Daily Prompt - New Year's Eve

My plans for tomorrow - first a visit with a dear friend and kids.
Then I want to get a cup of tea or coffee and sit back - maybe watch a movie - the VA Tech bowl game, or read a good book. Reflect on the past year and celebrate.

Next year - my ultimate goal is to maintain a quiet and undisturbed spirit - to be at peace.
How to do that? - put God first - spend time in His Word, developing a close relationship with Him. That is the only way.

Goals? Plans? No, I've decided to abandon all my pondering and goal-setting and make the above my focus. Maintaining a quiet spirit - no easy task. And enough to think about all by itself.

The purpose of my art - to glorify God and express my creative self - to ENJOY life, to enjoy the gifts God has given me. I like to play! It's okay to play!!! I've spent most of my life striving, feeling like I'm never good enough, feeling like I need to do more. In 2010 I'm going to do less and be more. I'm going to have fun and play with my art. I'm going to read Christian fiction for enjoyment and inspiration. I'm going to put less pressure on myself.

Now it's fine for people to have a plan for their blog for each year, or each month. Some people need motivation or focus - direction. I am weary of being so darned motivated. I want to relax more and know that it's okay!! Not to be lazy of course - but I have had no trouble during my 40 years being motivated, driven. Now I'm learning to just "go with the flow" and I like it!!! I won't turn back now! I've come too far. It's very tempting to write those goals down, restrict myself to a plan with rules and expectations, pressure - but NO I won't do it!!! I want to keep that calendar uncluttered - full of endless possibilities. So here's to a new year everybody - a year filled with possibilities and promise...

Do I know where I'm going?

The daily quote from Blissfully Art Journaling (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Blissfully_Art_Journaling/) today is "If you don't know where you're going, any road will get you there." - Lewis Carroll. Appropriate I think for my pondering and goal-setting for 2010. I did the journal page below yesterday. The artwork is Mary Engelbreit (from last year's page-a-day calendar that my sister saved for me). Mary Engelbreit's artwork inspires and makes me happy.

As you can see below, my calendar is blank. It just occurred to me how good that feels - a blank calendar - yet unfilled - possibilities, hope, promise... exciting, yet peaceful, uncluttered. I've been pondering goals for several days - growth being the main one -- what does that mean for me? Artistically? Spiritually? In Relationships? At Work?



Truthfully I don't know yet. I'm asking myself questions -- like: What do I want to look back and say that I've accomplished at the end of 2010?; Do I want to make a plan for my art - such as a drawing a day or a theme, as I've seen other artists do?; Do I want to make rules for myself or just go with the flow and enjoy the process?; Do I want to take a lot of different roads and wind up somewhere I didn't expect?

I've been learning to relax and enjoy life instead of striving and stressing to BE and to DO more and better. Not that we shouldn't have goals and want to do and be better, but there must be a balance, which I am trying to reach. So maybe my goal is balanced growth. I want a quiet spirit, peaceful - not stressed or frantic. A slower pace...I want to be okay with a slower pace.

During Christmas I had so many creative ideas and things I wanted to make and accomplish. I was stressed and tired in the end. Pleased with what I had accomplished, but knowing that next year I need to buy more gifts and make less, because December is my busiest month at work with the Christmas social for 500 employees to plan and pull off. Once that is over I am tired, drained even. And I need rest. Three months of planning the social, one day of hard work to pull it off, and then ... it's over and instead of diving into making Christmas presents, I need REST. Next year I want to plan ahead, maybe start in September or October and slowly buy my gifts carefully, thoughtfully. I ended up spending much more than I planned even though I did make a lot of the gifts. I just have this urge to spend money at Christmas. The media does that to us.

Anyway... what about you? What are your goals for 2010? Artistically and otherwise. Will you come up with a plan for your blog/art, or will you "go with the flow"? I want to know... so please leave me a comment... I'll let you know more about MY goals as the new year draws closer. In the meantime I will continue to ponder...

Back to the Grind; I think not!

Christmas of 2009 is history now, and I'm back to work. I treated myself to these glitter gel pens from the dollar store during lunch today. Christmas may be over, but the fun is just beginning :-)

Carpe diem!

Handmade Book

Yesterday it felt so good to create without the pressure - just for me. I found some cheesecloth at a hardware store the day before Christmas Eve (Christmas Eve Eve ?) and it inspired me to make a cover for this book I made filled with cardstock paper.

For the front cover I stitched two pieces of cloth together - one of which is a piece of muslin I had painted and the other commercial fabric picked up at a yard sale. The inside cover (above right) is watercolor paint over cheesecloth, which left a beautiful texture. I still have tidbits I want to add - maybe some text... And I look forward to filling the pages.

