Spring a true work of art. . . . . .

The true work of art is but a shadow of the divine perfection.
Michelangelo

Below are some works of God's art. Spring is finally arriving, and the flowers are beginning to peek out. I took my camera out and began collecting a few pictures, and also put in a few I had taken in the past.

The two most beautiful things in my life I have created are my two sons Scott and Andrew. They are 29 and 24 respectfully. They have turned out to be wonderful young men with their own special talents and traits.

Andrew the artist is creative, philosophical ( The the degree in Philosophy for Loyola of Chicago being true) and somewhat of a doer of a little bit of everything.
Scott the oldest is the most caring soul I believe I have ever known. He is sweet, kind, and would be devastated is he ever hurt anyone. I am so glad he has found someone to love and spend the rest of his life with. Congratulation Scott and Erika.

Now, back to spring. I think spring brings out art in all of us. Spring makes us see the true works of divine art. That is the art that is created by God. Perfect in every way. The signs of this are every spring when those blooms begin to peek their heads up out of the ground, after surviving the bleakness of winter and being covered in snow for such a long time.

No wonder Spring is considered a resurrection of sorts. Like Christ's being raised from the dead, out of the dead cold winter comes all the bountiful beauty of spring. Spring in all of its wonderful colors, shapes, smells and beauty. Maybe this new beginning after a long cold spell is what activates again our creative juices once more. . Inspires us to get out and capture it on paper.

The first picture above is of another of two of God's perfect creations. My precious great niece and nephew McKenna 1 and Troy 3. They have blessed the lives of everyone in our family, and I am sure will continue to do so always.

I hope spring is becoming a time of new awakening for you, your art, and those you love and care for.

Enjoy the day, smell the flowers, care for those you love. Life is so very short. We often
forget that.

A Mandala Monday

And a Happy Monday to all. Finally the sun is shining here in Missouri, and we are suppose to be in the 70's by the end of the week.

One of my many favorite things to do are Mandala like artwork. Along with that I also love to do anything with paper, Kirigami, Origami, Folded paper, Cut Paper, whatever.

The first picture below is a piece I did by folding paper. It looks somewhat like a quilt pattern, but, also with the symmetry could be a mandala of sorts.

The two designs below are just some simple mandala type pieces I did. I didn't realize until I was done that in the one at the bottom, it has part that looks like tennis racquats. I used to play tennis 4 and 5 times a week, but then I tore up my knee and plus my aging body stopped me from doing that any longer. I do miss it.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week. Here is a little quote to start your week off.

"Try to learn something about everything and everything about something." - Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895)

Thank YOU Tyanne.......

Thank You Tyanne.
you saved my life with your tip about software for
recovering lost files from digital camera memory cards!!
It Worked and I got them back.
I never dreamed anything like this existed.
You are a sweetheart.
Thank goodness for Google.!!
Oh Happy Days I am back in business so to speak.

Oh boy did I MESS up this time.

I cannot believe it, but, I think I have somehow inadvertently deleted all the pictures on my digital camera !!!! That means all the ones from my week in Washington state at the art and spirituality retreat, my nephews wedding, and various other things. Thank goodness I had put at least most of the good ones from my trip on the Artsonia ( a web site for student art that I used to put my students art on) so they at least were saved. I also made actual prints of all of them.

I still don't know how I did it, except I was messing with my camera trying to change some settings, and I guess I must have accidently erased them. I am sorry because there were some really good ones of family from the wedding.

Oh well, I guess I will learn to back my memory card up and make a CD every so often so this won't happen again. The only things on it now are the pictures I last posted of the Zentangles. I was messing with my camera, because I didn't think my pictures were coming out very clear. Well I really did a number on the old camera now. I don't have a scanner, so this is the way I put pictures up.

I don't know much if anything about scanners. Is that a good or better thing to have when putting up pictures on posts or other places?? I would love to have some feedback from you
more experienced bloggers out there.

