"Visions Of Sugar Plums...."

When I was a Junior in High School we were given the following recipe at Christmas time by My teacher, Miss Hauser. This is a great alternative for people who just can't quite like fruit cake. It is one that is liked by all ages. I used to make these and gift them to friends and family. The only thing you need to remember that is not in the recipe is to use Large fruit flavored gumdrops cut in quarters or small whole gumdrops, if you use small gumdrops make sure they are the fruit flavor ones and not the spice ones.

This recipe was scanned from a cookbook that I made each of my children of all our family favorite recipes, I hope you enjoy:


(Click on Image to Enlarge)

Thanks for stopping by. Wishing you all a very Merry Christmas and many Blessings in the New Year.

How To Decorate Using Your ACEOS.

This is what you see to your right when you walk in my front door.  This is a good example of how I incorporate my aceos and my Iris Folding Greeting Cards into my decorations.
 

This is a close-up of the right hand side of the buffet.  You will see the work of Tapestry, LDPhotography, B. Stoumbos, and Art2artcolorado.

Here you will see the work of LDPhotography, my flower on canvas, my three Christmas Cards, ArtistSueTaylor, Pinkglitterfae, and Alwaysartistic and my flower on canvas Aceo.

.

Here are my Christmas Cards and work from LDPhotography, Alwaysartistic, and ArtworkbyImelda.

I do this all year around.  I change my Aceos with the seasons, with the holidays, or with different themes.  I hope this gives you some ideas of how to incorporate your aceos in your home in attractive ways, so that you can enjoy them every day.

Winter's Serenity Sweatshirt

Many people seem to like cardinals and this (Winter's Serenity) is my most popular design. This design, and others can be found on many different products from tshirts, sweatshirts, cards, stickers, mugs, pillows, coasters, clocks, keepsake boxes, mousepads, calendars, posters, prints and so much more.
This sweatshirt can be found in my CafePress shop.
I also have products in my Zazzle store.
I hope you stop by my shops and look around. Come back often and be sure to tell your friends. Merry Christmas!

All About ACEOs

ACEOs and what exactly are they?

Have you ever seen a baseball card? To answer the questions; ACEOs are collectibles much like baseball cards are to baseball fans. ACEO appeals to everyone because they are truly affordable, original works of art and they are available in every theme under the sun. Wherever your heart is, there is someone out there right now, no doubt creating a tiny work of art. If you are searching for a particular theme and just haven’t found it yet, request it and you will have so many choices to choose from. Why is that? ACEOs are fun to create, that’s why.

What can you do with an ACEO? You can easily slip them into a greeting card and mail your favorite person an original work of art. You can frame them and hang them on your Christmas tree. You can put them in an album on your coffee table for your guests. They make a great conversation starter. Purchase a baseball card frame at stores like Michaels Craft or other stores that carry frames, and change out the cards depending on the season of the year.

Lately I have had some success doing the "12 Days of Christmas" theme currently on Ebay.

I am still working on the last 4 days of Christmas, and since ACEOs are so very tiny it is a challenge to figure out how to fit the Lords a leaping, and 12 drummers, although I do have a few unique ideas.

Above is my version of "Six Geese a-laying"

Merry Christmas, and remember "It is what it IS - CHRISTMAS"

Winter Sunset

Winter Sunset
It's getting late and you are out crunching uphill in the snow.
The shadows grow long and the colorful sky has you almost convinced it's warm.
Almost - not quite!

Pichincha - Rosario - The Argentine Chicago

I live in Rosario City, Argentina.

There's a neighborhood called Pichincha, which at the beginning of last century was famous for its many brothels.

At the beginning of the 20th century, it was a den of prostitution, mafia gangs, police corruption and disease, at a time when Rosario was called "the Argentine Chicago"; a natural consequence of the unchecked growth of a port city overflowing with poor immigrants and uneducated workers moving in from the countryside.

Pichincha, at one time the city’s red light district and home to the notorious brothel of the equally notorious Madame Safó. Purpose built as an exact replica of a French brothel and decorated with the finest French furniture, the journalist Albert Londres exclaimed in 1927 that it was like “finding a miniature homeland when you’re far from home. Inside, everyone speaks French. The patroness is from Montmartre.”

