Zoiks!!

The day is almost over and so is the A-Z Challenge.  This month went by so quickly.
For this, the very last and one of my most loved letters, I am going to share a few of my favorite Z's.

Zeppo, the odd man whose lack of oddness is what makes him not fit in to this bunch.  He was less kooky and a bit more suave.

Zeppelin, led or otherwise.  

Zelda, especially the Ocarina of Time.  Great memories of my kids playing this game, they absolutely loved it.  Nostalgia!  Love the music from it too.

Zooey, not only do I enjoy seeing her in movies, but I also love her voice.

Zumba, a super fun way to get your abs and tush in shape.  The only catch, you actually have to do it for it to work.

And last, but definitely not least, my daughter Zara.

Looking forward to seeing her and spending time with her, it's been too long.

Happy Z day and the end of this alphabetical challenge.

Oh, pilot of the storm who leaves no trace, like thoughts inside a dream 

Heed the path that led me to that place, yellow desert stream 

My Shangri-La beneath the summer moon, I will return again 

Sure as the dust that floats high in June, when movin' through Kashmir. 

~Led Zeppelin

Yesterday....Nerd Alert

Yesterday was the first day of this Spring where the weather was perfectly gorgeous.  The sky was a Hayao Miyazaki kind of sky, rich blue with big white puffy clouds lazily floating by.

From the movie My Neighbor Totoro

The temperature was absolutely perfect, cool but not cold with a lovely breeze.  The trees and grass were exceptionally green.

The perfect day for the guys and I to take a journey through the woods.  Little did I know that I would be in the middle of an adventure.

It quickly became D&D meets, Ogre Battle with a little bit of Call Of Duty thrown in.  It was truly the most entertaining hike I've ever been on.  We were interrupted a few times by Ogres, which my sons had to battle for the right to pass. If we got caught in a sand pit, we'd roll the imaginary dice to see if we could continue on or become lunch for some vicious, wandering beast. We did have a couple of normal moments, skipping rocks down the river. 

My son found the perfect staff, so he became Gandolf and because of my height or should I say lack of, I was Frodo.

 Towards the end of the hike, they decided to break out in song, changing all the lyrics to that horrible Friday song, it is now all about D&D and being a nerd.  Needless to say, it was the nerdiest hike I've ever been on, but I loved every minute of it and I got a few decent pictures along the way.

Have a splendid day!

The Letter X

The letter X in all it's various forms through history.  I put every X word in the dictionary behind the letters and used the color yellow, because the word xanth means yellow.

"A shrewish, tart-tongued woman is often called a Xanthippe, after the wife of Socrates, who filed this bill of particulars in a spectacularly venomous fashion."
~Morris Dictionary of Word and Phrase Origins

I couldn't help myself!  

I will leave you with this poem.

Kubla Khan

In Xanadu did Kubla Khan

A stately pleasure-dome decree :

Where Alph, the sacred river, ran

Through caverns measureless to man

Down to a sunless sea

So twice five miles of fertile ground

With walls and towers were girdled round:

And here were gardens bright with sinuous rills,

Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;

And here were forests ancient as the hills,

Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.

But oh! that deep romantic chasm which slanted

Down the green hill athwart a cedarn cover!

A savage place! as holy and enchanted

As e'er beneath a waning moon was haunted

By woman wailing for her demon-lover!

And from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil seething,

As if this earth in fast thick pants were breathing,

A mighty fountain momently was forced:

Amid whose swift half-intermitted burst

Huge fragments vaulted like rebounding hail,

Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's flail:

And 'mid these dancing rocks at once and ever

It flung up momently the sacred river.

Five miles meandering with a mazy motion

Through wood and dale the sacred river ran,

Then reached the caverns measureless to man,

And sank in tumult to a lifeless ocean:

And 'mid this tumult Kubla heard from far

Ancestral voices prophesying war!

The shadow of the dome of pleasure

Floated midway on the waves;

Where was heard the mingled measure

From the fountain and the caves.

It was a miracle of rare device,

A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!

A damsel with a dulcimer

In a vision once I saw:

It was an Abyssinian maid,

And on her dulcimer she played,

Singing of Mount Abora.

Could I revive within me

Her symphony and song,

To such a deep delight 'twould win me,

That with music loud and long,

I would build that dome in air,

That sunny dome! those caves of ice!

And all who heard should see them there,

And all should cry, Beware! Beware!

His flashing eyes, his floating hair!

Weave a circle round him thrice,

And close your eyes with holy dread,

For he on honey-dew hath fed,

And drunk the milk of Paradise.

~Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Have an eXciting day!

Woman of the Wood

I'm keeping this post simple.  

This was a trial and error project.  Illustrator inks on wood, sharpie marker for the black lines and varnish to make it smooth and shiny.  When I finished inking and marking it, I went to put the varnish on and it smeared my inks, I had to do some fixing here and there, but I think it turned out okay. I will go about it a bit differently next time.

