Category Archives: Inspiration

Thursday Time Out For Art

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While the crows are calling me from outside the studio window, inside the easel stands with two canvases ready to start the first steps of a new painting.

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One of my studio  walls has a couple of paintings  started,  and I’m waiting for them to speak to me, and give me inspiration.

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Inside the rest of our home is in disarray  due to the replacement of our floors.  It leaves little time or space for me to be creative and  I feel I have to be on site just to make sure nothing goes wong.  Am I crazy?  Would they really  need me for anything if something went wrong, and would they actually come to me for answers?  Probably not!  Maybe that’s the mother in me, needing to be needed.  Something that is rarely done these days since all my kids are all grown up with families of their own.

While all this is in process, my sketching supplies will be set aside so I’m able to sit and sketch…..if I’m not needed that is.  If there is time for  sketching, I’ll be calling on Zebra Designs & Destinations for inspiration…..

Stay tuned for more of the way we handle our house being torn up before our very eyes!

Sometimes the Best Things Are Free!

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A free fountain gets a forever home!

A free fountain gets a forever home!

For the longest time, I have wanted to find a used fountain. Not to Big, not to small with three tiers…just the right size!

This morning as Daisy and myself were taking a walk, I decided to go a different way.  Standing at the corner, waiting for traffic to clear so we could cross the street, I suddenly turned left and keep going.  Not my usual route! (At the time I wondered why I decided to take this path, and what this different route would  hold for me. Little did I know I was about to find out!)  As we made our way down the street, saying good morning to the neighbors standing outside, one man stopped me, and wanted to pet Daisy.  So I stopped!  While talking to him, I realized he and his wife were helping to clean out the house of a 97-year-old man who had just passed away.  They were giving away the furniture, and since the exterior was cluttered, the house must be just as bad.   (I resisted  asking about the furniture knowing it would be old,  out of date, and I really didn’t have time to refinish furniture.)  When he told me that, I asked what they were going to do with the fountain?  After asking me if I wanted it, he checked with his wife to find out if it was ok to give it to me.  I really didn’t expect to get it for free, but I’ll certainly accept the gift.

Mike made sure I knew it worked, and was in perfect order.  He said it would make the man who had lived here happy to know someone gave his fountain a good home, and loved it. Sadly, I really don’t care if it works or not, my intent is to make a succulent garden out of it.   My inspiration for planting a fountain in part comes from Debra Lee Baldwin.  She is an expert in succulents, and container planting.

I’ll give it a forever home, and I can’t tell you how excited I am to have it.

 I’m trying not to feel guilty about not using it as a fountain!

Thursdays Time Out For Art…

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A Beautiful January morning.

A Beautiful January morning.

Part of our morning walks is over several blocks of our neighborhood. The half way point of our walk is the center of our neighborhood, and a lovely median with large pine trees, and even some magnolia trees.  I always let Daisy stop, and sniff around so she knows who has been out that day, and who is missing their morning walk.  One morning when we had the lastcold snap,  Daisy and I walked the hood when it was 41 degrees out.   I don’t have to tell you, I was all bundled up with a scarf, gloves, and a warm coat.  It worked, I was warm, and after a few minutes, I realized the beauty of a cold, crisp morning, and started to see beauty everywhere.

I love the shadows, and remember when watercolor was my medium to, and was learning how to make shadows fun, and interesting.   I have painted many shadows, many colors, but what I finally realized was that I loved abstract shadows.

What color would you make these shadows if you were painting them?   Would they be gray, blue, or something else?  Since  everything  that is in green, I’d paint in red, I think the shadows need to be violet.

What are your thoughts, ideas, or comments?

Spirit Dolls

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Spirit Doll - Bringing Magic & Creativity

Spirit Doll – Bringing Magic & Creativity

I’ve always had a love for “Spirit Dolls.”  For some reason they seem to hold mystery, and magic for me.  They are interesting, sometimes cute, sometimes not so cute.  They come in all shapes,  sizes, and colors.  I look at them and immediately they tell me a story!

A friend of mine whose niece visits her at Christmas, was again here this year, and since she is also an artist, I try to create a small piece of art for her to open.  This year I decided to make her a spirit doll.  So I gathered sticks, and pieces of cloth to put together, and was immediately intrigued  by the process.  Never having made one of these dolls before, it seemed interesting to me how they found their own way to the finish line.

Being an intuitive artist, this was a perfect project, and this is exactly the way this doll wanted to look!

How many of you have created spirit dolls?  What was your process, and did you like the end result?

Inspiration Comes From…..

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These roots look like a mask to me.

These roots look like a mask to me.

Everywhere!

I’ve been walking Daisy in the morning lately, and it seems everything I look at gives me ideas to paint.  It seem a little crazy since some of the things that have inspired creativity have been roots from the trees along the walk.

For some reason the first photo looks like a mask or maybe the eyes of an owl.

Just plain old roots sticking up...they look like a rachet!

Just plain old roots sticking up…they look like a ratchet!

Looking at them this way, it looks like a ratchet, or a club.  Who knows what goes on in an artists brain, we are a little crazy you know!

I’m really not going to paint roots, but just the thought of finding shapes that inspire is going in the right direction.

 

First Things First!

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Let's have a morning cup of Coffee together.

Let’s have a morning cup of Coffee together.

As I read through the end of the year report that WordPress has put together for each of us, I wanted to stop and thank WP  for their wonderful support.  I have learned so much, and grown far more than I expected.  This by no means suggests that I’m finished.   I’m just getting started!  You’re never too old to learn and as long as you’re learning, you’re growing.

I also want to thank my fellow bloggers for supporting me in my journey to become a better blogger, and all that goes with it.  At times it has been challenging, and sometimes a breeze, but I have never forgotten that all of you are what helps to make me who I am, and will become.

Our Mela Luka trees after our big storm.  We lost a big limb, & had to cut many off.

Our Mela Luka trees after our big storm. We lost a big limb, & had to cut many off.

I wish for us all to have a more prosperous year of blogging, and growing in an endeavor to meet our own personal goals.

We should all get an award for showing up, and trying!  So in this new year, I hope to get to know many of you better, stay friends with those of you I’ve gotten close to,  help each other meet our goals,  and continue creating with wild abundance!