Nowadays, people can visit its fairs, the old train station Rosario Norte —which today houses the Department of Culture and the Museo de la Memoria— or have a coffee or a drink in its bars with tables on the tree-lined sidewalks.

I have created a painting and collage series,: titled “Pichincha Girls”, inspired by this neighborhood and dedicated to all the women that had been part of our history.

Showing in the slideshow are some paintings of this Series, most of them belongs to a lady who lives in Chicago and she has bought them to me.

Enjoy!

Patricia Vidour



http://www.patriciavidour.com

Holiday Greeting Cards

Tam Moody Greeting Cards

Lots of new Holiday Greeting Cards are now available in my shop! I hope you will stp by and check them out! Leave a comment or rate a card- even add one to your favorites!

Some cute new Christmas designs are available as well as Thanksgiving!

I am also accepting custom orders for cards- so send me a request! We have a special for USA customers going on right now- order 25 or more cards and get free shipping within the USA! Use code PHOTOSHIP09 during your check out for free shipping! Offer valid until November 20th!

Words On Retirement...

I have to share with you the latest in my saga of being retired with my husband, also retired. He has been spending a lot of time on the computer lately and has become quite adept at ordering online. He has the UPS truck here quite frequently lately.

A couple of weeks ago he told me, "Honey, we will need a few boxes to mail gifts in and can use them for things we sale on Ebay so I went to USPS.com and ordered some flat rate boxes. Now I thought that was a good idea, yes a very good idea as I have some vintage stuff on Etsy and it will fit. He finally did something useful. Or so I thought.

Today, our mail lady pulled in and started unloading all of these boxes, what on earth is going on???? I was very curious but watched from a distance while my husband talked to her and helped her carry the boxes into his shop. He came into the house with a very sheepish look on his face. "Honey, he says to me, I think I put my finger on the wrong spot on the USPS site. Instead of getting a box of 25 boxes, they just delivered 25 boxes of 25." That is 450 boxes so you do not have to do the math. And as usual, the next thing out of his mouth is, "Honey, can you call the post office and see how I can return all but 25 of these?"

Yes, Retirement is fun and at times can be quite unusual.

Don't forget to stop by my shop on Etsy to take advantage of the Bounty Holiday Sale that a few of us are having. Just search for ABHS to find some great deals. I have a few new items listed, here are a couple of them:

I Have a Romance with ACEOs

I have been on a romance kick lately showing romance through photography at my personal blog. Now, all of my photography prints are available as ACEOs.

Let me back track a little. I started out doing ACEOs as a mixed media artist primarily and then expanded into doing some painting, but I feel I have finally found my niche with photography. It just gradually took a hold of me and that was it. So now my main focus is photography and when I buy photography it is always an ACEO.

I am an avid collector. I own between 150 and 200 ACEOs at the moment. I think one of the biggest draws for me is that they are so easy to collect and do not require a lot of wall space. In addition, there are so many ways to display them.

Albums (all shapes and sizes)
Miniature plate holders (to sit them around on tables in groups)
Magnetic frames for the fridge and for metallic bulletin boards
Hangers for knobs on furniture and even walls
An ACEO tree...what is that you ask? Find a branch outside and bring it indoors and fill it with ACEOs.

One of the things I love to do with my ACEOs is to buy seasonal ones. I decorate my house with them for the appropriate season. I just put away my Halloween ones and out come my Thanksgiving ones, then Christmas, then Valentine’s, then July 4th and so on. It is much easier than hanging out seasonal flags or changing clothes on a goose sitting on the front porch. LOL

And, I will always collect my cat ACEOs. I am cat lover from way back. Another favorite thing for me to collect are animals in general and flowers. :)

I love earrings too, but that is another story and another collection....LOL

Link to the slideshow from the DAWG TEAM

Take a moment and enjoy!

Elevation

Snowing


It's a matter of elevation. Here it's just rainy and grey but a few miles away (uphill) there's SNOW on the mountain.
So I get up, look out and see it's another rainy day.






There's a lot to be said for living just a few feet above sea level. Winter is mild and very green. Today, I caught the squirrel snatching a big bunch of ferns and dragging them up the tree so he could safely munch them.

