Musings and Pictures

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I have come to a conclusion that I will just do one blog post per week. Blog posts take a while to put together, getting all the pictures that I have taken from different devices downloaded and sized to fit the web. I am taking pressure off myself, (totally self imposed anyway) to schedule just one on Sunday or Monday. I will catch you up on my musings of the week then.

These three canvases are going to be prepped soon with gesso. I have sketched the “Big Ideas” down and are ready to implement them onto canvas. Having the blank canvases there gets me itching to pick up a brush, they are the catalyst to get the move on.



I took a quick picture of the WIP or work in progress. This is a 10 X 10 canvas and I wanted to get a couple of smaller paintings done for the Rural Artist Studio Tour. My studio is at the southern end of the county and these artists are in the northern part of the county, but the Fort Wayne Artists Guild is going to participate with a pop up gallery which is exciting. The Rural Artist Studio Tour takes place on May 4, 2019. Below is the map of the studio tour. I will be working the tent from 2 pm to 4 pm.

This painting is going to be titled Bugs and Blooms.
I hope you take the time to go to the working studios. The FWAG will have the pop up tent and then there will be artists painting too. Please support your local artists and buy some original art and see where it is made.
The other painting will be 12 X 16 and these two pictures from our vacation in Maine will be the inspiration for it, plus others. This was July of 2017 and I am recalling that may be the international space station that was visible along with the crescent moon.
I was up very early one morning, 3:30 and was able to catch this magnificent sunrise. My painting may be titled, Sunrise on Frenchman Bay. Those colors!!


If you follow me on Facebook you will see that I was in Novi Michigan last weekend at the Great Lakes Art Fair. There are so many positive things to say about this show. It is inside, the booth spaces are large, electricity is not and additional cost, we artists can drive our vehicles in to unload, but the attendance was so poor that it just didn’t cover expenses. First warm weekends in a cold climate just kills an indoor show. People want to be outside.

This car I was behind when going back to my hotel. The front end of the mattress kept lifting up as they were driving down the road. It was tied down with string not rope. Have you ever gotten behind someone like this? I kept picturing it flying off, slam banging into my car, windshield breaking, scratches and dents. They turned off and I hope that they made it to their destination safely.

These bloomed while I was gone last weekend during the warmth, little daffodils are so sweet. I planted 60 various bulbs last fall and I am seeing things start to make their way through the mulch

We save up to have a landscaper come and clean up our beds, trim back bushes, lay new mulch. They get it all done at once and it stays nice for many months. I planted two new trees last fall and I am happy to say that they are budding out. We have had a lot of precipitation and it should be a good spring.

We are doing some renovations in the lower level. Some new flooring, painting, moving things around. Kevin is getting Sams old bedroom, Tom is making Kevin’s old room his exercise area. The guest room gets a facelift along with the hallway.

I am going to stain trim pieces for the bedrooms. The flooring will be installed on the 22nd and 23rd. It will be great when it is done.



I tried to participate On Instagram….March meet the maker. It was supposed to go all the way through March. I am terrible and I cannot keep it up. I think I did four or five days. I was a good thought.

We have had some interesting water fowl come to the pond recently. They are some kind of diving ducks. I wondered if these were some kind of Mergansers. If you know please make a comment.
Then we had some swans stop by for a moment or two. This was a first that I had seen.
There they were flying away.
This rolly polly sky is neat too, taken a day ago.

Till next Sunday or Monday. Have a good week!

Wild Garden

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My newest painting completed this last week just in time for the Great Lakes Art Fair. This mixed media painting has a fat junco bird along with orange and red poppies. Some of the poppies are painted and some made with wallpaper. This is a fun and colorful painting that also makes a beautiful print. It is now up in my store and be sure to use the coupon code of 35off2019 to receive 35% off of your order.
All the info that you need to know about the Great Lakes Art Fair if you are up that way. It is north of Detroit and in the nice city of Novi Michigan. This is my first show of the season and so far it looks like a pretty nice weekend the weather says. Looking forward to it for sure. It is time to get out there again after the winter.

Found something informative on the Allen County Public Library Website…..Yes true….the whole website is informative. They have an area artists link. So I submitted mine also! Here is the link.

Lastly I will have another art fair to add to my show schedule. I will be at the Round the Fountain Art Fair in Lafayette, IN. It is on the courthouse square. When Tom and I were first married we lived in that area and I worked across the street of the courthouse at Lafayette Bank and Trust. It was only a mere 38 years ago. It will be nice to go back and see it. The show is May 25th.

I’m Celebrating!

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I am excited that spring is here and I am celebrating that I now can take coupon codes on my store! With these two happy events I am offering 35 percent off all prints and cards. Use this coupon code of 35off2019 when you check out until further notice. The link straight to the store.

