I am moving!

I know I have been a bit delinquent in my postings. I promise that I have been working very hard...learning how to build a website, learning photoshop and increasing my classes. It has been fun and now I am ready to share what I have been up to with you!

The work was pretty intense, and I am very proud of the website. I had the opportunity to add a blog and did much thinking before deciding to switch to a new one.

I think you will enjoy, at the very least, a tour of my site and a visit to my new blog. I hope to be posting new paintings, thoughts on creativity and spirituality as well as my latest class information.

I do hope you will join me at my new artsite!

I have also changed my email address. you can contact me throught the site for updates.

Life at the speed of......

There are times when life just seems to move way too slow...

Like the rest of the world,

I want it all done yesterday,

website done..

paintings done...

lesson plans done....

Oh my, but it seems I am tripping over my own lists of "to do's"

Then this guy came around

with a bit if advice.

Slow down and enjoy the journey,

he says..lifting his tiny dinosaur head high to be sure

I hear him.

Take the time to sit in the sun and just breathe.

He posed so majestically.

Spring time has brought out him and his fellows,

along with so many flowers.

He is right, you know.

Life requires time to sweeten and be served up

properly.

So join me at Chesterfield Arts,

here in lovely St. Louis

August 6-10 for a deliciously wonderful

Art Journaling Camp for adults.

An entire week of Art Journaling!

All supplies are included,

so just show up with your cup of coffee and nibbles

and we will journal our sweet summer mornings

together.

Back from whence I was....

Oh it was a dream trip,

ten days of paint and whales

and a world of colorful sweet magic.

It inspired me.

It woke me up!

I had forgotten the part of me

that loved painting under the sun,cool breezes

and an occasional wild boccie ball.

That part of me that is oh so in love with nature as

sacred spirit,

as sacred inspiration!

Amazing Sea People joined in,

sparkling with turquoise light,

a light I didn't even know as possible.

they danced for me every morning,

convincing me to love the world

with my paintbrush.

So I did:

And then, some more....

By the end of the stay even the stars danced

in the night sky,

shining in ways that were rare and wonderous.

I painted even more....

My heart was opened and my brush set free

in a new direction.

Now, like another middle Earth girl

who wandered over the rainbow,

my job is to be awake to the wonders

in my own backyard.

I have been painting springtime

in Middle Earth.

Daffodils and Redbuds,

cloud shows of all kinds.

I will share more as they come to be.

Great thanks to my beloved host and hostess.

You will never know what a great gift you gave me

those magical ten days.

Mahalo.

Haiku my Heart Friday

Shadings of grey dust,

Dance across canvas threads.

Life is in all art.

An ethereal child,

created out of charcoal dust,

as, perhaps we all may be.

Pushing and pulling,

lights and darks,

discovering in the end

that creating is the stuff of life.

Created and Creator

resonating.

Discover the other Artists of Haiku my Heart joined together by the Artist Rebecca at

Recuerdo Mi Corazon



I got Sunshine.......

I had a conversation

yesterday

about dealing with homesickness

when one travels.

I thought, how funny,

if I have some paint and my brushes,

I am always at home.

Even on the darkest day,

I can find sunshine

at the end of my brush.

Haiku my Heart Friday

Deep in Winter's bed

Spirit wildly weaves new life,

And stars dance overhead.

Here in Middle Earth, we have had a milder

than mild winter,

but winter just the same.

New dreams are being dreamt.

New life seems to be promising

to burst forth just about any moment.

I feel like I am breathing

in the space between,

Winter and Spring.

Half dreaming, half unfolding

to promises of change.

Doodling about.....

Amidst all the confusion

of a computer losing its memory and coming down with the flu,

and company from afar,

and traveling spouse,

I decided I needed a little extra something

to do with my time.

You know, those moments between

cleaning, cooking, knitting and working.

So to fill those empty moments with something besides sleeping..

you know I am an insomniac anyway,

I joined two online projects.

The first is

"The sketchbook challenge"

Do visit their site.

A monthly challenge is given

and participating artists send almost daily emails showing their wonderful sketchbook ideas.