Meanwhile, on the mountain it's...

Still Snowing


Oh, and skiing season is here.

An Artist?? Does that include you??

What makes an artist??

So many people call themselves an artist.

Are you an artist???

* In the dictionary Artist is defined as "One, such as a painter, sculptor, or writer, who is able by virtue of imagination and talent or skill to create works of aesthetic value, especially in the fine arts."

*Artist is a descriptive term applied to a person who engages in an activity deemed to be an art. An artist also may be defined unofficially, as, "a person who expresses themselves through a medium". The word also is used in a qualitative sense of, a person creative in, innovative in, or adept at, an artistic practice.



There is so many wonderful artists in our Dawg=Designing Artists Women's Group, We love the Lord and we love art! There is all kinds of artists in our group, our main format has been ACEO'S for the last few years. They are easy to work with and you can complete one and move on to the next one. We have so many different types of subjects. I hope you will take the time to browse our work!! We have so great buys for you to choose from!

Here is some of our works on Etsy! Check them out, you can also search out the word Dawg or Dawg Team.

Etsy Buy Handmade DAWGTeam

Are you an artist that loves the Lord and would like to join our group?? Come and join in the fun!
DAWG GROUP

Persistent Green: Daily moment: childlike play

Persistent Green: Daily moment: childlike play

Play is always good right along with laughter.

HOpe you feel totally recovered soon.

Paula....I have a question about art journals....what size are they? I have always been curious about that. Thanks.

You can post on my blog with that answer if you would like.

Fabric painting

Fabric painting instructions

When I start any fabric painting I usually sketch out my outline on paper with a transfer pencil
that way I can erase if I need to without ruining the fabric.

Next step is to transfer this outline onto the fabric using an iron. With this image I chose to use a light colored fabric so that you can see what is being done easier. When using a darker fabric it is a good idea to just start your painting right out on the fabric, Because the transfer pencil does not show up very dark, I was going to show you a picture of the outline transfered onto the fabric but it is so light I cant get a good picture so I will just show you the start of the painting.

When painting on fabric I use Cameo fabric paint it is a great fabric paint it becomes part of the fabric it will not chip crack or peel off the fabric you can wash as you would normally wash the fabric.
Ok Next step is to place a board or something hard between the fabric so that I am only painting on the front of the shirt. If you do not put something between the paint will go all the way through and you will have an interesting design on the back of the shirt as well as the front. My board has a fine sand paper attached to it so that the fabric doesnt move while I am painting.

Ok now for the fun part the painting. I always start on the left side of the painting so that I dont rest my hand on my artwork and mess it up. I started painting the back of this cat with a dark color and then went back and blended in the white to show the parts in the hair.

Now I start with the white on the bottom of the cat the legs and this is where I use the blending tool blending with fabric paint is much like blending with acrylic as the paint drys very fast so you have to work quick and in small sections. I start with the dark color in small sections and then put in the wite and blend and keep going until I get the whole section blended and then if you need to go back later to make adjustments you can just add more wet paint. Then I continue to the right side and end with the head. The face is the most important part of this painting because as with painting any portrait if the face isnt right then you might as well pack it up.
I started with the ears again blending the dark color with the light in small sections always blending in the direction of the growth of hair.
Then I work on the eyes blending again the color in the eye and I do not put the highlight in the eye until after I paint the rest of the face as I want the eye to be completely dry before putting it in so it doesnt blend in with the rest of the eye. Then I paint the nose I always start with the shadow first and blend the medium and the highlight always last. then I put the highlight in the eye.
Now I just do some final touches adding highlights and shadows here and there and its done. And this painting will stay on this shirt for as long as the shirt lasts. The shirt you see here was given as a gift to a friend.
You can see more of my fabric paintings in my Etsy shop here http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5639032

Conceptual Art Painting a Tribute to Lucio Fontana

All art is in a sense conceptual, all art relies upon images and utilises the imagination.
Lucio Fontana was born in Rosario city, Argentina in 1899. The artist left Argentina for Italy to study at the Brera Academy in Milan.
Soon after he was taking part in shows and competitions in Italy, Spain and Argentina, including the Triennale, Milan, the Venice Biennale and the Quadriennale in Rome.
He also began to work as a ceramicist, winning various competitions for his sculptures. In 1946, Fontana collaborated with young artists and intellectuals in Buenos Aires on a draft of the White Manifesto, which signaled the birth of Space Art in 1947.

