Making Stuff

Anetka , one of my favorite bloggers had sketched a picture of Queen Victoria and it reminded me of an image I had seen of Elizabeth I. So while we watched the Other Boleyn Girl (the book was better), I sketched Queen Elizabeth. Mom and I have always been fascinated with the Tudors and Elizabethan history. My sweet husband bore with us as he doesn't feel well today, with a crick in his neck, and he does not particularly like romances and drama.

So, it being a holiday, with him feeling bad, we've stayed at home all day. It's amazing what you can get accomplished when you stay at home. I mowed the yard. I finished two, wild dragonfly pillows. And I painted some shoes my daughter bought at Target and tried to give them an Anthropologie feel, but I didn't quite achieve it. She will enjoy them anyway. They certainly didn't have an Anthropologie price!!

I am grateful for the holiday and opportunities to be creative.

Hol-i-daze

We had a picnic at our small park with our church group to celebrate an early Fourth of July. My husband cooked the hamburgers and hotdogs and we had cupcakes and homemade icecream. Little kids were jumping in the water and running up to the table for cupcakes and older people were just enjoying the outing. I was sitting with my Mom and her best friend and sketching this incredibly sweet scene of a hosts of people I love so very dearly, in a place that is idyllic, with family, friends and good food. What more could a girl ask of her life? And speaking of blessings......

This is my Mom and her best friend, who is also a very dear friend of mine. She came to my house yesterday, and she and Mom and I made decorative pillows all afternoon. And then she went to the park with us for hamburgers as I mentioned above.

I hope everyone has a great 4th and we never forget the price of freedom. I feel very content and wealthy beyond measure today.

Fun with Mom

Mom had never tried any scrapbooking or card-making and when I showed her a couple of beautiful examples in magazines and some fancy cards on blogs she decided that she wanted to try it. She has always done beautiful handwork -quilts, cross-stitch, petit-point and she has sewed many fancy pillows and curtains. It wasn't hard for her to transfer these talents to card-making and she made some beautiful cards that she was really tickled with. We had the whole afternoon to make cards and I think we turned out some pretty awesome art cards if I say so myself!

Poppies for fun

Do you recognize the poppies? I sketched them several days ago in my art journal. Little did I know that they would be perfect for some cheap white shoes I bought at Walmart.

Mom has spurred me on and I made her a pair. We have had a fun and restful day.

We have a lot more creative project up our sleeves while she is here.

I hope circumstances allow each of you to add creativity and fun into your life. I have had difficult periods in my life where I was just surviving and had no time, nor inclination for beauty and fun in my life, and yet, it was probably just what I needed. As I get older, I'm learning to not put creative endeavors last or when I have the time or I will never do them. I make them a priority because they are what refreshes my life and helps keep me sane. I have a saying that I borrowed and made my own: "in the time it takes to pout, I made a sketch". ..... or new painted shoes, or ...... you fill in the blank.

Fruit-full

I loved sketching this little set-up of fresh fruit and dried apricots. It was even more fun choosing colors to paint them. My mom and dad enjoyed this one.

I'm blessed to have my parents visiting here from Texas. They are fun-loving, good people all the way through and I sometimes realize that these days with them won't last forever. I sometimes realize that being cherished from the moment of birth and loved so intensely is not something I should ever take for granted.

I'm so proud of my dad. He will be heading to Iowa to help take care of the flood victims. He is 72 years old with only one good foot. He will work all day, late into the night, feeding and providing supplies to desperate people. He helped in New Orleans after the hurricane, and he came back broken and humbled by the circumstances that those poor people struggled under. It changed him. He became much more compassionate with everyone and more grateful for his blessings. It changed something in me to see him modeling these lessons to us. He's really amazing. I know he feels a heavy burden for the suffering in Iowa and I know that his authentic faith pro-actively lives what he believes, and he can't stay away from there. I'm so proud of him. I know he will sacrifice his own health, time and money to care for those less fortunate. Did I mention that I'm so proud of him??

I'm pooped. I really just want to take a nap already and I haven't been up but 2 hours. My mom and dad are coming from Texas and this morning is the only time I have to clean the house. A friend and I fed our church family last night as we did "Good Girls Go Greek". We cooked them a Greek meal with Greek music and told them of our travels to Greece in March. They seemed to really enjoy it but it took a lot of time and effort. And now I'm reeeallly tired.
I've said "yes" to too many things lately. Not realizing that all the regular things I have to do can pop up at anytime - and of course, this is the time they all pop up.
Other than coffee, what is it that keeps us going? I've learned to just do the best you can with the day you have. Nothing more than that can be done. I've learned that when we you say "yes" to someone, you're saying "no" to someone else. Most of the time that "no" is to you... For me today, it is: no to rest, no to painting, no to couple time with hubby. I've learned that... but I still haven't found a good balance.
Oh well, as a new song says: I can sleep when I'm dead.

