Tag Archives: creative energy

May3

Travel Adventure

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I recently took a mini vacation up north to visit my daughter, and her family. They have a small ranch, and live in a very rural area. I love it up there because I can sit in the middle of nature, and talk to all the animals.

I usually fly when I’m traveling alone, as I did this time. But things are different these days. The airlines have changed policies, and it’s a bit stressful trying to figure out exactly what is required of you. After watching many Youtube videos on the airline’s “New Rules,” I still wasn’t any further along than when I started.

I just didn’t want to get to the gate, and be turned away because my case was too large, or I had something inside that was the tiniest bit larger than they required. I’ve had my luggage gone through before, had things taken out and tossed. Some of it was my fault, I should have known better. Other times they pulled something that wasn’t too large and tossed it. That one really got to me!

All in all, because it was my daughter, there were many things that I didn’t need to bring because it was already up there. Lucky for me, the cary on’s that are required are really small now, and one has to be a really efficient packer to be able to get away with a mini cary-on.

The next thing was for me to mark my luggage so it would be easily identified. After spending hours selecting a bag that was just the proper fit at TJ Max, I then had to decide what to put on the side so it could be recognized. That took another day or so. After all it had to be my signature look!

Finally, after trying many different things, this is what I decided on. It took me about three days due to drying time. I’m happy with it, and it didn’t get scrapped up even after being thrown around by the people that love throwing baggage around.

I stayed twelve days, and had a very relaxing visit. My Granddaughter turned eighteen the 4th of April, and I love seeing her on her birthday. She picked a dinner place for us all to enjoy, and just to top it off, she had a very excellent place for the three of us girls to go for lunch the following day. It’s never an inexpensive trip, but it’s always a memorable trip.

How do all of you find these little get aways, or even big vacations? Do you get stressed out, or are you a chill traveler? Is it more stressful unpacking when you get home? If you are traveling with family, do you end up being host? My husband joyfully play host, and hostess every time. After all, what is Grandpa, and Grandma for?

I love going, but it’s really nice to get back to the comfort of my own home. Never do I feel unwelcome, but I am aware of the fact that my family needs to make me feel comfortable. I always feel relief when I can get on the plane, allowing my daughter and her family to take a deep breath, and get back to normal.

Thank you for stopping by and allowing me to share my little adventure with you. Until next time, “United we stand,” Karen

These are just a few pictures of the ranch, there are many more, and many more animals to be seen…

Jan25

Embrace the Journey

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Many of us have the idea that when we age, we can get comfortable. Maybe too comfortable! I’m one of them….. I love a soft turtleneck, and a pair of comfortable jeans. Is that wrong?

As we age with grace, and dignity we feel a lack of energy, and maybe loose the desire to keep ourselves up.

It’s a lot of work to be beautiful, and desirable, and after all why would I want to get all gussied up for who? My husband and I rarely care to go out. We find it safe and cozy to stay in, curl up, and watch a movie on TV. Not only are we not interested in going out, we are tired of trying to fit into what we all think is right for each of us. I don’t get gussied up. Here in Southern California that holds an entirely different meaning. A cleaned up casual is the Gussied up of the California Coastal people. The older we get the less gussied we become!

Other places however may have an entirely different idea of gussied up. In my mind the East Coast peopled get dressed up far more than we ever do. Maybe it’s the climate, maybe just the culture, I’m really not sure.

I believe these ladies live in New York, and they definitely dress up the street of their city.

We all have our own way of feeling dressed up. And, it’s my belief that we can get dressed up, and feel good about our selves without being guessed up. Here in California, and probably in many other places, getting dressed up means wearing a pair of jeans, a teeshirt, or a blouse, maybe a sweater or jacket, scarf, and a splash of color maybe even lip gloss.

Oh Yes, we are casual, very casual. But we can look good even though we are so laid-back.

Don’t anyone under estimate us though, we can, and do get amazing things done. We can get over the top dressed up, or we can get down and dirty with the rest of them. You might say we are camillians, and I think we can be!

Regardless, in my mind as we age, and are retired, we need to be as comfortable as we choose. That gives us a huge leeway for being exactly who we are, and how we want to be.

Thank you for reading my blog, remember “Together We Stand,” Karen

Images, and Videos are all three from You Tube. Thank you for the content.

Oct19

We’re Getting Better & Better

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We’re Getting Better & Better

How do you feel today? As the weather gets cooler, everything changes, but we still can look fabulous even if we are a little off inside. For me I’m more stiff, everything aches, and now I need to get use to the new winter challenges. We are all alike, our challenges are different, but the boat is large, and holds us all!

I mentioned a while back about the Advanced Style, so now I’d like to show a video featuring some of the ladies from that group of very interesting women.

I love watching, and listening to all of them talking of their creations, how they feel about aging, & much more. It’s not a long video, but an interesting one.

