical. These little creature/peoples just said, "I'm waiting- draw me out" like a Beatrix Potter moment.

I've tried it again but it didn't happen. So, I want to know from those that it has happened to if I can expect it back -whatever IT was.... BECAUSE IT WAS A BLAST!

I'm just feeling so much blog love right now. Where would I be without the blogs and art sites that I can visit right from my little ole desk? It constantly amazes me. But more than that, it feeds me. Literally. My mind craves and hungers for art. It's like music and nature and love to me. It must be a part of my everyday, walking around life.

I'm sure many of you have been following 30 Journals 30 Days . If not, you are in for a absolute treat. Within those blog post and interviews were reminders to me that I can't fail, that I have to let go.

Ahhhhhhhh.......letting......... goooooooooo. I do Yoga to let go and I do art to let go. It sounds so cliche "letting go" but letting my mind spill out (not my mouth)- letting my creative dreams have a new birth outside myself. It's a silent revolution in my soul's deepest heart. (can you tell I struggle for the words?) while I silence my critic that chases me around and tells me to hold tight, expect failure and mediocrity.

It's still true that my art bounces around everywhere- that I haven't found my style, my own niche. But I'm okay with that. Really. It's too soon still. That would be like a child who wants to know what they will be when they grow up. The truth is.. I've never known where I was going. For instance, if someone would have told me that I would fall in love with learning to ride dirt bikes when I turned 50, I would have laughed at the ridiculous idea. But here I am - with my grandson-having the time of my life!

So I'm just growing up. I take a new trail pretty often and I'm enjoying the scenery.

I'm using a lot more tools these days, less rules. Lots of paper. Lots of instinctive-gut-stuff. Using the Internet and books for inspiration. The main thing is: I really get that if I don't like a drawing or a painting- I just haven't finished it yet.

I'm learning the same acceptance for myself.

I'm so happy that I wake up everyday with another new chance to grow toward up.

Full Nest

All my chicks came to visit last week, including my Mom and Dad. We had a full house and when they left, although we love the quiet, we missed the constant energy they created while they were here. It truly was a singing, busy little nest.

I layered on this page in my journal while it laid on the kitchen bar between meals, and snacks and visits.

But I wasn't the only one creating.

My mother had taught my daughter, Joli, to make a ruffle, and this is Joli now passing on a sewing lesson to her little niece.

My son-in-law took some Sculpey and made this adorable cowboy head because I told him I wanted to make an art doll sometime. He is a very talented cowboy artist.

Then my Dad tried his hand at it. This was his first time to mold a head with clay. Isn't it amazing?

It still needs baking and paint.

Then, of course, I had to try and I started this head and then my Dad put the finishing touches to it. We think these would make interesting and clever wine stoppers.

There was lots of love and lots of creative energy flowing around, where the corn is growing high and pumpkin plants coming up for fall make the perfect back-drop.

I caught Cash loving on a toad.

I'm a blessed little bird to have such a sweet nest of goodness.

New Art Book

ALERT- to those who have a weakness for new art books.

If you need a little fun in your life and need to loosen up - well, I've the got the book for you.

I just got my signed copy in from Carla Sonheim - hot off the press.

I went crazy devouring it and experimenting with the new ideas.

It gives you 52 little creative exercises to improve your drawings and make drawing fun and stress free.

I had a lot of fun with the 8th chapter where you just paint red, yellow and blue on a page and then "find" the creature(s) in the random paint marks. I found that it really helped train my eye to work with the paint and encouraged my imagination and also helped me to trust my instincts.

Aren't these funny?? Like my little grandson says: "Sometimes I just crack myself up".

(This one of the cat came about by looking at a cracked wall and finding an image .)Exercise 38

Is this serious art? Maybe not. I think these will make great collages for cards and make my friends smile. They will be fun exercises to share with my grandsons. I think I will go back to this every time I begin to take myself too seriously. Thanks CARLA Freakin Awesome SONHEIM!

Go ahead - crack yourself up today and we'll share the grins.

Draw, and don't waste time.

Odd little portrait, isn't it?

Some of the strangest, unusual people are coming forward in my new journal. This one inspired from a quote from Michelangelo to his apprentice:

"Draw Anthony. Draw, Anthony, draw and don't waste time."

I'm a Drawer. Drawing relaxes me. Quiets my mind. Stills my soul. Takes me away. Brings me home. It is my resting place. A meditation. A prayer.

A practice.

A journey.

Did I mention that drawing really matters to me?


I gain a little confidence in these sketches and then try to draw a portrait of a real person, my oldest grandson.

This is Gus. Except it's not quite Gus. There is something definitely missing and wrong but for the life of me, I can't fix it. I caught something of him, but there is something still very elusive just beyond my seeing eye.

And then I lose my confidence- put my book down. Throw my pencil. Walk away. Discouraged.

Until I look up a portrait I tried to draw of Gus in a earlier journal (two years ago).

And I realize, my drawing everyday does matter . My failures and attempts are bringing me closer to that elusive dream and higher goal of good art, and my eye is getting finely tuned and my hand is getting more skilled. It's right there in the old journal page. Thank you sweet portrait. I love you too, even though you're raw and basic and young and awkward.

So I tell myself again.

Don't give up. Keep drawing. Draw and don't waste time.

New Ways To Enjoy Your Favorite Art Pieces

I've been having some fun over here by taking some of my favorite art pieces and making them into little glass pendant necklaces that I can wear with my t-shirts or give as gifts.

This is certainly not a new thing but it was the first time I've tried it. It might be new to you also

so here are the links that were very helpful in getting me started:
http//www.willowing.org/2009/03/how-to-make-glass-art-pendant.html


If you're like me and live out in the middle of nowhere, you can buy your supplies from this excellent on-line merchant, Annie Howes ,who sends them very quickly and sends good quality materials.


The cable necklaces or cord necklaces and can be purchased at Hobby Lobby or Amazon.com. I like the ones with the magnetic clasp. They are also pretty on unique silk ribbon cords. Shop around because they really vary in prices.


I can just imagine some of the beautiful jewelry my blogger friends can make with their fantabulous images and then share them with their friends and family.

I also have a new art journal (moleskin) and I decorated the cover with some molding paste and paint.

It's the 7th for me, but a new one always feel like a fresh start. It holds the hope of my new art, my improved art and my own art signature upon the universe. I often imagine that a great-great-granddaughter will open them up and they will be like a treasure chest of inspiration for her own passions someday....

If you some ideas and better links about these projects please share them in your comments for myself and others who might be interested.