Sunday, January 13, 2013

Happiest New Year!!


 
     It has been a really long time since my last post and I have to say, a very, very busy past month and a half.  I got a new job and for the month of December, worked both jobs, which meant I only had 4 days off all month, 3 of those days being Christmas and the two days following that.  Needless to say, it's taken me sometime to catch my breath.  I was quite exhausted and needing to catch up on so many aspects of my life.  I am currently back to one job and it's going very well, I love it completely.
    That being said, one of the things that I have desperately been wanting to catch up on, was posting some magnificent trades that I did last year.  I was blessed to be able to trade with some truly wonderful and talented artist/blog friends and I have finally been able to get organized enough to put up the most recent trades and get some pictures taken, which had been my hope all along.
This trade came from a very wonderful and dear blog friend named Daniele.  I love her artwork.  She is tremendously inspiring with her light hearted whimsy and  continually creative spark that shines and makes you happy to be a part of.  
I was fortunate to meet up with her last Fall and it was fantastic to get a chance to meet her in person.  She is vibrant and energetic and I loved getting to meet her.  Thank you so much.  I hung this above my art desk, where it will continue to inspire me to think outside the box.  This is the most creative paint brush I've ever seen.  Love it!!!  :)

I talked to a wonderful artist/blog friend named Stacy, back in May, about a possible trade.  We both had a lot going on, so we decided to just take our time and go with the flow.  We both love Fall and so decided to work with that theme. 
Stacy loves crows and paints the most amazing crows I've ever seen.  I don't know how she manages to get so much done, I am forever in awe of her ability to stay consistent and to have so many creative ideas constantly flowing out of her.  I love her upbeat, joyful energy and abundance of creativity.  
Thank you so much for these fantastic crows.  I really wanted my art space cleaned up and reorganized before hanging these up.  I am so happy to finally have them up where I can see them daily.  Hooray!!  They make me smile.  

Please click on Daniele and Stacy's names to check out their blogs.  They are both incredibly talented and full of inspiration.  

Aside from working a lot, I have finally gotten my art space cleaned up and did a smidge of painting.

My art space (before), very uninspiring.

My art space (after) Much Better!!!

The right tools help.  A much needed shelf for organizing and keeping art stuff in it's proper place.  

A finished project.  Something I needed desperately.  I started this a few months ago and never got back to it.  This is above our front door, our very old house is quirky and fun and I have so many projects that are constantly running through my mind.  Murals being one of them.  I had so much fun with this, that I have a lot other ideas for above doorways and such.  
This year, I am determined to finish projects and do more art.  To quit 
over-thinking and therefore, defeating myself.  
Hooray for New Years and renewal and a husband who constantly cheers me on.

Christmas gifts.  I took my artwork and had it put on a coffee mug. 
hooray, this was fun, you should try it. :)
For my extended family, I had calendars made with my photos that I took in 2012. 
Along with some fun quotes that I found and loved.  

Happy New Year to all of you and may your year be filled with prosperity, abundance, joy and peace. 

I will leave you with a few pics of the New Year!  Enjoy!




Sunday, November 25, 2012

Holding Back!

Do you ever hold back, because you have something that you want to do, need to do, but haven't taken the time to do, because you keep waiting for everything to be "just so" and so, you end up doing nothing, then feeling ridiculous about it.
This is me!!  Can I just say, I drive myself totally nuts sometimes.  I promised to post pictures of some awesome trades I received from my blog fellows, and I STILL haven't done it.  I have been waiting for myself to hang them on the wall, all nice and neat, but keep putting it off, because I need to rearrange things.
Anyway, utter disappointment with myself.
Btw, I do have a job, I work in retail (think holidays..oh hooray) and that also has something to do with it.
So, instead...I am going to just post some pictures randomly, that have been of the past few weeks that I have been MIA!
Grab some coffee, this could take awhile.

An outing downtown



The Drum Circle

A Walk With Friends




Another Potluck





Halloween




A Day With My Sons





A Date With My Hubby


 Mrs. Bean

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Tuesday, October 30, 2012

No Pictures and Gnaughty Gnomes.