I hope everyone had a very Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Some Fun Marker Art

A New Day, Fresh Inspiration, and What is Snow Cream

Today's efforts turned out okay. I just painted without worrying about who would like what and who would receive what. I just painted - for me. I will give these as gifts and I hope that the receiver will like them, not because they match their taste in colors, but because they're painted from my heart. Bright colors and all - I can't match a person's house - I just have to paint what's inside me. And it felt good!

Now what is snow cream everyone is asking:

Well Snow Cream is simply snow mixed with sugar, milk, and vanilla flavoring. Better than ice cream :-) I don't measure so I don't know how much to add of each ingredient, I just get it to the texture of ice cream and flavor it to taste.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Christmas SNOW!! And presents to make! And lack of inspiration!

Yesterday and last night we got A FOOT (12") of snow!!! Christmas snow and in no small amount!!! I can hardly believe it!



I made my daughter her very first snow cream - yes, she is almost 14, but we haven't had this much snow in years!


our half-Golden, Zoey, belly deep in a foot of snow!

Snow cream in the works

All done in my Longaberger latte mug

Now for some Christmas Presentry:

I hope you can get some idea from these pictures - not very good photos.
I began these projects with much enthusiasm, inspiration, and time. Now I am down to the wire on all three. Christmas is next week for heaven's sake! How did it get here so quickly - I feel as if I skipped a couple weeks between Thanksgiving and now. I had so many ideas - things I wanted to make and give. And now I'm feeling overwhelmed, frustrated, rushed and rather frantic. I don't like feeling frantic. How can one create while feeling frantic? I've lost my Christmas joy and I must get it back! Tomorrow is a new day - still homebound in the snow, and tomorrow I will regain my joy, slow down, and enjoy myself. I am determined.

The week before Christmas ?!!?

‘Twas the week before Christmas and all through the house
not a thing put away, everything was in a mess...

I am making presents and wrapping presents, and my house is dirty and a total wreck. Saturday I shopped all day - I mean ALL day - literally 'til I dropped - with my daughter, my sister and my niece. What a great day! But oh, so tiring. Yesterday I slept late, took a long nap, and then went to bed early. Last week was THE BUSIEST week. Our Employee Appreciation Christmas Social at work - which I am in charge of planning - thankfully with the help of a fantastic committee of hard workers. For 400 employees! We served them breakfast and a lunch of homemade lasagna. A very nice event, I think, as it turned out - but oh, the stress of planning it and pulling it off!! This year wasn't as bad as usual. I had a wonderful, talented friend who helped loads with the planning and the cooking (also a member of the committee), and maybe the experience of being in this role for 3 years has paid off.

I did manage on Friday to do the little gouache painting above. Gouache, gel pen, colored pencil - overworked -I think you can see my tiredness and stress in it. But I posted it nonetheless. I also did the little marker drawings below on Friday - with a watercolor background. I did them after the one above, so you can see my tightness starting to ease a bit.



And this morning I thought I would leave you with a little photo of my tree decorations.

Merry week before Christmas everyone!!

Today's Journal Pages

I did this 2-page spread this morning - the cups were torn from a Green Mountain Coffee catalog. Given my love of coffee and coffee cups I love these pages! They started as a reason to use up some yellow paint I had left over and "do something" to start my day.

Later it was time to decorate for Christmas with my daughter. She strung lights on the front porch all by herself!! I can't believe she is so grown up! She learned how last weekend when she helped my sister decorate - YAY for me. I didn't have to go outside and freeze. It snowed all day today - about 4 inches total accumulation - so beautiful and perfect when we were inside decorating. I wanted to remember this magical, memorable day, so I just completed the page below -- MAGICAL!

Merry Christmas!

A Blog Award - Thank you Ann!

Ann (http://nemcoskyart.blogspot.com/) gave me a blog award!!!! Thank you so much, Ann. A nice surprise on a Saturday morning!

The rules are:I need to pass this award on to five people, post on their blog to let them know I left this award, and then I need to answer a list of questions in ONE word.

