Be the Silver Lining in Someone's Cloud

Be the silver lining in someone's cloud.

"Be the Silver Lining in Someone's Cloud"

Original available here for $35.

13"x6"x.5" on found wood leftover from a friend's woodworking project.

Prints available on request.

(Printed image may be slightly cropped for printing purposes.) 

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.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

I'd love to hear from you...feel free to leave me a comment

Joy

Let your joy burst forth like flowers in the spring.

"Joy"

This is an 5.5"x7.5" piece in my art journal. Prints available on request.

(Printed image will be slightly cropped for printing purposes.) 

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.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

I'd love to hear from you...feel free to leave me a comment.

...and sometimes we are not called to dance in the rain.

"...and sometimes we are not called to dance in the rain."

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.

Please click the links below to share my blog.

I'd love to hear from you...feel free to leave me a comment.

Pigtails and Puddles 2

...because one is never enough when your subject is this darn cute.

This little one's boots remind of my own little ones and their boots...cowboy boots, that is. Both of my kids LOVED their cowboy boots. And I encouraged them to wear them as often as possible. Yes, they were a fabulous fashion statement. Yes, they were simply adorable in them. But the best thing? They slowed my kids down. They ran more slowly, they climbed more slowly, and they jumped off of high objects more slowly.

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale.

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

Puddles and Pigtails 1

This was a commissioned piece and I was so honored to be asked paint it!

I just adore this kiddo! She's trudging through a puddle with such awesome determination...I love it! Puddles are utterly and completely irresistible. And, gosh, don't even get me started with pigtails and galoshes.

A painting filled with some of my favorite things...love!


And even better, I got to paint two versions of it because sometimes one is simply not enough! I'll post the second one tomorrow.

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale.

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

Grandson with Rainbrella

Note: I changed the title of this piece because I'd forgotten the cutest name for an umbrella that this child had come up with. Love!

Previous title was "Sun Shower"

...or, rather, grandson shower.

A dear friend sent me a photo of his adorable grandson standing in the yard holding an umbrella and asked if I'd be willing to paint it. What an honor it is to be trusted with friends' precious memories!

Painting this reminded me of standing in my own yard growing up (partly because this friend of mine happens to live in the house I grew up in, though this image is not at that particular house). I'd throw my umbrella to the roof, climb the loquat tree in the front corner of the house, get on the roof, open that umbrella, and jump off. Over and over and over again. I very clearly remember thinking that the umbrella in no way slowed my eight foot descent.

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale.

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

Under the Night Sky

It's how it feels right now, sitting in my house looking outside. This Central Texas storm is so fully blocking the sunlight this mid-afternoon. When the clouds first crept in my inner voice whispered that it must be closing in on bedtime.

I've always loved a dramatic storm...full of thunder, lightning, and Noah-worthy rains. As a teenager I'd run out to my car during a storm, sit inside it listening to that Black Sabbath song, you know, the one that starts with the storm sounds, and I'd listen to it until the storm outside out-volumed the car speakers' capability.

Always in awe of Mother Nature....

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale.

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

Through the Rain

It poured last night.  A lot.  And at about three in the morning I heard some rustling in my bedroom which kind of freaked me out because there's been a need for a lot of police activity a couple of doors down lately.  But thankfully, it was just Dave arriving home from Forth Worth after a night with Senator Wendy Davis. 

And being the awesome wife that I am, today I admonished him for driving through the rain and coming home so early because, after all, of all the women I'd be OK with Dave spending the night with, Wendy Davis is pretty much the highest amongst them.

Click here to view my gallery.  Most of my paintings are for sale.

 

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

Baubles and Beads

This past week my special education team has had a fabulous fundraiser.  Every year we collect a ton of donated used jewelry and then sell it for hardly anything and kiddos can purchase a little something for their moms (or anyone else) on Mother's Day.  I say "a little something" but it's often a BIG something.  I will forever be in awe of what kids think will be absolutely beautiful on their moms.

What did my own children buy for me at this same sale many years ago?  Well, my little guy thought anything with magnetic clasps were the absolute coolest, so I received a number of those.  My big guy was all about the ocean...clam shell earrings, puka shell necklaces.  And I absolutely loved them all.

And I'm betting come Sunday a lot of moms in the neighborhood will be sporting some fabulous "new" bling.  I love it!