I haven't posted in awhile.  My batteries in my camera died and I just finally replaced them, which means I need to take pictures of artwork, not only what I've been working on, but more importantly, the lovely items I've received from my blog land friends.  I am very excited to show you!
In recent news and events, a gnaughty gnome has been discovered sucking the battery juice out of my car, to power his television in the evenings.  I found a solid cure for this....cookies.  I baked cookies and made a cookie trail to the backyard from my vehicle.  Set up a nice little gnome house and a 9-volt battery.  He seems quite satisfied.  (by the way, does anyone know why gn makes an "n" sound?)

I will get camera happy and get back to posting.  I have some fun ideas for November and I'm trying to motivate myself to blog more.  
Hope you are all well and feeding your gnomes cookies.  

What are you dressing up as for Halloween?
Blessings to you.
Have a safe and magical Halloween!!!!

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Bloggy Blessings!

This past week has been a blessing of the bloggy sort.
I did the Mermaid Art Swap with Cameron that I mentioned in a previous post.
This week, I received this most glorious and gorgeous mermaid, that is now hanging in my front room, along with two other pictures that I have from her.  :)  I love collecting art from amazing artists.
 the name of this mermaid is Ancient Symbols.
She is magical. 

I showed a glimpse of my mermaid drawing last time, here is the entire picture.  

If you check out Cameron's blog, you will see all of the gorgeous mermaids that she sent out, as well as all of the ones she received.  She is now swimming in a sea of glorious mermaids.  
********

Another exciting Bloggy moment from this week was a meeting.
I was able to meet up with two very spectacular women who happened to be nearby for an art retreat.  
Daniele and Kristin :)
Daniele, Kristin, moi and my hub.

 these two were sooo much fun and had such enthusiasm and spark, which always shows through on their blogs, but the amazing energy that comes from them in person, is tremendous and wonderful.  I am so, so happy that I was blessed to meet them both.  
 a pic of the yummy foods and drinks that we had together at my most 
favorite artsy restaurant.
 sorry for the glare....geesh, I love McMenamins.
ahhh...time to say goodbye, but so excited that we can keep in touch via blogs.
We had such a great time together and it was very much a blessing to meet them and spend the evening with them.  They warmed and brightened my soul.  Thank you so much!!  
Many hugs to you!

P.S.  Daniele made me a very wonderful gift and I just realized I forgot to get a pic of it, so I will do that and post it tomorrow.  :)  Thank you Daniele, I love it!!! Yay!
Hope your week has been filled with blessings and good energies too.
<3



Monday, September 17, 2012

Ah Life...

So many things can happen in just a short period of time.  I'm forever amazed.

I finished my Medusa.
all the snakes are different zentangle designs, which I have to say, was a lot of fun to create.  I may need to find more goddesses to draw.

I made a dragonfly picture for a friend and sent it to her, as a very belated birthday gift.  I have a tendency to procrastinate (that is a serious understatement)  but in this case, it was quite a blessing.
Her father passed away a couple of years ago and when he did, she and her mother had both had quite a few experiences with dragonflies ( I had no idea), the day she received this in the mail, it had been exactly two years since her father's funeral.  I love when things work out like that.  Beautiful life.

In the past 3 weeks, we've had 2 more people move in with us. 
Austin, on the far left and Candace on the couch, along with my 3 sons.
It's a full and very creative house. 
I also gave my youngest dreads...
before...

after...
I have now been fully educated on how dreads work, how to maintain them...there is a lot to it all, but they're pretty awesome and he's lovin them.

Another picture I've drawn, inspired by a girl at the train station.
"waiting for the train"
(in pencil, ink and watercolor)

I got to go see my daughter, twice in one year..pretty spectacular.
my son-in-law, hub, daughter and moi.
Plus, we got to explore a cool coastal town, that we've decided deserves a longer visit.

I joined a very cool swap with a very cool bloggy friend...
We are swapping mermaids.  Here is a smidge of the one I will be sending to her.
this will be mailed out on Friday and I will show you the entire thing after she has received it. :)

And lastly, but not leastly...
We've begun our themed potlucks again, 
this one....
Star Wars!!
tusken raider

han solo





Happy Week and Life to you!