Well, I have had to work so much this week, that I have had little time again for more than just a few small Zentangles. These three I did with the cards from the Zentangle kit I ordered from Rick and Maria at Zentagle.com. It is kind of fun to do it in this small space. Good for the
learning curve anyway.

My son is going to try and figure out if what I did with my pictures is my camera or my computer, but, I don't hold out much hope of being able to recover anything. Well live and learn right.

Hope all have a good weekend and next week.

Here are three square Zentangles I guess you could call it a "Trio of Tangles". Sorry for the bad joke.

It was a Zen weekend. . . .

For some reason, this past weekend I could not stop doing Zentangles. I hope you all know that Zentangle has its own blog now www.zentangle.blogspot.com. I just love doing these. I think the second one kind of looks like a rhinocerous. Whatever. Thanks to so many new friends from "blogdom" who have come to visit my blog. I really appreciate it and love looking at everyone else's.


Again special thank you to Laure for giving me my first Blog award. You are the best.

Enjoy the lines and curves !!!

Something new to share.

My First Art Exhibit
My Oldest Son is Engaged

The artist is nothing without the gift, but the gift is nothing without work." -
Emile Zola (1840-1902)


I am so pleased. I found out today I have been accepted to exhibit in the Liberty Arts Squared Art Fail. It is June 5, 2010 on the Downtown Courthouse Square in Liberty, MO. So, now I am really going to have to get busy. I have never done anything like this. Wish me luck. Here are a few of the photos I will be exhibiting, and , I will also do pencil drawing, ink drawing, and Water Color Below are some of the photos I have chosen so far.

Also, just a little personal note. I am so excited that my oldest son Scott is engaged to a wonderful strawberry blonde sweet girl named Erika
Wedding will be May 29, 2011

Illustrating Children's Book

I have always wanted to be a children's book illustrator, but, never quite got it done. About a year ago I was sharing lunch with a friend, and she said, I am going to do something I have always wanted to do. That was write a children's book. She wanted it to be about the birth of Christ.

My first question was who is going to illustrate it, and she said she didn't know. I told her of my lifelong dream to do the illustrations for a children's book.

At that point we both got excited I am sure everyone eating around us thought we were nuts. It was so ironic, such a Holy Spirit/God thing, and we were so excited.

The book is being self published by us, and is an ABC book of the birth of Christ. I did the pictures for each letter and she did the rhymes. We have sent the first draft to the publisher, and she is now making a few changes with the verses that they suggested.

I am so excited to finally see it in print, only if I make all my relatives and friends by one. It is not something I intend to make big bucks off of, it is just about the experience and being able to do it with a dear friend.

Below is just one of the pictures I did for it, then we decided to go a different direction with that page, so I framed this and gave it to my cousin for Christmas last year.

Sooooo if you ever know of anyone needing an illustrator who is new to all of this but eager, send them my way.

There is nothing in a caterpillar that tells you it's going to be a butterfly.
Buckminster Fuller.

Happy Monday to one and all. I don't know about alot of you,but in the midwest (Missouri) where I live I am ready for Spring and butterflies. No more gray days. UGH.

This little snippet says so much.

"Our Lord has written the promise of resurrection, not in books alone, but in every leaf in springtime.”
Martin Luther

So, in hopes of maybe creating a little sunshine in these dreary days here are some suggestions.

1. Go outside and see how many tiny buds of tulips, crocus or other lovely things you can find, and make drawing or painting or whatever of this new life peeking through.

2. Look outside and see is you can find a robin redbreast or some other harbinger of spring.

3. Take your children, grandchildren or someone else you love to the park or the back yard for a swing on the swingset.

4. Get out your sketchbooks and do some drawings of some of your favorite spring things, even if the weather is still to wintery to get outside for very long.

5. Put a big smile of sunshine on your face for all to see. It will probably make them wonder what you are up to.!!!

Have a happy, productive and creative day.

Creativity and Dog Training.. . . .

"I have been terrified every day of my life,
but that has never stopped me from doing
everything I wanted to do."
Georgia O'Keeffe


Well, I have been absent from here since Monday. I just have had such a crazy two weeks learning to be a Pet Obedience Trainer. It was and is very fun. Lots of really cute dogs, nice "pet parents" and also some pretty wacky and overly excited dogs and pet parents.