There are prizes and inspirations galore.

A monthly challenge ,

I thought,

I can do.

The first, for the month of January is simply

"doodling"

 I realized most of my real doodles

live in my art journal

as mixed media sorts of doodling.

Like the lady above and this one:

The first is done with reinker inks and white acrylic. The second is done with collage and paintsticks...all on gold gessoed pages

in an old book rescued from a closing library.

I lived, for many years,

not in Middle Earth, but in the Wild Wild West.

Out in the wildness, there were faces of many sorts,

not just white, but more colorful,

more varied arrangements of nose and eyes and lips.

I miss that. I want to honor that Wildness:

So my doodles are wandering strokes of

paint and paper,

wandering thoughts of women

I have known or wanted to know.

Doodles of a different sort.

I ALMOST FORGOT..

the other project I jumped into is this one

with Flora Bowley.

This one doesn't start until net month,

so I have plenty of time for more painted doodles.

Good Morning!

My studio purge has continued

and I finally have space to breathe

a bit.

I have a thousand paintings dancing in my head

and

a thousand tales to tell about each of them.

I have been writing as much as painting.

this art business is a funny thing

that way.

I think it may be one of the reasons I love art journaling so much.

It seems to bring things together

in a way

that combines the best of all worlds.

An amaryllis,

now long gone, still inspires me.

This new journal, designed with a focus

on icons.

Icons are doorways to a

spiritual  place.

Both contemplation and creation

open those doorways.

Usually an icon holds a face or figure.

This one has a flower.

A winter blooming flower,

bright and red,

a promise of more color and life in this

grey, chilly January.

a feather holds even more promise.

this opening page was not what I expected,

but life is seldom that.

It is a reminder that being open

in your heart,

your creative spirit,can lead you to places you hadn't planned on at all.

Those new places can be much better than what we had originally wished for.

I didn't crop this image. You can see the opposite page,the edge of the book,

my easel,

a bit of my studio.This was a bit more of a reveal than my usual.

I am getting braver.

Inspirations 2011

Wisdom speaks in ink

and paper whispers stories.

Hearts can meet in books.

Haiku My Heart is dedicated

this week to three books

that have spoken to my heart,

opened my mind

to possibilities that I had not known

were waiting there.

"Standing at the Water's Edge" by Anne Paris

is dedicated to helping creative folk past their

blocks and heartaches.

Anne is a PhD

and has focused a good part of her life

on learning how to help us open

to the great spirit driven creativity

that lives like a flickering candle flame within us all,

then instructs us how to take that tiny candle flame into a full burning light

that can be found whenever

we need to.

I highly recommend her book.

Next is

"The Artist's Path"

by Christine Valters Paintner

also a PhD

who has created a similar work, but with more

spiritual a focus,

giving us twelve chapters of lectio divinia,

inspirational stories

and spiritual openings for our creative soul.

Christine is part of a Benedictine community,

living out in the world,

and sharing her God given inspirations in

a way that enchants and opens.

Last is "Alla Prima"

by Richard Schmid,

who is not a PhD, but is a master painter,

who has taken the time

to share a lifetime of painting wisdom.

Hands on, this book is.

I am inspired not only by his words of wisdom, but by his wonderful

brushwork and simple colors.

These three have been my inspirational

reading for 2011

and are providing a path for me

into 2012. I hope you find them as

wonderful as I do.

for more Haiku My Heart,

Join the equaling inspiring Rebecca

at

Recuerda mi corazon.

Rebecca is also a giver of heart wings

and spirit flights.

don't miss her or the other members of

 Haiku my heart.

Red flowers

January chill has finally arrived

in Middle Earth.

It takes me many moments of contemplation to arrange all of my layers,

top and bottom

to stay warm and toasty.

My holiday rampage of cleaning has led me to take a look

at my recent paintings

and I have decided

I am very RED.

Perhaps I want to warm the studio a bit,

or the red oriental rug

speaks too loudly to be ignored.

My furry studio assistant seems to agree.

Even my wise women seem to enjoy being Red Queens

of some sort or another.

