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.

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)