One act of thanksgiving made when things go wrong
is worth a thousand when things go well.
- John of the Cross

Mixed Media Roses using old music, rice paper, sumi ink, watercolor

This is all I can manage today - the quote says it all - I love certain quotes because they hit the head on the "life" nail. This is my act of thanksgiving.

Etsy Treasury

Etsy is such a fun online place for creatives. Since re-opening my shop in May, I've really had fun meeting other watercolor artists and seeing the amazingly fabulous art - from knitting and clothing to - whatever you can imagine. Just this morning I was included in a Etsy Treasury that will go until Monday the 18th. It's a place where another Etsy member pulls together some of their favorites as an advertisement for the weekend. I'm so honored to be picked and placed on a treasury. You can look at it here.

Seeing

Recently I found this quote.

We don't see things as they are.
We see things as we are.
Anais Nin

I painted some orange geraniums around it and pinned it to the bulletin board over my computer. I really need to remember this because so many of my so called bad or "lemony" days start in my head. Look at the case of my cat's "hurt" paw in this past post. Even in painting, I often am hardest on my work when I'm hardest on myself. Seeing has so many layers. As we travel through life we learn that our vision can change and will. And as an artist I know that if I sit still long enough and see what I'm painting. I can see layers of color and light that I've never noticed before. Last year when I was teaching a friend to watercolor paint, I emphasized to her how important it was to look at the subject matter and notice, see. There are various shades of color in something that looks solid. Shadows are like that too. Colors reflect on to each other, and when you see dark shadows they aren't necessarily black, but full of dark color. My girlfriend told me that after that lesson, she saw things around her differently because she was paying attention.
Like I've been saying from the beginning, painting can teach us so much more than how to put a pretty picture on paper.

Books or Fresh Flowers?

Like most people during these rough economic times, funds are tight and I'm having to decide between two of my favorite things to buy - fresh flowers OR books. Lately books have been winning. Over the last few months I've been buying books that just plain make me happy. And, all of them have pictures. In fact as I was sitting down with my newest book from ABE and AMAZON. I realized that when I get a new book this is how I enjoy the moment. It's a wonderful ceremony that usually happens around 4 pm in the afternoon.

• Prepare hot sweet drink - chai tea, coffee or hot chocolate
• Music - lately it's been the soundtrack from Pride and Prejudice which is gorgeous!
• Get comfortable on my lovely couch
• Open the book and look at the pictures first. In fact, I do that with everything I "read". I think pictures say great deal about a book and I tend to remember a book more from its pictures than its words.
• Then if time allows, I go back through and read what I find most interesting first. There is no pressure to go through these books in one sitting. I usually don't. They sit on my coffee table waiting for me on another afternoon. That's the beauty of good "picture" books. For me, these books are great inspiration even if they aren't about watercolor or art in general.

Here are few of my top favs for the summer:
Simply Sewing with a French Twist by Celine Dupuy I bought this book solely based on the beautiful color and the title contained "French" so how could I pass it up. I was not disappointed. By the way when I sit on my couch and go through this sewing book I have a French playlist on my iTunes which accompanies this book perfectly - think Edith Piaf's Sous le ciel de Paris . I'm taken away to another part of the world where simplicity and elegance are so different. The pictures are perfect and oh so French. I even love looking at the instructions which are drawn out. Eventually I'll make something from this book, but if I never do it won't really matter.

The next book I bought because of her decor, funkiness and great fabrics Amy Butler's MidWest Modern has 224 pages of amazing pictures. I was unsure about buying this book at first, simply because her style is not similar to mine. But again, no regrets. As with every Amy Butler book, I've found that her attention to detail, her style and passion ooze from every page and I'm inspired to trust my own instincts be it in painting, decorating or just plain being. For some reason, I like listening to the Gipsy Kings when going through this book.

Just a few weeks ago I was going through my old Victoria magazines - (ones I had saved from the early 90s). I ran across a feature about a Midwest watercolor artist Alice Schille. She never married, but dedicated her life to being an artist, teaching and traveling. This is a rarity for a woman in the early 1900's. So I went to my favorite online bookseller Abe Books and searched for an old art book of hers. A note here about Abe Books - I find this an excellent website for used books and older books. Often I pay more for shipping than I do for the actual book. This is great for someone who is watching their cash flow. The only thing is that the books sometimes take a little longer to get to you. If you aren't in a hurry, this is a great place to shop. I find lots of the older art books on line and haven't been disappointed

Another Etsy Shop

I've recently been having fun doing some quick little watercolors on old hymns. I love painting on old papers and hope this is the first of many fun "side" projects. I like doing these while I'm taking a break in front of the TV. Check out my new Etsy shop and tell me what you think. I've also decided to try out Ebay - though I'm not as familiar with this arena for selling original art. Still, I have to give things a try and see what happens. You can't really fail if you don't try. So check my eBay store out as well. I'm always welcome to any suggestions.

