Sunday Scripture

So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand. Isaiah 41:10

Work In Progress

"Fresh Powder"

Hopefully I will be finished with this one tomorrow, I have a few more touches to do. It reminds me of the old Vintage Ski Posters. Can't you just feel her breathing in the winter air about to exhale all of her tensions?!

I don't ski but I love going up the hill to Lake Tahoe & watching the skiers, getting bundled up, getting a cold rosy face & breathing in that Ponderosa Pine . If we don't drive home the same day, we always stay at the same place which is at the bottom of Heavenly Ski Resort with a room facing the slopes. I don't ski or go to the lodge because I hate the lifts. Whenever I have been coerced "forced" to be in one, the whole time I am in a near panic state. Dangling from wire freaks me out. So yeah I don't like elevators either. I did go hot air ballooning several years ago. Now that is extreme dangling! *heart rate going up thinking about it* Once I was in the basket, floating, comprehending the reality of no hope of survival, floating, completely stripped naked of any control what-so-ever, floating, the terror so bad it was hard to stand, gently turned into a what the heck attitude, floating, today is a beautiful day to go if I have to, floating, and I kind of relaxed a little, gently floating. However, that doesn't mean I let go of the basket. Oh no. I had to peel my hands off of the basket pole at landing one finger at a time! Not kidding. haha Flying, I have to do, ballooning I don't, so it would be difficult to imagine that I would do it again, but I'm so glad I did.

I took this video while driving home from Lake Tahoe...in living color!...

A BIG SHOUT OUT goes to Terraworks for featuring my art in one of her awesome Etsy Treasuries! Thank you Terraworks!

Be My...

Valentine! I'm getting in the mood for love...well... it might just be chocolate! This is a sweet Valentine piece I am currently working on. She's so in love with you her eyes follow you wherever you go. I will be listing on Etsy later today when she is completely finished. "Falling Hopelessly"

It's A Crochet Day

Check out this cool Granny Square Spiral pattern at Crochet Me!

Christmas Cards in January?

Why not! A Reuse/Recycle Christmas Card project is what I did today. I am the new moderator/fearless leader of the Reuse/Recycle art group, a subgroup of the Swell Sister Society. I hosted the first meeting at my home today. I got up early & made 2 quiches this morning. I haven't made those in years. Why? They are so good. My boys ate the leftovers for dinner with a little salad. I am going to make them more often. While searching for a recipe (I ended up making up my own) I saw one that used a large tortilla instead of a pie crust. I may try that next time. I'm thinking that would be tasty and a lot less calories. After I got those in the oven my son & I hopped in the car and headed for Heavenly Donuts. It's a little hole in the wall place down the street from my house that is well known for having the best donuts & cinnamon buns. We got 3 dozen glazed donut holes and they were almost gone when the girls left. Donut holes seem less evil than regular donuts. haha I even ate 2 of them and I am one of those odd people that doesn't like donuts. I also had grapes and beautiful strawberries, that came from who knows where this time of year, and they were big sweet and delicious. My hubby finished off the pitcher of cucumber water when he got home. I love cucumber water! If you haven't tried it, and you like cucumber, you must try it. Just plop in a few slices in your ice water next time you're making that salad.

The Christmas cards we made were from Christmas cards that we received. One of the artists, Mikie Spencer, does this every year and has her creations printed to use at Christmas time. She has made some really beautiful cards. I am not so happy with the one that I made & a little red faced to show it, and because of all the shiny gold choices (can't resist shiny) it does not scan well, so it's not a good candidate for printing. I learned in the process though. I still have lots of cards and will be making more. If you save your cards you might like to do this project with us. Hopefully I will end up with one I can use this year...we'll see. I think my cooking was better than my art today!

I am in the process of designing a knitting pattern for a neck warmer with my whimsical flowers on it. I also need to start something for my niece's baby so I went to the little knit shop we have in my little town. Ok that's another story....

Wordless Wednesday

Breathless (Turning Blue)

Beauty Shop Girls

"Pump Up The Volume"

4x6 Acrylic on Paper

The inspiration for these beauty shop girls are my 2 Grammas. Mollie & Theda. Both of them had beauty shops in their homes. I myself am a beauty school dropout, failing to follow in their footsteps, to pursue other careers that didn't involve smelly perms, long hours on my feet, stained & waterlogged hands, but I still cut hair for my boys. Now I have a job that stains my hands, but I avoided it for many years and had hands with manicures to be admired.