Palette Change

Well you can't stay red hot forever. I decided that I would try to sketch these lovely compositions with a cooler palette. I'm not usually a pink girl but there was something about these colors and treats that drew me in and made me want to be prissy like a little girl playing tea party. I do love tea and all things tea! And tea cups and all things sweet - because I need more sweetness in my life, a lot more gentleness. I need softer edges and cooler colors instead of the intensity and boldness my character leans toward naturally. Needless to say, these are not my compositions, or palette - nope, no originality here from me. If you want to see the real artist that inspired me to attempt to sketch these - take a look at this eye-candy . But maybe her sweet pinkness will rub off on me - just a little. They do cool me off a little- but they make me hungry - not good.... not good....

I'm almost finished with my first, ever art-journal and I think this is my favorite watercolor sketch. You may have seen my photograph -I didn't get the faces quite right. They were quite a challenge for me.

These are children (Maasai children to be exact)in case you couldn't tell - who were actually rounded up by their teacher to sing me a thank you song for giving them suckers. They may look older because even though they had a pure naivete, they also had an old, wizened look to their faces. Their clothes were just that colorful. Sometimes they just tie up t-shirts and rags to make their ensemble. I think because they live in mud houses on dirt among the bush of Africa their eyes long for color. They live a very simplistic life. These children were happy, playful, and joyful without one toy in sight. They were curious as little kittens and very respectful. I loved the Maasai children. I could have spent all day with them just watching them play with their sticks like the real spears of their fathers. I'm so glad I have a photograph, and now a sketch to remember them. I hope to do a painting of this study someday soon now that I learned backgrounds and back-paintings from Mary Ann Beckwith.

Poppies for summer

Yep, I'm still into reds, oranges and turquoises. And I'm into poppies. I sketched this off the front of a magazine cover. I think that blooms, and living plants represent life to me and that's why I like to draw them.

I can feel something like new growth inside - from a seed to a bloom. Not pregnant, not possible!!!! But there are new things sprouting in me and my mind. Some people plant gardens and then there are some people who dig up and till the good, rich soil in their own heads and plant and nurture those new creative thoughts planted there. I think we have to pull weeds, and rake the ground of last year's debris and successes and work that soil with all the passion and struggle of a sweating gardener. We let the good Lord water and grow the things He is leading us to, and let Him leave the tares that will make us push passionately toward the sun (SON), and rid ourselves of the things that rob our nutrients.

After all, we started out in a garden walking with Him in the cool in of the evening. Maybe now that our body is His dwelling place, it's not too far a stretch to think His Spirit grows a garden within us. I hope mine is vibrant and hopeful as poppies!

Back from Cloudcroft

This is the reason I love Cloudcroft. We sit out on a deck in the middle of the forest and eat breakfast. No flies. No wind. The sun is very warm but the breeze is cool. It was beyond refreshing. Hummingbirds are zig-zagging by you on the way to their feeder and squirrels are peeking around the corner, and running along the rails of the deck. It rains enough to shine rinse everything and then the sun comes out again and the birds start their symphony warm-up.

Wow! What can I say about Mary Ann Beckwith. She was stupendously huge-alicously incrediblawesome! And that doesn't do her justice. She was the most generous teacher giving us hundreds of tips for back-paintings, textures, techniques, and color everywhere. This was just one, of at least a dozen, back-paintings (that's a painting under your next or last design) that I did for her class. She taught us not to give up on ourselves, or our paintings so quickly and then showed us a 100 ways to fix mistakes/move on/and be joyful. It was like receiving a huge, unexpected gift - worth more value than I can grasp - providing a thousand hours of personal pleasure in my next 50 years of painting! There were 6 beautiful, inspiring women, besides the teacher. So it was a great girl time. Plus, 3 of my local girlfriends came up and spent the night and would meet me for lunch break so I enjoyed lots of friendship. I had honeymoon time with my hubby the last 3 days so my heart is full and my soul refreshed. What more could a girl ask for???

Oh yeah, I've missed my blogging friends!