The first thing I realized was that they are pretty much all from New York. I’m sitting here on the West Coast!” I know a lot of you are not in California, but I’m guessing we have different ways of dressing depending on where we live. So even though the women in NY are fabulously dressed, we are much more casual here in the west. Maybe it’s just an age thing. We dress up, it’s just a more casual dress up.

I went to the Opera several years ago, and my husband and I were all dressed up because it was the Opera. Hardly anyone was dressed nicely, and more than half were dressed in what I would call cleaninng clothes. The T-shirts. and jeans were dirty, and yes they were younger, but I was younger at the time too. The whole experience was so disappointing to me. The opera was great, but the people around me not so much!

As I watch women get all dressed up for little outings, ie: Doctor appointments, grocery shopping, even going to fuel up the car, I now understand why they do this. Is there any other time, or any better time to dress up? Now I’m loving being home, safely tucked away, able to do what I want, listen to my own kind of music, and dress up in my PJ’s if I want.

Personally, I put makeup on to make me feel good. It’s only to help me feel better each day, and just for me. Sometimes it’s a effort, but I still do it.

Let me know what you think of these interesting women…..

Thank you for taking time to read my blog, have a beautiful day.

Karen

Sep26

A Little Halloween Fun

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A Little Halloween Fun

Since I don’t really participate in Halloween any more, I thought I’d post a little collection of Halloween treasures my girlfriends and I have made over the years.

The pumpkin is real with succulents hot glued to the top. As long as you spray the succulents with water every couple of days, they last quite a long time.

I’ll bet you can’t imagine how much fun I had creating skulls! Each different, with their own personality.

The little skulls are even fun to decorate…

This skull is my favorite. By the time I painted, and decorated it, it started to speak to me. Something only artists may understand .

I hope you enjoyed seeing all my skulls, now I just have to pull them out this year.

Happy Halloween

Together we stand, Karen

Oct23

What Happens When an Artists Gets an IDEA!

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Wild Poppy!

One day I was sitting in my living room thinking about how to get my MoJo back.   As I wallowed in the misery of not being able to get inspired…no matter what, it occured to me that I had a very large roll of rolled canvas.   What could I do with a roll of canvas?   I know other artists have worked with raw canvas, because I have seen banners of art hanging in coffee shops, even hanging outside.   Can’t I make floor coverings also?

After thinking about the posabilities, I dug through my studio to get the tube of canvas out.  The tube hanging out in the very back of a corner in my studio, and covered in years of dust, willingly hopped out to see me, and let me know it was ready for service!   Now I was getting excited….

My husband, Les helped me cut a large piece of canvas, and in all my excitement I had to  try doing what I had been thinking about for years.  The painting above is the first of my Fantasy Art.

Splash of Happiness was the second of my fun abstract painting.   I’m having fun now….   After that I think i was full of myself and decided to work on a larger piece.   Gingerly I cut a long piece about 26″ X 12″ and painted it black.  This was the end result of my black piece.

A New Day

My Daughter in law came by,  loved it in black, and quickly claimed it for her own.   I wasn’t going to leave it black, however since she loved it so much, I decided to stop while I was ahead.  This was just the start, and I was having so much fun.   I loved the abstraction, and all I am able to think about was how to abstract my art even more.

Happy Poppy was claimed by my Daughter, so I put a frame around it because it was 12″ X 12″ and easy to frame.  No Glass!

Happy Poppy!

The last painting I wasnt to show you I named “It’s Been a Crazy Day!”  It’s so much fun to challenge myself to abstract even more, and because they are on an unstretched canvas, it seems to take the fear out of wasting a good stretched canvas.   Of course, it’s all in my mind, but I have always said, “the mind is a terrible thing to waste!”

It’s Been a Crazy Day!

Thank you for taking the time to stop and check out Karen’s Stone Soup.   See you next time….

May15

This is What I’ve Been Doing…..

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Recently I started taking abstract classes from Richard Hawk, and although I feel I have a long way to go, I also feel I’m on the right road.  My love is for “Figurative Abstract,”  and finally I’m experimenting with the subject matter and having fun doing it.  One of my art sisters decided to take classes with me, and together we go twice a month for direction and inspiration.

This video is of Richard Hawk.   I hope you can see why I’m impressed and why I’m growing as an artist.  If nothing else happens, I can tell you this…..I’m painting more often, I’m being more bold and less afraid while creating, and have no fear of what the end result is!   I have never believed that there are mistakes, only opportunity to learn and grow.  Richard believes the same.  He has me using pens, crayons, ink and all things are on the table in an effort to explore creativity.

It is one of the most fun things I’ve done in years.  Many articles have been written about finding inspiration, unblocking your creativity, and how to start looking at things in a way that sparks ones inspiration, and I’ve written several of them myself.  Richards classes have definitely taught me how to do that and more.

As the days and months go by, I plan on showing just how crazy I can get, and how crazy my art turns out. In an attempt to show all of this to my followers, my hope is that you can see growth in me as well.   I owe all this to my new mentor Richard Hawk the artist.

Thank you for stopping by and reading Stone Soup,  see you next time.