I was born and I live in Rosario City, Argentina. The city were Lucio Fontana was born. And he has left to the rosarinos artist a way to follow.

As a sculptor, he experimented with stone, metals, ceramics, and neon; as a painter he attempted to transcend the confines of the two-dimensional surface. In a series of manifestos originating with the Manifesto blanco (White Manifesto) of 1946, Fontana announced his goals for a“spatialist” art, one that could engage technology to achieve an expression of the fourth dimension. He wanted to meld the categories of architecture, sculpture, and painting to create a groundbreaking new aesthetic idiom.
From 1958, Fontana purified his paintings by creating matte, monochrome surfaces, thus focusing the viewer’s attention on the slices that rend the skin of the canvas.

'Concept Spatiale', 1959 painting by Lucio Fontana, 100 cm. x 125 cm.

• The evolution of art is something internal, something philosophical and is not a visual phenomenon. Lucio Fontana 1972

The following painting is my tribute to the Rosarine Artist Lucio Fontana. I have titled my painting: Cosmic Couple.

The Mystery of Paper

When I first decided to get back into producing art I stood in the store in the paper aisle totally bewildered by the choice available. All the different papers were a mystery to me and the terms even more so. I really didn't know what the differences were or how to make my choice. I stumbled around and made some bad choices in the beginning. I have since learned a lot about paper and how to choose the best kind for the project I have in mind. I found the following descriptions and they are very helpful if you are just beginning and find yourself as confused as I was. These terms are also helpful if you are buying art as most artist refer to these terms in their listings.

Acid Free Paper - Acid free papers are buffered with an alkaline reserve, such as calcium carbonate, to neutralize acid compounds absorbed from the atmosphere or formed through natural aging.

Archival Paper - Paper manufactured to provide the ultimate resistance against natural aging. The most important characteristics are: no groundwood or unbleached pulp, a minimum pH of 7.5, and additional alkaline reserve of 2%.

Basis Size - Sizes based on traditions/customs which represent the industry standard for a specific paper grade. For example, the basis size of watercolor paper is 22" x 30".

Basis Weight - The weight in pounds of a ream (500 sheets) of paper in a given size. A 140 lb. watercolor paper will be one in which a ream of 22" x 30" sheets actually weighs 140 pounds. For comparison typical copy paper is 80 lb. For Watercolor the heavier the paper the better as it absorbs more water. I do not like to use any less than 140 lb paper as the finished product is not as desirable. A 300 lb paper gives beautiful results.

Bristol - Artist Bristol generally describes drawing paper that is pasted. Two or more sheets are pasted together to form 2-ply, 3-ply, etc. Sheets are pasted into Bristol to achieve stiffness, strength and to form a sheet with two identical useable (felt or top) sides.

Cold Press - A term used to describe the medium surface of certain textured paper used for watercolor work. This is my preferred choice as the surface is slightly rough and it absorbs water well.

Picture is on 140 lb, cold press paper. Medium used is watercolor pencil.



Felt Side - The side of paper known as the “top side,” it is considered the preferred working side of a sheet of paper.

Grain Direction - The direction in which the majority of fibers lie in a finished sheet of paper corresponding to the direction the wire travels on a papermaking machine. Handmade papers have no grain direction.

Hot Press - Used primarily in describing watercolor papers with a very smooth surface. This type of paper doesn’t absorb the watercolor as easily as cold press.

Lignin - An organic substance which acts as a binder for cellulose fibers in wood and certain plants, adding strength and stiffness to cell walls. Lignin is undesirable in the production of fine, permanent papers because it reacts with light and/or heat to produce henols (alcohols) and acids, which cause deterioration and embrittlement of the paper. Choose lignin free paper for your artistic endeavors.

Mould (Mold) Made - Although originally describing a handmade process, today “mould made” papers are produced on a Cylinder machine. Cylinder machines differ from Fourdriniers only in the way the pulp is applied to the wire.
Rough Surface - A term used to describe a coarse, textured paper. Often used by artists when discussing the surface characteristics of watercolor paper.