The Book Wall

I have 20 more days to finish my GerAmyUm book. For inspiration and so I don't forget that yes, I am making progress, though at times it feels like very little progress, I strung up some wire across a wall and using clothes pins I attached each completed or semi-completed illustration. I don't know if this is right or wrong but it works for me. And I need any trick that works for me. Because this past weekend didn't work for me so well.

I miss the beach and so I decided to decorate my bathroom using a beach theme of soft breezes, sea shells, gentle shades of blue- green, the color of sky and water .... ahhh ... that's what I was going for. So I thought I would paint the top half of my little bitty bathroom above the chair rail a gentle blue. It's not gentle blue, it's, "WOW, that's blue!" And considering there's not another blue thing in my apartment that really smacks you upside the head. And when I look in the mirror the blue really accents the shadows under my eyes and makes me look pretty zombie like. It's not good. So for the week I will have to bear this color and next Saturday I plan to correct it. I just am so frustrated. How cold I be so off on color! Yoiks. Stay tuned for next weeks corrections.

Card Party

Last night was SOOO much fun! A bunch of us girls got together to eat and make cards - as in greeting cards. My friend Krissy, who is an amazing creative woman and who can make, fix, sew and decorate just about anything, led us in the art of card making. Now, I know the whole creative memories - stamps, papers and decorative bling bling is huge right now, but I hate to say it - I've avoided it. I mean I can't take on another art/craft. Knitting, sewing, painting, embroidery is enough. So I purposely have avoided those colorful fun aisles at the craft stores. So last night was a fun play time for me. Thanks Krissy for being so generous with your supplies and time!!!
Here are my creations. The sad thing is I don't know if I could ever send them to anyone. I just love looking at them. For now they're set up on a shelf like pieces of art work.

Exactly Where You are Supposed to Be

I've had some very interesting discussions with friends this week. (How truly blessed I am to have such an amazing, creative and funny circle of friends.) Anyway, apart from our usual complaining about not having what we want in man, job or life in general and just feeling exhausted from always trying to get to that better place - wherever that may be, (I feel sure it's somewhere in Paris for me - hee hee) my friend Bobbi asked but really stated,

"What if we are exactly where we are supposed to be?"

(Little Patchwork Quilt - Original)

Wham! That really blew me away. I guess I always feel like I'm having to play catch up. I need to finish this, do that, be here so I can go there. Her comment gave me a moment of freedom and it was wonderful to think I am exactly where I'm supposed to be, simply because here I am. And really, when you can just be satisfied with being exactly where you are for a moment or half a moment, it's so wonderful, maybe even peaceful. I've been cherishing these moments of peace. I've enjoyed some fun side projects that I've really enjoyed with no grand purpose other than to paint. Yes, I'm still working hard on the GerAmyUm book illustrations. But while trying to keep cool in this heat and I've enjoyed working on these little bits of art. (You can see them in my Etsy shop too.)

Along the subject of contentment and being where you're at, I found these questions in a book by Paula D'Arcy (Seeking with All My Heart) that pushed my thinking as well. Hope they bring some fresh light to your thoughts of life as well.

Have I ever fully accepted life on its terms, living in balance with the laws that govern nature, giving in to those forces and rhythms, rather than struggling against them?

Can I see the crises in my life as anything other than errors or disruptions? Anything other than proof that something is amiss or wrong?

... is your life about so much more than these events you are experiencing?

The First Page of GerAmyUm

I've been working on this all day and am so excited to have the first page of "GerAmyUm - An Awful and Glorious Tale of Growing" finished. I've only painted this four, yes four times. My goal is to finish the illustrations of this book by the end of August. My perfectionism has really been a big problem when it comes to working on this. Sometimes what I'm painting doesn't seem good enough. But I've decided to try my best to work through it. It's hard. But finishing this 2 year old project is more important than perfecting it to incomplete bits.

Rehobeth Journal

Visiting Family in Virginia

Whenever I go to visit my parents, my mom creates the prettiest flower arrangements from her garden and puts a little vase or pitcher by my bedside. I painted this in my little sketchbook/journal that I brought with me to fill on my week's vacation.

It's good to be back "home" in St. Louis. Visiting another former home - in Virginia this past week, hanging out with the folks and my other brother was great fun, relaxing. I really enjoyed the beach - we went to Rehobeth Beach for a couple of days. I got some great ideas along with my tan and Grotto's Pizza. I was able to finish a rather large painting for my brother that he's going to put in his new place. It's not my "normal" type of flowery colorful stuff, so it was both a challenge and exciting. He pulled a photo from the internet and wanted me to do a very large watercolor version of this. (I have no idea who took this fabulous photo but just know that I copied it for him and him only.)
I always bring some kind of art project to my parent's. I just seem to get more done and paint for longer periods of time. I think it's simply because I have far fewer distractions. Once again, it makes me think that having a studio separate from your living space may not be such a bad idea - especially if you are as easily distracted as I am.

