Busy, Busy, Busy

Between going back and forth to "The House", trying to get ready for a California trip, meeting with the pet sitter...yikes! I don't have time to do any art or any blogging and DH doesn't even have time to hit the WAH WAH pedal. I do look forward to the new year and being able to get back on schedule. We haven't been taking time to do our exercises (though continued housecleaning is a workout in itself) , our sleep patterns are askew...Hmm, what else can I whimper about. Sorry about that , I guess I am just a little anxious to get back to our normal schedule. My point is this, I may not be able to blog much for the next several weeks, but hopefully I will be back soon with lots of photos, and new ideas and interests. Just remember, we'll talk soon.

What a weekend...

What a tiring weekend, my husband has been so great- going back and forth (50 miles round trip) to my uncle's house with me and sorting through 40-50 years worth of stuff. This man saved everything that you are "supposed" to save. All his files, bank statements, tax info, Sunday School lessons, every typed sheet for every talk he ever gave for the Lions Club, all the things we are told to keep. Listen up folks, when you are reminded to keep important papers, you don't need keep them forever. This is just too much. Please keep this in mind and for the sake of the people that you love, try to scale it down some. That's what we are going to do.

I was outside this evening and I thought I heard rain. When I listened closely, I realized it was not rain, but the trees that just don't want to let go of their remaining leaves. Each time the breezes blew through the trees, they shook those stubborn little leaves and it was such a sweet sound. It sounded like they were applauding. I like to think they are showing their gratitude to God for the beautiful world he has given us, and thanking Him for allowing them to be a part of it. I know that's what I would do if I were blessed enough to be a tree.

Well, it's off to watch a little television, see what holiday shows are on and psyche myself up for tomorrow's trip to "The House". Talk to you soon.

Full Tummy???

At this time of the evening on Thanksgiving Day, I am fairly sure that we aren't the only ones with full tum-tums. Since it is just us, I do a scaled-down version of the traditional T-Day meal. Baked chicken breasts, green beans, stuffing, mashed tatoes and pie with ice cream.

You know how sometimes your mind does funny things to you? Well, I watch the tube while I cook and DH came by, looked at the set and asked, "what'cha watching"?. For some reason I said, "NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET". He looked back at the set and waited. Oh, I meant to say "MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET" he shrugged, and says "Hmmm, what's the difference?". I guess you really had to be there. I still think it's funny.

In addition to getting ready to go to Cali to visit my sisters, we have to work on getting my uncle's house ready to sell, and my beloved has to work on the next episode of PK. (click on the link for Troll Reunion in my last post) We are currently enjoying a great book called Monkey Portraits by Jill Greenberg and hope to get some new ideas for the next show.

For those of you in our Cox Cable-Roanoke area, our show will be on Channel 78, Tuesday and Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. and Saturday night at 9:30 p.m.

I feel the folks at the cable station were super, and gave us great time spots for our show. We will be on early enough for the kids to see the cartoons, there will be several kinds of music that will appeal to a wide variety of tastes, and you will get to see my cute husband. I do hope you can get it in your viewing area.

I want to take this time to say thanks. Thanks to my loving husband for being there for me. Thanks to all my friends for the kind words and support they are giving me and thanks to those of you who take time from your days to read my blog. I love it. And your blogs mean so much to me. I love sharing your thoughts and the feeling of being there through your photos. It's how I start off my day. I am inspired, always. Thanks again.

Troll Reunion

The past several days have been quite trying. I am so grateful to have such a wonderful husband to help me get through this. I have not been the easiest person to deal with, but God Bless him, he is hanging in there with me. In an effort to lighten up the mood, just a little, I am posting the link to his new cartoon/video called Troll Reunion. I think it is a scream and he worked so hard on it. I think it is awesome. See if it makes you want to boogie!

Rejoice in his passing...

Hello folks. I received a call from my brother this morning. My uncle, (my mom's brother), who has been in an assisted living facility for several years, died this morning. He had not been doing that well for some time now and we knew that this would eventually happen. It still came as a shock. This sounds so lame to say, but he really did have a good life. He was a very proud WWII veteran, active in the community and church and chorus and really had lots of friends. The last 10 years, since my mom died, have taken their toll on him, he had more and more health problems, he had to give up his driver's license and just sort of "got small". I wasn't the best at visiting him in the facility, because I hated to see him somewhere other than home. He liked where he was though and was well taken care of. I guess I just feel a little guilty, like I wasn't a very good niece. I know he is in a much better place and gets to see all the family and friends that he has missed so much. Since I know the grieving process is multi-faceted, I am sure I will feel differently in a few days. We will be ok. My siblings and I have wonderful spouses that are always there for us. We just feel weird, Uncle was the last elder we had left in the family. We are all on our own now. With no Moms or Uncles or Grandmas to call or even to check on. Enough. I just want to say I will not mourn his passing, I truly am happy that he has finally gone to the most perfect place there is. Heaven. One day we will see each other again. Good Bye Uncle.