Three Additional Prints

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This whimsical, teal faced cat has made it to the store. She has a flower collar and flowers in her hair. Beautiful olive green eyes and pink nose titled “Cat Heart”. She can be purchased in the usual three sizes and can be found here.
A sweet baby red fox all curled up in her burrow for a nap. It is hiding under leaves and flowers, this print is title “Fox Burrow”. Find it here in the store.
“Gretchen” our family dog. She was part German Shepherd and part big black dog. She loved cookies, pizza, being outside, going for walks and playing catch. She was a wonderful dog and I made this painting for my husband. If you would like a print of Gretchen it can be found here.


Original Art that can only be found here.

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More Prints Added

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“Bar Harbor” in mixed media. This painting is a compilation of images that I took on a vacation in Bar Harbor Maine. Cadillac Mountain and the sunrise that is the first to hit North America, to the eagles soaring over the pine trees of the rock walls. Then the activity of the ocean, Egg Island light house and the sea lions that soak up the sun and warmth during low tide. Shown are also kayakers, a schooner, a fishing boat, a lobster boat and buoys and a sailboat. I am happy to say that this 24 X 24 painting is sold to a collector of my art but the print can be purchased here.
“Love Birds” these two are definitely in love singing to each other. There are hearts and music notes floating in the air. The male birds is standing with his legs jauntily crossed as they stand over their heart shaped nest with five blue eggs. Truly a match made in Heaven. The print can be purchased here.
“Striped Heart” This heart has so much bling. The background is painted in bronze and gold with xo’s all around. The multicolored stripes have different designs with rhinestones surrounding it. This print would speak volumes to someone you love. The prints can be found here.

Original Art that can only be found here.

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New Paintings added to my store

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I have been fighting some upper respiratory crap that moved down to my lungs. So I am behind in uploading to my shop. This sweet mixed media painting is “Music to my Heart” It can be purchased in three different sizes…$30.00 for a 10.5 X 10.5…..$25.00 for 7.5 X 7.5 and $5.00 for a blank note card. It can be found here in the store.
“I Needed Flowers” can be found here. It too can be purchased in the same three sizes. This painting has such cheerful colors in the primarys. Wouldn’t it be great in an office? The flowers would never wilt.
‘Bunny Love” with a sweet little grey bunny surrounded by a gold heart and lavender flowers. See the carrot in her mouth? This would make a great Easter Card to send out. It is also available in the three sizes. Link to it is here. If you are looking for others I will be putting more up each day.

Original Art that can only be found here. Shop small.

Join me for a Workshop

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There are spots open for my Find Your Creative Joy Mixed Media Workshop, this Sunday, February 24th. It is being held at the North Adams Arts Council Building, 521 North 3rd Street, Decatur, IN.

My workshops are very easy going, laid back. You don’t have to have any art background, and you don’t have to know how to draw. I will work with you step by step and you take home a small, completely finished painting to show what fun you had.

The focus of this painting workshop is preparing your canvas, making a background and COLOR! I love color! It will have much texture and flowers, along with some wallpaper, gold leaf and acrylic ink.

If you have a stressful job, maybe using a lot of technology this would be a nice change to bring out your creative. It would be a nice friends out time, or parent-child outing also.

This workshop is four hours long, 1 pm to 5 pm and is $55.00. Here is the direct link to get signed up.

Book Review-Moonlight on Linoleum by Terry Helwig

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This author is good friends with another well know author, Sue Monk Kidd writer of The Secret Life of Bees. She encouraged Terry to write this memoir, she told her that “the world needs your story”.

The authors mother, Carola Jean was given permission to marry at age 14, by 15 she had her first baby, Terry, then two years later another Vicki. By age 18 she decided to leave her husband and the girls father.

She moved her two girls and went to live with her sister Eunice and her daughter Nancy. The two sisters tried to be there for each other but Eunice would take off for a few days on drinking binges. She would come back and shower her daughter Nancy with gifts making up for her absence. In the meantime Carola Jean offered her daughter, Terry….the author to a great Aunt by marriage, she was turned down.

Carola Jean was working at a drug store and met Davy, a doodlebugger who is a seismic driller for oil. Shortly thereafter they got married in East Texas. He was a good man, a hard worker and loved Carola Jean greatly. Seventeen months later another child name Patricia came into the world. Davy had to be away for his work which is the time Carola Jean went to the bars and danced with other men and brought them home. Soon after Patricia was born Carola Jean moved Terry and Vicki back to Iowa to live with their biological father whom they didn’t really remember because they were so young.

So I am sure that you get the picture by now. This is the story of how a woman had to grow up so fast to keep her family together against the odds of her mentally unstable mother. From going to twelve schools, the many marriages of her mother and five siblings, suicide attempts and drug abuse by her mother and so many other roadblocks.

Carola Jean passed away at the age of 40. The book starts out at her funeral and ends with the author in her 50’s, finding her grave again to sit at it and read this memoir to her because she really was the subject of it. She was 25 when her mother died.