Another Etsy Shop

I've recently been having fun doing some quick little watercolors on old hymns. I love painting on old papers and hope this is the first of many fun "side" projects. I like doing these while I'm taking a break in front of the TV. Check out my new Etsy shop and tell me what you think. I've also decided to try out Ebay - though I'm not as familiar with this arena for selling original art. Still, I have to give things a try and see what happens. You can't really fail if you don't try. So check my eBay store out as well. I'm always welcome to any suggestions.

The Book Wall

I have 20 more days to finish my GerAmyUm book. For inspiration and so I don't forget that yes, I am making progress, though at times it feels like very little progress, I strung up some wire across a wall and using clothes pins I attached each completed or semi-completed illustration. I don't know if this is right or wrong but it works for me. And I need any trick that works for me. Because this past weekend didn't work for me so well.

I miss the beach and so I decided to decorate my bathroom using a beach theme of soft breezes, sea shells, gentle shades of blue- green, the color of sky and water .... ahhh ... that's what I was going for. So I thought I would paint the top half of my little bitty bathroom above the chair rail a gentle blue. It's not gentle blue, it's, "WOW, that's blue!" And considering there's not another blue thing in my apartment that really smacks you upside the head. And when I look in the mirror the blue really accents the shadows under my eyes and makes me look pretty zombie like. It's not good. So for the week I will have to bear this color and next Saturday I plan to correct it. I just am so frustrated. How cold I be so off on color! Yoiks. Stay tuned for next weeks corrections.

Card Party

Last night was SOOO much fun! A bunch of us girls got together to eat and make cards - as in greeting cards. My friend Krissy, who is an amazing creative woman and who can make, fix, sew and decorate just about anything, led us in the art of card making. Now, I know the whole creative memories - stamps, papers and decorative bling bling is huge right now, but I hate to say it - I've avoided it. I mean I can't take on another art/craft. Knitting, sewing, painting, embroidery is enough. So I purposely have avoided those colorful fun aisles at the craft stores. So last night was a fun play time for me. Thanks Krissy for being so generous with your supplies and time!!!
Here are my creations. The sad thing is I don't know if I could ever send them to anyone. I just love looking at them. For now they're set up on a shelf like pieces of art work.

Exactly Where You are Supposed to Be

I've had some very interesting discussions with friends this week. (How truly blessed I am to have such an amazing, creative and funny circle of friends.) Anyway, apart from our usual complaining about not having what we want in man, job or life in general and just feeling exhausted from always trying to get to that better place - wherever that may be, (I feel sure it's somewhere in Paris for me - hee hee) my friend Bobbi asked but really stated,

"What if we are exactly where we are supposed to be?"


Wham! That really blew me away. I guess I always feel like I'm having to play catch up. I need to finish this, do that, be here so I can go there. Her comment gave me a moment of freedom and it was wonderful to think I am exactly where I'm supposed to be, simply because here I am. And really, when you can just be satisfied with being exactly where you are for a moment or half a moment, it's so wonderful, maybe even peaceful. I've been cherishing these moments of peace. I've enjoyed some fun side projects that I've really enjoyed with no grand purpose other than to paint. Yes, I'm still working hard on the GerAmyUm book illustrations. But while trying to keep cool in this heat and I've enjoyed working on these little bits of art. (You can see them in my Etsy shop too.)

Along the subject of contentment and being where you're at, I found these questions in a book by Paula D'Arcy (Seeking with All My Heart) that pushed my thinking as well. Hope they bring some fresh light to your thoughts of life as well.

Have I ever fully accepted life on its terms, living in balance with the laws that govern nature, giving in to those forces and rhythms, rather than struggling against them?

Can I see the crises in my life as anything other than errors or disruptions? Anything other than proof that something is amiss or wrong?

... is your life about so much more than these events you are experiencing?

The First Page of GerAmyUm


I've been working on this all day and am so excited to have the first page of "GerAmyUm - An Awful and Glorious Tale of Growing" finished. I've only painted this four, yes four times. My goal is to finish the illustrations of this book by the end of August. My perfectionism has really been a big problem when it comes to working on this. Sometimes what I'm painting doesn't seem good enough. But I've decided to try my best to work through it. It's hard. But finishing this 2 year old project is more important than perfecting it to incomplete bits.