Wish me luck. . . . .

Wish me luck. I got a call today, to come interview for an assistant mgr. position at a different PetsMart than the one I work at now. It would mean a little bit of a drive, but, full time, more money, and better benefits. Keep your fingers crossed.
Thanks.

Dog Obedience Training is taking away from my Art Time.

"I talk to him when I'm lonesome like; and I'm sure he understands. When he looks at me so attentively, and gently licks my hands; then he rubs his nose on my tailored clothes, but I never say naught thereat. For the good Lord knows I can buy more clothes, but never a friend like that."
~W. Dayton Wedgefarth

It is a real experience going from teaching Art to children to teaching dog obedience to dogs and their adult/children pet parents. What fun it is though. Soooo alas my art is suffering some, since I am so tired by the time I get home from work at PetsMart.

This is what has been taking up most of the hours of my days lately. Being a Dog Obedience Trainer. I am very new at it, but, I love it already.

The dog below and to the right is my dog Max. He is a rescue and I am nuts about him. The Westie looking puppy at the bottom is my sisters Westie Raleigh. I had one about ten years ago named Winston.





I am still not very good at putting pictures and words together in my blogs, but, I am sure somewhere down the road I will be better. Meanwhile bear with me. !!

If you have an hour. . . .

If you have an hour, will you not improve that hour, instead of idling it away?
Lord Chesterfield

I had my usual 1/2 hour for lunch at work today. I wish I had an hour, but, alas I don't. Instead of just wasting my time doing nothing, I sat in my car and did this little line drawing.

My new mission is to always have a sketch book with me and pencils and pens, just in case I do have an hour, or half hour of even a few minutes.

Most of you will probably read this Monday, if at all, since it it getting to be late Sunday night.

Have a wonderful week everyone.

Earth Day and Muir Woods in California. . . .

Climb the mountains and get their good tidings. Nature's peace will flow into you as sunshine flows into trees. The winds will blow their own freshness into you, and the storms their energy, while cares will drop off like autumn leaves.
~John Muir

Zentangle Tree in honor of Earth Day


One of my favorite places is Muir Woods outside of San Francisco, California. Every time we have been to S.F. we have tried to make a trip up to this fantastic place.

Muir Woods is named after the man who spoke the quote written above. Muir Woods is a huge forest of Redwood trees that is just amazing. You can hike for hours and never cease to be amazed with what is around you. Below is a little blurb of history about John Muir and Muir Woods.

"This is the best tree-lovers monument that could possibly be found in all the forests of the world," declared conservationist John Muir when describing the majestic coast redwoods of Muir Woods.

Muir Woods National Monument is a part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area (GGNRA), one of the largest urban national parks in the world. GGNRA was established in 1972 and contains 75,398 acres extend from Tomales Bay in Marin County to San Mateo County in the south, encompassing 59 miles of shoreline - one of the nation’s largest coastal preserves.

“Everyone needs beauty as well as bread, places to play in and pray in where nature may heal and cheer and give strength to body and soul alike”

John Muir, 1869

John Muir was one of the country’s most famous naturalist and conservationist and Muir Woods, part of Golden Gate National Recreation Area, is named in his honor. Muir is credited with both the creation of the National Park System and the establishment of the Sierra Club.

If you are ever in this part of California, be sure and take a wonderful adventure and tour Muir Woods. You will not regret it.

Thank you everyone in Blogland. . . .

What a wonderful thing this world of blogging is. Being new to it ( as of about 3 months ago), I cannot begin to tell all that I have learned, shared, seen and all the new artist and otherwise friends I have made.

I love the fact that everyone is just who they are. I have been offered advice on everything from how to blog, set up a blog, art ideas and just plain, honest caring advice. I would especially like to thank Laure at Painted Thoughts Blog and Teri at Teri's Painted Daisies to just name a couple who have helped me tremendously. Also today at Teresa Mallen's blog site I just happen to read her side bar entitled "Keep it Simple" and felt like it was a word from God. Thank you Teresa.

