AT HOME .....

The picture above was the beginning to which I began to find the story within....which is on top.

AT HOME.......Words that have become paramount in this season of my (our ) life!  Words that were given to my heart and mind as I prayed for direction with our downsizing move.  The year and a half we have taken to clean and glean the STUFF in our lives, the stuff we have gathered through the years of living..... precious memories, hard memories, things from loved ones gone, too much furniture, too many antiques, way too many frames for art, and way too much fabric and art.  We were excited about our new adventure and the momentum was energizing ..... and we were on a roll moving forward and never looking back.  But we were getting tired ..... really tired, really really tired!  And then began to look at the past years and all the hard work lovingly building the house of our dreams ..... and the yard of our dreams with fabulous porches .... all 2.5+ acres of it!!  Hosting people in our B and B and welcoming new people into my shop each week.  And then I got a little confused (slightly depressed maybe) thinking .... WHY HAVE WE SPENT THE LAST FOURTEEN YEARS BUILDING SOMETHING SO BEAUTIFUL TO ONLY HAVE THE DESIRE TO LEAVE IT!!??  And then thinking ....  WILL YOU BE AT HOME IN LAGRANGE IN THE SMALLER HOUSE OR IN THAT TOWN?  I asked people to pray for me, as I was also not feeling well at that time, and just really really tired, mentally and emotionally!!  I know they were praying because I would awaken in the middle of the night from sleep with profound thoughts ..... like questions from God ..... "Where IS Home?"  .....  "Do you really want to feel At Home?"   "To be at peace in your home?"  "You created a beautiful place, ... but it became difficult to enjoy because of so much work...."  "Do you need all that you had?"  "Can you let go of special things?....because you can't take it "Home" with you....." ....wow, you mean to Heaven?, I thought.  Yes, that is the real HOME, when we get there, but what about before we get there? .... then I had a visual ..... of ME BEING THE HOME WHERE HE LIVES IN ME! .... like a house!!!  So as I wrote and listened and prayed and gave thanks too..... I finally realized, ..... That I need to work on the place where He DWELLS..... and that is inside my soul.  I need to have HIM there so comfortable that He is AT HOME THERE... in my soul...  OK, A couch potato on the couch of my soul..... Wow, where did that thought come from!!?? Ha, but really, HOW COMFORTABLE is He or are you with HIM REALLY DWELLING INSIDE (Your) MY SOUL.....not just on Sunday, but every minute of the day....  Oooo now that's what I am talking about!!!  Yes!!! When He dwells in me, I am AT HOME WHERE EVER I LIVE!!!  EVEN UP ON A LEAF ON A STEM OF A GIANT FLOWER!! Climbing that little ladder..... That is where this art piece comes in.... I did the MYSTELE (you'll find her by clicking on STUDIO THRIVE/MYSTELE to the left in my list of favorites.) style of  collaging, doodling, writing, paint dripping, smearing and playing for the picture/story to appear in it .... had to come from my soul, ... what has been in my thoughts for several weeks!!! So enjoy!!!  He DOES HEAR YOUR PRAYERS AND THOUGHTS .... AND HE ANSWERS.  You have to be still (or even asleep) and listen.  We are finally getting closer to being completely moved and THIS WEEK I got ALL MY ART SUPPLIES  on shelves!!! That also feels "AT HOME" for me.  I am thinking AT HOME is actually doing something you love with Him living in your heart and getting to do it with you!!! .... or He is doing it "through" you because He lives inside!!!  So many empowering thoughts that have warmed and comforted my heart!!! We look forward to the resting with AT HOME in us ....!  BLESSINGS!!!  I am adding what we read today in Sunday School!!! PERFECT for this art and my thinking!! 
www.biblegateway.com 
click on the above link to go straight to the verses, or here are the references,
2 Corinthians 4:16-18
2Corinthians 5:1-9
Romans 8:22-25

ANOTHER BE-ATTITUDE....."MOURN"

