A Seal Hello

Here's another of my recent paintings.  Most of these are acrylics on 16" x 20" gallery wrapped canvas.
I must admit this one is not my favorite, but its gotten a lot of really nice feedback.  This one challenged me quite a bit.

Thanks for stopping by.

The rewards of nature

The neatest thing happened yesterday. I started to work on this garden sign as soon as I got home from church. I found it at the craft store and it had the ugliest picture of a life preserver with the quote "Welcome Aboard" on it, but I loved the idea of painting on a garden stake. I quickly covered up the ugly and started sketching a butterfly. I was using a picture from a magazine I picked up early this spring. I worked on the painting all afternoon while my hubby and FIL worked on erecting a privacy fence. I stopped occasionally to talk with my SIL and nephew, but mostly painted for about 5 hours. It was a beautiful day here and I set up everything at the patio table and enjoyed being out in the sun. Anyways, after working on it all afternoon I was finally finishing up putting the sealer on when a butterfly flew over me and into my garden a few feet away. It was the one and only butterfly I'd seen all day and it landed on my purple weeds that I love and let stay in the garden every year since its a "pretty" weed. I walked over to look at the butterfly and nature rewarded me by sending a real yellow swallowtail to match the one I had just finished. It even landed on the purple flowers like I had put in the background of my painting. What a neat moment. I had to run in the house and get the camera so I wouldn't loose the memory. Even my husband thought it was pretty cool. My heart was so happy with the whole thing.

My piano finally was moved on Friday. It was a moment of mixed emotions watching it being loaded up and leaving. I was sad yet excited at the same time. My harp will be arriving on Wednesday along with my first lesson. I'm hoping that having a new instrument to play with will ease the seperation anxiety of the piano being gone. I'm sure I'll be relaying updates on the piano as they come, and also progress on the harp.

It's going to be another busy week here. I started out by playing a funeral today and have many other tedious things that must be done soon. Luckily there are some fun things thrown in to lighten my days. My nephew graduates from Kindergarten on Friday and I'm going to go watch. I think that will definetly be the highlight of the week. Its such fun to be an aunt! I hope all of you are doing well and having fun. Thanks for stopping by.

Mother Henna's Personal Healing Deck

I worked on one of my cards today for the personal healing deck project sponsored by Mother Henna. I'm showing it here in hopes of getting some constructive feedback. I want to add the words "Nurture with Nature" or "Nurture in Nature". Originally I was going to use a monarch butterfuly, but I loved the spots on this one. Its a buckeye butterfly. It is done with acrylics on cardstock. I used the 2.75 x 4 inch size so I wouldn't have to worry about reduction later. The corners will be rounded for the deck, but I was afraid to round them myself in case they wouldn't fit the deck.
I chose the theme of nature because it is a source for much of my creativity. Things I see on my morning walk will often come out in sketches later in the day. When I'm feeling emotional just going out and sitting by my garden helps me work out what is bothering me. There are so many tiny miracles that happen without notice everyday. The transformation element of the butterfly is extremely useful to us when we are feeling uncreative, or in need of a change. If a caterpillar can complete such a drastic metamorphosis, what prohibits us from changing anything? It is very easy to become comfortable with routine. I am one of the worst offenders for this trait. The problem is that my routine can prevent me from branching out to new things, new people and new ideas. Stagnation may be comfortable, but it doesn't help me achieve all that is possible. Watching how things change in nature reminds me that change is not a bad thing. Change is necessary to growth. By embracing the miracles of nature, I open myself to seeing things in a new way and not being afraid to test out new things.
What makes you expand your views or try new things? What holds you back?