I obviously dream in reds and golds

when winter's chill is present.

I think I'll just stay in these warm cozy colors

until springtime breathes me a new palette.

Observations

I spent Christmas Eve Day

tearing apart my studio,

sorting,

cleaning,

releasing,

At the end of the day, the room was clean and organized. I had even rehung much of the art on the walls including

this new addition:

I have promised myself for years,

to paint the amaryllis

that sits on my kitchen counter. a new color every year. This year, My favorite: a blazing red.

It couldn't escape me this year.

However, when I tried to begin a second painting, I could barely find a surface

on which to rest my palette.

Frustration.

Then an odd rush of energy,

a sense of distinct purpose filled my heart.

I worked nonstop for hours.

Later,

much later,

I sat in meditation, listening to music

at a midnight service.

Christmas Eve.

And I pondered what had happened, what I had done

and felt

that long day of work.

I realized I had been preparing

for Christmas Eve,

which brings us the message of hope

and new beginnings.

I had thought I was being a bit unusual,

a cleaning Diva instead of

A Christmas celebrant.

But, Oh, I was so celebrating the coming

of Divine Hope.

And now Christmas has past,

the wining and dining,

cheering and sharing

and something a bit more contemplative has arrived in my very clean manger.

My latest inspiration is here.

Please scroll down to her twelve days of Christmas article for great practices during the post Christmas season.

A Peaceful New Year to all.

Have a Jolly One!

Oh yes, I have been busy,

being Jolly,

hanging holly,baking and making of all sorts.

Company flows in and out,

a loving tide of sharings.

My beloved muses, Graces three

called out loud and clear

that they would not be ignored.

Visions of sugar plums dancing in my head

suddenly became

images crying out to be .

They came despite gingerbread and chocolates

and stockings hung by the fire.

They whispered and whispered

like breezes,

then winds!

Paint tubes jumped from shelves and drawers,

brushes rained down.

Time to get back to work.

Santa will understand.

The packages are wrapped, the tree full of lights.

Now it is time

to return to me.

Here is hoping your holidays are Jolly,

your paintings are bright,

and your hearts will be glowing with inspiration and

the mystery of New Life and a New Year.

I am planning on sharing some of my favorite inspirations of the past year,

books, movies, folks both now and then.

Join me for a sharing of joy and inspiration.

Ode to a Master

I know I have been gone for a bit.

time flies and I steal moments to visit other blogs,

see what my blogosphere friends are up to.

the holidays have set in.

schedules become impossible things.

Last week, I retreated from all for a full day.

 It was like a glass of cool water

 after a walk in the desert.

This week, I decided to paint an homage to the great Monet.

One of his vast triptychs hangs for a few months

in our museum.

I have visited twice already.

He amazes me.

Freedom is what he is about.

Freedom from fear

or lack of confidence.

Those are the bravest brush strokes since Hokusai.

I had to try.

The layers of color began in hesitation,

but then I learned to move away,

Stand back.

Hold my brush from the very end

and brandish color

like Errol Flynn with a sword

Life is much more interesting

when you stand back and hold onto the very edge of things.

Magic lives there.

The space between worlds in time and space

thins and allows

communion with those before us.

They want to share as always.

Only artists with a generous heart can fall into that space,

and be content forever.

For Spadoman

Zia for your heart

Sunshine kissed with healing prayers

Spadoman is embraced.

A haiku, a little off on the count, but heartfelt.

For the healing of a stressed heart, a good heart,

a deserving heart.

I send my Prayers to my most gentle God.

Grace Notes

Today is a day for receiving many blessings,

lovely lessons,

and the sense of connectedness to something bigger than myself.

I catch myself smiling

for what seems to be no real reason.

Then I remember my blessings.

the first is this painting I did

as a lesson for my Michaels classes.

The lesson plan was courtesy of another Grumbacher artist,

 Wanda Dansereau,

an amazing, sharing artist who was good enough

to share her lesson plan with me.

Thank you, Wanda!

My students loved it.

I love it.

My blessings flow in the Autumn light

that surrounds me in this little office nook of mine.

