NEST

I LOVE my friends.  I am so blessed to be surrounded by the most amazing women on the planet.  Each one of them bring something so special to my life and I can't imagine my world without a single one of them.  I have a lot of artsy friends and tend to hang out with creative people, but one very special circle in particular is a local group of professional women.  We all met and became friends through our children.  That was our common link, but we remain friends because of our love, respect and understanding of each other.  Once each month, we get together for a 'Girls' Night In" where we have dinner together and spend a couple of hours playing in my studio.  These women love the art!  They have told me how relaxing it is for them in their hectic lives.  They've used words like "therapeutic" when describing our evening together and the most amazing part to me is that each of them bring their own style to every project.  They are quick to remind me when I forget to schedule our monthly get together and they get excited when we head into the studio for the "reveal" when they find out what we're making that night.

 I thought I would share this month's project.  I try to theme each get-together and since each of us have a child who is a senior in high school, we all have chicks leaving the nest . . .

I have an obsession with birds in my art . . .

I can't get enough of these Tim Holtz Die Cuts.

I love the tattered, shabby look and always try to add vintage sheet music and old book paper into my mixed media art.

Lovely Sus!  She actually is extremely artistic and trained professionally in oil painting.

Sweetheart Cathy!  Teacher, Curriculum Coordinator and amazing mother!

Our cheerleader of the group, Denise, who is a photographer!

Awesome Deb, High School guidance counselor!

Smiling Shirley, amazing golfer and all-around athlete!

Hilarious Rita! Our French Canadian beauty who keeps the conversation lively!

Crazy Berit, attorney at law!

Berit's interpretation of the project - so beautiful!

I loved this project . . . and did I mention, I LOVE MY FRIENDS???

Good Morning Sunshine!

Just wanted to say Good Morning!  This was the view out my back porch this morning . . . doesn't get any better than this!  I am loving my iPhone4 Camera (when I remember to turn HDR on) but I especially love my new Instagram App that my friend Roben-Marie told me about!  My photos have never looked better.

A good friend of mine (who happens to be a priest) gave a great homily one Sunday.  He talked about how we have to find the "WOW" moments each day.  If we look around and pause to see everything through different eyes, then we will find our "WOW".  This was my "WOW" today.  Tell me about yours!

Be Still . . .

 

Don't know where this week went.  My commitment to blog at least three times per week went right out the window!  I am crushed that I couldn't spend more time creating and tried to figure out why.  I went over the past week's activities . . . house renovations, my son's college tours and applications, mountains of laundry, helping my daughter get set up in her new condo, groceries, bill paying, doctor's appointment . . . whew . . . oh yes, now I remember why I didn't have time to paint or blog!

I thought to myself, I haven't been "still" all week.  I can't create in this chaos.  So I pulled out some pictures of a painting I did for a friend when she needed this reminder a few months back.

This painting brought me peace.  It reminded me to take some time to be quiet and just {BE}.  The world is crashing down around us and we really need to find time and space away from it all.  Time for ourselves, and space to sit and have a brief {RESPITE}.

I could get lost in this painting.  So today, I promise myself that I have done {ENOUGH} for the week and today I will regroup and rest.  No phone calls, no email, no errands, no chores.  Today I will just {BE STILL}.

 Mixed Media artwork created using fluid acrylics, inks, watercolors, oil pastels and 3-D elements on canvas board