You learn alot about people when you are working with them and their pets. There a many different personalities that come out. There are those who want to really listen to what you are teaching them, those who think they already know it all, those who you never hardly hear say a word and those who behave almost worse than their dogs.

Learning to train dogs reminds me alot of being an artist. With dogs and their pet parents you are creating a bond between them, a better pet for everyone to be around and a feeling of accomplishment for yourself and those you teach.

Likewise in art you are creating a bond with people you may not even know who enjoy your work or also creating their own work, you are achieving a feeling of accomplishment with your work and trying something new, and you are becoming a better person even if you don't realize it.

Creativity comes in many forms, and is in everything and every part of our lives. Often we don't ever see it or don't quite look hard enough and miss out on some unbelievable opportunities.

Take this next week to look harder at the people, places and things around you and how they affect your creativity and how you can improve someone's life with what you create or teach them to create.

Until next time, keep on looking. Here are some of my creative endeavors that might inspire you to do something of your own. A little of this a little of that.

I had fun making Mr. Mouse.

Just a little doodle !!!

I made 25 of these for a dinner at my church.

This says " Nature God's Art"
also done in the class on art and spirituality.

This was part of a class I took on art and spirituality.

One of my favorite things to do is to make banners for church occasions.

Christopher Marley........ Bug Artist

I love to watch CBS Sunday Morning, and back in January, they had a fantastic piece on artist Christopher Marley.

His artwork is composed of using real ( but dead) bugs of all kinds and putting them into different patterns. It is absolutely amazing

Below I have listed the title of the piece on CBS and also a link to the show. The link even shows a video of him doing some of his work.

Check it out, it is a great new inspiration for drawing, painting, photography, whatever.He has out books, puzzles ( I have one but haven't put it together yet) and is just so different and unusual.
Have fun checking this interesting young artist out. I took a picture ( sorry it is not the best picture but you get the idea.)of the front of the puzzle box I have, and am giving him full credit for the work.

Beetlemania
Christopher Marley Was Phobic About Bugs; Now He Collects Them for Artwork That Celebrates Their Beauty and Diversity

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/01/10/sunday/main6078368.shtml

Celtic knot work. . . . .

I love to draw different kinds of Celtic Knot work.
I usually do it on graph paper and then retrace it using my light box on to better paper. It is rather an intricate process to learn to draw if you really get into it. You can find lots of tutorials on the web if you just Google Celtic Knotwork.
The first two are from a book on Knot work and below that are two that I have constructed.
It is really a fun art form to try.
Happy Saturday.

.

Finally some Art Time

This has been a very busy week, working 8 hour days learning to be a Dog Obedience Trainer for my job at PetsMart.
I just thought I was retired !!
It has been fun though. Lots of different kinds of dogs and "Pet Parents" also. Big dogs, little dogs, frightened dogs and ADHD dogs if that is possible.
Finally this morning, since I have Friday off, I got to do a little art work and relax.
Have a great weekend everyone.

Here are a couple of my " Doodles for the Day"

Puppy/ Dog Training is so Fun

When I retired from teaching, I took a part time job at PetsMart the big chain pet store. I have fallen in love with my new job.
I am spending this week and next week training to be a Dog Obedience Trainer, and then will do that as part of my job.
This is a picture of my Westie Winston when he was just a puppy. They are so cute.
The only thing that is killing me is the 9 hour days it takes to do this. At my age that is a long day and on top of that part of that 9 hours is 30 minutes over and back home driving.

Zentangle has a blog now !!

I fell in love with the process of Zentangle the minute I first saw it. Now the great people at Zentagle Rick and Maria have put up a blog for all of us addicted to Zentagle to share..
The address is www.zentangle.blogspot.com. Run on over and see it if you are into doodling, messing around with lines and shapes, whatever. It is so much fun.
Here are a few Zentangles I have done.