ABUNDANCE & GRACE in NOVEMBER

Final...almost, needs a few more touches and a signature.... I hope you all enjoy the process .... and I hate to even mention it, but ask that you please respect the copyright of these ... as they are in the gallery and as prints if you are needing one....just contact me through my website to the left ...thanks!! These all all more vibrant in person!! I have been studying Psalms 51 and it seems to be affecting my art ....I didn't realize how much what you read affects what comes out of you .... so I'll be reading more!! God SPEAKS ..... loud and clear all the way from New Zealand!!! A total stranger to me ... but not to God .... called me out of the blue to just BLESS me!! She talked for over an hour about sooo many interesting things and it ALL was BALM and INSPIRATION to my soul .... a GIFT from the Lord ... He just blows my socks off sometimes with those special connections. Anyway, besides "GRACE" that visited me ... the WORD .... "ABUNDANCE" comes to mind this month. And I've done (or He has!) an abundance of art pieces to share with you. All of these are what is called "Pulled Art" ...From Mystele's class ... where you put on or lay on paint colors of your choice, randomly until it begins to tell a story in the shapes .... all so much fun .... BUT THE ONE CALLED "FORGIVEN" is the one that no way did I do alone .... it is one of those things that you "know" He orchestrated using your eyes and hands to complete .... I am awed by what came out of it and it is Psalms 51 ... which is about David's guilt ...(and ours), the idols that get us into trouble, that break our hearts and how to deal with it .... THEN the others are pulled out of more fun happenstance ..."SNOW QUEEN" has Psalms 100:1,2,3 on the hills ... and THEN "EMBRACE" has a thought that came from the Blog " A Splendid Adventure" by sweet Mary on a post called "Serendipity" on 11-11-10. Taken from Romans 12:2, if you want to read it.... And there is the cardboard "HEART" with collage and a scripture from Psm 51:6 as well, just fun ....and an ABUNDANCE of it this week!!! ENJOY.... I know it is long, but I'll be busy for a couple of weeks with THANKSGIVING ....got LOTS to be Thankful for!!! Love and Blessings from my heart to yours ....may you be comforted and loved by HIS EMBRACE!

Good Mornin' Sunshine!

Good Morning Everyone! Well, it is morning as I write this and the sun is coming up through my window and I hear the birds singing outside....even though we have a real November nip in the air! I wish I could get up as chipper as this every morning!! ....but I am a nite person and usually sleep rather late! But not today...it is really beautiful outside this morning! I don't have anything special to write about except that I love life, my art, my kids and grand kids all around me, my friends and family and my precious little church I have gone to for four years now. I have honestly never experienced such a precious place as my little church. You would have to be there time and again to understand why. Anyway! ... here is a fun collage I did last week ...on gessoed cereal box cardboard, something I save for the kids to do art on...and one of my very favorite substrates to work on with collage....and with all the grandkids living next door for a while I have an unlimited supply of empty cereal boxes to prep!! Honey Nut Cheerios being the favorite! The background words are from Psalm 51 ... where David's heart is broken with his own sin ... a great Psalm for beginning again and laying it at His feet. I love that He can't begin anew in us until our heart is contrite and broken from our own weight of sin and we give it to Him asking for help and forgiveness. What I love is our broken hearts are the ONLY acceptable sacrifice to Him. Like a Mama that has her stinker child crying in her lap with big tears of sorrow....doesn't every parent welcome a child's sorrow over his bad behavior! I love how it mentions rebuilding the walls .... our walls to our soul.... fixing our house so to speak. I love His words... love them! Enjoy my little house collage ... it was fun play! I forgot to mention that I tried a doodle they call a tangle....and I decided to call mine "Prayer Doodles"...a free form shape you add design and doodles in with no plan....just a relaxing doodle that gave me a special time to think and pray for certain people including myself, I need it too! Blessings and have a great week. Thanksgiving is soon you know....

CHILD'S PLAY....

Now with eyebrows and a little charcoal outline.... and her title....and signature....and a little lip color.....she's done....the story is told....she is looking at God's creation and her life....as Olivia said... I've been taking a class with Mystele, called Gut Art, also called pulled art, where you scribble, throw a little paint or color on a canvas or paper, add more.... take away....and look for a story.... WELL, I had some simple scribbles that when I turned it upside down, had nice lines of a face and some nice scribbles looking like plants or something. So I put it aside for today to start developing....and when Olivia came over (my grand daughter, age eight), she immediately picked it (12x24) up and commented on the face she saw! When I told her what it was...pulled art...where you find a story in the shapes, she insisted on doing it herself. SOOO, I got the craft paints out and she began developing and drawing what SHE saw in the scribbles....it was really fun watching her loosely find and enjoy painting what she saw....explaining as she went....seeing the face, then the funky hair, two colors, then the flowers and leaf shapes, then the blue lake and the hills, then said the green/blue middle area was the sky, then she saw the eagle, a golden brown eagle.....I had already decided to put the black edge that seemed to border what she was seeing....she named it "God's Creation...Genesis 1"...she said it was like the lady was looking down on God's creation.....and her life. Well, she told me each color she wanted and I mixed until she was happy and when she finished, I had her outline it with black charcoal....well, she was pleased as punch!!! And so was I!!! She is hooked and now wants her own paints and brushes and canvases! We settled on gessoed cardboard for future practice and craft paints for now....but she is ready to sell!! I had such a giggle, because she is planning to hang it in the gallery....and it IS a "little?" better than some of mine!!! HA!!! Today was a grand art day for us both!!! Blessings!! ENJOY!!

ADD A LITTLE SPARKLE....

