Flower child style..........

I have said several times when I write, that when I am creating, I am also learning more and more about myself. I grew up being forced to fit in a box, shoved in that box, I am not square, I am...................hmmmmm......... flower shaped......so every time I got shoved in the box I just naturally popped out of it. I did not do it to be bad, I wasn't a rebel....with or without a cause.....I like to make people happy. I think there are lots more flowers out there, but like I was in the not so distant past, people are afraid to not fit in the box so they do stuff to look like they fit in that box, and they break off their petals. I often look at the world and think we have to many rules! I mean rules about stupid stuff.............think about it.......how many people fold their socks and underwear..........not me! How stupid is it to fold these darn things.......think of how much time you spend doing this over a years time......and if you are worried about wrinkly socks and tighty whiteys or granny panties.......you have a wonderful life then, wanna trade worries? If you wear thongs.....honey you aint got enough material there for even 1 wrinkle! (and by the way, it blows my mind, the thought of wearing something that it meant to give you a wedgy......I have spent my whole life trying to keep from getting a wedgy.....sorry just a thought) If you have kids you know all it takes is 1 time they open a drawer and all of that folding and organization has gone to waste......I had a neighbor who before she left to go out of town actually spent 2 hours at least running around refolding her kids stuff in their drawers in case her family looked while they were taking care of her house .............When I was growing up and had to fold clothes after school that was such a BIG deal, folding the gosh darn underwear the right way.......in I guess some form of subliminal retaliation I use to put them on our dog first (not mine, though!) and let him wear them and then I folded them, either that or I just did it because it was funny to watch a Schnauzer walk around in mom and dads underwear........folding the underwear is a 'box' thing, and throwing it in a drawer is a flower thing.......so now you know why I brought up the underwear issues.........ewwww, and did I just get too comfortable here and give out a TMI? I am starting to feel more comfortable here now that I have been writing more. Hmmmmm, maybe I let those petals out a bit too much?

Okay, okay, okay......so I got off track here a little, a price I pay for naturally blondish hair I guess........I am the reason they write the blonds jokes! Okay.....so here I go again.......so I was just going through proof reading what I wrote on my previous three, or was it four entries......and I just realized what style my art is..........FLOWER CHILD STYLE... that's what I am gonna call it at least. When I looked at the pieces that weren't me......they were all neat and measured and precise, and with a bit of cute thrown in, they were that 'box' I always popped out of.........when I look at my stuff it is what I use to call 'messy' style, where there are things and stuff hanging out, things are ripped or torn, intentionally uneven, not measured precisely. I like my stuff to have a worn and used up because it was so loved look, a vintage look, but gawd not too much sepia and brown......give me a bit of color. puhleaseeeeee! So, okay I am going to shut up now, and go create in my studio, and temporarily and gently try to make my petals fit in the box..........I love to teach and have missed doing it, even if it was boring insurance rules and regulations, I love to teach and can not wait to do my demos.........and I love to grow and stretch and challenge myself.....but I think it is now going to be easier since I just figured out another piece of my puzzle..........there are still many pieces of my puzzle I need to find and figure out where they go, but I now have 1 more big piece I have found, and it fits next to the last piece of me I found......this feels good, and I can not wait when the puzzle is put together......I think I am gonna like the picture I see..........

When we are first learning how to walk we fall on our butts.............alot.....and that is just what I did. I took my first samples up to Redlead for my demos........I am learning and sometimes learning can be frustrating but that is ok. The first piece I made for my December demo I totally trashed and at the last minute I put this piece together, it needs some bugs worked out, but it is what I would consider to be pretty close to my style. So I am back to the drawing board....and that is ok because in the end this helps me to grow and challenges me to think about things from many different angles. I think if an artist only creates pieces that are their 'style' or to their liking that they can get stuck in a rut, so I look at this as just paving new roads in my creativity. So I am back off to my studio, trying to learn to walk and hoping not to fall on my butt again......... 

