This is my mom, and yes all that hair is real, no extensions or hair piece!!
This picture was taken in about 1975.
Take a look at the progression of this little sweetie.
First things first, the background!!
I love, love , love creating the backgrounds!!
I create the back ground by using decoupage and acrylic paints, inks.
Then it's on to the sketching and the painting.
My chosen technique for this painting is pastels and gesso.
Working with pastels and gesso takes a little longer,
do to the many layers that are needed to achieve just the right color.
But I'm not complaining, the process is a blast!!!
I love, love, love the final product.
I've gifted this little sweetie to my Mother, she loved her!!
For my tribute to winter this year I painted this
little girlie and her snowman
.
I used decoupage, acrylics and pastels as my medium
I gifted her to a daughter of a friend for Christmas.
I think she turned out lovely!!!
Here are just a few more of my little girlies:
"Blame it on the moon"
"Dream Angle"
And last, but certainly not least, this little trio, they are my tribute to
Ralph Waldo Emerson.
I've always been a big fan of Emerson, this is one of my favorite:
"Live in the sunshine, swim the sea,
drink the wild air."
"Live in the sunshine"
"Swim the sea"
"Drink the wild air"
I hope you've enjoyed these little girlies
as much as I have
ENJOYED
creating them.
So let me give you all just a little background on just how I found myself and why I've been silent for so long.
Some of you may or may not know that I have had some big changes in my life lately.
One of the biggest being that I have moved to North Dakota!!
Yes you heard me right,
North Dakota,
Williston North Dakota to be more exact.
I'm in the Bakken living in a fifth-wheel
with my Honey.
and Mr.Tank!
It doesn't get more real than that!!!
I never realized just how spoiled I was to have a full size studio in my home in Utah. But now that my creative space has been drastically reduced to a small fifth wheel camp table, I now have a whole new appreciation of creative space.
The "What's", the "How's and the "Whys" of my relocation has everything to do with
goal setting and realization of those goals.
Some of those goals are as follows:
I want to be as close to a debt free life as possible.
I want a nest egg, for retirement.
And dang it I want the
Victorian Home with the picket fence,
somewhere in Oregon will do just fine.
This one happens to be in Coquille, Oregon
and it just happens to be for sale!!!
For
$245,000
this Victorian Beauty could be yours,
it has 4 BRMs, 3 BTH's
3,856 sqft, .26 ac , built in 1891
You know how the old saying goes, "it's never to late to start",
well I am living it.
I'm walking the walk and talking the talk.
I've put a five year time frame on my lofty goals, and with any luck it could be sooner.
That my friends is how I find myself in Williston North Dakota,
just barely surviving my first winter.
Let me tell you, I also have a whole new appreciation for the word, "COLD"
and just how
"COLD",
"COLD",
can be!!!
Can you say -35 below zero, in a fifth wheel!!!
I find myself going through multiple stages of change
Let me just share a few with you, now.
First there's the thrill and excitement, at the thought of doing something new.
I call this the BLIND ADVENTURE stage,
your just to excited or should I say naive to know better.
Then there's the "YES, I DID IT" stage.
This is how you will feel as the road move under your wheels and the Mountains of home begin to fade in your rear view mirror. (There's still a little thrill here, who doesn't love a road trip?)
Then there's the
"ARE WE THERE YET, OH YOU MEAN THIS IS IT" stage.
After 13 hours 22 minutes and 873.5 miles according to Google Map, you have arrived at your destination!!!
At this stage you'll find that your mind and body has gone into road shock and all you want to do is take a nice long bubble bath and relax. But then you remember you don't have a bath tub any more and a weak water pressure shower is all your going to get.
But that's "OK" you tell yourself, you have goals and dreams and this is just part of your journey!!
Well to sum it all up and to make a very cold, very long winter short it quickly reached the,
"WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING" stage.
This stage hits you like a blast of cold North Dakota arctic air right between your now disillusioned eyes.
But have faith my friends, my frozen little goals are still alive and starting to thaw along with the prairies that surround me.
And today I found that extra bit of warm sunshine,
to keep me trying to achieve my goals.
And to give me back my creative spirit and joy!!!
I found my INSPIRATION in the art work of Angela Morgan.
Her work has made me happy and brightened my day.
It makes me want to pick up my paint brush and start painting again.
It has helped me find the INSPIRATION I needed
to believe in my art and my creative style again.
It has helped to wash away my doubts and style conflict.
I realize that I need to stay focused, stay true to me, my art and my goals.
I need to remember that I create for me, to bring me JOY, PEACE
and
HAPPINESS!!
And that life also has it's seasons and after every bitter winter the spring will come again!!!
Thank you dear friends for following my ramblings and putting up with my whining.
My wish to you is that you all find that one thing that