Here is another "Be-Attitude" .....as I named them...... I have taken old paperback Bibles I buy at the used store and tear scriptures out of them that I want to use on art pieces. I've had these "beatitudes" from scripture laying around from a previous project and I have always wanted to learn more about them and what Christ was trying to say when He told them to the disciples while sitting on a mountain (Sermon on the Mount) after He saw the multitudes. He knew something about us .... and what we needed .... truly needed. I hope I haven't miss represented these "beatitudes" with the art I have paired them with ... and I may have slightly. These have caused a lot of conversation and many of us to wonder what exactly did the beatitudes mean? So if you want to read them and do a little fun digging .... here is a fabulous place to go to .... "Blueletterbible.org" ....but specifically when reading them ... click the blue numbers by the words you want more meaning to and it takes you to the original meaning it had in the Hebrew or Greek at the time it was written! Have fun and forgive me if some of these have been paired wrongly with the art. We have giggled with them and wondered with them .... so I hope a good thing! I would love them in a devotional to lift spirits .... who knows where they will end up. But here is one more ...... with more to come. ENJOY and BLESSINGS!! And thanks for all the positive feedback!! This one is "Mourn"...number three.

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!!

The Bird Dog...

The unseen story....just paint randomly layed on. Above I saw the old lady with red glasses and green hair piled on top, and long nose. A big face at the top with maybe a mustache?....Naw.... The birds began to come out...NO PAINT is added at all during this process...only graphite or drawing...the shapes seen. little houses, trees, lake... Above a house, birds, flowers, SEE the Bird Dog on the upper right? More flowers, birds and trees... and the BIRD DOG that showed up... He made the story a story...click on pictures to enlarge... to see the complete drawn in story before painting.... The BIRD DOG..... That is the name I came up with for this developing story in this canvas (piece of wood). It is about 6.5 x 23 inches or so. I did as Mystele (in our free class, basic story telling) has been showing us and enjoyed randomly (with nothing in mind) laying gesso, paint, collage, and other items to add texture to this canvas. Then I let it dry .... then I sat it up to look at and to find the story ... one way I saw a big face at the top, but could never make the rest come out. Then another way I saw an old woman with her hair piled on top of her head, and she had glasses on and a long nose that I couldn't get away from .... she was there, clearly....but I just didn't like her or have a feeling for her .... I'm feeling old lately and it was just too depressing .... believe me, she would have turned out ugly .... really ugly .... so I searched and searched for some other story in the canvas and it began to develop! I saw a couple of little houses, a lake, some trees, a sky line, and birds kept coming through....lots of birds ... and flowers. Well, it was not much of a story UNTIL....THE BIRD DOG showed up! I guess that is why the birds appear to be still, very still, ready to take flight if he gets any closer! A little like our lives sometimes! Do you see him? He is small and pointing! OKAY, I have my story and I kept drawing in what I saw in the shapes and colors. NOW ..... this where I usually mess up a good thing!!! When spreading the "unknown" shapes and colors, I am really free and loose ..... BUT when I "know" what that shape is, ( a bird, tree or dog) .... I begin to fill it in like a coloring book and become tight with my brush applying the rest. Hmmmm ... I will leave you these without the finished product ..... and post the results later .... and I will also take any advice! No spiritual message here, except watch out for THE BIRD DOG!! Enjoy and Blessings!!