My furry friend, Demi sits on my feet,

warming them.

she likes to keep an eye on me

in case I try to sneak out for a walk without her.

She doesn't like to miss anything!

My studio awaits, after all this typing and writing

I have done this morning.

Art Journaling for my classes,

painting for my soul,

knitting, a new blessing,for my sense of touch and bliss.

Oh, yes, Demi,

we will go for a walk then,

on with the day,

for you are a blessing,too.

Haiku My heart Friday

The crickets still believe

in the shadow of summer

Their song in autumn

A haiku for the day before we change our clocks

 and truly move into the autumn light.

Please visit the other magical haiku at

Recuerda Mi Corazon

and consider joining our haiku hearts.

On my Easel.....

A new Scottish Icon.

She is a mystery in a garden.

Is she a saint, an angel?

I think she is a guardian of sorts.

I almost threw her out midway,

believing I could not finish her properly and should begin again.

She wouldn't let me.

She whispered for weeks how she might manifest.

and manifest she did.

I picked her up and thought,

what have I got to lose.

I might learn something.

It would be good to experiment.

So I painted and layered and glazed her into being.

May I introduce:

"The Seed Guardian"

She protects the seeds of dreams and thoughts,

until they are ready to be planted.

You will find her , shortly,

in my Etsy.

I have a holiday gift for you....

All ORIGINAL art in my Etsy will be on sale for the month of November for

a very special price

of $100.00 per piece.

shipping not included.

Enjoy.

Gift a loved one.

 Be inspired.

She is finished!

Finished version.....

I have been painting like a mad woman,

this piece being only one of four I have in the works.

I must confess...

I ducked a metaphorical bullet this week

and may have found some new inspirations on living

and just what is important in life

as well as

a review of some of my life goals.

Many flow charts and mind maps have been scribbled

on napkins,

in sketchbooks,

on the borders of books.

It has been a time of reviewing

what I have

and what I can offer.

Life is so very precious.

Time is so very dear.

Both are treasures to be used with some level of wisdom and

consideration.

So I am considering much.

Painting is my way of breathing.

It always has been and

always will be. It is my way of sharing

and being in the world.

I left her face serene and golden.

she didn't need anything more.

That is where I am this day,

with a heartful of gratitude for everyone and everything in my world.

She is moving on to my Etsy.

click on the sidebar icon to visit her.

Haiku my Heart Friday!

Dark Gothic tracery,

branches frame the golden round.

A sky mandala

The full moon has been so beautiful this month.

Red ringed, golden glowing,

beauty to make my heart skip a beat.

I often sit in my backyard,

with only a small candle to light my way.

My sketchbook lies in my lap as I draw and write by candlelight.

Inspiration fills my pages,

and my heart with gratitude.

Autumn Mandala will be up in my Etsy shop shortly.

Please join Rebecca at Recuerdo mi corazon for more Haiku.

Cloud Castles

I have to admit that I have been a bit delinquent here.

Autumn has called me out of the house,

encouraging me to build some cloud castles.

And I must also admit that I have so enjoyed it.

Blue skies,

red gold leaves,

cool breezes.

I am a happy victim,

being led along lovely trails.

But,

You know life happens.

There is laundry to be done,

meals to be prepared,

even friends to be met

and connections,

all those connections.

I feel like an escapee

whenever I can get out to the lake

and spend a few hours with my best and oldest friends,

Lady Nature,

Sister Moon,

and Oh,

those cloud castles.

I am painting, teaching,learning,

always learning.

I love art because there is always a bit more to learn,

to explore!

This lady sits on my easel right now.

She is new for me,

inspired by my trip to Scotland,

by Margaret MacDonald Mackintosh.

I love her serene face,

a very feminine Buddha expression.

She is almost done and I will share my process this time.

Somehow, when my poor head wasn't in the clouds,

it was earthy enough to remember to take a few photos as she progressed.

That is for another day.

I am off to buy some paint,

some Brussels sprouts to roast for dinner,

and a bit of trim on my shaggy head.

I promise to return soon!