This time

This photo is of the frost on our front door last week. I just love it . It has such a femine lacy feel and texture to it. I think it and some of the others I took that day are going to end up in at least one mixed media piece.

Last week, with the difficulties in the east, the thought came to my mind; will the antichrist rise out of Egypt.?

My only concern being, when that time comes, am I doing all that I should or could? I read about believers of the past and what they've done. What will we do?

Comfort Quilts

     The children are back at school after two weeks of holiday vacation. My littlest one is taking a rare nap. Life at the moment is good.
     Not much art has been done. I am currently working on a quilt for my blanket loving three year old. There is great comfort in a quilt made by someone who loves us. When I was about 20 years old my apartment was broken into and I was assaulted. Afterwards, at night, I clung to the quilt my grandmother made me.  God got me through the difficult months after, but my grandmother's quilt was a great help.

Dad's Funeral

My dad passed Oct. 13th after a long bout with skin cancer. He had a military funeral as can be seen in the pictures. He loved his country, and was a marine in the Vietnam war.

I am being rushed off, so will have to finish this later. Hmm.

Cancer

My dad's cancer has spread. Now he's opting for the strong cocktail mix that begins next week. Not looking forward to that. I am, however, looking forward to fishing this weekend with the whole family for my oldest's birthday. He will now be a teenager officially, and not just think like one.

I need an art retreat!!

These necklaces are a few that I've made.

Concentrating has been more of a challenge than usual.

There has been lots of unfinished projects.

It's Been Awhile

The past few months have not been so productive. In fact they have been many times discouraging and frustrating. Mostly I have been producing doodles like these. I do love to play with colored pencils, markers, and just about anything I can write with. It brings back the good feelings of being a kid.

I have all these expectations of who I think I should be, what I think I should do, what I think an artist is.., a mother.., a child of God... Reality never reflects these expectations.

Today I heard a snip-it off the radio in passing. "Stop trying to be enough" the man said. The reason this struck me is because I have told God so many times, especially lately, that no matter what I do- it just isn't good enough. It was the same thing I have heard and thought about so often. God's grace is sufficient.

"My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness". 2 Cor 12:9

Honestly, though I know what this means, I don't understand how it works in our lives. I do know that God is who he says he is.. I believe that God is able, but my mind continues to try to measure the height, width, and depth of who He is. God is immeasurable. He is infinite. I am a beggar for a few crumbs.

Doodle shoes

Not a lot of art has been done here in the past month. My children are keeping me very busy. I bought these shoes on clearance for a buck and doodled on them. I like them- fun and comfortable.
The temp has been up near 100. We haven't turned on the a.c. here for the past couple years, so we slow down a bit when it gets pretty hot.

To quilt or not to quilt

Sometimes it is difficult to decide which medium to work on or with. I nearly always go back to the quilt. It is such a comforting medium. It's like being wrapped up in one of the quilts my grandma made me. There was a difficult time or two that I would only sleep with that blanket, because of how it made me feel loved.

Here are a couple recent pieces. The sunflower quilt is painted with acrylics and the background partial flowers are photo transfers.



In Remembering, I rust dyed a cloth and screen printed it before stitching and beading.