REARRANGING...A STUDIO

If I look out that window I am in the top of an old pecan tree....I'm upstairs with the birds....and I may put a bird feeder like my buddy PJ did....check her blog for her fun studio!!! I love my red goblets....they look and feel orderly.....I need that!!! I have a pile of letters off of an old building and kept the ART for this room.... Pottery Barn colors for a baby's name I did..... Do you see the photo of the three men sitting on a bench on the square in Round Top...? That was Onie, Willie and Mr Lewis.....they told me all about the local history when we had the cafe in town.... It was 1982 and they are all three now gone.....wish they could still be here....especially this year! What joy they would have in our new President! ....They would be drinking more coffee with me at the cafe!!! We would have a lot MORE to talk about and I would have a zillion more questions about their life! Wish I had written down all the stories that Willie Thompson shared with me. Aren't these pretty? The three flowery and leafy ones were my Mom's....and I particularly remember going thru the black one when I was young....just feeling and playing with the buttons....finding a treasure or two....like a cracker jack prize....still have a few. She's been sitting there for ten years waiting for me to claim this room back!.....gets lonesome in here!! Goodies from the grandma's.... Junk jewelry and collected crochet from when I had the antique shop in town! Ironing boards make good tables....NOT! We've been pretty wrinkled lately. This old day bed is now in the garage......plus twelve clear containers of fabric, new and vintage......and feedsacks and feedsacks....can I part with them????? I have been looking at painting and technique videos on different blogs...... and now I can't sleep. So I'll go ahead and show pictures of the sewing storage room before I started cleaning it out and after.... although MORE still needs to go out!! Thank goodness I have a big ole garage and a future Garage Sale coming up the end of MARCH!!! This room has hardly ever been used by anyone....and decided it was a great place to expand working on my art and computer projects.... but I must face a window and not a wall.... I'm a day dreamer, I guess. So the furniture will be swapped from wall to wall. I used some office furniture I already had.... and a ten dollar rolling restaurant chair I've had for years.... and I decided to keep my Ruby Red goblets from the fifties for my pens, brushes etc.....I cut down a styrofoam cup for the insert to keep the bottoms clean. And some great old egg cups! An old long wooden miter box for a mini shelf to put them on....added several old lamps...two were my Mom's and I love the warm lite and ambiance it gives with all four of them on...... I hung a small old folky cabinet (gift from a dear friend) and a door ? embellishment I have saved for years....and hung a long (3 feet plus!)frame that is begging for something special in it..... I actually like it blank right now.... will add a few pieces of art later, ....then I put this funky metal grate on a table easel and onto it I clothes pin my drawings or things I don't want to forget about...... got that idea from Mystele..... from her video where she shows her "brain on a ladder" organizing idea....same thing but different.... she is a sweet heart of a person and a Texas girl....wait til you see her art!! Let's see..... what else.... I need more storage but will do something under my tables..... and use the white cabinet too. This is pretty much it.... now I need my music, a cup of coffee and a few long days (usually nites!) .....and I'm ready to go!! Enjoy the pictures....some are just items I love that will stay in there and goodies I rediscovered......Thanks for looking! I JUST LIED!....I didn't talk less!!!!! How do I talk LESS!? .... I'll keep trying.

A FINISHED PIECE....?

I love my head band ..... HOPE ....there is always HOPE! I found this great quote and decided I needed to WEAR IT...."The Lord has an incredible destiny for you..." I'll take that!! A FINISH ...? The last post was called "a start" ..... I'm still not sure about this so called "Self-Portrait" .... it may never be finished .... so many things wouldn't work .... certain colors on top of the dried medium ....too slick for paint to stick ... etc .... so I've definately learned a lot! .....BUT MOSTLY, about myself!!! This piece revealed things about my life..... like it is very cluttered, and complex....which I know I am... not necessarily a good thing. I discovered that who I am begins with my Mother, the heart of the family and a Father who was a hard worker, and provided for us all, even later if we needed it. He also went to war to fight for our country and I'm proud of that...as did my husband. The baby bracelet with my maiden name encircles my Father and Mother...representing my natural birth. The vase is blooming as children do, then the strong thick branches are my strong personality and stuborness.....but there is greenery.... or growth....with eventually a flower or two....working thru the growth to finally bloom through difficulties that arose in my life.... we all have them, but the flower finally comes. I love birds and lots of details in life ... maybe too many details .... guess what.... I talk a lot! No surprise. The two whimsical portraits on the left are my favorites.... the top one was a drawing by a special little boy at age seven. It is the way he sees me. I like the way he sees me. The bottom one was altered with the computer, ... I would love it on a business card. The portrait on the right is a one line (sort of) drawing that doesn't focus on the age, wrinkles, grey hair or sallow skin and no reading glasses. I decided to ignore THOSE details!! I couldn't get my hair dark enough with the pencils I was using.... anyway, the Psalm 139 help me to realize that I was formed and known about when I was in my Mother's womb. And that I don't have to be perfect to be HIS child.... but that He knows me and loves me and has worked in my life to help me become who I really am..... it begins as a child....as seen in the lower left in the pieces that show the importance of children to Jesus. Matthew 18:1-5 was a crucial teaching for me,...read on further....6,7,...etc.... showing me that He actually protected me in many situations growing up. When I found Romans 8:16 and decided to add it to all the other elements, I teared up because I had actually put elements that told who I was... and now who I am in my spirit... His Child ... inspite of struggles ....He began the work in me, and I know it and am so thankful for His persistence and patience , His grace and mercy, and finally His gift of love. I know ... it's all about ME ... but it is a self portrait ... with a lot of details that came out....a story. It will stay in my studio.....it was just for me.