Have a Wonderful Wednesday!!

V is for Vincent

Van Gogh has always been one of my favorite artists.  I love that he created his own style and didn't conform to what everyone else was doing.  Notice the stars in these few pictures, so beautiful and amazing!  He placed complementary colors next to each other to make them really stand out.

The Cafe Terrace At NIght

The Starry Night

He used very thick layers of paint and vigorous brushstrokes to form intense patterns and shadows.

Crows Over A Wheat field

Road with the Cypresses

Sunflowers

Van Gogh loved how nature combined the blue of the sky with the yellow of the  fields.  He described it as "a symphony in blue and yellow."

The Potato Eaters

He never spent so many days on a picture as he did on this one.   After painting this piece, he wrote, "I like so much better to paint the eyes of people than to paint cathedrals."  To Van Gogh, the painting of a face was as spiritual as a painting of a church.

Vincent Willem van Gogh

Vincent's father and grandfather were both ministers and he too became a minister. He worked in a very poor mining district, where he too, was very poor.  He drew pictures of the miners and found solace in that.  After two years, he felt he was meant to serve humanity through art.  From then on, he never stopped drawing and painting.

Hope your day is visually stimulating!

U is for Umbrella

Umbrellas, we seem to have a fascination for them.  The word comes from the Latin word Umbra, meaning shade or shadow.  They are also called brolly, gamp, sunshade, rainshade or bumbershoot.  No matter what you call them, they seem to have a magical quality to them. 

I took my love for trees and umbrella's and combined them.
Under the Umbrella Tree

When I was young, we had a clear, very long umbrella that I could sit under, I felt like I was inside a bubble, watching the rain all around me.   I have drawn or painted quite a few pictures with umbrellas, hoping to capture that feeling of whimsy, protection, or magic.  I have found several pictures created by other artists too, who see the beauty of an umbrella.  Today is rather rainy, a perfect day for an umbrella.  Enjoy the pictures!

Have an Uber magical day!

Trees and Thank You's!

Cherry Blossom, acrylic

TREES

I think that I shall never see

A poem lovely as a tree

A tree whose hungry mouth is pressed

Against the earth's sweet flowing breast;

A tree that looks at God all day

And lifts her leafy arms to pray,

A tree that may in summer wear

A nest of robins in her hair

Upon whose blossom snow has lain;

Who intimately lives with rain.

Poems were made by fools like me

But only God can make a tree.

Joyce Kilmer

Inspired by Klimt's Tree of Life.
I didn't get a chance to finish before posting.

Thank You's!!

I have been given a few awards recently and decided I would post them all today, with a Thank You!!

Thank you to Jingle, who has very lovely poetry on her blog, for the two awards.  So very sweet, I really appreciate it and I feel uber special.

Blogger Buddy Award

This is the Blogger Buddy Award.  She asked that I pass these on to 1 to 5 people. I know just who I would like to pass them to.  

To ~Rasz~  who was one of the first people I met in Blogger World and I keep in touch with daily and enjoy her beautiful spirit, which you will see on her blog.

To  Noemi who I also visit daily, she is a sweetie.  She creates beautiful jewelry and has recently opened an Etsy shop. 

To Tara Tyler  who is extremely cheerful and enthusiastic, not only in her fun posts, but in her comments.

The Talented Writer Award

Thank you Jingle also for this great award.  I'm not much of writer, I am better with pictures, but hopefully I can get what I am thinking/feeling across in what I do say or draw.

I'd like to pass this along to a few friends who I think are very talented writers and I enjoy reading their blogs everyday.

To lkramer14, who makes me stop and think and wonder.
To Mojo, who bends and stretches my mind like a personal trainer.
To li she writes Flash Fiction and is very talented and clever, always leaves you with a twist.
To Talli Roland, she is so spunky and fun and makes me smile.

The Stylish Blogger Award

Thank you so much to  Nicole at The Madlab Post, if you love movies like I do, then you'll really love visiting her blog.
I also received the Stylish Blogger award from li,  I think we must have been having the same thought process at the same time.  Thank you Li, very much! To accept the award, you have to do the following:

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you the award.
2. Share 7 things about yourself.
3. Award 10-15 blogs who you think deserve this award.
4. Contact these bloggers and let them know about the award.


I will have to come up with 7 things later or maybe earlier.  It's almost 2 am, and creative is not what I'm feeling at the moment. 
Also, I do have many blogs in mind for this one, but I will hopefully get that list posted later today, after I've slept a bit first.  
Anyway, Thank you so much Nicole and Li!  You're the bomb diggity!  :)

And last but not least, this one is from Antimony, whose blog is truly creative and wonderful.  I love her poetic and lyrical style.  She is a super groovy chick!  

Thank you!!  

Good golly, that was a long post, but worthwhile!  

Have a Truly Happy Easter!!