Wednesday, March 31, 2010

Thanks For All The Encouragement

  ...you have all been so kind and
supportive as I take my baby
steps to share my art work!
Since alot of what I have done has been
for the church
 (where I feel safe by the way)
I'll show you some other pieces
I have done for the Art Show & Auction.

this is a watercolor of the jetty on our beach
I apologize that it's so washed out.

another watercolor
still not the best color quality

watercolor

watercolor
The last two birch watercolors were
sold as a pair last year,
the other two sold as singles.

Each Year our Church celebrates
with a Strawbery Social in June,
I worked these last two pieces for
the cover of our weekly bulletin
and for advertising the event.

this graphite drawing is entitled 'Strawberries & Cream'

this was the same still life done in prismacolor pencils,
it's a little hard to see the nuances in the lighter colors.
The Color piece I donated to one
of our Pastors who runs the social
and the graphite piece sold at this
year's auction.

Thank you all again for your
encouragement!

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

Well Here Goes Nothing...

 as promised I have decided to be brave
and share some of my art work
with all of you.
Please keep in mind that
these are scans of copies as I have always
donated the original to the Art Auction
or to the church directly for their use.
this is a watercolor of the Barnegat Lighthouse
a local landmark.

a watercolor of daffodils
As you can see between copying and scanning
some of the vibrancy is lost.
Both of the original pieces sold
at last year's auction.
watercolor/colored pencil of a cardinal

watercolor/colored pencil of a goldfinch

watercolor/colored pencil of a bluebird
These three birds were made into
 notecards and sold to raise funds
for our mission trip, the originals sold
at last year's auction as a tryptich.

watercolor/colored pencil of tulips

watercolor/colored pencil of pink daisies
watercolor/colored pencil of teapot with roses
The three previous flower pieces
were also used as gift cards the year
before and the originals given
as a gift to our Youth Minister.

While I know the quality of the reproductions
is not great I hope this gives you an
inkling into the sort of work I do.
If you're still with me after this I'll
show you more pieces tomorrow :)
and guess what???
Yet another award came my way
today, LV from 'Thoughts From Meme's Corner'
shared this lovely award with me.
This has just been the most amazing
week and it's only Tuesday!

Monday, March 29, 2010

Only One Reason...

 is good enough for me to consider
posting twice today. The amazing Ces
from 'Ces and Her Dishes'
http://www.cesandherdishes.blogspot.com/
has bestowed on me the very
 precious 'Renee Award'.
 
I am so humbled by this that I'm not
sure that I can adequately
put into words how I feel at this
moment.
To be given two awards in one day
is momumental to me,
that they both honor our dear Renee
is beyond my wildest dreams.
I feel as though I am on a precipice
and that I must walk gingerly
lest I fall short of this honor.  I pray
that with God's help I will
be able to remain focused on the
path ahead for I have some incredible
footsteps to follow in!

I Recieved a Most Precious Gift

                   ... the gift of friendship and encouragement.

Sarah from 'Cottage Garden Studios'
bestowed on me the
"Mental Duck to Mental Swan"
award, an award she created,
inspired by the words of our
dear friend Renee.
As I shared with Sarah I have
indeed felt the stirrings of my
'swan' yearning to break free,
to silence the voices of doubt
and to embrace the artist within.
Having been told that my
artistic ventures were folly, not a
solid career choice, caused me to silence
my need to create. I doubted my
skills and never thought my work
good enough to share.
It has been through the encouragement
of friends like Sarah and Renee
and the many voices of all of you in
blogland that I have finally
decided to embrace the artistic side
of my nature. If you journey to
the beginnings of my humble little blog
you will find that I did not share
my art. I shared my words,
my life, my thoughts, my heart,
but as the 'duck' I was denying
a big part of who I am.
It was by coming to know all of you
and witnessing your willingness
to share your artistic creations
that I am learning to embrace the 'swan'.
A big thank you to Sarah
for gifting me with this most
precious award.
To learn more about how this award came to be and to visit
Sarah, an amazing artist in her own right go to
                                                     
           

Sunday, March 28, 2010

Happy Birthday

to our sweet friend Renee,
as she celebrates her first birthday
in Heaven in the presence of our Lord.
We all miss you so.
To read alovely post from Renee's dear friend visit

Spiritual Sunday

"Worship the Lord with gladness; come into His presence with singing."
Psalm 100:2
On this beautiful Palm Sunday
we are to remember the triumphant
journey of our King into Jerusalem.
He entered the city knowing full
well the fate that awaited Him,
He came to fulfill the scriptures.
Today we exalt Him, the King is exalted on High!


to share in other spiritual posts this morning
visit Spiritual Sundays at http://www.bloggerspirit.blogspot.com/

Friday, March 26, 2010

Some Of Our Local Talent

was showcased last weekend at our church.
This year was our
Third Annual Art Show & Silent Auction.
It is a fundraising event that I started
to raise money to support our
Jr. & Sr. High kids on their
annual Mission Trip.

These are just a few of the kids who helped out last week.