I can't believe it's Wednesday already...

What a quick week this has been. In addition to getting ready for cane construction at the library this weekend, I have been working on a painting that is a complete departure for me.


I found a rather large painting that my sister had begun several years ago, (actually, about 20 years ago), and I decided to finish it. She had roughly penciled in a scene with some fantasy figures and had painted in some of the sky and then apparently decided to put it aside. I started on it yesterday and here it is. I never know when something is finished. I just know I was "worrying" it to death and had to make myself stop. I used acrylics and did some of the details in color pencil blending them with turpentine. If you haven't tried that technique, you need to, it's very interesting. I am used to working with pencils and pens, and I don't really have much control with a brush, so... in some areas, I used a sharpened pencil ( in a similar color to what I am going to be painting with) and dabbed it in the paint and used it as my "brush". I don't know what this technique is called, but it works for me. Any feedback on this painting will be appreciated. I did e-mail it to my sissy to see what she thinks. We'll see, and as usual, we will talk soon.

Another Beautiful Day

As many of you know, I love Sunday. Grocery store, then cooking and getting ready for another week. While a nice pot of green beans simmered on the stove (some of us Southern Girls still cook the life out of our veggies) I whipped up a batch of tuna salad with hard cooked eggs and dill pickles, add some wheat bread, lettuce, tomato and chips and you have a nice lunch. Time to clean up my work area. I want to call it a studio, but that sounds so, I don't know...something. Several hours later, and after figuring out how to work the vacuum cleaner (DH usually does it) I have a clean Studio. Now it is worthy of being called an actual studio.

I do still have this area to work on though. But that is for another day. Studio is clean. Let's make art!

elusive man i see your face over and over in my mind you are in control when you decided to leave you left me wondering so many things i am always looking for you will you be back everything goes on even after your departure i have other friends that stay with me i don't fear you or your journey i am loved unconditionally

Ok, so I was thinking of creating something more masculine than those I usually do, since DH was kind enough to build frames and stretch the canvases for me. I was using paper cut outs and knew a quick sketch for the face was what I needed. I grabbed the pen and made exactly the face that I wanted with about 10 strokes. I loved it. But it wasn't the size I wanted. So, I'll just do it again, right? Wrong. Wrong. Wrong. Circle gets the square . I could not for the life of me draw this guy again. So I started writing to him and asking where had he gone and that's the sentiment behind Elusive Man .

His original body is still slightly visible through the layers. I just cannot decide if he is complete yet. Any ideas?

Well, I guess I'll be off for tonight. No telling what I might get into tomorrow, but don't worry, we'll talk soon.

Yikes...

Wowsy, Wow Wow! Traffic was crazy when I went out today. Looked almost like the day after Thanksgiving. Anyway, I got some stretcher bars and some other interesting supplies and I am off to the studio to work on something new. Still trying to shake the remnants of this cold, but I am sure I will be fine by next Saturday. We will be doing more polymer clay in our altered art group. Canes will be made by one and all. I am sure it will be great fun. I am looking forward to what my talented friends come up with. I will be looking for cool stuff on Tricia's blog, and maybe we can get Marnie to post some also. I 'll try to remember to bring my camera and take lots of pictures.

Well, let's go see what we can get into. Holla'.

Dream Coaster

I am not one to have phobias, but there are several things I am not too fond of. The main ones are roller coasters, as I am afraid of heights, and large bodies of water-because I am not a strong swimmer. Therefore, when I dream, it is usually involving roller coasters over water, or something equally weird. As I mentioned earlier, I am trying to capture the essence of some of these dreams. This particular dream involved the roller coaster being attached to the fronts of sky scrapers. I sketched this in pen, added some watercolor and laid down several layers of beeswax, for a more dream-like appearance. I also added some flat backed "jewels" for a carnival type look. This still doesn't capture the bizarreness of the dream, but it does give you the general idea.


In regards to another project, I have a roll of artist's canvas that I am going to be working with soon. It has been so long since I stretched a canvas, I am out of practice. I am also out of staples for the gun I am used to using, and I am just not strong enough to use the one my hubby has, so I see a trip to the hardware store in my future. In the meantime, I will be surfing the net and other blogs to come up with alternative uses for canvas. Let me know of any sites you are fond of regarding this. Thanks, and we'll talk soon.

So many images...

