Thanks, Fannie

I was inspired to give this a try after seeing Fannie's wonderful images on her blog. (Imagine, Create, Inspire - link in sidebar) I took a photo and a painting and combined the two in Photoshop.

Do you recognize this Hilo frog, Fannie?

Holy Week

I haven't made much progress on my purse lately. I did complete two pieces for the church gallery for Holy Week. We are having something similar to the Stations of the Cross. I have found it hard to take good pictures of the paintings because of the glare from either a flash or other light source, but here's the best I have, including the "inspirations" that will be posted with each piece. I also have problems with the canvases appearing distorted, no matter where I seem to stand or the angle. And, yes, there is also a spelling mistake on Censored - I didn't double check that my new toy (a label maker) had punched all the letters.

Pass Over

In thinking about Passover, I wondered anew at the significance of the lamb’s blood on the doorposts. When God saw the blood, he passed over those homes. It wasn’t that the families in those homes were nicer, richer, more intelligent or even more moral. The only thing that mattered was the blood.

In my life, I am sometimes tempted to believe that Bible reading, prayer and church attendance put me in better standing with God. Perhaps if I give all I have to the poor or volunteer regularly at the church. But the only thing that matters is whether the doorposts of my heart are covered by the blood of Jesus.

CENSORED

Not by the church, but by the artist.

An accurate depiction of Christ’s suffering contains objectionable material: Intense, Graphic Violence, Blood and Gore, plus Nudity. Not my style at all.

Plus, I am squeamish. I couldn’t watch such inhumane torture of anyone. But my sinless, loving Savior taking those lashes for me... I cannot fathom. I don’t want to imagine. Roman torture was brutal; shards of metal, bone and glass ripped at the flesh. And those thorns! Injury on top of insults for our King.

All for me. I can’t bear to watch.

O sacred Head, now wounded, with grief and shame weighed down,
Now scornfully surrounded with thorns Thy only crown,
How art Thou pale with anguish, with sore abuse and scorn!
How does that visage languish which once was bright as morn!

What Thou, my Lord, hast suffered was all for sinner’s gain:
Mine, mine was the transgression, but Thine the deadly pain.
Lo, here I fall, my Savior! ‘Tis I deserve Thy place;
Lord on me with Thy favor, vauch-safe to me Thy grace.

What language shall I borrow to thank Thee, dearest Friend,
For this Thy dying sorrow, Thy pity without end?
O make me Thine forever! and, should I fainting be,
Lord, let me never, never outlive my love to Thee!

Vista House #1

Five years ago I altered a photo of the Vista House at Crown Point (about 24 miles east of Portland, OR) to look like a vintage postcard and used iron on transfer paper to put the image on white canvas in order to make a tote/purse. (Notice I also removed the trash bin and fence) I bought Blue canvas and a blue batik for the sides, handles and lining. Then I got interrupted. The project was packed up, surfacing only long enough to dole out some guilt from time to time.



Recently, I pulled the picture panels out. My regular purse broke and I thought this would be a great excuse to finish the Vista House purse. Unfortunately, I could only find the photo panels and the lining. I don't know if I used the canvas for another project, gave it away one time when purging my stash or if it is still amid the clutter strewn about as I continue renovating my studio.



I gave up on the canvas and decided on recycled denim instead. I actually think I'll like this better. I need to complete the machine and hand embroidery, add some embellishments and finish construction, but it's started. (I had to put it on hold again when I realized that April starts this week and I have an artist deadline at church on Thursday for our Easter exhibit!)

Time flies...

Wow. I cannot believe it has been over 3 months since I have posted!! Yikes! First, it was the holidays, then my away-at-college daughter came home for a few weeks in January. Busy times at work and before you know it, 3 months flies by!


I've been inventing recipes. (These are my stuffed mini-peppers.) My goal is to lose a total of 65 pounds this year (I've lost 12 so far) and I'm tracking my water, nutrition and fitness goals on SparkPeople.com. I can make my own recipes and SparkRecipes.con will compute the nutrition per serving. It makes me much more conscious in my decision making.

I took my daughter and granddaughters to the Oregon Coast Aquarium. Lots of great photo opportunities; took mostly video.


I did do some art. Here, I took one of my painted hearts from 2007 and altered it in Photoshop to make a digital valentine to post on Facebook.

Mostly, my free time (when I have the mental and physical energy) is still focused on the seemingly never-ending job of renovating my studio.
All this and much more came out when I painted and assembled new storage. My rule has been that until it has a designated and organized "home" it doesn't go back in! I did well early on, but when my older daughter and granddaughters house sat for me over Christmas break, I had to "shove" many things back into the room temporarily. Now, I'm taking things out and sorting again. It is overwhelming much of the time, but I am making progress.

Merry

I've come down with a cold, so just now posting Wednesday's and Thursday's circles. (I didn't make any on Friday and probably won't today. I hope to feel better and get back to work tomorrow.)

Christmas is Coming

Monday's circle started with doodle painting and evolved into this holiday themed treasure. Now I'm inspired to make my daily circles focus on Christmas for the next few weeks.

Funny, the name of that deep pink paint is "Christmas Rose." I guess the paint knew before I did what the topic would be!

Ode to a Postcard

The theme is Black and White and Read (Red) All Over. They are late being sent, but while I was decorating the cards, I deviated a bit and made a circle to commemorate them. I may forget to take a photo of the cards, so this way I have at least a bit of a record!

I thought of the old joke - and started making paper fabric including some of the main answers to that joke. Once I started to assemble the cards, I realized I didn't have enough, so had to redirect and use the fabric for an accent. Then, added just one more (and the most delicious) answer: a hot fudge sundae with a cherry on top!