A family anchored in love weathers all storms.

"A family anchored in love weathers all storms."

- Anonymous

"A family anchored in love weathers all storms."

This is how it may look framed.

22.5"x30" on acid free paper, deckle edged, unframed

All works are copyrighted and all rights are reserved by the artist.

My original paintings are available in my online gallery.

Prints of many of my paintings are available in my Etsy shop. 

Let me know if you're interested in prints of my paintings.

  I welcome commissions.

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The moon danced with the stars on the night you were born...

I was captivated by this quote (unknown author) and wanted to build it into a painting. 

"The moon danced with the stars on the night you were born..."

 

I love the texture!

 This painting is part of a year-long online art class (instructor Gillian Lee Smith).

  Click here to view my gallery 
Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.
Please click the links below to share my blog.
I'd love to hear from you...feel free to leave me a comment. 

High Five-and-a-Half - Part 2

So this afternoon as I was leaving a parking lot I heard a noise. A buzzing noise. Then I saw something fly by my face. Something big. I pulled over and jumped out of my car. Then I saw it. It was the biggest, goldenest, fuzziest bee I've ever seen. And it looked like it had absolutely no intention of leaving my car. I'm not afraid of bugs as a rule, but I am afraid of being stung. So after a few "hmmmmmm"s and a quick post about it on Facebook (typing that makes me feel quite dorky), I reached in and opened all of the windows. The HUGE fuzzy bee? Nope. No interest in going anywhere. I very bravely got in the back seat...the bee had taken up residence on the headrest of the front passenger seat...rifled through the pouch behind my seat to see if there was anything I could use, and found a brand spankin' new bulk pack of gum. I quit chewing gum a month ago so this was quite the surprise. I used the pack to gently maneuver the bee onto a piece of paper and then shook the paper out the window. And as I drove away bidding my fuzzy friend adios, I opened a pack of gum and relished in the sweet delicious mint I felt I had totally earned.

Now to something much less huge and fuzzy. I finished my cousins painting. Here's the finished piece and below it are a number of stages leading up to it. A rather large number. I kept changing my mind about different things...and then there were a few goof-ups, too, of course.

"High Five-and-a-Half"

I added stripes to their shirts.

I decided to redo a number of shoes and a leg.
I moved the blue shirted boy closer to the purple shirted boy
I also had the child on the left put his arm around his cousin.

I reworked the shoes/feet and started
adding some background details. I
made the child on the left facing the same
way as everyone else. I also moved the child
on the right closer to his cousin.

I added a flowering tree and worked more on the background.
I also redid the blue shirted boy's neck.

I added more sky and clouds and had the child on the
right keep his right arm down.

I changed the child on the left's shoes so he was more in
line with the others.

I added details like watches and bracelets and
highlights in their hair. I also added some background
features on the right.

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

High Five-and-a-Half - Part 1

Cousins are awesome! They're like siblings, only maybe better. You get to see them during special times and when you're with them "work" is even fun just because you're together. I only occasionally saw my cousins as I was growing up and I was a lot younger than they were, but when we'd gather together it was wonderful. And whether it was going for a boat ride or sitting around shucking corn for that evening's meal, blissfully good times were had.

I started working on a painting of six cousins, though they've named themselves "High Five-and-a-Half" because number six is half their size. Or at least he was. He's catching up now. But just last night I heard that he'll always be known as "half". What a lucky little guy who will likely be the biggest of them all one day.

I'm not as far along as I would have liked to have been because I painted over my first run at the image. That's my favorite thing about acrylics...you can just paint right over what you're not a fan of.

Here's where I am so far.

I painted the basic colors of he background
and sketched the image on top. I started painting
some of their shorts before I remembered to snap a pic.

I began adding some basic colors. I have a lot of work
to do with their basic shapes and tons of work to do on
details, but I'm much happier with how this version is going.
I promise it'll move past the ugly cartoon phase.

I think this is my seventh painting of children positioned looking away from me. I think it adds such fun and whimsy.

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Family Tree

I've got posters all around my classroom (I teach three and four-year-olds with disabilities). For the most part they're the mass produced type, the ones you'd see in any preschool program. I decided my classroom was due for a creativity facelift, so I've started painting my own posters (each about 5.5 feet tall) that will go on cupboard doors. I have a number of them that I want to create. Here's the first...it's a "Family Tree"...a spot where each of the students will have a family photo.

Here are some of my ideas.

I drew it out and started painting the trunk.

I painted the leaves green and added a hole in the tree.
I thought a critter needed to call that tree its home.

I thought an owl would be just perfect!

And he's sleeping because school is during the daytime.

I'll have one of my students write the words "Family Tree" to go at the top.

  Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale and I welcome commissions.

I'd love for you to share my art and blog with the links below.  Thanks!

Putting it on the Line

I have to admit that my kids are rather used to being spoiled in the laundry department.  As far as they're concerned, the laundry fairy shows up most of the time and delivers piles of neatly folded laundry.  I figured they rather dug it like that, so I was blown away when my big guy said something to me today when I was hanging some jeans on our clothesline.


Big guy:  "Are you going to start using the clothesline again?"

Me:  "Just a little.  I always lay off in the winter."

Big guy:  "Well, I like when clothes are hanging out here so I can just go outside and take what I want to wear off the line."


I really dug it...and somehow I think one of his fond childhood memories will be of his mom hanging his clothes to dry.  Pretty groovy.

Click here to purchase this painting.

A Gi Epiphany

I've been aware for quite some time that sports equipment has a smell.  The soccer shin guards...woof!  The football pads...ugh!  But what has managed to top everything thus far has been the karate gear.  Head gear, gloves, and foot gear...oh, my!

Until just lately, that is.


Little guy:  "Hey mom, I left my gear bag unzipped after practice and it doesn't smell."

Note...his habit for about a year now has been to leave all his gear (including his mouth guard and cup) crammed, zipped up in his bag, until the next class.

Me:  "OMG, you had an epiphany!"

Little guy:  "That's stupid mom."

Me:  "I'm a poet and I didn't know it."

Little guy:  "That's even stupider mom."


I may be stupider, but it sure does smell better 'round these parts!

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That's what She Said

Sometimes I live in the land of lost conversations around here.  I tell my kids to do something and they deny that I ever said a thing.  I have entire conversations with Dave and he says it was all in my head. 

Now, it's true that some conversations I have with my family do happen entirely (or partially) in my head...but they're the conversations that I invite them into after, and only after, I've already gotten myself totally riled up by what the imaginary them said to me in my head.  Yup, those conversations always end well....

Anyway, I'm thinking I'm going to adopt a nonverbal system of communicating with my family.  You know, texting or in a note pad.  Something I can refer back to as evidence.  I think my family will balk at the idea at first, but once they realize how quiet the house is without my constant yammering, they'll surely embrace it.

I'll let you know how it goes.


P.S. OK, OK, full disclosure:  my family does hear and respond to a lot of what I say...it's just those silly ones where they don't that stick out in my mind...I'm neurotic like that.

This painting/gift card is available for purchase at:  Flower Family

Thanks for "liking" my blog posts!!