Least'uns…...

My first attempt with the mixer brush….

Art on my Mind….

Always….

Blessing the Tree

my pecan tree during this last snow

didn't see this until i posted

the angel…

blessing

the

tree

Counting Sheep

1….

2….

Someone asked me if I counted sheep to fall asleep…

nope..

just pick up a book after 8pm and try to read..

The Necessary

We never had an outhouse when I was a child but

I do have vivid memories of spending the night with

a friend who had one. They had a terrifying dog chained

to the darn thing and one person had to run around the

outhouse so the dog would chase them in order for the

other person to enter…and repeat to exit. Even now I

can't figure out the logic of this other than the fact that

she had a house full of older brothers and this was probably

their greatest form of amusement.

Memories Warm and Spirits Lighter…..

another 'makes me happy' film…..

Whispers…...

this is an abandoned cotton mill in the town where i live….

i'm so drawn to these forgotten building spirits…

they whisper my name...

Happy Place…..

i have no idea what this is saying but it makes me

…..happy.

The Comfort of Spirits…..

                                                          art by isabelle bryer 

Everything is Waiting for You

Your great mistake is to act the drama
as if you were alone. As if life
were a progressive and cunning crime
with no witness to the tiny hidden
transgressions. To feel abandoned is to deny
the intimacy of your surroundings. Surely,
even you, at times, have felt the grand array;
the swelling presence, and the chorus, crowding
out your solo voice You must note
the way the soap dish enables you,
or the window latch grants you freedom.
Alertness is the hidden discipline of familiarity.
The stairs are your mentor of things
to come, the doors have always been there
to frighten you and invite you,
and the tiny speaker in the phone
is your dream-ladder to divinity.

Put down the weight of your aloneness and ease into
the conversation. The kettle is singing
even as it pours you a drink, the cooking pots
have left their arrogant aloofness and
seen the good in you at last. All the birds
and creatures of the world are unutterably
themselves. Everything is waiting for you.

                                                                             poem by david whyte

i am much comforted by the spirits of my surroundings…

i honor and thank them daily…

aho…

Just Give Your…..

"the heart has reasons that reason cannot know.."

                                                              blaise pascal

and that's enough…

Blessed…..

safe and warm inside after feeding my little feathered

ones….feeling blessed….

Sigh……..

sigh…….

Little Memories…..

…little memories of a friends visit

A Bit of Magic…...

"I have always been delighted at the prospect of a new day…

a fresh try...one more start...with perhaps a bit of magic waiting

 somewhere behind the morning."

                                                                     j.b. priestley

wishing you a bit of magic this sunday morning…..

A Brightness in a Radiant Emptiness….

"When you rest in quietness and your image of

yourself fades…and your image of the world fades…

and your ideas of others fade…what's left?…a

brightness in a radiant emptiness that is simply

what you are…."

                                                          adyashanti

this is who i am….

it's enough...

Doubting Thomas (jody)…...

Being unemployed and without money sure does boost my

innovativeness…(is that a word?). I'd like to have some screens

made to print my drawings but that's just not in my budget so I

decided to try transferring them using gel medium….ok…but 'iffy'…

sometimes they looked ok…sometimes not. My next idea was to use

a light box and trace the image onto the fabric with permanent marker.

Since I don't HAVE a light box I commandeered an old picture frame..

taped the image to the glass…layed the fabric over the 

frame…held it over a lamp... and transferred the image.

Finally…something I can live with! I like doing a 

combination of paint and free motion sewing to finish 

these up. I had planned to use regular pin backs on the

brooches but couldn't figure out a way to ship them...

without worry of damage... that I could afford. After a

little research the solution is to use laundry pins. I had

to source them from overseas to get a price I could live

with. In the mean time I'm trying to get a few finished

up so they'll be ready for the laundry pins. My 

plan is to put a small selection in my Etsy shop

 to see what sells and what doesn't…always scary

putting your art out into the world. I look at the art

of some of the published artists I follow and  think…

mine is just a good as theirs…but then when I think of

putting my own out there I have all these doubts….

I'm pretty sure that's what most artist go thru…

we'll see….

Fly……...

I joined an online journaling group that will be given prompts

once a week for this year. After some thought I decided instead

of making a journal to use the weekly prompts to create something

I can list in my (empty!) Etsy shop. The prompt this week was "Up..Up..
and Away". This quote by Luciano de Crescenzo immediately came
to mind. It's always been one of my favorites!

Now….once I decide whether to back it and make a hanging or

mount it on a canvas…I'll add it to my little stock pile until I get 

enough pieces to list.

The Art of Being…….

At the beginning of each new year…do you choose a word

of the year? I've been mulling over my choice for 2014 and

have decided on "be". Do you remember the feeling of lazy

summer days as a child when all you had to do was just "be"…

lay out in a field of clover and watch the clouds…explore the

magical world of the creek running through the woods….or 

just curl up somewhere with a good book and lose yourself

to this world….? I want that back!

I have so many self imposed "musts" controlling my life. I feel I 

must do this or must do that or dress this way or say this

 or the Keeper of Promises Spirit will be knocking at my door.

 Why do we live this way? Since losing my job and paring 

down my life to just the essentials I've come to know a

 kind of happiness and peace that I haven't had in 

years. Now I plan to start paring down the "musts"

 and cultivating the art of "being"…. 

                                                               

Wishing you a year of good madness!

"May your coming year be filled with magic and dreams and

good madness. I hope you read some fine books and kiss someone

who thinks you're wonderful…and don't forget to make some art…

write or draw or build or sing or live as only you can. And I hope…

somewhere in the next year…you surprise yourself."

~neil gaiman

I've posted this before but I wish it for you every new year!

I'm not much of one to make New Year resolutions…they never last

much longer than my memory these days …but this coming year I hope

to begin selling some of my art in my Etsy shop. I've been working on

some hand painted fabric brooches made from original drawings..

some by hand and some by thread. I'll be adding a link to my shop

here on my blog so look for that sometime soon. Here's one of the

brooches that will be heading to Etsy……

I plan to bring in the new year in a quiet…peaceful manner…

much like my life has been for much of this year. I don't

have a lot of bad things to say about 2013…I've been blessed…

I just hope 2014 treats me as kindly…

Wishing…….

wishing each of you a 

merry christmas...