Friday the 13th...

... I lost my best friend.  This past week has been really hard and I have a nasty cold/flu that has brought me down, my beloved poodle Roadie was sick & had seizures, I am not so sure the next week is going to be any easier.  
I do take comfort in the fact that she is no longer suffering and our last words were I love you.  We were part of each other's daily lives for 30 years, lest she be out of the country or an occasional weekend.  This past year, especially the last few months have been extremely difficult to say the least.  I haven't painted much as you have most likely noticed. The life is not only sucked out of person who is ill, but little by little, sucks the life out of those who love them too.  Listening to & seeing someone suffering that you love is life changing. All their time is spent trying to stay alive instead of living.  In the last few weeks I started missing her before she was even gone.    Most of the suffering she endured, the treatments, medications, was just as much for the people she loved as it was for herself, I think more.  She was one of the strongest women I have ever known.

This picture is a few years old but it's one of the few where weren't making weird faces and both smiling.  I will miss her smile and laugh.  She was my big sister.

I am heartbroken.  A memorial for her is planned in April.

I loved her very much and I will miss her until I see her again in Heaven. 

 

Spores are Flying...

... to Twitter Art Exhibit. I hope none of my cooties go with it.  Hey a girl can change her mind.  This piece is going.  It's happier and more fun than the other I had planned. Now all the pieces I painted yesterday look sad. Boo.  I think I am taking this one to the printer and going to put it in my kitchen. 
"Oh what a night!" 

Lord knows I have some coffee grounds!! and I love upcycling :)  hum.....

Create a great day!

Blessings

 

 

Not Good, Bad & Ugly...

...that was my day.  I rarely vent or complain publically but this is my place, sort of my diary... Today I was told my best friend is no longer able to speak, she is nearly non-responsive and her days are very few. She has suffered so much as well as those who love her. As if my life wasn't changed already, it really is changed now. I realized that day before yesterday was the last time I would talk to her and if I had known that would I have said other things?  I wasn't sure she really understood everything I said but she knew it was me and didn't want me to get off the phone when I tried.  She said very little.  The last thing I said to her & she to me was I love you, so that is comforting. Today they put her on a morphine pump. I already miss her and she isn't really gone.  I'm sick right now too, a horrible sore throat, body aches, so the news & realization that I can't talk to her anymore just added to my ailments, my chest literally hurt and I would find tears falling off my cheeks when I didn't realize I was crying.  Unless we were on vacation or out of the country there has hardly been a day without either being with her or talking to her in 30 years. She is a sister to me, one of the longest relationships of my life and I can't imagine it without her right now.  So instead of yarn, I consoled myself with paint and paper. Painting one after another. Then pictures, scanning... blogging.  I'm still going but I'm ready to crash.

I finished and listed this piece in my Etsy shop. Its my favorite of the day. I'm going call these Little Totems.
She sat gracefully silent in the trees...

"Bohemian Hunter"

I'm working on my drawings, so in order not to ruin my drawings, I am playing with thin washes like watercolor which is really hard for me, I have to see backwards sort of.  Too much color working like this can ruin the piece in an instant.  I have several as evidence.

I am sending this one to Norway because it's my husband's favorite, my son named it, and it's more my normal style. Painting on black willy nilly nothing drawn out.

"White Water Woman"

 

Just miles from my home is the little town of Coloma. Famous for the gold discovery that started The Gold Rush, but also famous for white water rafting.   I'm mailing it tomorrow & crossing my fingers it arrives on time.

Tell someone special how much you love them today.

Blessings

 

Keepin' It Real...

 ...fresh that is! Check out this cilantro that has been in the frig for 4 weeks and going.  I love this new trick and it works for other herbs too.  I used to buy cilantro and within a week it would be bad even though I kept it in water in the frig or washed & wrapped in paper towel like Rachel Ray.  Whichever, I always seemed to toss 1/2 of the bunch out eventually. Now I wash & dry it, put it in a dry clean jar and place it in the frig.  It stays fresh & ready to use!

I first tasted cilantro in salsa at my favorite Mexican restaurant a co-worker introduced me too back in the early 80's. (Louis's in Sacramento) I wasn't sure I liked it. It was not a flavor I was used to, it was weird, with an oily soapy taste, but this was no sissy salsa! They weren't shy with the Serrano peppers and that fire alone kept me coming back for more, so cilantro quickly grew to love it.  Sadly the old mom & pop run Louis's has been moved, he has passed and his son's have taken over & opened their own places with the same recipes.   There are so many ways I use it now besides salsa.  I use it when I make Thai, Vietnamese, Chinese, Indian curries, soups, sandwiches, sauces, & dressings. My frig can't be without it.
Now if I could only get it to grow....

4 weeks and going! Still fresh & usable.

You're welcome!

 

I Live On the Edge...

...   of a Miwok Indian reservation,  the American River, "Gold Country",  the Sierras, hilly country sides dotted here & there with rambling vineyards, tall pines, redwoods, scrub oaks and apple orchards.  Lately,  I have been so drawn to native American Indian designs, especially if it's campy ala vintage summer camp.  (BTW I am a proud daughter of a  Potawatomi Indian. ) I started a board on Pinterest called Pow Wow and started some little paintings  (below) reflecting my home now and my family.   I am working on a piece for this year's Twitter Art Exhibit in Norway. I may send one of these.  It sure feels good to paint again, to lose all my worries in paint. Hours melt into hours. 

Some of these little ones remind me of deer hunters who sit in the trees for hours.  A few have river water with river rock. One not shown has a sweet bird on a branch I can't wait to paint.  I'm not sure how many I have drawn but it's a lot as well as a large canvas so I have lots of painting to do.  I am still working on some little pieces from the Love is a Blanket series too with vintage fabrics. 

 Pieces In Progress

Yarn is like comfort food to me. Whenever I am going through a stressful time I always end up with a bag of yarn & needles in my hand.  I learned to crochet when I was 7 yrs old and I still love it. (I used to fashion my own Troll Doll clothes.)  So I have been crocheting away, making some of these "pow wow" slippers using up my shameful stash of new & vintage yarn.  You can find a pair at "Camp Shenanagans"!  haha  I have an expert cross stitcher/needleworker ready to work with me so order away!   They are so happy on your feet and warm too!  

 

 

I don't know what happened to January. Happy belated New Year. :)

I promise to post more this year.

Create a great day!