Here are a couple of samples for my Redlead demo in October. I have a few more things to do to these puppies to tweak them up a bit. It is funny, I thought I knew what I was doing when I made these because I have made them for myself before, but I used different papers and different closures on these, so by the time I got these up to Redlead for show and tell they weren't working like I expected they should be...........just a bit frustrating, and I feel like a major dork.........but I am embracing my dorkness and loving..................at least I am trying....... 

My first samples to submit for my demo at Redlead. This is not my personal 'style', but it is what I think they are looking for. It was hard to come up with these, but that is what I like. I look at this as an overall challenge, just like I do with the monthly ATC's. I think all artists at some time should challenge themselves in some way, shape, or form. I enjoy pushing myself to do things that are out of my norm.  

Life just keeps happening around here!

I swear, Murphey's Law should have been called Farmer's Law! Friday when my daughter and I dropped my hubby off at the house of 1 of the 4 guys he was going out of town with, we unloaded our Flinstone mobile of what seemed to be about a zillion and one things for him to take on the trip (they say women are bad about packing!) , and as our daughter went to shut the hatch one of the shocks stuck and the glass shattered everywhere! The poor thing was so upset, and we assured her over and over again that it was no big deal, and that her daddy would go get a replacement back window at the junkyard on Tuesday and it would be like new. Well, today my hubby went to the junkyard and called me on the way back to let me know he was able to find a new back glass, and that he did not bring all of the right tools with him but was able to make the tools he did bring work to remove it from the blazer at the junkyard, he was going to go vacuum out the back of our blazer to get all of the glass out and he would be home. A bit later my hubby, or should I say Knight was home, and went to work right away putting the back glass in............things never 'just' work for us, so I peeked every once in awhile to check his progress, but too scared to actually go outside in case things weren't going well. Not very long after he had begun he popped his head in the house to say he got it put in and all was well.............my first thought was......... this was wayyyyyyyyyy to easy.........not only did he find the back glass at the first junkyard he went to, but found it easily, and quickly, and there were lots of them, then I thought you really need to stop thinking like this..........the glass is half full.....not half empty.............afterall, it did not rain the whole weekend, none of us managed to get cut by the glass, stop thinking so negative. It is ok, and sometimes things actually can be easy without the world coming to an end. With my thinking adjusted to a glass half full attitude I went down to my studio to go create! yeah! I am gonna have some eye candy to put on my blog by the end of the night...........just about then our daughter comes downstairs with a big grin on her face and tells me that daddy broke the back glass. I kept working in my studio and told her you can't fool me I know you are joking. She insisted she was not, and we began to play word ping - pong.......ya know ..........no he did not......yes, mom he did......no dear he did not.........yes, mom he did........well, the score was tied and neither us were going to give up, so I went upstairs and thought I'm gonna ring her neck when I get up there and find out she was joking! I walk outside to my hubby, shaking his head, with broom in hand............................he felt it needed a slight adjustment and tried to move it over just a bit when it shattered. I had our daughter grab me the other broom and helped him sweep up glass.......in trying to keep with my glass half full attitude I told him at least this time he would know what tools to bring, and at least there are several more and he knows just where they are, and at least it is not suppose to rain for at least the next week...............we finished sweeping up the glass and sat down on our swing and stared at where the glass should be.......it was too quiet, I hate quiet, then we laughed...................that I liked............it was not the end of the world, and it was normal for us this 'luck' of ours................I felt better, now things were just the way they were suppose to be, not easy, never working the first time around......the world is good, at least for this moment. We watched the sky change colors, pinks, blues, oranges, and a color that I don't think they have a word for that was so beautiful, the clouds looked like they were made by the quick and carefree strokes from a painters brush, not real at all, kind of like the ones in the velvet paintings of Jesus my grandma had in her livingroom when I was a little girl, the locusty bug thingys were making noise, the kids were inside, quiet, and the skeeters biting.........yup, all is good and just as it should be for this moment......I will have eye candy on my blog tomorrow.................