To share how this all started I have to tell
you quite honestly that I can not sing
a note! I love music, am in awe of
people with any musical talent,
sadly that is not one of my gifts.
Our church has an amazing music program
with several different choirs, handbells,
organ, trumpets, even a contemporary
christian group.
I got to thinking one day about how
while I couldn't sing or play an instrument
that God had given me other talents,
art being one of them.
So I set about praying and asking God
to use my gifts for his Glory.
Well as He often does He whispered an idea
into my head and the Art Show was born.
I figured I wasn't the only one in our
congregation that had any artistic talent
and that perhaps these folks would be willing
to share their gifts to help fund our
Youth Mission Trips.
Adults and kids alike donate their art work
and we have this annual show and hold
a silent auction where people can bid and win
an original piece of art.
It has been a huge success and I am
always amazed by the generosity of the
donating artists as well as the bidders.
I shouldn't be surprised really because
when God whispers an idea in your ear
it's always a good one!
We set up our contributions in our
Fellowship Hall, which as you can see
actually serves as a gym/dining room/stage area.
Now keep in mind we do the best with what
we have, chalk boards draped in black fabric,
settees borrowed from our own homes
along with some artificial trees for
ambiance.
I only managed to get a few photos
but you can get the idea from these.
We play classical music in the background
and serve refreshments.
Since we can't actually serve real wine
we do the next best thing, white and dark
grape juice in little plastic wine glasses.
There are fruit platters, cheese platters and
finger sandwhiches.
As you can see we get a variety of art forms.

The piece below was done by one of our freshman girls.
a colored pencil drawing of the Coloseum,
 which she traveled to last summer.
What started as a way to raise funds
has turned into a real social event.
The folks love to see what type of work others
are doing and of course getting to
buy some original art is a nice bonus too.
This was one of the pieces I donated this year, sorry
about the quality of the photo.
I'll share some of my other contributions
with you over the next several posts.
Remember that God blessed you with
your talents, I encourage you to
find a way to share them for a good cause.
You won't be sorry you did!

Thursday, March 25, 2010

Subtle Changes

                ...are taking place outside, but you really
               need to slow down to notice. If you look towards
      the sky very carefully way up into the trees you can see it.
I know it doesn't look like much, in fact it's
barely visible but look a little closer...

there, can you see it now?
The trees are actually beginning to bud!
Look, even the forsythias are starting
to bloom!

I'm so excited I'm tickled pink!
Oh wait,
that's just my spring allergies :)
...but I don't care, I'm willing to bear
all the sneezy, wheezy, itchy teary eyed
 symptoms if it means we are closer
to warmer days!

                                            

Monday, March 22, 2010

Spring has Sprung !

 
 It's amazing how with just a few warms
days the garden seems to awaken
from it's long winter slumber.
My helibores made their appearance
over the weekend,

the grape hyacinths are showing off,


the tete a tete's are lifting their faces
to the sunshine,

and even the mini irises are poking
their heads through the mulch.

Some gardening magazines recommend
starting dormant bulbs in the fall
to be enjoyed in the spring.  While
I have done that, sometimes
I want a little instant gratification.
Our local florists sell spring bulb
arrangements such as these


for a hefty price.
You can even buy them ready to go
from your local florists.
I buy my spring bulbs from local fundraisers,
they are already sprouting
and I just pop them into my favorite containers
and cover with moss to hide the pots.
It saves me a bunch of money and then after
they're done blooming I plant them
in my garden and they graciously
reappear next year as you can
see in the earlier photos.
HAPPY SPRING
everyone,
may your days be filled with
blossoms, sunshine and the blessed
renewal of the season!

Saturday, March 20, 2010

My Baby...

      
 my youngest son is celebrating his
17th birthday today!!!
here he is dancing with me just three
summers ago,

and dancing with Mom again two years ago!
These days he dances with his young
lady friends,

(Alex & Brittany @ her Sweet 16)
It's amazing how in just a few short
years he went from boy to man,

helping Dad at the firehouse where Dad has
volunteered for 40 years.

Here he is painting a house during a ten
day trip last summer where he
volunteered
to help those less fortunate.
Every year my son and I travel across
the country and volunteer for a
Christian organization called
 Group Work Camps,
we work alongside other Christians
to refurbish, paint interiors and exteriors
of homes in need of TLC,
build wheelchair ramps, whatever the
homeowner needs.
Recipients are selected by local
agencies and Group Work Camps
organizes the details.
We camp out at local schools in
the area we are working in and stay
 for just over a week.

Here he is last summer with friends,
 eating at the host school's cafeteria.
Each year our Youth Group at
church take approximately 70-100
Jr./Sr. High kids to wherever
we are needed.
We have traveled to MI, CT, VA, NC, SC, PA
Ohio, Idaho, Arizona,
this year we are headed to NH.
I am so proud of my son for doing this
and for all the kids who give up
part of their summer and pay their
own way to help out
people in need.

Here he is enjoying an Eagles game
with my oldest son.

My 'baby' is all grown up,
I am truly blessed to
have him in my life.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ALEX!

Thursday, March 18, 2010

We're Celebrating

my sweet husband's birthday today!
He is my soulmate, friend, companion, partner
in parenting and I am blessed that
he is mine.

(sorry this pic is two years old)

Bill and I met just over 20 years ago,
a time when we were both single parents.
It was something new to him but
 I had been raising my two boys alone
for ten years by then.
I have to tell you that after
that amount of time alone and
finally getting back on my feet after
my divorce I had no intentions
of remarrying.
God had other plans!
Bill had two sons, I had two sons
and two years after we married
our son Alex was born.
Talk about starting over...
but that's a tale for another day.
All I know now is that I can not imagine
my life without him or our
boys, so glad I didn't close my heart
when God gave me the gift
of this very special man.

    Happy Birthday sweetie!!!

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Wherever You Hail From...



today everyone is Irish!

My father was born in Portugal,
my mother was born in Brazil,

my husband's parents came from Hungary,

but today the world celebrate's
Saint Patrick's Day!

There are parades taking place the world over,



people are celebrating,

bagpipes are playing,

... some are dancing,



many are eating corned beef and cabbage
for dinner

and eating Irish soda bread,

washing it all down with green beer!

Why did you know that even the
'King' of rock & roll was Irish?

Wherever your family originates from,
may you dream of the Emerald Isle

and all it's beauty,

may the Leprechaun

lead you over the rainbow

to your very own pot of gold.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day
Everyone!!!

(photos courtesy of google images)