Category Archives: Inspiration

May18

Like a Three Year Old!

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After years of purchasing just the right art supplies to achieve just the perfect results, I now have a studio stuffed with supplies that I love using!

But…..

Who knew all I had to do was use what I was born with?  My fingers and hands, maybe even my feet...who knew?

As I started to watch this video my thought was, “this isn’t going anywhere.”  But, since I had started it, I always think  you never know what might be learned by watching.  It wasn’t very long and the blending of colors seemed interesting.  Then suddenly it started to take shape and I found it even more interesting.  Remembering back several years while taking a Bob Burridge week-long workshop in Sedona, Arizona.  We were finger painting, and suddenly I felt like a three-year old,  totally in the moment.  The class was intense, and fun, and exhausting, but well worth the effort, experience and money!

It didn’t take me long to realize being in the moment was actually where I needed to be.  Especially since I constantly fight to loosen up.  This felt real and fun, and doable!

I loved it!

Running into this artist, Dena,  who was finger painting was a perfect way to distance myself from the tendency to slip  into reality.  I hope you get some inspiration out of it as I have.

Thank you for following me, and commenting on videos  and my work.  I realize I’m not getting things out there like in the past, however I am working at it.  As you all know, there are times when life gets in the way.    Enjoy….

 

 

May26

Our First Excursion!

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Shortly after we returned home from the hospital, my mother decided to pack me up into the large black English Carriage, and walk into Detroit. Now I haven’t any idea how far that might have been, but it couldn’t have been far for mother to have taken on that day trip on foot. This proud new mother was headed to J.L.Hudsons, a very large and prominent department store of its time, and she was headed there specifically to find her new baby daughter (me), a teddy bear. It’s hard to believe I didn’t already have a teddy Bear, but I guess it just wasn’t the bear she thought I should have as a best friend! Turned out Mother was right!

As the story goes….

Can you even imagine pushing this large black English perambulator into a department store? Can you just see things go flying left, and right as the carriage bumped into racks, and displays? Mother would never admit to any of this, and maybe it never happened, but it’s difficult to believe anyone would be able to negotiate any department store with a carriage this large without incident!

Anyway, that day I was an angel of course, and we went straight up to the toy department. Mother searched for the teddy bear section, scrutinizing each and every bear with very careful eyes. She showed me dozens of bears without any redaction from me at all. So on to the next…..Pink, brown, gray, multicolored bears were shown to me. Mother waited for a reaction, and when I didn’t respond it would very gently go back into its own little pile, and we’d be on to the next bear. Finally, we were about to run out of bears when mother picked up the most gorgeous of bears.

Teddy as I later named him, was the best teddy bear any little girl could have. He was about 18″ tall, his arms, and legs were sewn so he moved freely. His ears were floppy, and they moved freely also. Maybe he wasn’t as floppy as he is now…kind of the opposite of me. I started out floppy, and now I’m stiffening up! But we’re still great friends, he’s been with me my entire life through all those moves, marriages, kids, and surgeries. Oh, I don’t take him to the hospital, but he’s with me anyway. Teddy is all wrapped up, and put away, but he still is dressed in diapers, and a one-sy just like he was when I was little.

You can’t have a friend more dedicated than that, can you? Daisy our dog is pretty dedicated to me, but Teddy is my very, very, very best friend!

There is still more, so stay tuned…..

Feb19

Thursday Time Out For Art

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God of Wine

God of Wine

God of Wine abstract painting I completed several years ago.  Before I even had it off it easel,  friends of ours came over for wine and cheese one evening, saw the painting, and purchased it right off the easel.

If I remember correctly, this was another watercolor, however I also use acrylic inks that look exactly the same when finished.  Somewhere off to the left are a bottle, and grapes. (This is where you have to visualize.)

Much of my inspiration comes from Zebra Design & Destination, although this time it was my muse that walked me to the finish line.

Jan22

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!

Jan16

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!