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!

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'

http://www.livinatmemescorner.blogspot.com/

shared this lovely award with me.

This has just been the most amazing

week and it's only Tuesday!

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

http://www.rowenleaf.blogspot.com/

                                                     
           

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

http://www.circlingmyhead.blogspot.com/

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/

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!

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!

                                            

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!

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!

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!!!

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)