It should have been a blue day, but it turned out to be yellow....

As I was following in love with my little foster kitten Ralphie, BabyKitty was becoming more and more jealous and mean. She's already a little difficult, but what I thought was a good idea - the whole foster kitten thing - really was making my cat of 8 years VERY miserable. Plain and simple Ralphie wanted to play with BabyKitty when he was awake and snuggle with her when he wanted to sleep. BabyKitty would have none of it. Ralphie would chase her and jump on her and attack her tail. There was a great deal of hissing going on these past few months. I was still considering keeping him until I saw BabyKitty's "bloody" paw one night. I couldn't figure out how that happened.
"Did Ralphie do that? Oh boy. Now I have to go to the vet... I can't afford the vet... I'll see if Stray Rescue will help out, I mean the foster kitten did this... Oh I hope her paw doesn't have to be amputated!..." And so goes my train of worried thought. I tried to clean it up with a damp cloth. I only managed to wipe it a little and I was so confused. "Where was all this yellow coming from." It was late and I was tired, I just decided I would take her to the vet in the morning. Ugh...

You know how you have something in your mind, you are so certain of something that no other idea or thought could possible enter in for consideration. That's how I was with my cat's paw. I was certain it was a wound. So, I somehow managed not to see or give much thought to all the yellow. Then I remembered. I squirted a fresh bit of Quinacridone Gold on my palette (which I might add is a FABULOUS color and if you paint you need this. It makes beautiful greens, rich corals and it's transparent - one of my favorite, "can't live with out" colors. I only recommend the Winsor Newton version of this color). I looked closely at my palette and sure enough there was a big Quin Gold paw print and an even bigger dent in the paint. Clearly she walked into the paint after she messed up her foot. Meanwhile, I decided that my poor cat didn't need any friends and I found another foster kitten home to put Ralphie. So before I called the vet I decided I was just soak her paw in the sink and get the gold out no matter how much she hissed and growled. I had to change the sink water 3 times. And low and behold a miracle happened, BabyKitty was healed of that horrible wound inflicted on her by playful Ralphie. Needless to say, I felt like a moron. Well, a moron with quite an elaborate imagination. Still, I think it was best to find Ralphie a new place to stay until he was adopted. When I dropped him off at his new foster home, another kitten about his same age rounded the corner with a skid and dashed into the room. Ralphie smiled - well, cats can't smile, but his ears darted up and his tail wagged in a smile and I knew Ralphie would be much happier here with his new playmate. I still miss the little guy. But you can't believe how happy BabyKitty is. She's been puring all day. So I finished this yellow still life in honor of the cats, the color quinacridone gold and as the second still in my color series after the green still. So long Ralphie...

Bahhhhhh....

(where to buy this watercolor)

So I had this nice piece of watercolor paper - a decent size scrap - and one thing I've learned over the years is not to toss the scraps. I think that some of the things I produce on these "scraps" tend to be my personal favorites. Often it's where I'm less afraid and I just don't care as much. It's so annoying that I usually create some of my best stuff when I'm not trying to. My journals are filled with fun sketches, but get out that big piece of paper and suddenly my wrist gets a little more rigid and I'm more judgmental of my work. Soon I'm unhappy because I've not really enjoyed the process, but I'm more worried about the end result "Will it be good enough?" I'm trying to control what happens... I mean for Pete's sake it's watercolor, it's all about NOT having control to some extent. This was a happy surprise and I got a little bolder and more heavy handed with the color as well.

Frank Lloyd Wright House

I finally finished painting the B. Harley Bradley House that sits along the Kankakee river and designed Frank Lloyd Wright in the 1900s. I'm not sure what it is now. I don't think it's privately owned. (Heck, I walked all around taking pictures. I hope no one was home.) These small towns really surprise me. You never know what gems you'll discover. Hope you enjoy. I've placed this watercolor on my Ebay for bidding.

Know Your Own Bone

Pursue, keep up with, circle round and round your life, as a dog does his master's chaise. Do what you love. Know your own bone, gnaw at it, bury it, unearth it and gnaw it still. However mean your life is, meet it and live it; and do not shun it can call it hard names. It is not as bad as you are. It looks poorest when you are richest. The fault finder will find faults even in paradise. Love your life, poor as it is. Humility, like darkness reveals the heavenly lights. Superfluous wealth can you buy superfluities. Money is not required to anything necessary of the soul. - Henry David Thoreau.

... hard words, good words, words for me today...