Click to see the better colors....these look dull... I just noticed the piece of wood showing (hanging on a wooden tree hook on the door) right under the paper with the scripture....well, it is one of the Castanettes that I played when 10 years old living in Spain!! I leave it there and demonstate my talent on occasion! Ha! I've never been into doing arrangements, especially out of silk or artificial flowers. My yard is usually full of flowers, leaves and good smelling dirt in the vegetable garden and have never had the need for the artificial. So when one of the young women at church gave me a dull garrish brite orange and brown plastic wreath to "try and fix up"...as she said.... for the small entry door .... I said ....uh ....ok ..... Well, I was stuck with no supplies and a long way from a store. So I picked crepe myrtle dried blooms (FORGOT TO MENTION ...I sprayed them with a red-ish maroon automotive PRIMER color I found in the garage!! the only color that would work....and I'll use that color again!!) Then added gold and red glitter to them adding them to the wreath.....and then I added pink transparent paint over the really brite orange little pumpkins to soften them then added glitter there too. She said to add a scripture somewhere....so I printed part of a painting with the right colors and glued it in place ....added the soft polka dot ribbon...it was all I had....but I think it turned out A-OK! The scripture is in Spanish for our church and it says, "The Lord is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in Him and I am helped. My heart leaps for joy and I will give thanks to Him in song." Psalm 28:7 The last photo is an aerial taken by my husband of just the town of Warrenton (population less than 50) before all the crowds....during the Antiques Shows in our county and Round Top.....and this is just one little town! We are rested and enjoying our fall weather!!! Blessings to you all for a blessed Fall of Thanksgiving!!!

PRAISE....anyway?

Today is officially the last day of the two week Round Top Antiques Fair all over this county..... and in my excitement I was going to write a BIG PRAISE TO THE LORD for such a fabulous weekend.....and then I thought...."Would you be doing a BIG Praise if you hadn't done well?" And as I was cleaning up from such a busy two weeks in the shop, I was reflecting on how I got to this point in my life in the first place..... It all started in a Bible Study years ago in the eighties....I was working in our restaurant, which I really did NOT cherish....and longed to be out of it! At this bible study that I had just started going to...a girl read this scripture...."Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart...." Psalm 37:4,5....and I thought to myself...."Oh, yeah, right!....humpf!....and then I remember sitting there during that next few moments thinking what the desires of my heart would be. And my EXACT thoughts were this..."If anyone would EVER want just one piece of art that I could do....that would be the desires of my heart...." At that time I had only done some crafts and taken a few art classes .... hoping .... and loved art none the less! That was 27 years ago this year....and I have been creating art ever since .... and yes, someone has liked it. THE KEY?....the key was what I learned that day after me asking the leader to elaborate on that verse more...as it was really appealing to me since I was so miserable in the restaurant business. She and the rest of the women took the verses a little further and talked about the part that says..."Delight in the Lord...."...basically it was to learn to give God ALL the glory for whatever you did....however small or however great....and no matter what, to "delight in the Lord". At times when I am grumbling or angry or tired and frustrated ..... I think long and hard......and it always comes back to that day at that little bible study......and that one little verse .......that seemingly impossible verse that was read.... and I know how this all got started .....I think He heard my thoughts......that day and knew my love for art ......and my need for people contact and of course I HAVE to DELIGHT IN HIM and give Him THE GLORY or the CREDIT!! ....even if we did well or not.....thank You LORD for a great Antiques Fair Weeks with such wonderful people who blessed us! Blessings!....the manipulated photo above was a vase of flowers I took to Easter Service year before last.....just something beautiful we were blessed with in the yard that year.....I was way too busy to take any pictures of the fair weeks....sorry. Enjoy!

A Great Day.....

Why is it a great day? You know all of those canvases that we have painted and we just don't really like them?.....then we begin to paint on top of them and try to create a little differently and a new painting appears.....not always, but trying and maybe growing in the process....if you don't fail at first....you don't grow and learn in trying again.....and maybe again and again.....BUT the best part is you aren't always the one in control. Sometimes you are being taught by the One who loves you for who you are, but helping to tweak those areas that need to grow....BUT He doesn't throw you out in the process .... like we (speaking of myself) do sometimes to others. Then came this devotional today "Strength in Weakness" Click here ..... (it really spoke to me.) .... I needed to hear it today .... the "bird dog" has been on the loose around here chasing the birds ..... when you least expect it ..... he won't win though .... not even in the end. Soooo it is a GREAT DAY! I can't write something without at least putting something beautiful to look at .... like this old plate I found years ago and have never seen another ... .a treasure of mine. On the back it says..."Scripture Illustrations" "KEC"....I Samuel Chapt III....it is at least 100 years old or older....if you know something of these ..let me know. In this picture I have repaired the cracks it has in real life....the computer doctor cleaned it up a bit. Don't you wish we could do that with ourselves?! Blessings!!

TREE LETTERS.....

The one below is a twenty fifth Anniversary piece and they wanted their dog, Sally, on it who had recently passed.... I've done these "Tree Letters" for fifteen plus years ... can't remember when I started them exactly, but they are still requested by customers needing to give the gift of "Remembrance", "Newlyweds" or "Newly Born" in birth or in Christ. A few went to Russian Students that were at Baylor playing tennis. It has been a joy to do all of these "special names" over the years with their chosen scripture for each person. You end up thinking what the person is like while you are painting their initials or their full name....when you don't know them....you end up praying for them as you draw and paint their name. It has become a special order when I get a new name ... for whatever reason it is being requested and I feel blessed to get to do it! Enjoy and Great Blessings to you this week!!