Smooth Surface - A paper with a very smooth, hard finish. Ideal for pen and ink, marker, airbrush and mechanical layouts.

Vellum Surface/Medium Surface/Regular Surface/Kid Surface - A term used to describe the finish of a sheet of paper, with a minimum to moderate tooth. Ideal for pencil, charcoal, airbrush, pastel, crayon, and pen and ink, (not requiring a solid line).

Watercolor on 140 lb. Cold Press Paper

What's the story?

Yes it is...Morning Glory! Yet another watercolor greeting card, measuring 5x7 and blank inside. Mail it to a flower lover or mat and frame and keep it for yourself.

It's beginning to look alot like Fall around here!

Hello all your loyal followers, sorry we are a little behind on our blogging! Thought I would share a few things with you that is going on in our Art Group First we are voting on our September Halloween or Black Cat Quest, We need votes!!!!! Please take the time to follow this link below and vote for your favorite pc. of art and leave the number in the comment box.

CLICK HERE FOR VOTING ON THE SEPTEMBER ART QUEST, PLEASE!

It ends on Friday evening, so we need your votes!

We have so many talented artists in our group that is on etsy here is some of their artwork. Great Art and Great Deals!!

These would make wonderful Christmas Gifts!!

Etsy Buy Handmade DAWGTeam

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas Christmas Cards Paper Greeting Cards Greeting Cards

Help me out and add this card to your favortes list on Greeting Card Universe today!
I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas Christmas Cards Paper Greeting Cards Greeting Cards

Shared via AddThis

Wild and Purple; Two of my Favorites

Phlox




What could be better? Flowers that grow wild and are purple! If I could get them to grow in my yard...perfect!









Larkspur

Just Before Daybreak Deer Wildlife Employee Birthday Cards Paper Greeting Cards Greeting Cards

Just Before Daybreak Deer Wildlife Employee Birthday Cards Paper Greeting Cards Greeting Cards

Shared via AddThis

Autumn is Almost Here!

There is a definite somberness as Summer slowly winds to a close. The pools become just a tad bit chillier, the nights are shorter, and backpacks will soon replace fishing poles and baseball bats. Here are two ACEOs I just created in the spirit of Autumn.

Fall's Recompense-

and Autumn's Night-

Don't Miss Out on Great Savings!!!!

Save 10% at Greeting Card Universe when you Order 10 Cards or more -

Use Code AUGSAVE10 at Checkout - Offer Ends August 17

Visit http://www.greetingcarduniverse.com today!!!

Tea

"The tea party is a spa for the soul.
You leave your cares and work behind.
Busy people forget their business.
Your stress melts away, your senses awaken . . ."
Alexandra Stoddard

Having a tea party? Are you a tea drinker? I am. Nothing better than brewing tea from loose tea. I like to experiment mixing a little of this and a little of that. How about you?

This tea trivet is available in my Etsy shop. It's handpainted kiln fired porcelain. Dishwasher safe. Here's the link: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=26449720

Winner of the Best Art Contest

Well we had some wonderful art in this contest! So much beauty!! Thanks to all that entered and all that voted! They were all just beautiful.

OUR WINNER

Christine Perry

Here is Christine's Blog Check it out CLICK

Are you an woman that loves to paint or draw, come join our wonderful group of women that we call the Designing artists women's group "DAWG"

Click here for Group Link

We have so much wonderful art for sale!! On Etsy and Bonanzle type in DAWG and look at all the great art that comes from our Group!!

Thanks again to all that entered and to all that Voted!! Without you we couldn't do it!

I HAVE A WINNER - SORRY I'M LATE

I have a winner to the "Hunt For Terrific Trees" and that winner is:

WINTERGARDEN - CONGRATULATIONS AND YOUR PRIZES WILL BE OUT TO YOU ASAP.

There were 10 Visitors to my blog that made it around to all the blogs that were participating in this hunt, they were:

Rememberances
Audrey
Star Mountain Dreams
Smelly Rhino Studios
Lorri
Noble Beeyotch (three entries as she found the hidden logo in my Etsy Shop)
Paper Moon Delights
LL Martin
JoMo
Judi Fitzpatrick
Wintergarden

Thank you to everyone that participated, you make it fun to do these hunts. We will be having another hunt at the beginning of September so stay tuned for date and details.