Happy Birthday to my Knight in Shining Armor

Yesterday was the day my Knight in Shining Armor was born many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many, many......(recent tests show he may actually be older than dirt! ha! )....years ago! This man is the reason I am today. The reason I am alive, the reason I am happy, the reason I am successful in my world of art, the reason I have 3 beautiful children who at the time of this writing are driving me crazy, but they are beautiful none the less.

When he and I first met, I was at the end of my rope with life. I never seemed to be able to please my family, I was the 3rd wheel, the black sheep. I had always wanted to be an astronomer, or a scientist of some sort, but school was always a struggle, and I had been told I was not living up to my potential, I was lazy, I was blah, blah, blah.............many years later I would discover I had learning disabilities, and art became my outlet for pent up 'stuff'. I had not been in a relationship for about 2 or 3 years, my last relationship was with an abusive alcoholic.......can we say 'no self esteem'.............I knew ya could....... I thought I would never meet my Knight in Shining Armor, and have my Happily Ever After...........
My to be hubby and I met at a bar, it was a setup, kinda, a friend brought me and another friend and her boyfriend brought the man who would become my hubby......he was to choose between the 2 of us, but he was told the other girl would be the better choice. So, we meet, fall in love, and marry. He is the first person, besides my one grandma, who loved me for me, unconditional love. He had made me feel loved, he accepts me completely (blonde dorkiness and all!) He believes in me and has encouraged me in the 19 years we have known each other to do and try new things, and when I fall down he taught me how to get up and dust myself off and try it again and told me what I did right, not reminding me what I did wrong. If it was not for his encouragement, his belief in me, his support, his love I would have given up on art and life completely. He tells everyone how proud he is of me, he shows everyone that walks a foot in the house everything I have done, he shops with me, he even looks through the books I am always bringing home. My hubby and I have had more than our share of the bad times, in sickness, or poorer part of the vows we took when we married, but that just makes the good times, in health, and for richer parts of our lives that much sweeter. This man loves his children and will do just about anything for them and learns just what it means to be a father everyday, he lost his when he was 6. This Knight in Shining Armor has stopped and helped people on the side of the road when they have broke down, he has walked for an hour in 6 inches of snow with a single mom and her baby trying to help her find a car in a mall parking lot that ended up being stolen and then helped her find a security guard. This Knight stopped on the side of Mid Rivers Mall drive and almost got himself killed trying to dodge speeding cars while trying to save a huge alligator snapping turtle that wanted to eat him for dinner and did not understand the person he was trying to eat was trying to save his life. This Knight just last week saw a woman at a gas station in tears and went to investigate to find out what was wrong.....she had run out of gas in front of the pump, she would not get paid for another 5 days, and she had no money.......he put some gas in her car for her and paid for it. His only regret is that he did not put more in her tank than what he did. This Knight has the gift of gab, and can talk to anyone like he has know them forever. Sometimes maybe he does not know when to shut up, and sometimes he gets a little loud, but to know him is to love him. This Knight is a man who has made many sacrifices for his family, and has more than his share of testosterone flowing through his veins, but he has a sensitive side and he bleeds when cut. This Knight most of the time forgets he does not have a big 'S' on his chest (like Superman) and needs to be reminded, he too, is only human. This Knight is the man I love, my best friend, my soul mate. He and I enjoy spending time together, and maybe more than most couples, but he and I were all each of us had for many years, and we have both enjoyed our time apart this weekend, but we miss each other terribly also. This Knight was sent from Heaven by Angels.............This Knight is my husband, and yesterday was his birthday.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BABY........................ Love you always and forever, bunches and bunches.......mwa.
xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

When the boys are away, the girls will play.........

Friday my hubby and a few of his friends went out of town to Indy for the drag races.
Yesterday a few friends came over to my house for a day of art and conversation. We were together for about 8 hours, but the time seemed to fly by. As usual it went by way to fast.