I had hit a roadblock this week in my creativity, and just going to blogland and reading other people's writings, seeing there work, and realizing that we are all seeking the same thing, our own inner peace and happiness, and the ability to share it with others helped so much to get me back on track. ( That and a fantastic, and caring therapist)

Even though I am a retired, 60 year old, art teacher, there is so much I don't know about the real world of art. When I say that I mean in terms of some techniques, exhibiting, products to use and what is out there for the taking.

So I just want to say to everyone who has come to see my blog, left wonderful comments, shared their ideas and work with me a huge Thank You.

Last but not least, I am going to be exhibiting for the first time this June in a small town Art Show. Open air, like an art fair, with works for sale. I have done photography, Watercolor, and pencil and ink. What are your suggestions for displaying my works in terms of covering them, like in acetate or something similar, to protect them? Also any other ideas and suggestions for what to use to display them on. I will be under a Canopy type tent top.

Just sharing a few more pictures I took recently.

Happy Wed. everyone and thanks for being my new artist blog friends.

PS. my youngest son made it safe and sound to Paris yesterday with very few hitches and frustrations. Oh to be young and carefree 25 again. !! Well, maybe.!!

Guiseppe Arcimboldo; Fruit and Vegetable Artist

The Fruit and Vegetable Artist.

As part of a lesson I was teaching once to my third grade art students, we studied Italian artist Guiseppe Arcimboldo (1527-1593) The one to the right is one of his most famous. The kids had a great time with this. They got quite excited about turning "food into faces". I got into the spirit myself and did a couple of colored pencil portraits. I also had the students use colored pencil, which was a new medium for them.

Giuseppe Arcimboldo (also spelled Arcimboldi; 1527 - July 11, 1593) was an Italian painter best known for creating imaginative portrait heads made entirely of such objects as fruits, vegetables, flowers, fish, and books - that is, he painted representations of these objects on the canvas arranged in such a way that the whole collection of objects formed a recognisable likeness of the portrait subject.

Arcimboldo was born in Milan in 1527, the son of Biagio, a painter who did work for the office of the Fabbrica in the Duomo. Arcimboldo was commissioned to do stained glass window designs beginning in 1549, including the Stories of St. Catherine of Alexandria vitrage at the Duomo. In 1556 he worked with Giuseppe Meda on frescoes for the Cathedral of Monza. In 1558, he drew the cartoon for a large tapestry of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary, which still hangs in the Como Cathedral today.

Here are the two that I did. I think they are rather comical, yet artistic. Very fun to do, you might want to try it sometime.

A Little Fishy. . . .

There is one spectacle grander than the sea, that is the sky; there is one spectacle grander than the sky, that is the interior of the soul.
Victor Hugo

I was playing around drawing and painting fish last night. Have no idea why or where the idea came from. Was fun though. The one above obviously is done, the one below not painted yet. I like doing whimsical things.

My son the artist

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist once we grow up.
~Pablo Picasso

My youngest son Andrew. An aspiring artist living in Chicago.

He does painting, silk screening, plays bass guitar and has a degree in Philosophy from Loyola University of Chicago. He is my "Renaissance" son. I am so proud that he is taking after me and pursuing art.

He first really got interested in it while spending a semester in Rome. Now he is traveling to Paris next week for a week. I love the light in this picture.

He set the picture up himself with his camera and self timer. I just love it.

Andrew you are an amazing son.

Hopefully like Picasso says, my Andrew will remain an artist. !!!!

Having fun with graph paper. . . .

Trust that little voice in your head that says "Wouldn't it be interesting if..." And then do it. ~Duane Michals,

This started out as just a little doodle on graph paper, and then became bigger and bigger.

What fun it was.

Happy Monday to all !!!

Art is a collaboration. . . . . .

Art is a collaboration between God and the artist, and the less the artist does the better.
~André Gide

Just some fun pictures I took once while working on some artwork. I love art supplies, pens, pencils, paints. paper, all the ways they feel, work, show beauty. Art is such a wonderful combination of fun and yet work. Making art can be a great joy, or at times a great frustration. But, we artists seem to keep pursuing this dream or image we have.