Recently, I feel bombarded with words and images...when I close my eyes. I guess it comes from so much computer work and so much art and so many ideas in my head, during my waking hours. The dreams I have are so vivid, that I want to draw and paint and write them. I have beautiful conversations with people I have never met (?) and live in houses I have never seen (?) and get to run around with people no longer in my life, for various reasons. I go to lovely places with my hubby and see some of the most interesting things. Now, don't get me wrong, these dreams are never scary and I never wake up confused, it's just that they really do have such a dreamlike quality. Hmmm. All that being said, I am going to try to work on some dreamscapes. I haven't worked it out yet, but I will probably be doing collage work with, perhaps, beeswax to give it a dreamy look.

In the meantime, lets look at some peaceful images and calm the activity in our heads.

Digital Dreams

DH has turned in his public access show to the station . He has really worked hard on his show and I am so very proud of him.We put links to several of the segments on YouTube. When I tried to update the link for Digital Dream, I messed up. Digital Dream was the cartoon that he made using the paper cut outs that I was so happy to see him use. He did such a great job. I even made a cameo appearance in it. We also made a video using a monkey hand puppet that we got at the flea market. If you like heavy metal/rock music you will love what he did with it. Check it out when you get the chance, you'll go ape .


My Darling Hubby is a very talented person, and I look forward to sharing his progress. I will be loading his new videos often. In fact, check out this little number called Troll Reunion.

Keep checking in and remember, as always, we'll talk soon.

and I thought it was the sniffles...

Ugh, what I thought was the sniffles, has turned into a full-blown case of the common cold. I have spent the entire day on the couch with a book and various warm drinks and the occasional aspirin. Waaaaa. Well, anyway.... here is a little (5" x 7") painting I call "Watching You". I wish my own eyes were this clear tonight.



Well, our tv show is complete. We have been working on it for several months. We have it ready to go to the station tomorrow. We, meaning DH. He has done all the work. I realized quickly that I was not cut out for the video world. I don't do well on either side of the lens. I have offered quite a lot of "constructive" dialog that I feel has been beneficial. I sat with him through some of the editing and also helped with a few of the programming ideas. It will be seen in our area soon and I will post a link for the segments that we put on you tube. I will keep you in the know. Well, have a good night and we will talk soon.

I love Sunday

I have always loved Sundays. Whether it was watching ballgames with my Mom when I was younger, or getting things ready for another week at work, when I was still in the rat race. I feel that Sunday is like a new beginning- each week. To try to do things a little differently, or to do something again that worked really well. I like to cook and I love to go to the grocery store on Sunday and come home and cook. I have two pots of soup simmering, as we speak. One pot is vegetable beef, made with nice chunks of boneless spare ribs with everything I could think of tossed in. Baby carrots, celery, tomatoes, corn, green beans, potatoes, onions and a goodly shake of seasoned salt. The other pot is homemade chicken noodle, because we seem a little sniffly. Put them on to simmer and have for supper tonight with some flaky croissants and a glass of iced tea. What a great way to start off the week.




Here is a little primitive style pillow, stuffed with love, that I made DH for his recent birthday. (the BIG one) He loved it and his handmade card. I used cinnamon to distress it, so it smells really nice. You can always find something to create with at our house. Right now Hubby is downstairs cutting out words and pictures to make a cartoon for his upcoming public access show. We thought we were ready to submit it, but we came up two minutes short. Imagine my surprise when I saw him cutting out images and words to use. When he asked to go through my stash, I knew I had a convert. Who knows what this will lead to . Way to go Hubby!

Mermaids

While I never really had an attraction to mermaids, I do have a friend on the left coast that collects all things mermaid, so after making a mermaid art doll for her, I began to periodically do items that are mermaid related. The candy tin was one of our group's altered art projects. The picture that I call Mermaid Migration was done simply because I just love working with these particular colors. I have several other things done in these same colors. As my mermaid girlies swim toward warmer waters, I, too, must migrate toward the kitchen for a warm cuppa. Better make it decaffeinated, or I will be up all night. Talk soon.

It's a chilly morning

Good morning all, we awoke to a chill in the air this morning. I love it. I love the change in seasons. It reminds me that change can be good. Autumn reminds me that beauty sometimes needs to hide away, but it takes only the slightest adjustment to bring it back into sight. A drop in temperature can bring beautiful frost, while a change in the wind can whisk away the clouds and the sky looks like this shot off my deck this morning. DH built our deck this spring. It is my first deck. I love it. I have spent so much time out there. Reading a lot, but mostly just enjoying the view, communing with nature (learning to be still, while a fat bodied bumblebee buzzed around me deciding if I would be allowed into his club) and thanking God for all that He has blessed us with.

One afternoon recently, while reading a somewhat tense chapter in my mystery, I heard what sounded like a huge animal down in the woods. I went and got my camera to use the zoom as binoculars . This little fellow is what was making such a fierce racket. So remember, when you think you hear a monster, or you think life is too big for you, maybe it's really something small, so enjoy life and try to keep everything in perspective. It's not alway easy, but it is possible. Let's go get some coffee. Later.