Blessings of an early morning walk and the relief of a FRIDAY!

Friday!

An early morning walk is a blessing for the whole day.           

                                                                      - Henry David Thoreau

In honor of Spring and Spackle...here's a guest post I just did for Proteanmom.com - it's a great fun & easy craft which I love doing myself!

You can do lots of fun stuff with spackle.  Read my post here!

Resilience

'm still preparing for Beechwood Art's Resilience & The Power of The Human Spirit - rehearsing my monologues, finishing up my art, and writing some of my old journaling and other inspirational quotes on strips of vellum that we'll all hang on the big beautiful beechwood tree - the heart of Beechwood Arts.

For these strips, I'm copying from a lot of my old journaling, and some song lyrics I've written, as well as some quotes that really speak out to me.  

Some lyrics were from a song I wrote called "Break Me." 

You can watch me play it on guitar HERE:

Selling some art too!

I'm also very excited because I'll be starting to sell some of my art there too - and soon greeting cards and posters will be available to buy online too!  It was hard to pick my first batch, but this is what I've decided on:

"Mommy Can't Fix This" will be a greeting card

"Fishing For Stars" will be a greeting card

"Singing Tree" will be a greeting card and an 18 x 24 poster

This was the initial batch, but I'd love to hear some requests from you all - what would you like to see prints cards and posters of?  And any other fun things - calendars, coasters, you name it :)

But since I have been painting so much lately, there will be much more images for you to choose from - you can look at my Mixed Media Gallery online but every day more and more pictures are being uploaded!

My Inchies, Still Lifes, and Mixed Media Galleries...

More art - in photos finally!

about a hundred more paintings were photographed last night - so there will be MANY more photographs that you'll get to see!

Maybe I need a paint-free vacation..?

I visited Temple Shalom the other day to swap out some of my pieces and take a look at everything hanging...

The most rewarding thing in the world as an artist is knowing your work is somewhere out there, making people happy.

What good is a painting (or anything) if you can't share it?  For me, creating is about connection - to myself and to the world.

I create to access that hidden mine of feelings nestled down deep in that murky little soul of mine, but the second half of that is expressing those feelings to the world, and hoping that someone else might relate to the passion embedded in each brush stroke.

It might not make them feel exactly as i felt while i painted, but that's the beauty of art - how it acts as sort of a personalized mirror.  I see what I choose to see in my art, and whatever emotional energy I've invested into that painting could transform into a completely new kind of energy once someone else invests themselves in it.

"The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery.” ~Francis Bacon

Some kiddie inspiration...

“The soul is healed by being with children.” 
― Fyodor Dostoyevsky

There's nothing like children to keep your creativity alive.  Teaching nursery school was one of the most inspired period of my life.  I love how boldly they create, and how fearless they are with their wacky ideas.

And to inspire your weekend, I gotta share some amazing little kids with you...

On the today show, there was this 11 year old jazz pianist prodigy - you can watch him play HERE:

Which reminds me of another awesome kid - and her brother!  I love this  brother-sister duo dancing on the Ellen show.  You can watch one of their great routines here:

Staying on my kid-stream-of-consciousness thread - here's another great kid that was a bit of a "viral sensation" for just being adorable - the "Apparently" kid!

And - still on the jazz piano thing - it's always cuter when a small exotic animal does it.  So watch an awesome jazz pianist who just happens to be a hedgehog...HERE!

Before I go...

I've got quite a busy weekend.  Besides preparing for Beechwood Art's Resilience Salon and finishing my work to be hung at the Discovery Museum, I've got my BRIDAL SHOWER this weekend!  

Bridal Shower!  Wedding!  Getting Married!  YAY!

So I'll be off celebrating that marriage thing that's coming up in a month.  Enjoy the beautiful weather with friends, family...

I love how these tree branches are reaching out to each other over the road, communicating some kind of message through the air...

and lots of trees!

I got such a kick out of this tree - it's got a giant gaping hole in the middle of it's hairdo!  I love hot it's absolutely split in half by the wire.

Have a great weekend everyone - put your feet up and relax!

To sit in the shade on a fine day and look upon the verdant green
      hills is the most perfect refreshment.                                                                                            - Jane Austin