A quick little post: Recycled Art for the Soul!

I received this little treasure years ago, from a young girl whom I taught to quilt. This was her way of thanking me and I've loved it.  It has been sitting where I can see it every day, but the years have warped it and worn it out, so I decided to recycle this.

I pulled it all apart, no easy task, I think it was glued together!  I cut out a nice piece of thick drawing paper to fit and drew a new picture, but kept the verse.  I've always loved this verse..."We live by faith, not by sight."

The frame was looking a bit rough, so I painted it black and then lightly rubbed it off to let a little bit of the gold show through.  I also thoroughly cleaned the glass, it was very filthy.

And there it is.  My new little piece of art.  I wrote the verse in the wings, it's probably a bit hard to see the words, but they are there. :)
I rarely buy things to decorate my house, because over the years I've had so many little unique treasures given to me from family and friends. I love to have it all around the house, so that whenever I look at the item, I am reminded of the person who gave it to me.  And it fills my home with coziness!
Have a wonderful weekend! :)

Something Wicked This Way Comes

The Real Poem, by Ray Bradbury..... 

Crystal water turns to dark 

Where ere it's presence leaves it's mark 

And boiling currents pound like drums 

When something wicked this way comes... 

A presence dark invades the fair 

And gives the horses ample scare 

Chaos rains and panic fills the air 

When something wicked this way comes... 

Ill winds mark it's fearsome flight, 

And autumn branches creak with fright. 

The landscape turns to ashen crumbs, 

When something wicked this way comes... 

Flowers bloom as black as night 

Removing color from your sight 

Nightmarish vines block your way 

Thorns reach out to catch their prey 

And by the pricking of your thumbs 

Realize that their poison numbs 

From frightful blooms, rank odors seep 

Bats & beasties fly & creep 

'Cross this evil land, ill winds blow 

Despite the darkness, mushrooms glow 

All will rot & decompose 

For something wicked this way grows... 

This is the time of year when I've had all the Summer that I can take. 

I'm dreaming of Fall and all the magic that accompanies it.

This is also the time when I long to hear Ray Bradbury's voice saying, 

"First of all, it was October, a rare month for boys."

Ray Bradbury and Fall go together like peas and carrots.  

His description of this lovely season is so perfect, 

you can smell pumpkin pie and hear the crunching of leaves 

under your feet.  Oh, how I long for it!

Two of our seasonal favorites are both by Bradbury, 

not only the movies, but especially the books.

Something Wicked This Way Comes and 

The Halloween Tree.

Check them out....if you dare! ;)

P.S.  I found my little black book (sketch book, that is) 

the other day and in my desire to capture Fall, found a

few old drawings and drew a new one, as well.

Fall is quite inspiring!

"By the pricking of my thumbs,
Something wicked this way comes.
Then the bells rang loud and deep.
God is not dead, nor doth he sleep!"

Thank you, Ray
A kindred spirit, indeed!

Silent Sundays: Hiking and Exploring!! My favorite :)

We've had a chance this past week, between unpacking and "trying" to be Martha Stewart, to get out and explore some the naturey goodness that seems to be everywhere we look.  Here are some pics!

The walking bridge over the river.

Downtown at night!

Hiking

Hiking and waterfalls

Chillin on the bridge

More hiking!

Love this place!

I'm A Winner!!

Winning is something I am really not used to!  I don't often win contests or prizes or anything really, so I completely floored when fellow participants of The Summer of Color, sent me congrats.  This is the groovy little package of goodies that I received from Kristin.

Not only is she very talented, but she is a super sweetie.  She hosted the Summer Of Color event and was a truly gracious and lovely host.  I'm so excited to hear that she'll be doing it again, next summer.  If you didn't get a chance to visit and see all the amazing bits of art that everyone did, you should shoot over there now and take a looky loo!  It is colorful and amazing!
I want to thank her for all her hard work and for this lovely and wonderful prize. I'm so excited.  I don't have my art space set up yet, so I haven't had a chance to play with the arty goodness, but I did make a recipe out of that super groovy cookbook.  I have to say, that is the most awesome cook book I have ever seen.  I love it!  And the recipe, was fantastic!!  Our first real sit down meal, in our new house.  Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!
I missed the last week of the Summer Of Color Event, which was to show all your art work that you'd done for the event.  So I will do that now!  It won't be done as artistically as so many others did, but I hope you enjoy it either way!
Have a truly blessed and beautiful week!   :)

Blue

Green

Blue and Green, just because!

Pink

Yellow

Brown

Brown again

Orange

I did miss a few of the colors and had hoped to make them up, maybe I will once I'm a bit more settled and find all of my art stuff.  Happy day to you!

Silent Sundays: Moving Right Along!

The last walk I took down our road, before moving away.

I love these.

The beginnings of a storm through Nebraska.

This is what it turned into.  It was incredible, I've never seen such amazing clouds and they were moving very fast.  We fortunately, were heading the other way.

Happy Sunday to you!  

Peaches and Orange!

I've missed a couple of weeks of Summer Of Color and I am glad to have a chance to do it again before it ends.  This week's color is Orange and adding a quote into your art piece is the Bonus.  If you haven't checked out Kristen's blog yet, you should.  You can still join in the fun or if you'd just like to browse, she has fantastic artwork and a list of other artistic bloggers who have joined in this fabulous summer event.  Thank you Kristen for putting this together, it's been so inspiring.  Just what my summer needed.  

Life is a bag of peaches, be the juicy one.

Hope you all have a splendid and delicious Summer day!

Silent Sundays!

Mustache on a stick, these were for our Mustaches and Zombies party.

An addition to my commissioned pieces.

One of my very best friends, she is holding  Gandolph!

A recent book purchase.  Most excellent!!

You're never to old to wear your blanket as a cape, all day!