Blog Hop and Giveaway!!!!!

Hello Friends!!!

I am so excited to announce that I am going to be a quest teacher in LET'S FACE IT 2017!!! In case you are unfamiliar with this course, it is a year-long, online art class created and hosted by Kara Bullock, devoted to creating portraits! It is for any level: beginning, intermediate, and advanced. The 2017 Let's Face It class has a BRAND NEW line up of amazing teachers, and FIVE new areas of focus, with some other exciting EXTRAS, too!!

CLICK HERE to find out more about LETS FACE IT. 

This year, Kara is joined by 19, AMAZING, guest teachers!  You will not believe this line up!  Together, we will be giving you 50 weeks of lessons that will continue to encourage and support you along your creative journey that you are on!  Come and join us!  Together we will connect, collaborate and create! 

This will be my first Teaching Gig!!!!! Just getting my feet wet.  I will be teaching you how I do my portraits with acrylic paint along with 19 other artists perspective on portraits.  Plus, I will share a special tip and mini lesson, too! This course is not open for registration yet!  However, you can read more about it and BOOK MARK THIS PAGE so that on October 10^th, you can come back and register.   If you register by December 1^st, you will get a discount on the price too! 

I am thrilled to be a part of this fantastic team of teachers and guess what else!?  I get to give away one free spot in this course to one of you!!

To enter my give away….Please leave a comment on this blog to put you in the drawing. 

I will announce the winner on Tuesday September 26, 2016!

In the mean time, CLICK HERE and book mark this page so that you can come back on 

October 10^th and sign up! 

I can’t wait to begin this journey with all of you!!!

Blog Hop and Giveaway!!!!!

Hello Friends!

I am so excited to announce that I am going to be a guest teacher in LET’S FACE IT 2017!  In case you are unfamiliar with this course, it is a year-long, online, art class created and hosted by Kara Bullock, devoted to creating portraits!  It is for any level: beginning, intermediate, and advanced. The 2017 Let’s Face It class has a BRAND NEW line up of amazing teachers, and FIVE new areas of focus, with some other exciting EXTRAS, too!

CLICK HERE to find out more about LET’S FACE IT.

This year, Kara is joined by 19, AMAZING, guest teachers!  You will not believe this line up!  Together, we will be giving you 50 weeks of lessons that will continue to encourage and support you along your creative journey that you are on!  Come and join us!  Together we will connect, collaborate and create! 

This will be my first Teaching Gig!!!!! Just getting my feet wet.  I will be teaching you how I do my portraits with acrylic paint along with 19 other artists perspective on portraits.  Plus, I will share a special tip and mini lesson, too! This course is not open for registration yet!  However, you can read more about it an BOOK MARK THIS PAGE so that on October 10^th, you can come back and register.   If you register by December 1^st, you will get a discount on the price too! 

I am thrilled to be a part of this fantastic team of teachers and guess whatelse!?  I get to give away one free spot in this course to one of you!!

To enter my give away….Please leave a comment on this blog to put you in the drawing. 

I will announce the winner on Tuesday September 26, 2016!

In the mean time, CLICK HERE and book mark this page so that you can come back on 

October 10^th and sign up! 

I can’t wait to begin this journey with all of you!!!

Spring is Coming!!!

1

The beautiful spring came; and

 when Nature resumes her loveliness, the human soul is apt to revive also. 

~Harriet Ann Jacobs~

Oh How I can't wait for Spring!!
It has been a very mild winter. We only had one large storm.  I believe it was around 24 inches of snow.  It was funny because Nelly and I were away in Pittsburgh for her Sabika Convention.  (Fun Time) and they only had 3 inches, which is very unusual for Pittsburgh. I was jealous of Steve because he was able to frolic in the snow. You see I am one of those crazy people that loves snow!!! But I am ready now for spring.   
I always get the February blues.
I need more sunshine and outdoor activities.

But I wanted to let everyone know what I was up to. 
 I missed blogging!!!
It has been awhile.
You see I have switched my computer from a PC to a Mac.
Just some confusion with learning how to get my photos and filing my photos.  And finding my photos.  No kidding I was having trouble finding my photo's.  I use Picasa so I was having problems downloading and all that good stuff. I also found out my fancy scanner is not compatible to my Mac. 
Not so happy about that. But I will adjust.
Slowly I will be making some changes.
I want to make a new website.
Start working with Photoshop instead of Picasso.
All these changes take time for me to learn so I will have to start somewhere!!

Anyway I have been showing my work at all kinds of good places.
I had my work at a Pop Shop over the Holidays in West Reading.
Alex always does a beautiful job at displaying my art.

 Also I had a solo show of my work at UZRC in Lititz PA

It was so exciting to see all the work in one place. 
It gave me such satisfaction in how far I have come.
If I can do anyone of you that works hard at there craft can do it too. Here are some photos of the display.

Exciting!!!

I also wanted everyone to know that I will have some of my pieces in this show. 

Studio B in Boyertown.  So excited about this one also!!!

Lots of good things happening!!!

I am forever grateful!!