Before I close I want to apologize for being so late with this announcement. I found myself without access to my computer. What a hectic and weird day I had yesterday and another today.

It all began when we decided to go look at new cars yesterday afternoon. We found one we liked and called my ex son-in-law, (a used car dealer with connections) to tell him what we found. He got to work right away and found a dealer and set up a deal for us that was too good to be true (It took him 20 minutes), the dealer he talked to called us and told us he had what we wanted with even more bells and whistles than on the one we saw for lots less money. We agreed and then were told we needed to produce our "clunker" -- sooooooooo we had to leave right away to go to the beach to get our old 1989 Jeep to give them. Upon arriving at the beach it was determined that I would not be able to turn around and drive all the way home by myself at night and tired so we stayed the night (hence no computer).

We were going to leave first thing in the morning, but woke up late and headed out, it is a 3.5 hour drive. The traffic suddenly stopped and was not moving, this was on a two lane highway in the hills of the coast range. We sat there for quite a while before someone said we could turn around and take the first road we came to and it would take us around the area (It turned out to be a fatal head on collision that had the road blocked). I thought we would never get home and was fretting about getting the winner posted the whole time. Talk about an anxiety attack. I am not a brave driver in the first place, in the second place I have never driven to the coast or back by myself, in the third place I get very nervous going through strange cities. All I can say is this has helped me get over some of my fears and I am glad to be home. I hope the new car is worth it all. We have purchased a 2009, Toyota Venza, it is a beauty, the color is Blizzard Pearl (sparkly white) with light gray leather interior.

Thanks for your patience and participation.

Best Art Contest

We have so many wonderful entries in the Best Art Contest, Such wonderful talent we have in the dawg Art group!! We need your vote though, Voting ends on Monday 10th so please stop by this link and vote,

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/event.php?eid=110144853900

If you are not on facebook, you can look at the photos and then email me at

lparker1116@yahoo.com

Thanks for looking!

Hello From the Beach

Peace and Serenity is what I feel when we are at the beach. It has been fogged in for two days right on the beach, you get a block off and it is blue sky and sun. We went for a drive down to the beginning of the Peninsula and then drove back up the beach to home yesterday and I got some really great pictures. The peninsula starts where the Columbia River enters the Ocean. The bar to go across from the river into the ocean is the most dangerous in the world and the Cape is named Cape Disappointment as so many ships have been lost there.

These first two are pictures of the rocks around the tide pools at the cape.





These next pictures are of the birds. There were so many gulls and pelicans today it was almost spooky with them and the fog. There must have been something hatching or running as they were in large groups feeding. At times it was almost like being in Alfred Hitchcock's movie, "The Birds".






Thanks for letting me share my Day at the beach with you.

Summer!

Nothing says Summer like a little bunch of Daisies, 90 degree weather and firecrackers!

This is a commissioned work ready to mat and ship! Check out my other work here.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

"There is in art the notion of less is more, which is to say, you don’t torture a painting that has already confessed. " -- Robert Brault

Good Morning to you all,

As some of you know I have been taking watercolor classes for a while now but have not shown too much of my work except a few in the beginning. Over the next week I'd like to share some of them with you. Most of them will be going up for sale (as soon as I figure out how much to sell them for) There are a couple that I am keeping for myself.

This first one is one that I am keeping for myself: it is a large 16X20 and I am going to have it matted and framed and hang it in my house at the beach. The mat on it now is just one my teacher put on it to see how it would look.



This next one is one that the assignment was to do a sky and make the picture have some emotion, I hope I succeeded:



One more for today, This was for our assignment to paint a shiny object - I used an old copper coffee pot:



Come back as I will be showing more throughout the week.

Remember that we are having another "Treasure Hunt" this time for flowers. The Hunt will start on Monday June 22, If you follow the links in each of our blogs to the next blogger, leave a comment on each of their pictures of flowers your name will go into a hat for an ACEO from Me, or a prize as designated by each blogger. You must leave a comment at each blog and follow the loop back to me in order to be in the drawing. You can win in more than one blog. So mark your calendar and get ready to see some beautiful flowers and have fun and win prizes.