My Gramma Mollie's beauty shop & her kitchen were magical places. A steady stream of people went in & out of both all day. As children, her shop was where our imaginations ran wild. Playing Beauticians after all the blue haired customers had gone home, we spun in chairs until we got in trouble, sat under big hair dryers pretending to be astronauts and letting the world drift away, had disastrous hair cutting "accidents", rollers & brushes stuck in our hair (also "accidents"), spills, fights, kisses, messes; we listened to gossip & gossiped ourselves, learned life is like a soap opera sometimes, had lots of tears & belly laughs. The shop was a place to get & give advise on life, although not one woman ever mentioned menopause that I can recall. haha Many of my happiest memories were in "Mollie's Beauty Nook". My Gramma worked in her shop for some very loyal customers until finally retiring at the age of 72.

My Gramma Mollie. Wasn't she beautiful?!

Impatiently Waiting

I admire the people who wait patiently for Etsy Treasury's to open up to post a grouping of their favorite things. I'm not that patient and honestly it sounds complicated, so I appreciate every Treasury that I am in & the work/time the person puts into it. I love looking through the Treasury's. I thought I'd give it a try, but frankly I don't think I'll be able to wait for an opening! So I am posting a poster sketch of a few things that have caught my fancy lately which includes my own Little Swimmer. I am smitten with that one. The original is on it's way to Germany tomorrow. I have listed prints in my Etsy Shop.

Angel for Haiti

Currently up for bid on Ebay is this old fashioned Angel called "Angel In Prayer". 75% of proceeds are being donated to the American Red Cross to aid Haiti & others in need around the world. Bidding started at $0.99. Search for all work with large proceeds being donated through Ebay by searching the art category 4Haiti. Type in 4Haiti. If you would also like to donate as well, please include 4Haiti in your listing.

A Little Word on Wednesday

John 16:33 "In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."
Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.
Matthew 11:28-30 "Come to me all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Finished Up & Giddy Up

Work in Progress (see below) is finished. I am calling this one "Sink or Swim". I love that name for this one and it's thanks to one of my favorite bloggers and blogs Teri Rees Wang. If you haven't taken a visit to her blog you should head over there now. It's delicious & delightful place.

I love The Dollar Store

Bought this horse for One Dollar and we had a Million Dollars worth of fun with it today!

Faux Pho...

This was dinner last night. I made this in minutes while working on my blog. Do you like the fresh new look? This bowl of soup is much bigger than it looks, it fed 3 of us. I placed the big bowl on platter in the center of the table and the guys & I dived in. Dishing up the broth that was brighten up with lime, digging the saifun noodles out of the bottom, peeling the shrimp, slurping the crab. We were covered in it and it was so good!

Looks Like...

rain is on the way! I'll be sportin' my new umbrella I got for Christmas. You know how I love rain & colorful umbrellas! I happen to have a scarf I crocheted that matches it perfectly. The scarf was crocheted entirely in the V stitch. Fast & Easy.

Sunday Song

It was my first visit to Di4Art's blog that I heard this touching song. I ended up listening to it about 3 times and then her entire play list! I found this beautiful video of stunning photographs accompanied by the song. I thought I'd share. Thank you Diana.

Work In Progress

One of my Sweethearts...

Timothy Campbell, drummer, guitarist, songwriter
New CD ~ Even The Atlantic
Please leave him a comment!

Please!

Be Green & keep our waters clean!

You can find this Little Swimmer by clicking here.

It's Chilly

Cold & grey. Hot & red. I'm loving it.

Big shout out goes to Irina's Photos for including my painting in her Etsy Treasury of favorites!

On My Easel

A work in progress. A commission for a Little Swimmer. I am enjoying painting on paper more than I have in the past thanks to those luscious pastels I was working with a few months ago. I haven't done many 4x6 paintings and I am digging this size! I'll be doing more for sure. I'll post the final picture when she's completed. *** 1/9 You can view the completed painting by clicking here.

Sunday Angels

I just listed these Angels in my Etsy shop. Click here to see or purchase. The Garden Angel with Tulips has to be one of my all time personal favorites. All of these Angels have lots of personality and their skin just glows. Bill at the Artist Center posted the painting video I made

of The Little Dare Devil! Such a compliment! I am going to work on another video with music & my art. I think my mom would love that for her birthday on a dvd. Shhhhhhhh (she never reads my blog hahaha)

Did Ya...

eat your good luck foods yesterday? I did and I'm eating them again today! haha Black-eyed peas for good luck, greens (collards) for good luck with money, french bread & salmon croquettes just coz they're yummy! While at the gallery today a friend said her sister-in-law puts a black-eyed pea in her purse. I'd never heard of that before.

A Big Shout out goes to Galafilc for including "KA BOOM" in her fantastic Carnival Queen Treasury.