Hope everyone has a wonderful week.

I love poppies. . . and need to learn to love "Me"

These pictures I took of poppies in the garden at Grunewald Guild ( the art and spirituality)
retreat place in the Cascade Mts. of Washington St., are some of my favorites. I love how the beautiful red colors just burst open and are dominant over every other thing in the garden.

Flowers like these are really one of God's gifts. It is like He is saying, wake up, look at this, look at this bright color, look what I have made for you. Enjoy.

These pictures also make me want to create. I am going to try and do a series of small watercolors of the poppies.

I am beginning to get into this blog thing. At first it was really overwhelming !!! There is so much going on, so many events every day, or every minute or every month. I almost don't know where to start or how to even jump in feet first and get wet. So that being said if my posts are a little blah at this beginning time, bare with me. I am on a Huge Journey of finding out who I am, and more especially how to love myself. Fortunately for me I have a wonderful therapist Jan Myers, helping me do this.

It sometimes takes a while to undo years of thinking bad thoughts or unkind thoughts about yourself and your abilities. I am hoping and beginning to feel that this venture into Blogland will help me truly be the person I am. That person who is artistic, different, a little crazy and wants to be very creative.

Thanks for all the feedback I have gotten so far, especially from Laure, Teri and Margaret. I think this whole thing is going to work out.

Meanwhile enjoy the photos below of some beautiful poppies.

Happy Thursday. I am off to do some painting.

Last three paintings for our book are done.......

I am so pleased to finally have the last three paintings for the children's book I am co-authoring with my friend done. As I said in an earlier blog, it is a childrens ABC book of the birth of Christ.

My dear friend Cindy and I just fell into this project when I realized her dream was always to write a book, and mine was always to illustrate a book. It is like is was a word from God.

These last three are pretty self explanatory . Wise Men is for W, Mary & Joseph on Donkey is for D and the last one of the manger scene is for M.

We have most everything already at the publishers except these three pages. We are both so excited, and relieved to have our part of the work done.

I finally finished it......

Along with my artwork, my next favorite thing to do is needlework. I started years ago with needlepoint, moved to counted cross stitch, and now that my eyes are not as good am back to a form of needlepoint again. I do still occasionally do some counted cross stitch, but, not on the tiny linen I used to.

This pillow is a pattern designed by needlework artist Laura Perin. She has a wonderful blog.http://two-handedstitcher.blogspot.com/. What this kind of work is called is counted needlepoint. I loved using the metallic threads, the quilt like pattern and the colors.

This piece was done mostly with perle cotton floss, in long stitches. The triangles around the outside are done in a variegated floss that makes a great look.

Laura also has some amazing photography on her blog that you will really enjoy. For some reason when I click on the link to her blog, Firefox comes up saying it cannot connect . If that happens go to my List of Blogs I visit and scroll down to Two Handed Stitcher and you will get there. I am new at this linking, so it was probably something I did.

I am just glad to finally have finished it and have it finished into a pillow ready to grace my couch.

Happy Easter. . . . He has risen.

"Let the resurrection joy lift us from loneliness and weakness and despair to strength and beauty and happiness."
-- Floyd W. Tomkins

This is a painting I did originally for a children's book I am doing with a friend. It is to be an ABC book on the birth of Christ. I thought this one fit well as an Easter picture as well.
Happy Easter to all who celebrate.

Faucets and Rocks . . . . . . .

A pile of rocks ceases to be a rock when somebody contemplates it with the idea of a cathedral in mind.

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

I love taking pictures out in this beautiful world of ours. On my retreat last summer in the Cascade Mts. of Washington St. I got some really fun pictures of lots of different things. One very interesting thing was the difference configurations of rocks. Paths and piles of rocks. Rocks just strewn everywhere. It was such a wonderful thing to see.

My other find was coming upon some faucets, right out in the middle of nowhere. I am not sure if these faucets still even did anything, but I loved the shapes, symmetry, and composition of the way they looked.

All of us have our own conception of what is art, and for me you can find no prettier picture than what we can find in nature.