Gear up for the Fourth of July!

JULY 4TH!!!

Get ready to celebrate the fourth of July in style!

Stop by Tam Fleetwood Moody's Apparel & Gifts for the latest Betsy Ross Old Glory Flag design featured on t-shirts, banners, water bottles, mugs, magnets, buttons, jackets,

greeting cards and much more!

Not sure what it is...

...but I loved how it looked. Another flowering tree but I never see any fruit.

It was just the perfect excuse to use my new opera watercolor.

Watercolors on Etsy

Father's Day is coming....

I was thinking the other day. I am so darn lucky to have my father. He's 82 years young. He's been such an important part of my life. I am truly a Daddy's girl. What do I like about my Dad? He was always a very good provider for our family. He insisted my Mom never work so he had it all on his shoulders.

He always showed us lots of love. He would take us fishing and call it bonding. When we were kids, we weren't always happy to go at the crack of dawn to get the fish (cause fish like to get up early). But now I look back at those times with fondness. Especially when we would go to the Eastern Shore of Maryland and dip for crabs and seine for fish and then cook some of them right on the beach as we spent the day there. What memories!

Speaking of memories. How Dad loves to dance. My daughter says he looks like he's stomping bugs but I love to watch him and Mom do their version of jitterbug. So what wonderful memories do you have of your Dad...

The dresser box is faux leather painted on porcelain available in my Etsy shop (JYWheeler)
Here's the Link: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=8381740

June 3rd

Today I start my blog with this quote: by Henry Ward Beecher ... “Every artist dips his brush in his own soul, and paints his own nature into his pictures.”

Hoping that quote will put you in the proper frame of mind .... for ... painting, watercolor, art! The quote is from a prominent, Congregationalist clergyman, social reformer, abolitionist, and speaker in the mid to late 19th century, so says Wikipedia.

I love to paint, but lately haven't had as much time; because it's SPRING! Almost Summer in fact, but Spring came late here in the Pacific Northwest; I am just finishing getting my garden in. Not sure if there will even be time for it to grow, if Winter comes early.

Inch by inch

Row by row

Gonna make my garden grow!

Oppps sorry I just felt like singing a bit.

I did manage to get a few flower ACEO's painted and listed one on Ebay just today, pictured above. Listed it so I would have something to post here on this blog. The link to my two listings can be found right here in this posting, and I sincerely hope you will visit my site on Ebay at http://tinyurl.com/q2suwm
Now the second listing is a beach scene, also pictured above, it's known on Ebay as ArtSquared, because it's square, just 4" x 4", another popular art form.

I hope you enjoyed the quote, the song, paintings, and this posting I created just for YOU!

So much to do..........

As I get older there never seems to be enough time to get it all done. I remember when I was a teenager, the days just never seem to end. Now I look at the clock and it is evening before I know it and still didn't get half done what I wanted too! Oh well I guess it didn't need to be done that much anyway LOL. There is always tomorrow if God sees fit, and if not oh well! :)

I just got my middle girl married and it went wonderful, but alot of work and details was involved. I am very proud that she was happy with almost everything the way it turned out.

I know as a mom myself I think sometimes the weight of the world is on me and sometimes it is! Oh but I am so thankful I have God in my life to help me thru all those times when I think I might just go crazy, he never leaves me or forsakes me. In him I find peace and rest.

I want to get back into the groove with my art and sewing, right now we are in the middle of also remodeling whew..... what a mess. We are praying that Stephen, my hubby, that God will present a job close to home for him. God's timing is right and I have faith that he will supply! I ask that you pray with us too! Prayer changes things!

So I am off to work at my long list, how much will get done, who knows, who really cares, if I can say hey I got this done today, one thing is better than none!

Take time to Give thanks for all you have and don't take it forgranted!!

It's all about the beach

Can there be such a thing as bad weather at the beach? No matter what, I'm always happy to be there.
bad weather?








I found the best sea shells roaming the beach in Florida and North Carolina but found sea stars, anemones and jelly fish in Oregon
Bleached and Beached





I bought a few shells, too. There was little chance I'd find a nautilus or...
Cockle Shell