Wind in the Pines, and Maples, and Hosta

I woke this morning to the sound of howling wind. I love to listen to the wind, my husband does not, just one of the ways we are opposites. It sounded like the coldest January day you can imagine.

A First

I am known for not wrapping presents until 2:00 A. M. Christmas Eve Day or Christmas Day, depending on when they are going to be exchanged. I am also known for buying presents early and forgetting where I hid them. Well this a first, not only did I remember where the presents were (in the back of my car), I also wrapped them. Thanks to the Bookman, who not only leaves books, but other good things to buy in our faculty room, I got a head start on my shopping and I didn't even have to brave Black Friday. No cleaning got done, but in addition to wrapping presents, I cut about 30 small rectangles out of old Christmas cards to make a garland, and did some shopping on line.

Fingerprints

It is the day after Thanksgiving and as I am unloading and loading the dishwasher
to finish up the dishes from Thanksgiving dinner, I notice some spots on the cabinets.
Wondering what it is and how it got there, I take a closer look only to realize that it is fingerprints left from the last time my granddaughter was here and we painted together.
After painting she was ready to look for a snack, as only she can, standing on the counter to
open the cabinet and find something to her liking on that particular day. Would I have allowed
my daughters do that? Pondering what to do on this cold, dreary day, I had contemplated
doing some house cleaning and I'm thinking that if I do clean, I will have to skip over the fingerprints and let them stay awhile.

This morning I have been thinking about what I am thankful for. I don't know why, I'm thinking more about it today than yesterday.
I am thankful for my loving family. I am thankful for my dear husband, who is also my best friend, and the many things he has brought to my life. I am thankful for the fingerprints on the kitchen cabinets and the little girl who made them. I am thankful for her little big voice from 400 miles away this morning as she excitedly says, "Grammy!! I miss you." I am thankful for my two beautiful daughters who have driven the 400 miles with a 3 year old to spend Thanksgiving with my mother who turns 80 today and the others of my family who were able to join them. I am thankful for my amazing mother and for the 80 years she has been blessed with. I am thankful for my 2 sisters and 6 brothers and all of the memories we have shared. I am thankful for my extended family, too many to list. I am thankful for a wonderful son in law who is a good husband and father. I am thankful for our two ex-step granddaughters and the joy they have brought to our lives. I am thankful for my friends who share my interests. I am thankful for our warm and comfortable house, and the food we were able to have for our Thanksgiving dinner. And I could go on and on, but maybe I'll go clean around the fingerprints and think about
Christmas.

Thanksgiving Dinner Kaleidoscope

It is usually I who is snapping pictures, but today it was my husband who asked for the camera to take a photo of our Thanksgiving dinner. It was just my husband, his brother, and I who were here for dinner, a quiet, simple meal, but one still steeped in tradition.

I have been obsessed with making kaleidoscopes lately and I couldn't resit this photo.

Holly Kaleidoscope

This is a holly bush in front of the house. I thought I would do a kaleidoscope for our Christmas cards this year. I'll probably do a few more before choosing which one to use.

Fall In The Back Yard

Flamingo Kaleidoscope

Flamingo Kaleidoscope
Made using photoshop from a photo taken at Art Is You.

Splash Animals

These paintings were done at the Sugarloaf Craft Festival in Hartford.
To learn more about it see Splash Animals:
http://www.splashanimals.com/

Tanka

Last year one of my students brought Tanka to my attention. Some of my recent photos and activities have inspired Tanka. I particulary like this thought, "Tanka were often composed as a kind of finale to every sort of occasion; no experience was quite complete until a tanka had been written about it".

To learn more visit:

http://www.americantanka.com/about.html

Last Rose of Summer

Summer fades away

The last rose soon drops it petals

Quietly they fall

Pink petals liter the ground

Sadly, just rose hips remain

3 Pumpkins

Three pumpkins to show

Starting from Jack's seeds they grew

Bright yellow blossoms

Soon released a small green orb

Turning orange for Halloween

Painting Pumpkings

Rainy afternoon

Husband and wife at a class

Learn to paint pumkins

Mixing and layering paint

They share a moment in time

Peppers

The dish of peppers

Kaleidoscope of color

A bright souvenier

Of a night at the forum

With my kind, lovely daughter

ART IS YOU

Art is you beckons
Artists gather to create
Beginning the day
Journaling in the garden
An adventure awaits all

Art Is You, the East Coast Art Retreat, was a wonderful adventure which started with anticipation in March when I selected my workshops and culminated with a week end in October filled with friendship, inspiration, and learning. My daughters joined me for parts of the week end making the experience even more special. We started by attending a showing of the film,
"Who Does She Think She Is?"on Friday evening followed by shopping with the vendors. The days conisted of journaling in the morning, an all day workshop, including a delicious lunch, and an evening workshop. The morning journaling workshops were conducted by Loretta Marval. I took workshops with Janette Schuster, Taryn Reece, Kecia Devaney, and Keith LoBue. Working with metal was realitively new to me and I enjoyed every minute with Janette and Keith. I learned new collage techniques with Kecia, and made charms with Taryn.

Flamingos Abound

Nichos in Progress

From Janette Schuster's Posperity Nichos workshop

Working on Nichos

Marcy and Christy getting ready to work in Kecia Deveny's Layers of Clarity workshop.

Layers of Clarity Projects

In Keith Lobue's Paper Over workshop we learned many techniques.

Tea-tering Tea Cup

"What Kind Of A Teacup Are You?" was an Art Is You challenge for the Alice in Wonderland theme for this year's Art Is You retreat. My submission is pictured below. As you can see, I am a "Tea-tering Teacup". The teacups were scanned and reduced from an original watercolor of teacups that I painted to decorate my Alice supply box for the retreat. The face was drawn using a technique that I learned in Angela Jarecki's internet class, Windows. The background is a canvas board painted by my 3 year old granddaughter.

Creating Cupie

Cupies Abound

Those attending this year's Art Is You retreat received a cupie doll to alter.

For us, it became a family affair.

Grampie's and Princess Buttercup's Cupie.

Princess Buttercup altered Grampie's Cupie even further.

Auntie's Cupie

Mommy's Cupie

Unfortunatley, I don't have a photo of my Cupie, altered to be one of the Gardener's painting the roses red in "Through The Looking Glass".

Alice Supply Box For Art Is You

This started out as a size 14 shoebox on the bedroom floor just asking to

hold something other than the shoes since they no longer needed the box.

At the time I was thinking of the supplies I would need for this year's Art Is You retreat which had an "Alice In Wonderland Theme" and decided to turn it into my supply box.

My creation was inpired by an article in the July/August 2007 issue of Cloth, Paper, Scissors.

The article was "The Workshop, using a single image to explore different media" by Misty Mawn.