Time for a breather....

After I finish a big painting, I feel the need to do some fun, little things so I can take a breath.  Large paintings take a lot out of me.  I find that I take on any emotion that I am painting.  I even catch myself making the same facial expressions I'm painting.  So, with the emotions and facial expressions and the subject matter of the painting from the last post.....well, I was starting to lose my mind!

So, I decided to go back to my painting roots and do some fun, whimsical stuff.  I'm having soooooo much fun and it really is a breath of fresh air.  I did 4 paintings in 3 days.  I just couldn't stop!  It was very satisfying and much needed.  

This was totally fun!!!  I cut that heart out, myself, with a scroll saw my Dad got me for my birthday (my 38th on Feb. 6th.  Sigh......)  And the wings are made from grundge board.  Oh, how I have a love affair going right now with grundge board.  The shiny heart is the back of a pop can and it is nailed onto a heart made from the stuff casts are made from (like when you break your arm).  So much fun!(the cast stuff....not breaking your arm)

One of my all time favorite subjects......Decoupage Birds!  This is for a sweet cousin.  LOVE this new paper I found!

Love me some hoot owls, too.  

Eyeballs!   The pupils are created from some funky push pins I found.

Molly wanted to help.  Oh, how my heart beat when she asked, 'Mama....will you teach me to decoupage?'  Oh, the joy!!  Sweet Girl.

How flowers look in my wild dreams.  Oh, and bees, lady bugs and inch worms....all made from grundge board.....naturally!

And everything is nailed on.  HATE glue.  LOVE nails.

And last one, from last night.  I thought I would just paint the trunk to get a leg up but I just couldn't stop.  Too much fun with my beloved grundge board.  And yes.....cut this out of wood with my saw.  I'm so manly!!!

Yes, it is.


Goodnight, all.

Death of a King.

"What shall I do then, with Jesus who is called Christ?" Pilate asked.
They all answered, "Crucify him!".

......the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the elders mocked him.  "He saved others", they said, "but he can't save himself!"

.......They stripped him, and put a scarlet robe on him, and then twisted together a crown of thorns and set it on his head......and mocked him.......they spit on him......and struck him on the head again and again.

....Peter remembered the word Jesus had spoken to him:  "Before the rooster crows twice you will disown me three times."

And he broke down and wept bitterly.

When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son," and to the disciple, "Here is your mother."  From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.

When all the people who had gathered to witness this sight saw what took place, they beat their breasts and went away.  But all those who knew him.....stood at a distance, watching these things.

The centurion, seeing what had happened, praised God and said, "Surely this was the Son of God."

.....darkness came over the whole land....for the sun stopped shining.  And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.  Jesus called out with a loud voice, "Father, into your hands I commit my spirit."  And he 

breathed his last.

As he was blessing them, he was taken up into heaven.  "And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."

Created to Create.

A sweet lady came into the gallery a few days ago and talked to me about feeling guilty when she tried to carve out time for art and crafting.  Pshaw!....was my response.  You are an artist.  You were made to create!

I truly believe that if the Creator made you to create, you die a little everyday if you do not feed that beautiful part of yourself.  It doesn't have to be something huge or something that take 6 months to finish. Sometimes, I get my creative fix when I make pipe cleaner dolls with my girls!

And I think some of us get insecure because we think our 'crafts' aren't useful or we think if they aren't typically something that sells that they are a waste of time.  PSHAW!!!  Selling art or the lack thereof does not differentiate an artist from a 'crafty person'.  If you create, you are an artist.  My kids are artists.  Don't sell yourself short.  There is an artist inside you.  And that artist wants out!!

I found a fabulous quote on pintrest today (yes, I'm addicted).  It's perfect for you and I.

I know that life is busy and hard, and that there’s a crushing pressure to just settle down and get a real job and khaki pants and a haircut. But don’t. Please don’t. Please keep believing that life can be better, brighter, broader, because of the art that you make. Please keep demonstrating the courage that it takes to swim upstream in a world that prefers putting away for retirement to putting pen to paper, that chooses practicality over poetry, that values you more for going to the gym than going to the deepest places in your soul. Please keep making art for people like me, people who need the magic and imagination and honesty of great art to make the day to day world a little more bearable.

And if, for whatever reason, you’ve stopped,  stopped believing in your voice, stopped fighting to find the time......start today.

- Shauna Niequist, Cold Tangerines

That's fabulous.

Now......go get a cup of coffee.....

And Create.  With no guilt.  No Shame.  Do what you were created to do.

Good Night.