So here we go:

1. Where is your cell phone?… counter

2. Your hair?… expensive

3. Your mother?… sweet

4. Your father?… strong

5. Your favorite food?… Italian

6. Your dream last night?… foggy

7. Your favorite drink?…coffee

8. Your dream/goal?… growth

9. What room are you in?… living

10. Your hobby?… Reading

11. Your fear?… illness

12. Where do you want to be in 6 years?…studio

13. Where were you last night?… Home

14. Something that you aren’t?… boring

15. Muffins?… Blueberry

16. Wish list item?… books

17. Where did you grow up?… North Carolina

18. Last thing you did?… eat

19. What are you wearing?… pajamas

20. Your TV?… quiet

21. Your Pets?… dogs

22. Friends?… precious

23. Your life?… fulfilling

24. Your mood?… relaxed

25. Missing Someone?… grandma

26. Vehicle?… snow-covered

27. Something you're not wearing?… shoes

28. Your favorite store?… bookstore

29. Your favorite colour?… bright

30. When was the last time you laughed?… yesterday

31. Last time you cried?… November ?

32. Your best friend?… Kim

33. One place that I go to over and over?… work

34. Facebook?… fun

35. Favorite place to eat?… Chick Fil-A :-)

Now I need to pass this on to five bloggers. Here is my list, in no particular order.

http://kathrynestelle.blogspot.com/ (Katy)

http://www.michellechappellphotography.blogspot.com/ (Michelle)

http://possumpatty.blogspot.com/ (Possum Patty)

http://patsytaylorcraw.blogspot.com/ (Patsy)

http://fromthelabyrinth.blogspot.com/ (Christie)

Ode to Flowers

I am just about to burst to share this. I spent all day Friday and Saturday alone in the studio creating!! This collage incorporates a lot of my artwork - small backgrounds and little pieces - a lot of fabric pieces that I drew on with watercolor crayons. Such a fun piece!

My "Ode to Flowers" LOL

New Marker Art!

5" x 7" 4" x 6"

Wanted to share some new marker drawings with you. I plan to use the one on the right in a collage (I think). The sale on markers (see earlier post) ends tomorrow; I'm thinking of going back again before it's too late and getting MORE MARKERS!! Somebody stop me! LOL

Alive!

The daily quote from Blissfully Art Journaling's yahoo group is this quote! I am reposting this journal page spread from February 2009 in response to that! I love this quote, and I like how these pages turned out. So here they are again...

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs, ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go do that. Because what the world needs are people who have come alive." - Howard Thurman

Musings and Giving Thanks

I was just looking back over a post from October when I was doing colored pencil drawings. (http://daloweartist.blogspot.com/2009/10/e-mail-to-friend-decided-to-share-my.html)
Although what I said in the post was true - I realize now that I can't put myself or my art in a box. I can't stick to just one medium - that's not how I work. I go through phases, lots of phases!

I recently hit a sale on markers - a mega sale - and I went hog wild with markers for a few days; then I might read a blog post or a book on collage and get excited about collage again for a while; I might miss splashing with watercolors one day and decide to do that...as you can see my blog is rather disjointed, but it's obvious when I look back through all the posts that I'm having fun; I'm discovering myself; and I'm playing! I am so thankful that I have a job that I love and that I make enough money to support all my playful phases and fancies. God has blessed me so much.

I was very overwhelmed and down Wednesday, and I finally realized that I needed to go straight to God with all my feelings - of course, the bad thing is that first I vented all my frustrations to a couple of friends and I regret all the things I said and the mood I was in...it's funny how one day life can seem so fantastic when just a few days earlier one can be so disheartened, critical, and grumpy. I'm thankful that God knows all about our moods and various "disorders", quirks, and idiosyncrasies and He loves us anyway. Psalm 139 - he knows when I sit down and when I get up and he UNDERSTANDS my thoughts - I love that. God understands!

I need so much work, so much refining...I pray that God will forgive my ungrateful heart, my pride, my critical spirit, my envy, my judgmentalism, oh how I need Jesus - I am so thankful that we have an Advocate, a Saviour, the Prince of Peace. I am so thankful for Jesus Christ and that because of His sacrifice on the cross I am God's daughter - think about it - a Daughter of the living God! Now that's something to be thankful for - something I can't even fathom! I've been Adopted into the family of God - forever! God is so patient with me, so full of mercy - I pray that He will continue to have mercy and grace as I learn to walk with Him and reflect the Character of Christ - I fall so very short.

I am blessed, truly blessed, and very thankful tonight.

I want to thank all of YOU who follow my blog, who read my posts, view my art, follow along with all my phases and play along with me. Your comments are so encouraging and it makes me so happy and fulfilled to share my art with you. I have had almost 6000 visits to my blog since its inception and that is incredibly rewarding to me. I can hardly believe it! Thank you all so very much.

Thank you for letting me muse and ponder tonight.

Happy Thanksgiving Weekend to all of you!

Painting Glass and Ceramics

I have been busily and happily painting glass and ceramic pieces all day! Dots, dots, and more dots! Happy Day after Thanksgiving! Black Friday at its finest in my opinion - avoid the crowds, lines and sales and spend the day in the studio!