Such Singing in the Wild Branches

It was spring

and I finally heard him

among the first leaves––

then I saw him clutching the limb

in an island of shade

with his red-brown feathers

all trim and neat for the new year.

First, I stood still

and thought of nothing.

Then I began to listen.

Then I was filled with gladness––

and that’s when it happened,

when I seemed to float,

to be, myself, a wing or a tree––

and I began to understand

what the bird was saying,

and the sands in the glass

stopped

for a pure white moment

while gravity sprinkled upward

like rain, rising,

and in fact

it became difficult to tell just what it was that was singing––

it was the thrush for sure, but it seemed

not a single thrush, but himself, and all his brothers,

and also the trees around them,

as well as the gliding, long-tailed clouds

in the perfect blue sky–––all of them

were singing.

And, of course, so it seemed,

so was I.

Such soft and solemn and perfect music doesn’t last

For more than a few moments.

It’s one of those magical places wise people

like to talk about.

One of the things they say about it, that is true,

is that, once you’ve been there,

you’re there forever.

Listen, everyone has a chance.

Is it spring, is it morning?

Are there trees near you,

and does your own soul need comforting?

Quick, then––open the door and fly on your heavy feet; the song

may already be drifting away.

-Mary Oliver

See you soon everyone!! I will leave you with a new band that I LOVE!!!!

Fun Stuff!!!

Soul Sister Wisdom e Magazine!!!

 

 Good Morning/The Offering

“If nature has made you for a giver, your hands are born open, and so is your heart; and though there may be times when your hands are empty, your heart is always full, and you can give things out of that--warm things, kind things, sweet things--help and comfort and laughterr--and sometimes gay, kind laughter is the best help of all.”
― Frances Hodgson Burnett, A Little Princes

Hello everyone I just wanted to say hello and let you know that I am on the cover of the very first Soul Sister Wisdom e book.  
It is a magazine for Women's positivity and empowerment. In all ways. 
So excited to be part of the very first issue.
Please click the link under the cover picture and get your copy.

Click this link

Enjoy it!!! It is really a great magazine. All kinds of insight.

Girl Power!!!!!


Some of the Contributors are:

AnneMarie De Seriere
Didi Sudesh
Claire Mingus
Melody Ross
Valeriane Bernard
Lori Siebert - Contributing Artist
Naomi Gora
Miranda Powell
Jill Shanti
Gwendolyne Needham
Sue Chee
Ann-Maree Henry
Suki Kasinatham 
Kit Cambell
 Caroline Ward 
Gayatri Naraine
Gopi Elton
Suna Pillai 

Seriously is that  a GREAT group of women.
I couldn't be in any better company!!
They also published a poem of mine!!


 I will leave you with the ultimate girl singers.
MaMuse



 

  

Every now and again

Late Mother's Day Tribute

This is a painting I painted in honor of my Mother.  This is a self portrait of me (much younger self) and the Rabbit represents my Mother.  She had a special love for Rabbits.  The branches represent passing and the Moon represents that everything will be alright. I will never let you go. I will never forget all that you gave to me.  You gave me the Moon. Happy Mothers Day everyday, my love! I miss you!

Mother's day was last week.  I spent  a foggy weekend on the shore with the women of my family and the women in my life that I love the most. It was calm and relaxing.  Just a few rumbles, which are expected with so many women that know everything about each other, all your weaknesses all your strengths.   Enjoying Food , watching Lacrosse Tournaments, Napping, Reading, Swimming, Talking and not talking. The best is when you are with someone and you don't feel like you have to talk.  Don't get me wrong anyone who knows my family know we are a family of talkers.  We like to discuss the hell out of everything. That is how we were brought up. We sat at the table during and after dinner and discussed things.  I carried it onto my daughter and she has carried it on to her children.  It is so important that families do this.  Married with children, Single with children, Gay with children. Any household that has children should sit at the table as much as they can and eat a meal and talk to each other.  Even through the moody teenage years. 

So I know I am a little late but I want to thank My Mother for everything she has done for me. Every time she made me sit down at the table and talk. She created a family that has stayed together . We are not perfect.  We have our squabbles but we forgive and love each other.  Always.


Everyday I see the beauty that she gave us. In so many ways.  She was so kind and giving.  We were her world. And she loved us all.  She was with us in spirit.  And we all missed her.  We were the same 5 girls who laid at her death bed and ate chocolate and had a pajama party in her room because we did not want her to be alone when she left this earth.  We miss her and she will always be in our hearts. I honor my Mother.

Nancy Jane Lippincott

 My Mother's favorite poem.

She had a plaque with this written on it so she could read it everyday.

It was spoken at her memorial service. 

If

By Rudyard Kipling

If you can keep your head when all about you   

    Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,   

If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,

    But make allowance for their doubting too;   

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,

    Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,

Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,

    And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:

If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;   

    If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;   

If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster

    And treat those two impostors just the same;   

If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken

    Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,

Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,

    And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:

If you can make one heap of all your winnings

    And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,

And lose, and start again at your beginnings

    And never breathe a word about your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

    To serve your turn long after they are gone,   

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

    Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,   

    Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,

If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,

    If all men count with you, but none too much;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

    With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,   

Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,   

    And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son

 She lived by this. 