Click here to purchase this painting.

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

The Eggs are Numbered

Big guy:  "Why do all the eggs have numbers on them?"

Me:  "For rocketry."

Big guy:  "Why for rocketry?"

Me:  "We needed to know how much they each weighed so we could shoot them up in rockets."

Big guy:  "Oh."


I'm so glad I live in a house where numbered eggs draw only the slightest bit of attention for being out of the ordinary.

Click here to purchase this painting.

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

Ice Cream Emergency!

I went shopping first thing this morning.  I love shopping early when hardly anyone else is in the store.  I got my stuff in nothing flat and went to a cashier's lane.  I put all my stuff on the conveyer, my bags were ready, and I had my coupon in hand.  There was only one customer in front of me...and that guy went an had himself an emergency.  An ice cream emergency.


Guy:  "I got the wrong flavor!  I'll be right back!!!"


He rushed past me, bumping my cart as he passed on his way to the freezer aisle.

And we waited, and waited, and waited, and waited....

...and waited.

Several minutes later he finally appeared, his coveted ice cream in hand.


Guy:  "Thank you, thank you...that took longer than I thought."


I just gave him an understanding smile, feeling quite sure that if I'd gotten the wrong container of, say, yogurt, I'd have been tempted to do the same thing.

Click here to purchase this painting.

I have the best neighbors ever!

A funny thing happens in my neighborhood when you're lazily boycotting setting up for the holidays.  Yup, no decorated tree, no stockings, no lights on the house.


What happens is this....

Your neighbors prod you in a very friendly way on facebook. 

You continue to be lazy and still do nothing...until your husband happens to come home with a slightly sad and a bit broken poinsettia plant...which you promptly put on the porch and declare your house decorated.

And then your neighbors put lights all over one of your bushes for you.


I'm officially the luckiest person in the world to have such amazing and wonderful neighbors!!!

Click here to purchase this painting.

Hugs-n-Kisses

I've had to get the kids up "early" yesterday and today for lovely Thanksgiving gatherings.  As it turns out, waking up is a lengthy process involving much falling asleep at varying intervals in different places.  But what's awesome about my sleepy children is that they are very willing recipients of many hugs and kisses.  A fact that I'd somehow managed to forget until my big guy whispered something as I was giving him a little shakey-shake to stir him.


Big guy:  "Hug."


Oh, yeah, I'm on it!  XOXOXOXOXOXOXOXO!!!

Click here to purchase this painting.

Missing one of Life's Little Pleasures

Life is filled with a myriad of wonderful things, big and small.  You know, like the sun setting, or a flock of birds taking off in unison and swooping overhead.  Stuff like that.  I get my fill, I really do.

...but I've noticed lately that I am missing one of my small simple pleasures.  Something used to avail itself about once a month, perhaps more, sometimes at home, sometimes not.  I'm missing bubble wrap.  I've said it.  Yes, this ridiculously over-the-top veggie eating, recycling junky of a chick misses one of the most wasteful things out there...bubble wrap.  I don't care if it's the big kind or the small kind.  I simply enjoy singling out one bubble and giving it a good hard squeeze till it emits that most satisfying sound, "POP!"

I don't know where the old bubble wrap has gone.  I'm sure it's gone the way of the dinosaur in some effort to save trees, which is awesome, of course.  From what I can tell it's been replaced by big bags of air (not nearly so satisfying to pop) or this weird deceptive bubblish wrap that lets you squeeze one cell...but the air just moves to another, denying the squeezer of the pleasurable "POP!"

Sigh....

OK, complaint registered.

Now accepting donations of vintage bubble wrap.

Click here to purchase this painting.

Canine Gratitude

I used to think it was just absolute luck that we had the most polite dog ever.  Each time we'd feed our dog, Scout, she'd pause, gaze at us with her beautiful brown eyes, and then proceed to eat her meal.  It was the most beautiful thing receiving such love and gratitude from this delightfully fuzzy creature of ours.

And then we got Hazel.  And she, too, pauses, gazing at us with her beautiful brown eyes, before she dives into the grub.

So now I'm wondering if it's just a dog thing...I dunno, but it is, without a doubt, a beautiful thing. 

Click here to purchase this painting.

Thanks for "liking" my blog posts!!