(Except we should change it to daughter)

 

And I will leave you with this song that I play when ever I want to think of her.

What's Inside

  

What's Inside

I must learn to peel away all the layers of my tattered soul. 

What is inside this head?

 Who are you?

 What do you want?

 It will be revealed someday

Will I ever find what I really want or who I really am... 

I keep searching, but am I searching for something that can never be attained. 

Will I ever arrive?

I don't think so. 

I think I will never stop striving. 

Without striving I think I would die...

So with that said... I don't think I will ever arrive.

Does that make sense?

I want to keep that curiosity.

Dig deeper and deeper. 

What will I find I don't know.

I just know that I will have to keep digging.

Keep going.

Everyday I become a different person.

I become myself over and over again.

And so on and so on. 

I will be revealed someday.

~ Heather Foust ~

Hello Everyone!!!

I have been working hard and painting a lot lately.

That is all I seem to really want to do.

Paint Paint Paint.

Having so much fun.

Getting to do what I love everyday is so rewarding.

These are 2 new paintings that I completed in the last week. 

Since I have not been here for awhile I thought I would pop in and say hello!! 

I am getting ready for an Open House at my friend Annie's house on May 3rd.

12 to 6

It is going to be really fun! 

Annie's wonderful creations not to mention one of the most awesome gardens ever!!!

My friend Sue will have her pottery on hand.

I will have originals, prints and postcards

It will be a fun day.

If anyone is interested in coming I can email you the address. 

It is being called a SIP AND SEE.

We will be sipping and seeing.

One Day

Sending much love to everyone!!!

And I am leaving you with some fun dancing music.

Alt J -  Left Hand Free

Hello Everyone!!!

Hello Everyone!!!

I have been missing in action since the beginning of the year.  It is winter time and on the east coast it has been especially a tough winter.  With that came a long illness.  (since Dec).  And with that  comes some deep Melancholy.  It has caused me to not create as much as I would have liked.  I tried very hard to practice.  And push myself.  I am coming out of the hole at this point. Yayyyyyy!!! I feel so much better and my health is improving.

  

 Brrrrrrr.........

So with that said, my word for the year is Engage.(I am a little behind) I have a tendency to go inward and not engage with people.  It is a big flaw with me. I am a bit of an introvert. I could stay in my studio for days and not talk to people. People that meet me don't believe me when I say that. But it is true. I am quite Shy, not feeling good enough. I compensate when I meet people by talking to much and being funny. Ask my Daughter and my Sisters. I am trying very hard to get out of this and take the big leap into socializing but it is so hard for me.  So ENGAGE is my word.  And I am going to work really hard at being more social and engaging with my new friends and old friends. Remember that Annie!!!  You and me making art!

  I am focusing on portraits. It is my biggest passion right now.  That is all I am interested in at this time. The more I practice the better I will be. Right?  As you know I am a firm believer that you have to put your 10,000 hours in to be an expert.  

I am trying to find my own style. 

 

 This one makes me laugh because I hate to waste paper and this one I did on top of some silly bug creature I had done awhile ago.  It you look close you can still see it. 

It took a lot of courage to post this with being absent for so long. But I am feeling the fear and doing it anyway.  

I hope you enjoy. 

So until we meet again!

Sending much Love!

All changes, even  the most longed for, have their melancholy; for what we leave behind is part of ourselves; we must die to one life before we can enter another.

Anatole France

Portraits Portraits Portraits

I just wanted everyone to know that I have not drop off the face of the earth!

I have been working hard.

I have been busy. 

Just winding down. 

I was on BCTV on "That's What She Said"  2 weeks ago.  It was a blast.

I enjoyed myself.

Thank you Martha Richardson for the invite.

My sisters have not stopped teasing me since.

But I have decided that I would take a break from shows and things until after January.

My Etsy Shop will stay open and I will be adding some originals. 

But........
I am going to focus on the work. 

That is what it is all about anyway.

Sometimes I forget. 

I have bought me some plaster and wax.

Going to see where that takes me. 

So pleased with the class that I took from Stephanie Lee.

I will be blogging but nothing else but work.

Work Work Work.

 

 

 

And of coarse I have to add some flowers in there!

Also before I leave I want to say Happy Halloween!!!!

Prints of these are for sale in my Etsy Shop.

Click this Link

Everyone be safe.  No Halloween Party this year so I won't have any picks to show you.

Next Year though!!

I am going to stay home and check out the Trick or Treaters!

And it is my Dad's Birthday!!

Happy Birthday to my Healthy 87 year old Father!!

(Please lord let me have his genes!)

My two favorite Birthday Boys.

Steve (my love) had a birthday also on the 24th.

Happy Birthday Steve!!!

Took him to see Tommy Castro.

And we had the pleasure of having dinner with him.

He is a friend of my Uncles.

Tommy has played at my Uncle's Soltice Party.

It is Awesome!!

Steve loves his Blues!!!!

LIFE IS TOO IMPORTANT TO TAKE IT SERIOUSLY.

~OSCAR WILDE~